Ecological niches for colorectal cancer stem cell survival and thrival

To date, colorectal cancer is still ranking top three cancer types severely threatening lives. According to cancer stem cell hypothesis, malignant colorectal lumps are cultivated by a set of abnormal epithelial cells with stem cell-like characteristics. These vicious stem cells are derived from intestinal epithelial stem cells or transformed by terminally differentiated epithelial cells when they accumulate an array of transforming genomic alterations. Colorectal cancer stem cells, whatever cell-of-origin, give rise to all morphologically and functionally heterogenous tumor daughter cells, conferring them with overwhelming resilience to intrinsic and extrinsic stresses. On the other hand, colorectal cancer stem cells and their daughter cells continuously participate in constructing ecological niches for their survival and thrival by communicating with adjacent stromal cells and circulating immune guardians. In this review, we first provide an overview of the normal cell-of-origin populations contributing to colorectal cancer stem cell reservoirs and the niche architecture which cancer stem cells depend on at early stage. Then we survey recent advances on how these aberrant niches are fostered by cancer stem cells and their neighbors. We also discuss recent research on how niche microenvironment affects colorectal cancer stem cell behaviors such as plasticity, metabolism, escape of immune surveillance as well as resistance to clinical therapies, therefore endowing them with competitive advantages compared to their normal partners. In the end, we explore therapeutic strategies available to target malignant stem cells

Cold Chain Synergy of Chain Restaurant

With the economic development and social progress, the modern catering industry represented by chain operation is gradually moving towards industrialization, chain operation, and modernization. The chain restaurant industry relies more on professional and efficient cold chain supply chain design and services. The cold chain supply chain system includes a distribution center based on the central kitchen, specialized third-party logistics based on its own or outsourced cold chain logistics, and food taste quality research and development represented by new technologies

Exploring Asymmetric Tunable Blind-Spots for Self-supervised Denoising in Real-World Scenarios

Self-supervised denoising has attracted widespread attention due to its ability to train without clean images. However, noise in real-world scenarios is often spatially correlated, which causes many self-supervised algorithms based on the pixel-wise independent noise assumption to perform poorly on real-world images. Recently, asymmetric pixel-shuffle downsampling (AP) has been proposed to disrupt the spatial correlation of noise. However, downsampling introduces aliasing effects, and the post-processing to eliminate these effects can destroy the spatial structure and high-frequency details of the image, in addition to being time-consuming. In this paper, we systematically analyze downsampling-based methods and propose an Asymmetric Tunable Blind-Spot Network (AT-BSN) to address these issues. We design a blind-spot network with a freely tunable blind-spot size, using a large blind-spot during training to suppress local spatially correlated noise while minimizing damage to the global structure, and a small blind-spot during inference to minimize information loss. Moreover, we propose blind-spot self-ensemble and distillation of non-blind-spot network to further improve performance and reduce computational complexity. Experimental results demonstrate that our method achieves state-of-the-art results while comprehensively outperforming other self-supervised methods in terms of image texture maintaining, parameter count, computation cost, and inference time

Mapping the temporal evolution of scientific community structures

We present results from tracking the temporal evolution of community structures within a research specialty. This extends our previous work in which we generated static community maps that combine co‐author networks and direct citation networks derived from 20‐years of publications in the research specialty. Here, we explore how the temporal evolution of these maps can be used to provide insights into the historical evolution of a field as well as extract more accurate snapshots of the community structures at a given point in time. Such time resolved mappings are an important component in our mixed method approach that integrates network analysis with ethnographic field studies to investigate field‐specific communication and collaboration behaviors in scientific communities (Velden & Lagoze 2013). Evaluating these maps in qualitative interviews with field experts will be the next step in our research.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111255/1/meet14505101143.pd

Research on multi-timescale operation optimization of a distributed electro-hydrogen coupling system considering grid interaction

Against the backdrop of increasingly prominent environmental issues, new energy consumption issues, and energy supply and demand balance issues, the optimization of multi time scale operation of distributed electro hydrogen coupling systems has become a research focus. Based on this, this article optimizes the multi time scale operation of a distributed electric hydrogen coupling system that takes into account grid interaction. By designing a system framework for distributed electro hydrogen coupling systems, operational strategies for each system were proposed. Analyzed the uncertainty and response characteristics of wind and solar power generation units and load demand, and constructed a multiple uncertainty model for distributed electric hydrogen coupling system. At the same time, a three stage, multi time scale operation optimization model of the electric hydrogen coupling system was constructed based on the response characteristics of the distributed electric hydrogen coupling system. The construction of these models reduced scheduling costs by 12.55% and increased clean energy consumption rate by 13.50%

A hybrid single-mode laser based on slotted silicon waveguides

An InGaAsP-Si hybrid single-mode laser based on etched slots in silicon waveguides was demonstrated operating at 1543 nm. The InGaAsP gain structure was bonded onto a patterned silicon-on-insulator wafer by selective area metal bonding method. The mode-selection mechanism based on a slotted silicon waveguide was applied, in which the parameters were designed using the simulation tool cavity modeling framework. The III-V lasers employed buried ridge stripe structure. The whole fabrication process only needs standard photolithography and inductively coupled plasma etching technology, which reduces cost for ease in technology transfer. At room temperature, a single mode of 1543-nm wavelength at a threshold current of 21 mA with a maximum output power of 1.9 mW in continuous-wave regime was obtained. The side mode suppression ratio was larger than 35 dB. The simplicity and flexibility of the fabrication process and a low cost make the slotted hybrid laser a promising light source

Establishment of Rab-11 Induced Inflammatory Regulation as Therapeutic Targets in Colon Cancer Progression

Colon cancer is the third-deadliest cancer in the United States. Better understanding the cancer microenvironment/niches is crucial to the development of successful therapeutic targets. An RNAi screening using enterocyte specific driver was performed in Drosophila melanogaster intestine to search for niches regulating the intestine stem cell homeostasis. A small GTPase, Rab11 caused strong intestine stem cell (ISC) proliferation and tissue hyperplasia upon knockdown, due to increased production of inflammatory cytokines and growth factors. Increased inflammatory cytokines and proliferation were also observed in mouse Rab11a knockout (KO) intestine, indicating Rab11 regulatory role in the inflammation-induced hyperplasia is evolutionarily conserved and may also apply to human. We hypothesized that Rab11 is required to maintain cytokines in an appropriate state and its expression is down regulated in cancers. We investigated dextran sulfate sodium and chemical induced mouse colon cancer. Rab11 was largely reduced/absent in cancer tissues whereas well present in the normal tissue. We also investigated the correlation of Rab11 level and human cancer progression by immunofluorescence staining, and found that close to 50% and 40% of the cases studied had reduced Rab11 level by 20% and 30%, respectively. The greater the reduction is, the higher chance it is associated with more progressed cancer. Rab11, therefore, functions to suppress cancer progression and can be potentially developed towards a better diagnosis and treatment target for colon cancer. We will screen FDA approved drugs for ISC proliferation regulation, using a fly intestine tumor model established by expressing a human activated RAFGOFgene and a luciferase gene in the fly gut precursor cells. Selected drugs will be applied to test the Rab11 induced hyperplasia in fly, and further validated by mouse and human organoids derived from Rab11 KO mouse or human colon cancer tissues