Quinolinone inhibits proliferation of gastric cancer cells and induces their apoptosis via down-regulation of the expression of pro-oncogene c-Myc

Purpose: To determine the anti-proliferative potential of quinolinone against gastric cancer cells, and the underlying mechanism of action.Methods: Quinolinone-mediated proliferative changes were measured using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, while its effect on apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry. Transwell and wound healing assays were used for the determination of the effect of quinolinone on cell invasion and migration. The effect of quinolinone on protein expression levels were assayed with western blotting.Results: Quinolinone caused reduction in gastric cancer cell viability, but it had no effect on normal (GES-1) cells. Treatment with 8 μM quinolinone reduced the viability of SNU-5 and SGC-7901 cells to 32 and 27 %, respectively. Moreover, 8 μM quinolinone induced 67.90 and 71.54 % apoptosis in SNU-5 and SGC-7901 cells, respectively. Quinolinone significantly increased the population of cells in G1 phase, and suppressed migration potential (p < 0.05). Furthermore, in quinolinone-treated cells, the expression levels of p-PI3K, c-Myc and p-AKT were much lower than those in untreated cells (p < 0.05). Quinolinone also downregulated the expressions of MMP-2 and MMP-9, while it upregulated p21 expression in SNU-5 and SGC-7901 cells.Conclusion: Quinolinone suppresses the growth of SNU-5 and SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells via cell cycle arrest, induction of apoptosis and downregulation of the expressions of c-Myc and metalloproteinases. Thus, quinolinone may be developed as a potential drug candidate for the treatment of gastric cancer. Keywords: Gastric cancer, Apoptosis, Metalloproteinases, Phosphorylatio

Introgression of Chromosome 3Ns from Psathyrostachys huashanica into Wheat Specifying Resistance to Stripe Rust

Wheat stripe rust is a destructive disease in the cool and humid wheat-growing areas of the world. Finding diverse sources of stripe rust resistance is critical for increasing genetic diversity of resistance for wheat breeding programs. Stripe rust resistance was identified in the alien species Psathyrostachys huashanica, and a wheat- P. huashanica amphiploid line (PHW-SA) with stripe rust resistance was reported previously. In this study, a P. huashanica 3Ns monosomic addition line (PW11) with superior resistance to stripe rust was developed, which was derived from the cross between PHW-SA and wheat J-11. We evaluated the alien introgressions PW11-2, PW11-5 and PW11-8 which were derived from line PW11 for reaction to new Pst race CYR32, and used molecular and cytogenetic tools to characterize these lines. The introgressions were remarkably resistant to CYR32, suggesting that the resistance to stripe rust of the introgressions thus was controlled by gene(s) located on P. huashanica chromosome 3Ns. All derived lines were cytologically stable in term of meiotic chromosome behavior. Two 3Ns chromosomes of P. huashanica were detected in the disomic addition line PW11-2. Chromosomes 1B of substitution line PW11-5 had been replaced by a pair of P. huashanica 3Ns chromosomes. In PW11-8, a small terminal segment from P. huashanica chromosome arm 3NsS was translocated to the terminal region of wheat chromosomes 3BL. Thus, this translocated chromosome is designated T3BL-3NsS. These conclusions were further confirmed by SSR analyses. Two 3Ns-specific markers Xgwm181 and Xgwm161 will be useful to rapidly identify and trace the translocated fragments. These introgressions, which had significant characteristics of resistance to stripe rust, could be utilized as novel germplasms for wheat breeding

Vitamin D status and vitamin D deficiency risk factors among pregnancy of Shanghai in China

Abstract Background There is increasing awareness that vitamin D deficiency in pregnant women may be associated with several adverse effects for the mother and newborn. The risks for vitamin D deficiency are unclear. This study was to assess vitamin D nutritional status and vitamin D deficiency risk factors among pregnant women in Shanghai in China. Methods This study is a cross-sectional study conducted in the Sixth Affiliated People’s Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. A total of 953 healthy pregnant women participated, serological examinations and other variables included serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], total blood cholesterol (TCh), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL), and very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol, triglycerides at the first antenatal visit (12–14 weeks) pregnancy parity and age, body mass index (BMI) before pregnancy, and completed OGTTs test. Associations between vitamin D deficiency and possible predictors (age group, pre-pregnancy BMI, parity, and gestational hyperlipemia) were assessed with a multinomial logistic regression analysis. And also used to investigate the effects of 25(OH)D and the other variables on the occurrence of gestational diabetes mellitus. Results The mean vitamin D level of pregnancy was 16 (a range from 11 to 21) ng/ml, and severe vitamin D deficiency was 31.8% (303); vitamin D deficiency was 40.7% (388); vitamin D insufficiency was 25.1% (239); normal vitamin D was 2.4%(23). Vitamin D deficiency risk factors were age over 30, parity over 2, overweight, obese, and hyperlipemia. The increasing level of vitamin D nutritional status in pregnancy is significantly related to reducing gestational diabetes mellitus. Vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for gestational diabetes mellitus. Conclusions It is a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in Chinese pregnancy in Shanghai. Aging more than 30 years, the parity of more than 2, overweight and obesity, and hyperlipemia are risk factors for vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for gestational diabetes mellitus. Public health strategies to prevent vitamin D deficiency should focus on those risks to promote health pregnancy of Shanghai in China

Estimating Ruin Probability in an Insurance Risk Model with Stochastic Premium Income Based on the CFS Method

This paper considers the estimation of ruin probability in an insurance risk model with stochastic premium income. We first show that the ruin probability can be approximated by the complex Fourier series (CFS) expansion method. Then, we construct a nonparametric estimator of the ruin probability and analyze its convergence. Numerical examples are also provided to show the efficiency of our method when the sample size is finite

Experiment on Sediment Ammonia Nitrogen Release of Chaohu Lake in Varying Hydrodynamic Disturbance

Shallow water has low depth, and hydrodynamic conditions may change with the effect of wind and waves, resulting in sediment suspension and pollutant release. To investigate the influence of sediment incipient motion on ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) release in shallow lakes under hydrodynamic disturbance, we monitored ammonia nitrogen concentration in the overlying water of sediments in Chaohu Lake under static, weak, and strong disturbance conditions and analyzed the ammonia nitrogen release rate based on the these concentrations. In static condition, the sediment particles on the surface moved individually (individual movement), and the ammonia nitrogen release rate was 9.59 mg/m2/day. When the disturbance was weak and a small proportion of sediment particles started to move (small movement), the ammonia nitrogen release rate increased to 34.21 mg/m2/day. When the disturbance was further strengthened, and most of the sediment particles moved (general movement), the ammonia nitrogen release rate was 77.04 mg/m2/day. Distribution showed that the release rate varied the most in the western area followed by the eastern area, and the central area had the lowest release rate. The daily release of ammonia nitrogen in Chaohu Lake ranged from 8742.3 kg to 61,008.59 kg. In this experiment, we combined sediment movement and pollutant release, which provides a new reference for the study of pollutant release in shallow lakes and for ammonia nitrogen management in other shallow lakes

Improved Boiler-Turbine Coordinated Control of CHP Units with Heat Accumulators by Introducing Heat Source Regulation

It is significant for power system stability to improve the operation flexibility of grid-connected units. Such improvement has always been a hot topic, especially for coal-fired units. In recent decades, it has become increasingly urgent and challenging as large-scale fluctuant renewable energy is connected to the power grid. Boiler-turbine coordinated control strategy (CCS), which is employed to perform unit load control according to automatic generation control (AGC), has a slow ramp rate in general on account of large delay and inertia of boiler, so to improve the unit operating flexibility, it is necessary to explore usable heat storage and optimize the control strategy. In combined heat and power (CHP) units with heat accumulators, their heat and power are decoupled. Therefore the extraction steam that goes to the heating station can be regulated flexibly even operating in “heat-led mode”. The change of extraction steam flow has a significant influence on the turbine power output, so we propose to improve the load-following capability of CHP units by regulating the heat source flow. In this paper, the influencing model is set up, and it is about heat source flow variations on the electric power output. The load control strategy is further optimized and designed through combinations of CCS and heat source regulation. Finally simulations and analysis are performed on a 330MW CHP unit, and the results reveal that the power ramp rate with our strategy is two times faster than that with traditional strategy

GA-KELM: Genetic-Algorithm-Improved Kernel Extreme Learning Machine for Traffic Flow Forecasting

A prompt and precise estimation of traffic conditions on the scale of a few minutes by analyzing past data is crucial for establishing an effective intelligent traffic management system. Nevertheless, because of the irregularity and nonlinear features of traffic flow data, developing a prediction model with excellent robustness poses a significant obstacle. Therefore, we propose genetic-search-algorithm-improved kernel extreme learning machine, termed GA-KELM, to unleash the potential of improved prediction accuracy and generalization performance. By substituting the inner product with a kernel function, the accuracy of short-term traffic flow forecasting using extreme learning machines is enhanced. The genetic algorithm evades manual traversal of all possible parameters in searching for the optimal solution. The prediction performance of GA-KELM is evaluated on eleven benchmark datasets and compared with several state-of-the-art models. There are four benchmark datasets from the A1, A2, A4, and A8 highways near the ring road of Amsterdam, and the others are D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, D6, and P, close to Heathrow airport on the M25 expressway. On A1, A2, A4, and A8, the RMSEs of the GA-KELM model are 284.67 vehs/h, 193.83 vehs/h, 220.89 vehs/h, and 163.02 vehs/h, respectively, while the MAPEs of the GA-KELM model are 11.67%, 9.83%, 11.31%, and 12.59%, respectively. The results illustrate that the GA-KELM model is obviously superior to state-of-the-art models

Investigation of the impact of hydrodynamic conditions on sediment resuspension in shallow lakes

In this study, we sampled the original sediment columns from three points located in the eastern, central, and western areas of Chaohu Lake, and then investigated sediment resuspension under hydraulic disturbances in the laboratory. The results showed that when the hydraulic disturbance is weak and sediment surface shear stress is small (<0.02 N/m²‌), sediment surface layer moves alone. When the hydraulic disturbance is moderate and sediment surface shear stress is within a threshold (3.7 N/m²‌), only a small proportion of the surface sediments begins to move. However, when the hydraulic disturbance is further strengthened and sediment surface shear stress is larger than the threshold value, surface sediments move smoothly. By the experimental results, we found that the plankton layer is about 1 mm (1.56% of the maximum content of suspended matter (SSCmax)), which is the major contribution of individual sediment initiation. The new sediment layer is about 19–22 mm (20.9% of the SSCmax), which considerably affects sediment resuspension in shallow lakes. The consolidated layer is about 22 mm below the bed surface, which requires high shear stress and is hard to be transferred to the water column. The quantified experimental observation results are further verified with the theoretical results

Rapid and Efficient Functionalized Ionic Liquid-Catalyzed Aldol Condensation Reactions Associated with Microwave Irradiation

Five quaternary ammonium ionic liquid (IL) and two tetrabutylphosphonium ILs were prepared and characterized. An environmentally benign and convenient functionalized ionic liquid catalytic system was thus explored in the aldol condensation reactions of aromatic aldehydes with acetone. The aldol reactions proceeded more efficiently through microwave-assisted heating than through conventional thermal heating. The yield of products obtained under microwave heating for 30 min was approximately 90%, and the ILs can be recovered and reused at least five times without apparent loss of activity. In addition, this catalytic system can be successfully extended to the Henry reactions