Inference of Allelopathy about Spartina Alterniflora to Scirpus Mariqueter by Effects of Activated Carbon on Soil

AbstractSpartina alterniflora Loisel is an invasive species in Jiuduansha Islands and threatens the survival of native species Scirpus mariqueter. In this study, activated carbon (AC) was applied to study the allelochemicals remained in the soil. Seed germination and seedling growth bioassays were used to test the allelopathic effect, and GC-MS was used to identify the allelochemicals. Our results showed: due to the invasion of S. alterniflora, germination of S. mariqueter seeds and the growth of seedlings were significantly inhibited. When AC was added into S. mariqueter soil, the germination had not been affected while the seedling growth was promoted significantly. When AC was added into the soil of S. alterniflora, both the germination and the seedling growth had an obvious improvement. All indicated that S. alterniflora soil contained allelochemicals which would be absorbed by AC. The identified allelochemicals were hexadecanoic acid, octadecanoic acid, dibutyl phthalate, (adipic acid, isohexyl methyl ester) and (adipic acid, di (oct-4-yl ester))

Loss of heterozygosity in multistage carcinogenesis of esophageal carcinoma at high-incidence area in Henan Province, China

Aim: Microsatellites are the repeated DNA sequences scattered widely within the genomes and closely linked with many important genes. This study was designed to characterize the changes of microsatellite DNA loss of heterozygosity (LOH) in esophageal carcinogenesis. Methods: Allelic deletions in 32 cases of matched precancerous, cancerous and normal tissues were examined by syringe microdissection under an anatomic microscope and microsatellite polymorphism analysis using 15 polymorphic markers on chromosomes 3p, 5q, 6p, 9p, 13q, 17p, 17q and 18q. Results: Microsatellite DNA LOH was observed in precancerous and cancerous tissues, except D9S1752. The rate of LOH increased remarkably with the lesions progressed from basal cell hyperplasia (BCH) to squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (P60%). LOH loci were different in precancerous and cancerous tissues. LOH in D3S1234 and TP53 was the common event in different lesions from the same patients. Conclusion: Microsatellite DNA LOH occurs in early stage of human esophageal carcinogenesis, even in BCH. With the lesion progressed, gene instability increases, the accumulation of this change may be one of the important mechanisms driving precancerous lesions to cancer. © 2005 The WJG Press and Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

Significance of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in metastasis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and its potential as a target for anti-metastasis therapy

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Competitive Binding Between Id1 and E2F1 to Cdc20 Regulates E2F1 Degradation and Thymidylate Synthase Expression to Promote Esophageal Cancer Chemoresistance

Purpose: Chemoresistance is a major obstacle in cancer therapy. We found that fluorouracil (5-FU)-resistant esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell lines, established through exposure to increasing concentrations of 5-FU, showed upregulation of Id1, IGF2, and E2F1. We hypothesized that these genes may play an important role in cancer chemoresistance. Experimental Design: In vitro and in vivo functional assays were performed to study the effects of Id1–E2F1–IGF2 signaling in chemoresistance. Quantitative real-time PCR, Western blotting, immunoprecipitation, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and dual-luciferase reporter assays were used to investigate the molecular mechanisms by which Id1 regulates E2F1 and by which E2F1 regulates IGF2. Clinical specimens, tumor tissue microarray, and Gene Expression Omnibus datasets were used to analyze the correlations between gene expressions and the relationships between expression profiles and patient survival outcomes. Results: Id1 conferred 5-FU chemoresistance through E2F1-dependent induction of thymidylate synthase expression in esophageal cancer cells and tumor xenografts. Mechanistically, Id1 protects E2F1 protein from degradation and increases its expression by binding competitively to Cdc20, whereas E2F1 mediates Id1-induced upregulation of IGF2 by binding directly to the IGF2 promoter and activating its transcription. The expression level of E2F1 was positively correlated with that of Id1 and IGF2 in human cancers. More importantly, concurrent high expression of Id1 and IGF2 was associated with unfavorable patient survival in multiple cancer types. Conclusions: Our findings define an intricate E2F1-dependent mechanism by which Id1 increases thymidylate synthase and IGF2 expressions to promote cancer chemoresistance. The Id1–E2F1–IGF2 regulatory axis has important implications for cancer prognosis and treatment. ©2015 AACR.postprin

Proximal Analysis and the Minimal Time Function of a Class of Semilinear Control Systems

The minimal time function of a class of semilinear control systems is considered in Banach spaces, with the target set being a closed ball. It is shown that the minimal time functions of the Yosida approximation equations converge to the minimal time function of the semilinear control system. Complete characterization is established for the subdifferential of the minimal time function satisfying the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation. These results extend the theory of finite dimensional linear control systems to infinite dimensional semilinear control systems

A hysteretic multiscale formulation for nonlinear dynamic analysis of composite materials

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.A new multiscale finite element formulation is presented for nonlinear dynamic analysis of heterogeneous structures. The proposed multiscale approach utilizes the hysteretic finite element method to model the microstructure. Using the proposed computational scheme, the micro-basis functions, that are used to map the microdisplacement components to the coarse mesh, are only evaluated once and remain constant throughout the analysis procedure. This is accomplished by treating inelasticity at the micro-elemental level through properly defined hysteretic evolution equations. Two types of imposed boundary conditions are considered for the derivation of the multiscale basis functions, namely the linear and periodic boundary conditions. The validity of the proposed formulation as well as its computational efficiency are verified through illustrative numerical experiments

Landscape Composition and Spatial Prediction of Alveolar Echinococcosis in Southern Ningxia, China

In humans, larvae of the fox tapeworm Echinococcus multilocularis typically infect the liver where metastasis, calcification and necrosis cause the zoonotic disease alveolar echinococcosis (AE). Treatment is difficult. Early detection greatly increases patient life expectancy but under-detection is a problem. Understanding the ecological conditions that elevate AE risk would help identify at-risk communities. Voles and lemmings of the subfamily Arvicolinae are important intermediate hosts in most AE endemic areas, and arvicoline habitat has been proposed as a predictor of AE risk. Using a model of spatial autocorrelation with land cover identified from satellite remote sensing imagery, we identified AE hotspots in southern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), China. Hotspots were not located near optimal arvicoline habitats. Thus, non-arvicolines provide principal reservoirs in NHAR and the range of ecological conditions sustaining E. multilocularis transmission in China is greater than previously thought. We also show: social factors explain higher prevalence in females than males; dogs increase infection risk; and we argue that water source quality is important via interaction with other environmental variables. Our map of AE prevalence represents the current state-of-the-art regarding the spatial distribution of AE in southern NHAR and provides an important baseline for future monitoring programs there

Antimicrobials: a global alliance for optimizing their rational use in intra-abdominal infections (AGORA)

Intra-abdominal infections (IAI) are an important cause of morbidity and are frequently associated with poor prognosis, particularly in high-risk patients. The cornerstones in the management of complicated IAIs are timely effective source control with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Empiric antimicrobial therapy is important in the management of intra-abdominal infections and must be broad enough to cover all likely organisms because inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy is associated with poor patient outcomes and the development of bacterial resistance. The overuse of antimicrobials is widely accepted as a major driver of some emerging infections (such as C. difficile), the selection of resistant pathogens in individual patients, and for the continued development of antimicrobial resistance globally. The growing emergence of multi-drug resistant organisms and the limited development of new agents available to counteract them have caused an impending crisis with alarming implications, especially with regards to Gram-negative bacteria. An international task force from 79 different countries has joined this project by sharing a document on the rational use of antimicrobials for patients with IAIs. The project has been termed AGORA (Antimicrobials: A Global Alliance for Optimizing their Rational Use in Intra-Abdominal Infections). The authors hope that AGORA, involving many of the world's leading experts, can actively raise awareness in health workers and can improve prescribing behavior in treating IAIs