Visual analysis of lung neuroendocrine tumors based on CiteSpace knowledge graph

ObjectiveThe relevant literatures in the field of pulmonary neuroendocrine tumor were analyzed to understand the lineage, hot spots and development trends of research in this tumor.MethodThe Web of Science core collection was searched for English-language literature about neuroendocrine tumors of the lung published between 2000 and 2022. CiteSpace software was imported for visualization analysis of countries, institutions, co-cited authors and co-cited journals and sorting of high-frequency keywords, as well as co-cited references and keyword co-occurrence, clustering and bursting display.ResultsA total of 594 publications on neuroendocrine tumours of the lung were available, from 2000 to 2022, with an overall upward trend of annual publications in the literature. Authors or institutions from the United States, Italy, Japan and China were more active in this field, but there was little cooperation among the major countries. Co-cited references and keyword co-occurrence and cluster analysis showed that research on diagnostic instruments, pathogenesis, ectopic ACTH signs, staging and prognosis and treatment was a current research hotspot. The keyword bursts suggested that therapeutic approaches might be a key focus of future research into the field for pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors.ConclusionOver these 20 years, research related to neuroendocrine tumors of the lung has increased in fervour, with research on diagnostic instruments, pathogenesis, ectopic ACTH signs, staging and prognosis, and treatment being the main focus of research. Therapeutic treatments may be the future research trend in this field

Vitamin B1 Helps to Limit Mycobacterium tuberculosis Growth via Regulating Innate Immunity in a Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ-Dependent Manner

It is known that vitamin B1 (VB1) has a protective effect against oxidative retinal damage induced by anti-tuberculosis drugs. However, it remains unclear whether VB1 regulates immune responses during Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection. We report here that VB1 promotes the protective immune response to limit the survival of MTB within macrophages and in vivo through regulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ). VB1 promotes macrophage polarization into classically activated phenotypes with strong microbicidal activity and enhanced tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 expression at least in part by promoting nuclear factor-κB signaling. In addition, VB1 increases mitochondrial respiration and lipid metabolism and PPAR-γ integrates the metabolic and inflammatory signals regulated by VB1. Using both PPAR-γ agonists and deficient mice, we demonstrate that VB1 enhances anti-MTB activities in macrophages and in vivo by down-regulating PPAR-γ activity. Our data demonstrate important functions of VB1 in regulating innate immune responses against MTB and reveal novel mechanisms by which VB1 exerts its function in macrophages

Corticofugal Modulation of Initial Neural Processing of Sound Information from the Ipsilateral Ear in the Mouse

Background: Cortical neurons implement a high frequency-specific modulation of subcortical nuclei that includes the cochlear nucleus. Anatomical studies show that corticofugal fibers terminating in the auditory thalamus and midbrain are mostly ipsilateral. Differently, corticofugal fibers terminating in the cochlear nucleus are bilateral, which fits to the needs of binaural hearing that improves hearing quality. This leads to our hypothesis that corticofugal modulation of initial neural processing of sound information from the contralateral and ipsilateral ears could be equivalent or coordinated at the first sound processing level. Methodology/Principal Findings: With the focal electrical stimulation of the auditory cortex and single unit recording, this study examined corticofugal modulation of the ipsilateral cochlear nucleus. The same methods and procedures as described in our previous study of corticofugal modulation of contralateral cochlear nucleus were employed simply for comparison. We found that focal electrical stimulation of cortical neurons induced substantial changes in the response magnitude, response latency and receptive field of ipsilateral cochlear nucleus neurons. Cortical stimulation facilitated auditory response and shortened the response latency of physiologically matched neurons whereas it inhibited auditory response and lengthened the response latency of unmatched neurons. Finally, cortical stimulation shifted the best frequencies of cochlear neurons towards those of stimulated cortical neurons

Stability and bifurcation in a Holling type II predator–prey model with Allee effect and time delay

Abstract In this paper, we consider a Holling type II predator–prey model incorporating time delay and Allee effect in prey. We discuss the influence of Allee effect on the logistic equation. By analyzing the characteristic equation of the corresponding linearized system, we give the threshold condition for the local asymptotic stability of the system according to the change of birth rate or Allee effect in prey. Using the delay as a bifurcation parameter, the model undergoes a Hopf bifurcation at the coexistence equilibrium when the delay crosses some critical values. In addition, we show that if the Allee effect is large or the birth rate is small, then both predators and prey are extinct. The Allee effect can influence the stability of the system

Study on the Compatibility of Eco-Friendly Insulating Gas C5F10O/N2 and C5F10O/Air with Copper Materials in Gas-Insulated Switchgears

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) is widely used in the power industry because of its excellent insulation and arc extinguishing performance. However, the high greenhouse effect of this material is being restricted by many countries around the world, thereby discouraging its usage. As a potential alternative to SF6, the compatibility of C5F10O with conductive copper materials used in electrical equipment is of great significance in ensuring the safe and stable operation of environmentally friendly gas-insulated equipment. In this paper, the interaction among C5F10O/N2, C5F10O/air gas mixture, and copper was studied via experiments and simulations. When the C5F10O/N2 (or air) gas mixture comes in contact with copper at the gas–solid interface, a small portion of C5F10O is decomposed to form C3F6 (or C3F6 and C3F6O) at high temperatures. Meanwhile, at low temperatures (120 °C), the C5F10O/air gas mixture becomes more compatible with copper than with the C5F10O/N2 gas mixture. When the experiment temperatures range between 170 °C and 220 °C, the compatibility of the C5F10O/air gas mixture with copper is significantly inferior to its compatibility with copper. Under high temperatures, the C5F10O/air gas mixture shows severe corrosion on the copper surface due to the presence of O2, forms a thick cubic grain, and emits irritating gases. The simulations show that the carbonyl group in C5F10O is chemically active and can be easily adsorbed on the copper surface. An anti-corrosion treatment must be performed on copper materials in manufacturing equipment. The findings provide an important reference for the application of C5F10O gas mixture

Accurate Indoor Localization with Multiple Feature Fusion

In recent years, many fingerprint-based localization approaches have been proposed, in which different features (e.g., received signal strength (RSS) and channel state information (CSI)) were used as the fingerprints to distinguish different positions. Although CSI-based approaches usually achieve higher accuracy than RSSI-based approaches, we find that the localization results of different approaches usually compensate with each other, and by fusing different features we can get more accurate localization results than using only single feature. In this paper, we propose a localization method that fusing different features by combining results of different localization approaches to achieve higher accuracy. We first select three most possible candidate positions from all the candidate positions generated by different approaches according to a newly defined metric called confidence degree, and then use the weighted average of them as the position estimation. When there are more than three candidate positions, we use a minimal-triangle principle to break the tie and select three out of them. Our experiments show that the proposed approach achieves median error of 0.5 m and 1.1 m respectively in two typical indoor environments, significantly better than that of approaches using only single feature

Effects of stachyose on absorption and transportation of tea catechins in mice: possible role of Phase II metabolic enzymes and efflux transporters inhibition by stachyose

Background: Nutritional and absorption-promoting properties of stachyose combined with tea catechins (TC) have been revealed. However, the mechanism involved in non-digestible oligosaccharides-mediated enhancement of flavonoid absorption has largely remained elusive. Methods: This study was designed to investigate the molecular mechanism of stachyose in enhancing absorption and transportation of TC in mice. Mice were orally pre-treated with stachyose (50, 250, and 500 mg/kg·bw) for 0–8 weeks, and 1 h before sacrifice, mice were treated with TC (250 mg/kg·bw). Results: Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis showed that serum concentrations of epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epigallocatechin gallate were dose- and time-dependently elevated with stachyose pre-treatment in mice. Furthermore, pre-treatment with stachyose in mice reduced intestinal sulfotransferase and uridine diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase levels by 3.3–43.2% and 23.9–30.4%, relative to control mice, respectively. Moreover, intestinal P-glycoprotein and multidrug resistance-associated protein-1 contents were decreased in mice by pre-administration of stachyose in dose- and time-dependent manner. Conclusions: This is the first time to demonstrate that suppression of Phase II metabolic enzymes and efflux transporters of TC in the intestine can play a major role in increasing absorption of TC by stachyose feeding

Accurate Indoor Localization with Multiple Feature Fusion

In recent years, many fingerprint-based localization approaches have been proposed, in which different features (e.g., received signal strength (RSS) and channel state information (CSI)) were used as the fingerprints to distinguish different positions. Although CSI-based approaches usually achieve higher accuracy than RSSI-based approaches, we find that the localization results of different approaches usually compensate with each other, and by fusing different features we can get more accurate localization results than using only single feature. In this paper, we propose a localization method that fusing different features by combining results of different localization approaches to achieve higher accuracy. We first select three most possible candidate positions from all the candidate positions generated by different approaches according to a newly defined metric called confidence degree, and then use the weighted average of them as the position estimation. When there are more than three candidate positions, we use a minimal-triangle principle to break the tie and select three out of them. Our experiments show that the proposed approach achieves median error of 0.5 m and 1.1 m respectively in two typical indoor environments, significantly better than that of approaches using only single feature