The Effectiveness of a Smoking Cessation Intervention Program Based upon a Process Model of Health Motivation

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of participation in a health motivation-based intervention program on college students’ smoking behavior. One hundred and seventy smokers (mean age = 19.0 years, 151 males) from nine colleges and universities in Chengdu, China were randomly assigned to one of 5 groups that received between one and four sessions of the intervention, or no intervention. The intervention sessions included sequential activities based on the stages of the process model of health motivation. Each group completed questionnaires assessing health motivation and smoking behaviors at pre-test, immediately post-intervention, and at one month follow-up. Analyses indicated that the intervention program did improve participants’ health motivation, and that was associated with reduced levels of smoking relative to baseline. The greater the number of sessions, the greater the reduction in smoking

A Discrete-Time Direct-Torque Control for Direct-Drive PMSG-Based Wind Energy Conversion Systems

This paper proposes a novel flux space vector-based direct-torque control (DTC) scheme for permanent magnet synchronous generators (PMSGs) used in variable-speed direct drive wind energy conversion systems (WECSs). The discrete time control law, which is derived from the perspective of flux space vectors and load angle, predicts the desired stator flux vector for the next time-step with the torque and stator flux information only. The space-vector modulation (SVM) is then employed to generate the reference voltage vector, leading to a fixed switching frequency as well as lower flux and torque ripples when compared to the conventional DTC. Compared with other SVM-based DTC methods in the literature, the proposed DTC scheme eliminates the use of PI regulators and is less dependent on machine parameters, e.g., stator inductances and permanent magnet flux linkage, while the main advantages of the DTC, e.g., fast dynamic response and no need of coordinate transform, are preserved. The proposed DTC scheme is applicable for both nonsalient-pole and salient-pole PMSGs. The overall control scheme is simple to implement and is robust to parameter uncertainties and variations of the PMSGs. The effectiveness of the proposed discrete-time DTC scheme is verified by simulation and experimental results on a 180 W salient-pole PMSG and a 2.4-kW nonsalient-pole PMSG used in variable-speed direct-drive WECSs

Florofangchinoline inhibits proliferation of osteosarcoma cells via targeting of histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation and AMPK activation

Purpose: To investigate the effect of florofangchinoline on osteosarcoma cell growth in vitro, and the underlying mechanism of action.Methods: Changes in the viability of KHOS and Saos-2 cells were measured using water soluble tetrazolium salt (WST) assay, while apoptosis was determined using Annexin V/PI staining and flow cytometry. Increases in mtDNA, and expressions of PGC-1α and TFAM were assayed with immunoblot analysis and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), respectively.Results: Microscopic examination of florofangchinoline-treated cells showed significant decrease in cell density, relative to control cells (p < 0.05). Treatment with 10 μM florofangchinoline increased apoptosis in KHOS and Saos-2 cells to 56.32 and 63.75 %, respectively (p < 0.05). Florofangchinoline treatment markedly enhanced cleavage of caspase-3, caspase-8, caspase-9 and PARP. It elevated Bax level and reduced Bcl-2 in KHOS and Saos-2 cells. Moreover, florofangchinoline increased p21 and p-AMPKα levels, and mtDNA counts in KHOS and Saos-2 cells (p < 0.05). Moreover, in florofangchinoline-treated KHOS cells, the expressions of EED, EZH2 and SUZ12 were significantly suppressed (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Florofangchinoline inhibits osteosarcoma cell viability by activation of apoptosis. Moreover, it activates AMPK and down-regulates  histone H3 lysine 27 trimethylation in osteosarcoma cells. Therefore, florofangchinoline has potentials for development as a therapeutic drug forosteosarcoma. Keywords: Osteosarcoma, Histone H3, Florofangchinoline, Apoptosis, Chemotherapeuti

Ginkgolide K potentiates the protective effect of ketamine against intestinal ischemia/reperfusion injury by modulating NF-κB/ERK/JNK signaling pathway

Purpose: To investigate the effect of ginkgolide K and ketamine treatments, alone and in combination, on intestinal  ischemia/reperfusion injury (I/R)-induced injury in rats, as well as the mechanism involved. Methods: Rats were treated with ginkgolide K (GK, 15 mg/kg i.v) and ketamine (KTM, 100 mg/kg i.p.), either alone or in combination 30 min before the induction of intestinal I/R. The effects of GK and KTM were determined by assessing the levels of cytokines in serum, and parameters of oxidative stress and ROS production in the intestinal tissues of I/R rats. Moreover, intestinal mRNA expressions of JNK, ERK, p38 and NF-kB were determined by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Results: GK and KTM treatments, alone and in combination, reduced cytokine levels in serum and oxidative stress parameters in intestinal tissues, when compared to I/R group of rats. Treatments with GK and KTM, alone and in combination, mitigated the altered mRNA expressions of JNK, ERK, p38 and NF-kB in intestinal tissues of I/R-injured rats. Conclusion: These results reveal that GK potentiates the protective effect of KTM100 on I/R-induced intestinal injury in rats by regulating the NF-kB/ERK/JNK signaling pathway. Therefore, GK and KTM may find use in the management of I/R Keywords: Ginkgolide K, Ketamine, Intestinal injury, Ischemia/Reperfusion, Inflammatio

Purification, Characterization and in vitro Anti-Tumor Activity of Proteins from Arca subcrenata Lischke

Two purified proteins G-6 and G-4-2 were obtained from Arca subcrenata Lischke using the homogenization, salting-out with ammonium sulfate, ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration chromatography techniques. The purity of G-6 and G-4-2 was over 96%, as measured by RP-HPLC. G-6 and G-4-2 were measured by SDS-PAGE and IEF-PAGE to have molecular weights of 8.2 kDa and 16.0 kDa, and isoelectric points of 6.6 and 6.1, respectively. The amino acid constituents of G-6 and G-4-2 were also determined. The existence of saccharides in G-6 was demonstrated by the phenol-sulfuric acid method. G-6 and G-4-2 inhibited the proliferation of human tumor cells in vitro. By MTT assay, the IC50 values of G-4-2 were 22.9 μg/mL, 46.1 μg/mL and 57.7 μg/mL against Hela, HL-60 and KB cell lines, respectively, and the IC50 value of G-6 against HL-60 cell line was measured to be 123.2 μg/mL

Safety and clinical outcomes of regional anaesthesia in Chinese patients with non-small cell lung cancer undergoing non-intubated lobectomy

Purpose: To determine the safety and clinical outcomes of epidural anaesthesia (EA) relative to internal intercostal nerve block (INB) in Chinese patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who were undergoing non-intubated thoracoscopic lobectomy.Methods: Chinese patients with NSCLC (stage I or II) with no evidence of metastasis were given either EA or INB, with equal number of patients in both groups. The peri-operative outcomes determined were duration of anaesthesia /duration of surgery, SpO2/PaCO2 levels, cases of hypotension, and blood loss. The post-operative outcome indices measured were pain score (determined using visual analogue scale (VAS), post-operative complications, chest drainage, duration of hospital stay, and deaths/mortality.Multiple regression analysis was used to confirm the results obtained in this study by adjusting potential covariates. Peri-operative and post-operative complications were compared between the two groups. The results obtained from 220 patients were subjected to statistical analysis.Results: Peri-operative results showed that patients who underwent INB had shorter duration of anaesthesia (12.3 vs 31.4 min, p < 0.05) and shorter duration of surgery (164.4 vs 197.2 min, p < 0.05) than patients who underwent EA for non-intubated lobectomy. Post-operative results showed that patients who underwent INB had significantly lower number of post-operative complications than those who received EA (29 vs 44 %, p < 0.05). The most common post-operative complications among patients in both treatment groups were nausea, vomiting, emphysema and pulmonary complications. Patients who underwent INB had shorter hospital stay than those who underwent EA (5.1 vs 7.5 days, p < 0.05). These results were confirmed through multiple regression analysis.Conclusion: These findings favour the use of INB for regional anaesthesia in NSCLC patients undergoing non-intubated lobectomy

Diversity and bioactivity of cultured aquatic fungi from the High Arctic region

This study assessed the diversity and α-glycosidase inhibitory activity of cultured fungi isolated from four aquatic environments (stream, pond, glacial ice, and estuary) in the Ny-Ålesund region (Svalbard, Norway, High Arctic). A total of 134 fungal isolates were obtained from 13 water samples. Based on morphological characteristics and sequence analyses of the nuclear ribosomal DNA internal transcribed spacer region, these fungal isolates were identified as belonging to 47 species, with 26 belonging to the Ascomycota, 20 to the Basidiomycota, and one to the Zygomycota. The most frequently detected fungal species were Vishniacozyma sp. 2, Cadophora sp. 2, Phenoliferia sp. 1, Dioszegia sp. 2, and Mortierella sp.; these species occurred in 10, eight, seven, six, and five of the samples, respectively. Among the 134 fungal isolates, 17 isolates of 15 species displayed high α-glycosidase inhibitory activity in culture. The results suggest that diverse and distinct populations of cultured fungi are present in Arctic aquatic environments, and they include taxa that are potential sources of bioactive molecules that may be used as prototype drugs for medicinal proposals

Ontology and Weighted D-S Evidence Theory-Based Vulnerability Data Fusion Method

With the rapid development of high-speed and large-scale complex network, network vulnerability data presents the characteristics of massive, multi-source and heterogeneous, which makes data fusion become more complex. Although existing data fusion methods can fuse multi-source data, they do not consider that the multisource data may affect the accuracy of fusion result. To solve this problem, we propose an ontology and weighted D-S evidence theory-based vulnerability data fusion method. In our method, we utilize ontology to describe the network vulnerability semantically and construct the network vulnerability ontology hierarchically. Then we use weighted D-S evidence theory to perform the operation of probability distribution and fusion processing. Besides, we simulate our method on MapReduce parallel computing platform. The experiment results show that our method is more effective and accurate compared with existing fusion approaches using single detection tool and traditional D-S evidence theory

Analysis of miRNAs and their target genes associated with lipid metabolism in duck liver

Citation: He, J. et al. Analysis of miRNAs and their target genes associated with lipid metabolism in duck liver. Sci. Rep. 6, 27418; doi: 10.1038/srep27418 (2016).Fat character is an important index in duck culture that linked to local flavor, feed cost and fat intake for costumers. Since the regulation networks in duck lipid metabolism had not been reported very clearly, we aimed to explore the potential miRNA-mRNA pairs and their regulatory roles in duck lipid metabolism. Here, Cherry-Valley ducks were selected and treated with/without 5% oil added in feed for 2 weeks, and then fat content determination was performed on. The data showed that the fat contents and the fatty acid ratios of C17:1 and C18:2 were up-regulated in livers of oil-added ducks, while the C12:0 ratio was down-regulated. Then 21 differential miRNAs, including 10 novel miRNAs, were obtain from the livers by sequencing, and 73 target genes involved in lipid metabolic processes of these miRNAs were found, which constituted 316 miRNA-mRNA pairs. Two miRNA-mRNA pairs including one novel miRNA and one known miRNA, N-miR-16020-FASN and gga-miR-144-ELOVL6, were selected to validate the miRNA-mRNA negative relation. And the results showed that N-mir-16020 and gga-miR-144 could respectively bind the 3?-UTRs of FASN and ELOVL6 to control their expressions. This study provides new sights and useful information for future research on regulation network in duck lipid metabolism