An efficient linearly-implicit energy-preserving scheme with fast solver for the fractional nonlinear wave equation

The paper considers the Hamiltonian structure and develops efficient energy-preserving schemes for the nonlinear wave equation with a fractional Laplacian operator. To this end, we first derive the Hamiltonian form of the equation by using the fractional variational derivative and then applying the finite difference method to the original equation to obtain a semi-discrete Hamiltonian system. Furthermore, the scalar auxiliary variable method and extrapolation technique is used to approximate a semi-discrete system to construct an efficient linearly-implicit energy-preserving scheme. A fast solver for the proposed scheme is presented to reduce CPU consumption. Ample numerical results are given to finally confirm the efficiency and conservation of the developed scheme

HSPA12B: A Novel Facilitator of Lung Tumor Growth

Lung tumor progression is regulated by proangiogenic factors. Heat shock protein A12B (HSPA12B) is a recently identified regulator of expression of proangiogenic factors. However, whether HSPA12B plays a role in lung tumor growth is unknown. To address this question, transgenic mice overexpressing HSPA12B (Tg) and wildtype littermates (WT) were implanted with Lewis lung cancer cells to induce lung tumorigenesis. Tg mice showed significantly higher number and bigger size of tumors than WT mice. Tg tumors exhibited increased angiogenesis and proliferation while reduced apoptosis compared with WT tumors. Interestingly, a significantly enhanced upregulation of Cox-2 was detected in Tg tumors than in WT tumors. Also, Tg tumors demonstrated upregulation of VEGF and angiopoietin-1, downregulation of AKAP12, and increased eNOS phosphorylation compared with WT tumors. Celecoxib, a selective Cox-2 inhibitor, suppressed the HSPA12B-induced increase in lung tumor burden. Moreover, celecoxib decreased angiogenesis and proliferation whereas increased apoptosis in Tg tumors. Additionally, celecoxib reduced angiopoietin-1 expression and eNOS phosphorylation but increased AKAP12 levels in Tg tumors. Our results indicate that HSPA12B stimulates lung tumor growth via a Cox-2-dependent mechanism. The present study identified HSPA12B as a novel facilitator of lung tumor growth and a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of lung cancer

The 100 most-cited articles in castration-resistant prostate cancer: a bibliometric analysis

Purpose: To assess the present landscape and future research directions, a bibliometric analysis was performed to identify the characteristics of the 100 most-cited articles (T100 articles) on CRPC research. Methods: A list of the T100 articles investigating CRPC was generated by searching the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection database. Different characteristics of the T100 articles, including the countries/territories, journals, authors, and research areas, were analyzed. Results: The number of citations of T100 articles published between 1992 and 2017 ranged from 282 to 3594, with an average of 654.9 citations. According to the topic of the article, “Mechanisms related to tumor progression or metastasis” ranked first with 41 T100 articles, while immunotherapy ranked fourth with 7 T100 articles. The T100 articles originated from 31 countries, with more than half originating from the USA (n = 89). Professor Scher HI published the most T100 articles as the first author (4) and as the corresponding author (5), while Pro De Bono JS from the Institute of Cancer Research published 3 articles as the first author and 8 articles as the corresponding author. The journal Cancer Research published 20 T100 articles with a total of 8946 citations. The number of T100 articles (r = 0.485, P = 0.01) and the total number of citations (r = 0.626, P < 0.001) were all positively correlated with the IF of the journal. Conclusions: This analysis offers a historical perspective on the progress and attempts to reveal future trends in CRPC research using bibliometric analysis. This study’s results suggest that immunotherapy and the study of androgen receptors as well as their signaling axes will possibly be hot topics and trends in CRPC research

Comparing the predictive value of quantitative magnetic resonance imaging parametric response mapping and conventional perfusion magnetic resonance imaging for clinical outcomes in patients with chronic ischemic stroke

Predicting clinical outcomes after stroke, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measures, remains a challenge. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prediction of long-term clinical outcomes after ischemic stroke using parametric response mapping (PRM) based on perfusion MRI data. Multiparametric perfusion MRI datasets from 30 patients with chronic ischemic stroke were acquired at four-time points ranging from V2 (6  weeks) to V5 (7  months) after stroke onset. All perfusion MR parameters were analyzed using the classic whole-lesion approach and voxel-based PRM at each time point. The imaging biomarkers from each acquired MRI metric that was predictive of both neurological and functional outcomes were prospectively investigated. For predicting clinical outcomes at V5, it was identified that PRMTmax-, PRMrCBV-, and PRMrCBV+ at V3 were superior to the mean values of the corresponding maps at V3. We identified correlations between the clinical prognosis after stroke and MRI parameters, emphasizing the superiority of the PRM over the whole-lesion approach for predicting long-term clinical outcomes. This indicates that complementary information for the predictive assessment of clinical outcomes can be obtained using PRM analysis. Moreover, new insights into the heterogeneity of stroke lesions revealed by PRM can help optimize the accurate stratification of patients with stroke and guide rehabilitation

Non-Standard Errors

In statistics, samples are drawn from a population in a data-generating process (DGP). Standard errors measure the uncertainty in estimates of population parameters. In science, evidence is generated to test hypotheses in an evidence-generating process (EGP). We claim that EGP variation across researchers adds uncertainty: Non-standard errors (NSEs). We study NSEs by letting 164 teams test the same hypotheses on the same data. NSEs turn out to be sizable, but smaller for better reproducible or higher rated research. Adding peer-review stages reduces NSEs. We further find that this type of uncertainty is underestimated by participants

Synthesis and in vitro biological activity of new non-steroidal platinum (II) complexes designed for the treatment of breast cancer

Breast cancer is the leading form of cancer among women in North America. The development of resistance to endocrine therapy as well as chemotherapy is presently the major obstacle to successful treatment of advanced breast cancer. Therefore, more potent and selective chemotherapeutic agents should be designed. An attractive solution to this problem is to combine both endocrine therapy and chemotherapy in a single agent. It may result in a more powerful approach to advanced breast cancer treatment. -- In order to achieve this goal, a series of new triphenylethylene platinum (II) complexes 39a-d, 40a-c and 41 have been designed and synthesized. The commercially available benzyl, 4-hydroxyphenyl ketone was efficiently transformed in eight steps into the platinum (II) complexes 39a-d with an overall yield of around 30%. In a similar sequence of reactions, the complexes 40a-c and 41 were also synthesized, the overall yield exceeded 40%. All new compounds were fully characterized by their infrared and ¹H, ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectra. The final compounds 39a-d, 40a-c and 41 also passed element analysis. -- The biological activity of the complexes 39a-d, 40a-c and 41 were evaluated in vitro on both ER⁺ and ER⁻ breast cancer cell lines: MCF-7 and MDA-MD-231. The complexes 40b-c showed promising antitumor activity. Their IC₅₀ is up to 28 fold lower than tamoxifen on MDA-MD-231, and 3 fold lower on MCF-7. However, there was no evidence of selective antitumor activity on ER⁺ breast cancer cell in vitro