Quality-Aware Selective Fusion Network for V-D-T Salient Object Detection.

Depth images and thermal images contain the spatial geometry information and surface temperature information, which can act as complementary information for the RGB modality. However, the quality of the depth and thermal images is often unreliable in some challenging scenarios, which will result in the performance degradation of the two-modal based salient object detection (SOD). Meanwhile, some researchers pay attention to the triple-modal SOD task, namely the visible-depth-thermal (VDT) SOD, where they attempt to explore the complementarity of the RGB image, the depth image, and the thermal image. However, existing triple-modal SOD methods fail to perceive the quality of depth maps and thermal images, which leads to performance degradation when dealing with scenes with low-quality depth and thermal images. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a quality-aware selective fusion network (QSF-Net) to conduct VDT salient object detection, which contains three subnets including the initial feature extraction subnet, the quality-aware region selection subnet, and the region-guided selective fusion subnet. Firstly, except for extracting features, the initial feature extraction subnet can generate a preliminary prediction map from each modality via a shrinkage pyramid architecture, which is equipped with the multi-scale fusion (MSF) module. Then, we design the weakly-supervised quality-aware region selection subnet to generate the quality-aware maps. Concretely, we first find the high-quality and low-quality regions by using the preliminary predictions, which further constitute the pseudo label that can be used to train this subnet. Finally, the region-guided selective fusion subnet purifies the initial features under the guidance of the quality-aware maps, and then fuses the triple-modal features and refines the edge details of prediction maps through the intra-modality and inter-modality attention (IIA) module and the edge refinement (ER) module, respectively. Extensive experiments are performed on VDT-2048 dataset, and the results show that our saliency model consistently outperforms 13 state-of-the-art methods with a large margin. Our code and results are available at https://github.com/Lx-Bao/QSFNet.

BSI-MVS: multi-view stereo network with bidirectional semantic information.

The basic principle of multi-view stereo (MVS) is to perform 3D reconstruction by extracting depth information from multiple views. Most current SOTA MVS networks are based on Vision Transformer, which usually means expensive computational complexity. To reduce computational complexity and improve depth map accuracy, we propose a MVS network with Bidirectional Semantic Information (BSI-MVS). Firstly, we design a Multi-Level Spatial Pyramid module to generate multiple layers of feature map for extracting multi-scale information. Then we propose a 2D Bidirectional-LSTM module to capture bidirectional semantic information at different time steps in the horizontal and vertical directions, which contains abundant depth information. Finally, cost volumes are built based on various levels of feature maps to optimize the final depth map. We experiment on the DTU and BlendedMVS datasets. The result shows that our network, in terms of overall metrics, surpasses TransMVSNet, CasMVSNet, CVP-MVSNet, and AACVP-MVSNet respectively by 17.84%, 36.42%, 14.96%, and 4.86%, which also shows a noticeable performance enhancement in objective metrics and visualizations.

Biomechanics and finite element analysis comparing posterior T-plates with LCP for fixation of posterolateral tibial plate fractures.

Objective: The treatment for posterolateral tibial plateau fractures (PTPF) have been subjects of controversy. We conducted a study to improve the fixation of PTPF through a lateral approach. Methods: We utilized 40 synthetic tibias and categorized the fracture models into five groups based on the locking compression plate (LCP) and T-distal radius plate (TPP) via various forms of fixation with screws through the posterolateral (PL) fracture fragments. I: Two-screw fixation using two locking screws (LPTL). Ⅱ: Two-screw fixation with both variable angle locking screws (LPTV). Ⅲ: One-screw fixation with one locking screw (LPOL). Ⅳ: One-screw fixation with one locking screw and two anteroposterior lag screws (LPOLTL). Ⅴ: a distal radius plate with three locking screws (TPP). Biomechanical tests were conducted to observe the axial compression displacement of the PL fracture fragments at force levels of 250 N, 500 N, and 750 N, as well as to determine the failure load and the axial stiffness for each respective group. Results: Under a 750 N load condition, the displacements within the five experimental groups exhibited the following trend: Ⅴ < Ⅱ < Ⅰ< Ⅳ < Ⅲ. However, there were no significant differences between Group V and Group II, Group I and Group IV (p > 0.05), and only Group Ⅲ demonstrated a displacement exceeding 3 mm. The failure load and the axial stiffness exhibited the same trend. Conversely, statistical significance was identified among the remaining group compared with Group Ⅲ (p < 0.05). Regarding the finite element analysis, the maximum displacements for the five models under the load of 750 N exhibited the following trend: Ⅴ < Ⅱ < Ⅰ< Ⅳ < Ⅲ. The following trends were observed in maximum von Mises stresses for these models under the load of 750 N: Ⅴ < Ⅱ < Ⅳ< Ⅰ < Ⅲ. Conclusion: It is crucial to address the inadequate mechanical strength associated with single screw fixation of LCP for fixing PL fractures in a clinical setting. The biomechanical strength of two-screw fixation surpasses that of single-screw fixation. Introducing variable-angle screws can further enhance the fixation range. Furthermore, the addition of two lag screws threaded from anterior to posterior can compensate the mechanical stability, when PL fracture is fixed with single screw in clinic.

Potential problem and solution of lateral plate postposition for the posterolateral tibial plateau fracture.

BACKGROUND: There has been controversial for the treatment of the posterolateral tibial plateau fractures (PTPF). This study aimed to evaluate clinic outcomes of the lateral locking compression plate (LCP) postposition, analyze the feasibility of LCP postposition through anatomical measurement, and address the potential problems of LCP postposition through the biomechanical assessment. METHODS: 39 patients with PTPF undergoing LCP fixation between June 2019 and June 2022 were retrospectively evaluated. All cases were divided into two group: Group A (15 cases) employed plate transverse arm postpositioning with posterolateral (PL) fracture fixation using two raft screws, while Group B (24 cases) utilized non-postpositioning with fixation by a single raft screw. Surgical duration, intraoperative blood loss, the change of lateral tibial plateau angle (LTPA), lateral tibial plateau posterior slope angle (LPSA) and fracture collapse between immediate postoperative and last follow up, range of motion (ROM), HSS knee score, and Lysholm knee score were recorded. CT measurements of the fibular head superior space and LCP transverse arm were taken in 50 healthy adult knees to assess postposition feasibility. Finally, three fracture models were established using finite element analysis: Model A with plate postposition and PL split fracture fixed by two raft screws of transverse arm, Model B with plate non-postposition and PL split fracture fixed by one raft screw, and Model C with plate non-postposition and PL split fracture fixed by one raft screw and anterior-posterior tension screws. Loadings of 250N, 500N, and 750N were applied for the analysis of the displacement degree, von Mises stress distribution. RESULTS: Results indicate comparable operative duration and intraoperative hemorrhage between groups. Complications were minimal in both groups. Group A demonstrated superior outcomes in terms of radiographic parameters, functional scores, and fracture collapse prevention. CT measurements revealed compatibility in 72% of healthy knees with the postpositioning technique. Finite element analysis indicated favorable biomechanical stability. CONCLUSION: Not all patients with PTPF were applicable to the management of the plate postposition and two raft screws fixation, even though this technique exerted good biomechanical stability and achieved satisfactory clinic outcomes. When the PL fracture was fixed by only raft screw through LCP owing to various reasons, two anterior-posterior tension screws might be necessitated to maintain the fracture stability.

Description length guided nonlinear unified Granger causality analysis.

Most Granger causality analysis (GCA) methods still remain a two-stage scheme guided by different mathematical theories; both can actually be viewed as the same generalized model selection issues. Adhering to Occam's razor, we present a unified GCA (uGCA) based on the minimum description length principle. In this research, considering the common existence of nonlinearity in functional brain networks, we incorporated the nonlinear modeling procedure into the proposed uGCA method, in which an approximate representation of Taylor's expansion was adopted. Through synthetic data experiments, we revealed that nonlinear uGCA was obviously superior to its linear representation and the conventional GCA. Meanwhile, the nonlinear characteristics of high-order terms and cross-terms would be successively drowned out as noise levels increased. Then, in real fMRI data involving mental arithmetic tasks, we further illustrated that these nonlinear characteristics in fMRI data may indeed be drowned out at a high noise level, and hence a linear causal analysis procedure may be sufficient. Next, involving autism spectrum disorder patients data, compared with conventional GCA, the network property of causal connections obtained by uGCA methods appeared to be more consistent with clinical symptoms.

CircXRN2 suppresses tumor progression driven by histone lactylation through activating the Hippo pathway in human bladder cancer.

BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer (BCa) is the fourth most common malignant tumor with a poor prognosis worldwide. Further exploration and research are needed to unmask the underlying roles and molecular mechanisms of circular RNAs. In the current study, our findings showed that circXRN2 suppresses tumor progression driven by histone lactylation by activating the Hippo pathway in human bladder cancer. METHODS: RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) followed by circRNA sequencing confirmed circXRN2 as the research object. Overexpression of circXRN2 and knockdown of TAZ/YAP further verified the biological functions in T24 and TCCSUP cells. RIP, immunoprecipitation and coimmunoprecipitation were used to elucidate the interaction between circXRN2 and LATS1. A Seahorse metabolic analyzer was used to determine the glycolytic rate. Cleavage under targets and Tagmentation (CUT&Tag) and chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) were employed to ensure the regulatory roles of H3K18 lactylation in the transcriptional activity of LCN2. RESULTS: CircXRN2 is aberrantly downregulated in bladder cancer tissues and cell lines. CircXRN2 inhibits the proliferation and migration of tumor cells both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, circXRN2 serves as a negative regulator of glycolysis and lactate production. Mechanistically, circXRN2 prevents LATS1 from SPOP-mediated degradation by binding to the SPOP degron and then activates the Hippo signaling pathway to exert various biological functions. The circXRN2-Hippo pathway regulatory axis further modulates tumor progression by inhibiting H3K18 lactylation and LCN2 expression in human bladder cancer. CONCLUSIONS: CircXRN2 suppresses tumor progression driven by H3K18 lactylation by activating the Hippo signaling pathway in human bladder cancer. Our results indicated novel therapeutic targets and provided promising strategies for clinical intervention in human bladder cancer.

Incidence and risk factors of isolated calf muscular venous thrombosis after tibial plateau fractures surgery.

BACKGROUND: The risks associated with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) have gained significant recognition over time. A prevalent form of distal DVT is isolated calf muscular venous thrombosis (ICMVT). Despite its common clinical occurrence, data on ICMVT subsequent to tibial plateau fracture (TPF) surgery are scarce. This study aimed to examine the epidemiological characteristics and associated risk factors (RFs) of ICMVT following TPF surgery. METHODS: For this retrospective analysis, we included patients from our hospital, who underwent TPF surgery between March 2017 and March 2021. Patients' electronic medical records were reviewed, including admission details, fracture classification, surgical procedures, and laboratory biomarkers. The HSS (The American Hospital for Special Surgery) and Rasmussen scores were employed to evaluate the clinical effect. A Color Duplex Flow Imager (CDFI) was regularly used to detect pre- and postoperative venous thrombosis in the lower limbs. Finally, uni- and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to identify independent RFs associated with ICMVT. RESULTS: Overall, 481 participants were recruited for analysis. Postoperative ICMVT occurred in 47 patients. All ICMVTs occurred on the affected side. Four of the 47 ICMVT patients exhibited sudden postoperative swelling in the affected limb. The HSS and Rasmussen scores in the non-ICMVT cohort (87.6 ± 8.2, 16.0 ± 1.7) were markedly different from the ICMVT cohort (84.8 ± 8.2, 15.5 ± 1.6) (p = 0.014, p = 0.031). This study finally identified five postoperative ICMVT-related RFs, which were age (> 55 years old) (OR 3.06; 95% CI 1.47-6.37; p = 0.003), gender (female) (OR 2.67; 95% CI 1.37-5.22; p = 0.004), surgical duration (> 114 min) (OR 3.14; 95% CI 1.44-6.85; p = 0.004), elevated white blood cell content (OR 2.85; 95% CI 1.47-5.51; p = 0.002), and hyponatremia (OR 2.31; 95% CI 1.04-5.12; p = 0.040). CONCLUSION: The epidemiological findings of this study may help predict ICMVT risk after surgery thus facilitating the development of individualized clinical assessments and targeted prevention programs.

Comparison of laparoscopic, robotic, and open retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for non-seminomatous germ cell tumor: a single-center retrospective cohort study.

PURPOSE: To compare the perioperative outcomes of L-RPLND, R-RPLND and O-RPLND, and determine which one can be the mainstream option. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed medical records of 47 patients undergoing primary RPLND by three different surgical techniques for stage I-II NSGCT between July 2011 and April 2022 at our center. Standard open and laparoscopic RPLND was performed with usual equipment, and robotic RPLND was operated with da Vinci Si system. RESULTS: Forty-seven patients underwent RPLND during 2011-2022, and 26 (55.3%) of them received L-RPLND, 14 (29.8%) were operated with robot, while 7 (14.9%) were performed O-RPLND. The median follow-up was 48.0 months, 48.0 months, and 60.0 months, respectively. The oncological outcomes were comparable among all groups. In L-RPLND group, there were 8 (30.8%) cases of low grade (Clavien I-II) complications, and 3 (11.5%) cases of high-grade (Clavien III-IV) complications. In R-RPLND group, one (7.1%) low-grade complication and four (28.6%) high-grade complications were observed. In O-RPLND group, there were 2 (28.5%) cases of low-grade complications and one case (14.2%) of high-grade one. The operation duration of L-RPLND was the shortest. In O-RPLND group, the number of positive lymph nodes were higher than other two groups. Patients undergoing open surgery had lower (p < 0.05) red blood cell count, hemoglobin level, and higher (p < 0.05) estimated blood loss, white blood cell count than those receiving either laparoscopic or robotic surgery. CONCLUSION: All three surgical techniques are comparable in safety, oncological, andrological, and reproductive outcomes under the circumstance of not using primary chemotherapy. L-RPLND might be the most cost-effective option.

Shorter TR combined with finer atlas positively modulate topological organization of brain network: A resting state fMRI study.

BACKGROUND: The use of shorter TR and finer atlases in rs-fMRI can provide greater detail on brain function and anatomy. However, there is limited understanding of the effect of this combination on brain network properties. METHODS: A study was conducted with 20 healthy young volunteers who underwent rs-fMRI scans with both shorter (0.5s) and long (2s) TR. Two atlases with different degrees of granularity (90 vs 200 regions) were used to extract rs-fMRI signals. Several network metrics, including small-worldness, Cp, Lp, Eloc, and Eg, were calculated. Two-factor ANOVA and two-sample t-tests were conducted for both the single spectrum and five sub-frequency bands. RESULTS: The network constructed using the combination of shorter TR and finer atlas showed significant enhancements in Cp, Eloc, and Eg, as well as reductions in Lp and γ in both the single spectrum and subspectrum (p < 0.05, Bonferroni correction). Network properties in the 0.082-0.1 Hz frequency range were weaker than those in the 0.01-0.082 Hz range. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that the use of shorter TR and finer atlas can positively affect the topological characteristics of brain networks. These insights can inform the development of brain network construction methods.

Improving diameter measurement from Fraunhofer diffraction with fringe segment splicing.

Fraunhofer diffraction is an easy but powerful method for measuring the diameter of a thin filament. In practice, however, the diffraction pattern attainable is always subject to limits imposed by various imperfections in real systems, such as small angle approximation and sensor threshold, thus degrading the measurement resolution. In this Letter, we propose a method of fringe segment splicing for improving the diameter measurement from Fraunhofer diffraction. The fringe segment is chosen from a real diffraction pattern and is used to reproduce an ideal diffraction fringe, where the theoretical estimates give the best approximation to the observations. The problem of diameter measurement is solved in the spatial frequency-domain with an ideal diffraction fringe. Our results show that the relative error in this method is less than 0.1% and is far superior to that of previous methods.

Investigating dynamic causal network with unified Granger causality analysis.

BACKGROUND: Dynamic coupling phenomena characterize a widespread fundamental mechanism for the functional brain, which involves large-scale interactions at a multi-level. The Granger causality analysis (GCA) provides a data-driven procedure to investigate causal connections and has the potential to be a powerful dynamic capturing tool. NEW METHOD: In this paper, distinct from the conventional two-stage scheme of most GCA methods, we suggest a unified GCA (uGCA) method incorporating a sliding window to further capture dynamic connections. And the uGCA method integrates all related procedures into the same space by a single mathematical theory, which involves a description length guided framework. RESULTS: Through synthetic data experiments and real fMRI data experiments, we illustrated the effectiveness and priority of the proposed uGCA method. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: By varying the data length, we have demonstrated its superiority to conventional GCA in synthetic data experiments. We further illustrated the outstanding capability of their dynamic causal investigation in the fMRI data, involving serial mental arithmetic tasks under visual and auditory stimuli, respectively, one can evaluate the performance of different methods by accessing their network similarities among different stimuli. When varying windows size and step size of the sliding window, respectively, compared with conventional GCA, the uGCA identified higher network similarities while ensuring more robust performance. CONCLUSIONS: The stability and effectiveness of uGCA will show it an advantage in the further research of multi-level dynamic coupling and characterizing.

MVS-T: A Coarse-to-Fine Multi-View Stereo Network with Transformer for Low-Resolution Images 3D Reconstruction.

A coarse-to-fine multi-view stereo network with Transformer (MVS-T) is proposed to solve the problems of sparse point clouds and low accuracy in reconstructing 3D scenes from low-resolution multi-view images. The network uses a coarse-to-fine strategy to estimate the depth of the image progressively and reconstruct the 3D point cloud. First, pyramids of image features are constructed to transfer the semantic and spatial information among features at different scales. Then, the Transformer module is employed to aggregate the image's global context information and capture the internal correlation of the feature map. Finally, the image depth is inferred by constructing a cost volume and iterating through the various stages. For 3D reconstruction of low-resolution images, experiment results show that the 3D point cloud obtained by the network is more accurate and complete, which outperforms other advanced algorithms in terms of objective metrics and subjective visualization.

Circular RNA-regulated autophagy is involved in cancer progression.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a sort of long, non-coding RNA molecules with a covalently closed continuous ring structure without 5'-3' polarity and poly-A tail. The modulative role of circRNAs in malignant diseases has been elucidated by many studies in recent years via bioinformatics and high-throughput sequencing technologies. Generally, circRNA affects the proliferative, invasive, and migrative capacity of malignant cells via various mechanisms, exhibiting great potential as novel biomarkers in the diagnoses or treatments of malignancies. Meanwhile, autophagy preserves cellular homeostasis, serving as a vital molecular process in tumor progression. Mounting studies have demonstrated that autophagy can not only contribute to cancer cell survival but can also induce autophagic cell death in specific conditions. A growing number of research studies have indicated that there existed abundant associations between circRNAs and autophagy. Herein, we systemically reviewed and discussed recent studies on this topic in different malignancies and concluded that the circRNA-autophagy axis played crucial roles in the proliferation, metastasis, invasion, and drug or radiation resistance of different tumor cells.

HO-1 Protects Remnant Liver against Dysfunction after Major Hepatectomy in Humans.

OBJECTIVE: During major resection of liver carcinoma, liver regeneration (LR) is induced by various clinical and biological factors. Heme oxygenase (HO)-1 has been found as a key inducer of LR in preclinical trial. The clinical evidence for the role of HO-1 in liver dysfunction (LD) including LR is still unknown and has been included in this study. METHODS: Therefore, plasma HO-1 were monitored during perioperative period in 65 patients with hepatectomy, with 35 training and 30 validation cohorts. LD were evaluated by liver function serum markers and calculation of regeneration indices, respectively. RESULTS: In the training setting, HO-1 levels were remarkably reduced after liver resection (P < 0.001) and gradually recovered within 7 days after surgery. Preoperative HO-1 specifically predicted LD during the first week after surgery (AUC: 0.757; P = 0.01). In patients with LD and complications after surgery, HO-1 levels decreased throughout the perioperative period. In addition, we had also confirmed that low levels of HO-1 (<169 ng/ml) before surgery were associated with an increase in the incidence of postoperative LD and morbidity (P = 0.007, P = 0.045), and decrease of liver regeneration (P = 0.005). And HO-1 was an independent predictor for poor clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS: We had provided the first clinical data verifying that human HO-1 was related to LD. Consequently, HO-1 levels can be used as effective clinical indicators to predict LD and clinical outcome, and can be used as intervention target before liver resection.

Comprehensive analysis of pyroptosis regulators and tumor immune microenvironment in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Increasing evidence has indicated that pyroptosis could regulate the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) to affect the tumor development. As a highly immunogenic tumor, clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) can benefit from immunotherapy, but related research on pyroptosis in the TIME of ccRCC is still deficient. METHODS: Available data derived from TCGA and GEO databases were analyzed to identify the different expression profiles of pyroptosis in ccRCC and normal tissues, and the correlation of pyroptosis regulators with TIME was evaluated in ccRCC. RESULTS: According to consensus clustering analysis, two differential expression levels of subtypes were identified to affect patient prognosis, and were related to histological tumor stage and grade. Immune cells were calculated by the CIBERSORT algorithm. Higher infiltrated levels of B cells naive, T cells CD4 memory resting, NK cells resting, monocytes, macrophages were observed in Cluster 1, while higher infiltrated levels of CD8+ T cells, T follicular helper cells, and Tregs were observed in Cluster 2. Gene set enrichment analysis indicated that Cluster 2 was enriched in multiple immune-related pathways, including the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. Moreover, overexpression of eight immune checkpoints was related to ccRCC development, especially in Cluster 2. As four potentially key pyroptosis regulators, AIM2, CASP5, NOD2, and GZMB were confirmed to be upregulated in ccRCC by RT-qPCR analysis and further verified by the HPA database. Further pan-cancer analysis suggested that these four pyroptosis regulators were differentially expressed and related to the TIME in multiple cancers. CONCLUSION: The present study provided a comprehensive view of pyroptosis regulators in the TIME of ccRCC, which may provide potential value for immunotherapy.

Circular RNA CircPPP1CB Suppresses Tumorigenesis by Interacting With the MiR-1307-3p/SMG1 Axis in Human Bladder Cancer.

Circular RNA (circRNA) is a newly discovered endogenous non-coding RNA (ncRNA), which is characterized with a closed circular structure. A growing body of evidence has verified the vital roles of circRNAs in human cancer. In this research, we selected circPPP1CB as a study object by circRNA sequencing and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) validation in human bladder cancer (BC). CircPPP1CB is downregulated in BC and is negatively correlated with clinical stages and histological grades. Functionally, circPPP1CB modulated cell growth, metastasis, and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) process in vitro and in vivo. Mechanically, we performed various experiments to verify the circPPP1CB/miR-1307-3p/SMG1 regulatory axis. Taken together, our results demonstrated that circPPP1CB participates in tumor growth, metastasis, and EMT process by interacting with the miR-1307-3p/SMG1 axis, and that circPPP1CB might be a novel therapeutic target and diagnostic biomarker in human BC.

Thymoquinone Suppresses the Proliferation, Migration and Invasiveness through Regulating ROS, Autophagic Flux and miR-877-5p in Human Bladder Carcinoma Cells.

Bladder carcinoma is among the top 10 most frequently diagnosed cancer types in the world. As a phytochemical active metabolic, thymoquinone (TQ) is extracted from seeds of Nigella sativa, possessing various biological properties in a wide range of diseases. Moreover, the outstanding anti-cancer effect of TQ is attracting increasing attentions. In certain circumstances, moderate autophagy is regarded to facilitate the adaptation of malignant cells to different stressors. Conversely, closely linked with the mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) loss, the upregulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) is reported to activate the cell apoptosis in many cancer types. Furthermore, the vital effects of microRNAs in the pathological processes of cancer cells have also been confirmed by previous studies. The present research confirms that TQ restrains the viability, proliferation, migration and invasion through activating caspase-dependent apoptosis in bladder carcinoma cells, which is mediated by TQ induced ROS increase in bladder carcinoma cells. Furthermore, TQ is proved to block the fusion of autophagosomes and lysosomes, causing the accumulation of autophagosomes and subsequent cell apoptosis. In addition, TQ is also found to initiate the miR-877-5p/PD-L1 axis, which suppresses the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) and invasion of bladder carcinoma cells. Taken together, TQ induces the apoptosis through upregulating ROS level and impairing autophagic flux, and inhibiting the EMT and cell invasion via activating the miR-877-5p/PD-L1 axis in bladder carcinoma cells.

A Novel Statistical Optimization Algorithm for Estimating Perfusion Curves in Susceptibility Contrast-Enhanced MRI.

Dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging is an important tool for evaluating intravascular indicator dynamics, which in turn is valuable for understanding brain physiology and pathophysiology. This procedure usually involves fitting a gamma-variate function to observed concentration-time curves in order to eliminate undesired effects of recirculation and the leakage of contrast agents. Several conventional curve-fitting approaches are routinely applied. The nonlinear optimization methods typically are computationally expensive and require reliable initial values to guarantee success, whereas a logarithmic linear least-squares (LL-LS) method is more stable and efficient, and does not suffer from the initial-value problem, but it can show degraded performance, especially when a few data or outliers are present. In this paper, we demonstrate, that the original perfusion curve-fitting problem can be transformed into a gamma-distribution-fitting problem by treating the concentration-time curves as a random sample from a gamma distribution with time as the random variable. A robust maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) algorithm can then be readily adopted to solve this problem. The performance of the proposed method is compared with the nonlinear Levenberg-Marquardt (L-M) method and the LL-LS method using both synthetic and real data. The results show that the performance of the proposed approach is far superior to those of the other two methods, while keeping the advantages of the LL-LS method, such as easy implementation, low computational load, and dispensing with the need to guess the initial values. We argue that the proposed method represents an attractive alternative option for assessing intravascular indicator dynamics in clinical applications. Moreover, we also provide valuable suggestions on how to select valid data points and set the initial values in the two traditional approaches (LL-LS and nonlinear L-M methods) to achieve more reliable estimations.

Betulinic acid induces autophagy-dependent apoptosis via Bmi-1/ROS/AMPK-mTOR-ULK1 axis in human bladder cancer cells.

Betulinic acid (BA), a pentacyclic triterpenoid isolated from tree bark, exhibits antitumor effects against solid malignancies and triggers autophagy and/or apoptosis in human cancer cells. Nonetheless, the relationship between autophagy and apoptosis and the potential modulatory actions of BA on autophagy-dependent bladder cancer cell death remain unclear. The present study showed that BA exposure significantly suppressed viability, proliferation, and migration of EJ and T24 human bladder cancer cells. These effects reflected caspase 3-mediated apoptosis and could be attenuated or abolished by inhibiting ROS production with N-acetyl-L-cysteine, inhibiting autophagy with chloroquine, or silencing ATG7 with targeted siRNA. BA-induced autophagy was evidenced by epifluorescence imaging of lentivirus-induced expression of mCherry-GFP-LC3B and increased expression of two autophagy-related proteins, LC3B-II and TEM. Moreover, enhanced AMPK phosphorylation and decreased mTOR and ULK-1 phosphorylation suggested BA activates autophagy via the AMPK/mTOR/ULK1 pathway. Accordingly, exposure to dorsomorphin (Compound C), an AMPK inhibitor, and AICAR, an AMPK activator, respectively inhibited and stimulated BA-induced autophagy in EJ and T24 cells. The effects of Bmi-1 overexpression in vitro and decreased Bmi-1 expression in BA-treated T24 cell xenografts in nude mice suggested that downregulation of Bmi-1 is the underlying mechanism in BA-mediated, autophagy-dependent apoptosis.

Robust unified Granger causality analysis: a normalized maximum likelihood form.

Unified Granger causality analysis (uGCA) alters conventional two-stage Granger causality analysis into a unified code-length guided framework. We have presented several forms of uGCA methods to investigate causal connectivities, and different forms of uGCA have their own characteristics, which capable of approaching the ground truth networks well in their suitable contexts. In this paper, we considered comparing these several forms of uGCA in detail, then recommend a relatively more robust uGCA method among them, uGCA-NML, to reply to more general scenarios. Then, we clarified the distinguished advantages of uGCA-NML in a synthetic 6-node network. Moreover, uGCA-NML presented its good robustness in mental arithmetic experiments, which identified a stable similarity among causal networks under visual/auditory stimulus. Whereas, due to its commendable stability and accuracy, uGCA-NML will be a prior choice in this unified causal investigation paradigm.