Chitinase 3 like-1 activates the Akt pathway, inducing NF-κB-dependent release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and promoting the proliferative ability in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells.

BACKGROUND: Chitinase 3 like-1 (CHI3L1) has been reported to function as an oncogene in many types of cancer. However, the biological function of CHI3L1 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remains unknown. METHODS: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in NPC tissues in GSE64634 and GSE12452 were downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). CHI3L1, interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) mRNA expression was examined by qRT-PCR. Cell proliferation was evaluated by CCK-8 and EdU incorporation assays. Western blot analysis was used to measure the changes of CHI3L1, nuclear factor-κappaB (NF-κB), and protein kinase B (Akt) pathways. Gene ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Gene and Genome (KEGG) pathway analyses were performed using DAVID database. RESULTS: We identified 3 overlapping DEGs using Draw Venn diagram, among which CHI3L1 was chosen for the following analyses. CHI3L1 was upregulated in NPC tissues and cells. CHI3L1 silencing suppressed inflammatory response by inactivating the NF-κB pathway and inhibited cell proliferation in NPC cells. On the contrary, CHI3L1 overexpression induced inflammatory response by activating the NF-κB pathway and promoted cell proliferation in NPC cells. According to GO and KEGG analyses, CHI3L1 positive regulates Akt signaling and is enriched in the PI3K-Akt pathway. CHI3L1 knockdown inhibited the Akt pathway, and CHI3L1 overexpression activated the Akt pathway in NPC cells. Akt overexpression abolished the effects of CHI3L1 knockdown on inflammatory response, NF-κB pathway, and proliferation in NPC cells. On the contrary, Akt knockdown abolished the effects of CHI3L1 overexpression on inflammatory response, NF-κB pathway, and proliferation in NPC cells. CONCLUSION: CHI3L1 knockdown inhibited NF-κB-dependent inflammatory response and promoting proliferation in NPC cells by inactivating the Akt pathway.

Association between sodium and potassium intake levels and body compositions of Chinese college students.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To investigate the relationship between sodium (Na) and potassium (K) nutritional condition and body compositions in youth aiming to give target population reasonable diet recommendations. METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: The cross-sectional study was conducted involving 512 healthy youth aged 18 to 31 years from universities in Beijing. Food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and bioelectrical impedance analyzer (BIA) were used to collect dietary intake information and body compositions. RESULTS: There was an increasing tendency in fat-related indicators and muscle-related indicators of the dietary Na tertile group (p <0.05). Additionally, Weight, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and muscle-related indicators increased with the dietary K tertile group (p <0.05). Across increasing tertiles of dietary Na intake, the odds ratio (OR) was increased significantly (p < 0.05) in fat-related indicators. On the contrary, with the increased dietary Na intake, the OR decreased (p < 0.05) in appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (ASMI) and body lean mass. As tertiles of dietary K intake increased, the OR in both skeletal muscle mass index (SMMI) and lean mass index (LMI) decreased. CONCLUSIONS: High dietary Na is a risk factor for abnormal lipid distribution in college students. High dietary K can maintain skeletal muscle mass and reduce the risk of obesity. Na in the diet has a greater impact on the body composition of young people than K. Low dietary Na and high dietary K still need to be strengthened in science popularization and practice among more college students.

NAT10 promotes the tumorigenesis and progression of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma through ac4C modification of FOXM1 mRNA.

Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), is a prevalent malignant tumor, belongs to the category of head and neck tumors. N-acetyltransferase 10 (NAT10) can alter mRNA stability through N4- acetylcytidine (ac4C) modification. This study aimed to make an investigation into the role of NAT10-mediated ac4C modification in the malignant processes of LSCC cells. The NAT10 expression in LSCC tissues and cells was detected RT-qPCR and western blot. The ac4C dot blot was performed to detect ac4C level. Besides, the cell viability, migration, and invasion abilities were detected by CCK-8 and transwell assays. AcRIP-qPCR was performed to measure the abundance of ac4C on FOXM1 mRNA. RIP and Luciferase reporter assays were performed to demonstrate the interaction between NAT10 and FOXM1. Finally, the xenograft model was established to explore the role of NAT10 in vivo. NAT1 levels were significantly increased in the LSCC tissues and cells. Knockdown of NAT10 could significantly suppress the proliferation, migration, and invasion of LSCC cells. Additionally, NAT10 recognized the ac4C-modified sites in the 3'-untranslated regions (3' UTR) of forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) to enhance the ability of FOXM1 mRNA. Furthermore, FOXM1 overexpression reversed the suppressing effects of NAT10 knockdown on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of LSCC cells, according to the results of rescue assays. Finally, results of animal experiments showed that NAT10 promoted in vivo tumorigenesis of LSCC cells through upregulating FOXM1. Our current study demonstrated that NAT10-mediated ac4C modification of FOXM1 mRNA promoted the malignant processes of LSCC cells.

MI-DAGSC: A domain adaptation approach incorporating comprehensive information from MI-EEG signals.

Non-stationarity of EEG signals leads to high variability between subjects, making it challenging to directly use data from other subjects (source domain) for the classifier in the current subject (target domain). In this study, we propose MI-DAGSC to address domain adaptation challenges in EEG-based motor imagery (MI) decoding. By combining domain-level information, class-level information, and inter-sample structure information, our model effectively aligns the feature distributions of source and target domains. This work is an extension of our previous domain adaptation work MI-DABAN (Li et al., 2023). Based on MI-DABAN, MI-DAGSC designs Sample-Feature Blocks (SFBs) and Graph Convolution Blocks (GCBs) to focus on intra-sample and inter-sample information. The synergistic integration of SFBs and GCBs enable the model to capture comprehensive information and understand the relationship between samples, thus improving representation learning. Furthermore, we introduce a triplet loss to enhance the alignment and compactness of feature representations. Extensive experiments on real EEG datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of MI-DAGSC, confirming that our method makes a valuable contribution to the MI-EEG decoding. Moreover, it holds great potential for various applications in brain-computer interface systems and neuroscience research. And the code of the proposed architecture in this study is available under https://github.com/zhangdx21/MI-DAGSC.

Improving suppressive activity of compost on phytopathogenic microbes by inoculation of antagonistic microorganisms for secondary fermentation.

Antimicrobial activity contributes to plant disease control property of composts but its source is still not clear. From composting cow manure during secondary fermentation, 50 microbial strains with antifungal activity were isolated and identified. Two bacterial strains Bacillus mojavensis B282 and Pseudomonas aeruginosa F288, antagonistic against both phytopathogenic fungi and bacteria, were respectively used as the inoculum of compost for secondary fermentation. Inoculation of B282 or F288 significantly shifted microbial community structure of compost and genera functionally linked to antagonistic activity and plant growth promotion were enriched. Notably, culturable cells of B282 increased by about 40 times during secondary fermentation. The inoculation of each strain significantly increased antifungal activity of compost extracts and enhanced disease suppressive effects of compost on wheat root rot. This study demonstrates that inoculation of compost-indigenous microorganisms could improve antimicrobial activity of compost and provides a low-cost strategy for producing bio-organic fertilizers with biocontrol function.

Extensive diversity of RNA viruses in ticks revealed by metagenomics in northeastern China.

BACKGROUND: Ticks act as important vectors of infectious agents, and several emerging tick-borne viruses have recently been identified to be associated with human diseases in northeastern China. However, little is known about the tick virome in northeastern China. METHODS: Ticks collected from April 2020 to July 2021 were pooled for metagenomic analysis to investigate the virome diversity in northeastern China. RESULTS: In total, 22 RNA viruses were identified, including four each in the Nairoviridae and Phenuiviridae families, three each in the Flaviviridae, Rhabdoviridae, and Solemoviridae families, two in the Chuviridae family, and one each in the Partitiviridae, Tombusviridae families and an unclassified virus. Of these, eight viruses were of novel species, belonging to the Nairoviridae (Ji'an nairovirus and Yichun nairovirus), Phenuiviridae (Mudanjiang phlebovirus), Rhabdoviridae (Tahe rhabdovirus 1-3), Chuviridae (Yichun mivirus), and Tombusviridae (Yichun tombus-like virus) families, and five members were established human pathogens, including Alongshan virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, Songling virus, Beiji nairovirus, and Nuomin virus. I. persulcatus ticks had significant higher number of viral species than H. japonica, H. concinna, and D. silvarum ticks. Significant differences in tick viromes were observed among Daxing'an, Xiaoxing'an and Changbai mountains. CONCLUSIONS: These findings showed an extensive diversity of RNA viruses in ticks in northeastern China, revealing potential public health threats from the emerging tick-borne viruses. Further studies are needed to explain the natural circulation and pathogenicity of these viruses.

The Role of Dietary Patterns and Dietary Quality on Body Composition of Adolescents in Chinese College.

There is limited evidence regarding the effects of dietary pattern and dietary quality on the risk of unhealthy weight status and related body composition in Chinese adolescence. In particular, studies using bioelectrical impedance analyzer (BIA) in these subjects are rare. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of diet in body composition, to find a healthy dietary pattern for Chinese youth, and to promote the application of BIA among this population. A total of 498 participants aged from 18 to 22 years old were included. Dietary patterns were identified by principal components analysis. Energy-adjusted dietary inflammatory index (DII) and diet balance index (DBI) were calculated based on semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Multivariate linear regression and logistic regression analysis were used to examine the relationship of dietary patterns, dietary quality with body mass index (BMI), fat mass index (FMI), fat-free mass index (FFMI), and the effect of dietary factors on BMI levels. The majority of participants with overweight and obesity had abdominal obesity, and there was 3.7% abdominal obesity in normal BMI individuals. Four dietary patterns were detected in the subjects. The pattern with the higher energy intake, which was close to the Western diet, was positively correlated with BMI (ß = 0.326, p = 0.018) and FMI (ß = 0.201, p = 0.043), while being negatively correlated with FFMI (ß = −0.183, p = 0.021). Individuals who followed the pattern similar to the Mediterranean diet had a higher basal metabolic rate (BMR), and the highest fat free mass, soft lean mass, and skeletal muscle mass (p < 0.05) but the lowest FMI, visceral fat area (VFA), waist−hip ratio, and FMI/FFMI ratio (p < 0.05). Higher energy-adjusted DII was associated with high BMI. Higher bound score (HBS) (ß = −0.018, p = 0.010) and diet quality distance (DQD) (ß = −0.012, p = 0.015) were both negatively correlated with FFMI. In conclusion, fat or muscle indexes, such as BMR, FMI, and FFMI, had an important role in predicting overweight and obesity, which suggested the importance of applying BIA among Chinese college students. Students who followed healthful dietary patterns or the high-quality diet that is similar to the Mediterranean diet but not close to the Western diet were more likely to have a healthy BMI and normal body composition.

Association of Dietary Inflammatory Potential with Blood Inflammation: The Prospective Markers on Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Inflammation is known as an important mechanism of cognitive dysfunction. Systemic immune inflammation index (SII) and system inflammation response index (SIRI) are two blood inflammatory markers, which are related to many chronic diseases including cognitive impairment. It is recognized that dietary inflammatory index (DII), which is used to estimate the overall inflammatory potential of diet, may be related to mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as well. This study aimed to explore the relationship between SII, SIRI and DII, as well as the role of these inflammatory indexes on MCI in elderly people. A total of 1050 participants from Beijing were included. Neuropsychological tests were used for cognitive evaluation. Energy-adjusted DII scores were calculated based on semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Blood samples were tested for calculating SII and SIRI. Log-binomial regression models were used to estimate the correlation of indexes. After adjusting demographic characteristics, SII and SIRI in MCI individuals were higher than controls (p ≤ 0.001). DII, SII and SIRI had positive relationship with MoCA scores (p < 0.005). DII also correlated with SIRI in MCI (ß = 0.11, p = 0.031). Higher DII and SIRI could definitely increase the risk of MCI, as well as DII and SII (p < 0.005). In conclusion, DII was positively correlated with blood inflammation. The elderly with higher level of DII and SIRI, or DII and SII could be considered as people with higher risk of developing MCI.

Identification of the regulatory role of the circ_0004788/miR-515-5p/FGF2 network in nasopharyngeal carcinoma development.

BACKGROUND: CircularRNAs (circRNAs) played vital roles in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, the impacts of circ_0004788 on the development of NPC have not been explored. METHODS: Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8), 5-Ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) and colony formation assays were applied to determine cell proliferation. Wound healing, transwell invasion assay, tube formation assay, and flow cytometry were employed for the detection of cell migration, invasion, angiogenesis, and apoptosis, respectively. Xenograft tumor experiment was used to explore the biological role of circ_0004788 in NPC in vivo. RESULTS: Circ_0004788 and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) were significantly elevated, and microRNA-515-5p (miR-515-5p) was dramatically decreased in NPC tissues and cells. The impacts of circ_0004788 knockdown on cell progression in NPC cells were reversed by miR-515-5p inhibitor, and FGF2 overexpression could block the suppressive effect of miR-515-5p on cell progression in NPC cells. CONCLUSION: Circ_0004788 knockdown restrained the progression of NPC via the miR-515-5p/FGF2 axis.

[Evaluation of the color stability of infiltrant resin in comparison to aesthetic composite resins].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the color stability of infiltrant resin together with three other composites exposed to staining solution. METHODS: Three types of anterior aesthetic composite resins (Filtek Z250, Filtek Z350 XT, and Beautiful Flow Plus F00) and artificial caries with Icon infiltrant resin were used. The samples were randomly divided into two groups (each contained 10 specimens): coffee solution and distilled water immersion for three weeks. Color parameters were deter-mined with the Crystaleye spectrophotometer. RESULTS: Artificial caries lesions infiltrated by Icon showed much higher ΔE than those infiltrated by other aesthetic resins (P<0.05). The discoloration of all the experimental resins and the artificial caries infil-trated with Icon increased with time, but the discoloration on the 1st week was significantly higher than those on the 2nd and 3rd weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Artificial caries infiltrated with Icon was more vulnerable and susceptive to food color than those infiltrated with other aesthetic composite resins.

Long noncoding RNA MEG3 prevents vascular endothelial cell senescence by impairing miR-128-dependent Girdin downregulation.

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are commonly associated with various biological functions, in which the function of lncRNA maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3) has been identified in various cancers. Strikingly, an association between MEG3 with microRNAs (miRNAs), mRNAs, and proteins has been reported. This study investigates the role of MEG3 in vascular endothelial cell (VEC) senescence. Expression of Girdin and miR-128 was monitored in the blood vessel samples of young and old mice/healthy volunteers, along with the measurement of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). The relationship between MEG3/Girdin and miR-128 was determined and verified. Loss- and gain-of-function approaches were applied to analyze the regulatory effects of MEG3 on platelet phagocytosis and lipoprotein oxidation of HUVEC membrane. In addition, the effect of MEG3 on HUVEC senescence was evaluated by detection of the reactive oxygen species, telomerase activity, and telomere length. To further analyze the MEG3-mediated regulatory mechanism, miR-128 upregulation and inhibition were introduced into the HUVECs. Downregulated Girdin and upregulated miR-128 were found in the blood vessels of old individuals and old mice, as well as in senescent HUVECs. MEG3 downregulation was found to be capable of inhibiting Girdin but enhancing miR-128 expression. It was also indicated to inhibit platelet phagocytosis and reduce telomerase activity and telomere length, while enhancing lipoprotein oxidation and reactive oxygen species production, which ultimately contributed in preventing and protecting HUEVCs from senescence. These findings provide evidence supporting that MEG3 leads to miR-128 downregulation and Girdin upregulation, which promotes platelet phagocytosis, thus protecting VECs from senescence.

Adsorption of heavy metal tolerance strains to Pb2+ and Cd2+ in wastewater.

The functional strains with high tolerance to heavy metal Pb2+ and Cd2+ were screened from soil obtained in a heavy metal waste accumulation area. The immobilized biological adsorbent was made by embedding method and used for treatment of wastewater containing heavy metals. The effects of initial concentration of heavy metals, adsorption time, pH value of wastewater, and dosage of adsorbent on adsorption performance were investigated. The study showed (1) the strains tested were Brevibacterium and their maximum tolerable concentrations for Pb2+ and Cd2+ were 2200 and 700 mg/L, respectively; (2) the maximum adsorption rate for Pb2+ and Cd2+ was 87.77% and 57.50% respectively when the dosage of adsorbent was 10 g/L and the pH value of wastewater was 6; (3) Pb2+ and Cd2+ could be adsorbed in the equilibrium solution for 40 min and the maximum adsorption capacity reached 114.36 mg/g and 82.12 mg/g, respectively; and (4) when the initial pH value of the wastewater was 5-7, the adsorption rate decreased with the increase of the concentration, and the initial concentration of Pb2+ had a greater effect on the adsorption rate than Cd2+. Langmuir and Freundlich equation showed that the adsorption of Pb2+ and Cd2+ was mainly on the surface of monolayer. And the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation indicates that Cd2+ has a relatively greater adsorption rate than Pb2+ does.

[Enrichment Levels and Comprehensive Pollution Assessment of Dust Heavy Metals in Winter in Beijing].

Dust reflects the natural subsidence of particles and is thus generally accepted as an important environmental indicator. Dust heavy metals find their way into soil or water via atmospheric deposition, potentially damaging plants, aquatic organisms, as well as human beings. In order to study the concentration levels, enrichment degrees, and comprehensive pollution characteristics of the dust heavy metals Cd, Cr, Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni, Co, V, Bi, and Mo in winter in Beijing, 49 groups of dust samples were collected from different locations within the city from November 2013 to March 2014. Heavy metal content (mass percentage) was then measured using Elan DRC Ⅱ type inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Results showed that the average content of Cd, Bi, and Mo was less than 10 mg·kg-1, that of Co, Ni, and V was between 10 and 100 mg·kg-1, while that of Pb, Cr, Cu, and Zn was more than 100 mg·kg-1. The amount of Cd, Zn, and Cu in dust samples was generally higher than their secondary standard values in the soil environment. The secondary standard excess rates of Cd, Zn, and Cu were 100%, 97%, and 93.9% in urban environments, and 100%, 100%, and 81.2% in suburban environments, respectively. Results also indicated slight enrichment of Bi, Cu, Ni, and Pb, mainly derived from crustal or soil sources, while Cd, Cr, Mo, and Zn, exhibited mild enrichment, caused by a combination of natural and artificial sources. The paper proposes a "dust heavy metal comprehensive pollution index" model, based on the traditional single pollution assessment method, so as to explore comprehensive pollution characteristics of dust heavy metals in Beijing. Results for the dust heavy metal comprehensive pollution index in Beijing City were in the order of Cd > Zn > Cu > Pb > Cr > Ni > V > Co. Cd, Zn, Cu, and Pb were identified as key pollution factors, with Cd and Zn as primary factors. Results for the dust heavy metal comprehensive pollution index in Beijing suburbs was Cd > Zn > Cu > Pb > Cr > Ni > Co > V. Cd, Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cr were key pollution factors, with Cd and Zn as primary factors.

Engulfment of platelets delays endothelial cell aging via girdin and its phosphorylation.

Endothelial cells are critical in angiogenesis and maintain the homeostasis of the blood­brain barrier (BBB). Platelets (PLTs) are essential in vascular biology, including angiogenesis. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of PLTs on the aging of endothelial cells. Human brain microvascular endothelial cells (HBMECs) and human astrocytes were co­cultured to mimic the BBB. Transmission electron microscopy was used to observe the engulfment of PLTs. Confocal microscopy was used to observe the co­localization of PLTs, girders of actin filament (girdin) and phosphorylated (p­)girdin. Senescence­associated ß­galactosidase (ß­gal) staining, 3­(4,5­dimethylthiazol­2­yl)­2,5­diphenyltetrazolium bromide and flow cytometry were performed to examine the cell senescence, viability and apoptosis, respectively. Transwell assays were performed to examine cell invasion and migration. Western blot analysis was performed to detect the expression of girdin, AKT and p­AKT. PLTs delayed senescence, and promoted the viability and resistance to apoptosis of the HBMECs. Cell invasion and migration were enhanced by PLTs. In addition, girdin and p­girdin were essential to the engulfment of HBMECs to PLTs. Mechanically, the inhibition of AKT signals reversed the effect of PLTs on HBMECs by increasing the activity of ß­gal, decreasing the cell viability, and inhibiting the invasion and migration of the HBMECs. The engulfment of PLTs assisted in delaying the aging of endothelial cells via girdin and p­girdin, in which the AKT signal was involved. The present study indicated a potential strategy for delaying endothelial cell aging in the treatment of central nervous system diseases.

Adenovirus with p16 gene exerts antitumor effect on laryngeal carcinoma Hep2 cells.

Laryngeal cancer is an uncommon form of cancer. The tumor suppressor P16, known to be mutated or deleted in various types of human tumor, including laryngeal carcinoma, is involved in the formation and development of laryngeal carcinoma. It has been previously reported that the inactivation or loss of P16 is associated with the acquisition of malignant characteristics. The current study hypothesized that restoring wild­type P16 activity into P16­null malignant Hep2 cells may exert an antitumor effect. A recombinant adenovirus carrying the P16 gene (Ad­P16) was used to infect and express high levels of P16 protein in P16­null Hep2 cells. Cell proliferation and invasion assays and polymerase chain reaction were performed to evaluate the effects of the P16 gene on cell proliferation and the antitumor effect on Hep2 cells. The results demonstrated that the Hep2 cells infected with Ad­P16 exhibited significantly reduced cell proliferation, invasion and tumor volume compared with untreated or control adenovirus cells. Furthermore, the expression of laryngeal carcinoma­associated genes, EGFR, survivin and cyclin D1, were measured in Ad­P16­infected cells and were significantly reduced compared with control groups. The results of the current study demonstrate that restoring wild­type P16 activity into P16-null Hep2 cells exerts an antitumor effect.

The Vena Tech LP Permanent Caval Filter: Effectiveness and Safety in the Clinical Setting in Three Chinese Medical Centers.

OBJECTIVE: The effectiveness, safety, and patient outcomes after Vena Tech LP caval filter placement were evaluated retrospectively in China. METHODS AND RESULTS: From January 2002 to January 2013, 1,200 patients received Tech LP caval filters to prevent PE at three Beijing University medical centers. The patients' general condition, reasons for DVT formation, filter placement method, indication for filter placement, complications, safety of the filter, treatment post-filter, and follow-up were recorded. The patients' mean age was 65 (range, 19-87) years, and 840 were males. Before filter placement, all had ultrasonic-diagnosed DVT, 84% (1008/1200) were assessed for PE, and 73% (736/1008) had PE. Filters were placed via the femoral or jugular vein, with 62 placements at the SVC and 1,138 at the IVC. Filter placement via various venous access routes was 100% successful. Anticoagulation therapy was continued in 88% patients (n=1056) for ≥6 months after filter placement. Follow-up was accomplished in 80% (n=960) of patients for an average of 6 years (range, 3 months to 10 years). The patency rate of the vena cava was 90% at 5 years. The morbidity was 2% and the mortality was 0.5% during 30 days post-filter placement. After 30 days, the mortality rate was 2.4%, no PE reoccurred, and there were no other clinical adverse events. CONCLUSION: Vena Tech LP caval filter placement was effective and safe, with demonstrated stability and a good long-term patency rate at the IVC and SVC in China.

Combinational reasoning of quantitative fuzzy topological relations for simple fuzzy regions.

In recent years, formalization and reasoning of topological relations have become a hot topic as a means to generate knowledge about the relations between spatial objects at the conceptual and geometrical levels. These mechanisms have been widely used in spatial data query, spatial data mining, evaluation of equivalence and similarity in a spatial scene, as well as for consistency assessment of the topological relations of multi-resolution spatial databases. The concept of computational fuzzy topological space is applied to simple fuzzy regions to efficiently and more accurately solve fuzzy topological relations. Thus, extending the existing research and improving upon the previous work, this paper presents a new method to describe fuzzy topological relations between simple spatial regions in Geographic Information Sciences (GIS) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). Firstly, we propose a new definition for simple fuzzy line segments and simple fuzzy regions based on the computational fuzzy topology. And then, based on the new definitions, we also propose a new combinational reasoning method to compute the topological relations between simple fuzzy regions, moreover, this study has discovered that there are (1) 23 different topological relations between a simple crisp region and a simple fuzzy region; (2) 152 different topological relations between two simple fuzzy regions. In the end, we have discussed some examples to demonstrate the validity of the new method, through comparisons with existing fuzzy models, we showed that the proposed method can compute more than the existing models, as it is more expressive than the existing fuzzy models.

Losartan reduces myocardial interstitial fibrosis in diabetic cardiomyopathy rats by inhibiting JAK/STAT signaling pathway.

PURPOSE: This study was designed to investigate the effect of losartan on the myocardial interstitial fibrosis in diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) rats. METHODS: In this study, a total of 48 male Wister rats (3 groups of 16 animals each) were examined, including the control group, DCM group and losartan-treated (DCM + L) group. Control group was fed with standard diet (14 KJ/g); DCM group and losartan-treated (DCM + L) group were both fed with high glucose and fat diet (20 KJ/g). Diabetes was induced by streptozotocin (STZ) intraperitoneal injuction (IP, 30 mg/kg body weight). Rats of DCM + L group were treated with losartan (30 mg/kg body weight) daily by oral gavage for 16 weeks. Biochemical, hemodynamic, histological and western blotting analyses were performed. RESULTS: Compared with DCM rats, the quantity of p-JAK2 and p-STAT3 in myocardium of rats treated with losartan was lower, the expression of TGF-ß1 was down-regulate, the content of collagen in myocardium decreased, LVSP and ± dp/dt increased, LVEDP decreased, the level of myocardial fibrosis reduced, and heart function improved evidently. CONCLUSION: Losartan has a protective effect on heart function against myocardial interstitial fibrosis of DCM by inhibiting JAK/STAT signaling pathway and lowering the expression of TGF-ß1.

[Establishment of an albumin and cytokeratin 19 genetically-modified embryonic stem cell line and evaluation of its hepatoblast differentiation capacities].

OBJECTIVE: To establish a gene-modified embryonic stem (ES; E14.1-2) cell line with hepatoblast differentiation reporter genes, albumin (ALB) and cytokeratin 19 (CK19), labeled to facilitate study of their potential applicability as differentiated hepatoblasts. METHODS: Two expression vectors were constructed, one with the ALB promotor driving the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and anti-neomycin genes (pAlb-EGFP), and the other with the CK19 promotor driving the red fluorescence protein and anti-hygromycin genes (pCK19-hCD25-IRES-tdTOMATO). The linearized vectors were electroporated into the E14.1 line, and double reporter genes-modified ES cells (E14.1-2) were selected by neomycin and hygromycin. E14.1-2 hepatoblast differentiation was induced by exposure to growth factors (BMP4 and bFGF) and evidenced by embryoid body formation. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to confirm whether differentiated cells were hepatoblast-like and to quantify the differentiation efficiency. RESULTS: The pAlb-EGFP and pCK19-hCD25-IRES-tdTOMATO vectors were shown to specifically activate ALB and CK19 expression. The E14.1-2 cell line with labeled ALB and CK19 was established, and shown to have pluripotency by RT-PCR detection of pluripotent markers' expression, namely Oct4 and SSEA-1. After 22 days of induction, 21.27% of the differentiated hepatoblasts were detected by FACS as positive for ALB and CK19 expression. CONCLUSIONS: A gene-modified ES cell line was generated with hepatocyte differentiation reporter genes ALB and CK19 labeled. The differentiation of the resultant E14.1-2 line was technically simple to qualify and quantify, and will likely aid future studies of hepatoblast characteristics.