IL-8 from CD248-expressing cancer-associated fibroblasts generates cisplatin resistance in non-small cell lung cancer.

Chemotherapy-resistant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) presents a substantial barrier to effective care. It is still unclear how cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) contribute to NSCLC resistance to chemotherapy. Here, we found that CD248+ CAFs released IL-8 in NSCLC, which, in turn, enhanced the cisplatin (CDDP) IC50 in A549 and NCI-H460 while decreasing the apoptotic percentage of A549 and NCI-H460 in vitro. The CD248+ CAFs-based IL-8 secretion induced NSCLC chemoresistance by stimulating nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and elevating ATP-binding cassette transporter B1 (ABCB1). We also revealed that the CD248+ CAFs-based IL-8 release enhanced cisplatin chemoresistance in NSCLC mouse models in vivo. Relative to wild-type control mice, the CD248 conditional knockout mice exhibited significant reduction of IL-8 secretion, which, in turn, enhanced the therapeutic efficacy of cisplatin in vivo. In summary, our study identified CD248 activates the NF-κB axis, which, consecutively induces the CAFs-based secretion of IL-8, which promotes NSCLC chemoresistance. This report highlights a potential new approach to enhancing the chemotherapeutic potential of NSCLC-treating cisplatin.

Solving patient referral problems by using bat algorithm.

BACKGROUND: A two-hospital patient referral problem intends to calculate an optimal value of referral patients between two hospitals and to evaluate whether or not the current number of referral patients is too low. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study is to develop a simulation-based optimization algorithm to find the optimal referral between two hospitals with the unfixed daily patient referral policy. METHODS: This study applied system simulation and a bat algorithm (BA) to build a simulation model in accordance with the status of the two hospitals case and to calculate an optimal value of daily referral patients. RESULTS: Based on the 20 test instances, we verified the stability of this algorithm. The results show that the average magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) patient wait time reduced from 16 days to eight days. The hospital should increase the average total monthly MRI referral patients to 370 under the limitation of the daily referral patients to 25. CONCLUSIONS: This research investigated the two-hospital patient referral problems. We conducted and analyzed a simulation model and improved the case hospital's conditions, enhancing the quality of its medical care. The findings of this study can extend to other departments or hospitals.

A bio-inspired optical system with a polymer membrane and integrated structure.

A bio-inspired optical imaging system with a polymer membrane and integrated structure is proposed. Similar to the human eye, the presented system has a biomimetic multilayered optical structure and utilizes a solid-liquid mixed tunable lens as the variable-focus unit. The focal length of the imaging system can be adjusted flexibly through the deformation of the tunable lens when it is compressed. A detailed description of the design principle, materials and fabrication process of the system is presented. The deformation property, adjustable range and surface roughness of the tunable lens are measured. Images under different displacement loads are captured, and the relationships among the back focal length (BFL) and effective focal length (EFL) of the system and the change in radius of the tunable lens are analyzed. A 7.6 times variation of the BFL is achieved through a tiny alteration in radius of 1.2 mm. All the measured resolutions during the deformation stage are larger than 40 line pairs mm-1, and the imaging system shows good optical quality and stability. The proposed optical system is of interest for the development of compact and stable imaging systems with a large zooming range.

Investigation on wind energy-compressed air power system.

Wind energy is a pollution free and renewable resource widely distributed over China. Aimed at protecting the environment and enlarging application of wind energy, a new approach to application of wind energy by using compressed air power to some extent instead of electricity put forward. This includes: explaining the working principles and characteristics of the wind energy-compressed air power system; discussing the compatibility of wind energy and compressor capacity; presenting the theoretical model and computational simulation of the system. The obtained compressor capacity vs wind power relationship in certain wind velocity range can be helpful in the designing of the wind power-compressed air system. Results of investigations on the application of high-pressure compressed air for pressure reduction led to conclusion that pressure reduction with expander is better than the throttle regulator in energy saving.