Tensorizing GAN With High-Order Pooling for Alzheimer's Disease Assessment.

It is of great significance to apply deep learning for the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this work, a novel tensorizing GAN with high-order pooling is proposed to assess mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD. By tensorizing a three-player cooperative game-based framework, the proposed model can benefit from the structural information of the brain. By incorporating the high-order pooling scheme into the classifier, the proposed model can make full use of the second-order statistics of holistic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). To the best of our knowledge, the proposed Tensor-train, High-order pooling and Semisupervised learning-based GAN (THS-GAN) is the first work to deal with classification on MR images for AD diagnosis. Extensive experimental results on Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative (ADNI) data set are reported to demonstrate that the proposed THS-GAN achieves superior performance compared with existing methods, and to show that both tensor-train and high-order pooling can enhance classification performance. The visualization of generated samples also shows that the proposed model can generate plausible samples for semisupervised learning purpose.

Bufalin Inhibits the Differentiation and Proliferation of Cancer Stem Cells Derived from Primary Osteosarcoma Cells through Mir-148a.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Osteosarcoma (OS) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in children and young adults. Chemoresistance is the most important cause of treatment failure in OS, largely resulting from presence of cancer stem cells (CSCs). However, CSCs isolated from cancer cell lines do not necessarily represent those from primary human tumors due to accumulation of genetic aberrations that increase with passage number. Therefore, studies on CSCs from primary OS may be more important for understanding the mechanisms driving the chemoresistance of CSCs in OS. METHODS: We established a primary culture of OS cells, known as C1OS, from freshly resected tumor tissue. We further isolated CSCs from C1OS cells (C1OS-CSCs). We analyzed the effects of bufalin, a traditional Chinese medicine, on the stemness of C1OS-CSCs. We also analyzed the microRNA (miR) targets of bufalin on the stemness of C1OS-CSCs. Moreover, we examined these findings in the OS specimen. RESULTS: Bufalin inhibited the stemness of C1OS-CSCs. Moreover, we found that miR-148a appeared to be a target of bufalin, and miR-148a further regulated DNMT1 and p27 to control the stemness of OS cells. This mechanism was further confirmed in OS specimen. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that bufalin may be a promising treatment for OS, and its function may be conducted through regulation of miR-148a.

[Effects of guizhi tang on inflammatory cytokines in myocardial ischemia and hyperlipidemia rats].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effects of Guizhi Tang on the inflammatory cytokines in myocardial ischemia and hyperlipidemia rats. METHOD: The early changes of hyperlipid and atherosclerosis are caused by utilizing multiple factors including feeding hyperlipid and propylthiouracil and high doses of vitamin D3 for 12 weeks. Sixty male SD rats were randomly divided in to 5 groups: control group, model group, simvastatin group, low-dosage Guizhi Tang group, high-dosage Guizhi Tang group. At the end of six weeks treatment, pituitrin(pit) is abdominal cavity injected every 24 hours for a total of three times. Detecting the serum levels of SES, CRP, NO, SOD, MDA and the content of cardiac muscle tissue SOD, MDA, The expression of TNF-alpha in cardiac muscle tissue was detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULT: Guizhi Tang significantly decreased levels of SES, CRP and MAD, increased levels of NO and SOD, Guizhi Tang markedly decreased the level of protein expression of TNF-alpha in cardiac muscle tissue. CONCLUSION: Guizhi Tang may inhibit the proinflammatory factors and oxidation in myocardial ischemia and hyperlipidemia rats.

[Effects of rat serum containing Chinese herbal medicine Sangen Decoction on osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption of osteoclasts induced by polymethylmethacrylate particles].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of Sangen Decoction, a compound Chinese herbal medicine, on osteoclastogenesis and bone resorption function of osteoclasts induced by polymethylmethacrylate particles in vitro. METHODS: Macrophage colony stimulating factor (M-CSF) and receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL) were used to induce differentiation of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs) towards osteoclasts. BMMs and polymethylmethacrylate particles with ratio of 1:3 were added to the 24-well plate and 96-well plate with bone slices respectively. A total of 50 male SD rats were divided into 5 groups randomly with each group containing 10 rats. After being treated with different drugs, serum samples of rats in each group were extracted, i.e., the blank serum, Western medicine (ibandronate) serum and high-, medium-, and low-dose Sangen Decoction serum and were added to the medium respectively. The tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining was used to identify the differentiation of BMMs and for counting of osteoclasts. Area of lacuna induced by osteoclast bone resorption on the bone slices was measured by computer image processing. RESULTS: Numbers of osteoclasts of treatment groups were less than that of blank group by TRAP staining (P<0.05); numbers of osteoclasts of positive control group and high-dose Sangen Decoction group were much lower than those of medium- and low-dose Sangen Decoction groups (P<0.05), and no difference was found between Western medicine group and high-dose Sangen Decoction group (P>0.05). In bone resorption assay, area of lacuna of blank group was larger than those of treatment groups (P<0.05); areas of lacuna of Western medicine group and high-dose Sangen Decoction group were much smaller than those of medium- and low-dose Sangen Decoction groups (P<0.05), and no difference was found between Western medicine group and high-dose Sangen Decoction group (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Sangen Decoction can inhibit osteoclastogenesis induced by polymethylmethacrylate particles as well as bone resorption function of osteoclasts.