Sciellin promotes the development and progression of thyroid cancer through the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway.

Thyroid cancer (TC) is one of the most common endocrine tumors worldwide. Sciellin (SCEL) is involved in various disease processes, including burn wound healing and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs); it is highly expressed in TC. However, its biological impact on TC and related mechanisms remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effect of SCEL on the function of human TC cell lines B-CPAP and OCUT-2C (cancer cell lines with BRAF V600E mutations). Analyses of data sets and clinical samples revealed enhanced expression of SCEL in TC than in adjacent normal tissue. SCEL knockout suppresses proliferation and cell cycle progression in TC cells, and these results were reversed by the upregulated SCEL expression in TC. SCEL knockout inhibited tumor development in xenograft mouse models. Western blot (WB) demonstrated that the expression of p-JAK2 and p-STAT3 was reduced in SCEL-knockdown TC. These results suggest that SCEL plays a key role in TC progression through the JAK2-STAT3 pathway. Therefore, SCEL can be considered a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target for TC.

Multi-objective cooperative controller design for rapid state-of-charge balancing and flexible bus voltage regulation in shipboard DC microgrids.

In this paper, a multi-objective cooperative (MOC) controller based on average consensus algorithm is designed to achieve rapid State-of-Charge (SoC) balancing, proportional load current sharing, and flexible DC bus voltage regulation for parallel battery storage units (BSUs) in shipboard DC microgrids. Different from the conventional secondary controllers, the designed MOC controller can simultaneously achieve the above three control objectives with a fully distributed manner without requiring multiple controllers, thereby effectively improving the system stability and reducing the communication burden. Furthermore, an optimized convergence factor is designed to accelerate SoC balancing, and pinning control is introduced to obtain flexible and accurate DC bus voltage regulation. The process of SoC balancing and current sharing analysis, SoC convergence performance analysis, large-signal stability analysis, and global steady-state analysis verifies the rationality and stability of the MOC controller. Finally, the Matlab/Simulink simulation and StarSim HIL experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the designed MOC controller in a shipboard DC microgrid under various testing scenarios.

Ibuprofen inhibits anaplastic thyroid cells in vivo and in vitro by triggering NLRP3-ASC-GSDMD-dependent pyroptosis.

Pyroptosis is a novel type of proinflammatory programmed cell death that is associated with inflammation, immunity, and cancer. Anaplastic thyroid carcinoma (ATC) has a high fatality rate, and there is no effective or standard treatment. The disease progresses rapidly and these tumors can invade the trachea and esophagus, leading to breathing and swallowing difficulties. Hence, new treatment methods are greatly needed. Ibuprofen is a common drug that can exert antitumor effects in some cancers. In this study, we demonstrated in vitro and in vivo that ibuprofen can induce ATC pyroptosis. Hence, we treated C643 and OCUT-2C ATC cells with ibuprofen and found that several dying cells presented the characteristic morphological features of pyroptosis, such as bubble-like swelling and membrane rupture, accompanied by activation of ASC and NLRP3 and cleavage of GSDMD. Along with the increased release of LDH, ibuprofen treatment promoted apoptosis and inhibited viability, invasion, and migration. However, overexpression of GSDMD significantly inhibited ibuprofen-induced pyroptosis. In vivo, research has demonstrated that thyroid tumor growth in nude mice can be suppressed by ibuprofen-induced pyroptosis in a dose-dependent manner. In this research, we explored a new mechanism by which ibuprofen inhibits ATC growth and progression and highlighted its promise as a therapeutic agent for ATC.

Effect of resveratrol in gestational diabetes mellitus and its complications.

The incidence rate of diabetes in pregnancy is about 20%, and diabetes in pregnancy will have a long-term impact on the metabolic health of mothers and their offspring. Mothers may have elevated blood glucose, which may lead to blood pressure disease, kidney disease, decreased resistance and secondary infection during pregnancy. The offspring may suffer from abnormal embryonic development, intrauterine growth restriction, obesity, autism, and other adverse consequences. Resveratrol (RSV) is a natural polyphenol compound, which is found in more than 70 plant species and their products, such as Polygonum cuspidatum, seeds of grapes, peanuts, blueberries, bilberries, and cranberries. Previous studies have shown that RSV has a potential beneficial effect on complex pregnancy, including improving the indicators of diabetes and pregnancy diabetes syndrome. This article has reviewed the molecular targets and signaling pathways of RSV, including AMP-activated protein kinase, mitogen-activated protein kinases, silent information regulator sirtuin 1, miR-23a-3p, reactive oxygen species, potassium channels and CX3C chemokine ligand 1, and the effect of RSV on gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and its complications. RSV improves the indicators of GDM by improving glucose metabolism and insulin tolerance, regulating blood lipids and plasma adipokines, and modulating embryonic oxidative stress and apoptosis. Furthermore, RSV can ameliorate the GDM complications by reducing oxidative stress, reducing the effects on placentation, reducing the adverse effects on embryonic development, reducing offspring's healthy risk, and so on. Thus, this review is of great significance for providing more options and possibilities for further research on medication of gestational diabetes.

[Application of high-speed counter current chromatography in extraction and separation of alkaloids in natural products].

Alkaloids, widespread in plants, have a series of pharmacological activities and have been widely used to treat various diseases. Because alkaloids are usually presented in multicomponent mixtures and are deeply low in content, they are very difficult to extract and separate by traditional methods. High-speed counter current chromatography(HSCCC) is a kind of liquid-liquid chromatography without solid support phase, which has the advantages of large injection volume, low cost, and no irreversible adsorption. Compared with the traditional methods of extraction and separation of alkaloids, HSCCC can ensure the separation of many different alkaloids at one time, with a high recovery and large amount. In this paper, the advantages and disadvantages of HSCCC compared with traditional separation methods were discussed and the solvent system and elution mode of HSCCC used to separate alkaloids in recent years were summarized by referring to the relevant literature to provide some references for the separation of alkaloids by HSCCC.

A novel pharmacological mechanism of anti-cancer drugs that induce pyroptosis.

Pyroptosis is an inflammasome-induced lytic form of programmed cell death, and its main effect involves the release of inflammatory mediators when a cell dies, resulting in an inflammatory response in the body. The key to pyroptosis is the cleavage of GSDMD or other gasdermin families. Some drugs can cause cleavage GSDMD or other gasdermin members cause pyroptosis and suppress cancer growth and development. This review explores several drugs that may induce pyroptosis, thereby contributing to tumor treatment. Pyroptosis-inducing drugs, such as arsenic, platinum, and doxorubicin, were used originally in cancer treatment. Other pyroptosis-inducing drugs, such as metformin, dihydroartemisinin, and famotidine, were used to control blood glucose, treat malaria, and regulate blood lipid levels and are effective tumor treatments. By summarizing drug mechanisms, we provide a valuable basis for treating cancers by inducing pyroptosis. In future, the use of these drugs may contribute to new clinical treatments.

An anisotropic pore-network model to estimate the shale gas permeability.

The permeability of shale is a significant and important design parameter for shale gas extraction. The shale gas permeability is usually obtained based on Darcy flow using standard laboratory permeability tests done on core samples, that do not account for different transport mechanisms at high pressures and anisotropic effects in shales due to nano-scale pore structure. In this study, the permeability of shale is predicted using a pore network model. The characteristics of pore structure can be described by specific parameters, including porosity, pore body and pore throat sizes and distributions and coordination numbers. The anisotropy was incorporated into the model using a coordination number ratio, and an algorithm that was developed for connections of pores in the shale formation. By predicting hydraulic connectivity and comparing it with several high-pressure permeability tests, the proposed three-dimensional pore network model was verified. Results show that the prediction from the anisotropic pore network model is closer to the test results than that based on the isotropic pore network model. The predicted permeability values from numerical simulation using anisotropic pore network model for four shales from Qaidam Basin, China are quite similar to those measured from laboratory tests. This study confirmed that the developed anisotropic three-dimensional pore network model could reasonably represent the natural gas flow in the actual shale formation so that it can be used as a prediction tool.