Retraction Note to: Lycopsamine inhibits the proliferation of human lung cancer cells via induction of apoptosis and autophagy and suppression of interleukin-2.

Retraction of "Lycopsamine inhibits the proliferation of human lung cancer cells via induction of apoptosis and autophagy and suppression of interleukin-2", by Zhengang Yu, Guifang Guo, Bingzhe Wang. JBUON 2020;25(5):2358-2363; PMID: 33277856 Following the publication of the above article, readers drew to our attention that part of the data was unreliable: Figures of this article appeared in other articles (by totally different authors). The authors were requested to provide the raw data and were also asked for an explanation to account for these concerns, but the Editorial Office did not receive any reply. Given above, we decided to retract this article. Authors were informed of the retraction. We thank the readers for bringing this matter to our attention. We apologize for any inconvenience it may cause.

Lycopsamine inhibits the proliferation of human lung cancer cells via induction of apoptosis and autophagy and suppression of interleukin-2.

PURPOSE: Lycopsamine is an active pyrrolizidine alkaloid that shows significant bioactivity. Herein, lycopsamine was evaluated for the first time for its anti-lung cancer activity. Its effects on cellular apoptosis, autophagy, cell cycle and IL-2 gene were also examined. METHODS: The human lung cancer A549 and normal MRC5 cells were used in the study. MTT assay was used to determine the cytotoxicity of lycopsamine. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and western blotting were implemented for analyzing autophagy. DAPI staining, Annexin V/FITC/Propidium iodide (PI) and western blotting assays were used to study cellular apoptosis. Cell cycle was examined through flow cytometry. The expression of IL-2 gene was monitored by western blotting. RESULTS: Lycopsamine targeted the proliferation rate and reduced it remarkably in a dose-dependent manner. On searching for underlying mechanism, the antiproliferative effect of lycopsamine was due to autophagy and the expressions of pro-autophagy proteins (LC3-I, LC3-II, Beclin-1) increased on drug exposure. Furthermore, the antiproliferative effects were also found to be mediated via apoptosis induction and were associated with increased Bax and decreased Bcl-2 levels. Next, flow cytometry showed that lycopsamine inhibited cell cycle progression at G2/M-check point in lung cancer cells. Furthermore, the expressions of IL-2 gene decreased after lycopsamine treatment of these cells. In conclusion, on testifying the current designed hypothesis, lycopsamine showed significant antiproliferative effects in A549 lung cancer cells in a dose reliant manner. The antiproliferative effects of lycopsamine were associated with its autophagy inducing, apoptosis inducing, and inhibiting IL-2 expression, potential. CONCLUSION: Taken together, lycopsamine is a potent anti-lung cancer agent and can be a lead molecule in lung cancer treatment.

The association of genetic polymorphisms of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha and vascular endothelial growth factor with increased risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A case-control study.

Accumulated data over the years have suggested that hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1α) and its downstream vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene may be linked with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). This study aims to investigate the association of HIF-1α and VEGF genetic polymorphisms and their correlated risks with COPD. COPD patients (case group) and healthy individuals (control group) were recruited. DNA was extracted to detect HIF-1α and VEGF genetic polymorphisms. Basal lung volume and forced expiratory capacity in 1st second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC) and FEV1/predicted value (pred)% were calculated. Genotype and allele distributions in HIF-1α and VEGF genes were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier curves and logistic regression model were used for analysis of survival and COPD risk factors. Haplotypes for HIF-1α rs11549465 and rs11549467 were analyzed. FEV1/FVC and FEV1/pred% in the case group were lower than the control group. Frequencies of HIF-1α rs11549465 CT + TT genotype and T allele, and rs11549467 GA + AA genotype and A allele were higher in the case group than the control group. Patients with rs11549465 CT + TT had higher COPD risk than those with the CC genotype. Patients with rs11549467 GA + AA showed higher COPD risk and lower FEV1/FVC and FEV1/pred% than those with the GG genotype. Patients with HIF-1α TA haplotype showed higher COPD risk than those with the CG haplotype. Survival rate of patients with HIF-1α rs11549467 GG genotype was higher than those with the GA + AA genotype. HIF-1α rs11549467 polymorphism may be associated with COPD risk.

Association between IL-13 +1923C/T polymorphism and asthma risk: a meta-analysis based on 26 case-control studies.

Asthma is a serious and hereditary respiratory disorder affecting all age groups. Interleukin-13 (IL-13) is a central regulator of allergic inflammation. The purpose of the present study was to estimate the relationship between IL-13 +1923C/T polymorphism and asthma susceptibility. Relevant case-control studies published between January 2000 and July 2016 were searched in the online databases. Review Manage (RevMan) 5.3 was used to conduct the statistical analysis. The pooled odds ratio (OR) with its 95% confidence interval (CI) was employed to calculate the strength of association. A total of 26 articles were retrieved, including 17642 asthma patients and 42402 controls. Overall, our results found that IL-13 +1923C/T polymorphism was significantly associated with increased risk of asthma under each genetic model (P<0.00001). Subgroup analysis by ethnicity showed that alleles and genotypes of this variant correlated with asthma among Asians and Caucasians, but only TT genotype under the homozygote model in Africans. When stratified by age group, this variant highly correlated with asthma in children and moderately in adults. Furthermore, the TT, CT and CC genotypes in asthma group were all significantly associated with increased IgE levels in sera of asthma patients when compared with controls. Our results suggested that IL-13 +1923C/T polymorphism contributed to the development of asthma. Further case-control studies with more ethnicities are still needed.

The combination use of 1-O-acetylbritannilactone (ABL) and gemcitabine inhibits cell growth and induces cell apoptosis in lung adenocarcinoma cells.

1-O-acetylbritannilactone (ABL), a natural chemical component obtained from Chinese traditional medicine, Inula britannica, has been demonstrated to have anticancer activities. In the present study, we evaluated the anti-proliferative and the pro-apoptotic abilities of ABL alone or in combination with gemcitabine in human NSCLC cell line. A549 cells were treated, in vitro, with ABL, gemcitabine, and the combination of ABL and gemcitabine for 72 h. Our results showed ABL and gemcitabine inhibited cell growth and induced apoptosis of A549 cells. These effects after the combination of ABL and gemcitabine were superior to those of each alone. Furthermore, signal transduction analysis revealed NF-κB expression was significantly decreased by ABL and the combination treatment. IκBα and Bax levels were up regulated whereas Bcl-2 was substantially downregulated after all treatments. Our findings suggest that ABL combined with gemcitabine elicits a potent apoptosis of lung cancer cell and hence ABL has the potential to be developed as a chemotherapeutic agent.

[Study on the Characteristics of EMG Signal of the Masticatory Muscles in Different Materials].

Objective: To investigate the activities of different soft and hard materials during right chewing masticatory muscles, describing the masticatory muscles of time domain and frequency domain features. Methods: 11 experimental subjects who conform to the standards of measurement chew two materials of different soft and hard texture. Then record surface EMG of each bilateral temporalis anterior bundle, masseter, two bilateral anterior abdominal muscles, analysis to 5 kinds of characteristics of the study of EMG. Results: When subjects chewing different soft and hard materials, al the EMG features in the bilateral anterior temporalis and masseter values had significant difference (P < 0.05). The results in bilateral digastric anterior abdominal except zero crossing rate have significant difference; median frequency on the right side of the masticatory muscle has decreased trend. Conclusion: The anterior temporalis and masseter EMG active more intense when chewing hard objects; the right side of the masticatory muscles have obvious fatigue trend after chewing hard masticatory 30 cycles.

[Electrical Stimulation System with Surface Electromyography Feedback].

Currently, various kinds of electrical stimulation equipment are used in the rehabilitation of muscle function for patients with hemiplegia, but many defects can be found in those designs, for example, insufficient feedback parameter, unsynchronized information, unintuitive display and so on. Therefore, this study introduces an electrical stimulation system with surface electromyography (sEMG) feedback based on LabVIEW, which combines with multi-channel sEMG acquisition, electrical stimulator and other hardware system. This system can not only provide a wide electrical stimulation parameters range for frequency, pulse width and intensity, but also acquire sEMG during the treatment. Meanwhile, this system can compute iEMG, CCR, RMS and MPF in real-time. The verification results shows that the whole system is effective and stable. This system can help physicians observe the muscle condition of different patients, who can explore suitable electrical stimulation parameters to design individualized treatment projects.

[Design of Rehabilitation Training System with Electromyography Feedback for Stroke Patients].

This paper proposed a rehabilitation training system with electromyography (sEMG) feedback for stroke patients based on ARM embedded system and LabVIEW. The system can achieve real-time acquisition, processing and dualview of multi-channel sEMGs and compute related sEMG parameters including iEMG, RMS, MPF and co-contraction ratio. The system was detected by clinical experiments and related inspection department. The result showed that the system is functional, interactive and in accordance with the relevant standards for medical devices so that it can fully satisfy the clinical demands. In addition, the system can help doctors to master the training state of the patient more effectively in a real-time and quantitative way that is direct to improve the training programs of stroke patients.

Correlation between survivin genetic polymorphisms and lung cancer susceptibility.

AIMS: The purpose of the study was to analyze the relationship of survivin polymorphisms including -31G/C, -625G/C, 9194A/G and 9809T/C with the susceptibility to lung cancer. METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to test the polymorphisms of -31G/C, -625G/C, 9194A/G and 9809T/C in 104 patients with lung cancer and 104 healthy controls. Then, linkage disequilibrium and haplotypes were analyzed by HaploView software. The differences of genotype, allele and haplotype frequencies in case and control group were assessed via chi-square test. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% CI were used to evaluate the correlation of survivin polymorphisms with lung cancer. RESULTS: Genotype distribution of each polymorphism site in control group was in agreement with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) (P>0.05). The frequency of -31G/C CC genotype and C allele in case group were much higher than that of controls, respectively (CC: 33.6% vs. 22.1%; C: 57.2% vs. 46.6%) and CC genotype as well as C allele were appeared to be risk factors for lung cancer. Meanwhile, 9194A/G GG genotype could increase the risk for lung cancer (OR=2.86, 95% CI=1.14-7.20). The risk of G allele carriers for lung caner was higher than that of A allele (OR=1.63, 95% CI=1.08-2.47). The haplotypes analysis indicated that CGGC and GCAT were associated with the susceptibility to lung cancer (OR=2.79, 95% CI=1.58-4.92; OR=2.36, 95% CI=1.29-4.30). CONCLUSIONS: Survivin -31G/C and 9194A/G polymorphisms were associated with the risk of lung cancer. The CGGC and GCAT haplotypes carriers were more likely to develop lung cancer.

Fast wavelength calibration method for spectrometers based on waveguide comb optical filter.

A novel fast wavelength calibration method for spectrometers based on a standard spectrometer and a double metal-cladding waveguide comb optical filter (WCOF) is proposed and demonstrated. By using the WCOF device, a wide-spectrum beam is comb-filtered, which is very suitable for spectrometer wavelength calibration. The influence of waveguide filter's structural parameters and the beam incident angle on the comb absorption peaks' wavelength and its bandwidth are also discussed. The verification experiments were carried out in the wavelength range of 200-1100 nm with satisfactory results. Comparing with the traditional wavelength calibration method based on discrete sparse atomic emission or absorption lines, the new method has some advantages: sufficient calibration data, high accuracy, short calibration time, fit for produce process, stability, etc.

Association of serum hepcidin levels with the presence and severity of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Inflammation is thought to be involved in the pathogenesis of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Hepcidin, a 25-kD peptide hormone produced by the liver, modulates acute inflammatory responses. This study aimed to determine the association of serum levels of hepcidin with the presence and severity of OSAS. MATERIAL/METHODS: We enrolled 184 patients with OSAS and 110 healthy subjects. Serum levels of hepcidin were evaluated using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. RESULTS: OSAS patients had significantly higher serum hepcidin levels compared with healthy controls. Multivariable logistic regression analysis indicated that serum hepcidin levels were an independent determinant of the presence of OSAS (OR 1.224, 95% CI 1.159-1.292; P<0.001). Serum hepcidin levels were significantly elevated in severe OSAS patients compared with mild and moderate OSAS patients. Spearman correlation analysis revealed that serum hepcidin levels were correlated with the severity of OSAS. In addition, serum levels of hepcidin were correlated with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) in patients with OSAS. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated serum hepcidin levels are associated with the presence and severity of OSAS.