Achromobacter seleniivolatilans sp. nov. and Buttiauxella selenatireducens sp. nov., isolated from the rhizosphere of selenium hyperaccumulator Cardamine hupingshanesis.

Two Gram-stain-negative bacterial strains, R39T and R73T, were isolated from the rhizosphere soil of the selenium hyperaccumulator Cardamine hupingshanesis in China. Strain R39T transformed selenite into elemental and volatile selenium, whereas strain R73T transformed both selenate and selenite into elemental selenium. Phylogenetic and phylogenomic analyses indicated that strain R39T belonged to the genus Achromobacter, while strain R73T belonged to the genus Buttiauxella. Strain R39T (genome size, 6.68 Mb; G+C content, 61.6 mol%) showed the closest relationship to Achromobacter marplatensis LMG 26219T and Achromobacter kerstersii LMG 3441T, with average nucleotide identity (ANI) values of 83.6 and 83.4 %, respectively. Strain R73T (genome size, 5.22 Mb; G+C content, 50.3 mol%) was most closely related to Buttiauxella ferragutiae ATCC 51602T with an ANI value of 86.4 %. Furthermore, strain A111 from the GenBank database was found to cluster with strain R73T within the genus Buttiauxella through phylogenomic analyses. The ANI and digital DNA-DNA hybridization values between strains R73T and A111 were 97.5 and 80.0% respectively, indicating that they belong to the same species. Phenotypic characteristics also differentiated strain R39T and strain R73T from their closely related species. Based on the polyphasic analyses, strain R39T and strain R73T represent novel species of the genera Achromobacter and Buttiauxella, respectively, for which the names Achromobacter seleniivolatilans sp. nov. (type strain R39T=GDMCC 1.3843T=JCM 36009T) and Buttiauxella selenatireducens sp. nov. (type strain R73T=GDMCC 1.3636T=JCM 35850T) are proposed.

Nitrate reductase involves in selenite reduction in Rahnella aquatilis HX2 and the characterization and anticancer activity of the biogenic selenium nanoparticles.

BACKGROUND: Biogenic selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) show numerous advantages including their high stability, low toxicity, and high bioactivity. While metabolism of SeNPs remains not well studied and need more investigation to reveal the process. PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between nitrate reductase and selenite reduction in Rahnella aquatilis HX2, characterize the properties of HX2 produced SeNPs, and explore their potential applications, particularly their anticancer activity. PROCEDURES: Selenium species were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma - Mass spectrometry (HPLC-ICP-MS). Transcription level of nitrate reductase was determined by Real-time quantitative PCR. Morphology, particle size, crystal structure and surface chemistry of SeNPs were determined by electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering method, Raman scattering, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. Anti cancer cell activity was measured by CCK-8 assay. MAIN FINDINGS: SeNP production in R. aquatilis HX2 was correlated with the cell growth. The products of selenite reduction in HX2 detected by HPLC-ICP-MS included SeNPs, selenocysteine (SeCys), Se-Methylselenocysteine (MeSeCys), and 7 unknown compounds. Nitrate addition experiments suggested the involvement of nitrate reductase in selenite reduction in HX2. Both the cellular membrane and cytoplasm of HX2 exhibited selenite-reducing ability, indicating that membrane-associated nitrate reductase was not the sole selenite reductase in HX2. Characterization of the biogenic SeNPs revealed a spherical morphology and amorphous structure of them. Surface chemistry analysis implicated the binding of extracellular polymeric substances to the biogenic SeNPs, and the presence of Se0, Se2-, and electron-rich Se atoms on the surface of SeNPs. Finally, the IC50 values of the biogenic SeNPs were 36.49 µM for HepG2 and 3.70 µM for HeLa cells. CONCLUSIONS: The study first revealed that the nitrate reductase is involving in selenite reduction in R. aquatilis HX2. The biogenic SeNPs coordinated with organic substances in the surface. And SeNPs produced by R. aquatilis HX2 showed excellent anticancer activities on HepG2 and HeLa cells.

Citrobacter enshiensis sp. nov., isolated from seleniferous soil.

Two Gram-stain-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped bacterial strains, S171T and S2-9, were isolated from seleniferous soil in China. Comprehensive phylogenetic analyses based on 16S rRNA genes, multilocus sequences and whole genome sequences indicated that the two strains belonged to the genus Citrobacter. The average nucleotide identity (ANI) and digital DNA-DNA hybridization (dDDH) values of strains S171T and S2-9 with the closest relative Citrobacter koseri NCTC 10786T were 83.6-83.7% and 27.7-27.8 %, respectively, which were below the species cutoff values. The ANI and dDDH values between the two strains were 97.9% and 84.8 %, respectively. The biochemical characteristics revealed that selenite tolerance, H2S and indole production, arginine dihydrolase, ornithine decarboxylase, as well as acid production from carbon sources such as d-sorbitol and arbutin are distinctive features of the two strains. Based on these results, strain S171T and strain S2-9 represent a novel species of the genus Citrobacter, for which the name Citrobacter enshiensis sp. nov. is proposed, with strain S171T (=GDMCC 1.3637T=JCM 35851T) as the type strain. The genome size of strain S171T was 4.92 Mb with a G+C content of 52.6 mol%. The genome size of strain S2-9 was 4.89 Mb with a G+C content of 52.6 mol%.

Role of Inhibiting Inflammation of LC3-Associated Phagocytosis in Dry Eye Disease.

PURPOSE: To confirm the expression and investigate the role of LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP) in dry eye disease (DED). METHODS: The DED model of mice was established by scopolamine subcutaneous injection in a low-humidity environment chamber. Tear secretion test and corneal fluorescein sodium staining were used to evaluate the severity of DED. Expression levels of Rubicon, microtubule-associated protein light chain 3-II (LC3-II), Beclin-1 and autophagy-related gene-7 (Atg-7) in corneas of mice with DED were tested by western blot. Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay was used to detect the effects of different concentrations of hypertonic solutions on the proliferation activity of human corneal epithelial cells (HCECs). The expression levels of Dectin-1, IL-6 and IL-1ß in HCECs after stimulation with different concentrations of hypertonic solutions were tested. The expressions of Rubicon, LC3-II, Beclin-1 and ATG-7 in HCECs were detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). After being pretreated with 10 µM si-Rubicon, the severity of the disease was documented by corneal fluorescein sodium staining. And the expression levels of IL-6 and IL-1ß were also tested by RT-PCR. RESULTS: Compared with the normal control group, the corneal fluorescein sodium staining scores and tear secretion were significantly reduced. Rubicon, LC3-II, Beclin-1 and ATG-7 were significantly elevated. CCK-8 showed that the 400 and 450 mOsM hypertonic solutions did not affect the proliferation activity of HCECs. The expression of Dectin-1, IL-1ß and IL-6 were elevated after stimulation with 450 mOsM solution. LC3-II, Rubicon, ATG-7 and Beclin-1 increased after stimulation with 450 mOsM hyperosmolar solution in HCECs. Corneal fluorescein staining showed that si-Rubicon increased the severity of DED in mice. Moreover, the mRNA expressions of inflammatory factors IL-1ß and IL-6 in the cornea of mice were significantly increased. CONCLUSION: DED increased the expression of proteins associated with LAP. LAP could play an anti-inflammatory effect in DED.

Amorphous structure and crystal stability determine the bioavailability of selenium nanoparticles.

Microorganisms play a critical role in the biogeochemical cycling of selenium, often reducing selenite/selenate to elemental selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs). These SeNPs typically exist in an amorphous structure but can transform into a trigonal allotrope. However, the crystal structural transition process and its impact on selenium bioavailability have not been well studied. To shed light on this, we prepared chemosynthetic and biogenic SeNPs and investigated the stability of their crystal structure. We found that biogenic SeNPs exhibited a highly stable amorphous structure in various conditions, such as lyophilization, washing, and laser irradiation, whereas chemosynthetic SeNPs transformed into a trigonal structure in the same conditions. Additionally, a core-shell structure was observed in biogenic SeNPs after electron beam irradiation. Further analysis revealed that biogenic SeNPs showed a coordination reaction between Se atoms and surface binding biomacromolecules, indicating that the outer layer of Se-biomacromolecules complex prevented the SeNPs from crystallizing. We also investigated the effects of SeNPs crystal structures on the bioavailability in bacteria, yeast, and plants, finding that the amorphous structure of SeNPs determined Se bioavailability.

Multifactorial interaction of selenium, iron, xylose, and glycine on cordycepin metabolism in Cordyceps militaris.

Cordycepin, a nucleoside analog, is the main antioxidative and antimicrobial substance in Cordyceps militaris. To improve the metabolism of cordycepin, carbon sources, nitrogen sources, trace elements, and precursors were studied by single factor, Plackett-Burman, and central composite designs in C. militaris mycelial fermentation. Under the regulation of the multifactorial interactions of selenite, ferrous chloride, xylose, and glycine, cordycepin production was increased by 5.2-fold compared with the control. The gene expression of hexokinase, ATP phosphoribosyltransferase, adenylosuccinate synthetase, and cns1-3 in the glycolysis, pentose phosphate, and adenosine synthesis pathways were increased by 3.2-7.5 times due to multifactorial interactions, while the gene expression of histidine biosynthesis trifunctional protein and histidinol-phosphate aminotransferase in histidine synthesis pathway were decreased by 23.4%-56.2%. Increasing with cordycepin production, glucose uptake was accelerated, mycelia growth was inhibited, and the cell wall was damaged. Selenomethionine (SeMet), selenocysteine (SeCys), and selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) were the major Se species in C. militaris mycelia. This study provides a new insight for promoting cordycepin production by regulating glycolysis, pentose phosphate, and histidine metabolism. KEY POINTS: • Cordycepin production in the CCDmax group was 5.2-fold than that of the control. • Glucose uptake of the CCDmax group was accelerated and cell wall was damaged. • The metabolic flux was concentrated to the cordycepin synthesis pathway.

Dual-Comb Gas Sensor Integrated with a Neural Network-Based Spectral Decoupling Algorithm of Overlapped Spectra for Gas Mixture Sensing.

Cross-interference among absorptions severely affects the ability to achieve accurate gas concentration retrieval through gas molecular specificity. In this study, a novel dual gas sensor was proposed to separate methane and water absorbance from the blended spectra of their mixture in the mid-infrared (MIR) band by employing a neural network algorithm. To address the scarcity of experimental data, the neural network was trained over a simulated data set constructed with the same distribution as the experimental ones. The system takes advantages of the broadband spectra to provide high-quality comb data and allows the neural network to establish an accurate spectral decoupling function. In addition, a feature absorption peak screening mechanism was proposed to achieve more accurate concentration retrieval, which avoids the prediction error introduced by interrogating the only peak of the separated spectra. The promising results of the systematic evaluation have demonstrated the feasibility of our methods in practical detections.

α-Mangostin Inhibited M1 Polarization of Macrophages/Monocytes in Antigen-Induced Arthritis Mice by Up-Regulating Silent Information Regulator 1 and Peroxisome Proliferators-Activated Receptor γ Simultaneously.

Background: α-Mangostin (MG) showed the potentials in alleviating experimental arthritis, inhibiting inflammatory polarization of macrophages/monocytes, and regulating peroxisome proliferators-activated receptor γ (PPAR-γ) and silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1) signals. The aim of this study was to analyze the correlations among the above-mentioned properties. Methods: Antigen-induced arthritis (AIA) was established in mouse, which was treated with MG in combination with SIRT1/PPAR-γ inhibitors to clarify the role of the two signals in the anti-arthritic actions. Pathological changes were systematically investigated. Phenotypes of cells were investigated by flow cytometry. Expression and co-localization of SIRT1 and PPAR-γ proteins in joint tissues were observed by the immunofluorescence method. Finally, clinical implications from the synchronous up-regulation of SIRT1 and PPAR-γ were validated by experiments in vitro. Results: SIRT1 and PPAR-γ inhibitors (nicotinamide and T0070097) reduced the therapeutic effects of MG on AIA mice, and abrogated MG-induced up-regulation of SIRT1/PPAR-γ and inhibition of M1 polarization in macrophages/monocytes. MG has a good binding affinity to PPAR-γ, and MG promoted the co-expression of SIRT1 and PPAR-γ in joints. Synchronously activating SIRT1 and PPAR-γ was revealed to be necessary by MG to repress inflammatory responses in THP-1 monocytes. Conclusion: MG binds PPAR-γ and excites this signaling to initiate ligand-dependent anti-inflammatory activity. Due to certain unspecified signal transduction crosstalk mechanism, it then promoted SIRT1 expression and further limited inflammatory polarization of macrophages/monocytes in AIA mice.

Uptake of Selenite by Rahnella aquatilis HX2 Involves the Aquaporin AqpZ and Na+/H+ Antiporter NhaA.

Microbial transformation of selenite [Se(IV)] to elemental selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) is known to be an important process for removing toxic soluble selenium (Se) oxyanions and recovery of Se from the environment as valuable nanoparticles. However, the mechanism of selenite uptake by microorganisms, the first step through which Se exerts its cellular function, remains not well studied. In this study, the effects of selenite concentration, time, pH, metabolic inhibitors, and anionic analogues on selenite uptake in Rahnella aquatilis HX2 were investigated. Selenite uptake by R. aquatilis HX2 was concentration- and time-dependent, and its transport activity was significantly dependent on pH. In addition, selenite uptake in R. aquatilis HX2 was significantly inhibited by the aquaporin inhibitor AgNO3 and sulfite (SO32-), and partially inhibited by carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone (CCCP) and 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) treatments. Three mutants with in-frame deletions of aqpZ, glpF, and nhaA genes were constructed. The transport assay showed that the water channel protein AqpZ, and not GlpF, was a key channel of selenite uptake by R. aquatilis HX2, and sulfite and selenite had a common uptake pathway. In addition, the Na+/H+ antiporter NhaA is also involved in selenite uptake in R. aquatilis HX2.

Xanthones from securidaca inappendiculata antagonizes the anti-rheumatic effect of methotrexate by inhibiting reduced folate carrier 1.

BACKGROUND: The first-line anti-rheumatic drug methotrexate (MTX) is used in the combination. Because of the unpredictable adverse reactions, optimization of relevant regimens is necessary and meaningful. This study aimed to study the possible interaction between Securidaca inappendiculate Hassk. Derived xanthones and MTX. METHODS: We established adjuvant-induced arthritis (AIA) model, which was treated with MTX and MTX + xanthone-rich fraction (XRF). The clinical efficacy was evaluated by histopathological examination, and LC-MS was used to monitor the blood concentration of MTX. Western blotting and immunohistochemistry were used to detect protein expression. In vitro, we assessed the activity of related transporters by cellular uptake assay based on HEK-293T cells. RESULTS: Compared with MTX-treated rats, inflammation in the immunized rats in the MTX + XRF group was obvious, indicating that XRF antagonized the anti-rheumatic effect of MTX. Meanwhile, XRF reduced liver and kidney injuries caused by MTX in addition to MTX. Results from immunohistochemical and nappendiculat assays suggested that XRF may reduce uptake of MTX by down-regulating reduced folate carrier 1 (RFC1). CONCLUSION: This study indicated that XRF could reduce the plasma concentration of MTX by inhibiting the expression of RFC1, antagonize the therapeutic effect of MTX on AIA rats, and reduce its oral bioavailability. The combination of S. inappendiculate and MTX should be further optimized to achieve the goal of increasing efficiency and reducing toxicity.

A Multi-Task Convolutional Neural Network for Lesion Region Segmentation and Classification of Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma.

Targeted therapy is an effective treatment for non-small cell lung cancer. Before treatment, pathologists need to confirm tumor morphology and type, which is time-consuming and highly repetitive. In this study, we propose a multi-task deep learning model based on a convolutional neural network for joint cancer lesion region segmentation and histological subtype classification, using magnified pathological tissue images. Firstly, we constructed a shared feature extraction channel to extract abstract information of visual space for joint segmentation and classification learning. Then, the weighted losses of segmentation and classification tasks were tuned to balance the computing bias of the multi-task model. We evaluated our model on a private in-house dataset of pathological tissue images collected from Qilu Hospital of Shandong University. The proposed approach achieved Dice similarity coefficients of 93.5% and 89.0% for segmenting squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (AD) specimens, respectively. In addition, the proposed method achieved an accuracy of 97.8% in classifying SCC vs. normal tissue and an accuracy of 100% in classifying AD vs. normal tissue. The experimental results demonstrated that our method outperforms other state-of-the-art methods and shows promising performance for both lesion region segmentation and subtype classification.

α-Mangostin Treats Early-Stage Adjuvant-Induced Arthritis of Rat by Regulating the CAP-SIRT1 Pathway in Macrophages.

BACKGROUND: Studies have found that α-mangostin (MG) can relieve experimental arthritis by activating cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP). It affects the polarization of macrophages and the balance of related immune cell subpopulations, but the specific mechanism is still unclear. It has been found that silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1) is closely related to macrophage activity. The purpose of this study is to explore the mechanism of MG intervening in macrophage polarization during treatment of early adjuvant-induced (AIA) rats through the CAP-SIRT1 pathway. METHODS: We investigated the polarization of M1 macrophages and the differentiation of Th1 in AIA rats by flow cytometry. Activity of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and the level of nicotinic adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) in serum were also detected, and immunohistochemical was used to detect the levels of α7 nicotinic cholinergic receptor (α7nAChR) and SIRT1. Then in macrophages, the molecular mechanism of MG regulating the abnormal activation of macrophages in rats with early AIA through the CAP-SIRT1 pathway was studied. RESULTS: MG can significantly inhibit the polarization of M1 macrophages and the differentiation of Th1 in AIA rats in the acute phase of inflammation. MG can significantly inhibit the activity of AChE and increase the level of NAD+, thereby further up-regulated the expression levels of α7nAChR and SIRT1. Meanwhile, MG inhibited nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB)-mediated inflammation by activating the CAP-SIRT1 pathway in macrophages. CONCLUSION: In summary, the stimulation of MG induced CAP activation, which up-regulated SIRT1 signal, and thereby inhibited M1 polarization through the NF-κB pathway, and improved the pathological immune environment of early-stage AIA rats.

Adaptively Optimized Gas Analysis Model with Deep Learning for Near-Infrared Methane Sensors.

Noise significantly limits the accuracy and stability of retrieving gas concentration with the traditional direct absorption spectroscopy (DAS). Here, we developed an adaptively optimized gas analysis model (AOGAM) composed of a neural sequence filter (NSF) and a neural concentration retriever (NCR) based on deep learning algorithms for extraction of methane absorption information from the noisy transmission spectra and obtaining the corresponding concentrations from the denoised spectra. The model was trained on two data sets, including a computationally generated one and the experimental one. We have applied this model for retrieving methane concentration from its transmission spectra in the near-infrared (NIR) region. The NSF was implemented through an encoder-decoder structure enhanced by the attention mechanism, improving robustness under noisy conditions. Further, the NCR was employed based on a combination of a principal component analysis (PCA) layer, which focuses the algorithm on the most significant spectral components, and a fully connected layer for solving the nonlinear inversion problem of the determination of methane concentration from the denoised spectra without manual computation. Evaluation results show that the proposed NSF outperforms widely used digital filters as well as the state-of-the-art filtering algorithms, improving the signal-to-noise ratio by 7.3 dB, and the concentrations determined with the NCR are more accurate than those determined with the traditional DAS method. With the AOGAM enhancement, the optimized methane sensor features precision and stability in real-time measurements and achieves the minimum detectable column density of 1.40 ppm·m (1σ). The promising results of the present study demonstrate that the combination of deep learning and absorption spectroscopy provides a more effective, accurate, and stable solution for a gas monitoring system.

The Effect of α7nAChR Signaling on T Cells and Macrophages and Their Clinical Implication in the Treatment of Rheumatic Diseases.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is one of the most common autoimmune disease and until now, the etiology and pathogenesis of RA is not fully understood, although dysregulation of immune cells is one of the leading cause of RA-related pathological changes. Based on current understanding, the priority of anti-rheumatic treatments is to restore immune homeostasis. There are several anti-rheumatic drugs with immunomodulatory effects available nowadays, but most of them have obvious safety or efficacy shortcomings. Therefore, the development of novel anti-rheumatic drugs is still in urgently needed. Cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) has been identified as an important aspect of the so-called neuro-immune regulation feedback, and the interaction between acetylcholine and alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) serves as the foundation for this signaling. Consistent to its immunomodulatory functions, α7nAChR is extensively expressed by immune cells. Accordingly, CAP activation greatly affects the differentiation and function of α7nAChR-expressing immune cells. As a result, targeting α7nAChR will bring profound therapeutic impacts on the treatment of inflammatory diseases like RA. RA is widely recognized as a CD4+ T cells-driven disease. As a major component of innate immunity, macrophages also significantly contribute to RA-related immune abnormalities. Theoretically, manipulation of CAP in immune cells is a feasible way to treat RA. In this review, we summarized the roles of different T cells and macrophages subsets in the occurrence and progression of RA, and highlighted the immune consequences of CAP activation in these cells under RA circumstances. The in-depth discussion is supposed to inspire the development of novel cell-specific CAP-targeting anti-rheumatic regimens.

Regulation of Sirt1 on energy metabolism and immune response in rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic autoimmune disease. Synovial hyperplasia and persistent inflammation serve as its typical pathological manifestations, which ultimately lead to joint destruction and function loss. Both clinical observations and metabolomics studies have revealed the prevalence of metabolic disorders in RA. In inflammatory immune microenvironments, energy metabolism is profoundly changed. Increasingly evidences suggest that this abnormality is involved in the occurrence and development of RA-related inflammation. Unsurprisingly, many energy metabolism sensors have been confirmed with immunoregulatory properties. As a representative, silent information regulator type 1 (Sirt1) controls many aspects of immune cells, such as cell lifespan, polarization, and secretion by functioning as a transcriptional regulator. Because of the profound clinical implication, researches on Sirt1 in the regulation of energy metabolism and immune functions under RA conditions have gradually gained momentum. This signaling balances glycolysis, lipid metabolism and insulin secretion orchestrating with other metabolism sensors, and consequently affects immune milieu through a so-called metabolism-immune feedback mechanism. This article reviews the involvement of Sirt1 in RA by discussing its impacts on energy metabolism and immune functions, and specially highlights the potential of Sirt1-targeting anti-rheumatic regimens. It also provides a theoretical basis for clarifying the mystery about the high incidence of metabolic complications in RA patients and identifying new anti-rheumatic reagents.

Highly stable selenium nanoparticles: Assembly and stabilization via flagellin FliC and porin OmpF in Rahnella aquatilis HX2.

Microorganisms play a critical role in the reduction of the more toxic selenite and selenate to the less toxic elemental selenium. However, the assembly process and stability of selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) remain understudied. The plant growth-promoting rhizobacterium Rahnella aquatilis HX2 can reduce selenite to biogenic SeNPs (BioSeNPs). Two main proteins, namely flagellin FliC and porin OmpF were identified in the BioSeNPs. The fliC and ompF gene mutation experiments demonstrated that the FliC and OmpF could control the assembly of BioSeNPs in vivo. At the same time, the expressed and purified FliC and OmpF could control the assembly of SeNPs in vitro. BioSeNPs produced by R. aquatilis HX2 exhibited high stability under various ionic strengths, while the chemically synthesized SeNPs (CheSeNPs) showed a high level of aggregation. The in vitro experiments verified that FliC and OmpF could prevent the aggregation of the CheSeNPs under various ionic strengths. This work reports the preparation of highly stable BioSeNPs produced by strain R. aquatilis HX2 and verifies that FliC and OmpF both could control the assembly and stability of BioSeNPs. BioSeNPs with high stability could be suitable as nutritional supplement to remedy selenium deficiency and in nanomedicine applications.

Study of spinel LiTi2O4 superconductors via near-infrared reflection experiments.

We present an optical study on high-quality and single-phase LiTi2O4 (LTO) superconductor thin films grown on MgAl2O4 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The near infrared (NIR) reflectivity is measured for samples with (001) and (111) lattice orientations. The temperature-induced metal-superconductor transition can be observed, and the superconducting transition temperature can be measured for both samples. We find that the NIR reflection experiment can reflect rightly the basic features of LTO superconductor thin films. Furthermore, the results obtained from this simple optical measurement suggest that the photo-induced electronic localization effect can be present in LTO thin films in a metallic state. Such information cannot be obtained directly from conventional transport and magneto-transport measurements. These interesting and important findings demonstrate that the NIR reflection experiment is a powerful optical technique for contactless characterizations and investigations of superconductor materials.

High power broadband LiF:F(2)(-) color center laser.

A high power LiF:F(2)(-) color center laser is demonstrated with broadband emission. The excitation source is a quasi-continuous wave diode side-pumped acousto-optically Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. Under an incident 1064-nm laser power of 25.4 W, the highest output power of up to 4.7 W is obtained with a macro pulse repetition rate of 400 Hz and a micro pulse repetition rate of 50 kHz. The broadband emission is centered at 1142 nm with a bandwidth of 13 nm.

Single-frequency CaWO4 Raman amplifier at 1178 nm.

Single-frequency crystalline Raman amplifications at 1178 nm were demonstrated. The seeding laser was generated from a single-frequency continuous wave fiber Raman amplifier. Three stages of Raman amplifications from CaWO4 single crystals were realized with a pulsed 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser as the pumping source. The final output pulse energy at 1178 nm was 26.7 mJ, and the pulse width was 2.9 ns, corresponding to a peak power of 5.2 MW. The overall Raman amplification ratio was up to 4.6×10(6). The linewidth was less than 500 MHz.

Dysregulation of hedgehog signaling pathway related components in the evolution of colonic carcinogenesis.

Previous studies report controversial role of Hedgehog (HH) signaling in the progression of colon cancer. This study aimed to investigate the expressions of smoothened (SMO) and downstream glioma-associated oncogene homology-1 (GLI1) in colon cancer, colonic adenoma and normal tissues. Colon cancer and normal tissue samples were collected from 49 patients with colon cancer while colonic adenoma tissue samples were obtained from 34 patients with colonic adenoma. Then the expressions of SMO and GLI1 were investigated using immunohistochemistry (IHC). For the detection of SMO and GLI1 expression, IHC staining results indicated that SMO was mainly expressed on the membrane while GLI1 was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm. The positive rates of SMO and GLI1 protein expressions were significantly increased in colon cancer tissue and colonic adenoma tissue when compared with normal colon tissue. In contrast, the significant difference was not found in the positive rates of SMO and GLI1 protein expressions between colon cancer tissue and colonic adenoma tissue. More importantly, it was found that SMO and GLI1 expressions possibly increased gradually from the normal colon to colonic adenoma to the colon cancer. Furthermore, no distinct correlations were detected between the expression levels of SMO and GLI1 and clinicopathological parameters, including age, gender, differentiation and Dukes stage. The present results provided some new information to the possible role of HH signaling in colon cancer progression. SMO and GLI1 maybe suggested asbiomarkers to identify colon cancerous, precancerous and normal tissues as well astherapeutic targets for colon cancer treatment.