Immunomodulatory Function of Pien Tze Huang in T Cell-Mediated Anti-tumor Activity against B16-F10, MC38 and Hep1-6 Tumor Models.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the anti-tumor effects of Pien Tze Huang (PZH) in mouse models of B16-F10 melanoma, MC38 colorectal cancer, Hep1-6 hepatocellular carcinoma and chemically induced hepatocellular carcinoma model. METHODS: Various tumor models, including B16-F10, MC38 and Hep1-6 tumor hypodermic inoculation models, B16-F10 and Hep1-6 pulmonary metastasis models, Hep1-6 orthotopic implantation model, and chemically induced hepatocellular carcinoma model, were utilized to evaluate the anti-tumor function of PZH. Tumor growth was assessed by measuring tumor size and weight of solid tumors isolated from C57BL/6 mice. For cell proliferation and death of tumor cells in vitro, as well as T cell activation markers, cytokine production and immune checkpoints analysis, single-cell suspensions were prepared from mouse spleen, lymph nodes, and tumors after PZH treatment. RESULTS: PZH demonstrated significant therapeutic efficacy in inhibiting tumor growth (P<0.01). Treatment with PZH resulted in a reduction in tumor size in subcutaneous MC38 colon adenocarcinoma and B16-F10 melanoma models, and decreased pulmonary metastasis of B16-F10 melanoma and Hep1-6 hepatoma (P<0.01). However, in vitro experiments showed that PZH only had slight impact on the cell proliferation and survival of tumor cells (P>0.05). Nevertheless, PZH exhibited a remarkable ability to enhance T cell activation and the production of interferon gamma, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and interleukin 2 in CD4+ T cells in vitro (P<0.01 or P<0.05). Importantly, PZH substantially inhibited T cell exhaustion and boosted cytokine production by tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells (P<0.01 or P<0.05). CONCLUSION: This study has confirmed a novel immunomodulatory function of PZH in T cell-mediated anti-tumor immunity, indicating that PZH holds promise as a potential therapeutic agent for cancer treatment.

Enantioselective synthesis of 3,3'-dihydropyrryl-spirooxindoles via an organocatalytic three-component reaction.

An organocatalytic three-component reaction of isatins, malononitrile and isocyanoacetates provided 3,3'-dihydropyrryl-spirooxindoles in excellent yields and enantioselectivities. The products could be readily converted to valuable 3,3'-pyrrolidinyl-spirooxindoles.

Organocatalytic conjugate addition of malononitrile to conformationally restricted dienones.

Organocatalytic conjugate addition of malononitrile to conformationally restricted dienones has been studied. A series of chiral primary and tertiary amine catalysts were screened. A piperidine-based thiourea-tertiary amine was found to be the efficient catalyst. Chiral pyran derivatives were obtained in excellent yields and enantioselectivities via a cascade conjugate addition-intramolecular cyclization pathway. The reaction is remarkably different for the corresponding reaction of conformationally flexible dienones.

Organocatalytic asymmetric conjugate addition and cascade acyl transfer reaction of α-nitroketones.

Organocatalytic asymmetric conjugate addition of α-nitroketones to ß,γ-unsaturated α-keto esters has been developed. A pyrrolidine-based thiourea-tertiary amine was identified as the best catalyst. The reaction was found to proceed via cascade conjugate addition and acyl transfer reaction. A number of α-nitroketones and ß,γ-unsaturated α-keto esters were examined in this transformation. 5-Nitro-2-acyloxypent-2-enoates were obtained in good yields (up to 99%) and enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee). The products could be hydrolyzed to provide 5-nitro-2-oxopentanoates, which are not available from the direct addition of nitromethane to ß,γ-unsaturated α-keto esters.

Simultaneous channel and feature selection of fused EEG features based on Sparse Group Lasso.

Feature extraction and classification of EEG signals are core parts of brain computer interfaces (BCIs). Due to the high dimension of the EEG feature vector, an effective feature selection algorithm has become an integral part of research studies. In this paper, we present a new method based on a wrapped Sparse Group Lasso for channel and feature selection of fused EEG signals. The high-dimensional fused features are firstly obtained, which include the power spectrum, time-domain statistics, AR model, and the wavelet coefficient features extracted from the preprocessed EEG signals. The wrapped channel and feature selection method is then applied, which uses the logistical regression model with Sparse Group Lasso penalized function. The model is fitted on the training data, and parameter estimation is obtained by modified blockwise coordinate descent and coordinate gradient descent method. The best parameters and feature subset are selected by using a 10-fold cross-validation. Finally, the test data is classified using the trained model. Compared with existing channel and feature selection methods, results show that the proposed method is more suitable, more stable, and faster for high-dimensional feature fusion. It can simultaneously achieve channel and feature selection with a lower error rate. The test accuracy on the data used from international BCI Competition IV reached 84.72%.

Survival and immune response of rural HIV/AIDS patients after free antiretroviral therapy / 中华流行病学杂志

Objective To assess the adherence,immunologic and survival responses in HIV-infected patients receiving free antiretroviral therapy (ART). Methods All adult HIV-infected patients in Wenxi county who started antiretroviral treatment (ART) between 01 July 2001 and 31 December 2006 and aged above 18 years were included in this study. Epidemiological survey and laboratory tests were performed before,0.5 months after, 1 months after, 2 months after and every 3 months after initiation of ART to recognize the adherence, efficacy (CD4+ T cell counts) and survival to the regimens. Results The median follow-up time period was 16.5 months (Interquartile: 15.5-20.8 months). At baseline, the median of CD4+ T cell counts were 154 cells/μl (Interquartile: 81-212 cells/μl). Treatment was effective in most of the patients, the CD4+ T cell count of patients increased after the initiation of ART. The maximum increase was recorded at month 3, from the median of 154 cells/μl to 220 cells/μl (P<0.001) ,and thereafter the count remained stable. When comparing with patients with baseline CD4+ T cell count≥100 cells/μl, those with baseline CD4+ T cell count < 100 cells/μl showed a higher mean increase in the first three months of treatment. The cumulative probability rates of remaining alive were 0.94,0.88 and 0.87 at 3,12,24 months, respectively. In multivariate Cox's proportional hazard models, after adjustment for the type ofinitial regimens (NVP vs. EFV/IDV), CD4+T cell count of less than 50 cells/μl (vs. 50 cells/μl or more) was strongly associated with death hazard ratio 0.21 (95% CI:0.06-0.68). Conclusion Our data showed that ART was effective for improving immunologic response of adult patients with HIV/AIDS. CD4+ T cell count at initiation was associated with survival time in patients starting ART,suggesting that monitoring of CD4+ T count should be strengthened to early initiate antiretroviral therapy for HIV-infected patients.