Depletion of the triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 inhibits progression of renal cell carcinoma via regulating related protein expression and PTEN-PI3K/Akt pathway

The triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (TREM-2) is suggested to be involved in the development of certain human malignancies. However, the functions of TREM-2 in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are still less known. To reveal the effects of TREM-2 on the RCC progression, we examined the TREM-2 expression in RCC tumor tissues. Then, we analyzed the cell proliferation, cell apoptosis, cell cycle and expression of the relative factors in two selected RCC cell lines post RNA interference. We also analyzed the functions of TREM-2 in an in vivo nude mouse model. We found that, the expression of TREM-2 was abnormally elevated in RCC tumor tissues. Silencing TREM-2 inhibited cell growth, induced G1 phase arrest of cell cycle and cell apoptosis in RCC cells. In vivo, the results showed that depletion of TREM-2 significantly inhibited the ACHN tumor growth in the nude mouse model. The analysis of relative protein factors suggested that silencing TREM-2 downregulated the expression levels of Bcl2 and PCNA, and upregulated the expression levels of Bax and caspase-3 in RCC cell lines. Depletion of TREM-2 inactivated PI3K/Akt pathway through increasing the expression of PTEN. Taken together, TREM-2 acts as an oncogene in the development of RCC and can be considered as a novel therapeutic factor in the treatment of RCC.

An Open-Label Pilot Study of Metformin as a Concomitant Therapy on Patients with Prostate Cancer Undergoing Androgen Deprivation Treatment

PURPOSE

The study aimed to evaluate the effects of metformin on insulin, C-peptide and body weight in Chinese men undergoing androgen deprivation therapy (ADT).

METHODS

Between March 2013 and June 2014, 62 newly diagnosed patients of prostate cancer (PCa) due to receive ADT were recruited from 7 hospitals in Shanghai. Patients were randomized to respectively receive ADT (n = 31) and ADT + metformin (n = 31) for 6 months. Fasting and postprandial serum levels of insulin and C-peptide, blood glucose, prostate specific antigen, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) were measured at the beginning and end of 6-month treatment.

RESULTS

Baseline characteristics were comparable between the 2 groups. Controlling for baseline levels, the ADT group had significantly higher levels of fasting glucose (p = 0.01) and higher WC (p = 0.04) than the ADT + metformin group. The levels of insulin, C-peptide and BMI did not differ significantly.

CONCLUSIONS

Metformin may be potentially efficient as a concomitant therapy on patients with PCa undergoing androgen deprivation treatment.

Real-Time Head Pose Tracking with Online Face Template Reconstruction

We propose a real-time method to accurately track the human head pose in the 3-dimensional (3D) world. Using a RGB-Depth camera, a face template is reconstructed by fitting a 3D morphable face model, and the head pose is determined by registering this user-specific face template to the input depth video.

π Spin Berry Phase in a Quantum-Spin-Hall-Insulator-Based Interferometer: Evidence for the Helical Spin Texture of the Edge States

The quantum spin Hall insulator is characterized by helical edge states, with the spin polarization of the electron being locked to its direction of motion. Although the edge-state conduction has been observed, unambiguous evidence of the helical spin texture is still lacking. Here, we investigate the coherent edge-state transport in an interference loop pinched by two point contacts. Because of the helical character, the forward interedge scattering enforces a π spin rotation. Two successive processes can only produce a nontrivial 2π or trivial 0 spin rotation, which can be controlled by the Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The nontrivial spin rotation results in a geometric π Berry phase, which can be detected by a π phase shift of the conductance oscillation relative to the trivial case. Our results provide smoking gun evidence for the helical spin texture of the edge states. Moreover, it also provides the opportunity to all electrically explore the trajectory-dependent spin Berry phase in condensed matter.

Topological spin and valley pumping in silicene

We propose to realize adiabatic topological spin and valley pumping by using silicene, subject to the modulation of an in-plane ac electric field with amplitude Ey and a vertical electric field consisting of an electrostatic component and an ac component with amplitudes and . By tuning and , topological valley pumping or spin-valley pumping can be achieved. The low-noise valley and spin currents generated can be useful in valleytronic and spintronic applications. Our work also demonstrates that bulk topological spin or valley pumping is a general characteristic effect of two-dimensional topological insulators, irrelevant to the edge state physics.

Acute Abdominal Compartment Syndrome as a Complication of Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy: Two Cases Reports and Literature Review

Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) is a technique commonly used to remove large or multiple kidney stones and stones in the inferior calyx, with the advantages of lower morbidity rates, decrease in post-operative pain with faster recovery. Intra-abdominal irrigation fluid extravasation which leads to abdominal hypertension is a rare complication of PCNL with little reports. Early detection of intra-abdominal extravagation is very important to prevent morbidity and mortality. We present two cases and review the literature.

Zeeman-Field-Tuned Topological Phase Transitions in a Two-Dimensional Class-DIII Superconductor

We investigate the topological phase transitions in a two-dimensional time-reversal invariant topological superconductor in the presence of a Zeeman field. Based on the spin Chern number theory, we find that the system exhibits a number of topologically distinct phases with changing the out-of-plane component of the Zeeman field, including a quantum spin Hall-like phase, quantum anomalous Hall-like phases with total Chern number C = −2, −1, 1 and 2, and a topologically trivial superconductor phase. The BdG band gap closes at each boundary of the phase transitions. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the zero bias conductance provides clear transport signatures of the different topological phases, which are robust against symmetry-breaking perturbations.

Twist2 promotes kidney cancer cell proliferation and invasion by regulating ITGA6 and CD44 expression in the ECM-receptor interaction pathway

Twist2 is a member of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family and plays a critical role in tumorigenesis. Growing evidence has proven that Twist2 is involved in tumor progression; however, the role of Twist2 in human kidney cancer and its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis were used to detect the expression of Twist2 in kidney cancer cells and tissues. Cell proliferation, cell cycle, apoptosis, migration, and invasion assay were analyzed using the Cell Count Kit-8, flow cytometry, wound healing, and Transwell analysis, respectively. In this study, we showed that Twist2 was upregulated in human kidney cancer tissues compared with normal kidney tissues. Twist2 promoted cell proliferation, inhibited cell apoptosis, and augmented cell migration and invasion in human kidney-cancer-derived cells in vitro. Twist2 also promoted tumor growth in vivo. Moreover, we found that the knockdown of Twist2 decreased the levels of ITGA6 and CD44 expression. This result indicates that Twist2 may promote migration and invasion of kidney cancer cells by regulating ITGA6 and CD44 expression. Therefore, our data demonstrated that Twist2 is involved in kidney cancer progression. The identification of the role of Twist2 in the migration and invasion of kidney cancer provides a potential appropriate treatment for human kidney cancer.

Characterization of Normal and Freeze-Thawed Tissues in vitro Through The Ultrasonic Integrated Backscatter

BACKGROUND

The ultrasound guidance of cryotherapy could be improved if changes of tissue characterization parameters during freezing could be used to monitor freezing patterns and estimate the postoperative effects after surgery.

OBJECTIVE

The ultrasonic integrated backscatter analysis holds promise as an effective method for signal analysis and characterization of thawed tissues.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The ultrasonic integrated backscatter has been found to be an important parameter for describing the ultrasonic scattering and characterization of biological tissues. However, its potential values in the evaluation of cryosurgical effects of tissues reserved unclear so far. Here, we investigated the power spectrum of acoustic signal to estimate the ultrasound integrated backscatter in normal and freeze-thawed tissues on porcine livers in vitro.

RESULTS

The experimental results carried out at 10 MHz using weakly focused pulse-echo signal element transducer indicated that the ultrasonic integrated backscatter in normal liver tissues is 31.3±4.6 whereas it is 44.2±6.5 in several pre-frozen and then thawed tissues.

CONCLUSION

These results disclosed the good correlation between the ultrasonic integrated backscatter and microstructures of the normal or thawed tissues, and hence demonstrated that the power spectrum holds promise to be used as an effective method for the characterization of thawed tissues ultrasonic integrated backscatter, which might offer a potential pragmatic prospect for the practice of monitoring transition zone between frozen and unfrozen tissues during the surgical therapy, and evaluating postoperative effects.

The effects of resistance exercise in patients with knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the effectiveness of resistance exercise in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis on pain, stiffness, and physical function.

DESIGN

Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, the Web of Science, and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database were searched from the date of inception to August 2015.

METHODS

Trials comparing effects of resistance exercise intervention with either non-intervention or psycho-educational intervention were selected by two reviewers independently. The risk of bias was assessed and studies with similar outcomes were pooled using a fixed or random effects model.

RESULTS

Data from 17 randomized clinical trials including 1705 patients were integrated. The main source of methodological bias in the selected studies was lack of double blinding. The meta-analysis results suggested that resistance exercise training relieved pain (standard mean difference [SMD]: -0.43; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.57 to -0.29; P < 0.001), alleviated stiffness (SMD: -0.31; 95%: CI -0.56 to -0.05; P = 0.02), and improved physical function (SMD -0.53; 95% CI: -0.70 to -0.37; P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Resistance exercise is beneficial in terms of reducing pain, alleviating stiffness, and improving physical function in patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Online temporally consistent indoor depth video enhancement via static structure

In this paper, we propose a new method to online enhance the quality of a depth video based on the intermediary of a so-called static structure of the captured scene. The static and dynamic regions of the input depth frame are robustly separated by a layer assignment procedure, in which the dynamic part stays in the front while the static part fits and helps to update this structure by a novel online variational generative model with added spatial refinement. The dynamic content is enhanced spatially while the static region is otherwise substituted by the updated static structure so as to favor the long-range spatiotemporal enhancement. The proposed method both performs long-range temporal consistency on the static region and keeps necessary depth variations in the dynamic content. Thus, it can produce flicker-free and spatially optimized depth videos with reduced motion blur and depth distortion. Our experimental results reveal that the proposed method is effective in both static and dynamic indoor scenes and is compatible with depth videos captured by Kinect and time-of-flight camera. We also demonstrate that excellent performance can be achieved by the proposed method in comparison with the existing spatiotemporal approaches. In addition, our enhanced depth videos and static structures can act as effective cues to improve various applications, including depth-aided background subtraction and novel view synthesis, showing satisfactory results with few visual artifacts.

Abnormal gene expression profile reveals the common key signatures associated with clear cell renal cell carcinoma: a meta-analysis

The aims of this study were to identify the common gene signatures of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC), and to expand the respective protein-protein interaction networks associated with CCRCC regulation. For the latter, we utilized multiple gene expression data sets from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO), with which we could analyze the aberrant gene expression patterns at the transcriptome level that distinguish cancer from normal samples. We obtained the GSE781 and GSE6344 clear cell renal cell carcinoma gene expression datasets from GEO, which contained a total of 37 cancer and 37 normal samples. Subsequent R language analysis allowed identification of the differentially expressed genes. The genes that exhibited significant up or downregulation in cancers were entered into the Database for Annotation, Visualization, and Integrated Discovery to perform analysis of gene functional annotations, resulting in the generation of two protein-protein interaction networks that included the most significantly up or downregulated genes in CCRCC. These allowed us to identify the key factor genes, which could potentially be utilized to separate cancer versus normal samples. The differentially regulated genes are also highly likely to be functionally important regulatory factors in renal cell carcinoma: cell functions showing enrichment of these genes include amine biosynthetic and vitamin metabolic processes, ion binding, extracellular transport function, and regulation of biosynthesis. Together, the results from our study offer further reason to pursue diagnosis and therapy of CCRCC at the molecular level.

Knowledge mapping analysis of Ebola research

OBJECTIVE

To reveal the overall situation of research on Ebola virus via visual knowledge mapping analyses of the literatures regarding Ebola virus all around the world, e.g., literature metrology and topic evolvement.

METHODS

On the basis of the database Web of Knowledge (SCI), a knowledge graph was built by comprehensively utilizing software such as BIBEXCEL, GEPHI, VOSVIEWER, and HistCite.

RESULTS

According to the results of literature analysis, publications on Ebola virus boomed in 2014, and the research focus transferred gradually from basic research (viral glycoprotein) in 1999 to the prevention and treatment research (vaccine). The United States are in a dominant position in the field of Ebola virus research, wherein the US army (United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases) has the strongest research capacity.

DISCUSSION

Ebola virus is an important potential biological warfare agent, and some researches may not be published in the form of literature. So the result of literature metrology can only partially reflect the situation of Ebola virus research. In addition, close attention should be paid to the biosafety risk of Ebola research (Tab. 5, Fig. 5, Ref. 14).

[Effect of naringin of Drynaria Rhizome, a Chinese medical component of Zhuanggu Jianxi Recipe containing serum on caveolin-p38MAPK signal pathway in IL-1β induced rabbit degenerated chondrocytes]

OBJECTIVE

To observe the effect of naringin of Drynaria Rhizome, a Chinese medical component of Zhuanggu Jianxi Recipe (ZJR) containing serum on caveolin-p38MAPK signal factors (such as caveolin-1, p-p38, p-ATF-2, IL-1β, and TNF-α) in IL-1β induced rabbit degenerated chondrocytes, and further to explore its mechanism for protecting articular cartilages.

METHODS

Naringin of Drynaria Rhizome was obtained and analyzed by HPLC-TOF/MS. Four weeks old New Zealand rabbits were killed and their bilateral knee joints were isolated aseptically. CDs were isolated and then cultured in vitro. The second generation of CDs were used for later experiment. The effect of naringin on CDs proliferation was detected by MTT assay. The effect of naringin on the expression of IL-1β-induced collagen II in CDs was detected by immunohistochemical method. The effect of naringin on caveolin-1, p-p38, and p-ATF-2 protein in IL-1β-induced CDs was detected by Western blot. The effect of naringin on mRNA expression of IL-1β and TNF-α in IL-1β-induced CDs was detected by RT-PCR.

RESULTS

The appearance time of naringin in flow graphs of naringin standard solution and ZJR containing serum was 23.5 min, and the molecular weight ranged between 581.0 and 581.5 m/z. Naringin could promote the proliferation of CDs, and inhibit the effect of IL-1β on collagen II in CDs. Compared with the model group, naringin could reduce the expression of caveolin-1, p-p38, p-ATF-2, IL-1β, and TNF-α in IL-1β induced CDs (P < 0.05), which was approximate to the level of the normal group.

CONCLUSIONS

Naringin could not only promote the proliferation of CDs, but also protect IL-1β-induced CDs. Its mechanism might be associated with decreasing the expression of caveolin-1, p-p38, and p-ATF-2 proteins, inhibiting caveolin-p38MAPK signal pathway, and further reducing mRNA expression of IL-1β and TNF-α in the downstream of caveolin-p38MAPK signal pathway.

[Effects of conservation tillage on soil CO2 and N2O emission during the following winter-wheat season]

In order to study the effect of conservation tillage on soil CO2 and N2O emissions in the following crop-growing season, field experiments were conducted in the winter wheat-growing season. Four treatments were conventional tillage (T), no-tillage with no straw cover (NT), no-tillage with straw cover (NTS), and conventional tillage with straw incorporation (TS), respectively. The CO2 and N2O fluxes were measured using a static chamber-gas chromatograph technique. The results showed that in the following winter wheat-growing season, conservation tillage did not change the seasonal pattern of CO2 and N2O emission fluxes from soil, and had no significant effect on crop biomass. Conservation tillage significantly reduced the accumulative amount of CO2 and N2O. Compared with the T treatment, the accumulative amount of CO2 under TS, NT, and NTS treatments were reduced by 5.95% (P = 0.132), 12.94% (P = 0.007), and 13.91% (P = 0.004), respectively, and the accumulative amount of N2O were significantly reduced by 31.23% (P = 0.000), 61.29% (P = 0.000), and 33.08% (P = 0.000), respectively. Our findings suggest that conservation tillage significantly reduced CO2 and N2O emission from soil in the following winter wheat-growing season.

Entanglement, subsystem particle numbers and topology in free fermion systems

We study the relationship between bipartite entanglement, subsystem particle number and topology in a half-filled free fermion system. It is proposed that the spin-projected particle numbers can distinguish the quantum spin Hall state from other states, and can be used to establish a new topological index for the system. Furthermore, we apply the new topological invariant to a disordered system and show that a topological phase transition occurs when the disorder strength is increased beyond a critical value. It is also shown that the subsystem particle number fluctuation displays behavior very similar to that of the entanglement entropy. This provides a lower-bound estimation for the entanglement entropy, which can be utilized to obtain an estimate of the entanglement entropy experimentally.