Natural Resource Monitoring of Rheum tanguticum by Multilevel Remote Sensing.

Remote sensing has been extensively applied in agriculture for its objectiveness and promptness. However, few applications are available for monitoring natural medicinal plants. In the paper, a multilevel monitoring system, which includes satellite and aerial remote sensing, as well as ground investigation, was initially proposed to monitor natural Rheum tanguticum resource in Baihe Pasture, Zoige County, Sichuan Province.

Direct common gram-negative bacterial identification from positive blood culture bottles by SELDI-TOF MS.

A protein database was constructed and validated with identification rate over 90% for the 4 most common Gram-negative bacteria on agar plates. By protein masses comparison, 120 bacteria of the 4 species from blood culture bottles were identified. The concordance was high (Kappa=0.

Inhibition of STAT3 signalling contributes to the antimelanoma action of atractylenolide II.

Our previous studies showed that atractylenolide II (AT-II) has antimelanoma effects in B16 melanoma cells. In this study, we investigated the involvement of STAT3 signalling in the antimelanoma action of AT-II. Daily administration of AT-II (12.

TLR9 is critical for glioma stem cell maintenance and targeting.

Understanding supports for cancer stem-like cells in malignant glioma may suggest therapeutic strategies for their elimination. Here, we show that the Toll-like receptor TLR9 is elevated in glioma stem-like cells (GSC) in which it contributes to glioma growth. TLR9 overexpression is regulated by STAT3, which is required for GSC maintenance.

Indirect readout in protein-peptide recognition: a different story from classical biomolecular recognition.

Protein-peptide interactions are prevalent and play essential roles in many living activities. Peptides recognize their protein partners by direct nonbonded interactions and indirect adjustment of conformations. Although processes of protein-peptide recognition have been comprehensively studied in both sequences and structures recently, flexibility of peptides and the configuration entropy penalty in recognition did not get enough attention.

Coronary heart disease: incidence, risk factors and interventions in Jiaozhou of Shandong province.

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of heart disease and cause of heart attacks. This study investigated the epidemiological characteristics of CHD and its risk factors in Jiaozhou, Shandong province, to ultimately find a way of reducing the prevalence of cardiovascular disease, and to provide a theoretical basis for establishing a cardiovascular disease management path under the regional medical collaborative mechanism.

Methods: A questionnaire survey was performed including 1 952 people aged 35 years or older who were questioned by means of stratified, cluster, proportional sampling to investigate the prevalence of CHD and its risk factors.

Scalable low-cost SnS(2) nanosheets as counter electrode building blocks for dye-sensitized solar cells.

A new type of semitransparent SnS2 nanosheet (NS) films were synthesized using a simple and environmentally friendly solution-processed approach, which were subsequently used as a counter electrode (CE) alternative to the noble metal Pt for triiodide reduction in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The resultant SnS2 -based CE with a thickness of about 300 nm exhibited excellent electrochemical catalytic activity for catalyzing the reduction of triiodide and demonstrated comparable power conversion efficiency of 7.64 % with that of expensive Pt-based CE in DSSCs (7.

CTLA4 aptamer delivers STAT3 siRNA to tumor-associated and malignant T cells.

Intracellular therapeutic targets that define tumor immunosuppression in both tumor cells and T cells remain intractable. Here, we have shown that administration of a covalently linked siRNA to an aptamer (apt) that selectively binds cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA4(apt)) allows gene silencing in exhausted CD8⁺ T cells and Tregs in tumors as well as CTLA4-expressing malignant T cells. CTLA4 expression was upregulated in CD8⁺ T cells in the tumor milieu; therefore, CTLA4(apt) fused to a STAT3-targeting siRNA (CTLA4(apt)-STAT3 siRNA) resulted in internalization into tumor-associated CD8⁺ T cells and silencing of STAT3, which activated tumor antigen-specific T cells in murine models.

A hybrid indoor ambient light and vibration energy harvester for wireless sensor nodes.

To take advantage of applications where both light and vibration energy are available, a hybrid indoor ambient light and vibration energy harvesting scheme is proposed in this paper. This scheme uses only one power conditioning circuit to condition the combined output power harvested from both energy sources so as to reduce the power dissipation. In order to more accurately predict the instantaneous power harvested from the solar panel, an improved five-parameter model for small-scale solar panel applying in low light illumination is presented.

Pre-existing hypertension dominates γδT cell reduction in human ischemic stroke.

T lymphocytes may play an important role in the evolution of ischemic stroke. Depletion of γδT cells has been found to abrogate ischemia reperfusion injury in murine stroke. However, the role of γδT cells in human ischemic stroke is unknown.

Flow-injection chemiluminescence method to detect a β2 adrenergic agonist.

A new method for the detection of β2 adrenergic agonists was developed based on the chemiluminescence (CL) reaction of β2 adrenergic agonist with potassium ferricyanide-luminol CL. The effect of β2 adrenergic agonists including isoprenaline hydrochloride, salbutamol sulfate, terbutaline sulfate and ractopamine on the CL intensity of potassium ferricyanide-luminol was discovered. Detection of the β2 adrenergic agonist was carried out in a flow system.

Scalable growth of high-quality polycrystalline MoS(2) monolayers on SiO(2) with tunable grain sizes.

We report a scalable growth of monolayer MoS2 films on SiO2 substrates by chemical vapor deposition. As-grown polycrystalline MoS2 films are continuous over the entire substrate surface with a tunable grain size from ∼20 nm up to ∼1 μm. An obvious blue-shift (up to 80 meV) of photoluminescence peaks was observed from a series samples with different grain sizes.

Huntingtin regulates mammary stem cell division and differentiation.

Little is known about the mechanisms of mitotic spindle orientation during mammary gland morphogenesis. Here, we report the presence of huntingtin, the protein mutated in Huntington's disease, in mouse mammary basal and luminal cells throughout mammogenesis. Keratin 5-driven depletion of huntingtin results in a decreased pool and specification of basal and luminal progenitors, and altered mammary morphogenesis.

STAT3 activation in tumor cell-free lymph nodes predicts a poor prognosis for gastric cancer.

STAT3 is constitutively activated in many human cancers including gastric cancer and plays crucial roles in modulating cancer cell proliferation, survival, metastasis as well as the microenvironment of pre-metastatic niches. Accumulating evidence has implicated STAT3 as a promising target for cancer therapy and it has been well established that tumor cell metastasized to lymph node is associated with poor prognosis. However, little is known about the relation between STAT3 activation in tumor cell-free lymph nodes and patient clinical outcomes.

Elastase LasB of Pseudomonas aeruginosa promotes biofilm formation partly through rhamnolipid-mediated regulation.

Elastase LasB, an important extracellular virulence factor, is shown to play an important role in the pathogenicity of Pseudomonas aeruginosa during host infection. However, the role of LasB in the life cycle of P. aeruginosa is not completely understood.

Dual protection of sulfur by carbon nanospheres and graphene sheets for lithium-sulfur batteries.

Well-confined elemental sulfur was implanted into a stacked block of carbon nanospheres and graphene sheets through a simple solution process to create a new type of composite cathode material for lithium-sulfur batteries. Transmission electron microscopy and elemental mapping analysis confirm that the as-prepared composite material consists of graphene-wrapped carbon nanospheres with sulfur uniformly distributed in between, where the carbon nanospheres act as the sulfur carriers. With this structural design, the graphene contributes to direct coverage of sulfur to inhibit the mobility of polysulfides, whereas the carbon nanospheres undertake the role of carrying the sulfur into the carbon network.

PEAK: a randomized, multicenter phase II study of panitumumab plus modified fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (mFOLFOX6) or bevacizumab plus mFOLFOX6 in patients with previously untreated, unresectable, wild-type KRAS exon 2 metastatic colorectal cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate panitumumab plus modified fluorouracil, leucovorin, and oxaliplatin (mFOLFOX6) or bevacizumab plus mFOLFOX6 in patients with previously untreated wild-type (WT) KRAS exon 2 (codons 12 and 13) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). A prespecified secondary objective was to assess treatment effects in an extended RAS analysis that included exons 2, 3, and 4 of KRAS and NRAS.

Patients And Methods: Patients with WT KRAS exon 2 tumors were randomly assigned at a one-to-one ratio to panitumumab plus mFOLFOX6 or bevacizumab plus mFOLFOX6.

A novel multivalent, single-domain antibody targeting TcdA and TcdB prevents fulminant Clostridium difficile infection in mice.

The incidence of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and associated mortality have increased rapidly worldwide in recent years. Therefore, it is critical to develop new therapies for CDI. In this study, we generated a novel, potently neutralizing, tetravalent, and bispecific antibody composed of 2 heavy-chain-only VH (VHH) binding domains against both TcdA and TcdB (designated "ABA") that reverses fulminant CDI in mice infected with an epidemic 027 strain after a single injection of the antibody.

The A10389G polymorphism of gene and breast cancer: A meta-analysis.

Previous studies have reported the association between A10389G polymorphism of the () gene and breast cancer risk with conflicting results. To explore this association, we conducted a meta-analysis on 5,580 patients and 5,749 controls from eligible published studies. Six reports (11 study populations) were included in this meta-analysis.

S1PR1 is crucial for accumulation of regulatory T cells in tumors via STAT3.

S1PR1 signaling has been shown to restrain the number and function of regulatory T (Treg) cells in the periphery under physiological conditions and in colitis models, but its role in regulating tumor-associated T cells is unknown. Here, we show that S1PR1 signaling in T cells drives Treg accumulation in tumors, limits CD8(+) T cell recruitment and activation, and promotes tumor growth. T-cell-intrinsic S1PR1 affects Treg cells, but not CD8(+) T cells, as demonstrated by adoptive transfer models and transient pharmacological S1PR1 modulation.

Down-regulation of miR-34a alleviates mesangial proliferation in vitro and glomerular hypertrophy in early diabetic nephropathy mice by targeting GAS1.

Aims: Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is a major diabetic complication characterized by mesangial proliferation and glomerular hypertrophy. MicroRNAs might play an important role in these pathological processes. The aim of this study is to examine the possible association of miR-34a as one of the microRNAs with DN and underlying mechanisms in vitro and in vivo.

A vibration-based MEMS piezoelectric energy harvester and power conditioning circuit.

This paper presents a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) piezoelectric power generator array for vibration energy harvesting. A complete design flow of the vibration-based energy harvester using the finite element method (FEM) is proposed. The modal analysis is selected to calculate the resonant frequency of the harvester, and harmonic analysis is performed to investigate the influence of the geometric parameters on the output voltage.

Molecular diagnosis of Baylisascaris schroederi infections in giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) feces using PCR.

The helminth Baylisascaris schroederi is one of the most harmful parasites infecting giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). It is therefore important to develop an exact diagnostic technique to detect this parasite. Using a known number (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100) of feces-isolated B.

Xanthogranulomatous osteomyelitis of rib mimicking malignant lesions in (18)F-FDG PET/CT imaging: a report of two cases.

Xanthogranulomatous osteomyelitis is a rare inflammatory process characterized histologically by collection of foamy macrophages admixed with mononuclear cells. We describe 2 cases with chest and back pain; radiography and CT scan identified expansile osteolytic rib destructive lesions with soft tissue mass. F-FDG PET/CT revealed accumulation of F-FDG similar to malignancy.

Association between single nucleotide polymorphisms in miRNA196a-2 and miRNA146a and susceptibility to hepatocellular carcinoma in a Chinese population.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most prevalent cancers in the world and deeply threatens people's health, especially in China. Techniques of early diagnosis, prevention and prediction are still being discovered, among which the approaches based on single nucleotide polymorphisms in microRNA genes (miRNA SNPs) are newly proposed and show prospective potential. In particular, the association between SNPs in miRNA196a-2 (rs11614913) and miRNA146a (rs2910164) and HCC has been investigated.