A Modified Inflammatory Pain Model to Study the Analgesic Effect in Mice.

The hot plate test is widely used to evaluate analgesic effects on inflammatory pain in mice. A commonly used model of inflammatory pain was induced with an intraplantar injection of carrageenan in one hind paw. However, the findings from our laboratory showed that mice with a single-hind-paw injection of carrageenan lifted their paws to avoid thermal nociception during the hot plate test.

A Rat Model of Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion/Reperfusion without Damaging the Anatomical Structure of Cerebral Vessels.

Ischemic stroke stands as the primary cause of long-term disability and mortality among adults worldwide. Animal models of ischemic stroke have significantly contributed to our understanding of its pathological mechanisms and the development of potential treatments. Presently, there are two common methods involving filament (endovascular suture) techniques to induce animal models of cerebral ischemia.

Antinociceptive effects of carbidopa levodopa on normal rats and Parkinson's disease mice.

Carbidopa levodopa is widely used to ameliorate motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Pain is one of common symptoms of PD. The aim of this experiment is to study antinociceptive effects of carbidopa levodopa on normal rats and PD mice.

Probabilistic Structural Model Updating with Modal Flexibility Using a Modified Firefly Algorithm.

Structural model updating is one of the most important steps in structural health monitoring, which can achieve high-precision matching between finite element models and actual engineering structures. In this study, a Bayesian model updating method with modal flexibility was presented, where a modified heuristic optimization algorithm named modified Nelder-Mead firefly algorithm (m-NMFA) was proposed to find the most probable values (MPV) of model parameters for the maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) estimate. The proposed m-NMFA was compared to the original firefly algorithm (FA), the genetic algorithm (GA), and the particle swarm algorithm (PSO) through the numerical illustrative examples of 18 benchmark functions and a twelve-story shear frame model.

LAMC2 promotes the proliferation of cancer cells and induce infiltration of macrophages in non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the most prevalent cancer worldwide. Tumor microenvironment (TME) plays a very important role in the cancer development. Thus, it is urgent to find the change of TME that contributes to NSCLC carcinogenesis and progression.

Anlotinib followed by transarterial chemoembolization and radiofrequency ablation is a safe and effective initial treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma patients with portal vein tumor thrombus: A retrospective case series study.

Background: Portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) remains a poor prognostic factor occurring in about 10%-40% of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) for the optimal treatment is controversial. Anlotinib is an novel small molecule inhibitor that has a broad spectrum of inhibitory activities on tumor angiogenesis and growth. However, so far, no studies have reported the use of anlotinib in the treatment of HCC patients with PVTT.

Tai Chi on bone mineral density of postmenopausal osteoporosis: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Osteoporosis is a clinically common metabolic disease, especially in postmenopausal women. Tai Chi might be beneficial in osteoporosis patients. This study will be performed to examine the effects of Tai Chi on bone mineral density of postmenopausal osteoporosis.

Loss of SWI/SNF Chromatin Remodeling Alters NRF2 Signaling in Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma.

The NF-E2-related factor 2 (referred to as NRF2) transcription factor binds antioxidant responsive elements within the promoters of cytoprotective genes to induce their expression. Next-generation sequencing studies in lung cancer have shown a significant number of activating mutations within the NRF2 signaling pathway. Mutations in components of the SWI/SNF chromatin-remodeling complex, a general regulator of transcription using either BRG1 or BRM as the catalytic subunit, also frequently occur in lung cancers.

Combination of lapatinib and luteolin enhances the therapeutic efficacy of lapatinib on human breast cancer through the FOXO3a/NQO1 pathway.

Breast cancer is a malignant disease and a great cause of morbidity and mortality in women. The etiology of breast cancer is complex and closely related to people's living habits. Lapatinib, a tyrosine-kinase inhibitor, blocks the activation of the HER1 and HER2 tyrosine kinase to inhibit the activation of downstream signaling pathways and thus inhibit tumor survival and proliferation.

Prognostic prediction of a 12-methylation gene-based risk score system on pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) accounts for ~85% of all pancreatic cancer cases and is associated with a less favorable prognosis. Aberrant DNA methylation may influence the progression of PAAD by inducing abnormal gene expression. Methylation data of PAAD samples with prognosis information were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas (training set) and European Bioinformatics Institute Array Express databases (validation sets).

Target Elimination-Denatured and Unstable Proteins, Environmental Toxins, Metabolic Wastes, Immunosuppressive Factors and Chronic Inflammatory Factors of Medical System for Chronic Diseases Prevention and Health Promotion: A Narrative Review.

Background: The incidence of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, overweight, obesity, cancer and other diseases has been increasing. It is a huge challenge to public health industry about how to provide risk intervention and preventive medical services and explore advanced technology platform for effective prevention and control of chronic diseases.

Methods: We collaborated domestic and international experts on preventive medicine, and analyzed pathogenesis and risk factors for the major chronic diseases.

Schizandrin A enhances the efficacy of gefitinib by suppressing IKKβ/NF-κB signaling in non-small cell lung cancer.

The emergence of resistance to EGF receptor (EGFR) inhibitor therapy is a significant challenge for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). During the past few years, a correlation between EGFR TKIs resistance and dysregulation of IKKβ/NF-κB signaling has been increasingly suggested. However, few studies have focused on the effects of combining IKK/NF-κB and EGFR inhibitors to overcome EGFR TKIs resistance.

Application of biological age assessment of Chinese population in potential anti-ageing technology.

Background: This study aimed to construct a biological age assessment formula for the Chinese population and to explore the effectiveness of double filtration plasmapheresis for anti-ageing and longevity.

Methods: 915 subjects were recruited, including 584 (63.8%) males and 331 females (36.

Effect of luteolin on the methylation status of the OPCML gene and cell growth in breast cancer cells.

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of luteolin on the methylation of opioid binding protein/cell adhesion molecule (OPCML) in breast cancer cells, as well as its underlying mechanism of action. Human breast cancer cell lines BT474 and MCF-7 were cultured in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum. The cells were treated with 0-30 µmol/l luteolin prior to investigation.

An eight-miRNA signature expression-based risk scoring system for prediction of survival in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to establish a risk scoring system based on miRNAs to evaluate the prognosis in pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Methods: Using a miRNA microarray dataset (179 pancreatic adenocarcinoma specimens and 4 normal control specimens) from TCGA, differentially expressed miRNAs were identified. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to identify significant prognostic miRNAs, with which a risk scoring system was established and tested on a validation set.

EPB41L3 is a potential tumor suppressor gene and prognostic indicator in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Although there have been reports about the role of erythrocyte membrane protein band 4.1 like 3 (EPB41L3) in several types of cancer, primarily in non-small-cell lung carcinoma, the molecular function and modulatory mechanisms of EPB41L3 remain unclear. In specific, the functional and clinical significance of EPB41L3 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has not been explored to date.

High expression of Fibronectin 1 suppresses apoptosis through the NF-κB pathway and is associated with migration in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

Fibronectin 1 (FN1) is a member of the glycoprotein family located on chromosome 2q35. It has been reported that FN1 is upregulated in many tumors, and its expression is negatively related to the prognosis and survival of cancer patients. Through data analysis, we found that FN1 is upregulated in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).

miR-206 enhances nasopharyngeal carcinoma radiosensitivity by targeting IGF1.

Radioresistance remains a major problem in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treatment. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of NPC radioresistance remain poorly understood. The present study aimed to investigate the potential role and mechanism of miR-206 in NPC radioresistance.

Casticin inhibits the activity of transcription factor Sp1 and the methylation of in MGC803 gastric cancer cells.

The present study investigated the effect of casticin on reversion-inducing-cysteine-rich protein with kazal motifs () gene expression and intracellular methylation levels in MGC803 gastric cancer cells. Cells were treated with 1, 10 and 30 µmol/l casticin. Western blotting and reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays were performed to determine the protein expression and mRNA levels of RECK and DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1), respectively.

MiR-15a suppresses hepatocarcinoma cell migration and invasion by directly targeting .

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the function of miR-15a in HCC, and identify as a target of miR-15a.

Methods: RNA expression was evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). The effects of miR-15a or on HCC cells were evaluated by transwell migration assay and western blot analysis.

Chromium contributes to human bronchial epithelial cell carcinogenesis by activating Gli2 and inhibiting autophagy.

Occupational and environmental inhalation exposure to hexavalent chromium [Cr(vi)] compounds has been confirmed to cause respiratory system injury and cancer. The molecular mechanisms of chromium carcinogenesis still require further study. We established Cr(vi)-transformed cells (BEAS-2B-Cr) after chronic exposure of immortalized normal human bronchial epithelial BEAS-2B cells to low doses of Cr(vi), which obtained the ability of anchorage-independent growth.

Dietary Protein Sources and Incidence of Breast Cancer: A Dose-Response Meta-Analysis of Prospective Studies.

Protein is important to the human body, and different sources of protein may have different effects on the risk of breast cancer. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the association between different dietary protein sources and breast cancer risk. PubMed and several databases were searched until December 2015.

MicroRNA-218 inhibits EMT, migration and invasion by targeting SFMBT1 and DCUN1D1 in cervical cancer.

Repeated infection with high-risk HPV is a major cause for the development and metastasis of human cervical cancer, even though the mechanism of the metastasis is still not completely understood. Here, we reported that miR-218 (microRNA-218) was downregulated in cervical cancer tissues, especially in metastatic cancer tissues. We found that miR-218 expression was associated with clinicopathological characteristics of patients with cervical cancer.

Epb41l3 suppresses esophageal squamous cell carcinoma invasion and inhibits MMP2 and MMP9 expression.

EPB41L3 may play a role as a metastasis suppressor by supporting regular arrangements of actin stress fibres and alleviating the increase in cell motility associated with enhanced metastatic potential. Downregulation of epb41l3 has been observed in many cancers, but the role of this gene in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unclear. Our study aimed to determine the effect of epb41l3 on ESCC cell migration and invasion.

Serum microRNA-218 is a potential biomarker for esophageal cancer.

Background: Several studies demonstrated that microRNAs are stably detectable in plasma/serum and are potential biomarkers for some diseases. The expression of microRNA-218 (miR-218) is downregulated in esophageal cancer as reported in previous research.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate whether miR-218 can be served as a serum biomarker for esophageal cancer.