The effects of 17β-trenbolone and bisphenol A on sexual behavior and social dominance via the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis in male mice.

17β-Trenbolone (17-TB) is well documented as an environmental endocrine disruptor in aquatic biological studies, but its effects on mammals remain poorly understood. Furthermore, 17-TB acts as a hormone with properties similar to testosterone, and the consequences of juvenile exposure on adult social behavior remain uncertain. Bisphenol A (BPA) acts as an estrogen-like hormone, compared to 17-TB.

Impact of metabolic syndrome components on clinical outcomes in hypertriglyceridemia-induced acute pancreatitis.

Background: The incidence of hypertriglyceridemia (HTG)-induced acute pancreatitis (AP) is steadily increasing in China, becoming the second leading cause of AP. Clinical complications and outcomes associated with HTG-AP are generally more severe than those seen in AP caused by other etiologies. HTG-AP is closely linked to metabolic dysfunction and frequently coexists with metabolic syndrome or its components.

The deleterious effects and potential therapeutic strategy of fluorene-9-bisphenol on circadian activity and liver diseases in zebrafish and mice.

Increasing evidence indicates that disturbance of the clock genes, which leads to systemic endocrine perturbation, plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of metabolic and liver diseases. Fluorene-9-bisphenol (BHPF) is utilized in the manufacturing of plastic materials but its biological effects on liver homeostasis remain unknown. The impacts and involved mechanisms of BHPF on the liver diseases, metabolism, and circadian clock were comprehensively studied by zebrafish and mouse models.

Zebrafishtracker3D: A 3D skeleton tracking algorithm for multiple zebrafish based on particle matching.

Zebrafish are considered as model organisms in biological and medical research because of their high degree of homology with human genes. Automatic behavioral analysis of multiple zebrafish based on visual tracking is expected to improve research efficiency. However, vision-based multi-object tracking algorithms often suffer from data loss owing to mutual occlusion.

Melatonin protects zebrafish pancreatic development and physiological rhythms from sodium propionate-induced disturbances via the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis.

Background: The widespread use of sodium propionate as a preservative in food may affect public health. We aimed to assess the effects of sodium propionate on circadian rhythms and pancreatic development in zebrafish and the possible underlying mechanisms.

Results: In this experiment, we analyzed the relationship between circadian rhythms and pancreatic development and then revealed the role of the thyroid endocrine system in zebrafish.

Change of serum lipoproteins and its potential use in stratifying patients with sepsis among neonates.

Background: Changes of serum lipoprotein concentration during bacteremia or sepsis are observed and lipoproteins concentration facilitate the evaluation severity of sepsis in adults, but its clinical usage is still unclear. Here, we analyzed the lipoprotein concentration in neonates with sepsis and discussed its use in stratifying patients.

Methods: This is a retrospective study involved 88 culture-proven septic patients.

The masculinization steroid milieu caused by fluorene-9-bisphenol disrupts sex-typical courtship behavior in female zebrafish (Danio rerio).

In vertebrates, the behavior of congenital sex differences between males and females is highly dependent on steroid signals and hormonal milieu. The presence of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in the environment generally plays a similar role to sex hormones, so its interference with aquatic organism population stability can not be ignored and is worth studying. Fluorene-9-bisphenol (BHPF) has been clarified as an endocrine disruptor on organisms by several studies but its mechanism in perturbation of courtship behavior of female zebrafish is not clear.

The food preservative sodium propionate induces hyperglycaemic state and neurological disorder in zebrafish.

Propionate is an effective mould inhibitor widely used as a food preservative. In this study, we used zebrafish to explore the adverse effects of long-term exposure to low concentrations of sodium propionate and the underlying molecular mechanisms (from larvae to adult). When exposed for 3 months, we found that blood glucose, total cholesterol, and triglyceride levels increased, and zebrafish developed a hyperglycaemic state.

Decabromodiphenyl ethane affects embryonic development by interfering with nuclear F-actin in zygotes and leads to cognitive and social disorders in offspring mice.

Decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) is a novel retardant. DBDPE is used in various flammable consumer products such as electronics, building materials, textiles, and children's toys. The presence of DBDPE in humans makes it extremely urgent to assess the health effects of DBDPE exposure.

A Machine Learning Method for Automated Transparent Vessel Segmentation and Identification Based on Blood Flow Characteristics.

In vivo transparent vessel segmentation is important to life science research. However, this task remains very challenging because of the fuzzy edges and the barely noticeable tubular characteristics of vessels under a light microscope. In this paper, we present a new machine learning method based on blood flow characteristics to segment the global vascular structure in vivo.

SphK1-driven autophagy potentiates focal adhesion paxillin-mediated metastasis in colorectal cancer.

Invasion and metastasis are the main causes of colorectal cancer (CRC)-related death. Accumulating evidence suggested that sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) promoted the metastasis of CRC and autophagy played an important role in SphK1 promoting the metastasis of malignancy. However, the mechanism by which SphK1-driven autophagy promotes invasion and metastasis in CRC remains to be clarified.

Clinical efficacy and mechanism for focused ultrasound (FUS) in the management of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 (CIN1).

This study was aimed at investigating the clinical efficacy and studying the possible mechanism of FUS applications to treat cervical intraepithelial neoplasia 1 (CIN1). This was a prospective clinical study, in which 30 patients with CIN1 (28/30 of the patients were HPV positive) were enrolled and treated with FUS therapy by gynecologist. All patients were followed up for 3 months after FUS therapy.

Ginkgo Biloba Extract Inhibits Metastasis and ERK/Nuclear Factor kappa B (NF-κB) Signaling Pathway in Gastric Cancer.

BACKGROUND Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb761), a standard extract of the Chinese traditional medicine Ginkgo biloba, plays an anti-tumor role in various cancers. However, whether EGb761 is involved in the invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer remains unclear. MATERIAL AND METHODS In the current study, cell viability assay, Western blotting, wound-healing assay, Transwell invasion assay, and orthotopic transplantation model were performed to explore the effects of EGb761 on gastric cancer.

Sphingosine kinase 1 promotes the metastasis of colorectal cancer by inducing the epithelial‑mesenchymal transition mediated by the FAK/AKT/MMPs axis.

It was demonstrated that Sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) promotes tumor progression and confers the malignancy phenotype of colorectal cancer by activating the focal adhesion kinase (FAK) pathway. However, further clarification is required to determine if SphK1 promotes the metastasis of colorectal cancer by inducing epithelial‑mesenchymal transition (EMT), and its mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Immunohistochemistry staining was used to detect protein expression in normal colonic mucosa tissues and colorectal cancer tissues.

NIK‑ and IKKβ‑binding protein contributes to gastric cancer chemoresistance by promoting epithelial‑mesenchymal transition through the NF‑κB signaling pathway.

Systematic chemotherapy is indispensable for gastric cancer patients with advanced stage disease, but the occurrence of chemoresistance drastically limits treatment effectiveness. There is a tremendous need for identifying the underlying mechanism of chemoresistance. NIK‑ and IKKβ‑binding protein (NIBP) (also known as TRAPPC9, trafficking protein particle complex 9) is a regulator of the cytokine‑induced NF‑κB signaling pathway which has been proven to play pivotal roles in the progression of various malignancies.

[Down-regulation of sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) enhances the chemosensitivity to cisplatin in human colon cancer RKO cells].

Objective To investigate the effect of sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) gene silence on the sensitivity to cisplatin (DDP) in RKO colon cancer cell line and the potential mechanism. Methods Targeted SphK1 gene lentivirus virus was constructed to infect RKO cells. The relative mRNA expression of SphK1 was detected by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and the protein level of SphK1 was determined by Western blotting.

[Establishment of a SD rat model of vulvar lichen simplex chronicus and detection of the expression of protease activated receptor 2].

Objective: To establish a SD rat model of vulvar lichen simplex chronicus (LSC) and investigate the expression of protease activated receptor 2 (PAR2) in the genital skin.

Methods: Seventy female SD rats were randomly divided into group A (blank control group, n=10), group B (with application of acetone solution 3 times per week for 10 weeks, n=10), group C (with chronic mechanical irritation 3 times per week for 10 weeks, n=10), and group D (with topical treatment with 0.5= 7,12-Dimethylbenzanthracene [DMBA] in acetone solution and chronic mechanical irritation 3 times per week for 10 weeks, n=40).

Synchronization criteria for generalized reaction-diffusion neural networks via periodically intermittent control.

In this paper, the synchronization problem for a class of generalized neural networks with time-varying delays and reaction-diffusion terms is investigated concerning Neumann boundary conditions in terms of p-norm. The proposed generalized neural networks model includes reaction-diffusion local field neural networks and reaction-diffusion static neural networks as its special cases. By establishing a new inequality, some simple and useful conditions are obtained analytically to guarantee the global exponential synchronization of the addressed neural networks under the periodically intermittent control.