Clinical research on Tai Chi:a review of health benefits

Tai Chi,a traditional Chinese martial art and health exercise,has gained significant global attention and recognition.The clinical benefits of Tai Chi have been studied extensively in recent decades.We conducted a systematic search of PubMed,Web of Science,EMBASE databases,and the China National Knowledge Infrastructure,identifying and reviewing 241 clinical trials on the benefits of Tai Chi from their inception to June 1,2023.Most of these studies have consistently demonstrated the positive impact of Tai Chi on balance,cognitive function,mood regulation,sleep quality,pain relief,cardiorespiratory function,and overall health.In the future,the key to fostering the ongoing development of this field lies in comprehensive research on standardized study designs and reporting,the scope of Tai Chi applications,and the core factors influencing its efficacy.

Multi-Attribute Couplings-Based Euclidean and Nominal Distances for Unlabeled Nominal Data

Learning unlabeled data is a significant challenge that needs to han-dle complicated relationships between nominal values and attributes.Increas-ingly,recent research on learning value relations within and between attributes has shown significant improvement in clustering and outlier detection,etc.However,typical existing work relies on learning pairwise value relations but weakens or overlooks the direct couplings between multiple attributes.This paper thus proposes two novel and flexible multi-attribute couplings-based distance(MCD)metrics,which learn the multi-attribute couplings and their strengths in nominal data based on information theories:self-information,entropy,and mutual information,for measuring both numerical and nominal distances.MCD enables the application of numerical and nominal clustering methods on nominal data and quantifies the influence of involving and filtering multi-attribute couplings on distance learning and clustering perfor-mance.Substantial experiments evidence the above conclusions on 15 data sets against seven state-of-the-art distance measures with various feature selection methods for both numerical and nominal clustering.

NS1结合蛋白通过转录抑制c-Myc增强食管鳞状细胞癌的放疗敏感性

背景与目的基于顺铂的化疗联合放疗是晚期食管鳞状细胞癌(esophageal squamous cell carcinoma,ESCC)的标准疗法。NS1结合蛋白(NS1-binding protein,NS1-BP)是BTB-kelch蛋白家族中的一员,已被证明可通过抑制c-Myc进而抑制HeLa细胞增殖。在本研究中,我们检测NS1-BP表达在ESCC中的潜在作用,特别是其在ESCC放疗敏感性方面的作用。方法对于两组接受基于顺铂化疗且联合放疗的ESCC患者(研究组n=98;验证组n=46),采用免疫组化方法分别检测NS1-BP表达。使用正常食管黏膜组织块作为对照。我们也进行了一系列体外和体内实验来检测过表达NS1-BP对ESCC细胞各方面的潜在影响,尤其关注的是对电离辐射的敏感性方面的影响。结果在研究组中,59%(85/144)的ESCC样本观察到了NS1-BP下调。在研究组和验证组中,NS1-BP下调与放化疗抵抗和较短的疾病特异生存期(disease-specific survival,DSS)均具有相关性。体内和体外培养条件下过表达NS1-BP均能大幅度提高ECSS细胞对放疗的敏感性。NS1-BP也显著增强IR诱导的凋亡,阻断IR诱导的G2/M细胞周期阻滞和ATM/Chk1磷酸化。免疫沉淀反应显示NS1-BP可以与c-Myc启动子区相互作用从而抑制其转录。在ESCC组织中,c-Myc表达与NS1-BP水平负相关,与较短的疾病特异生存期相关。结论我们的研究结果显示了NS1-BP在ESCC放疗敏感性中的作用和重要性。以NS1-BP/c-Myc通路为靶标有望开发一种新的ESCC治疗策略。

Influence of oxygen addition on the discharge characteristics of an argon plasma jet at atmospheric pressure

Plasma jet is an important low-temperature plasma source in extensive application fields.To promote the production of active oxygen species,oxygen is often introduced into the inert working gas.However,the influence of oxygen content on the discharge characteristics of an argon plasma jet is not clear.Aim to this status,an argon plasma jet in a singleelectrode geometry is employed to investigate the influence of oxygen concentration(CO)on discharge aspects.Results indicate that with increasing CO(≤0.6%),the plume transits from a diffuse morphology to a hollow structure.Electrical and optical measurements reveal that both discharge number per voltage cycle and pulse intensity alter with varying CO.Moreover,discharge morphologies of negative and positive discharges obtained by fast photograph also shift with varying CO.Besides,optical emission spectra are collected to investigate atomic CO,electron density,and electron temperature.The results mentioned above are explained qualitatively,which are believed to be of great significance for the applications of atmospheric pressure plasma jet.

Argon plume transition from a hollow swell to a diffuse swell with increasing amplitude of a trapezoidal voltage

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets can generate a remote plasma plume,which usually presents a conical or cylindrical morphology.Despite a few morphologies being observed,efforts should be made to obtain more plume structures because streamer dynamics may be revealed from them.For this purpose,an argon plasma plume excited by a trapezoidal voltage is investigated,which presents two kinds of swells(a hollow swell and a diffuse swell)with increasing voltage amplitude(V).The results indicate that there are two positive discharges(Dand D)and one negative discharge(D)per voltage cycle for both of the swells.With increasing V,the inception voltage and discharge intensity increase for every positive discharge,while they decrease for the negative discharge.Fast photography reveals that the positive streamer(D)leaves different tracks in the two swells,which are curved in the hollow swell and randomly branched in the diffuse swell.The different tracks of Dare explained with the consideration of applied field strength and residual positive ions of D.The existence of residual positive ions is finally verified from optical emission spectra.

Optimization of Light Field for Generation of Vortex Knot

The theory of knots and links focuses on the embedding mode of one or several closed curves in three-dimensional Euclidean space.In an electromagnetic field system,all-optical knots or links composed of phase or polarization singularities have been verified theoretically and experimentally.Recent studies have shown that robust topological all-optical coding can be achieved by using optical knots and links.However,in the current design of optical knots and links based on phase or polarization singularities,the amplitude of light between adjacent singularities is relatively weak.This brings great pressure to detection of optical knots and links and limits their applications.Here,we propose a new optimization method in theory.Compared with the existing design methods,our design method improves the relative intensity distribution of light between adjacent singularities.We verify the feasibility of our design results in experiments.Our study reduces the detection difficulty of optical knots and links,and has a positive significance for promotion of applications of optical knots and links.

NS1-binding protein radiosensitizes esophageal squamous cell carcinoma by transcriptionally suppressing c-Myc

Background:Cisplatin-based chemotherapy with concurrent radiotherapy is a standard treatment for advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).NS1-binding protein(NS1-BP),a member of the BTB-kelch protein fam-ily,has been shown to inhibit the proliferation of Hela cells by suppressing c-Myc.In the present study,we examined the potential function role of NS1-BP expression in ESCC,and particularly,the sensitivity of ESCC to radiotherapy.Methods:NS1-BP expression was examined using immunohistochemistry in two cohorts(n=98 for the training cohort;n=46 for independent validation cohort)of ESCC patients receiving cisplatin-based chemotherapy and con-current radiotherapy.Normal esophageal mucosal tissue blocks were used as a control.We also conducted a series of in vitro and in vivo experiments to examine the potential effects of over-expressing NS1-BP on ESCC cells,and particu-larly their sensitivity to ionizing irradiation.Results:In the training cohort,NS1-BP downregulation was observed in 59%(85/144)of the ESCC specimens.NS1-BP downregulation was associated with chemoradiotherapeutic resistance and shorter disease-specific survival(DSS)in both the training and validation cohorts.Over-expressing NS1-BP in cultured ESCC cells substantially increased the cellular response to irradiation both in vitro and in vivo.NS1-BP also significantly enhanced IR-induced apoptosis,and abrogated IR-induced G2/M cell-cycle arrest and ATM/Chk1 phosphorylation.Immunoprecipitation assays indicated that NS1-BP could interact with c-Myc promoter regions to inhibit its transcription.In ESCC tissues,c-Myc expression was inversely correlated with NS1-BP levels,and was associated with a shorter DSS.Conclusions:Our findings highlight the role and importance of NS1-BP in radiosensitivity of ESCC.Targeting the NS1-BP/c-Myc pathway may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for ESCC.