Anti-inflammatory effect and antihepatoma mechanism of carrimycin

BACKGROUND New drugs are urgently needed for the treatment of liver cancer, a feat that could be feasibly accomplished by finding new therapeutic purposes for marketed drugs to save time and costs. As a new class of national anti-infective drugs, carrimycin(CAM) has strong activity against gram-positive bacteria and no cross resistance with similar drugs. Studies have shown that the components of CAM have anticancer effects.AIM To obtain a deeper understanding of CAM, its distribution, metabolism and antiinflammatory effects were assessed in the organs of mice, and its mechanism of action against liver cancer was predicted by a network pharmacology method.METHODS In this paper, the content of isovaleryl spiramycin Ⅲ was used as an index to assess the distribution and metabolism of CAM and its effect on inflammatory factors in various mouse tissues and organs. Reverse molecular docking technology was utilized to determine the target of CAM, identify each target protein based on disease type, and establish a target protein-disease type network to ascertain the effect of CAM in liver cancer. Then, the key action targets of CAM in liver cancer were screened by a network pharmacology method, and the core targets were verified by molecular docking and visual analyses.RESULTS The maximum CAM concentration was reached in the liver, kidney, lung and spleen 2.5 h after intragastric administration. In the intestine, the maximum drug concentration was reached 0.5 h after administration. In addition, CAM significantly reduced the interleukin-4(IL-4) levels in the lung and kidney and especially the liver and spleen;moreover, CAM significantly reduced the IL-1β levels in the spleen, liver, and kidney and particularly the small intestine and lung. CAM is predicted to regulate related pathways by acting on many targets,such as albumin, estrogen receptor 1, epidermal growth factor receptor and caspase 3, to treat cancer, inflammation and other diseases.CONCLUSION We determined that CAM inhibited inflammation. We also predicted the complex multitargeted effects of CAM that involve multiple pathways and the diversity of these effects in the treatment of liver cancer, which provides a basis and direction for further clinical research.

Xingnao Kaiqiao needling method for acute ischemic stroke： a meta-analysis of safety and efficacy

OBJECTIVE： To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the Xingnao Kaiqiao needling method for treating acute ischemic stroke.DATA SOURCES： We retrieved relevant randomized controlled trials involving Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture for treatment of acute ischemic stroke. The China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Weipu Information Resources System, Wanfang Medical Data System, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Cochrane Library, and Pub Med were searched from June 2006 to March 2016.DATA SELECTION： We analyzed randomized and semi-randomized clinical controlled trials that compared Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture with various control treatments, such as conventional drugs or other acupuncture therapies, for treatment of acute ischemic stroke. The quality of articles was evaluated according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions（Version 5.1）, and the study was carried out using Cochrane system assessment methods. Rev Man 5.2 was used for the meta-analysis of the included studies.OUTCOME MEASURES： The mortality rate, disability rate, activities of daily living（Barthel Index）, and clinical efficacy were observed.RESULTS： Twelve studies met the inclusion criteria for this review. The meta-analysis showed that between Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture and the control treatment, Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture reduced the disability rate [risk ratio（RR） = 0.51, 95% confidence interval（CI） = 0.27-0.98, z = 2.03, P 〈 0.05], elevated the activities of daily living（weighted mean difference = 12.23, 95% CI： 3.66-20.08, z = 2.80, P 〈 0.005）, and had greater clinical efficacy（RR = 1.61, 95% CI： 1.23-2.09, z = 3.53, P 〈 0.0004）. However, there was no significant difference in mortality rate（RR = 0.61, 95% CI： 0.15-2.45, z = 0.70, P 〉 0.05）. CONCLUSION： The Xingnao Kaiqiao needling method is effective and safe for acute ischemic stroke. However, there was selective bias in this study, and the likelihood of measurement bias is high. Thus, more high-quality randomized controlled trials are needed to provide reliable evidence of the efficacy and safety of Xingnao Kaiqiao acupuncture in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke.

Systematic review of long-term Xingnao Kaiqiao needling efficacy in ischemic stroke treatment

OBJeCTIve：To systematically evaluate the long-term effect and safety ofXingnao Kaiqiao nee-dling method in ischemic stroke treatment. DATA ReTRIevAL： We retrieved relevant random and semi-random controlled trials that used theXingnao Kaiqiao needling method to treat ischemic stroke compared with various control treatments such as conventional drugs or other acupuncture therapies. Searched databases included China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Weipu Information Resources System, Wanfang Medical Data System, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, Cochrane Library, and PubMed, from May 2006 to July 2014. SeLeCTION CRITeRIA： Two authors independently conducted literature screening, quality evaluation, and data extraction. The quality of articles was evaluated according to the Cochrane Reviewers’ Handbook 5.1, and the study was carried out using Cochrane system assessment methods. RevMan 5.2 was used for meta-analysis of the included studies. MAIN OUTCOMe MeASUReS： Mortality rate, recurrence rate, and disability rate were observed. ReSULTS：Nine randomized and semi-randomized controlled trials treating 931 cases of ischemic stroke were included in this review. Meta-analysis results showed that there were no sig-niifcant differences in mortality reduction （risk ratio （RR） = 0.58, 95% conifdence interval （CI）： 0.17–1.93,Z = 0.89,P = 0.37） or recurrence rate （RR = 0.55, 95%CI： 0.18–1.70,Z = 1.04,P = 0.30） of ischemic stroke patients between theXingnao Kaiqiao needling and control treatment groups. However, theXingnao Kaiqiao needling method had a tendency towards higher efifcacy in mor-tality reduction and recurrence rates. TheXingnao Kaiqiao needling method was signiifcantly better than that of the control treatment in reducing disability rate （RR = 0.51, 95%CI： 0.27–0.98, Z = 2.03,P 〈 0.05）. CONCLUSION：TheXingnao Kaiqiao needling method has a better effect than control treatment in reducing disability rate. The long-term effect ofXingnao Kaiqiao needling against ischemic stroke is better than that of control treatment. However, the limitations of this study limit the strength of the conclusions. Randomized controlled trials with a strict, reasonable design, and multi-center, large-scale samples and follow-up are necessary to draw conclusions aboutXingnao Kaiqiao needling.

Metal-organic framework IRMOFs coated with a temperaturesensitive gel delivering norcantharidin to treat liver cancer

BACKGROUND Norcantharidin(NCTD)is suitable for the treatment of primary liver cancer,especially early and middle primary liver cancer.This compound can reduce tumors and improve immune function.However,the side effects of NCTD have limited its application.There is a marked need to reduce the side effects and increase the efficacy of NCTD.AIM To develop a nanomaterial carrier,NCTD-loaded metal-organic framework IRMOF-3 coated with a temperature-sensitive gel(NCTD-IRMOF-3-Gel),aiming to improve the anticancer activity of NCTD and reduce the drug dose.METHODS NCTD-IRMOF-3-Gel was obtained by a coordination reaction.The apparent characteristics and in vitro release of NCTD-IRMOF-3-Gel were investigated.Cell cytotoxicity assays,flow cytometry,and apoptosis experiments in mouse hepatoma(Hepa1-6)cells were used to determine the anti-liver cancer activity of NCTD-IRMOF-3-Gel in in vitro models.RESULTS The particle size of NCTD-IRMOF-3-Gel was 50-100 nm,and the particle size distribution was uniform.The release curve showed that NCTD-IRMOF-3-Gel had an obvious sustained-release effect.The cytotoxicity assays showed that the free drug NCTD and NCTD-IRMOF-3-Gel treatments markedly inhibited Hepa1-6 cell proliferation,and the inhibition rate increased with increasing drug concentration.By flow cytometry,NCTD-IRMOF-3-Gel was observed to block the Hepa1-6 cell cycle in the S and G2/M phases,and the thermosensitive gel nanoparticles may inhibit cell proliferation by inducing cell cycle arrest.Apoptosis experiments showed that NCTD-IRMOF-3-Gel induced the apoptosis of Hepa1-6 cells.CONCLUSION Our results indicated that the NCTD-IRMOF-3-Gel may be beneficial for liver cancer disease treatment.

A Phase Estimation Algorithm for Quantum Speed-Up Multi-Party Computing

Security and privacy issues have attracted the attention of researchers in the field of IoT as the information processing scale grows in sensor networks.Quantum computing,theoretically known as an absolutely secure way to store and transmit information as well as a speed-up way to accelerate local or distributed classical algorithms that are hard to solve with polynomial complexity in computation or communication.In this paper,we focus on the phase estimation method that is crucial to the realization of a general multi-party computing model,which is able to be accelerated by quantum algorithms.A novel multi-party phase estimation algorithm and the related quantum circuit are proposed by using a distributed Oracle operator with iterations.The proved theoretical communication complexity of this algorithm shows it can give the phase estimation before applying multi-party computing efficiently without increasing any additional complexity.Moreover,a practical problem of multi-party dating investigated shows it can make a successful estimation of the number of solution in advance with zero communication complexity by utilizing its special statistic feature.Sufficient simulations present the correctness,validity and efficiency of the proposed estimation method.

A self-powered piezoelectret sensor based on foamed plastic garbage for monitoring human motions

Constructing piezoelectret based on foamed plastic garbage is an advisable strategy for obtaining self-powered flexible electromechanical sensors with good performances.Herein,a self-powered piezoelectret sensor with basic material of low density polyethylene(LDPE)foamed plastic garbage is proposed,with characteristics of easy fabrication,excellent flexibility,and high equivalent piezoelectric coefficient d33 value up to~1,100 pC/N.The output stability is verified by continuously stimulating a sensor for~180,000 cycles under low and high applied pressure,and the variations of peak outputs are less than 5.5%.Applications for measuring low-and high-pressure signals from human body are achieved.Assembled with a wristband,a sensor is demonstrated for detecting the human pulse waves.Moreover,real time human sitting information is wirelessly monitored with a smart chair based on 4 pixels sensors array.

Global video object segmentation with spatial constraint module

We present a lightweight and efficient semisupervised video object segmentation network based on the space-time memory framework.To some extent,our method solves the two difficulties encountered in traditional video object segmentation:one is that the single frame calculation time is too long,and the other is that the current frame’s segmentation should use more information from past frames.The algorithm uses a global context(GC)module to achieve highperformance,real-time segmentation.The GC module can effectively integrate multi-frame image information without increased memory and can process each frame in real time.Moreover,the prediction mask of the previous frame is helpful for the segmentation of the current frame,so we input it into a spatial constraint module(SCM),which constrains the areas of segments in the current frame.The SCM effectively alleviates mismatching of similar targets yet consumes few additional resources.We added a refinement module to the decoder to improve boundary segmentation.Our model achieves state-of-the-art results on various datasets,scoring 80.1%on YouTube-VOS 2018 and a J&F score of 78.0%on DAVIS 2017,while taking 0.05 s per frame on the DAVIS 2016 validation dataset.

A guinea pig model of Ciwujia Injection-induced anaphylaxis for allergic substance screening

Objective: Though especially efficient for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases treatment, many serious anaphylactic diseases could be induced by Ciwujia Injection(CWJI). However, study of the mechanism and detection of allergies have been investigated by the unknown sources of allergenic substances.In this study, a guinea pig model which could mimic the symptoms of anaphylactic reactions induced by Ciwujia Injection(CWJI) was modeled and used to screen the allergenic substance of CWJI.Methods: Guinea pigs were sensitized three times every other day with CWJI and excitated 14 d after the last sensitization administration. Then, the histamine, trypsin, IL-4 and IFN-γ levels, and the Annexin V positive rate of peritoneal mast cells(PMC) were detected, the numbers of B lymphocyte and the pathological changes were also analyzed to verify the guinea pig allergy model, PCA test and Ig E antibody levels were determined to study the mechanism.Results: The levels of total IgE, histamine, and trypsin were significantly increased after CWJI sensitization, IL-4 level was elevated, Annexin V positive of PMC cell rate, local skin reactions, and declined IFN-γwere observed after excitation. Histological examination showed that mild pathological changes in lungs were found.Conclusion: This guinea pig model may provide a powerful tool to study the mechanism in CWJI induced anaphylaxis and screen the allergic source of CWJI.

A miniaturized mechanical antenna based on FEP/ THV unipolar electrets for extremely low frequency transmission

An electret-based mechanical antenna(EBMA),which can transmit extremely low frequency(ELF)electromagnetic signals,has the advantages of miniaturization and high transmitting efficiency,with great potential applications in air,underwater,and underground communications.To improve the charge density of the electret,which is a key factor in determining the radiation performance of an EBMA,this work proposes a fluorinated ethylene propylene/terpolymer of tetrafluoroethylene,hexafluoropropylene and vinylidene fluoride(FEP/THV)unipolar electret exhibiting negative polarity,reaching a total charge density up to-0.46 mC/m^(2) for each layer of electret.Long transmission distances can be achieved in sea water,soil,and air using a 3-layer-FEP/THV-based EBMA with a compact volume of 5×10^(-4) m^(3).As an application demonstration,binary ASili-coded ELF information of"BUAA"is successfully transmitted with a power consumption<5W.

Ground state cooling of magnomechanical resonator in PT-symmetric cavity magnomechanical system at room temperature

We propose to realize the ground state cooling of magnomechanical resonator in a parity-time(PT).symmetric cavity magnomechanical system composed of a loss ferromagnetic sphere and a gain microwave cavity.In the scheme,the magnomechanical resonator can be cooled close to its ground state via the magnomechanical interaction,and it is found that the cooling effect in PT-symmetric system is much higher than that in non-PT-symmetric system.Resorting to the magnetic force noise spectrum,we investigate the final mean phonon number with experimentally feasible parameters and find surprisingly that the ground state cooling of magnomechanical resonator can be directly achieved at room temperature.Furthermore,we also illustrate that the ground state cooling can be flexibly controlled via the external magnetic field.