As eye tracking can be used to record moment-to-moment changes of eye movements as people inspect pictures of natural scenes and comprehend information, this paper attempts to use eye-movement technology to investigat...As eye tracking can be used to record moment-to-moment changes of eye movements as people inspect pictures of natural scenes and comprehend information, this paper attempts to use eye-movement technology to investigate how the order of presentation and the characteristics of information affect the semantic mismatch effect in the picture-sentence paradigm. A 3（syntax）×2（semantic relation） factorial design is adopted, with syntax and semantic relations as within-participant variables. The experiment finds that the semantic mismatch is most likely to increase cognitive loads as people have to spend more time, including first-pass time, regression path duration, and total fixation duration. Double negation does not significantly increase the processing difficulty of pictures and information. Experimental results show that people can extract the special syntactic strategy from long-term memory to process pictures and sentences with different semantic relations. It enables readers to comprehend double negation as affirmation. These results demonstrate that the constituent comparison model may not be a general model regarding other languages.展开更多
Objective:Triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC)is highly metastatic,and there is an urgent unmet need to develop novel therapeutic strategies leading to the new drug discoveries against metastasis.The transforming growt...Objective:Triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC)is highly metastatic,and there is an urgent unmet need to develop novel therapeutic strategies leading to the new drug discoveries against metastasis.The transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β)is known to promote the invasive and migratory potential of breast cancer cells through induction of epithelial–mesenchymal transition(EMT)via the ERK/NF-κB/Snail signaling pathway,leading to breast cancer metastasis.Targeting this pathway to revert the EMT would be an attractive,novel therapeutic strategy to halt breast cancer metastasis.Methods:Effects of enterolactone(EL)on the cell cycle and apoptosis were investigated using flow cytometry and a cleaved caspase-3 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),respectively.Effects of TGF-βinduction and EL treatment on the functional malignancy of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells were investigated using migration and chemo-invasion assays.The effects of EL on EMT markers and the ERK/NF-κB/Snail signaling pathway after TGF-βinduction were studied using confocal microscopy,quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(q RT-PCR),Western blot,and flow cytometry.Results:Herein,we report that EL exhibits a significant antimetastatic effect on MDA-MB-231 cells by almost reverting the TGF-β-induced EMT in vitro.EL downregulates the mesenchymal markers N-cadherin and vimentin,and upregulates the epithelial markers E-cadherin and occludin.It represses actin stress fiber formation via inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinase p-38(MAPK-p38)and cluster of differentiation 44(CD44).EL also suppresses ERK-1/2,NF-κB,and Snail at the m RNA and protein levels.Conclusions:Briefly,EL was found to inhibit TGF-β-induced EMT by blocking the ERK/NF-κB/Snail signaling pathway,which is a promising target for breast cancer metastasis therapy.展开更多
Constant alcohol consumption is a major cause of chronic liver disease, and there has been a growing concern regarding the increased mortality rates worldwide. Alcoholic liver diseases (ALDs) range from mild to more s...Constant alcohol consumption is a major cause of chronic liver disease, and there has been a growing concern regarding the increased mortality rates worldwide. Alcoholic liver diseases (ALDs) range from mild to more severe conditions, such as steatosis, steatohepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The liver is enriched with innate immune cells (e.g. natural killer cells and Kupffer cells) and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), and interestingly, emerging evidence suggests that innate immunity contributes to the development of ALDs (e.g. steatohepatitis and liver fibrosis). Indeed, HSCs play a crucial role in alcoholic steatosis via production of endocannabinoid and retinol metabolites. This review describes the roles of the innate immunity and HSCs in the pathogenesis of ALDs, and suggests therapeutic targets and strategies to assist in the reduction of ALD.展开更多
Chronic heart failure and depressive disorders have a high prevalence and incidence in the elderly. Several studies have shown how depression tends to exacerbate coexisting chronic heart failure and its clinical outco...Chronic heart failure and depressive disorders have a high prevalence and incidence in the elderly. Several studies have shown how depression tends to exacerbate coexisting chronic heart failure and its clinical outcomes and vice versa, especially in the elderly. The negative synergism between chronic heart failure and depression in the elderly may be approached only taking into account the multifaceted pathophysiological characteristics underlying both these conditions, such as behavioural factors, neurohormonal activation, inflammatory mediators, hypercoagulability and vascular damage. Nevertheless, the pathophysiological link between these two conditions is not well established yet. Despite the high prevalence of depression in chronic heart failure elderly patients and its negative prognostic value, it is often unrecognized especially because of shared symptoms. So the screening of mood disorders, using reliable questionnaires, is recommended in elderly patients with chronic heart failure, even if cannot substitute a diagnostic interview by mental health professionals. In this setting, treatment of depression requires a multidisciplinary approach including： psychotherapy, antidepressants, exercise training and electroconvulsive therapy. Pharmacological therapy with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, despite conflicting results, improves quality of life but does not guarantee better outcomes. Exercise training is effective in improving quality of life and prognosis but at the same time cardiac rehabilitation services are vastly underutilized.展开更多
AIM To evaluate the cytological diagnostic capacity and sample quality of the slow-pull technique and compare them with different suction techniques.METHODS From July 2010 to December 2015, 102 patients with pancreati...AIM To evaluate the cytological diagnostic capacity and sample quality of the slow-pull technique and compare them with different suction techniques.METHODS From July 2010 to December 2015, 102 patients with pancreatic solid lesions who underwent endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration(EUS-FNA) with 22-gauge needles were retrospectively evaluated. EUS-FNA diagnosis was based on a cytological examination, and final diagnosis was based on a comprehensive standard of cytological diagnosis, surgical pathology and clinical or imaging follow-up. Cytological specimens were characterized for cellularity and blood contamination. The cytological diagnostic capacity and sample quality of the slow-pull technique and suction techniques with 5-m L/10-m L/20-m L syringes were analyzed.RESULTS Of all of the EUS-FNA procedures, the slow-pull technique and suction techniques with 5-m L/10-m L/20-m L syringes were used in 31, 19, 34 and 18 procedures, respectively. There were significant differences between these four suction techniques in terms of cytological diagnostic accuracy(90.3% vs 63.2% vs 58.8% vs 55.6%, P = 0.019), sensitivity(88.2% vs 41.7% vs 40.0% vs 36.4%, P = 0.009) and blood contamination(score ≥ 2 for 29.0% vs 52.6% vs 70.6% vs 72.2%, P = 0.003). The accuracy and sensitivity of the slow-pull technique were significantly higher than those of the suction techniques using 5-m L(P = 0.03, P = 0.014), 10-m L(P = 0.005; P = 0.006) and 20-mL syringes(P = 0.01, P = 0.01). Blood contamination was significantly lower in the slow-pull technique than in the suction techniques with 10-m L(P = 0.001) and 20-mL syringes(P = 0.007).CONCLUSION The slow-pull technique may increase the cytological diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity with slight blood contamination during EUS-FNA when using 22-gauge needles for solid pancreatic masses.展开更多
AIM To assess the feasibility and safety of a novel enteroscope,negative-pressure suction endoscope in examining the small intestine of a porcine model.METHODS In vitro experiments in small intestinal loops from 20pig...AIM To assess the feasibility and safety of a novel enteroscope,negative-pressure suction endoscope in examining the small intestine of a porcine model.METHODS In vitro experiments in small intestinal loops from 20pigs and in vivo experiments in 20 living pigs were conducted.RESULTS In in vitro experiments,a negative pressure of>0.06MPa was necessary for optimal visualization of the intestine,and this pressure did not cause gross or histological damage to the mucosa.For satisfactory examination of the small intestine in vivo,higher negative pressure(>1.00 MPa)was required.Despite this higher pressure,the small intestine did not show any gross or microscopic damage in the suctioned areas.The average time of examination in the living animals was 60±7.67 min.The animals did not experience any apparent ill effects from the procedure.CONCLUSION Small intestine endoscope was safely performed within a reasonable time period and enabled complete visualization of the intestine in most cases.展开更多
Double negative in English has three functions： to strengthen the affirmatives, and to affirm euphemism and to strengthen the negative meaning, which are analyzed in the present paper.
We investigate entanglement transfer from two separate cavities to the excitons in two quantum dots separately placed in the two cavities. The cavity fields and the excitons are treated as two continuous-variable （CV...We investigate entanglement transfer from two separate cavities to the excitons in two quantum dots separately placed in the two cavities. The cavity fields and the excitons are treated as two continuous-variable （CV） subsystems. The time-dependent characteristic functions in the Wigner representation for the two subsystems are analytically obtained. Under the conditions that one of the two CV subsystems is initially prepared in a two-mode squeezed vacuum state and the other in its lowest energy state, we show that the entanglement reciprocation between the cavity fields and the excitons is realizable.展开更多
基金The National Social Science Foundation of China (No.CBA080236)the Graduate Innovation Project of Jiangsu Province (No.CX08B-016R)
文摘As eye tracking can be used to record moment-to-moment changes of eye movements as people inspect pictures of natural scenes and comprehend information, this paper attempts to use eye-movement technology to investigate how the order of presentation and the characteristics of information affect the semantic mismatch effect in the picture-sentence paradigm. A 3（syntax）×2（semantic relation） factorial design is adopted, with syntax and semantic relations as within-participant variables. The experiment finds that the semantic mismatch is most likely to increase cognitive loads as people have to spend more time, including first-pass time, regression path duration, and total fixation duration. Double negation does not significantly increase the processing difficulty of pictures and information. Experimental results show that people can extract the special syntactic strategy from long-term memory to process pictures and sentences with different semantic relations. It enables readers to comprehend double negation as affirmation. These results demonstrate that the constituent comparison model may not be a general model regarding other languages.
文摘Objective:Triple-negative breast cancer(TNBC)is highly metastatic,and there is an urgent unmet need to develop novel therapeutic strategies leading to the new drug discoveries against metastasis.The transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β)is known to promote the invasive and migratory potential of breast cancer cells through induction of epithelial–mesenchymal transition(EMT)via the ERK/NF-κB/Snail signaling pathway,leading to breast cancer metastasis.Targeting this pathway to revert the EMT would be an attractive,novel therapeutic strategy to halt breast cancer metastasis.Methods:Effects of enterolactone(EL)on the cell cycle and apoptosis were investigated using flow cytometry and a cleaved caspase-3 enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA),respectively.Effects of TGF-βinduction and EL treatment on the functional malignancy of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells were investigated using migration and chemo-invasion assays.The effects of EL on EMT markers and the ERK/NF-κB/Snail signaling pathway after TGF-βinduction were studied using confocal microscopy,quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(q RT-PCR),Western blot,and flow cytometry.Results:Herein,we report that EL exhibits a significant antimetastatic effect on MDA-MB-231 cells by almost reverting the TGF-β-induced EMT in vitro.EL downregulates the mesenchymal markers N-cadherin and vimentin,and upregulates the epithelial markers E-cadherin and occludin.It represses actin stress fiber formation via inhibition of mitogen-activated protein kinase p-38(MAPK-p38)and cluster of differentiation 44(CD44).EL also suppresses ERK-1/2,NF-κB,and Snail at the m RNA and protein levels.Conclusions:Briefly,EL was found to inhibit TGF-β-induced EMT by blocking the ERK/NF-κB/Snail signaling pathway,which is a promising target for breast cancer metastasis therapy.
基金Supported by A grant of the Korea Healthcare Technology R&D Project, Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs, South Korea (A090183)
文摘Constant alcohol consumption is a major cause of chronic liver disease, and there has been a growing concern regarding the increased mortality rates worldwide. Alcoholic liver diseases (ALDs) range from mild to more severe conditions, such as steatosis, steatohepatitis, fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The liver is enriched with innate immune cells (e.g. natural killer cells and Kupffer cells) and hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), and interestingly, emerging evidence suggests that innate immunity contributes to the development of ALDs (e.g. steatohepatitis and liver fibrosis). Indeed, HSCs play a crucial role in alcoholic steatosis via production of endocannabinoid and retinol metabolites. This review describes the roles of the innate immunity and HSCs in the pathogenesis of ALDs, and suggests therapeutic targets and strategies to assist in the reduction of ALD.
文摘Chronic heart failure and depressive disorders have a high prevalence and incidence in the elderly. Several studies have shown how depression tends to exacerbate coexisting chronic heart failure and its clinical outcomes and vice versa, especially in the elderly. The negative synergism between chronic heart failure and depression in the elderly may be approached only taking into account the multifaceted pathophysiological characteristics underlying both these conditions, such as behavioural factors, neurohormonal activation, inflammatory mediators, hypercoagulability and vascular damage. Nevertheless, the pathophysiological link between these two conditions is not well established yet. Despite the high prevalence of depression in chronic heart failure elderly patients and its negative prognostic value, it is often unrecognized especially because of shared symptoms. So the screening of mood disorders, using reliable questionnaires, is recommended in elderly patients with chronic heart failure, even if cannot substitute a diagnostic interview by mental health professionals. In this setting, treatment of depression requires a multidisciplinary approach including： psychotherapy, antidepressants, exercise training and electroconvulsive therapy. Pharmacological therapy with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, despite conflicting results, improves quality of life but does not guarantee better outcomes. Exercise training is effective in improving quality of life and prognosis but at the same time cardiac rehabilitation services are vastly underutilized.
文摘AIM To evaluate the cytological diagnostic capacity and sample quality of the slow-pull technique and compare them with different suction techniques.METHODS From July 2010 to December 2015, 102 patients with pancreatic solid lesions who underwent endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration(EUS-FNA) with 22-gauge needles were retrospectively evaluated. EUS-FNA diagnosis was based on a cytological examination, and final diagnosis was based on a comprehensive standard of cytological diagnosis, surgical pathology and clinical or imaging follow-up. Cytological specimens were characterized for cellularity and blood contamination. The cytological diagnostic capacity and sample quality of the slow-pull technique and suction techniques with 5-m L/10-m L/20-m L syringes were analyzed.RESULTS Of all of the EUS-FNA procedures, the slow-pull technique and suction techniques with 5-m L/10-m L/20-m L syringes were used in 31, 19, 34 and 18 procedures, respectively. There were significant differences between these four suction techniques in terms of cytological diagnostic accuracy(90.3% vs 63.2% vs 58.8% vs 55.6%, P = 0.019), sensitivity(88.2% vs 41.7% vs 40.0% vs 36.4%, P = 0.009) and blood contamination(score ≥ 2 for 29.0% vs 52.6% vs 70.6% vs 72.2%, P = 0.003). The accuracy and sensitivity of the slow-pull technique were significantly higher than those of the suction techniques using 5-m L(P = 0.03, P = 0.014), 10-m L(P = 0.005; P = 0.006) and 20-mL syringes(P = 0.01, P = 0.01). Blood contamination was significantly lower in the slow-pull technique than in the suction techniques with 10-m L(P = 0.001) and 20-mL syringes(P = 0.007).CONCLUSION The slow-pull technique may increase the cytological diagnostic accuracy and sensitivity with slight blood contamination during EUS-FNA when using 22-gauge needles for solid pancreatic masses.
文摘AIM To assess the feasibility and safety of a novel enteroscope,negative-pressure suction endoscope in examining the small intestine of a porcine model.METHODS In vitro experiments in small intestinal loops from 20pigs and in vivo experiments in 20 living pigs were conducted.RESULTS In in vitro experiments,a negative pressure of>0.06MPa was necessary for optimal visualization of the intestine,and this pressure did not cause gross or histological damage to the mucosa.For satisfactory examination of the small intestine in vivo,higher negative pressure(>1.00 MPa)was required.Despite this higher pressure,the small intestine did not show any gross or microscopic damage in the suctioned areas.The average time of examination in the living animals was 60±7.67 min.The animals did not experience any apparent ill effects from the procedure.CONCLUSION Small intestine endoscope was safely performed within a reasonable time period and enabled complete visualization of the intestine in most cases.
文摘Double negative in English has three functions： to strengthen the affirmatives, and to affirm euphemism and to strengthen the negative meaning, which are analyzed in the present paper.
基金The project supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 10374007 and 60472021
文摘We investigate entanglement transfer from two separate cavities to the excitons in two quantum dots separately placed in the two cavities. The cavity fields and the excitons are treated as two continuous-variable （CV） subsystems. The time-dependent characteristic functions in the Wigner representation for the two subsystems are analytically obtained. Under the conditions that one of the two CV subsystems is initially prepared in a two-mode squeezed vacuum state and the other in its lowest energy state, we show that the entanglement reciprocation between the cavity fields and the excitons is realizable.
