ABSTRACT
Objective To study the effect of dauricine on the proliferation and apoptosis of hepatoma Huh7 cells, and explore its anti-tumor mechanism and its relationship with Hedgehog signaling pathway. Methods The effects of different concentrations of dauricine (2, 4, 8 μg/mL) on the proliferation of Huh7 cells were detected by MTT assay. Apoptosis of Huh7 cells was analyzed by flow cytometry. Real-time PCR and Western blotting were used to detect the levels of Hedgehog signaling pathway-related genes and proteins. Results With the increase of the concentration of dauricine and the duration of action, the inhibition rate of Huh7 cell proliferation was increased. Among them, 8 μg/mL dauricine had the highest inhibition rate (48.8%) at 48 h. Dauricine induced the apoptosis in Huh7 cells. With the increase of the concentration of dauricine, the apoptotic rate of cells was increased significantly (P < 0.05, 0.01). The mRNA and protein expression levels of PTCH1, GLi1, SMO and SHH genes in Hedgehog signaling pathway were significantly decreased, while the level of cleaved Caspase-3 protein was significantly increased, accompany with the decreased expression of Bcl-2 in dauricine concentration-dependent pattern (P < 0.05, 0.01) in dauricine group compared with the control group. Conclusion Dauricine could significantly inhibit the proliferation and promote apoptosis of Huh7 cells, which may play a role by blocking Hedgehog signaling pathway.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>There are evidences that heat wave events cause deaths and emergency cases. This article used the contingent valuation method to find the willingness to pay for the protective measures and investigated the factors that influence the willingness to pay.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A cross-sectional face-to-face household survey was completed by 637 urban long-term residents and 591 rural long-term residents aged 15-79 in Beijing, China. Binary logistic regression was used to identify factors that influenced the payment rate or payment amount for the protective measures, including independent variables for district, gender, age, education, income, air conditioner ownership, heat wave experience, and chronic non-communicable disease.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The payment rate was 41.1% for protective measures provided by the government and 39.5% by measures provided by the market. Most of the respondents were willing to pay 40 CNY per capita annually for measures provided by the government or the market. The factors influencing willingness to pay were district, gender, income, air conditioner ownership, heat wave experience, and chronic non-communicable disease..</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Protective measures for heat waves need to be provided immediately. More attention should be paid to the situation of vulnerable groups, such as people who live in urban areas, those without air conditioning, and those who have experienced a heat wave in the past.</p>