Predicting wheat yield from 2001 to 2020 in Hebei Province at county and pixel levels based on synthesized time series images of Landsat and MODIS.

To obtain seasonable and precise crop yield information with fine resolution is very important for ensuring the food security. However, the quantity and quality of available images and the selection of prediction variables often limit the performance of yield prediction. In our study, the synthesized images of Landsat and MODIS were used to provide remote sensing (RS) variables, which can fill the missing values of Landsat images well and cover the study area completely. The deep learning (DL) was used to combine different vegetation index (VI) with climate data to build wheat yield prediction model in Hebei Province (HB). The results showed that kernel NDVI (kNDVI) and near-infrared reflectance (NIRv) slightly outperform normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in yield prediction. And the regression algorithm had a more prominent effect on yield prediction, while the yield prediction model using Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) outperformed the yield prediction model using Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LGBM). The model combining LSTM algorithm and NIRv had the best prediction effect and relatively stable performance in single year. The optimal model was then used to generate 30 m resolution wheat yield maps in the past 20 years, with higher overall accuracy. In addition, we can define the optimum prediction time at April, which can consider simultaneously the performance and lead time. In general, we expect that this prediction model can provide important information to understand and ensure food security.

Research on land cover classification of multi-source remote sensing data based on improved U-net network.

In recent years, remote sensing images of various types have found widespread applications in resource exploration, environmental protection, and land cover classification. However, relying solely on a single optical or synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image as the data source for land cover classification studies may not suffice to achieve the desired accuracy in ground information monitoring. One widely employed neural network for remote sensing image land cover classification is the U-Net network, which is a classical semantic segmentation network. Nonetheless, the U-Net network has limitations such as poor classification accuracy, misclassification and omission of small-area terrains, and a large number of network parameters. To address these challenges, this research paper proposes an improved approach that combines both optical and SAR images in bands for land cover classification and enhances the U-Net network. The approach incorporates several modifications to the network architecture. Firstly, the encoder-decoder framework serves as the backbone terrain-extraction network. Additionally, a convolutional block attention mechanism is introduced in the terrain extraction stage. Instead of pooling layers, convolutions with a step size of 2 are utilized, and the Leaky ReLU function is employed as the network's activation function. This design offers several advantages: it enhances the network's ability to capture terrain characteristics from both spatial and channel dimensions, resolves the loss of terrain map information while reducing network parameters, and ensures non-zero gradients during the training process. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated through land cover classification experiments conducted on optical, SAR, and combined optical and SAR datasets. The results demonstrate that our method achieves classification accuracies of 0.8905, 0.8609, and 0.908 on the three datasets, respectively, with corresponding mIoU values of 0.8104, 0.7804, and 0.8667. Compared to the traditional U-Net network, our method exhibits improvements in both classification accuracy and mIoU to a certain extent.

Neurodynamics of Awareness Detection in Tibetan Immigrants: Evidence from Electroencephalography Analysis.

The psychological effects of long-term exposure to high-altitude environments have attracted great attention. These effects are usually attributed to the diminished cognitive resources due to high-altitude exposure. This study employed electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the effects of exposure duration on awareness detection tasks. Neither reaction time nor accuracy showed the direct effects of the exposure duration, so did the model indexes obtained from drift diffusion model analysis. However, event-related potentials (ERP) analysis revealed that exposure duration was associated with changes in the visual awareness negativity (VAN) and the late positivity (LP) components, which in turn affected reaction time. Specifically, longer exposure durations were associated with lower VAN and higher LP, resulting in shorter reaction times and greater drift rate. In contrast to previous studies, the reverse relationship between VAN and LP may reflect a compensatory response to the reduced cognitive resources caused by high-altitude exposure. Additionally, increased LP and shorter reaction times with exposure duration may reflect a resistance to the high-altitude environment. We also conducted time-frequency analysis and found that theta power did not vary with exposure duration, suggesting that the reduction in cognitive resources remains stable in these individuals over time. Overall, our study provides new insights into the dynamic effects of high-altitude environments on awareness detection in the presence of reduced cognitive resources.

Association between the acceleration of access to visual awareness of grating orientation with higher heart rate at high-altitude.

Many studies have indicated a strong relationship between cardiac and brain activities, both of which are sensitive to high-altitude exposure. This study combined a consciousness access task and electrocardiograms (ECG) to uncover conscious awareness in response to high-altitude exposure and its relation to cardiac activity. When compared with the low-altitude groups, the behavioral results showed that the high-altitude participants shortened the time of access to visual awareness of grating orientation, which was accompanied by a faster heart rate, excluding the influence of pre-stimulus heart rate, extent of cardiac deceleration after presenting the stimulus, and task difficulty. Although there were post-stimulation cardiac deceleration and post-response acceleration at both high and low altitudes, a slight increase in heart rate after stimulation at high altitudes may indicate that participants at high altitudes could quickly readjust their attention to the target stimulus. More importantly, the drift diffusion model (DDM) was used to fit the access time distribution of all participants. These results suggest that shorter time at high altitudes might be due to the lower threshold, suggesting that less evidence in high-altitude participants was required to access visual consciousness. The participants' heart rates also negatively predicted the threshold through a hierarchical drift diffusion modeling (HDDM) regression. These findings imply that individuals with higher heart rates at high altitudes have a greater cognitive burden.

[Accumulation Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Heavy Metals in Cultivated Land Surface Soil in Lanzhou].

In this study, As, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Pb in the surface soil of cropland in Lanzhou were studied, and the combination of descriptive statistics, single-factor accumulation index, comprehensive accumulation index, geostatistical method, and a geographically weighted regression model (GWR) was used to investigate their accumulation status, spatial distribution, and influencing factors, in order to provide scientific basis for the precise control of heavy metal accumulation risk in the study area. The results showed that:①the single-factor accumulation index showed that the accumulation of Hg and Cd in the study area was the largest, followed by that of Pb and As, and that of Cr was the smallest; the comprehensive accumulation index showed that the accumulation rate of heavy metals was as high as 98.11%, of which 54.81% was mild accumulation and 43.30% was moderate and above accumulation. However, there was no heavy metal pollution in the surface soil of cultivated land in Lanzhou. ② Spatial autocorrelation analysis showed that there was no heavy metal pollution in the surface soil of Lanzhou, but there was accumulation in a few areas. The spatial autocorrelation analysis showed that the spatial autocorrelation of the Cr, Hg, and Pb single-factor accumulation indices was moderate, indicating that they were influenced by both random and structural factors; the spatial autocorrelation of the other two heavy metals was weak, indicating that they were mainly influenced by random factors, among which human factors were more influential. The Hg single-factor accumulation index was high in the middle and low in the fourth; the integrated accumulation index increased from northwest to southeast and decreased from the middle to both sides. ③ Geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis showed that altitude, slope length, distance from rivers, soil organic matter (SOM) content, precipitation, air temperature, and surface temperature all showed positive driving effects, whereas the rest of the factors showed negative driving effects and significant spatial heterogeneity and instability (P<0.05). The magnitudes of the factor effects were in the order of soil characteristics>topographic characteristics>climate characteristics>location characteristics>socioeconomic characteristics>vegetation characteristics, with the largest contribution of SOM content, followed by that of altitude and air temperature, and the smallest of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values. Compared with the other feature factors, the location feature factors had stronger spatial heterogeneity.

Intramolecular H-Bonds in an Organocatalyst Enabled an Asymmetric Michael/Alkylation Cascade Reaction to Construct Spirooxindoles Incorporating a Densely Substituted Cyclopropane Motif.

A cascade Michael addition/alkylation reaction between 3-chlorooxindoles and α-cyano chalcones catalyzed using a multifunctional quinine-derived aminoindanol-thiourea substance was investigated. A series of spirooxindoles incorporating a densely substituted cyclopropane motif were efficiently obtained with moderate to excellent diastereo- and enantioselectivity and further transformed to products with versatile structural diversity. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicated that the tentative intramolecular hydrogen bonds in the chiral catalyst were crucial for the stereocontrol.

[Risk Assessment and Attribution Analysis of "Five Toxic" Heavy Metals in Cultivated Land in Lanzhou].

Heavy metals in cultivated soil may migrate and transform through the food chain to harm the ecological environment and human health. At present, the ecological environment and human health risks of heavy metals in cultivated soil in Lanzhou city remain unclear, which impacts the effective management and control of heavy metals. The potential ecological risk hazard index was used to evaluate the ecological environmental risks of As, Cd, Cr, Hg, and Pb in the surface soil of cultivated land in Lanzhou, and the health risk model proposed by USEPA and the recommended standard were used to evaluate their human health risk. The main factors influencing the spatial differentiation of human health risk were explored by using geographic detectors. The risk of heavy metals to the ecological environment of the cultivated land surface soil in the study area was mainly medium (65.25%), and small portions were low (13.80%) and high (20.95%). The low-risk areas were mainly located in the southeast of Yongdeng County, the middle and north of Yuzhong County, and the southwest of Gaolan County. Moderate risk areas were distributed in three counties and five districts. The high-risk areas were located in the north and southeast of Yongdeng County, the south of Chengguan District, the northeast of Qilihe, the east of Xigu District, and the middle of Yuzhong County. The non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic risks of five types of heavy metal exposure pathways were as follows:oral ingestion>skin contact>respiratory ingestion; generally speaking, children were at higher risk than adults. The non-carcinogenic risk in children was higher than that in adults; however, there was no such risk for local residents, as they were all less than 1. At the same time, the carcinogenic risk of As was greater than 1×10-5 (children 2.04×10-5) and less than 1×10-4 (adults 1.91×10-5), respectively. This indicated an acceptable medium risk to the local residents, and the risk to children was again greater than that to adults. Geographical detector analysis showed that average precipitation during the sampling season had the greatest impact on the spatial differentiation of human health risks of As and Cd, GDP had the greatest impact on the spatial differentiation of human health risks of Cr, and distance from the railway had the greatest impact on the spatial differentiation of human health risks of Hg and Pb. Interaction detection showed that all factors were enhanced by double factors. In addition to leading factors, other factors such as pH, slope, and altitude also enhanced the influence of leading factors on the spatial differentiation of heavy metal risk in cultivated soil.

Metformin Can Enhance the Inhibitory Effect of Olaparib in Bladder Cancer Cells.

Background: Bladder cancer is a common urinary system tumor. In the treatment of clinical patients, it is particularly important to find an effective treatment method to inhibit tumor growth. The world's first PARP inhibitor olaparib is mainly used for the treatment of BRCA1/BRCA2 mutated tumors. Metformin, an antidiabetic drug, has been reported to reduce cancer incidence in humans and improve survival in cancer patients. Methods: Cell viability and proliferation were detected by CCK-8 assay and colony formation assay; cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry; cell migration and invasion abilities were detected by scratch assay and Transwell assay; STAT3/C-MYC signaling pathway protein were detected by western blotting. Results: Olaparib combined with metformin has better effects on the proliferation, clone formation, migration, invasion, and apoptosis of bladder cancer cells than single drug, indicating that metformin can enhance the inhibitory effect of olaparib on tumor growth and regulate the expression of STAT3/C-MYC signaling pathway proteins. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that metformin could significantly enhance the antitumor effect of olaparib on bladder cancer cells, and these effects were mediated by downregulating STAT3/C-MYC signaling pathway proteins. This finding may have potential clinical application in the treatment of bladder cancer.

Knowledge about, attitude and acceptance towards, and predictors of intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccine among cancer patients in Eastern China: A cross-sectional survey / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a serious impact on health all over the world. Cancer patient, whose immunity is often compromised, faces a huge challenge. Currently, some COVID-19 vaccines are being developed and applied on general population; however, whether cancer patients should take COVID-19 vaccine remains unknown. Our study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitude, acceptance, and predictors of intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccine among cancer patients in Eastern China.@*METHODS@#A cross-sectional study was conducted in Eastern China from June 17th to September 3rd, 2021. Patients were selected using a convenience sampling method. A self-report questionnaire was developed to assess knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccine, attitude towards the vaccine and acceptance of the vaccine; following a review of similar studies previously published in the scientific literature, multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to determine the predictors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance.@*RESULTS@#A total of 2158 cancer patients were enrolled in this study. The rate of vaccine hesitancy was 24.05% (519/2158); further, among the participants of vaccine acceptance, 767 had taken COVID-19 vaccine (35.54%), and 872 were willing to get vaccinated (40.01%). A total of 24 variables including demographic characteristics, clinical status of cancer, impact of COVID-19 pandemic on study participants, patients' knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccine, and attitude towards the vaccine, had significant differences between the "vaccine hesitancy" population and "vaccine acceptance" population. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that parameters including alcohol consumption (odds ratio [OR] = 1.849; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.375-2.488; P-reference [P-Ref] < 0.001 vs non-drinkers), income impacted by COVID-19 pandemic (OR = 1.930, 2.037 and 2.688 for mild, moderate, and severe impact, respectively; all P-Ref < 0.01 vs no impact), knowledge of how the vaccine was developed (OR = 1.616; 95% CI: 1.126-2.318; P-Ref = 0.009 vs unknown), believing in the safety of the vaccine (OR = 1.502; 95% CI: 1.024-2.203; P-Ref = 0.038 vs denying the safety of vaccine), willingness to pay for the vaccine (OR = 3.042; 95% CI: 2.376-3.894; P-Ref < 0.001 vs unwilling), and willingness to recommend families and friends to get vaccinated (OR = 2.744; 95% CI: 1.759-4.280; P-Ref < 0.001 vs do not recommend) were contributors to vaccine acceptance. While such as being retired (OR = 0.586; 95% CI: 0.438-0.784; P-Ref < 0.001 vs unemployed), undergoing multiple therapies of cancer (OR = 0.408; 95% CI: 0.221-0.753; P-Ref = 0.004 vs no ongoing treatment), and worrying that the vaccine might deteriorate the prognosis of cancer (OR = 0.393; 95% CI: 0.307-0.504; P-Ref < 0.001 vs might not) were contributors to vaccine hesitancy.@*CONCLUSION@#This study provided preliminary estimates of the rates of vaccine acceptance and vaccine hesitancy among cancer patients in Eastern China. The intention to receive the COVID-19 vaccine was impacted by factors such as patient occupation, alcohol consumption, and some parts of knowledge about and attitude towards COVID-19 vaccine. It is recommended to develop individualized vaccination plans that meet the healthcare needs of cancer patients.

Thermal Analysis and Crystal Structure of Poly(Acrylonitrile-Co-Itaconic Acid) Copolymers Synthesized in Water.

The composition and structure of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) precursors play an important role during thermal stabilization, which influences the properties of the resulting carbon fibers. In this paper, PAN homopolymer and PAN-itaconic (IA) copolymers with different IA contents were synthesized by aqueous phase precipitation polymerization. The effects of IA content on the structure and thermal properties were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The morphology of PAN polymers showed that the average size of the PAN particles increased with the increase of IA content in the feed. The content of the IA comonomer on the copolymers was quantitatively characterized by the relative absorbance intensity (A1735/A2243) in FTIR spectrum. With the increase of IA content in the feed, PAN-IA copolymers exhibited lower degree of crystallinity and crystal size than the control PAN homopolymer. The results from DSC curves indicated that PAN-IA1.0 copolymers had lower initial exothermic temperature (192.4 °C) and velocity of evolving heat (6.33 J g-1 °C-1) in comparison with PAN homopolymer (Ti = 238.1 °C and ΔH/ΔT = 34.6 J g-1 °C-1) in an air atmosphere. TGA results suggested that PAN-IA1.0 copolymers had higher thermal stability than PAN homopolymer, which can form a ladder structure easier during thermal processing. Therefore, PAN-IA1.0 copolymers would be a suitable candidate for preparing high performance PAN based carbon fibers.

Comparable effects of Jiedu Granule, a compound Chinese herbal medicine, and sorafenib for advanced hepatocellular carcinoma: A prospective multicenter cohort study / 中西医结合学报

OBJECTIVE@#Sorafenib has been extensively used for the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and Chinese herbal medicine has also been used to manage advanced HCC. The present work evaluates the effectiveness and safety of Jiedu (JD) Granule, a compound of traditional Chinese herbal medicine, side-by-side with sorafenib for the treatment of advance HCC.@*METHODS@#Patients with advanced HCC receiving treatment with JD Granule or sorafenib were enrolled from December 2014 to March 2018. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). The secondary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS) and safety. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was used to control for possible selection bias from the study group allocation process.@*RESULTS@#Of the 325 patients included, 161 received JD Granule and 164 received sorafenib. No significant differences were found in OS or PFS among patients receiving JD Granule compared to sorafenib (P > 0.05). Median OS of the two study groups was 6.83 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 5.83-9.47) in the group receiving JD Granule and 8 months (95% CI: 6.67-9.80) in the group receiving sorafenib, with half-, 1- and 2-year survival rates of 53.6%, 31.2% and 13.2% vs 60.1%, 35.5% and 14.2%, respectively. Even after PSM, the median survival time did not differ between the JD Granule group (9.03 months; 95% CI: 6.37-14.2) and the sorafenib group (7.93 months; 95% CI: 6.5-9.97), with comparable half-, 1- and 2-year survival rates. The most common adverse events (AEs) were diarrhea (13.7%) and fatigue (5.6%) in the JD Granule group, and hand-foot skin reaction (46.3%) and diarrhea (36.6%) in the sorafenib group. The JD Granule was more cost-effective than sorafenib treatment for advanced HCC.@*CONCLUSION@#Compared to sorafenib, JD Granule was more cost-effective and caused fewer AEs for the treatment of Chinese patients with advanced HCC.

Anxiety-Related Coping Styles, Social Support, and Internet Use Disorder.

Objective: The Internet can offer a seemingly safe haven for those being disappointed by relationships in the "offline world". Although the Internet can provide lonely people with opportunities to seek for help and support online, complete withdrawal from the offline world comes with costs. It is discussed if people can even become "addicted" to the Internet. Of note, meanwhile, many researchers prefer the term Internet use disorder (IUD) instead of using the term "Internet addiction". To illustrate the importance of one's own social network supporting a person in everyday life, we investigated, for the first time to our knowledge, how social resources in terms of quality and quantity might represent a buffer against the development of IUD. Furthermore, anxiety related coping styles are investigated as a further independent variable likely impacting on the development of an IUD. Method: In the present work, N = 567 participants (n = 164 males and n = 403 females; Mage = 23.236; SDage = 8.334) filled in a personality questionnaire assessing individual differences in cognitive avoidant and vigilant anxiety processing, ergo, traits describing individual differences in everyday coping styles/modes. Moreover, all participants provided information on individual differences in tendencies toward IUD, the perceived quality of social support received, and the size of their social network (hence a quantity measure). Results: Participants with larger social networks and higher scores in the received social support reported the lowest tendencies toward IUD in our data. A vigilant coping style was positively correlated with tendencies toward IUD, whereas no robust associations could be observed between a cognitive avoidant coping style and tendencies toward IUD. Hierarchical linear regression underlined an important predictive role of the interaction term of vigilance in ego-threat scenarios and perceived quality of social support. Conclusion: The current study not only yields support for the hypothesis that the size of one's own social network as well as the perceived quality of social support received in everyday life present putative resilience factors against developing IUD. It also supports the approach that special coping styles are needed to make use of the social support offered.

The Structure and Properties of Polyacrylonitrile Nascent Composite Fibers with Grafted Multi Walled Carbon Nanotubes Prepared by Wet Spinning Method.

Polyacrylonitrile (PAN) grafted amino-functionalized multi walled carbon nanotubes (amino-MWCNTs) were synthesized by in situ polymerization under aqueous solvent. The grafted MWCNT/PAN nascent composite fibers were prepared by the wet spinning method. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy indicated that the amino-MWCNTs and PAN macromolecular chains had interfacial interactions and formed chemical bonds. The grafting content of the PAN polymer on the amino-MWCNTs was up to 73.2% by thermo gravimetric analysis. The incorporation of the grafted MWCNTs improved the degree of crystallization and crystal size of PAN nascent fibers, and changed the thermal properties during exothermic processing in an air atmosphere. Morphology analysis and testing of mechanical properties showed that the grafted MWCNT/PAN nascent composite fibers with a more uniform diameter distribution and larger diameter had higher tensile strength and tensile modulus than the control PAN nascent fibers.

Novel findings on ultrastructural protection of skeletal muscle fibers during hibernation of Daurian ground squirrels: Mitochondria, nuclei, cytoskeleton, glycogen.

We examined ultrastructure protective phenomena and mechanisms of slow and fast muscles in hibernating Daurian ground squirrels (Spermophilus dauricus). Some degenerative changes such as slightly decreased sarcomere length and vacuolization occurred in hibernation, but periaxonal capsular borders in intrafusal fibers remained distinct and the arrangement of extrafusal fibers and Z-lines unscathed. In soleus samples, the number of glycogenosomes more than tripled during hibernation. The expression of phosphorylated glycogen synthase remained unaltered while that of glycogen phosphorylase decreased during hibernation. The number of extensor digitorum longus glycogenosomes decreased and the expression of phosphorylated glycogen synthase decreased, while glycogen phosphorylase expression remained unaltered. The nuclei number remained unchanged. Kinesin and desmin, preventors of nuclear loss and damage, were maintained or just slightly reduced in hibernation. The single-fiber mitochondrial concentration and sub-sarcolemmal mitochondrial number increased in both muscle types. The expression of vimentin, which anchors mitochondria and maintains Z-line integrity, was increased during and after hibernation. Also, dynamin-related protein 1, mitochondrial fission factor, and adenosine triphosphate synthase were elevated in both muscle types. These findings confirm a remarkable ultrastructure preservation and show an unexpected increase in mitochondrial capacity in hibernating squirrels.

Rheological Behavior of Amino-Functionalized Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube/Polyacrylonitrile Concentrated Solutions and Crystal Structure of Composite Fibers.

The rheological behavior of amino-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (amino-CNTs)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) concentrated solutions in the dimethyl sulphoxide solvent and the effects of the amino-CNTs on the PAN precursor fibers by wet-spinning method were investigated. The amino-CNT/PAN concentrated solutions prepared by in situ solution polymerization with homogeneous dispersion of amino-CNTs have higher complex viscosity, storage modulus and loss modulus as compared to the control PAN concentrated solutions containing 22% PAN polymer by mass. The composite fibers with amino-CNTs of 1 wt % have lower degree of crystallization, crystal size and crystal region orientation compared to the control PAN precursor fibers. However, the amino-CNT/PAN composite fibers with diameter of about 10.5 µm exhibit higher mechanical properties than the control PAN precursor fibers with diameter of about 8.0 µm. Differential scanning calorimetry analysis demonstrated that the cyclization reaction in composite fibers have broad exothermic temperature range and low exothermic rate. These results indicate that the addition of amino-CNTs into PAN precursor fibers is beneficial to controlling the process of thermal stabilization and obtaining the higher performance of composite fibers.

Clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of primary liver cancer with integrative traditional Chinese and Western medicine / 中西医结合学报

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an important part of the treatment of primary liver cancer (PLC) in China; however, the current instructions for the integrative use of traditional Chinese and Western medicine for PLC are mostly based on expert opinion. There is no evidence-based guideline for clinical practice in this field. Therefore, the Shanghai Association of Chinese Integrative Medicine has established a multidisciplinary working group to develop this guideline, which focuses on the most important questions about the use of TCM during PLC treatment. This guideline was developed following the methodological process recommended by the World Health Organization Handbook for Guideline Development. Two rounds of questionnaire survey were performed to identify clinical questions; published evidence was searched; the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach was used to evaluate the body of evidence; and recommendations were formulated by combining the quality of evidence, patient preferences and values, and other risk factors. The guideline was written based on the Reporting Items for Practice Guidelines in Healthcare tool. This guideline contains 10 recommendations related to 8 questions, including recommendations for early treatment by TCM after surgery, TCM combined with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization for advanced PLC, TCM drugs for external use, and acupuncture and moxibustion therapy.

Effects of Amino-Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes on the Crystal Structure and Thermal Properties of Polyacrylonitrile Homopolymer Microspheres.

Amino-functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotube (amino-CNT)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) microspheres with diameter of about 300⁻400 nm were prepared by in situ polymerization under aqueous solution. The morphology, crystal structure, and thermal properties of amino-CNTs on a PAN homopolymer were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectra, X-ray diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry. The results showed that the amino-CNTs had a significant influence on the morphology of microspheres, and the PAN matrix were grafted onto the surface of amino-CNTs with interfacial bonding between them. The XRD studies showed that the crystal size of amino-CNT/PAN microspheres with lower crystallinity was bigger than in the control PAN homopolymer. The analysis of thermal properties indicated that the amino-CNT/PAN microspheres with lower glass transition temperature had a lower initial temperature and velocity of evolving heat during the exothermic processing as compared with the PAN homopolymer. These results suggested that the incorporation of amino-CNTs into the PAN homopolymer matrix was beneficial for controlling the heat released during the stabilization processing.

Progress in research on the effects of traditional Chinese medicine on the tumor microenvironment / 中西医结合学报

Tumor microenvironment (TME) has received more and more attention as modern medical research has begun to understand its importance in tumorigenesis. The occurrence, development, metastasis and drug resistance of tumors are closely related to TME. TME is a complicated system, including nontumor cells, their secreted cytokines, extracellular matrix, among other components. The concepts of wholism and multitarget regulation in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) make it well suited to the regulation of TME. In this paper, the authors reviewed the progress of TME research and the effect of TCM on TME, providing some views of Chinese medicine in antitumor research.

Increased expression of microRNA-301a in nonsmall-cell lung cancer and its clinical significance.

AIMS: Recently, accumulating evidence indicates that dysregulation of microRNAs is associated with the initiation and progression of cancer. Oncogenic miR-301a has been reported upregulation and associated with tumorigenesis and progression in various types of cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of miR-301a in nonsmall-cell lung cancer. (NSCLC), and to assess its association with malignancy, metastasis and prognosis. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: total of 88 NSCLC patients (females = 21 and males = 67), aged 15-81 years were included in the study. miR-301a expression in tumor tissue was estimated by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS: miR-301a was significantly upregulated in NSCLC tissues compared with their paired adjacent nontumor tissues. (P < 0.001). Increased expression of miR-301a was detected in tumors with lymph node metastases. (P =0.003). In addition, high miR-301a expression was significantly associated with poorly differentiation. (P =0.015), lymph node metastasis. (P =0.013) and advanced tumor-node-metastasis. (TNM) stage. (P =0.018). A. comparison of survival curves of low versus high expressers of miR-301a revealed a highly significant difference in NSCLC, which suggests that overexpression of miR-301a is associated with a poorer disease-free survival (DFS) (P =0.002). Moreover, multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analyses revealed that the miR-301a overexpression was an unfavorable prognostic factor for disease-free survival in addition to TNM stage. CONCLUSIONS: miR-301a may represent a novel prognostic indicator, a biomarker for the early detection of lymph node metastasis and a therapeutic target in NSCLC.

The application status of Chinese herbal medicine in military health service in China / 中国结合医学杂志

Military medicine has had a long history in China since the emergence of the war. Chinese medicine, especially Chinese herbs, was widely used in China as well as other Asian countries for the prevention and treatment of diseases in the military for hundreds of years. However, the use of Chinese medicine in military health service has never been well studied. In this article, we briefly summarize the application status of Chinese herbal medicine in military health service in China, putting particular emphasis on special military environment, in an attempt to build a bridge between Chinese medicine and military health service and promote the quality of health service for the military and maintain world peace.