Epidemiologic characteristics and risk factors associated with overall survival for patients with mucinous colorectal cancer: A population-based study.

BACKGROUND: Mucinous adenocarcinoma (MC) has attracted much attention as a distinct histologic subtype of colorectal cancer in recent years. However, data about its epidemiologic and prognostic characteristics are limited. Therefore, patient data extracted from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program were collected to analyze the epidemiologic and clinicopathological characteristics of MC. AIM: To determine the epidemiologic and clinicopathological characteristics of MC. METHODS: The incidence trend of MC was calculated through the Joinpoint Regression Program. Cox regression analyses were performed to identify prognostic factors associated with overall survival (OS). A nomogram was established to predict the survival probability of individual patients with MC. RESULTS: We found that rates of MC decreased from 4.50/100000 in 2000 to 1.54/100000 in 2018. Rates of MCs in patients aged ≤ 50 years decreased 2.27%/year during 2000-2018. The incidence of appendiceal MCs increased from 0.14/100000 in 2000 to 0.24/100000 in 2018, while the incidence in other anatomic subsites continued to decrease. On multivariable Cox analyses, age, race, tumor site, T stage, N stage, M stage, surgery, and chemotherapy were associated with OS. A nomogram was developed based on these factors, and the area under the curve for 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year OS in the training cohort was 0.778, 0.778, and 0.768, respectively. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated that MC incidence decreased in almost all anatomic subgroups except for the appendix. A nomogram predicting the survival probability of patients with MCs showed good performance.

Phosphodiesterase-4D Knock-down in the Prefrontal Cortex Alleviates Chronic Unpredictable Stress-Induced Depressive-Like Behaviors and Memory Deficits in Mice.

Phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) has four isoforms (PDE4A-D) with at least 25 splice variants. PDE4 subtype nonselective inhibitors produce potent antidepressant-like and cognition-enhancing effects via increased intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling in the brain. Our previous data have demonstrated that long-form PDE4Ds appear to be involved in these pharmacological properties of PDE4 inhibitors in the normal animals. However, it is not clear whether long-form PDE4Ds are critical for the behaviors and related cellular signaling/neuronal plasticity/neuroendocrine alterations in the depressed animals. In the present study, animals exposed to the chronic unpredictable stress (CUS), a rodent model of depression, exhibited elevated corticosterone, depressive-like behavior, memory deficits, accompanied with decreased cAMP-PKA-CREB and cAMP-ERK1/2-CREB signaling and neuroplasticity. These alterations induced by CUS were reversed by RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated prefrontal cortex long-form PDE4Ds (especially PDE4D4 and PDE4D5) knock-down, similar to the effects of the PDE4 subtype nonselective inhibitor rolipram. Furthermore, these effects of RNAi were not enhanced by rolipram. These data indicate a predominant role of long-form PDE4Ds in the pharmacotherapies of PDE4 inhibitors for depression and concomitant memory deficits. Long-form PDE4Ds, especially PDE4D4 and PDE4D5, appear to be the promising targets for the development of antidepressants with high therapeutic indices.

[Effects of Ca2+ on photosynthetic parameters of Pinellia ternata and accumulations of active components in heat stress].

OBJECTIVE: To study the effect of exogenous Ca2+ on photosynthetic parameters of Pinellia ternate and accumulations of active components under high temperature stress. METHOD: The pigment contents of P. ternata leaves, photosynthesis parameters and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters of P. ternata leaves, the contents of guanosine, adenosine and polysaccharide in P. ternata tubers were measured based on different concentrations of exogenous Ca2+ in heat stress when the plant height of P. ternata was around 10 cm. RESULT: The contents of total chlorophyll and ratio of chlorophyll a/b were relatively higher by spaying Ca2+. Compared with the control, spaying 6 mmol x L(-1) Ca2+ significantly enhanced the net photosynthetic rate (Pn), transpiration (Tr) and stomatal limitation (L8), but reduced intercellular CO2 concentration (C) in P. ternata leaves. With the increase of Ca2+ concentration, maximal PS II efficiency (Fv/Fm), actual photosynthetic efficiency (Yield) and photochemical quenching coefficient (qP) initially increased and then decreased, however, minimal fluorescence (Fo) and non-photochemical quenching coefficient (NPQ) went down first and then went up. The contents of guanosine and polysaccharide and dry weight of P. ternata tubers showed a tendency of increase after decrease, and the content of adenosine increased with the increase of Ca2+ concentration. The content of guanosine and polysaccharide in P. ternata tubers and its dry weight reached maximum when spaying 6 mmol x L(-1) Ca2+. CONCLUSION: With the treatment of calcium ion, the inhibition of photosynthesis and the damage of PS II system were relieved in heat stress, which increased the production of P. ternata tubers.

Adapting an ant colony metaphor for multi-robot chemical plume tracing.

We consider chemical plume tracing (CPT) in time-varying airflow environments using multiple mobile robots. The purpose of CPT is to approach a gas source with a previously unknown location in a given area. Therefore, the CPT could be considered as a dynamic optimization problem in continuous domains. The traditional ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm has been successfully used for combinatorial optimization problems in discrete domains. To adapt the ant colony metaphor to the multi-robot CPT problem, the two-dimension continuous search area is discretized into grids and the virtual pheromone is updated according to both the gas concentration and wind information. To prevent the adapted ACO algorithm from being prematurely trapped in a local optimum, the upwind surge behavior is adopted by the robots with relatively higher gas concentration in order to explore more areas. The spiral surge (SS) algorithm is also examined for comparison. Experimental results using multiple real robots in two indoor natural ventilated airflow environments show that the proposed CPT method performs better than the SS algorithm. The simulation results for large-scale advection-diffusion plume environments show that the proposed method could also work in outdoor meandering plume environments.

Collective odor source estimation and search in time-variant airflow environments using mobile robots.

This paper addresses the collective odor source localization (OSL) problem in a time-varying airflow environment using mobile robots. A novel OSL methodology which combines odor-source probability estimation and multiple robots' search is proposed. The estimation phase consists of two steps: firstly, the separate probability-distribution map of odor source is estimated via Bayesian rules and fuzzy inference based on a single robot's detection events; secondly, the separate maps estimated by different robots at different times are fused into a combined map by way of distance based superposition. The multi-robot search behaviors are coordinated via a particle swarm optimization algorithm, where the estimated odor-source probability distribution is used to express the fitness functions. In the process of OSL, the estimation phase provides the prior knowledge for the searching while the searching verifies the estimation results, and both phases are implemented iteratively. The results of simulations for large-scale advection-diffusion plume environments and experiments using real robots in an indoor airflow environment validate the feasibility and robustness of the proposed OSL method.

[Study on chemical constituents in total saponin from Trigonella foenum-graecum].

OBJECTIVE: To study the chemical constituents in the total saponin from Trigonellf foenum-graecum. METHOD: The compounds were isolated by column chromatography on macroporous resin and silica gel and elucidated by physical and chemical evidences and spectroscopic analysis. RESULT: Two compounds were obtained and identifiedas methyl-protodioscin and methyl-protodeltonin. CONCLUSION: Methyl-protodioscin and methyl-protodeltonin were isolated from this plant for the first time.

[Efficacy and safety of cefditoren pivoxil in treatment of respiratory infections, a clinical study].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of cefditoren pivoxil in treatment of respiratory infections. METHODS: 199 cases of respiratory infection confirmed by etiological and clinical examinations were treated with cefditoren pivoxil tablets taken orally. Therapeutic evaluation was conducted among 196 cases and safety evaluation was conducted among 199 cases. RESULTS: The total effective rate was 94.9%, and the causative bacteria -elimination rate was 96.7%. Clinical adverse events, including moderate diarrhea, mild nausea and vomiting, and stomach discomfort, were seen in 9 cases with an incidence rate of 4.5%. Laboratory adverse events, including increase of with an incidence rate of 3.5%. CONCLUSION: Cefditoren pivoxil is effective and safe in treatment of mild and moderate respiratory infections. The resistance rate to cefditoren pivoxil of pathogens of respiratory infections and the efficacy of cefditoren pivoxil show no difference from those tested 7 years ago.