Effects of the Anti-Tumorigenic Agent AT101 on Human Glioblastoma Cells in the Microenvironmental Glioma Stem Cell Niche

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a barely treatable disease due to its profound chemoresistance. A distinct inter- and intratumoral heterogeneity reflected by specialized microenvironmental niches and different tumor cell subpopulations allows GBMs to evade therapy regimens. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop alternative treatment strategies. A promising candidate for the treatment of GBMs is AT101, the R(-) enantiomer of gossypol. The present study evaluates the effects of AT101, alone or in combination with temozolomide (TMZ), in a microenvironmental glioma stem cell niche model of two GBM cell lines (U251MG and U87MG). AT101 was found to induce strong cytotoxic effects on U251MG and U87MG stem-like cells in comparison to the respective native cells. Moreover, a higher sensitivity against treatment with AT101 was observed upon incubation of native cells with a stem-like cell-conditioned medium. This higher sensitivity was reflected by a specific inhibitory influence on the p-p42/44 signaling pathway. Further, the expression of CXCR7 and the interleukin-6 receptor was significantly regulated upon these stimulatory conditions. Since tumor stem-like cells are known to mediate the development of tumor recurrences and were observed to strongly respond to the AT101 treatment, this might represent a promising approach to prevent the development of GBM recurrences.     

It doesn’t take a village to fall for misinformation: Social media use,discussion heterogeneity preference,worry of the virus,faith in scientists,and COVID-19-related misinformation beliefs

With the circulation of misinformation about the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization has raised concerns about an “infodemic,” which exacerbates people’s misperceptions and deters preventive measures. Against this backdrop, this study examined the conditional indirect effect of social media use and discussion heterogeneity preference on COVID-19-related misinformation beliefs in the United States, using a national survey. Findings suggested that social media use was positively associated with misinformation beliefs, while discussion heterogeneity preference was negatively associated with misinformation beliefs. Furthermore, worry of COVID-19 was found to be a significant mediator as both associations became more significant when mediated through worry. In addition, faith in scientists served as a moderator that mitigated the indirect effect of discussion heterogeneity preference on misinformation beliefs. That is, among those who had stronger faiths in scientists, the indirect effect of discussion heterogeneity preference on misinformation belief became more negative. The findings revealed communication and psychological factors associated with COVID-19-related misinformation beliefs and provided insights into coping strategies during the pandemic.     

User activities and the heterogeneity of urban space:The case of Dahiyat Al Hussein park

Urban researchers have maintained a constant interest in the complexity and continuity of urban space usage. Some have applied actor–network theory (ANT) to investigate the heterogeneity of spaces and present them through the networks of their users’ activities. However, these accounts are predominantly limited in examining the extent to which these spaces may be heterogeneous when exploring such networks. This paper draws on recent ANT scholarship, which employs an ethnographic research conducted in a main park in a housing project at Dahiyat Al Hussein in Amman, Jordan. The findings describe the complex and unpredictable negotiations that occur within spaces by documenting the varieties and interrelations among user activity networks within this common and shared urban space. This research reveals the extent to which spaces, parks in this case, may be heterogeneous by unpacking their usage. The conclusions and insights assert the necessity of paying attention to design detail and creating designs that are responsive to evolving user activities.     

Model Selection for Unsupervised Learning of Visual Context

This study addresses the problem of choosing the most suitable probabilistic model selection criterion for unsupervised learning of visual context of a dynamic scene using mixture models. A rectified Bayesian Information Criterion (BICr) and a Completed Likelihood Akaike’s Information Criterion (CL-AIC) are formulated to estimate the optimal model order (complexity) for a given visual scene. Both criteria are designed to overcome poor model selection by existing popular criteria when the data sample size varies from small to large and the true mixture distribution kernel functions differ from the assumed ones. Extensive experiments on learning visual context for dynamic scene modelling are carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of BICr and CL-AIC, compared to that of existing popular model selection criteria including BIC, AIC and Integrated Completed Likelihood (ICL). Our study suggests that for learning visual context using a mixture model, BICr is the most appropriate criterion given sparse data, while CL-AIC should be chosen given moderate or large data sample sizes.     

河口坝砂体储层非均质性及剩余油分布

运用非均质综合指数，以胜坨油田坨28断块沙二段8,9砂层组为例，对河口坝砂体储层的层间、层内、平面非均质性进行了定量表征，并分析了非均质性与剩余油分布之间的关系。认为河口坝储层层间非均质性弱，而层内、平面非均质性以中等-弱为主，非均质综合指数与含油饱和度有良好的对应关系，剩余油主要分布在非均质性中等的区域内。     

番禺30-1砂岩强水驱气藏储层非均质性研究

针对垂向非均质性严重且边底水能量强的番禺30-1气田面临的潜在开发问题，通过岩心分析及测井二次解释，对其夹层特征及储层非均质性等进行了研究，划分出19个流动单元并定量描述了各流动单元的特征参数，建立了该气田的精细地质模型。综合评价表明，新建的地质模型具有较高的精度，为该气藏合理开发提供了坚实的地质基础。     

大幅扫描仪预视图像的高效显示研究

与普通扫描仪相比,大幅面扫描仪处理的图像面积、数据量大.为提高大幅面扫描仪软件界面中的图像显示效果和程序运行速度,提出了使用内存环境(Memory-device context)对图像进行预处理,消除了人机交互中预视图像的闪烁,通过对预视区域图像映射方法的改进减少了处理时间.     

NMDA Receptor Modulation of Incidental Learning in Pavlovian Context Conditioning.

Rats exposed to a footshock show conditional fear when reexposed to the shock context. Immediate presentation of shock after placement in the context significantly reduces this fear. Preexposure to the context in the absence of shock, coupled with a minimum preshock interval during training, overcomes this immediate shock deficit. Because rats learn about the context during preexposure and express that learning after being reinforced, the context preexposure effect is an aversive analogue of latent learning. The authors examined the effect of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist D,L-2-amino-5-phosphovalerate (APV) on the facilitatory effect of context preexposure. Rats were preexposed to a chamber after APV administration. The next day they were placed in the same chamber without drug and received shock 35 s later. APV blocked the facilitatory effect of preexposure. Therefore NMDA receptors are important for contextual latent learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

濮城油田多油层非均质油藏剩余油研究

濮城油田沙二下油藏纵向上有8个砂组37个小层,渗透率级差在5~30倍,是多油层非均质油藏,目前综合含水92·85%。为了做好高含水、高采出程度阶段的油藏调整,对此类油藏分层的剩余油分布规律进行定性描述和定量评价。根据剩余油研究及分布特点,进行了细分调整。调整实施后,采收率提高0·82%,产量保持3年稳定上升,平均由16·84×104t上升至18·41×104t,综合含水下降2·1个百分点,取得了明显的效果。     

与历史的对话与自然的交流—解析衢州市花园岗中心区城市设计

以衢州市花园岗中心区为例,提出城市设计要在尊重历史文化的基础上,结合自然地理条件,通过创造性的设计手段,来描绘未来城市中心区富有文化和生态内涵的全新形象。