CHID1 Is a Novel Prognostic Marker of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

There is an urgent need for identification of new prognostic markers and therapeutic targets for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In this study, we evaluated immune cells markers in 100 NSCLC specimens. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed no prognostic value for the markers studied, except CD163 and CD206. At the same time, macrophage markers iNOS and CHID1 were found to be expressed in tumor cells and associated with prognosis. We showed that high iNOS expression is a marker of favorable prognosis for squamous cell lung carcinoma (SCC), and NSCLC in general. Similarly, high CHID1 expression is a marker of good prognosis in adenocarcinoma and in NSCLC in general. Analysis of prognostic significance of a high CHID1/iNOS expression combination showed favorable prognosis with 20 months overall survival of patients from the low CHID1/iNOS expression group. For the first time, we demonstrated that CHID1 can be expressed by NSCLC cells and its high expression is a marker of good prognosis for adenocarcinoma and NSCLC in general. At the same time, high expression of iNOS in tumor cells is a marker of good prognosis in SCC. When used in combination, CHID1 and iNOS show a very good prognostic capacity for NSCLC. We suggest that in the case of lung cancer, tumor-associated macrophages are likely ineffective as a therapeutic target. At the same time, macrophage markers expressed by tumor cells may be considered as targets for anti-tumor therapy or, as in the case of CHID1, as potential anti-tumor agents.     

Activation of Nrf2/HO-1 by Peptide YD1 Attenuates Inflammatory Symptoms through Suppression of TLR4/MYyD88/NF-κB Signaling Cascade

In this study, we investigate the immunomodulatory effects of a novel antimicrobial peptide, YD1, isolated from Kimchi, in both in vitro and in vivo models. We establish that YD1 exerts its anti-inflammatory effects via up-regulation of the Nrf2 pathway, resulting in the production of HO-1, which suppresses activation of the NF-κB pathway, including the subsequent proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. We also found that YD1 robustly suppresses nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE₂) production by down-regulating the expression of the upstream genes, iNOS and COX-2, acting as a strong antioxidant. Collectively, YD1 exhibits vigorous anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity, presenting it as an interesting potential therapeutic agent.     

Two methods for the calculation of the degree of an approximate greatest common divisor of two inexact polynomials

The calculation of the degree d of an approximate greatest common divisor of two inexact polynomials f(y) and g(y) reduces to the determination of the rank loss of a resultant matrix, the entries of which are functions of the coefficients of f(y) and g(y). This paper considers this issue by describing two methods to calculate d, such that knowledge of the noise level imposed on the coefficients of f(y) and g(y) is not assumed. One method uses the residual of a linear algebraic equation whose coefficient matrix and right hand side vector are derived from the Sylvester resultant matrix S(f,g), and the other method uses the first principal angle between a line and a hyperplane, the equations of which are calculated from S(f,g). Computational results on inexact polynomials whose exact forms have multiple roots of high degree are shown and very good results are obtained. These results are compared with the rank loss of S(f,g) for the calculation of d, and it is shown that this method yields incorrect results for these examples.     

Spectroscopic and Theoretical Study on Electronically Modified Chromophores in LOV Domains: 8‐Bromo‐ and 8‐Trifluoromethyl‐Substituted Flavins

Two chemically synthesized flavin derivatives, 8‐trifluoromethyl‐ and 8‐bromoriboflavin (8‐CF₃RF and 8‐BrRF), were photochemically characterized in H₂O and studied spectroscopically after incorporation into the LOV domain of the blue light photoreceptor YtvA from Bacillus subtilis. The spectroscopic studies were paralleled by high‐level quantum chemical calculations. In solution, 8‐BrRF showed a remarkably high triplet quantum yield (0.97, parent compound riboflavin, RF: 0.6) and a small fluorescence quantum yield (0.07, RF: 0.27). For 8‐CF₃RF, the triplet yield was 0.12, and the fluorescence quantum yield was 0.7. The high triplet yield of 8‐BrRF is due to the bromine heavy atom effect causing a stronger spin–orbit coupling. Theoretical calculations reveal that the decreased triplet yield of 8‐CF₃RF is due to a smaller charge transfer and a less favorable energetic position of T₂, required for intersystem crossing from S₁ to T₁, as an effect of the electron‐withdrawing CF₃ group. The reconstitution of the LOV domain with the new flavins resulted in the typical LOV photochemistry, consisting of triplet state formation and covalent binding of the chromophore, followed by a thermal recovery of the parent state, albeit with different kinetics and photophysical properties.     

Antioxidant Potential of Aqueous Dispersions of Fullerenes C60, C70, and Gd@C82

The antioxidant potential (capacity and activity) of aqueous fullerene dispersions (AFD) of non-functionalized C₆₀, C₇₀, and Gd@C₈₂ endofullerene (in micromolar concentration range) was estimated based on chemiluminescence measurements of the model of luminol and generation of organic radicals by 2,2′-azobis(2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (ABAP). The antioxidant capacity was estimated by the TRAP method, from the concentration of half-suppression, and from the suppression area in the initial period. All three approaches agree and show that the antioxidant capacity of AFDs increased in the order Gd@C₈₂ < C₇₀ < C₆₀. Mathematical modeling of the long-term kinetics data was used for antioxidant activity estimation. The effect of C₆₀ and C₇₀ is found to be quenching of the excited product of luminol with ABAP-generated radical and not an actual antioxidant effect; quenching constants differ insignificantly. Apart from quenching with a similar constant, the AFD of Gd@C₈₂ exhibits actual antioxidant action. The antioxidant activity in Gd@C₈₂ is 300-fold higher than quenching constants.     

One‐ and two‐phase isochoric heat capacity measurements of aqueous solution of nacl near the critical point of pure water

Isochoric heat capacities of H₂O+NaCl solutions (0.0031 and 0.0063 mole fraction of NaCl) were measured with a high temperature and high pressure adiabatic calorimeter near the sub‐critical and near the supercritical point of pure water. Temperatures ranged from 361 to 677 K. Measurements were made at six densities, namely: 367.07 and 485.59 kg·m^?3 for x = 0.0031 mol fraction of NaCl and 388.65, 560.03, 607.05, and 973.70 kg·m^?3 for x = 0.0063 mol fraction of NaCl. Measurements were conducted in the two‐and one‐phase regions including near phase transition temperatures T_S(ρ). The phase transition temperatures T_S(ρ) and saturated isochoric heat capacity values C_VX have been determined for each isochore. The uncertainty in heat capacity measurements is estimated to be 3.5% to 4.5% near the phase transition and critical points. Present and previous results of heat capacity measurements were compared with predictions from the crossover (CREOS) and Pitzer—Tanger–Hovey equations of state (PTH EOS). Our previous heat capacity measurements were found to deviate systematically from crossover‐model predictions. The present results show good agreement with the crossover model for the composition x = 0.0031 mol fraction.     

Compatibility of materials with hydrogen. Particular case: Hydrogen embrittlement of titanium alloys

A review of the effect of hydrogen on materials is addressed in this paper. General aspects of the interaction of hydrogen and materials, hydrogen embrittlement, low temperature effects, material suitability for hydrogen service and materials testing are the main subjects considered in the first part of the paper. As a particular case of the effect of hydrogen in materials, the hydride formation of titanium alloys is considered. Hydrogen absorption and the possible associated problems must be taken into account when considering titanium as a candidate material for high responsibility applications. The sensitivity of three different titanium alloys to the Hydrogen Assisted Stress Cracking phenomena has been studied by means of the Slow Strain Rate Technique (SSRT). The testing media have been sea water and hydrogen has been produced on the specimen surface during the test by cathodic polarization. Tested specimens have been characterized by metallography and scanning electron microscopy. Results obtained show that the microstructure of the materials, particularly the β-phase content, plays an important role on the sensitivity of the studied alloys to the Hydrogen Assisted Stress Cracking Phenomena.     

彩9井区西山窑组特低渗油藏高含水期加密调整试验

准噶尔盆地彩9井区中侏罗统西山窑组为低孔特低渗砂岩油藏,目前已进入高含水低产低能阶段,即将面临废弃停产的严峻局面。对彩9井区西山窑组特低渗油藏渗流特征及剩余油分布规律进行了研究,提出在油井井间剩余油富集带加密注水井以缩小注采井距、提高注采井数比以提高动用程度的调整方案,方案在先导试验井组实施并取得成功,为后续油藏全面调整开发提供技术思路。     

Lightly supervised alignment of subtitles on multi-genre broadcasts

This paper describes a system for performing alignment of subtitles to audio on multigenre broadcasts using a lightly supervised approach. Accurate alignment of subtitles plays a substantial role in the daily work of media companies and currently still requires large human effort. Here, a comprehensive approach to performing this task in an automated way using lightly supervised alignment is proposed. The paper explores the different alternatives to speech segmentation, lightly supervised speech recognition and alignment of text streams. The proposed system uses lightly supervised decoding to improve the alignment accuracy by performing language model adaptation using the target subtitles. The system thus built achieves the third best reported result in the alignment of broadcast subtitles in the Multi–Genre Broadcast (MGB) challenge, with an F1 score of 88.8%. This system is available for research and other non–commercial purposes through webASR, the University of Sheffield’s cloud–based speech technology web service. Taking as inputs an audio file and untimed subtitles, webASR can produce timed subtitles in multiple formats, including TTML, WebVTT and SRT.