• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.664-673
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• 2022

Objective: To evaluate the performance of baseline clinical characteristics and pretherapeutic histogram parameters derived from T2 mapping of the extraocular muscles (EOMs) in the prediction of treatment response to intravenous glucocorticoid (IVGC) therapy for active and moderate-to-severe thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) and to investigate the effect of fat-suppression (FS) in T2 mapping in this prediction. Materials and Methods: A total of 79 patients clinically diagnosed with active, moderate-to-severe TAO (47 female, 32 male; mean age ± standard deviation, 46.1 ± 10 years), including 43 patients with a total of 86 orbits in the responsive group and 36 patients with a total of 72 orbits in the unresponsive group, were enrolled. Baseline clinical characteristics and pretherapeutic histogram parameters derived from T2 mapping with FS (i.e., FS T2 mapping) or without FS (i.e., conventional T2 mapping) of EOMs were compared between the two groups. Independent predictors of treatment response to IVGC were identified using multivariable analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to evaluate the predictive performance of the prediction models. Differences between the models were examined using the DeLong test. Results: Compared to the unresponsive group, the responsive group had a shorter disease duration, lower kurtosis (FS-kurtosis), lower standard deviation, larger 75th, 90th, and 95th (FS-95th) T2 relaxation times in FS mapping and lower kurtosis in conventional T2 mapping. Multivariable analysis revealed that disease duration, FS-95th percentile, and FS-kurtosis were independent predictors of treatment response. The combined model, integrating all identified predictors, had an optimized area under the ROC curve of 0.797, 88.4% sensitivity, and 62.5% specificity, which were significantly superior to those of the imaging model (p = 0.013). Conclusion: An integrated combination of disease duration, FS-95th percentile, and FS-kurtosis was a potential predictor of treatment response to IVGC in patients with active and moderate-to-severe TAO. FS T2 mapping was superior to conventional T2 mapping in terms of prediction.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.589-600
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• 2018

For foundations in permafrost regions, the displacement characteristics are uncertain because of the randomness of temperature characteristics and mechanical parameters, which make the structural system have an unexpected deviation and unpredictability. It will affect the safety of design and construction. In this paper, we consider the randomness of temperature characteristics and mechanical parameters. A stochastic analysis model for the uncertain displacement characteristic of foundations is presented, and the stochastic coupling program is compiled by Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB) software. The stochastic displacement fields of an embankment in a permafrost region are obtained and analyzed by Neumann stochastic finite element method (NSFEM). The results provide a new way to predict the deformation characteristics of foundations in permafrost regions, and it shows that the stochastic temperature has a different influence on the stochastic lateral displacement and vertical displacement. Construction disturbance and climate warming lead to three different stages for the mean settlement of characteristic points. For the stochastic settlement characteristic, the standard deviation increases with time, which imply that the results of conventional deterministic analysis may be far from the true value. These results can improve our understanding of the stochastic deformation fields of embankments and provide a theoretical basis for engineering reliability analysis and design in permafrost regions.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.552-562
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• 2018

With the advent of the information society, image restoration technology has aroused considerable interest. Guided image filtering is more effective in suppressing noise in homogeneous regions, but its edge-preserving property is poor. As such, the critical part of guided filtering lies in the selection of the guided image. The result of the Expected Patch Log Likelihood (EPLL) method maintains a good structure, but it is easy to produce the ladder effect in homogeneous areas. According to the complementarity of EPLL with guided filtering, we propose a method of coupling EPLL and guided filtering for image de-noising. The EPLL model is adopted to construct the guided image for the guided filtering, which can provide better structural information for the guided filtering. Meanwhile, with the secondary smoothing of guided image filtering in image homogenization areas, we can improve the noise suppression effect in those areas while reducing the ladder effect brought about by the EPLL. The experimental results show that it not only retains the excellent performance of EPLL, but also produces better visual effects and a higher peak signal-to-noise ratio by adopting the proposed method.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.23
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• pp.10501-10504
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• 2015

Background: Colon cancer is the second most common cancer in developed countries. Activated platelets play a key role in inflammation and atherothrombosis, with mean platelet volume (MPV) is an early marker of platelet activation. The aim of the study was to clarify the relevance of MPV in patients with colon cancer. Materials and Methods: We measured MPV levels in 128 patients with colon cancer before and after surgery, and 128 controls matched for age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and smoking status. The odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for colon cancer were calculated using multivariate logistic regression analyses across MPV quartiles. Results: Patients with colon cancer had higher MPV compared with controls. Surgical tumor resection resulted in a significant decrease in MPV levels (11.4 fL vs 10.7 fL; p<0.001). A positive correlation between MPV and tumor-nodule-metastases (TNM) stage was found. Furthermore, after adjusting for other risk factors, the ORs (95%CIs) for colon cancer according to MPV quartiles were 1.000, 2.238 (1.014-4.943), 3.410 (1.528-7.613), and 5.379 (2.372-12.198), respectively. Conclusions: The findings show that patients with colon cancer have higher MPV levels compared with controls, and these are reduced after surgery. In addition, MPV was found to be independently associated with the presence of colon cancer. Further studies are warranted to assess the utility of MPV as a novel diagnostic screening tool for colon cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.273-276
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• 2014

Ellagic acid has been shown to inhibit tumor cell growth. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. In this study, our aim was to investigate whether ellagic acid inhibits the proliferation of MCF-7 human breast cancer cells via regulation of the TGF-${\beta}$/Smad3 signaling pathway. MCF-7 breast cancer cells were transfected with pEGFP-C3 or pEGFP-C3/Smad3 plasmids, and treated with ellagic acid alone or in combination with SIS3, a specific inhibitor of Smad3 phosphorylation. Cell proliferation was assessed by MTT assay and the cell cycle was detected by flow cytometry. Moreover, gene expression was detected by RT-PCR, real-time PCR and Western blot analysis. The MTT assay showed that SIS3 attenuated the inhibitory activity of ellagic acid on the proliferation of MCF-7 cells. Flow cytometry revealed that ellagic acid induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest which was mitigated by SIS3. Moreover, SIS3 reversed the effects of ellagic acid on the expression of downstream targets of the TGF-${\beta}$/Smad3 pathway. In conclusion, ellagic acid leads to decreased phosphorylation of RB proteins mainly through modulation of the TGF-${\beta}$/Smad3 pathway, and thereby inhibits the proliferation of MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.572-578
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• 2016

Communication between endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs) via miR-143/145 clusters is vital to vascular stability. Previous research demonstrates that miR-143/145 released from ECs can regulate SMC proliferation and migration. In addition, a recent study has found that SMCs also have the capability of manipulating EC function via miR-143/145. In the present study, we artificially increased the expression of miR-143/145 in ECs, to mimic a similar change caused by miR-143/145 released by SMCs, and applied untargeted metabolomics analysis, aimed at investigating the consequential effect of miR-143/145 overexpression. Our results showed that miR-143/145 overexpression alters the levels of metabolites involved in energy production, DNA methylation, and oxidative stress. These changed metabolites indicate that metabolic pathways, such as the SAM cycle and TCA cycle, exhibit significant differences from the norm with miR-143/145 overexpression.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.7
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• pp.1565-1570
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• 2020

Photons with the energy of 60 keV are regularly used for some kinds of bone density examination devices, like the single photon absorptiometry (SPA). This article reports a flexible and lightweight rare earth/polymer composite for enhancing shielding efficiency against photon radiation with the energy of 60 keV. Lead oxide (PbO) and several rare earth element oxides (La₂O₃, Ce₂O₃, Nd₂O₃) were dispersed into natural rubber (NR) and the photon radiation shielding performance of the composites were assessed using monte carlo simulation method. For 60 keV photons, the shielding efficiency of rare earthbased composites were found to be much higher than that of the traditional lead-based composite, which has bad absorbing ability for photons with energies between 40 keV and 88 keV. In comparison with the lead oxide based composite, Nd₂O₃-NR composite with the same protection standard (the lead equivalent is 0.25 mmPb, 0.35 mmPb and 0.5 mmPb, respectively), can reduce the thickness by 35.29%, 37.5% and 38.24%, and reduce the weight by 38.91%, 40.99% and 41.69%, respectively. Thus, a flexible, lightweight and lead-free rare earth/NR composite could be designed, offering efficient photon radiation protection for the users of the single photon absorptiometry (SPA) with certain energy of 60 keV.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.3805-3810
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• 2015

Arsenic trioxide (ATO) has been found to exert anti-cancer activity in various human malignancies. However, the molecular mechanisms by which ATO inhibits tumorigenesis are not fully elucidated. In the current study, we explored the molecular basis of ATO-mediated tumor growth inhibition in pancreatic cancer cells. We used multiple approaches such as MTT assay, wound healing assay, Transwell invasion assay, annexin V-FITC, cell cycle analysis, RT-PCR and Western blotting to achieve our goal. We found that ATO treatment effectively caused cell growth inhibition, suppressed clonogenic potential and induced G2-M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. Moreover, we observed a significant down-regulation of Skp2 after treatment with ATO. Furthermore, we revealed that ATO regulated Skp2 downstream genes such as FOXO1 and p53. These findings demonstrate that inhibition of Skp2 could be a novel strategy for the treatment of pancreatic cancer by ATO.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.1645-1649
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• 2012

Purpose: This study aimed to assess possible interactive effects of coping styles and psychological stress on depression and anxiety symptoms in Chinese women shortly after diagnosis of breast cancer. Methods: Four hundred and one patients with breast cancer were face-to-face interviewed by trained research staff according to a standardized questionnaire including information on socio-demographic characteristics, psychological stress, coping styles, and anxiety and depressive symptoms. Interactive effects were assessed by hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Results: There were significant associations of the four domains of psychological stress with anxiety and depressive symptoms except for the relationship between "worrying about health being harmed" and depressive symptoms. "Abreaction coping behavior" and "escaping coping behavior" significantly increased the level of both anxiety and depressive symptoms; whereas an "active coping style" reswulted in significant decrease. The interaction of "active coping behavior" with "worrying about health being harmed" significantly increased the risk of the anxiety symptoms, while adopting "self-relaxing coping behavior" was associated with significant decrease. The interaction of "worry about daily life and social relationship being restricted" with "escaping coping behavior" significantly increased the risk of the depressive symptoms. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that certain coping styles might moderate the association of psychological stress with anxiety and depressive symptoms in Chinese women with breast cancer.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6305-6309
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• 2013

Background: TIAM2, a Rac guanine nucleotide exchange factor, is closely associated with cell adherence and migration. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of TIAM2 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells. Materials and Methods: A small interference RNA (siRNA) was introduced to silence the expression of TIAM2. Invasion and motility assays were then performed to assess the invasion and motility potential of NSCLC cells. GST-pull down assays were used to detect activation of Rac1. Results: TIAM2 was highly expressed in NSCLC cells. Knockdown of TIAM2 inhibited the invasion and motility, and suppressed activation of Rac1. Further experiments demonstrated that knockdown of TIAM2 could up-regulate the expression of E-cadherin, and down-regulate the expression of MMP-3, Twist and Snail. Conclusions: Our data suggest that TIAM2 can promote invasion and motility of NSCLC cells. Activation of Rac1 and regulation of some EMT/invasion-related genes may be involved in the underlying processes.