A high performance lossless Bayer image compression scheme

2007-2008 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

An efficient combined demosaicing and zooming algorithm for digital camera

2007-2008 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperVersion of RecordPublishe

Prognostic Significance of Fam3c in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Background: Family with sequence similarity 3, member C (FAM3C) has been identified as a novel regulator in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastatic progression. However, the role of FAM3C in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains unexplored. The purpose of present study is to illustrate the role of FAM3C in predicting outcomes of patients with ESCC. Methods: FAM3C expression was measured in ESCC tissues and the matched adjacent nontumorous tissues by quantitative real-time RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. The relationship between FAM3C expression and prognosis of ESCC patients was further evaluated by univariate and multivariate regression analyses. Univariate and multivariate analyses of the prognostic factors were performed using Cox proportional hazards model. Results: The FAM3C mRNA expression was remarkably upregulated in ESCC compared with their nontumor counterparts (P < 0.001). In addition, high expression of FAM3C was significantly associated with pT stage (P = 0.014) , pN stage (P = 0.026) and TNM stage (P = 0.003). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the 7-year overall survival rate in the group with high expression of FAM3C was poorer than that in low expression group (32.0 versus 70.9 %; P < 0.001). Univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that FAM3C was an independent risk factor for overall survival. Moreover, Stratified analysis revealed that FAM3C expression could differentiate the prognosis of patients in early clinical stage (TNM stage I-II). Conclusions:FAM3C expression was dramatically increased in ESCC and might serve as a valuable prognostic indicator for ESCC patients after surgery. © 2015 Zhu et al.published_or_final_versio

Podoplanin-positive cancer cells at the edge of esophageal squamous cell carcinomas are involved in invasion

Podoplanin (PDPN) is a well established lymphatic endothelial marker and has frequently been observed in cancer cells at the edge of cancer masses. Previous studies investigating the association between PDPN expression and patient prognosis have had contradictory results. In the present study, it was hypothesized that the different locations of PDPNpositive cells may explain these varying results. The present study aimed to focus on PDPN expression at the edge of esophageal cancer cell nests. In order to analyze the clinical significance of this PDPN expression, immunohistochemistry was performed using esophageal cancer tissue microarrays. PDPN expression at the edge of the cancer cell nest was found to be significantly associated with invasion (P<0.05) and poor prognosis (P<0.001) in patients with cancer. To further investigate the role of PDPN expression in cancer cells, the PDPN gene was cloned and transfected into esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cell lines. PDPN expression was also knocked down using small interfering RNA. PDPNpositive cancer cells were found to exhibit invasion characteristics. Thus, PDPN expression at the edge of a cancer cell nest may indicate invasion and represent a poor prognostic factor for ESCCs.published_or_final_versio

Knocking down 10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase increased oxidative stress and impeded zebrafish embryogenesis by obstructing morphogenetic movement

[[incitationindex]]SC

Emergent quantum confinement at topological insulator surfaces

Bismuth-chalchogenides are model examples of three-dimensional topological insulators. Their ideal bulk-truncated surface hosts a single spin-helical surface state, which is the simplest possible surface electronic structure allowed by their non-trivial $\mathbb{Z}_2$ topology. They are therefore widely regarded ideal templates to realize the predicted exotic phenomena and applications of this topological surface state. However, real surfaces of such compounds, even if kept in ultra-high vacuum, rapidly develop a much more complex electronic structure whose origin and properties have proved controversial. Here, we demonstrate that a conceptually simple model, implementing a semiconductor-like band bending in a parameter-free tight-binding supercell calculation, can quantitatively explain the entire measured hierarchy of electronic states. In combination with circular dichroism in angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) experiments, we further uncover a rich three-dimensional spin texture of this surface electronic system, resulting from the non-trivial topology of the bulk band structure. Moreover, our study reveals how the full surface-bulk connectivity in topological insulators is modified by quantum confinement.Comment: 9 pages, including supplementary information, 4+4 figures. A high resolution version is available at http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~pdk6/pub_files/TI_quant_conf_high_res.pd

Potent Paracrine Effects of human induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells Attenuate Doxorubicin-induced Cardiomyopathy

© 2015, Nature Publishing Group. All rights reserved.Transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) can protect cardiomyocytes against anthracycline-induced cardiomyopathy (AIC) through paracrine effects. Nonetheless the paracrine effects of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived MSCs (iPSC-MSCs) on AIC are poorly understood. In vitro studies reveal that doxorubicin (Dox)-induced reactive oxidative stress (ROS) generation and cell apoptosis in neonatal rat cardiomyocytes (NRCMs) are significantly reduced when treated with conditioned medium harvested from BM-MSCs (BM-MSCs-CdM) or iPSC-MSCs (iPSC-MSCs-CdM). Compared with BM-MSCs-CdM, NRCMs treated with iPSC-MSCs-CdM exhibit significantly less ROS and cell apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Transplantation of BM-MSCs-CdM or iPSC-MSCs-CdM into mice with AIC remarkably attenuated left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and dilatation. Compared with BM-MSCs-CdM, iPSC-MSCs-CdM treatment showed better alleviation of heart failure, less cardiomyocyte apoptosis and fibrosis. Analysis of common and distinct cytokines revealed that macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) were uniquely overpresented in iPSC-MSC-CdM. Immunodepletion of MIF and GDF-15 in iPSC-MSCs-CdM dramatically decreased cardioprotection. Injection of GDF-15/MIF cytokines could partially reverse Dox-induced heart dysfunction. We suggest that the potent paracrine effects of iPSC-MSCs provide novel "cell-free" therapeutic cardioprotection against AIC, and that MIF and GDF-15 in iPSC-MSCs-CdM are critical for these enhanced cardioprotective effects.published_or_final_versio

In-Plane Orbital Texture Switch at the Dirac Point in the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3

Topological insulators are novel macroscopic quantum-mechanical phase of matter, which hold promise for realizing some of the most exotic particles in physics as well as application towards spintronics and quantum computation. In all the known topological insulators, strong spin-orbit coupling is critical for the generation of the protected massless surface states. Consequently, a complete description of the Dirac state should include both the spin and orbital (spatial) parts of the wavefunction. For the family of materials with a single Dirac cone, theories and experiments agree qualitatively, showing the topological state has a chiral spin texture that changes handedness across the Dirac point (DP), but they differ quantitatively on how the spin is polarized. Limited existing theoretical ideas predict chiral local orbital angular momentum on the two sides of the DP. However, there have been neither direct measurements nor calculations identifying the global symmetry of the spatial wavefunction. Here we present the first results from angle-resolved photoemission experiment and first-principles calculation that both show, counter to current predictions, the in-plane orbital wavefunctions for the surface states of Bi2Se3 are asymmetric relative to the DP, switching from being tangential to the k-space constant energy surfaces above DP, to being radial to them below the DP. Because the orbital texture switch occurs exactly at the DP this effect should be intrinsic to the topological physics, constituting an essential yet missing aspect in the description of the topological Dirac state. Our results also indicate that the spin texture may be more complex than previously reported, helping to reconcile earlier conflicting spin resolved measurements