Cancer Initiation,Progression and Resistance: Are Phytocannabinoids from Cannabis sativa L. Promising Compounds?

Cannabis sativa L. is a source of over 150 active compounds known as phytocannabinoids that are receiving renewed interest due to their diverse pharmacologic activities. Indeed, phytocannabinoids mimic the endogenous bioactive endocannabinoids effects through activation of CB1 and CB2 receptors widely described in the central nervous system and peripheral tissues. All phytocannabinoids have been studied for their protective actions towards different biological mechanisms, including inflammation, immune response, oxidative stress that, altogether, result in an inhibitory activity against the carcinogenesis. The role of the endocannabinoid system is not yet completely clear in cancer, but several studies indicate that cannabinoid receptors and endogenous ligands are overexpressed in different tumor tissues. Recently, in vitro and in vivo evidence support the effectiveness of phytocannabinoids against various cancer types, in terms of proliferation, metastasis, and angiogenesis, actions partially due to their ability to regulate signaling pathways critical for cell growth and survival. The aim of this review was to report the current knowledge about the action of phytocannabinoids from Cannabis sativa L. against cancer initiation and progression with a specific regard to brain, breast, colorectal, and lung cancer as well as their possible use in the therapies. We will also report the known molecular mechanisms responsible for such positive effects. Finally, we will describe the actual therapeutic options for Cannabis sativa L. and the ongoing clinical trials.     

Unlocking the Drug Potential of the Bryostatin Family: Recent Advances in Product Synthesis and Biomedical Applications

Bryostatins are a class of naturally occurring macrocyclic lactones with a unique fast developing portfolio of clinical applications, including treatment of AIDS, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. This comprehensive account summarizes the recent progress (2014–present) in the development of bryostatins, including their total synthesis and biomedical applications. An emphasis is placed on the discussion of bryostatin 1 , the most-studied analogue to date. This review highlights the synthetic and biological challenges of bryostatins and provides an outlook on their future development.     

T1Effects in Sequential Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast Experiments

Residual effects of an initial bolus of gadolinium contrast agent have been previously demonstrated in sequential dynamic susceptibility contrast MR experiments. While these residual effects quickly reach a saturation steady state, their etiology is uncertain, and they can lead to spurious estimates of hemodynamic parameters in activation experiments. The possible influence ofT₁effects is now investigated with experiments in whichT₁weighting is varied as well as with serial regionalT₁measurements. Little evidence for significant residualT₁effects is found, suggesting instead that susceptibility effects underlie these observations. An initial saturation dose of contrast agent minimizes this effect.     

模糊对向传播网络数据融合目标识别方法

重点研究了模糊对向传播网络 (FCPN)模型。针对数据融合和目标识别的特点 ,提出了基于模糊对向传播网络的融合目标识别方法和改进的模糊对向传播网络 (MFCPN)融合结构。利用仿真数据对网络的训练算法和融合结构进行了实验研究。结果表明 ,模糊对向传播网络较误差后向传播网络 (BPN)能够有效地实现融合识别 ;改进的模糊对向传播网络融合结构是可行的。同时还对FCPN和MFCPN应用于前视红外 (FLIR)和可见光摄像机目标跟踪系统进行了应用研究。     

基于进化人工神经网络的组合系统滤波技术

在组合系统运用Kalman滤波器技术时,准确的系统模型和可靠的观测数据是保证其性能的重要因素,否则将大大降低Kalman滤波器的估计精度,甚至导致滤波器发散.为解决上述Kalman应用中的实际问题,提出了一种新颖的基于进化人工神经网络技术的自适应Kalman滤波器.仿真试验表明该算法可以在系统模型不准确时、甚至外部观测数据短暂中断时,仍能保证Kalman滤波器的性能.     

农户信用评估系统的设计与运用研究

农户信用评估的研究对推动农村消费信用的发展，促进农村经济良好运行十分重要。本在构造农户信用评估的指标体系的基础上，提出了农户信用评估神经网络模型的算法，利用实际搜集到的农户资料进一步建立了农户信用评估模型，继而构造了农户信用评估系统，并举例说明了该系统的实际运用，以期能为农村经济发展中的农户信用评价及相关研究提供一丝基础性启发。     

Radiolytic unsaturation decay in polyethylene. Part III—the effect of certain chain transfer agents

Small amounts of certain halogenated compounds are found to have, at most, only a slight enhancing effect on the radiolytic decay rates of added poly-unsaturated compounds in polyethylene, but significantly increase the elastic modulus at 433 K (melt modulus) obtained thereby. Experiments with model chlorine-containing additives suggest that this increase is due to a more random distribution of polymer and monomer mediated crosslinks in the polymer, that it does not result from a significant increase in crosslinking and that it is mediated by chlorine atoms, in a similar manner to radiolytic hydrogen atoms, through facilitation of long range free radical migration. Although low molecular weight chloro-paraffins inhibit radiolytically induced growth of melt modulus in monomer containing polyethylenes, even very small additions of chlorinated polyethylenes, which form a separate phase, increase the melt modulus. This again indicates that the active species is the chlorine radical.     

Elliptic and parabolic problems in unbounded domains

We consider elliptic and parabolic problems in unbounded domains. We give general existence and regularity results in Besov spaces and semi‐explicit representation formulas via operator‐valued fundamental solutions which turn out to be a powerful tool to derive a series of qualitative results about the solutions. We give a sample of possible applications including asymptotic behavior in the large, singular perturbations, exact boundary conditions on artificial boundaries and validity of maximum principles. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Artificial boundary conditions for Petrovsky systems of second order in exterior domains and in other domains of conical type

The approximation of solutions to boundary value problems on unbounded domains by those on bounded domains is one of the main applications for artificial boundary conditions. Based on asymptotic analysis, here a new method is presented to construct local artificial boundary conditions for a very general class of elliptic problems where the main asymptotic term is not known explicitly. Existence and uniqueness of approximating solutions are proved together with asymptotically precise error estimates. One class of important examples includes boundary value problems for anisotropic elasticity and piezoelectricity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wavelets and adaptive grids for the discontinuous Galerkin method

In this paper, space adaptivity is introduced to control the error in the numerical solution of hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. The reference numerical scheme is a new version of the discontinuous Galerkin method, which uses an implicit diffusive term in the direction of the streamlines, for stability purposes. The decision whether to refine or to unrefine the grid in a certain location is taken according to the magnitude of wavelet coefficients, which are indicators of local smoothness of the numerical solution. Numerical solutions of the nonlinear Euler equations illustrate the efficiency of the method.