Abstract Cigarette smoke (CS) has been generally recognized as a chief carcinogenic factor in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The stimulative effect of CS on renal cancer stem cells (RCSCs) has been described previously. The Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) pathway plays an essential role in self-renewal, cell growth, drug resistance, metastasis, and recurrence of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Renal cancer-related gene ΔNp63α is highly expressed in renal epithelial tissues and contributes to the RCSCs characteristics of tumors. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of ΔNp63α and the SHH pathway on the activity of RCSCs induced by CS through a series of in vivo and in vitro studies. It was shown that in renal cancer tissues, ΔNp63α and RCSCs markers in smokers are expressed higher than that in non-smokers. RCSCs were effectively enriched by tumor sphere formation assay. Besides, CS increased the expression of RCSCs markers and the capability of sphere-forming in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, the SHH pathway was activated, and the specialized inhibitor alleviated the promotion of CS on RCSCs. ΔNp63α activated the SHH pathway and promoted CS-induced enhancement of RCSCs activity. These findings indicate that ΔNp63α positively regulates the activity of CS-induced RCSCs via the SHH pathway. (CS RCC. RCC . (RCC) (RCSCs previously (SHH selfrenewal, selfrenewal self renewal, renewal self-renewal growth resistance metastasis CSCs. CSCs (CSCs) cancerrelated related ΔNpα ΔNp α tumors studies nonsmokers. nonsmokers non smokers. non-smokers assay Besides sphereforming forming Moreover CSinduced (RCC (CSCs

INTRODUÇÃO: A insônia é o distúrbio do sono mais comum: relatórios recentes estimam que 25-30% dos adultos sofrem episódios de insônia, enquanto 10% sofrem de distúrbio do sono suficientemente grave para cumprir os critérios de diagnóstico para insônia. Além disso, pouco se sabe sobre os mecanismos, causas, evolução clínica, e consequências desta doença crónica altamente prevalente. Mais de 30 estudos foram publicados sobre o assunto, mas apenas uma pequena proporção encontrou diferenças entre os indivíduos com e sem insônia, por exemplo, na memória de trabalho. OBJETIVO: Examinar as evidências sobre as diferenças entre adultos insones e normais no desempenho da memória de trabalho. MÉTODOS: A pesquisa foi realizada usando uma pesquisa avançada no ISI Web of Science e MEDLINE/PubMed com os termos "sleep", "insônia" e "memória de trabalho" como os principais descritores, que foram cruzados com as seguintes palavras-chave: "testes psicológicos", "neuropsicologia" e "performance". RESULTADOS: Um total de 132 artigos foram identificados na pesquisa realizada no PubMed e Web of Science; 20 duplicações foram excluídas. Após a triagem, 102 artigos foram excluídos, que não estavam relacionadas com o tema proposto. Assim, 10 artigos foram selecionados por critérios de elegibilidade e de exclusão, e incluídos na revisão sistemática. CONCLUSÃO: As descobertas relatadas em nosso estudo sugerem que os deficits leves mas não permanentes de desempenho cognitivo podem ser mascarados por disparidades insignificantes em estudos que comparam indivíduos com insônia com pessoas com sono normal. Tal deficiência pode ser contornada pela análise de amostras maiores e mais bem caracterizadas, em conjunto com o controle metodológico otimizado de fatores que potencialmente podem incorrer em variações entre os participantes.

BACKGROUND: Insomnia is the most commonly occurring sleep disorder: recent reports estimate that 25-30% of adults in the general population occasional instances of experience insomnia, while 10% suffer from disturbances severe enough to meet diagnostic criteria for insomnia. Little is known about the mechanisms, causes, clinical course, and consequences of this condition. Over 30 studies have been published on the matter but only a small proportion has found differences in the working memory of individuals with vs. without insomnia. OBJECTIVE: To summarize evidence regarding the differences in working memory performance between insomniac vs. normal adult sleepers. METHODS: The survey was conducted using an advanced search in the ISI Web of Science and MEDLINE/PubMed with the terms "sleep", "insomnia" and "working memory" as major descriptors; these were crossed with the following keywords: "psychological tests", "neuropsychology" and "performance". RESULTS: A total of 112 articles were identified in the search conducted in PubMed and Web of Science. After the screening, 102 articles unrelated to the proposed theme were excluded. Thus, 10 articles were analyzed by the eligibility and exclusion criteria, and included in this systematic review. CONCLUSION: The information resulting from the analysis of the reviewed articles suggests that mild, but not definitive deficits in cognitive performance might be masked by insignificant disparities in studies comparing insomniac individuals with normal sleepers. This shortcoming can be circumvented by larger and better-characterized samples, together with optimized methodological control of factors which might otherwise result in confounding variations among participants.

Background and Objectives: As part of UN peacekeeping operations in Liberia, China has sent a dozen of batches of peacekeeping force to Liberia for medical, engineering and transporting purposes from 2003 to 2012. This study aimed to explore the mental health of Chinese peacekeepers under the influence of stressful and traumatic events in Liberia. Methods: A total of 440 Chinese peacekeepers were selected by cluster sampling and surveyed by Chinese Military Mental Health Scale (CMMHS) before, during and after peacekeeping deployment. Results: The total CMMHS score (48.90 ± 21.15), depression factor (7.25 ± 3.43), interpersonal sensitivity (4.20 ± 2.15) of Chinese peacekeepers were significantly higher than the Chinese military norm (23.04 ± 14.70, 2.47 ± 2.46, 3.95 ± 2.97 respectively) (p<0.01). The total score and anxiety, somatization factor score of the transporting group were significantly higher than those of the medical group (P <0.05); All CMMHS factors in the transporting group and the medical group were higher than those of the engineering group (p<0.01). CMMHS factors score of the peacekeepers positively correlated with the age, military service duration, years of eudcation and military rank (r = 0.107 ~ 0.523, p<0.05); stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that years of eudcation was the main influence factor for peacekeepers' mental health (t = 2.288 ~ 4.358, p<0.05 ~ 0.01). Conclusions: The mental health status of Chinese peacekeepers was worse than average Chinese servicemen. Peacekeepers of different mission groups had different degree of mental damage, and the years of education was the main influence factor for peacekeepers' mental health, whereas age, military service duration as well as military rank were the secondary influence factors.

The seasonal change and host preference of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) colonization and community composition of five common plant species Agropyron cristatum, Anemarrhena asphodeloides, Cleistogenes squarrosa, Leymus chinensis, and Stipa grandis in the Inner Mongolia steppe were investigated. The AM root length colonization rates were different among the five plant species and were generally high in early (May and June) and late (September) growth seasons and low in August. A total of 18 AM fungal species representing five genera were isolated from rhizosphere soils of the five plant species, and most AM fungi had not host specificity, except that Acaulospora sp., Glomus constrictum, G. diaphanum and Glomus sp. showed a certain degree of host preference. Glomus albidum, G. etunicatum and G. geosporum were the dominant species and showed various sporulation patterns in the five plants during the growth seasons. The AM fungal spore densities and species richness increased from May to September and decreased in October and were different in the same month in the five plants. Multivariate analyses revealed that season and host significantly co-affected the AM fungal spore density, species richness, and Shannon-Wiener diversity index, and the season had higher influence than the host.