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Forkhead box M1 (FOXM1), a member of the Fox family of transcriptional factors, is considered to be an independent predictor of poor survival in many solid cancers. However, the underlying mechanism is not yet clear. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical significance of the correlation between FOXM1 and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in non-small cell lung carcinoma and the possible mechanism responsible for FOXM1-induced EMT and metastasis. In the present study, expression levels of FOXM1 and EMT indicator proteins were determined by tissue microarray (TMA) and immunohistochemical staining, western blotting and reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR). Other cellular and molecular approaches including gene transfection, small interfering RNA (siRNA), and migration and invasion assays were utilized. Our results demonstrated that FOXM1 overexpression was statistically significantly associated with a higher TNM stage (p=0.036), lymph node metastasis (p=0.009) and a positive smoking history of the patients (p=0.044). Additionally, high expression of FOXM1 correlated with loss of E-cadherin expression (p<0.001) and anomalous immunopositivity of Vimentin (p=0.002). Moreover, patient survival analysis demonstrated that high expression of FOXM1 (p=0.043) and the presence of lymph node metastasis (p=0.042) were independent prognostic factors for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Furthermore, various in vitro experiments indicated that overexpression or knockdown of FOXM1 expression altered EMT through activation or inhibition of the AKT/p70S6K signaling pathway. Collectively, the results suggest that FOXM1 may be used as a prognostic indicator for patients with NSCLC and promotes metastasis by inducing EMT of lung cancer cells through activation of the AKT/p70S6K pathway. Therefore, we suggest that FOXM1 may be a potential target for lung cancer therapy.

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The thermosensitive phase separation of poly(vinyl methyl ether) (PVME) aqueous solutions has been investigated using near-infrared spectroscopy in combination with two-dimensional correlation analysis, and a two-step phase separation mechanism during gradual heating has been established. Two-dimensional near-infrared (2D NIR) analysis results indicate that during this two-step process the dehydration of CH 2 groups occurs earlier than that of CH 3 groups. This result suggests that it is the change of the hydrophobic hydrocarbon chain conformation induced by heating that indirectly leads to the dehydration of the hydrophilic ether oxygen side groups.

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The study was conducted to determine the effects of chitosan on the concentrations of GH and IGF-I in serum and small intestinal morphological structure of piglets, in order to evaluate the regulating action of chitosan on weaned pig growth through endocrine and intestinal morphological approaches. A total of 180 weaned pigs (35 d of age; 11.56±1.61 kg of body weight) were selected and assigned randomly to 5 dietary treatments, including 1 basal diet (control) and 4 diets with chitosan supplementation (100, 500, 1,000 and 2,000 mg/kg, respectively). Each treatment contained six replicate pens with six pigs per pen. The experiment lasted for 28 d. The results showed that the average body weight gain (BWG) of pigs was improved quadratically by dietary chitosan during the former 14 d and the later 14 d after weaned (p<0.05). Furthermore, dietary supplementation of chitosan tended to quadratically increase the concentration of serum GH on d 14 (p = 0.082) and 28 (p = 0.087). Diets supplemented with increasing levels of chitosan increased quadratically the villus height of jejunum and ileum on d 14 (p = 0.089, p<0.01) and 28 (p = 0.074, p<0.01), meanwhile, chitosan increased quadratically the ratio of villus height to crypt depth in duodenum, jejunum and ileum on d 14 (p<0.05, p = 0.055, p<0.01) and 28 (p<0.01, p<0.01, p<0.01), however, it decreased quadratically crypt depth in ileum on d 14 (p<0.05) and that in duodenum, jejunum and ileum on d 28 (p<0.01, p<0.05, p<0.05). In conclusion, these results indicated that chitosan could quadratically improve growth in weaned pigs, and the underlying mechanism may due to the increase of the serum GH concentration and improvement of the small intestines morphological structure.

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