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An experimental study was conducted to evaluate the dynamic behavior of a free-standing frame equipped with a movable base system using cast iron and mortar as the bearing materials. The preliminary friction test indicated that a graphite layer developed on the interface and exhibited stable friction behavior. The friction coefficient ranged from 0.33 to 0.36 when the applied normal compression stress ranged from 2.6 to 5.2 MPa. The effect of the variation of normal compression stress would be small. Shaking table tests on the free-standing frame showed that rock, slide, and rock-slide responses occurred. The cumulative slide distance reached 381 mm under JMA Kobe wave excitation; however, only a few cyclic slides occurred at the same locations along the moving track. Most surfaces sustained single slides. Similar results can be observed in other shaking conditions. The insufficient cyclic sliding and significant rocking resulted in a few graphite layers on the mortar surfaces. Friction coefficients were generally similar to those obtained in the preliminary friction tests; however, the values fluctuated when the rocking became significant. The collisions due to rocking caused strong horizontal acceleration responses and resulted in high friction coefficient. In addition, the strong horizontal acceleration responses caused by the collisions made the free-standing specimen unable to reduce the input horizontal acceleration notably, even when slippage occurred. Compared with the counterpart fixed-base specimen, the specimen equipped with the iron-mortar base could reduce the horizontal acceleration amplification response and the structural deformation, whereas the vertical acceleration response was doubled due to collisions from rocking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the mechanism for precipitation hotspots (PHs) of locally developed afternoon thunderstorms in the Taipei Basin is investigated using a three-dimensional Vector Vorticity equation cloud-resolving Model (VVM) with an idealized topography and surface properties. A 500 m horizontal grid resolution is used in all experiments. The results show that the local circulation is a key for PHs at the south of the Taipei Basin. The two valleys guide background southwesterly (SW) flow along with the sea breezes to penetrate into the basin. The urban heat island (UHI) effect enhances the sea breeze convergence at the south of the basin and produces strong convection there. The interactions between cold pools generated by the convection and the sea breezes produce northward propagating new convective cells. Besides, the background wind direction is important in determining the location of sea breeze convergence. If the background wind direction changes from westerly (W) to west-northwesterly (WNW), there might be no precipitation at all in the basin. This study suggests that the idealized experiments also provide a useful framework for studying the impacts of future climate changes on the PHs in the Taipei Basin by applying the pseudo-global warming approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two chiral compounds 2(S)-benzyloxypropanol (1) and 2(S)-benzyloxypropanoic acid (2) were used as building blocks for the preparation of two series of liquid crystal materials. Some of them possess a phase sequence I-N*-SmA*-SmC*-Cr. The rigid terminal phenyl ring would not hinder the formation of liquid crystal phases including SmC* phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a patient who presented with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the cervix and the histologic features of the papillary growth lesion. Topics include papillary growth lesion with non-keratinising squamous epithelium, epithelial maturation (condylomatous), and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions (HSIL).

DNA methylation plays an important role in regulating cell growth and disease development. Methylation profiles are examined by bisulfite conversion; however, the lack of markers for bisulfite conversion efficiency and appropriate internal control genes remains a major challenge. To address these issues, we utilized two bioinformatics approaches, coefficients of variances and resampling tests, to identify probes showing stable methylation levels from several independent microarray datasets. Mass spectrometry validated the consistently high methylation levels of the five probes (N4BP2, EGFL8, CTRB1, TSPAN3, and ZNF690) in 13 human tissue types from 24 cell lines. Linear associations between detected methylation levels and methyl concentrations of DNA samples were further demonstrated in three genes (N4BP2,EGFL8, and CTRB1). To summarize, we identified five genes which may serve as internal controls for methylation studies by analyzing large-scale microarray data, and three of them can be used as markers for evaluating the efficiency of bisulfite conversion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims The ESR1 gene encodes for oestrogen receptor (ER) α, which plays a crucial role in mammary carcinogenesis and clinical outcome in patients with breast cancer. However, the clinical significance of the ESR1 gene copy number change for breast cancer has not been clarified. Methods ESR1 gene copy number was determined by fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) on tissue sections. A minimum of 20 tumour cells were counted per section, and a FISH ratio of ESR1 gene to CEP6 ≥2.0 was considered ESR1 amplification. A ratio >1.2 but <2.0 was considered ESR1 gain. The ESR1 copy number was further measured by quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) with ASXL2 as a reference. Results FISH revealed ESR1 amplification in six cases (4.0%) and ESR1 gain in 13 cases (8.7%) from a total of 150 cases. ESR1 gain and amplification were more common in older patients (p<0.001), and correlated well with ER protein expression ( p=0.03) measured by immunohistochemistry, and ESR1 copy number (p<0.001) measured by Q-PCR. Furthermore, the multivariate analysis revealed that ESR1 amplification was associated with a shorter disease-free survival (HR=5.56, p=0.03) and a shorter overall survival (HR=5.11, p=0.04). Conclusions In general, the frequency of ESR1 amplification in breast cancer is low when measured by FISH in large sections. ESR1 gain and amplification in breast cancer may be associated with older age and poorer outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Women aged ⩽35 years with breast cancer have a poor prognosis, but their prognostic factors have not been clearly defined. Aims To evaluate whether the molecular markers used in age-unspecified breast cancer could also be applied to women ⩽35 years. Methods Archival tumours from patients aged ⩽35 years with stage I-III breast cancer were collected. Oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER2, Ki67 and P53 protein expression profiles in paraffin-embedded tissue sections were determined by immunohistochemistry. Tumours with an HER2 score of 2+ were further evaluated by fluorescence in situ hybridisation. Mutational analysis of exons 4-9 of the TP53 gene and exons 9 and 20 of the PIK3CA gene was carried out using direct sequencing analysis. Results 116 patients with a median follow-up duration of 62.7 months were included. In addition to tumour size and axillary lymph node status, univariate analysis showed that high Ki67 expression, ER-negative, HER2 overexpression, and TP53 mutations were associated with shorter overall survival. Multivariate analysis showed that high Ki67 expression (HR=3.93, p=0.005), HER2 overexpression (HR=3.21, p=0.013) and TP53 mutations (HR=4.44, p=0.005) were associated with shorter overall survival. PR expression and PIK3CA mutations were not associated with survival. Conclusions For women ⩽35 years, TP53 mutations, Ki67 and HER2 expressions are strong prognostic factors. The limited prognostic value of hormone receptors suggests that the prognostic markers used in age-unspecified breast cancer may not be completely fit for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Extrapulmonary small cell carcinoma (EPSCC) is a heterogeneous group of cancers. The clinicopathological features of EPSCC remain poorly defined. Patients and Methods: Patients with the clinicopathological features of EPSCC, treated at three major medical centers in Taiwan, were included. Histologic and clinical diagnoses, smoking history, staging, clinical course and treatment outcome were reviewed and analyzed. Results: A total of 90 patients, treated between 1995 and 2005, were eligible for analysis. Forty-nine patients had limited disease and 41 extensive disease. Ten, 18, 17 and 45 patients received no treatment, local treatment, chemotherapy alone or combined modality treatment, respectively; the median survival for these four groups was 1.1, 13.8, 6.7 and 24.9 months. The origin of cancer was head and neck in 17, gastrointestinal in 27, genitourinary in 10, gynecologic in 27 and unknown in 9 patients; the median survival time was 34.2, 6.4, 9.1, 23.7 and 9.2 months, respectively. Ten out of 90 patients were long-term survivors, and 9 of them had tumors of head-and-neck and gynecologic origin. There was no statistically significant difference in survival between smokers and non-smokers. Factors associated with survival in univariate analysis included age ≤60, female gender, limited disease, head-and-neck and gynecologic origin, as well as combined modality treatment. However, in multivariate analysis, only female gender, limited disease and combined modality treatment were independent predictors of survival. Conclusions: Female gender, limited disease and combined modality treatment are favorable prognostic factors for patients with EPSCC. Prolonged survival is more likely in patients with tumors of head-and-neck and gynecologic origin. Copyright © 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]