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Background • Osteoporotic thoracolumbar burst fractures (OTLBF) pose challenges for vertebroplasty due to the risk of cement leakage and spinal injury resulting from the fracture of the posterior vertebra and spinal canal occupancy. It limits the application of vertebroplasty in these patients. Objective • This study investigates the efficacy and safety of a bilateral pedicle approach combined with postural reduction for treating OTLBF using vertebroplasty. Material and Methods • Thirteen patients (aged ≥ 65 years) with thoracolumbar fractures without neurological deficits underwent vertebroplasty. The fractures affected the anterior and middle columns of the vertebrae, with mild compression of the canal. Clinical symptoms, procedure effects, patient mobility, and pain were assessed before the procedure and between 1 day and 3 months post-procedure. Kyphosis correction, wedge angle, and height restoration were also measured. Results • Immediate improvements in pain and mobility were observed in all patients following vertebroplasty, with sustained improvements over 6 months. Significant improvements were observed between 1 day and 6 months post-procedure, with at least a 4-level reduction in pain after 6 months. No comorbidities were observed. Kyphosis correction, wedge angle, and height restoration were improved. In one patient, postoperative computed tomography revealed polymethylmethacrylate leakage into the disc space and paravertebral space through the endplate fracture site, while no intraspinal leakage was found in other patients. Conclusions • Although vertebroplasty is generally considered contraindicated in OTLBF patients with posterior body involvement, this study demonstrates successful and safe treatment without causing neurological deficits. Percutaneous vertebroplasty combined with body reduction may serve as an alternative method for treating OTLBF, effectively preventing major surgical complications. Furthermore, it offers superior kyphosis correction, vertebral body reduction, pain reduction, early mobilization, and pain relief for patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Ge/GeSn/Ge double heterojunction p‐i‐n vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) is designed in this paper. According to the principle of distributed Bragg reflection (DBR), 6 and 12 pairs of SiO2/Si layers as the DBR are prepared on the upper and lower sides of the p‐i‐n structure. The upper and lower DBRs, as the resonant cavity of the laser, replace the Fabry Perot (FP) cavity of the conventional laser. The effects of Sn component and the ultra‐injection technique on the performance of the device are introduced at the same time to realize the direct bandgap luminescence of GeSn in the case of lower Sn component. The level of ultra‐injection is adjusted by changing the thickness of the i‐layer. The relationship between the thickness of the i‐layer and the carrier distribution after energization, the illuminating power, and the threshold current density are analyzed, and the best photoelectric performance is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gastric duplication is a rare congenital abnormality, and its diagnosis and treatment may be challenging in certain children. The present study reported four cases of gastric duplication who were followed-up and treated in the Children's Hospital of Zhejiang University between March 2010 and March 2015. The study aimed to increase the knowledge on this disease in order to improve the diagnosis and treatment, as well as decrease the possibility of misdiagnosis. Diagnosis could not be confirmed by the clinical manifestation, ultrasonography and computed tomography (CT). Therefore, laparoscopic examination and laparotomy were conducted, which confirmed the gastric duplication, and resection was performed according to the type of gastric duplication. Two patients received laparoscopy-assisted resection by removing the duplicated gastric tube through the navel, while one patient received total laparoscopic resection, and one patient received laparoscopy and laparotomy. The surgical procedures were performed without any issues, and no complications appeared following the surgery. The preoperative symptoms disappeared completely, and the patients recovered well according to the follow-ups conducted at 1 month, 1 year and 3 years for all four cases. In conclusion, gastric duplication is a rare condition and its preoperative diagnosis is difficult, and laparotomy is an effective method for diagnosis. Laparoscopy-assisted resection or total laparoscopic resection is preferred for uncomplicated gastric duplications, and simple excision can achieve a good therapeutic effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ionic liquid (IL), 2,2-diethyl-1,1,3,3-tetramethylguanidinium ethyl sulfate ([(C2)22(C1)2(C1)23gu][C2OSO3]), was synthesized and characterized. The density and viscosity data were determined for the binary mixtures of [(C2)22(C1)2(C1)23gu][C2OSO3] with water, methanol, or ethanol over the whole concentration range at different temperatures T = 293.15-323.15 K and atmospheric pressure p = 0.1 MPa. The excess molar volume, VmE, and viscosity deviation, Δη, for the binary mixtures are calculated and fitted with the Redlich-Kister type polynomial equation. The values of VmE for [(C2)22(C1)2(C1)23gu][C2OSO3] + water system are observed to be negative, and those for [(C2)22(C1)2(C1)23gu][C2OSO3] + methanol/ethanol system change from negative to positive against the mole fraction (x1) of the IL, which exhibit the minimum values around x1 = 0.2 and the maximum values near x1 = 0.8. The Δη values for all of the three binary systems are negative, and the minimum values occur near x1 = 0.6. The temperature dependence of viscosity for pure [(C2)22(C1)2(C1)23gu][C2OSO3] and its binary mixtures can be well correlated with the Vogel-Fucher-Tammann equation. These fundamental physicochemical properties of the binary mixtures make for a better comprehension of the guanidinium-based ILs and the potential applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological investigations have indicated that aluminium (Al) is an important environmental neurotoxicant that may be involved in the aetiology of the cognitive dysfunction associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Additionally, exposure to Al is known to cause neurobehavioural abnormalities in animals. Previous studies demonstrated that Al impaired early-phase long-term potentiation (E-LTP) in vivo and in vitro. Our previous research revealed that Al could impair long-term memory via the impairment of late-phase long-term potentiation (L-LTP) in vivo. However, the exact mechanism by which Al impairs long-term memory has been poorly studied thus far. This study was designed not only to observe the effects of subchronic Al treatment on long-term memory and hippocampal ultrastructure but also to explore a possible underlying mechanism (involving the cAMP-PKA-CREB signalling pathway) in the hippocampus of rats.. Pregnant Wistar rats were assigned to four groups. Neonatal rats were exposed to Al by parental lactation for 3 weeks and then fed with distilled water containing 0, 0.2%, 0.4% or 0.6% Al chloride (AlCl3) for 3 postnatal months. The levels of Al in the blood and hippocampus were quantified by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The shuttle-box test was performed to detect long-term memory. The hippocampus was collected for ultrastructure observation, and the level of cAMP-PKA-CREB signalling was examined. The results showed that the Al concentrations in the blood and hippocampus of Al-treated rats were higher than those of the control rats. Al may impair the long-term memory of rats. Hippocampal cAMP, cPKA, pCREB, BDNF and c-jun expression decreased significantly, and the neuronal and synaptic ultrastructure exhibited pathological changes after Al treatment. These results indicated that Al may induce long-term memory damage in rats by inhibiting cAMP-PKA-CREB signalling and altering the synaptic and neuronal ultrastructure in the hippocampus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grass carp reovirus (GCRV) is a pathogen that causes hemorrhagic disease of grass carp. It is the most serious infectious disease of carp and causes serious losses of fingerlings of grass carp and black carp. In this study, a recombinant VP4, one of the viral core proteins, was constructed with a histidine tag and expressed at a high level in E. coli, and the expressed protein was mainly found in the form of inclusion bodies. The expressed VP4 protein was recognized by an anti-His-tag monoclonal antibody and goat anti-GCRV serum. Four monoclonal antibodies (16B7, 39E12, 13C3 and 14D1) against the recombinant VP4 protein were produced. These MAbs did not react with any of the tested viruses or fish cells lines in the ELISA tests except GCRV. In western blotting analysis, a protein band was observed when the recombinant VP4 protein of GCRV was used as an antigen, but a 68-kDa band was observed when natural capsid proteins of GCRV were used as antigens. Furthermore, a sandwich ELISA was developed for detection of GCRV. The detection limit of the test was 10 TCID of GCRV per mL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the smart devices equipped with imaging functions are widely spreading for consumer application. It is very convenient for people to record information using these devices. For example, people can photo one page of a book in a library or they can capture an interesting piece of news on the bulletin board when walking on the street. But sometimes, one shot full area image cannot give a sufficient resolution for OCR soft or for human visual recognition. Therefore, people would prefer to take several partial character images of a readable size and then stitch them together in an efficient way. In this study, we propose a print document acquisition method using a device with a video camera. A one-dimensional histogram based self-calibration algorithm is developed for calibration. Because the calculation cost is low, it can be installed on a smartphone. The simulation result shows that the calibration and stitching are well performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We describe a method for extracting data about how biomolecule pairs interact from texts. This method relies on empirically determined characteristics of sentences. The characteristics are efficient to compute, making this approach to extraction of biomolecular interactions scalable. The results of such interaction mining can support interaction network annotation, question answering, database construction, and other applications. Results: We constructed a software system to search MEDLINE for sentences likely to describe interactions between given biomolecules. The system extracts a list of the interaction-indicating terms appearing in those sentences, then ranks those terms based on their likelihood of correctly characterizing how the biomolecules interact. The ranking process uses a tf-idf (term frequency-inverse document frequency) based technique using empirically derived knowledge about sentences, and was applied to the MEDLINE literature collection. Software was developed as part of the MetNet toolkit (http://www.metnetdb.org). Conclusions: Specific, efficiently computable characteristics of sentences about biomolecular interactions were analyzed to better understand how to use these characteristics to extract how biomolecules interact. The text empirics method that was investigated, though arising from a classical tradition, has yet to be fully explored for the task of extracting biomolecular interactions from the literature. The conclusions we reach about the sentence characteristics investigated in this work, as well as the technique itself, could be used by other systems to provide evidence about putative interactions, thus supporting efforts to maximize the ability of hybrid systems to support such tasks as annotating and constructing interaction networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epidemiological investigations have indicated that aluminum (Al), as an important environmental neurotoxicant, could cause damage to the cognitive function which was closely related with neurodegenerative diseases. Long-term potentiation (LTP) is one form of synaptic plasticity in association with cognitive function. Previous studies have demonstrated that Al impaired early phase long-term potentiation (E-LTP) in vivo and in vitro. However, Al-induced damage to late phase long-term potentiation (L-LTP) has poorly been studied. The present study was designed to observe the effects of subchronic Al exposure on the spatial memory, hippocampus ultrastructure and L-LTP in rats. Pregnant Wistar rats were assigned to four groups. Neonatal rats were exposed to Al by parental lactation from parturition to weaning for 3 weeks and then fed with the distilled water containing 0, 0.2%, 0.4% and 0.6% aluminum chloride (AlCl3) respectively from weaning to postnatal 3 months. The levels of Al in blood and hippocampus were quantitated by atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Morris water maze test was performed to study spatial memory. The induction and maintenance of L-LTP in area of Schaffer collateral- CA1 synapse was recorded by extracellular microelectrode recording technology in hippocampus of experimental rats. Hippocampus was collected for transmission electron microscopy observation. The results showed that the Al concentrations in blood and hippocampus of Al-exposed rats were higher than those of the control rats. Al could impair spatial memory ability of rats. Neuronal and synaptic ultrastructure from Al-exposed rats presented pathological changes; the incidence of L-LTP has a decrease trend while population spike (PS) amplitude was much smaller significantly stimulated by high-frequency stimulation (HFS) in Al-exposed rats. Our findings showed that Al exposure caused spatial memory damage, under which the neuronal and synaptic ultrastructure changes maybe were their morphological basis and the impaired L-LTP of hippocampus could be their electrophysiological basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many attractive applications over vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) need data to be transmitted to the remote destinations through multihop data forwarding, but some unique characteristics of VANETs (i.e., high node mobility, dynamic topology changes with frequent link breakage, and unstable quality of wireless transmission) incur unstable data delivery performance. In order to reliably and quickly disseminate the data, we present Dubhe which includes a delay model and an improved greedy broadcast algorithm embedded with a coverage elimination rule. The former is used for making decisions for path selection with the aim of minimizing the transmission latency, while the latter focuses on boosting the reliability of one-hop data transmission. We also analyze the necessity and effectiveness of Dubhe and the retransmission overheads theoretically. It is shown from the experiments that Dubhe can achieve high-reliability and low-latency data delivery in comparison with the epidemic-based protocol and the static-node-assisted adaptive data delivery protocol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), a sensitive technique for gene expression analysis, depends on the stability of the reference genes used for data normalization. Caragana intermedia, a native desert shrub with strong drought-resistance, sand-fixing capacity and high forage value that is widespread in the desert land of west and northwest China, has not been investigated regarding the identification of reference genes suitable for the normalization of qPCR data. In this study, 10 candidate reference genes were analyzed in C. intermedia subjected to different abiotic (osmotic, salt, cold and heat) stresses, in two distinct plant organs (roots and leaves). The expression stability of these genes was assessed using geNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper algorithms. The best-ranked reference genes differed across the different sets of samples, but UNK2, PP2A and SAND were the most stable across all tested samples. UNK2 and SAND would be appropriate for normalizing gene expression data for salt-treated roots, whereas the combination of UNK2, SAND and EF-1α would be appropriate for salt-treated leaves. UNK1, UNK2 and PP2A would be appropriate for PEG-treated (osmotic) roots, whereas the combination of TIP41 and PP2A was the most suitable for PEG-treated leaves. SAND, PP2A and TIP41 exhibited the most stable expression in heat-treated leaves. In cold-treated leaves, SAND and EF-1α were the most stably expressed. To further validate the suitability of the reference genes identified in this study, the expression levels of DREB1 and DREB2 (homologs of AtDREB1 and AtDREB2) were studied in parallel. This study is the first systematic analysis for the selection of superior reference genes for qPCR in C. intermedia under different abiotic stress conditions, and will benefit future studies on gene expression in C. intermedia and other species of the leguminous genus Caragana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synchrotron radiation based dynamic micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) is a powerful technique available at synchrotron light sources for investigating evolving microstructures. Wet granulation is the most widely used method of producing pharmaceutical granules, precursors to products like capsules and tablets. Granule microstructures are known to influence product performance, so this is an area for potential application of dynamic CT. Here, lactose monohydrate (LMH) was used as a representative powder to demonstrate dynamic CT capabilities. Wet granulation of LMH has been observed to occur on the order of several seconds, which is too fast for lab-based CT scanners to capture the changing internal structures. The superior X-ray photon flux from synchrotron light sources makes sub-second data acquisition possible and well suited for analysis of the wet-granulation process. Moreover, synchrotron radiation based imaging is non-destructive, does not require altering the sample in any way, and can enhance image contrast with phase-retrieval algorithms. Dynamic CT can bring insights to wet granulation, an area of research previously only studied via 2D and/or ex situ techniques. Through efficient dataprocessing strategies, dynamic CT can provide quantitative analysis of how the internal microstructure of an LMH granule evolves during the earliest moments of wet granulation. Here, the results revealed granule consolidation, the evolving porosity, and the influence of aggregates on granule porosity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amphicarpaea edgeworthii Benth. is a wild legume species, with important value in the soybean breeding and research of plant developmental biology. The seed development of Amphicarpaea edgeworthii Benth. was observed using paraffin sectioning method by Nikon TE2000 light microscope. The ovule got fertilized and formed the zygote after flowering about 12 hours. The zygote was transversely divided into a terminal cell and a basal cell in two days after flowering. The proembryo continued cell division in directions forming globular embryo and then heart-shaped embryo, in which the cotyledons primordium began to occur. In 24 days after flowering, the embryo differentiated into matured embryo through Torpedo embryo (in 16 days after flowering) The endosperm cell formation began when the globular proembryo was formed,and the development of the endosperm was nuclear type. The mature seed of Amphicarpaea edgeworthii Benth is devoid of endosperm. The outer integument developed into the seed coat, and the seed coat cells were the fence cells with corneum, that may be one of the important reasons of hard seeds for Amphicarpaea edgeworthii Benth [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: DNA repair genes (eg: xeroderma pigmentosum group D, XPD) may affect the capacity of encoded DNA repair enzymes to effectively remove DNA adducts or lesions, which may result in enhanced cancer risk. The association between XPD gene polymorphisms and the susceptibility of prostate cancer (PCa) was inconsistent in previous studies. Methodology/Principal Findings: A meta-analysis based on 9 independent case-control studies involving 3165 PCa patients and 3539 healthy controls for XPD Gln751Lys SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) and 2555 cases and 3182 controls for Asn312Asp SNP was performed to address this association. Meanwhile, odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate this relationship. Statistical analysis was performed with STATA10.0. No significant association was found between XPD Gln751Lys SNP and PCa risk. On the other hand, in subgroup analysis based on ethnicity, associations were observed in Asian (eg. Asn vs. Asp: OR = 1.34, 95%CI = 1.16-1.55; Asn/Asn+Asn/Asp vs. Asp/Asp: OR = 1.23, 95%CI = 1.07-1.42) and African (eg. Asn vs. Asp: OR = 1.31, 95%CI = 1.01-1.70; Asn/Asn vs. Asp/Asp: OR = 1.71, 95%CI = 1.03-7.10) populations for Asn312Asp SNP. Moreover, similar associations were detected in hospital-based controls studies; the frequency of Asn/Asn genotype in early stage of PCa men was poorly higher than those in advanced stage of PCa men (OR = 1.45, 95%CI = 1.00-2.11). Conclusion/Significance: Our investigations demonstrate that XPD Asn312Asp SNP not the Gln751Lys SNP, might poorly increase PCa risk in Asians and Africans, moreover, this SNPs may associate with the tumor stage of PCa. Further studies based on larger sample size and gene-environment interactions should be conducted to determine the role of XPD gene polymorphisms in PCa risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the main options for the treatment of electronic waste are involved in reuse, remanufacturing, and recycling, as well as incineration and land filling. Recycling of e-waste can be broadly divided into three major steps: (a) disassembly: selectively disassembly, targeting on singling out hazardous or valuable components for special treatment, is an indispensable process in recycling of e-waste; (b) upgrading: using mechanical processing and/or metallurgical processing to up-grade desirable materials content, i.e. preparing materials for refining process; (c) refining: in the last step, recovered materials are retreated or purified by using chemical (metallurgical) processing so as to be acceptable for their original usage. To investigate an environmentally friendly process to recycle PWBs, the milled PWB powder samples with and without additives were pyrolyzed. Liquid, gas and solid products were achieved with different conversion fraction. PWB powders were pyrolyzed and in a thermo-gravimetric analysis, differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA) and exhausted gases were analyzed by mass spectrometer (MS). Analysis of the exhaust gases from the experiments using TG-DTAMS showed that without CaCO3 additives poisonous gases such as C6H6 and HBr were produced which were adequately controlled if CaCO3 was added. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Analyzing global experimental data can be tedious and time-consuming. Thus, helping biologists see results as quickly and easily as possible can facilitate biological research, and is the purpose of the software we describe. Results: We present BirdsEyeView, a software system for visualizing experimental transcriptomic data using different views that users can switch among and compare. BirdsEyeView graphically maps data to three views: Cellular Map (currently a plant cell), Pathway Tree with dynamic mapping, and Gene Ontology http://www. geneontology.org Biological Processes and Molecular Functions. By displaying color-coded values for transcript levels across different views, BirdsEyeView can assist users in developing hypotheses about their experiment results. Conclusions: BirdsEyeView is a software system available as a Java Webstart package for visualizing transcriptomic data in the context of different biological views to assist biologists in investigating experimental results. BirdsEyeView can be obtained from http://metnetdb.org/MetNet_BirdsEyeView.htm [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) are thought to be important for maintaining normal vascular function. We conducted a prospective study evaluating the effect of the erythropoiesis-stimulating agent darbepoetin alfa on EPCs and vascular function in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), with or without diabetes. Thirty subjects with CKD (20 subjects with type II diabetes mellitus and 10 without diabetes mellitus) received weekly subcutaneous administration of darbepoetin alfa for 4 weeks. EPCs were measured at baseline and 2 and 4 weeks after drug administration. Vascular function was measured with brachial ultrasound and cell activity was measured with a cell proliferation assay. Cells expressing CD133, CD34, CD146 and CD146/31 were significantly elevated (all p < 0.05), flow-mediated vasodilatation increased 2.1%, 95% CI: (0.4%, 3.8%) and colony-forming units increased twofold, 95% CI: (1.7, 2.3) after 4 weeks of treatment with darbepoetin alfa. Subjects with diabetes exhibited an increase in a subset of EPCs (CD133 + and 34+, p < 0.01 and p = 0.06, respectively), vasodilatation and proliferation. In conclusion, the administration of darbepoetin alfa for 4 weeks increased a subset of EPCs, improved endothelial function and increased cell proliferation, including those with diabetes, which is consistent with a favorable improvement in vascular health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present work, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling with a volume of fluid (VOF) method was used to understand gas−liquid two-phase flow in PEM fuel cell flow channels under typical fuel cell flow conditions. Simulations with different liquid water introduction manners to flow channels were discussed to resemble liquid water transport in flow channels in active fuel cells. Those introduction methods included side liquid introduction through a number of ports, continuous liquid introduction along the channel with uniform and nonuniform flow rates, and liquid water introduction from the inlet together with the gas phase. The simulated results showed that the side introduction of water increases the water accumulation near the end of the channel and the gas slugs are significantly elongated, compared to the cases with water introduction from the inlet. When water was introduced nonuniformly along the channel with more near the outlet of the channel, there appears to be less probability of slug formation in the channel. With low liquid to gas volumetric flow ratios as encountered in fuel cells, the flow pattern changed between slug flow and stratified flow, depending on different liquid introduction manners. When water was introduced into the channel from ports on the bottom wall, it emerged and accumulated near the port region before slugs formed, detached, and purged out of the channel, causing high pressure drop and pressure drop fluctuations. When the wettability, or contact angle, of the channel walls varied, liquid water tended to attach to the wall surface with low contact angles, namely, more hydrophilic surface. In addition, the change in surface contact angle can also lead to the change in flow patterns. The slug frequency decreased with an increase in the port size. With increasing of the port number, more liquid tended to accumulate in the channel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study involving the reinforcement of Bis-glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) dental composites with fibrillar silicate. Fibrillar silicate has nano-scaled single crystals that have an approximate mechanical strength of 50 gigapascals, which make it more efficient than micron-scaled fibers. This study is conducted to find effective ways to fill tooth cavities.

At the seedling and beginning flowering stages, 2.5% deltamethrin EC was sprayed to control the pests in summer soybean, and its effects on agronomic traits and yield of soybean were analyzed. The results showed that compared with the control, the plant height, branch number, effective pod number, grain number per plant, grain weight per plant, 100-grain weight and yield of Qihuang 34 significantly increased by 9.3%, 25.8%, 15.8%, 26.8%, 33.2%, 9.1% and 33.0%, respectively, while those of Qihuang 35 increased by 13.8%, 10.0%, 15.8%, 16.9%, 11.6%, 6.0%and 16.9%, respectively; the noneffective pod number of Qihuang 34 and Qihuang 35 significantly decreased by 18.5% and 38.7%, respectively. The spraying of 2.5%deltamethrin EC showed no significant effects on the other agronomic traits of the two cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two types of immunoassays were employed to determine ricin toxin through the substitute of A chain sub-unit in water. Protocol for detecting ricin by commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits was established and evaluated. Final results were obtained by this assay in six hours and the detection limit was found to be less than 3 ng mL-1 based on ricin A chain. Cross-reactivity from ricin B chain was minimal. The validated assay was successfully applied to the determination of ricin toxin in water for the purpose of water security. The results showed that water samples were free from this biotoxin. In order to reduce the assay time and enhance the ability of securing water quality, a fibre optic biosensor RAPTOR™ has been applied as another platform to rapidly analyse ricin toxin in water. Polyclonal anti-ricin antibody was captured on the waveguide through incubation. Four waveguides were assembled into each coupon, which could provide multiplex analysis in one assay run. Cy5-labelled antibody was used as detector antibody and characterised by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. Results showed that the detection limit was 10 and 60 ng mL-1 of ricin A chain in deionised water and tap water, respectively. Based on readily assembled coupon, the assay run could be completed and the results reported in less than 15 minutes. Thus, the biosensor has been shown to be a promising technology for rapid and sensitive detection of biotoxins in water. In the future, more research work will be carried out to further improve the sensitivity and enhance reproducibility of the assay for the detection of ricin toxin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports an innovative method of electrospinning followed by pyrolysis to synthesize zirconium tungstate (ZrW2O8), a material with negative coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), in ultrathin fiber form. Morphologies and microstructures of the as-electrospun precursor fibers, the heat-treated intermediate fibers, and the final ZrW2O8ultrathin fibers were characterized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) persistence within surface waters is a major concern for downstream communities exploiting these waters as drinking water supplies. The objective of this study is to develop a novel and efficient analytical method for NDMA via different technologies: pulsed splitless gas chromatography-nitrogen phosphorus detector (GC-NPD), large volume injection (LVI) gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) via programmable temperature vaporizer (PTV) inlet or PTV-gas chromatography- triple quadruple mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and continuous liquid- liquid extraction. It was found that the sensitivity required for NDMA analysis by GC-NPD can only be achieved when the NPD bead is extremely clean. LVI via PTV can greatly improve GC-MS system sensitivity for analyzing NDMA. With the help of DB-624 (25m x 200 μm x 1.12μm) connected with DB-5MS (30m x 250μm x 0.25mm) in series, PTV-GC/MS could overcome the matrix interference for the trace analysis of NDMA. Variable instrument conditions were studied in detail, with the optimized process being validated via precision and accuracy studies. PTV- triple quadruple GC-MS/MS system could efficiently remove the interference on a single DB-5MS (30m x 250μm x 0.25mm) column with good sensitivity and selectivity. The developed methods have been successfully applied to test NDMA in different types of water samples with satisfactory results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, a simple and efficient large volume injection gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method, via a programmable-temperature vaporizer (PTV) inlet, has been developed and applied in the determination of estrogens in environmental water samples without a prior derivatization process. Three commonly used estrogens estrone, 17 β-estradiol and 17 α-ethynylestradiol were selected as target compounds for this study. It has been demonstrated that the type of gas chromatograph liner and the initial inlet temperature can greatly affect the response intensity of estrogens. Three different types of PTV liners have been studied; the multibaffle liner generated the strongest response intensities towards the estrogen analytes. The results showed that the response intensities of estrogens reduced sharply while the initial inlet temperature increased. Various instrument conditions and sample preparation methods were studied in detail. The optimized method has been validated with good linearity, precision and accuracy. The method detection limit of each estrogen was found to be 0.041 ng/L for estrone, 0.046 ng/L for 17 β-estradiol and 0.031 ng/L for 17 α-ethynylestradiol. To the best of our knowledge, these results represent the best sensitivities achieved for estrogens analyzed in water samples via traditional GC-MS method without a derivatization process. This method has been successfully applied in the analyses of different water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residence time distributions (RTDs) are investigated in a multistage agitated contactor (MAC) for Newtonian fluids. A suitable computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation strategy is presented in this work. The effects of operating conditions, reactor geometries, and a turbulent parameter for the RTD curves are discussed. The resulting mean residence times and variances via the CFD simulation are in good agreement with the experimental data. Various liquids are used to simulate the RTD under different flow conditions. The Reynolds number with respect to the impeller speed ranged from 2600 to 50 000. The simulation results show that a cascade of stirred tanks with a back flow (CTB) model is more suitable to describe the flow behavior in a MAC with few stages than an axial dispersion model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a review of the developments in the control of tired-cord steels inclusions. Techniques employed during the production process are also being reviewed. Moreover, a discussion tire cord steel segregation and inclusion requirements is also provided for. Control methods like electromagnetic stirring on continuous casting are surveyed as well.

Examines the multiple changes in the aggregate morphologies of polystyrene-block-poly(4-vinylpyridine) dibolocks in DMF/H2O mixtures. Aggregate morphology changes from large compound micelles to a mixture of spheres, rods and vesicles; Morphological complexity as a function of pH; Introduction of electrostatic repulsion; Steric-solvation interaction.

An “off-on” Zn2+and “on-off” Cu2+fluorescent chemosensor Cwas designed and synthesized. The binding of Cand Zn2+/Cu2+is chemically reversible by the addition of EDTA disodium solution; moreover, the fluorescence emission signal of ZnCdecreased with the addition of Cu2+, demonstrating that ZnCcould detect Cu2+viametal displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current of uni-axially aligned electrospun ZnO nanofibers is modulated reversibly under UV irradiation, with the sensitivity of the UV nanosensors depending on the surface coating of the nanofibers, due to the effect on the photo-generated current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current of uni-axially aligned electrospun ZnO nanofibers is modulated reversibly under UV irradiation, with the sensitivity of the UV nanosensors depending on the surface coating of the nanofibers, due to the effect on the photo-generated current. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raindrop size distribution (DSD) characteristics during the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) were studied, using measurements from three OTT Particle Size Velocity (Parsivel) disdrometers in Nanjing, Chuzhou, and the northwestern Pacific (NWP), respectively. Western and eastern parts of the monsoon rainband were separated for a comparative study of the DSD variability. Along with disdrometer data, GPM Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR), Fengyun-2E (FY-2E), MODIS, GPCP, ERA-Interim, and in situ radiosonde datasets are combined to illustrate the possible microphysical mechanisms for the significant DSD variability in two parts, in terms of convective intensity, cloud structure, and aerosol effects. The DSD characteristics of six rain-rate classes and two rainfall categories (convective and stratiform) were studied. The western part has larger mass-weighted mean diameter Dm while smaller normalized intercept log10(Nw) than the eastern part, and the convective clusters of the western part (land) could be identified more maritime-like than continental-like due to moisture transport from the tropical ocean, while that of the eastern part (sea) is between maritime-like and continental-like. Cross validation of GPM rainfall products are implemented based on surface disdrometer observations. DPR products manifest better performance over sea than land areas of the EASM rainband. Empirical Dm-Ze and Nw-Dm relations were also derived preliminarily to improve the GPM rain-retrieval algorithms in the EASM season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We develop an integrated neural network landslide susceptibility assessment (LSA) method that integrates temporal dynamic features of interferometry synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) deformation data and the spatial features of landslide influencing factors. We construct a time-distributed convolutional neural network (TD-CNN) and bidirectional gated recurrent unit (Bi-GRU) to better understand the temporal dynamic features of InSAR cumulative deformation, and construct a multi-scale convolutional neural network (MSCNN) to determine the spatial features of landslide influencing factors, and construct a parallel unified deep learning network model to fuse these temporal and spatial features for LSA. Compared with the traditional MSCNN method, the accuracy of the proposed model is improved by 1.20%. The performance of the proposed model is preferable to MSCNN. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the testing set reaches 0.91. Our LSA results show that the proposed model clearly depicts areas with very high susceptibility landslides. Further, only 10.18% of the study area accurately covers 84.79% of historical landslide areas. Subjective consequences and objective indicators show that the proposed model that is integrated time-series InSAR deformation dynamic features can make full use of landslide characteristics and effectively improve the reliability of LSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microglia surveillance manifests itself as dynamic changes in cell morphology and functional remodeling. Whether and how microglia surveillance is coupled to brain state switches during natural sleep-wake cycles remains unclear. To address this question, we used miniature two-photon microscopy (mTPM) to acquire time-lapse high-resolution microglia images of the somatosensory cortex, along with EEG/EMG recordings and behavioral video, in freely-behaving mice. We uncovered fast and robust brain state-dependent changes in microglia surveillance, occurring in parallel with sleep dynamics and early-onset phagocytic microglial contraction during sleep deprivation stress. We also detected local norepinephrine fluctuation occurring in a sleep state-dependent manner. We showed that the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system, which is crucial to sleep homeostasis, is required for both sleep state-dependent and stress-induced microglial responses and ß2-adrenergic receptor signaling plays a significant role in this process. These results provide direct evidence that microglial surveillance is exquisitely tuned to signals and stressors that regulate sleep dynamics and homeostasis so as to adjust its varied roles to complement those of neurons in the brain. In vivo imaging with mTPM in freely behaving animals, as demonstrated here, opens a new avenue for future investigation of microglia dynamics and sleep biology in freely behaving animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The double-disc straight-groove (DDSG) grinding method is a new precision machining method for the rolling surface of bearing cylindrical rollers by using a flat grinding disc and a straight-groove grinding disc as machining tools. The machining principle of bearing cylindrical rollers based on the DDSG grinding method is experimentally investigated in this study. A circulating grinding platform has been constructed. The grinding test of the cylindrical rollers was performed with W40 white corundum abrasive. Under the experimental conditions of the grinding disc rotation speed of 7.5 rpm, the machining load of 110 N, and the eccentricity of the straight groove of 6 mm, 2000 cylindrical rollers (AISI 52100) were synchronously ground by the DDSG grinding method. The average diameter, surface roughness, and roundness of the ground rollers were investigated. Experimental results show that the material removal rate of the rollers is uniform. After 270 grinding cycles, the average diameter decreased from 5.99082 to 5.94135 mm, with an average material removal rate of 0.183 microns per cycle. The average roundness of ground cylinders reduced from 9.64 to 2.78 μm. The diameter variation decreased significantly from 14.5 to 6.0 μm. The average roughness reduced from 0.258 to 0.137 μm, and the fluctuation range of the roughness decreased from 0.143 to 0.033 μm. Experimental results demonstrate that the DDSG grinding method can improve the bearing cylindrical rollers' dimensional consistency, roundness, and surface quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to observe the clinical effect of modified Devine’s surgical technique in the treatment of concealed penis. Materials and Methods: From July 2015 to September 2020, fifty-six children with concealed penis were treated with modified Devine’s technique. Recorded the penile length and the satisfaction score preoperatively and post- operatively to confirm the effect of the surgery. Followed up the penis for bleeding, infection and edema one week and four weeks after the operation. Twelve weeks after the operation, we measured the length of the penis and observed whether there was a retraction. Results: The length of the penis has been effectively lengthened(P < 0.001). There was significant improvement in parents’ satisfaction grades (P < 0.001). All the patients had different degrees of penile edema after the operation. Most of the penile edema subsided about four weeks after the operation. No other complications occurred. No obvious penile retraction was found twelve weeks postoperative. Conclusion: The modified Devine’s technique was safe and effective. As a treatment for concealed penis, it is worthy of wide clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify the frequency of undesirable events reported by patients during hospitalization and explore the relationship between undesirable events and perception of safety and satisfaction with care in China.Design: Cross-sectional survey.Setting: Chinese university hospital.Participants: Adult patients (N = 341) discharged from medical and surgical departments.Interventions: Patients were interviewed post-discharge using a survey instrument to ask whether they had experienced specific undesirable events during hospitalization. Patient perception of safety and satisfaction with care received were also probed during this interview.Main Outcome Measures: Frequency of interpersonal problems, medical complications and healthcare process problems, and perception of safety and satisfaction with care.Results: In total, 601 undesirable events were reported (rate of 1.76 per person), including 229 interpersonal problems, 132 medical complications and 240 healthcare process problems. The most frequent event was insufficient explanation of medication side effects (22.9%). Both the perception of safety and satisfaction with care were related to the experience of undesirable events negatively.Conclusions: Many respondents experienced undesirable events during hospitalization and these experiences impacted negative on patients' feelings toward the hospital. Engaging patients as partners in reporting undesirable events is a valuable tool for identifying and monitoring problematic areas of care. In order to encourage the contribution patients could make to improving patient safety, it is necessary to develop patient incident reporting systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study aimed to observe the clinical effect of modified Devine’s surgical technique in the treatment of concealed penis. Materials and Methods: From July 2015 to September 2020, fifty-six children with concealed penis were treated with modified Devine’s technique. Recorded the penile length and the satisfaction score preoperatively and postoperatively to confirm the effect of the surgery. Followed up the penis for bleeding, infection and edema one week and four weeks after the operation. Twelve weeks after the operation, we measured the length of the penis and observed whether there was a retraction. Results: The length of the penis has been effectively lengthened(P<0.001). There was significant improvement in parents’ satisfaction grades (P<0.001). All the patients had different degrees of penile edema after the operation. Most of the penile edema subsided about four weeks after the operation. No other complications occurred. No obvious penile retraction was found twelve weeks postoperative. Conclusion: The modified Devine’s technique was safe and effective. As a treatment for concealed penis, it is worthy of wide clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High spatial resolution estimating of exposure to particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) is currently very limited in China. This study uses the newly released nationwide, hourly PM2.5 concentrations to create a nationwide, geographically weighted regression (GWR) model to estimate ground-level PM2.5 concentrations in China. A3 km resolution aerosol optical depth (AOD) product from MODIS is used as the primary predictor. Fire emissions detected by MODIS fire count were considered in the model development process. Additionally, meteorological features were used as covariates in the model to improve the estimation of ground-level PM2.5 concentrations. The model performed well and explained 81% of the daily PM2.5 concentration variations in model predictions, and the cross validations R² is 0.79. The cross-validated root mean squared error (RMSE) of the model was 18.6 μg/m³.Annual PM2.5 concentrations retrieved by the MODIS 3 km AOD product indicated that most of the residential community areas exceeded the new annual Chinese PM2.5 National Standard level 2. Estimated high-resolution national-scale daily PM2.5 maps are useful to identify severe air pollution episodes and determine health risk assessments. These results suggest that this approach is useful for estimating large-scale ground-level PM2.5 distributions, especially for regions without PM monitoring sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Remote robotic exploration holds vast potential for gaining knowledge about extreme environments, which is difficult to be accessed by humans. In the last two decades, various underwater devices were developed for detecting the mines and mine-like objects in the deep-sea environment. However, there are some problems in recent equipment, like poor accuracy of mineral objects detection, without real-time processing, and low resolution of underwater video frames. Consequently, the underwater objects recognition is a difficult task, because the physical properties of the medium, the captured video frames, are distorted seriously. In this paper, we are considering use of the modern image processing methods to determine the mineral location and to recognize the mineral actually within a little computation complex. We firstly analyze the recent underwater imaging models and propose a novel underwater optical imaging model, which is much closer to the light propagation model in the underwater environment. In our imaging system, we remove the electrical noise by dual-tree complex wavelet transform. And then we solve the nonuniformillumination of artificial lights by fast guided trilateral bilateral filter and recover the image color through automatic color equalization. Finally, a shape-based mineral recognition algorithm is proposed for underwater objects detection. These methods are designed for real-time execution on limited-memory platforms. This pipeline is suitable for detecting underwater objects in practice by our experiences. The initial results are presented and experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed real-time visualization system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dendritic cell (DC)-based immunotherapies have been utilized for the treatment of numerous diseases. However, the conventional generation strategies of DCs in vitro require 7 days and these DCs showed an unsatisfactory function, which prompted us to explore new approaches. We found that in vitro culture of human CD14+ cells, in the medium containing granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF), interleukin (IL)-4, as well as interferon β (IFN-β) for 48 h, followed by the maturation stimuli of IL-1β and poly I:C for another 24 h can be differentiated into high cross-presentation ability DCs (G4B-DCs). These DCs express high levels of CD11c, CD86, and HLA-DR, producing a high level of tumor necrosis factor a (TNF-α). of note, compared with the conventional DCs, G4B-DCs showed a higher ability to promote allogeneic naive CD4+ T cell and CD8+ T cell proliferation and interferon (IFN)-γ production. These DCs also have the remarkable ability to induce Flu-M1-specific CD8+ T cells. In addition, we found that these G4B-DCs express partially the cDC1 phenotype. These data indicate that G4B-DC is unique and may provide a relatively rapid alternative method for potential clinical use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) method was developed for detection of members of the genus Ranavirus. The optimum reaction mixture contained 2.5 μL of each inner primer, RV-FIP (20 pmol/μL) and RV-BIP (20 pmol/μL), 0.5 μL of each outer primer, RV-F3 (10 pmol/μL) and RV-B3 (10 pmol/μL), 1.25 μL of each loop primer, RV-LF (20 pmol/μL) and RV-LB (20 pmol/μL), 3.5 μL dNTP mix (10 mM each), 8 μL MgSO (25 mM), 1 μL of Bst DNA polymerase (8 U/mL, large fragment; New England Biolabs Inc., Beverly, MA, USA), 2.5 μL 10 × supplied buffer, and 1 μL of template DNA in a final volume of 25 μL. The optimum reaction conditions were 63 °C for 60 min. This LAMP method could detect Andrias davidianus iridovirus (ADIV), soft-shelled turtle iridovirus (STIV), and epizootic hematopoietic necrosis virus (EHNV), all of which belong to the genus Ranavirus, but it could not detect other viruses such as koi herpes virus (KHV), channel catfish virus (CCV), infectious spleen and kidney necrosis virus (ISKNV) and white spot syndrome virus (WSSV). The detection limit of the LAMP method was 100 copies of STIV DNA segment, and the sensitivity was 10 times higher than that of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay. The results could be estimated visually by eye when calcein was added. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of effluent-derived compounds with low odor thresholds can compromise the aesthetics of drinking water. The potent odorants 2,4,6-trichloroanisole and geosmin dominated the profile of odorous compounds in wastewater effluent with concentrations up to 2 orders of magnitude above their threshold values. Additional odorous compounds (e.g., vanillin, methylnaphthalenes, 2-pyrrolidone) also were identified in wastewater effluent by gas chromatography coupled with mass-spectrometry and olfactometry detection. Full-scale advanced treatment plants equipped with reverse osmosis membranes decreased odorant concentrations considerably, but several compounds were still present at concentrations above their odor thresholds after treatment. Other advanced treatment processes, including ozonation followed by biological activated carbon and UV/H2O2 also removed effluent-derived odorants. However, no single treatment technology alone was able to reduce all odorant concentrations below their odor threshold values. To avoid the presence of odorous compounds in drinking water derived from wastewater effluent, it is necessary to apply multiple barriers during advanced treatment or to dilute wastewater effluent with water from other sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrospun carbon nanofibers (ECNs) were prepared through stabilization and carbonization of electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers as the precursor, and their morphological, structural, and electrical properties were evaluated. Temperature dependencies of resistivity of ECNs carbonized at several temperatures were investigated. The character of the temperature dependencies of resistivity was typical for semiconducting materials. The values of corresponding activation energies were obtained for ECN samples carbonized at different temperatures, and the results showed that the activation energy of ECNs decreased with the increase of carbonization temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is to investigate the effect of electromagnetic brake (EMBr) on fluid flow and particle motion in steel slab continuous casting strands. The effect of slide gate moving on fluid flow pattern was discussed. A strong swirl and asymmetrical flow at the outports and, subsequently, inside the slab mold, was induced by slide gate. The application of EMBr would be a remedy to the swirl flow in the casting mold. Flow pattern has great influence on the trajectories of injected bubbles and nonmetallic inclusions. More bubbles tend to release from the top surface near the wide face opposite to the gate opening side without EMBr; while, they escape at the center place of the slab thickness when the EMBr was applied. Local brake type EMBr has a little effect on the overall removal fraction of nonmetallic inclusions, especially for the small ones. However, EMBr affects the distribution of inclusions on the cross section of the slab, and more inclusions were observed in the sub-surface layer of the slab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The oral microbiota plays vital roles in both oral and systemic health, but limited studies have explored the transition of the female oral microbiota from preconception to pregnancy along with pronounced hormonal fluctuations. Aim: To characterize the oral microbiota among women in preconception and pregnancy through a prospective study and to explore the associations between the oral microbiota and oral hygiene practices. Methods: A total of 202 unstimulated saliva samples were collected from 101 women in both preconception and late pregnancy. The oral microbiota was analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Results: The Ace and phylogenetic diversity (PD) index were significantly lower in the third trimester than preconception. The pathogenic taxa Prevotella and Atopobium parvulum were significantly higher during late pregnancy than preconception. Women with overall better oral hygiene practice showed lower richness and diversity in preconception compared to women with poorer oral hygiene practice. The abundance of pathogens such as Dialister during both preconception and pregnancy decreased among women with better oral hygiene practice. Conclusions: The composition of the oral microbiota changed slightly from preconception to late pregnancy, with more pathogens in saliva samples during pregnancy. Improving oral hygiene practices has the potential to maintain oral micro-ecological balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have shown the potential of engineered water nanostructures (EWNS) generated using a capillary electrospray system to inactivate foodborne bacteria; however, there is a lack of data on EWNS performance in inactivating microbes in livestock facilities. Thus, this laboratory-scale study investigated the effects of operating conditions on the efficacy of EWNS in inactivating Escherichia coli (E. coli) on coupons made of stainless steel, a common surface material in pig barns, at a bacterial concentration similar to levels found on pig barn surfaces. The electrospray module was composed of a capillary needle that was connected to a high-voltage power supply. The efficacy of the technology in inactivating E. coli was assessed with various operating parameters (i.e., applied voltage, distance between needle tip and counter electrode, and liquid flow rate, pH, and conductivity). The efficacy of the EWNS was found to be directly related to the liquid pH, liquid conductivity, and applied voltage, but inversely related to the liquid flow rate and distance between the needle tip and counter electrode. An E. coli reduction of 3.0 log was obtained after 15 min exposure to EWNS under the following operating conditions: liquid flow rate of 1  L min-1, pH of 12, liquid conductivity of 14.72 mS cm-1, 2 cm distance between the needle tip and counter electrode, and -7.6 kV applied voltage. The results of this study can serve as an initial basis for the application of EWNS on surfaces in a real barn environment, where the presence of other factors, such as gases, dust, and other organic matter and microbial species, must be taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To compare the clinical effects of three methods of circumcision: modified circumcision, traditional circumcision, and disposable suturing device circumcision.Materials and Methods: Male patients (n = 241) with redundant prepuce and/or phimosis were included in a clinical trial from January 2019 to March 2020. Patients were divided into 3 groups based on the surgical method: group A, traditional circumcision (n = 79); group B, modified circumcision (n = 80); and group C, disposable suturing device circumcision (n = 82).Results: The operation times in groups A, B, and C were 25.2 ± 3.3 min, 10.2 ± 2.7 min, and 6.7 ± 1.4 min, respectively. The volumes of intraoperative blood loss in groups A, B, and C were 12.7 ± 2.3 mL, 8.1 ± 3.4 mL, and 2.2 ± 0.8 mL, respectively (P < 0.05). Groups A and B were superior to group C in terms of the 6-h postoperative visual analog scale score and appearance satisfaction (P < 0.05). There were no obvious differences in the 7-day postoperative pain score and total healing time (P > 0.05). The operating expenses in groups A and B were lower than that in group C (P < 0.05).Conclusion: Modified circumcision, with its advantages of shorter operation time, less blood loss and pain, lower cost, and better postoperative penile appearance, is easily accepted by patients and deserves wide clinical application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chemotherapeutic resistance is the main cause of clinical treatment failure and poor prognosis in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). There is no research on chemotherapeutic resistance in TNBC from the perspective of circular RNAs (circRNAs). Methods: TNBC-related circRNAs were identified based on the GSE101124 dataset. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR was used to detect the expression level of circWAC in TNBC cells and tissues. Then, in vitro and in vivo functional experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of circWAC in TNBC. Results: CircWAC was highly expressed in TNBC and was associated with worse TNBC patient prognosis. Subsequently, it was verified that downregulation of circWAC can increase the sensitivity of TNBC cells to paclitaxel (PTX) in vitro and in vivo. The expression of miR-142 was negatively correlated with circWAC in TNBC. The interaction between circWAC and miR-142 in TNBC cells was confirmed by RNA immunoprecipitation assays, luciferase reporter assays, pulldown assays, and fluorescence in situ hybridization. Mechanistically, circWAC acted as a miR-142 sponge to relieve the repressive effect of miR-142 on its target WWP1. In addition, the overall survival of TNBC patients with high expression of miR-142 was significantly better than that of patients with low expression of miR-142, and these results were verified in public databases. MiR-142 regulated the expression of WWP1 and the activity of the PI3K/AKT pathway. It was confirmed that WWP1 is highly expressed in TNBC and that the prognosis of patients with high WWP1 expression is poor. Conclusions: CircWAC/miR-142/WWP1 form a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network to regulate PI3K/AKT signaling activity in TNBC cells and affect the chemosensitivity of cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are important drug-metabolizing enzymes that catalyze the binding of glutathione (GSH) to electrophilic substances. GST has genetic polymorphism, and the enzyme activity of GST affects the metabolism of certain drugs in vivo. In the present day, we investigated the GST enzyme activity and GSTA1 gene polymorphism in 170 patients with hematological diseases and explored their relationship. The GSTA1 gene polymorphism of the patient was analyzed by PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique, and the base sequences of the four mutation sites (-631, -567, -69, and -52) in the promoter region were determined by DNA-Sequencer. The patient's GST enzyme activity was calculated by measuring the rate at which it catalyzed the reaction between 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB) and GSH. The average GST enzyme activities of males and females were 5.20±0.13 and 5.17±0.12 nmol/min/mL, respectively, and the difference was not significant (P = 0.91). The frequencies of genotypes GSTA1*A*A (wild genotype), GSTA1*A*B (heterozygous genotype), and GSTA1*B*B (homozygous mutant genotype) were 75.3%, 22.9%, and 1.8%, respectively. Alleles GSTA1*A and *B were distributed at 86.8% and 13.2%, respectively. The genotype frequency distribution between males and females was no significant difference by Pearson's chi-square test (P = 0.743). The average GST activity of the heterozygous mutant genotype (4.83±0.76 nmol/min/mL) was lower than the wild genotype (5.34±1.26 nmol/min/mL, P = 0.018), and higher than that of the homozygous mutant genotype (3.32±0.07 nmol/min/mL, P = 0.022). These findings might help us improve the individualized treatment of patients with hematological diseases in the future and promote the development of precision medicine for blood diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]