Search

INTRODUCTION We conducted analyses of the association between smoking and osteoporosis and osteoporotic fractures using a secondary dataset analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database and the two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) method. METHODS The associations between smoking and osteoporosis or osteoporotic fractures were analyzed using weighted logistic regression models for both univariate and multivariable analyses using pooled 1999-2018 NHANES data. The summary-level data of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of smoking and osteoporosis were extracted from the IEU Open GWAS project. The inverse variance weighted method was used as the main method for the two-sample MR analysis. RESULTS We obtained the following main findings based on the NHANES data: smoking was associated with osteoporosis according to the analyses of 30856 participants (OR=1.21; 95% CI: 1.06-1.39, p=0.004); smoking was associated with hip osteoporotic fracture according to the analyses of 30928 participants (OR=1.47; 95% CI: 1.14-1.90, p=0.004); smoking was associated with wrist osteoporotic fracture according to the analyses of 30923 participants (OR=1.33; 95% CI: 1.18-1.49, p<0.001); and smoking was associated with spine osteoporotic fracture according to the analyses of 30910 participants (OR=1.43, 95% CI: 1.18-1.73, p<0.001). In addition, we confirmed the potential causal effect of smoking on the risk of osteoporotic fracture (OR=24.5; 95% CI: 1.11-539, p=0.043) by conducting two-sample MR analyses. CONCLUSIONS Smoking was associated with increased risks of both osteoporosis and osteoporotic fracture. Smoking showed a potential causal effect on the risk of osteoporotic fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the ability to recommend tourism routes and increase tourist route satisfaction. This article designs a tourism route association recommendation algorithm based on changes in user interest characteristics. This article provides information on the distribution of tourist routes and Constructs the topology structure of tourism routes. The paper utilizes a multi-block fusion matching method to construct an optimal feature allocation model, Using optimized spatial clustering fuzzy functions to mine preference feature models and Introducing a joint distribution density function to solve the correlation recommendation of tourist routes. The experimental results show that when using this algorithm, the accuracy of the sample set is improved by 1.6% compared to the accuracy of the test set, and the recall rate is improved by 2.9%. Compared with the traditional algorithm, the proposed algorithm has the highest confidence and the best regression effect, which indicates that the proposed algorithm can effectively improve the recommendation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the diagnostic value of video electroencephalography (VEEG) combined with magnetic resonance imaging diffusion tensor imaging (MRI-DTI) in epilepsy. Methods: In this retrospective observational study, clinical data of 60 patients who underwent both VEEG and MRI examinations at the Neurosurgery Department of Quzhou People's Hospital from December 2020 to March 2023 were retrospectively reviewed, and a total of 55 patients were finally included. We evaluated the diagnostic value of combining VEEG and MRI to determine seizure type, location of epileptic focus, and structural abnormalities of brain tissue, using surgical and pathological results as the gold standard. Results: The accuracy of the combined approach for determining the seizure type was 98.18%, which was higher than the accuracy of MRI (85.45%, P<0.05) or VEEG (81.82%, P<0.05) alone. The accuracy of joint examination for lesion location was 100.00%, which was higher than those of MRI (85.45%, P<0.05) or VEEG (83.64%, P<0.05) alone. Similar abnormal brain tissue structure detection rates was found for both MRI and VEEG (P>0.05). Conclusions: The application of MRI-DTI combined with VEEG to diagnose patients with epilepsy allows for the identification of abnormal structural changes in brain and the location of lesions. Combining both approaches can improve the diagnostic accuracy of each technique alone and provide a reference for the formulation and adjustment of disease management plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective • Long-term management of patients with type 2 diabetes is a challenging clinical problem. The Metabolic Management Center (MMC) has been implemented in China to address metabolic diseases. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of combining MMC with the eKTANG App, which is a fee-based blood glucose– monitoring platform, to improve outcomes for patients with diabetes. Methods • We recruited 240 patients with type 2 diabetes to our randomized controlled trial; the patients were randomly assigned into a control group (n = 120) and an intervention group (n = 120). Participants in the control group received MMC management; those in the intervention group received MMC + eKTANG management. Serum samples were taken at 0, 3, 6, and 12 months to test liver and kidney function, blood lipids, uric acid, and blood glucose–related indicators. An oral glucose tolerance test and behavior questionnaires were administered and complications related to type 2 diabetes were noted at 0, 6, and 12 months. Results • After up to 12 months of intervention with MMC+eKTANG, patients had improved mean (SEM) concentrations of hemoglobin A1c (6 months: control, 7.09% [1.32%] vs intervention, 7.19% [3.50%]; 9 months: control, 6.33% [0.31%] vs intervention, 6.50% [1.00%]; 12 months: control, 6.31% [2.30%] vs intervention, 6.01% [2.30%]), fasting plasma glucose (9 months: control, 7.20 [2.35] mmol/L vs intervention, 7.01 [0.56] mmol/L; 12 months: control, 6.98 [0.03] mmol/L vs intervention, 6.24 [2.03] mmol/L), and 2-hour postprandial plasma glucose (9 months: control, 9.85 [0.34] mmol/L vs intervention, 9.50 [0.23] mmol/L; 12 months: control, 9.55 [0.25] mmol/L vs intervention, 8.68 [0.87] mmol/L). The mean (SEM) concentrations of insulin and C-peptide measured during the oral glucose tolerance test also improved (measured as incremental area under the curve 0-180 min glucose; 6 months: control, 360.25 [2.30] mmol/L×min vs intervention, 352.24 [0.89] mmol/L × min; 12 months: control, 332.01 [2.32] mmol/L×min vs intervention, 300.32 [0.78] mmol/L ×min). Moreover, the intervention ameliorated markers of lipid metabolism and liver and kidney function, and complications and behaviors related to diabetes. Conclusion • The MMC+ eKTANG intervention combines the convenience and efficacy of the internet for delivering timely medical care and guidance to individuals with diabetes with valuable information for managing diabetes in daily life. This innovative approach incorporates a fee-based system to enhance patient motivation and initiative, leading to a novel and effective perspective on diabetes management beyond traditional hospital settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge graphs have been introduced into recommender systems due to the rich connectivity information. Many knowledge-aware recommendation methods use graph neural networks (GNNs) to capture the high-order structural and semantic information of knowledge graphs. However, previous GNN-based methods have the following limitations: (1) they fail to make full use of the neighborhood information of entities and (2) they ignore the importance of user interaction sequences on reflecting user preferences. As such, these models are insufficient for generating accurate representations of users and items. In this study, we propose a Knowledge-aware Hierarchical Attention Network (KHAN) to provide better recommendation. Specifically, the proposed model mainly consists of an item encoder and a user encoder. The item encoder is equipped with a hierarchical attention network, which is used to generate entity (item) representations by carefully aggregating neighborhood information of entities. The user encoder is also designed to learn more informative user representations from user interaction sequences using multi-head self-attention. The learned user representations are then combined with user representations introduced in the item encoder through a gating mechanism to generate the final user representations. Extensive experiments on two real-world datasets about movie and restaurant recommendation demonstrate the effectiveness of our model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idellus) is one of the three most cultivated freshwater fish around the world, but it is mainly consumed afresh, so only a small part of them are processed into salted fish or snack food. This research was performed to prepare and screen antioxidant peptides from grass carp muscle to promote its high‐value utilization. The parameters of double‐enzyme two‐step hydrolysis were optimized, the peptides with the highest ABTS.+ scavenging ability were enriched and identified by Sephadex G‐25 and LC‐Q‐Orbitrap‐MS/MS. The synergistic–antagonistic effect among identified peptides was also investigated. The optimized conditions were hydrolyzed with protamex (10,000 U/g) at pH 8.0, 50°C for 3 h, followed by hydrolysis with alcalase (6,000 U/g) at pH 9.0, 50 °C for 2 h, and the protein–liquid ratio was 4%. The hydrolysates were further fractionated to obtain five fractions, in which fraction 3 (F3) exhibited the strongest ABTS.+ and O2·‐ scavenging ability with the IC50 values of 0.11 and 0.47 mg/ml, respectively. Twelve novel antioxidant peptides were identified, in which VAGW possessed the highest activity (139.77 μmol GSH/g). Significantly synergistic effects were observed on the two and three peptides' combination among VAGW, APPAMW, LFGY, FYYGK, and LLLYK, while the C‐terminal tryptophan (Trp) played an important role in the synergism. This study found that grass carp muscle hydrolysates can be potential natural antioxidants in functional products. The synergistic effects among peptides may provide a perspective for the combined application of peptides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate patterns of insulin secretion in pregnancy and analyze the association between insulin patterns and risks of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).Methods: A prospective study was conducted to collect and analyze pregnant women's materials from January 2015 to December 2018. Pregnant women were grouped according to results of 75-g oral glucose tolerance test at 24-28 weeks of pregnancy: normal glucose tolerance (NGT) and GDM. Insulin secretion patterns were based on the time of peak(s) and shape of insulin secretion curve. The relationship between insulin secretion patterns and pregnant outcomes was analyzed.Results: A total of 2432 pregnant women met the inclusion criteria during the study period. Among them, 737 (30.3%) women were grouped as GDM and 1695 (69.7%) as NGT. Type I insulin secretion represented the early phase of insulin secretion (peak time at 30 or 60 minutes), while type II represented the delayed peak of insulin secretion (peak time at 120 or 180 minutes). Logistic regression analysis showed that type II insulin secretion was a risk factor of pre-eclampsia, large-for-gestational-age, and neonatal hypoglycemia.Conclusion: The delayed insulin peak is a useful marker for risk of GDM and adverse pregnant outcomes in women with GDM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) is a causative agent of enteric and respiratory disease in cattle. BCoV has been reported to cause a variety of animal diseases and is closely related to human coronaviruses; moreover, it has attracted extensive attention from both cattle farmers and researchers. With the rise of BCoV, a vaccine that is prophylactic and immunotherapeutic has to be utilized for a preemptive and adroit therapeutic approach. The aim of this study was to develop a novel multiepitope‐based BCoV vaccine that can induce an immune response using a silicon reverse vaccinology approach. In this study, an immunoinformatics approach was employed to identify potential vaccine targets against BCoV, and four candidate antigen proteins were selected to predict B‐cell and T‐cell epitopes. To identify dominant epitopes, we employed a variety of bioinformatics techniques, including antigenicity prediction, immunogenicity assessment, allergenicity analysis, conservative analysis, and toxicity assessment. Finally, six multiepitope vaccines were developed using dominant epitopes, suitable adjuvants, Pan HLADR—binding epitope (PADRE), and linkers. Then based on the antigenicity score, solubility analysis, allergenicity evaluation, physicochemical property assessment, and tertiary structure verification score, construct 6 was selected as the best candidate vaccine; it was named CY. Molecular modeling and structural validation ensured the high‐quality 3D structure of construct CY. The immunogenicity and complex stability of the vaccine were evaluated by molecular docking and kinetic simulation. In silicon clones, the BCoV vaccine had high levels of gene expression in the insect expression system. These results may contribute to the development of experimental BCoV vaccines with higher potency and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a return‐to‐zero pulse position modulation (RZ‐PPM) impulse tone‐based channel state information (CSI) estimation for adaptive threshold decision (ATD) in free‐space optical (FSO) communications. RZ‐PPM is characterized by impulse tones in the spectrum. Therefore, CSI can be extracted by applying a local oscillator (LO) with the frequencies of impulse tones and low pass filter, which is then used to realize ATD. The proposed method was studied in simulation under RZ‐PPM signals with various number of pulse positions and frequencies of LO. The simulation results show that in FSO communication systems, the use of optimized weighting factor for impulse tone CSI estimation method significantly improves the performance in the absence of accurate CSI, approaching the performance of the traditional ATD with precise CSI knowledge. It proves that the proposed technique was feasible for adaptation in FSO communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: As a complex phenomenon, sleep quality is difficult to objectively define and measure, and multiple factors related to sleep quality, such as age, lifestyle, physical activity, and physical fitness, feature prominently in older adult populations. The aim of the present study was to evaluate subjective sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and to associate sleep quality with health-related physical fitness factors, depressive symptoms, and the number of chronic diseases in the middle-aged and elderly.Methods: We enrolled a total of 283 middle-aged and elderly participants from a rehabilitation clinic or health examination department. The PSQI was used to evaluate sleep quality. The health-related fitness assessment included anthropometric and physical fitness parameters. Depressive symptoms were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) short form. Data were analyzed with SPSS 18.0, and descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used for the analyses.Results: Overall, 27.9% of participants in this study demonstrated bad sleepers (with a PSQI score of > 5), 10.2% of study participants frequently used sleep medication to help them fall asleep, and 6.0% reported having significant depressive symptoms (with a CES-D score of ≥10). There are two major findings: (1) depression symptoms, the number of chronic diseases, self-rated health, and arthritis were significantly associated with a poor sleep quality, and (2) the 2-min step test was associated with longer sleep latency. These results confirmed that the 2-min step was associated with a longer sleep latency among the health-related physical fitness items.Conclusions: Our study found that depressive syndrome, chronic disease numbers, a poor self-rated health status, and arthritis were the main risk factors that influenced subjective sleep quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Palm carotene exists naturally in complex mixture consisting of alpha-, beta-, and gamma-isomers. The effects of beta-carotene on bone have been previously reported, but the effects of other isomer either individually or in combination have not been investigated. This study aimed to investigate the effects of palm carotene mixture on static bone histomorphometry using bovine bone scaffold co-cultured with osteoblasts and osteoclasts, serving as an in vitro model that mimics endogenous bone microenvironment. Methods: The decellularised and demineralised bovine bone scaffold were randomised into five experimental groups: (a) native bone, (b) osteoporotic bone, (c) osteoporotic bone co-cultured with osteoblast-osteoclast, (d) osteoporotic bone co-cultured with osteoblast-osteoclast and treated with 12.5 µg/mL palm carotene mixture, and (e) osteoporotic bone co-cultured with osteoblast-osteoclast and treated with 10 nM alendronate. After 21 days of treatment, bone scaffolds were decalcified and stained with haematoxylin and eosin to assess the static bone parameters. Results: Bone scaffolds subjected with decellularisation and demineralisation had lower osteoblast number, osteoclast number, and osteoid surface as compared to native bone. The seeding of osteoblasts and osteoclasts increased osteoclast number in the bone scaffolds as compared to those without bone cells. Treatment of palm carotene mixture increased osteoblast number and osteoid volume as compared to the non-treated bone scaffolds. Bone scaffolds treated of alendronate showed raised osteoid volume as compared to the non-treated bone scaffolds. Conclusion: Palm carotene mixture increases osteoblast number and osteoid volume, suggesting its potential bone-protective effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The pathological features of aortic dissection (AD) include vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) loss, elastic fiber fraction, and inflammatory responses in the aorta. However, little is known about the post-translational modification mechanisms responsible for these biological processes. Methods: A total of 72 aorta samples, used for protein detection, were collected from 36 coronary artery disease (CAD, served as the control) patients and 36 type A AD (TAAD) patients. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP)-PCR was used to identify the genes regulated by H3K23ac, and tubastatin A, an inhibitor of HDAC6, was utilized to clarify the downstream mechanisms regulated by HDAC6. Results: We found that the protein level of histone deacetylase HDAC6 was reduced in the aortas of patients suffering from TAAD and that the protein levels of H4K12ac, and H3K23ac significantly increased, while H3K18ac, H4K8ac, and H4K5ac dramatically decreased when compared with CAD patients. Although H3K23ac, H3K18ac, and H4K8ac increased in the human VSMCs after treatment with the HDAC6 inhibitor tubastatin A, only H3K23ac showed the same results in human tissues. Notably, the results of ChIP-PCR demonstrated that H3K23ac was enriched in extracellular matrix (ECM)-related genes, including Col1A2, Col3A1, CTGF, POSTN, MMP2, TIMP2, and ACTA2, in the aortic samples of TAAD patients. In addition, our results showed that HDAC6 regulates H4K20me2 and p-MEK1/2 in the pathological process of TAAD. Conclusions: These results indicate that HDAC6 is involved in human TAAD formation by regulating H3K23ac, H4K20me2 and p-MEK1/2, thus, providing a strategy for the treatment of TAAD by targeting protein posttranslational modifications (PTMs), chiefly histone PTMs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: CTLA-4 polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to various cancers, but the results are often conflicting. Hence, we performed a comprehensive metaanalysis to quantitatively investigate the association between CTLA-4 polymorphisms (rs231775, rs4553808，rs5742909, rs3087243 or rs733618) and cancer risk. Methods: Data were collected from PubMed and Web of Science. A total of 67 case-control studies were selected for quantitative analysis. Stata (Version 12) software was used to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) to evaluate the strength of the associations. Subgroup meta-analysis was conducted based on ethnicity and cancer type. Heterogeneity tests, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias assessments were also performed. Results: rs231775, rs4553808 and rs5742909 but not rs3087243 and rs733618 were significantly related to cancer risk. In analyses stratified by ethnicity, both rs231775 and rs4553808 were significant susceptibility polymorphisms in an Asian population but not in a Caucasian population. Moreover, there were stronger associations between the rs231775 polymorphism and increased risk of bone, breast, liver, head and neck and pancreatic cancers. Additionally, rs4553808 was associated with significantly increased susceptibility to breast cancer and head and neck cancer. Conclusion: rs231775, rs4553808 and rs5742909 may be used as predictive genetic biomarkers for cancer predisposition. Combined detection of CTLA-4 SNPs could be a useful tool for prediction of cancer susceptibility in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zircon U-Pb-Hf isotopes and whole-rock geochemical data are applied to investigate the age, provenance and tectonic setting of the late Neoproterozoic and overlying sequences from the Cathaysia Block of South China, in order to understand the tectonothermal evolution of this block and its linkage to supercontinents. New zircon U-Pb ages, in combination with previous fossil data, indicate the lower and upper Louziba Groups were deposited between 655 and 635 Ma (Cryogenian) and 635 and 542 Ma (Ediacaran), respectively. Low CIA (65–57) and high ICV (1.64–1.05) values for the Louziba sandstones are suggestive of immature sediments that experienced mild to weak chemical weathering in their source areas. In contrast, early Paleozoic sandstones have higher CIA (80–69) and lower ICV (0.95–0.84) values, indicative of mature sediments with intensive chemical weathering. Despite the different degrees of chemical weathering, all sedimentary samples show positive correlation between TiO 2 and Al 2 O 3, and negative correlation in plot of (La/Yb)n vs Zr but lack any correlation between (La/Yb)n and P 2 O 5 . These data demonstrate sorting of resistant minerals, such as rutile, monazite and zircon, did not affect the chemical signatures of sampled detritus. Consequently, geochemical features, in combination with detrital age spectra, indicate that the Louziba Group and overlying sequences record sedimentation in collisional and passive settings, with the detritus being derived dominantly from intermediate to felsic igneous rocks. Late Mesoproterozoic (ca.1300–1000 Ma) detritus in the lower Louziba Group were probably derived primarily from the Windmill Islands-Bunger Hills (1300–1050 Ma) and Albany-Fraser Belt-Musgrave (1300–1050 Ma) regions in East Antarctica-western Australia. Increasing input of early Neoproterozoic (∼990–950 Ma) detritus in the uppermost Louziba Group indicates a greater contribution from the Eastern Ghats (ca. 990–950 Ma) in eastern India and North Prince Charles Mountains (ca. 990–950 Ma) in East Antarctica. This source change was synchronous with the formation of the Kuunga (560–530 Ma) and Pinjarra (560–520 Ma) Orogens during assembly of Gondwana. The sediments of the Huanglian Formation of the uppermost Louziba Group likely recorded this event. Overlying Paleozoic sequences then were deposited on passive margin with detritus being derived dominantly from an early Neoproterozoic source, e.g., eastern India and East Antarctica. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glucocorticoids (GCs) are important stress hormones, which are used as a concomitant medication during malignant tumor chemotherapy. Clinical and preclinical studies have linked GCs to melanoma growth and progression. However, the effects and mechanism of action of GCs on the adhesion and survival of melanoma cells are still unknown. In the present study the effect of dexamethasone (Dex), a synthetic GC, on fibronectin (FN) expression and its roles in regulating the adhesion and survival of melanoma cells were investigated. It was revealed that Dex significantly increased the levels of intracellular and secreted FN in melanoma cell lines by increasing glucocorticoid receptor-mediated FN protein stability. Additionally, it was demonstrated that Dex (100 nM) significantly promoted the adhesion and survival of melanoma cells. Silencing FN expression abrogated the pro-adhesive and pro-survival effects of Dex in melanoma cells. Extracellular FN significantly enhanced melanoma cell adhesion and survival in the presence of cisplatin, whereas partially blocking extracellular FN signaling with a CD44 antibody significantly reduced FN-enhanced adhesion and survival. This indicated that the upregulation of FN contributed to the pro-survival effect of Dex by enhancing cell adhesion. It was also observed that activation of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway by extracellular FN was involved in the FN-mediated increase in melanoma cell survival. These findings increase understanding of the possible mechanisms by which GCs regulate melanoma cell adhesion and survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Giant coronary artery aneurysm (GCA) is a rare disease afflicting 0.2% of the population. It is primarily attributed to atherosclerosis in adults and Kawasaki disease in children. Other uncommon etiologies include Takayasu arteritis and post-percutaneous coronary intervention.1,2 GCA lacks a universally accepted definition, with proposed criteria including a diameter exceeding 2 cm, 5 cm, or four times the normal vessel size.3 While the majority of GCAs are asymptomatic, a subset of patients present with angina, myocardial infarction from embolization or compression, heart failure due to fistula formation, or even sudden death.1 We report a case of an adult harboring a GCA involving the right coronary artery [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Sarcopenia is a chronic disease marked by gradual muscle system and functional decline. Prior research indicates its prevalence in those under 60 varies from 8 to 36%. There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for sarcopenia prevention in menopausal women aged 40–60. This study examines the influence of such interventions for sarcopenia prevention on these women. Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Medline, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PEDro, and Airiti Library were searched from inception until May 5, 2023. Randomized controlled trials that examined exercise, vitamin D and protein supplementation effects on muscle mass, strength, and physical function. Quality assessment used the Cochrane risk of bias tool, and analysis employed Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version 2.0. Results: A total of 27 randomized controlled trials, involving 1,989 participants were identified. Meta-analysis results showed exercise improved lean body mass (SMD = 0.232, 95% CI: 0.097, 0.366), handgrip strength (SMD = 0.901, 95% CI: 0.362, 1.441), knee extension strength (SMD = 0.698, 95% CI: 0.384, 1.013). Resistance training had a small effect on lean body mass, longer exercise duration (> 12 weeks) and higher frequency (60–90 min, 3 sessions/week) showed small to moderate effects on lean body mass. Vitamin D supplementation improved handgrip strength (SMD = 0.303, 95% CI: 0.130, 0.476), but not knee extension strength. There was insufficient data to assess the impact of protein supplementation on muscle strength. Conclusions: Exercise effectively improves muscle mass, and strength in menopausal women. Resistance training with 3 sessions per week, lasting 20–90 min for at least 6 weeks, is most effective. Vitamin D supplementation enhances small muscle group strength. Further trials are needed to assess the effects of vitamin D and protein supplementation on sarcopenia prevention. Registration number: This review was registered on PROSPERO CRD42022329273. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sparse coding has achieved very excellent performance in image classification tasks, especially when the supervision information is incorporated into the dictionary learning process. However, there is a large amount of unlabeled samples that are expensive and boring to annotate. We propose an image classification algorithm by semisupervised sparse coding with confident unlabeled samples. In order to make the learnt sparse coding more discriminative, we select and annotate some confident unlabeled samples. A minimization model is developed in which the reconstruction error of the labeled, the selected unlabeled and the remaining unlabeled data and the classification error are integrated, which enhances the discriminant property of the dictionary and sparse representations. The experimental results on image classification tasks demonstrate that our algorithm can significantly improve the image classification performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gel-spun ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers were prepared at the industrial production line with different gel solution concentrations of 15 wt%, 18 wt% and 24 wt%. The difference in ultimate structure and mechanical properties of UHMWPE fibers for different gel solution concentrations were analyzed by tensile testing, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). With the increase of gel solution concentration, the ultimate mechanical properties of UHMWPE fibers were decreased and the crystallization and orientation of UHMWPE fibers became inferior. Besides, both the average shish length (< L >) and shish misorientation ( B ) of UHMWPE fibers were decreased with the increase of gel solution concentration. In addition, the appropriate increase of spinning temperature led to the further optimization of the ultimate structure and mechanical properties of UHMWPE fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroplasticity represents the dynamic structural and functional reorganization of the central nervous system, including its connectivity, due to environmental and internal demands. It is recognized as a major physiological basis for adaption of cognition and behaviour, and, thus, of utmost importance for normal brain function. Cognitive dysfunctions are major symptoms in psychiatric disorders, which are often associated with pathological alteration of neuroplasticity. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a recently developed non-invasive brain stimulation technique, is able to induce and modulate cortical plasticity in humans via the application of relatively weak current through the scalp of the head. It has the potential to alter pathological plasticity and restore dysfunctional cognitions in psychiatric diseases. In the last decades, its efficacy to treat psychiatric disorders has been explored increasingly. This review will give an overview of pathological alterations of plasticity in psychiatric diseases, gather clinical studies involving tDCS to ameliorate symptoms, and discuss future directions of application, with an emphasis on optimizing stimulation effects. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: Cranial nerve (CN) palsy is the main symptom in patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic outcome of NPC with CN palsy and to analyze the prognostic factors. Patients and methods: A total of 104 NPC patients with CN palsy curatively treated by conventional (n=44) or conformal (n=60) radiotherapy (RT) were enrolled. Upper CN palsy was present in 81 patients, lower CN palsy in four patients, and both upper and lower CN palsy in 19 patients. Forty-one patients had CN palsy for .2 months before diagnosis. Results: Complete recovery of CN palsy was observed in 74 patients. The actuarial 5-year locoregional control (LRC), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and overall survival (OS) rates were 58.2%, 62.2%, and 38.4%, respectively. No significant difference was observed in CN recovery, LRC, DMFS, or OS for patients treated by conventional versus conformal technique. However, significant reduction of grade 3 or greater toxicities was found in those treated by the conformal technique (odds ratio =0.28). Conclusion: Patients with CN palsy presenting .2 months before diagnosis were hard to recover from palsy. The LRC, OS, and recovery from CN palsy did not significantly change with the treatment evolution. Patients with complete recovery from CN palsy had longer OS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: The prognostic power of the levels of total CD44 and its isoform CD44v6 for patients with gastric cancer (GC) remains controversial. Therefore, our study aims to generalize the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of these two proteins in GC. Methods: A literature search of the PubMed, Web of Science and Embase databases was conducted to identify eligible studies. The odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the effects. Results: In all, 42 studies including 6,229 patients were included in this analysis. Total CD44 was mentioned in 21 papers, and the results showed that CD44 was positively correlated with the T category, the N category, distant metastasis, lymphatic invasion and TNM stage. Moreover, patients with CD44 overexpression had a lower 5-year overall survival (OS) rate (OR = 3.35, 95%CI = 1.83-6.13). CD44v6 was mentioned in 24 studies, with results that were similar to those for total CD44. However, total CD44 or CD44v6 expression was not correlated with tumor size and histological grade. Conclusion: High CD44 or CD44v6 expression levels were correlated with cancer progression and poor prognosis in patients with GC. Both CD44 and CD44v6 may be useful diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers for GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Aims: The prognostic power of the levels of total CD44 and its isoform CD44v6 for patients with gastric cancer (GC) remains controversial. Therefore, our study aims to generalize the clinicopathological and prognostic significance of these two proteins in GC. Methods: A literature search of the PubMed, Web of Science and Embase databases was conducted to identify eligible studies. The odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to assess the effects. Results: In all, 42 studies including 6,229 patients were included in this analysis. Total CD44 was mentioned in 21 papers, and the results showed that CD44 was positively correlated with the T category, the N category, distant metastasis, lymphatic invasion and TNM stage. Moreover, patients with CD44 overexpression had a lower 5-year overall survival (OS) rate (OR = 3.35, 95%CI = 1.83-6.13). CD44v6 was mentioned in 24 studies, with results that were similar to those for total CD44. However, total CD44 or CD44v6 expression was not correlated with tumor size and histological grade. Conclusion: High CD44 or CD44v6 expression levels were correlated with cancer progression and poor prognosis in patients with GC. Both CD44 and CD44v6 may be useful diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers for GC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/chitin nanocrystal (CNC) fibers were prepared. Compared with the pure UHMWPE fibers, the ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus of UHMWPE/CNC fibers are improved by 15.7% and 49.6%, respectively, with the addition of chitin nanocrystals (CNCs) of 1 wt%. The melting temperature ( T ) of UHMWPE/CNC fibers was higher than that of pure UHMWPE fibers. Pure UHMWPE fibers and UHMWPE/CNC fibers were characterized with respect to crystallinity, orientation and kebab structure by wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It is found that the CNCs act as the shish structure in UHMWPE/CNC fibers and the kebab crystals are grown around the CNCs. There was almost no difference between pure UHMWPE fibers and UHMWPE/CNC fibers in orientation. But the degree of crystallinity of various stages of UHMWPE/CNC fibers was respectively higher than the corresponding stage of pure UHMWPE fibers. Moreover, the addition of 1 wt% CNCs improved the thickness of kebab crystals and accelerated the transformation of kebab to shish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This aim of the present study was to investigate clonal growth behavior and analyze the proliferation characteristics of cancer cells. The MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line, SW480 human colon cancer cell line and SGC7901 human gastric cancer cell line were selected to investigate the morphology of cell clones. Quantum dot-based molecular targeted imaging techniques (which stained pan-cytokeratin in the cytoplasm green and Ki67 in the cell nucleus yellow or red) were used to investigate the clone formation rate, cell morphology, discrete tendency, and Ki67 expression and distribution in clones. From the cell clone formation assay, the MCF-7, SW480 and SGC7901 cells were observed to form clones on days 6, 8 and 12 of cell culture, respectively. These three types of cells had heterogeneous morphology, large nuclear:cytoplasmic ratios, and conspicuous pathological mitotic features. The cells at the clone periphery formed multiple pseudopodium. In certain clones, cancer cells at the borderline were separated from the central cell clusters or presented a discrete tendency. With quantum dot-based molecular targeted imaging techniques, cells with strong Ki67 expression were predominantly shown to be distributed at the clone periphery, or concentrated on one side of the clones. In conclusion, cancer cell clones showed asymmetric growth behavior, and Ki67 was widely expressed in clones of these three cell lines, with strong expression around the clones, or aggregated at one side. Cell clone formation assay based on quantum dots molecular imaging offered a novel method to study the proliferative features of cancer cells, thus providing a further insight into tumor biology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The potent anti-influenza agents, zanamivir and its phosphonate congener, are synthesized by using a nitro group as the latent amino group at C4 for asymmetric aza-Henry reaction with a chiral sulfinylimine, which is derived from inexpensive d-glucono-δ-lactone to establish the essential nitrogen-containing substituent at C5. This method provides an efficient way to construct the densely substituted dihydropyran core of zanamivir and zanaphosphor without using the hazardous azide reagent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background/Study Context: Elderly people do not categorize emotional facial expressions as accurately as younger people, particularly negative emotions. Although age-related impairments in decoding emotions in facial expressions are well documented, the causes of this deficit are poorly understood. This study examined the potential mechanisms that account for this age-related categorization deficit by assessing its dependence on presentation time. Methods: Thirty young (19–27 years old) and 31 older (68–78 years old) Chinese adults were asked to categorize the six basic emotions in facial expressions, each presented for 120, 200, 600, or 1000 ms, before and after exposure to a neutral facial expression. Results: Shortened presentation times caused an age-related deficit in the recognition of happy faces, whereas no deficit was observed at longer exposure times. An age-related deficit was observed for all negative emotions but was not exacerbated by shorter presentation times. Conclusion: Age-related deficits in categorization of positive and negative emotions are caused by different mechanisms. Because negative emotions are perceptually similar, they cause high categorization demands. Elderly people may need more evidence in favor of the target emotion than younger people, and they make mistakes if this surplus of evidence is missing. In contrast, perceptually distinct happy faces were easily identified, and elderly people only failed when the presentation time was too short for their slower perceptual processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peramivir is a potent neuraminidase (NA) inhibitor for treatment of influenza infection by intravenous administration. By replacing the carboxylate group in peramivir with a phosphonate group, phosphono-peramivir (6a), the dehydration and deoxy derivatives (7a and 8a) as well as their corresponding monoalkyl esters are prepared from a pivotal intermediate epoxide 12. Among these phosphonate compounds, the dehydration derivative 7a that has a relatively rigid cyclopentene core structure exhibits the strongest inhibitory activity (IC50 = 0.3-4.1 nM) against several NAs of wild-type human and avian influenza viruses (H1N1, H3N2, H5N1, and H7N9), although the phosphonate congener 6a is unexpectedly less active than peramivir. The inferior binding affinity of 6a is attributable to the deviated orientations of its phosphonic acid and 3-pentyl groups in the NA active site as inferred from the NMR, X-ray diffraction, and molecular modeling analyses. Compound 7a is active to the oseltamivir-resistant H275Y strains of H1N1 and H5N1 viruses (IC50 = 73-86 nM). The phosphonate monoalkyl esters (6b, 6c, 7b, 7c, 8b, and 8c) are better anti-influenza agents (EC50 = 19-89 nM) than their corresponding phosphonic acids (EC50 = 50-343 nM) in protection of cells from the viral infection. The phosphonate monoalkyl esters are stable in buffer solutions (pH 2.0-7.4) and rabbit serum; furthermore, the alkyl group is possibly tuned to attain the desired pharmacokinetic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microbeam wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) experiments were carried out at different structural knot positions of SIOC and M4 fibers of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE). The optical microscope images revealed that SIOC fiber had bamboo-like structural knots, and M4 fiber had chaotic distribution of structural knots. WAXD patterns showed the monoclinic unit cell in the whole M4 fiber, but different lamellar orientations in the bamboo joint of SIOC fiber. In addition, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) patterns confirmed that the SIOC fiber contained uniform distribution of shish structures, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements showed that its less branched and short chains benefited the orthorhombic-hexagonal phase transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protein chemical synthesis offers useful and otherwise-difficulty-to-obtain biomacromolecules for biological and pharmaceutical studies. Recently, the hydrazide chemistry has drawn attentions in this field as peptide or protein hydrazides can be used as key intermediates for different synthesis and modification purposes. Besides being a traditional bioorthogonal chemical handle, a hydrazide group can serve as a readily accessible precursor of a thioester. This strategy significantly improves the efficiency and scope of native chemical ligation for protein chemical synthesis. Here we review the chemical transformations of peptide or protein hydrazides and total/semi/enzymatic protein synthesis methods involving peptide or protein hydrazides. Several examples of protein chemical synthesis using peptide hydrazides as key intermediates are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the ultrasonic gas flow-meters measure the gas flow rate by calculating the ultrasonic transmission time difference between the downstream and upstream. Ultrasonic energy attenuation occurs in the processes of the ultrasonic generation, conversion, transmission, and reception. Additionally, at the same time, the gas flow will also affect the ultrasonic propagation during the measurement, which results in the ultrasonic energy attenuation and the offset of ultrasonic propagation path. Thus, the ultrasonic energy received by the transducer is weaker. When the gas flow rate increases, this effect becomes more apparent. It leads to the measurement accuracy reduced, and the measurement range narrowed. An energy transfer model, where the ultrasonic gas flow-meter under without/with the gas flow, is established by adopting the statistical analysis and curve fitting based on a large amount of experimental data. The static sub model without the gas flow expresses the energy conversion efficiency of ultrasonic gas transducers, and the dynamic sub model with the gas flow reflects the energy attenuation pattern following the flow rate variations. The mathematical model can be used to determine the minimum energy of the excitation signal for meeting the requirement of specific measurement range, and predict the maximum measurable flow rate in the case of fixed energy of excitation signal. Based on the above studies, a method to enhance the excitation signal energy is proposed under the output power of the transmitting circuit being a finite value so as to extend the measurement rage of ultrasonic gas flow-meter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Chromosomal ploidy is a major risk stratification tool for acute B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Low hypodiploidy and near-haploidy are thought to be confined to pediatric B-ALL and associated with a poor prognosis. Doubling of either a low-hypodiploid or a near-haploid clone results in an apparently high-hyperdiploid karyotype, which is often misclassified for risk. Methods: We studied four patients with B-ALL who had chromosome genomic array testing (CGAT), along with fluorescence in situ hybridization and mutation testing. Results: We identified a unique case of adult B-ALL with masked low hypodiploidy (mLH) by genomic duplication, along with a somatic deletion of the IKZF3 gene and a somatic TP53 mutation. Three cases of pediatric B-ALL with mLH, two with TP53 mutations and one untested, were also identified and compared with the adult patient. Conclusions: CGAT was critical in the genotype clarification of these cases through detection of copy-neutral loss of heterozygosity and should be considered performing for B-ALL with apparent hyperdiploidy for accurate prognostic risk stratification and treatment planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The method by which high-technology product manufacturers balance profits and environmental performance is of crucial concern for governments and enterprises. To examine the environmental performance of manufacturers, the present study applied Fuzzy-DEMATEL model to examine environmental performance of the PCB industry in Taiwan. Fuzzy theory was employed to examine the environmental performance criteria of manufacturers and analyse fuzzy linguistics. The fuzzy-DEMATEL model was then employed to assess the direction and level of interaction between environmental performance criteria. The core environmental performance criteria which were critical for enhancing environmental performance of the PCB industry in Taiwan were identified and presented. The present study revealed that green design (a1), green material procurement (a2), and energy consumption (b3) constitute crucial reason criteria, the core criteria influencing other criteria, and the driving factors for resolving problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to choose suitable serologic method for assessment of the actual stages of ABO chimera is more important to establish transfusion strategy for patients post-ABO incompatible hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. We reported ABO phenotypes of a patient post-ABO minor incompatible hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from 1+ weak agglutination by tube method was obviously reaffirmed to mixed fields with 4+ positive reaction by micro gel column card. Hence, blood bank technologists must continually work together with hematologist to establish appropriate transfusion strategy, and micro gel column technique can be more appropriate for detecting mixed fields during the whole period of transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Bombyx mori was domesticated from the Chinese wild silkworm, Bombyx mandarina. Wild and domestic silkworms are good models in which to investigate genes related to silk protein synthesis that may be differentially expressed in silk glands, because their silk productions are very different. Here we used the mRNA deep sequencing (RNA-seq) approach to identify the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the transcriptomes of the median/posterior silk glands of two domestic and two wild silkworms. Results: The results indicated that about 58% of the total genes were expressed (reads per kilo bases per million reads (RPKM) ≥ 1) in each silkworm. Comparisons of the domestic and wild silkworm transcriptomes revealed 32 DEGs, of which 16 were up-regulated in the domestic silkworms compared with in the wild silkworms, and the other 16 were up-regulated in the wild silkworms compared with in the domestic silkworms. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was performed for 15 randomly selected DEGs in domestic versus wild silkworms. The qPCR results were mostly consistent with the expression levels determined from the RNA-seq data. Based on a Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and manual annotation, five of the up-regulated DEGs in the wild silkworms were predicted to be involved in immune response, and seven of the up-regulated DEGs were related to the GO term "oxidoreductase activity", which is associated with antioxidant systems. In the domestic silkworms, the up-regulated DEGs were related mainly to tissue development, secretion of proteins and metabolism. Conclusions: The up-regulated DEGs in the two domestic silkworms may be involved mainly in the highly efficient biosynthesis and secretion of silk proteins, while the up-regulated DEGs in the two wild silkworms may play more important roles in tolerance to pathogens and environment adaptation. Our results provide a foundation for understanding the molecular mechanisms of the silk production difference between domestic and wild silkworms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives. This study analyzed the long-term hearing loss after treatment of primary nasopharyngeal carcinoma to elucidate its causal factors. Methods. Ninety-two nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients were treated with radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. Pure tone audiometry was performed before the therapy and annually up to 9 years after completing treatment. The hearing thresholds were corrected for age-related deterioration and compared to the results without adjusting for age. Results. The mean air and bone conduction threshold with and without correction for age-related deterioration differed significantly 2-9 years after completing radiotherapy (p < 0.05). The audiometry results with age correction showed a flattened configuration compared to the results without age correction. The total radiation dose and radiation modality showed a causal relationship with a greater incidence of hearing loss after therapy (p < 0.05). There was more deterioration in the air and bone hearing thresholds with conformal radiotherapy than intensity-modulated radiotherapy (p < 0.001). A radiation dose >72 cGy resulted in more severe hearing loss than <72 cGy (p < 0.05). Conclusion. Hearing loss after completing therapy should be corrected for age-related hearing deterioration to reveal the true extent to which the loss is a therapeutic complication. Both the radiation modality used and the dose were significantly associated with hearing loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High levels of homocysteine, caused by abnormal methionine metabolism, can induce degeneration of mouse hippocampal neurons. iTRAQ™ technology has been widely used in the field of proteomics research and through employing this technology, the present study identified that hyperhomocysteinemia induced the downregulation of 52 proteins and upregulation of 44 proteins in the mouse hippocampus. Through gene ontology and pathway analysis, the upregulation of components of the cytoskeleton, actin, regulators of focal adhesion, calcium signaling pathways, tight junctions, ErbB and gonadotrophin-releasing hormone signaling, leukocyte, transendothelial migration, propanoate and pyruvate metabolism, valine, leucine and isoleucine biosynthesis, synthesis and degradation of ketone bodies and benzoate degradation via CoA ligation pathway, was identified. It was additionally verified that tau protein was highly expressed in the hyperhomocysteinemic neurons. Further analysis revealed that tau network proteins played functional roles in homocysteine-induced neuronal damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Although tacrolimus has been widely used in patients undergoing lung transplantation, few studies have reported the pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus in Chinese patients after lung transplantation. Thus, we aimed to investigate the pharmacokinetics and influential factors in this patient cohort in the early stage after lung transplantation. Methods: We enrolled 14 adult lung transplant recipients who were treated with tacrolimus and then intensively collected blood samples within a 12-h dosing interval. The pharmacokinetic parameters of tacrolimus were calculated using non-compartmental analysis, and the influence of pathophysiological characteristics and CYP3A5*3 and CYP3A4*1G genotypes on the pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus was assessed. Using linear regression analysis, we investigated the correlation between tacrolimus concentration at different sampling points and measured the area under the time-concentration curve (AUC0–12h). Results: Geometric mean of apparent clearance (CL/F) was 18.13 ± 1.65 L/h in non-CYP3A5*3/*3 carriers, five times higher than that in CYP3A5*3/*3 carriers (p < 0.001). Furthermore, the tacrolimus concentration 4 h after administration had the strongest correlation with AUC0–12h (R2 = 0.979). Conclusion: The pharmacokinetics of tacrolimus varied largely between patients during the early stage post-transplantation, which could be partially explained by CYP3A5*3 genetic polymorphisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and its animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), are autoimmune diseases characterized by the immune-mediated demyelination and neurodegeneration of the CNS. Our previous studies showed that Rho kinase inhibitor Fasudil can delay onset, and ameliorate severity of EAE, accompanied by the improvement in myelination and the inhibition of inflammatory responses in the CNS. In this study, we found that Fasudil inhibited the migration of T cells indirectly by affecting the production of inflammatory factors and the expression of chemokines in astrocytes functions, indicating that Fasudil treatment reduced inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-a and IL-6, reactive oxygen species (NO) and chemokines like MIP-3a (CCL-20), RANTES (CCL5), MIP-1a (CCL-3) and MCP-1 (CCL2) in vitro, and blocked the chemotaxis of reactive mononuclear cells in EAE mice. Further studies found that Fasudil treatment reduced the infiltration and accumulation of pathogenic T cells into the CNS. Astrocytes expressing GFAP and CCL-20 were inhibited in Fasudil-treated EAE compared with control mice. These results demonstrate that Fasudil alleviates the pathogenesis of EAE possibly by blocking astrocyte-derived chemokine-mediated migration of inflammatory macrophages and pathogenic T cells, and might be used to treat MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malnutrition is prevalent in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but is often neglected in clinical practice. This study examined the usefulness of the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) for assessing the nutritional status of patients with COPD. We recruited 83 patients with COPD in stable condition from the pulmonary rehabilitation unit of a medical center in northern Taiwan. Each patient was interviewed with a structured questionnaire to elicit personal and health-related data, and measured for anthropometric and blood biochemical indicators. Nutritional status was rated with two Taiwanese-specific versions of the MNA, MNA-T1 and MNA-T2. Fat-free mass was measured with bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), and exercise capacity indicators with the 6-Minute Walk Test. The two MNA versions showed high agreement (kappa = 0.949) in predicting the nutritional risk, and both versions predicted the FFMI well (area under the curve of the Receiver Operating Characteristics = 0.804, p < 0.001 for MNA-T1; and 0.813, p < 0.001 for MNA-T2). MNA scores decreased with increasing disease severity and were highly correlated with FFMI, BMI, mid-arm circumference, calf circumference, and oxygen saturation at rest and during exercise (all p < 0.01). The MNA score was positively correlated with FEV1, FVC and 6-minute walking distance, and negatively correlated with GOLD stages (all p < 0.05). However, the MNA score was not significantly correlated with blood biochemical indicators, perhaps due to inflammatory status associated with COPD. The MNA appears appropriate for rating the nutritional risk of patients with COPD. Routine use of the MNA may help reduce the risk of malnutrition in patients with COPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and abnormalities of chromosome 17p (abnl(17p)) are at high-risk of treatment failure. Poor outcomes have been reported with conventional chemotherapy. To accurately define the outcome after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in patients with abnl(17p) AML, we analyzed the results of patients with this abnormality who received an allogeneic HSCT between January 2000 and December 2010 in 1 of 4 well-defined cohorts (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Haemato Oncology Foundation for Adults in the Netherlands, Study Alliance Leukemia, German Cooperative Transplant Study Group). Data of 201 patients with a median age of 54 years were evaluable. At the time of analysis, 30 patients were alive with a median follow-up of 30 months. The 3-year probability of overall survival (OS) was 15% (95% confidence interval [CI], 10-20). The cumulative incidence of relapse at 3 years was 49% (95% CI, 42-56). Notably, almost 70% of all relapses occurred within the first 6 months after HSCT. Patients who were transplanted in first complete remission (CR1) had superior OS compared with those with advanced disease (22% vs 9%, P < .001). Our findings confirm the high-risk of treatment failure in abnl(17p) AML even after allogeneic HSCT in CR1. Although allogeneic HSCT remains a valid option in CR1, alternative treatment strategies are needed for the remaining patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increase of work function (0.3 eV) is achieved by irradiating poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) film in vacuum with 254-nm ultraviolet (UV) light. The mechanism for such an improvement is investigated by photoelectron yield spectroscopy, X-ray photo electron energy spectrum, and field emission technique. Surface oxidation and composition change are found as the reasons for work function increase. The UV-treated PEDOT:PSS film is used as the hole injection layer in a hole-only device. Hole injection is improved by UV-treated PEDOT:PSS film without baring the enlargement of film resistance. Our result demonstrates that UV treatment is more suitable for modifying the injection barrier than UV ozone exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Neuroplasticity, which is the dynamic structural and functional reorganization of central nervous system connectivity due to environmental and internal demands, is recognized as a major physiological basis for adaption of cognition, and behavior, and thus of utmost importance for normal brain function. Pathological alterations of plasticity are increasingly explored as pathophysiological foundation of diverse neurological and psychiatric diseases. Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques (NIBS), such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), are able to induce and modulate neuroplasticity in humans. Therefore, they have potential to alter pathological plasticity on the one hand, and foster physiological plasticity on the other, in neuropsychiatric diseases to reduce symptoms, and enhance rehabilitation. tDCS is an emerging NIBS tool, which induces glutamatergic plasticity via application of relatively weak currents through the scalp in humans. In the last years its efficacy to treat neuropsychiatric diseases has been explored increasingly. In this review, we will give an overview of pathological alterations of plasticity in neuropsychiatric diseases, gather clinical studies involving tDCS to ameliorate symptoms, and discuss future directions of application, with an emphasis on optimizing stimulation effects. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Late-life depression could be classified roughly as early-onset depression (EOD) and late-onset depression (LOD). LOD was proved to be associated with cerebral lesions including white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and silent brain infarctions (SBI), differently from EOD. However, it is unclear whether similar association is present between LOD and microbleeds which are also silent lesions. In this study, 195 patients of late-life depression were evaluated and divided into EOD, presenile-onset depression (POD), and LOD groups; 85 healthy elderly controls were enrolled as controls. Subjects were scanned by MRI including susceptibility weighted images to evaluate white matter hyperintensities (WMH), silent brain infarctions (SBI), and microbleeds. The severity of depression was evaluated with 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale. Psychosocial factors were investigated with Scale of Life Events and Lubben Social Network Scale. Logistic regression and linear regression were performed to identify the independent risk factors for depression. Results showed that LOD patients had higher prevalence of microbleeds than EOD, POD, and control patients. The prevalence of lobar microbleeds and microbleeds in the left hemisphere was the independent risk factor for the occurrence of LOD; a high number of microbleeds were associated with severe state of LOD, whereas life events and lack of social support were more important for EOD and POD. All these results indicated that Microbleeds especially lobar microbleeds and microbleeds in the left hemisphere were associated with LOD but not with EOD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of nonlinear regression model parameters is a tough searching problem, this paper proposed an improved differential evolution algorithm for nonlinear system model parameter identification method. It introduced an adaptive mutation rate to determine the scaling factor adaptively and avoid premature. At the other hand, it proposed a dynamic nonlinear increased crossover probability to improve convergence speed. It simulated for different model examples. The experimental results show that the improved algorithm is higher accuracy and faster convergence. At last, the new method was applied to a class of the fermentation kinetics model parameter estimation, effectively improved the accuracy and efficiency of the model, providing a feasible way to solve the problem of parameter estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new fixed point theorem is established under the setting of a generalized finitely continuous topological space (GFC-space) without the convexity structure. As applications, a weak KKM theorem and a minimax inequalities of Ky Fan type are also obtained under suitable conditions. Our results are different from known results in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural disasters, such as severe storms and earthquakes, often cause bridge collapses and road damage. To ensure public safety, governments must repair damage as soon as possible. The jackhammers, dozers, and piling machines used in emergency work always generate significant amounts of pollution, including noise and vibration, and thus, pollution levels should be monitored in an effort to protect the local environment. We propose the Tube, a wireless sensor network platform that can be easily and rapidly deployed for monitoring pollution at multiple emergency work locations. Users may install Tubes in multiple locations to monitor pollution simultaneously without having to worry about the issues affecting traditional wireless communication. We designed and implemented this platform to monitor pollution at an actual site of emergency work; the results verify this system meets all expected goals and can offer valuable information for local authorities to control pollution effectively on emergency work sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer is a major threat to public health in the 21st century because it is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. The mechanisms of carcinogenesis, cancer invasion, and metastasis remain unclear. Thus, the development of a novel approach for cancer detection is urgent, and real-time monitoring is crucial in revealing its underlying biological mechanisms. With the optical and chemical advantages of quantum dots (QDs), QD-based nanotechnology is helpful in constructing a biomedical imaging platform for cancer behavior study. This review mainly focuses on the application of QD-based nanotechnology in cancer cell imaging and tumor microenvironment studies both in vivo and in vitro, as well as the remaining issues and future perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steel slag, a kind of alkaline industrial waste from smelting, can be used as CO2 capture agent. Ground steel slag was applied in carbon capture. The effect of steel slag proportion in slurry on the efficiency of carbon capture, the change of slurry pH and the results of thermodynamic calculation were studied. XRD, TG-DTA, BET and FT-IR were used to characterize the lag before and after carbon capturing. The results of XRD and SEM show the content of CaCO3 and specific surface area increase after carbon capturing, which indicate that alkaline substance reacts with CO2. The results of TG-DTA and FT-IR analysis prove that the physicochemical properties and microscopic structure of the slag mixture change because of increasing of CaCO3 content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]