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The exploration of biomarkers predicting response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in microsatellite stability colorectal cancer can enable more patients to benefit from immunotherapy. Tumor mutational burden (TMB), POLE/POLD1 mutation, CMS classifications, MGMT methylation, and other indicators own the potential and value of predicting response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in microsatellite stability colorectal cancer. In this paper, we reviewed the related research on predictive biomarkers of immune checkpoint inhibitors in microsatellite stability colorectal cancer, provide a reference for the best treatment strategy for microsatellite stability colorectal cancer.

SF 6/N 2 gas mixture is considered as one of the most promising gases to replace SF 6 because of its good insulation performance and environmental benefits. However,there is a lack of research on the mixing ratio of SF 6/N 2 gas mixture in different conditions. Under the premise of ensuring the insulation level of gas-insulated transmission lines (GIL),a multi-physical field coupling calculation model is established. From the perspective of heat characteristics of gas mixture,the relationship between SF 6/N 2 mixing ratio and GIL temperature rise under different insulating gas pressure,load current and ambient temperature is analyzed to determine the appropriate SF 6/N 2 mixture ratio under different conditions. The results show that there is a negative correlation between the insulation gas pressure (or the SF 6 content) and GIL temperature rise at the same pressure. The SF 6 content is suggested to be in the range of 40%~60% when the load current exceeds 3 kA for a long period of time,40%~70% when the equipment is running in the middle and low latitudes,and 30%~40% when the equipment is in the high latitudes. In addition,considering the safety margin,the insulation and temperature rise requirements of GIL can be met when SF 6 content is not less than 70% of the recommended value.

From August 2010 to August 2020, there were 3 cases of pathologically diagnosed alveolar adenoma (AA) were reported in Peking Union Medical College Hospital so far, which was a rare benign neoplasm of the lung. The clinical manifestations and radiological characteristics on computer tomography of AA were heterogenous among these patients and lacked specificities. The difficulty in predictive differentiation of benign or malignant characteristic of the lesion led to some confusions in clinical practices. This paper reported 2 cases of AA and reviewed the literature of AA. Its clinical, radiographical and pathological characters were analyzed, so to provide more knowledge and improve the differential diagnosis of this disease.

Aiming at problems of insufficient fault state sample data and low accuracy in fault diagnosis of belt conveyor by traditional shallow neural network, a fault diagnosis method of belt conveyor based on synthetic minority oversampling technique (SMOTE) and deep belief network (DBN) was proposed. Fault state sample data of belt conveyor is generated by SMOTE to overcome imbalance distribution of the sample data. The sample data is input into DBN, fault features in the data are extracted by means of unsupervised layer-by-layer training, and fault diagnosis ability is optimized by means of supervised fine-tuning to achieve accurate fault diagnosis of belt conveyor. The simulation results show that the method improves fault diagnosis accuracy of belt conveyor.

In order to promote the further practical application of rock mass explosivity classification in engineering, regression analysis method was used to analyze the correlation of explosivity indicators, and finally determine the four basically unrelated parameters of rock mass tensile strength, density, brittleness index, and integrity coefficient as rating indicators. The sensitivity of each rating index and its weight were determined using orthogonal design experiments. By using the method of fuzzy decision-making, the explosivity of rock mass was rated, and based on the rating index and the basic quality index of rock mass, a formula for predicting the explosive unit consumption of shallow hole blasting in underground mining was derived. The corresponding explosive unit consumption prediction interval for the explosivity level was further derived. This research shows that the fuzzy decision-making method provides a new approach for rock mass explosivity rating, and also proves the correctness of weight allocation and rating index selection. The on-site blasting test has proven the rationality of the predicted range of explosive unit consumption, which can provide certain guiding significance for production blasting and similar engineering practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the affluence of empty hole on the propagation of biasing cracks, an empty hole blasting damage model is established by comb mg ANSYS/LS-DYNA finite dement software. The equation of stress distribution n the rock mass near the empty hole is deduced theoretically, and the Influence of empty whole effect on the fracture mechanism and crack propagation is analyzed. The results show that the free surface effect of empty hole will cause the sudden Increase of impact pressure and the change of seismic velocity near the empty hole, which leads to the phenomenon of "falling" of rock at the blasting surface. The shock velocity at the back surface of the empty hole is significantly smaller than that at the front surface, which indicates that the empty hole has a good effect of pressure relief and shock reduction. By comparing the analytical solution of the impact pressure and the radius of the fracture zone with the numerical calculation results it is found that the error rate of the impact pressure is 11.81%, and the error of the rams of the fracture zone is only 9.49%, which proves the accuracy of the simulation results in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultra-thin grain-oriented silicon steel strips with a thickness of 0.06-0.12mm were produced by one-step-rolling methods with different Goss-orientation of grain-oriented silicon steel sheets. The effect of cold rolling reduction and initial Goss-orientation of samples on texture evolution and magnetic performance of ultra-thin grain-oriented silicon steel strips was studied by EBSD. The result shows that with the increase of cold rolling reduction and decrease of strips thickness, the recrystallization texture is enhanced after annealing.When the cold rolling reduction is 70%,RD//〈001〉 recrystallization texture is the sharpest, and the magnetic performance is the best. The higher degree of Goss orientation in initial sample is, the better magnetic performance of ultra-thin grain-oriented silicon steel.Therefore, for producing an ultra-thin grain-oriented silicon steel with high performance, a material with a concentrated orientation of Goss grains can be used.

Electrical characteristics of coal mine high voltage cable was analyzed under situation of water tree aging, electrical tree aging and overall uniform deterioration. Wavelet noise canceling technology and signal separation technology based on orthogonal decomposition were used for noise signal processing of grounding line current. Changing trends and set threshold of grounding line current were used to determine whether cable insulation deterioration occurs. Matlab simulation results show that researching relationship between insulation parameters changing of each line and different components of corresponding grounding-line current enables extraction of characteristic signal of online monitoring of high voltage cable insulation degradation of coal mine.

In response to the need for management system of the pressure vessel of gathering and transportation in the offshore oil platform,the pressure vessel with oblique nozzles was researched by using Ansys and the local notch stress and strain approach.The computational methods for predicting the lifetime crack initiation and reliability was given. The lifetime crack initiation and reliability results of 60 degree-oblique nozzle was obtained in order to accomplish an example. The region of crack initiation was researched. The various dimensionless structural parameters affecting the lifetime crack initiation, which are the angle of inclination,the ratios of nozzle diameter / shell diameter,the ratios of shell thickness / nozzle thickness,the ratios of shell diameter /shell thickness,was studied. These research show that the local notch stress and strain approach which needs strain data of material and structural fatigue notch factor and structural stress-strain loading history can apply to predict the lifetime crack initiation and reliability of the real weld effect and the combined effect of multiple load to oblique nozzle. In the simple FEM models the region of crack initiation occurs at the crotch corner in the meridional direction of the cylindrical shell. The result narrow the search scope to cracks in real situation. The lifetime crack initiation is decreased with the smaller angle of inclination,the larger ratios of nozzle diameter / shell diameter,the larger ratios of shell thickness / nozzle thickness,the larger ratios of shell diameter / shell thickness.The results of the lifetime crack initiation is remarkably decreased when the angle of inclination is 30 degree. Considering the local notch stress and strain approach with inherent dispersion,the proposed approach which predicts the lifetime crack initiation with certain reliability is a simple and effective method. The research results can provide some referential value in order to formulate and optimize maintenance strategy of the pressure vessel of gathering and transportation in the offshore oil platform.

The experiment was to improve the feeding value of potato residue. Two strains AAG-17 and CPA-3-4 with high enzyme activity preserved in laboratory were used to construct composite flora, the fermentation conditions were optimized by single factor combined with response surface method, and the potato residue before and after degradation was observed by infrared and electron microscopy. The results showed that when the initial pH value of 7, the fermentation revolution of 160 r/min and the inoculated-pathogen quantities of 2%, the inoculation ratio (CPA-3-4: AAG-17) was 3:1, the theoretical value of degradation rate of potato residue was 36.58%, and the repeated test results showed that the degradation rate was 36.90%. The results of SEM and Fourier IR on potato residue before and after degradation showed that complex flora had significant degradation effect on potato residue. The study indicates that the experiment determines the optimum condition of compound flora fermentation of potato residue animal feed, and the nutritional value of ferment potato residue animal feed is improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problem that the existing multivariate time series anomaly detection models based on variational autoencoders could not propagate long-term temporal dependencies between stochastic variables in latent space, the stochastic Transformer for MTS anomaly detection (ST-MTS-AD) model which combined Transformer encoder with VAE was proposed. In the inference network of the ST-MTS-AD, the MTS long-term temporal dependent features generated by Transformer encoder and the sampled values of the stochastic variables at the previous moment were inputted into the multilayer perceptron, the approximate posterior distribution of the stochastic variables at the current moment was generated by the multilayer perceptron, and the temporal dependencies between stochastic variables were realized. The gated transition function(GTF) was used to generate the prior distribution of stochastic variables. The generation network of the ST-MTS-AD reconstructed the distribution of the MTS values at each moment by the multilayer perceptron whose input was the MTS long-term temporal dependent features generated by the inference network and the approximate posterior sampling values of stochastic variables. The distribution of normal MTS dataset was learned by the variational inference technology, and the abnormal MTS segment was determined by the log-likelihood of the reconstruction probability. Experiments on four public datasets show that the ST-MTS-AD model significantly improves the F1 score over the typical baseline models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to ensure the safety of electricity in the laboratory, an identification method based on time-frequency information fusion for arc fault in laboratory is proposed and verified by simulation. First, the arc models are built to simulate parallel arc and series arc, and then a Terre Neutral--Separate (TN-S) laboratory electricity system is designed in PSCAD/EMTDC. Finally, for the series arc fault which is difficult to identify, the time-frequency information is fused according to the catastrophe theory and compared with the threshold to detect arc fault. The results show that the method is feasible in laboratory and the fault identification rate is as high as 90%. The research and verification experiment can not only enhance students' awareness of safe use of electricity in laboratory, deepen their understanding of circuit theory, signal processing and fault identification, but also cultivate the ability to analyze and solve actual electrical problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The routing algorithms based on DHT couldn't support range query in P2P system, so they were hard to support high dimensional data query. At present the common method to handle high dimensional data were dimensionality reduction and space-fiiling, but both of them had obvious disadvantage. This paper proposed a method based on Baton tree structure to handle these problems, easy operation, without dimensionality reduction, and support range query. Prove by experiment, the time complexity cost on querying is 0 (log2n), same as the Baton tree handle linear data. At last, the tree structure can increase it's children nodes to increase fan-out, make the time complexity down to 0(logmn) in theory, wiil be researched next. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper develops the stability criterion of singular perturbation system by choosing appropriate Lyapunov function and provides the conditions for the robust stability of the system in the form of a linear matrix inequality (LMI). The results show that this method is feasible and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vitamin D receptor (VDR) is an important regulator of bone differentiation, metabolism, and homeostasis. The mechanisms include genetic factors, signaling pathway, hormone and paracrine factors, etc. Among them, the VDR signal pathway plays an important role in the processes. The beneficial actions of VDR target agents have been proven in the clinical of osteoporosis treatment. However, it has been defined that the bone phenotype of VDR-deficient mice is rescued when the blood calcium and phosphate levels in the mice are normalized by a special diet. These findings challenge the importance of VDR function in bone homeostasis and metabolism during normal physiology conditions. Recently, the VDR expression has been identified in immature osteoblasts in the cancellous bone. It needs more work to describe the expression and function of VDR in other bone cells. Thus, further study should be performed to reveal the expression and role of VDR in different type of bone cells and bone homeostasis, which can help to find potential pathophysiology and therapeutic ways for osteoporosis and other metabolic bone diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, two types of problems exist in the design of measurement matrices in compressed sensing. One is that random measurement matrices are difficult to be realized by hardware. The other is that the size of deterministic matrices which are based on polynomials or algebraic curves cannot be arbitrary. To cope with these problems, this paper introduced a measurement matrices construction method based on deterministic random sequences. The proof that the matrices satisfy the Restricted Isometry Property (RIP) was also given in the paper. In the simulation experiments, the proposed matrices were compared with Gaussian random matrices, Bernoulli matrices, sparse matrices and chaotic matrices. Experi-ment results show that the matrices designed by the proposed strategy have equal performance with other popular measurement matrices. Also, deterministic random matrices were used for speech compression and reconstruction. Subjective and objective evaluation results of speech quality both show that the proposed matrices exhibit excellent performance in speech reconstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To detect avian beta-defensin 6 (AvBD6) quantitatively, a sandwich ELISA method was established and applied to detect the concentration of AvBD6 in serum. The results showed that the optimal dilution of capture antibody (mouse anti-B cell linear epitopes of AvBD6 polyclonal antibody), detecting antibody (rabbit anti-N-terminal of AvBD6 polyclonal antibody) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated goat anti-rabbit IgG was 2 500, 2 000 and 10 000, respectively. The standard curve regression equation was y =12 024x-2 583, ( R² =0.984 2) in the linear detection range from 20 to 320 ng/mL. The serum AvBD6 concentration of control group was slightly higher than that of ACTH group (P > 0. 05) after 1 day of ACTH (25 IU/kg BW) injection, but the AvBD6 concentration of the control group was slightly lower than that of ACTH group(P>0.05) after 5 d of ACTH injection; and the effect was not significant. The serum AvBD6 concentration of infected group after 24 h of Escherichia coli exposure or 3 h and 24 h of salmonella exposure were significantly higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). Our results indicated that AvBD6 involved in the resistance to system infection of Escherichia coli and salmonella. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the proposed load balance-based access selection algorithm for heterogeneous wireless networks.

By the method of clear cutting, a measurement was made on the aboveground biomass (AGB) of 24-year old natural Castanopsis carlesii-Schima superba community in an 800 m2 plot in Xiaokeng of Nanling Mountains, South China. The distribution patterns of the total AGB in different forest layers, tree species, and tree layer organs were investigated, and the AGB regression models were constructed. The results showed that when constructing the AGB regression models, more than 12 samples would be feasible. Based on the measured AGB of 265 felled trees, the AGB models of mixed broadleaved species were AGB = 0. 128D2. 372 and AGB = 242. 331(D2 H)0. 947. The single tree's AGB model of C. carlesii, S. superba, and Cunninghamia lanceolata was also established. The total AGB of the forest community was 115. 20 t·hm-2, of which, the AGB of tree layer, understory layer, liana, and litter layer was 111. 25, 1. 01, 0. 36, and 2. 58 t·hm-2, respectively. The AGB of C. carlesii and S. superba took up 39. 1% and 28. 7% of the tree layer AGB, respectively. The AGB of tree stem and branch-leaf occupied 81. 0% and 19. 0% of the tree layer AGB, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of the liching liquids of 3 different kinds of dental alloys on L929 cells both at cell level and molecular level. METHODS: The fibroblast L929 cells of mouse were treated in vitro with leaching liquids of 3 different kinds of dental alloys which were Au alloy, Ti and Ni-Cr alloy, respectively. The RPMI 1640 cell medium containing 10% fetal calf serum was served as a negative control and the Cu alloy was served as a positive control. The cytotoxicities of 3 dental alloys were evaluated by means of MTT and the effects of these alloys on the expression of caspase-3, caspase-8 and caspase-9 of L929 cells were examined by RT-PCR method and immunohistochemistry. The data was analyzed with SPSS 13.0 software package. RESULTS: The cytotoxicity of three groups were all in grade 0 after 48 hours of cultures. Caspase-8 had no change in all groups at mRNA level. The expression of caspase-3 and caspase-9 in Ni-Gr alloy group was significantly different from other groups. CONCLUSIONS: It is suggested from the results that the leaching liquids of Ni-Cr alloy may induce cell apoptosis through mitochondrion pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with preceding dynasties, more central government officials were degraded during Tang Dynasty. Some historians have got some achievements in studying the reasons why the officials were degraded, but how the Tang Government decided their recommended places and their degraded ranks was still vague. Based on the analysis of the number of degraded officials, this article shows that Tang government obeyed certain rules to relegate officials like degrading officials by law, filling local official vacancy, and transferring felonious officials to faraway southern states. These rules are also very important to understand the systems of bureaucracy of Tang Dynasty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical effect of custom casting separate post-and-core crown restorations of titanium in residual molar roots and crows with low occlusogingival distance. METHODS: Twenty-two residual roots and crowns with low occlusogingival distance were involved in the study. The root canals were prepared according to their natural directions without concerning about the common path of insertion and then the preparation of abutment teeth were made following the routine clinical procedure. Accurate impression was taken with silicone to fabricate the custom casting separate post-and-core crown restorations of Ti. The two parts were cemented together with resin cement. RESULTS: All the 22 fixed restorations were found to be with good retention and without looseness, falling off or breaking off of the roots. They all used normally for 6-30months. CONCLUSIONS: Custom casting separate post-and-core crown of Ti is a better prosthetic restoration for molar residual root and crown with low occlusogingival distance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at travel time prediction problem in optimal dispatching of truck in open coal mines, a truck travel time prediction model which considered various truck travel time influencing factors was built. Using least squares support vector regression(LS-SVR) algorithm and selectivity ensemble learning concept, this paper proposed a truck travel time dynamic prediction method realized by selectivity ensemble learning algorithm based on least squares support vector regression. Experiments were done using the practical data acquired from open coal mines. Higher prediction accuracy was obtained, and the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm was proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aimed to investigate the differences of pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of four alkaloids in Ermiao Pills and Sanmiao Pills in normal and arthritic model rats. The rat model of arthritis was established by injecting Freund's complete adjuvant, and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry(UPLC-MS/MS) in the positive ion multiple reaction monitoring(MRM) mode was used for the determination of four alkaloids in plasma and tissues of normal and arthritic rats after administration of Ermiao Pills and Sanmiao Pills, respectively. The differences in pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of the four active components were compared, and the effect of Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix on the major components of Sanmiao Pills was explored. This study established an UPLC-MS/MS for simultaneous determination of four alkaloids, and the specificity, linearity, accuracy, precision, and stability of this method all met the requirements. Pharmacokinetics study found that as compared with normal rats, the AUC and C&#95;(max) of phellodendrine, magnoflorine, berberine and palmatine in model rats were significantly decreased after administration of Ermiao Pills, the clearance rate CL/F was significantly increased, and the distribution and tissue/plasma concentration ratio of the four alkaloids in the liver, kidney, and joint were significantly reduced. Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix increased the AUC of phellodendrine, berberine, and palmatine, reduced the clearance rate, and significantly increased the distribution of the four alkaloids in the liver, kidney, and joints in arthritic rats. However, it had no significant effect on the pharmacokinetics and tissue distribution of the four alkaloids in normal rats. These results suggest that Achyranthis Bidentatae Radix may play a guiding role in meridian through increasing the tissue distribution of effective components in Sanmiao Pills under arthritis states.

Objective: To observe the clinical effect of acupuncture for delayed sleep-wake phase disorder (DSWPD)., Methods: A total of 84 patients with DSWPD were randomized into an observation group (42 cases, 2 cases dropped off) and a control group (42 cases, 3 cases dropped off). On the basis of sleep hygiene education, acupuncture was applied at Shenmai (BL 62), Zhaohai (KI 6), Hegu (LI 4), Taichong (LR 3), Zusanli (ST 36) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6) in the observation group, while placebo acupuncture was applied at the same acupoints in the control group. The treatment lasted for 8 weeks, once every other day, 3 times a week in the 1st to 4th weeks; once every 3 days, 2 times a week in the 5th to 8th weeks. Before and after treatment, the actigraphy (ACT) indexes of objective sleep (total time of stay in bed, total sleep time, sleep efficiency, the number of awakenings and the wake time after falling asleep) and plasma cortisol (CORT) level were observed; before and after treatment and in follow-up of 1, 3 months after treatment, the scores of morningness-eveningness questionnaire (MEQ), insomnia severity index (ISI), fatigue severity scale (FSS) and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) were observed in the two groups., Results: Compared before treatment, the total sleep time was prolonged, the sleep efficiency was improved, the number of awakenings was reduced, and the wake time after falling asleep was shortened after treatment in the observation group ( P <0.01, P <0.05), and those in the observation group after treatment were superior to the control group ( P <0.01, P <0.05). Compared before treatment, the MEQ scores after treatment in both groups and in the follow-up of 1, 3 months after treatment in the observation group were increased ( P <0.01), and the MEQ score of each time point after treatment in the observation group was higher than the control group ( P <0.01). The scores of ISI, FSS and ESS after treatment, and the scores of ISI、ESS in follow-up of 1, 3 months after treatment in the observation group were decreased compared with those before treatment ( P <0.01, P <0.05), and in the observation group, the scores of ISI, FSS and ESS of each time point after treatment were lower than those in the control group ( P <0.01, P <0.05). After treatment, the plasma CORT level in the observation group was decreased compared with that before treatment and that in the control group ( P <0.01, P <0.05)., Conclusion: Acupuncture can improve the sleep and wake phase of patients with DSWPD, improve sleep quality and daytime function, and its mechanism may be related to the down-regulation of plasma CORT level.

The present study investigated the chemical constituents from the dry seeds of Hydnocarpus anthelminthica. The compounds were isolated and purified from the dry seeds of H. anthelminthica by various chromatographic techniques including column chromatography over silica gel and Sephadex LH-20 and reversed-phase HPLC. Their structures were identified by spectroscopic analysis. The in vitro cytotoxic activities were determined by MTT assay. Ten compounds were isolated and identified as 2-(4-hydroxy-3,5-dimethoxyphenyl)-3-(2-hydroxy-5-methoxyphenyl)-3-oxo-1-propanol(1), threo-1,2-bis-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-propane-1,3-diol(2), erythro-1,2-bis-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-propane-1,3-diol(3), 2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-3-(2-hydroxy-5-methoxyphenyl)-3-oxo-1-propanol(4), 3-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-propan-1-one(5), chrysoeriol(6), evofolin B(7), apigenin-3'-methoxy-7-O-rutinoside(8), luteolin(9), and vitexin(10). Compound 1 is a new compound. Compounds 4 and 5 were isolated from this genus for the first time. All compounds showed no significant cytotoxic activity.

Forest biomass is an important index in forest development planning and forest resource monitoring. In order to provide a more efficient and low-biased method for estimating individual tree biomass, we introduced artificial neural network here. We used the data of aboveground biomass of 101 Larix olgensis trees harvested from the Dongzhelenghe Forest Farm in Heilongjiang Province to develop four aggregation model systems (AMS), based on different combination of the variables (diameter at breast height, tree height, crown width). The weighted functions were used to eliminate heteroscedasticity. Then, we trained artificial neural network (ANN) biomass model based on the optimal combination. The models were tested by the leave-one-out cross-validation method to compare the accuracy of the two biomass estimation methods. The results showed that biomass model based on only one variable, diameter at breast height, could accurately estimate the biomass of L. olgensis . Adding two indices, tree height and crown width, could improve the fitting performance of models, with AMS4 performing the best among the four addictive model systems. The biomass models developed by the two methods both could estimate biomass at tree level accurately, with the coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) of each component was higher than 0.87. Compared with the AMS4, R 2 of leaf biomass model was about 0.05 higher, and that of other organs were also about 0.01 higher in artificial neural network model system. In addition, the root mean square error (RMSE) and other indicators were also significantly smaller. For example, the RMSE of tree stem and aboveground biomass were smaller by 2.135 kg and 3.908 kg, respectively. The model's validation statistics mean relative error (MRE) performed better. In general, ANN was a flexible and reliable biomass estimation method, which was worthy consideration when predicting tree component biomass or aboveground biomass.

This project is to investigate lignans from the seed of Hydnocarpus anthelminthica. Thirteen lignans were isolated from the 95% ethanol extract of the seed of H. anthelminthica, by polyamide resin, Sephadex LH-20, ODS column chromatography and preparative HPLC. Their structures were elucidated as(+)-syringaresinol(1), lirioresinol A(2),(+)-medioresinol(3),(7R,8R,8'R)-4'-guaiacylglyceryl-evofolin B(4), leptolepisol C(5),(-)-(7R,7'R,7″R,8S,8'S,8″S)-4',4″-dihydroxy-3,3',3″,5,5',5″-hexamethoxy-7,9':7',9-diepoxy-4,8″-oxy-8,8'-sesquineolignan-7″,9″-diol(6),(-)-(7R,7'R,7″R,8S,8'S,8″S)-4',4″-dihydroxy-3,3',3″,5,5'-pentamethoxy-7,9':7',9-diepoxy-4,8″-oxy-8,8'ses-quineolignan-7″,9″-diol(7), ceplignan(8), hydnocarpusol(9), isohydnocarpin(10),(-)-hydnocarpin(11), hydnocarpin(12), and hydnocarpin-D(13) by spectroscopic data analysis. Compounds 1-8 were obtained from the genus Hydnocarpus for the first time.

Tongxie Yaofang (TXYF) is a famous formula that has been used for treating gastrointestinal diseases in traditional Chinese medicine(TCM). Saposhnikoviae Radix is considered as a meridian guiding drug in TXYF and could enhance the effectiveness of prescription. However, the scientific evidence for this effect is still not clear. To reveal the interactions of Saposhnikoviae Radix with other herbs, we conducted this study on the pharmacokinetic profile and tissue distribution of active ingredients of TXYF in rats. The concentrations of four components in blood and tissues were determined by UPLC-MS/MS after oral administration with TXYF. The detection was carried out by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry in the multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The positive and negative ion switching technique was performed in the same analysis. The results revealed that Saposhnikoviae Radix could enhance Cmax, AUC0-t, and AUC0-∞ of paeoniflorin and hesperidin, and increase the distribution of atractylenolide-I, paeoniflorin and hesperidin in liver, spleen, brain and small intestine. Saposhnikoviae Radix increased the ratio of brain to blood concentrations of atractylenolide-I, paeoniflorin and hesperidin. Meanwhile, it reduced the ratio of lung to blood concentrations of atractylenolide-I and paeoniflorin. Saposhnikoviae Radix, and may enhance the effectiveness of prescriptions by promoting distribution of other herbs in brain., Competing Interests: The authors of this article and the planning committee members and staff have no relevant financial relationships with commercial interests to disclose., (Copyright© by the Chinese Pharmaceutical Association.)

Purpose: To observe the antimicrobial effect and the tensile bond strength of water-soluble chitosan after adding different Chinese medicines to Candida albicans., Methods: The extract of 6 kinds of Chinese medicine by decoction in different concentrations were mixed with chitosan, and the most effective mixture inhibiting Candida albicans and the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) were explored; Then the tensile bond strength of the mixture was tested and compared with Protefix denture adhesive. The data was analyzed with SPSS17.0 software package., Results: The antibacterial effect of polyphylla-chitosan mixture was the best among the 6 kinds of Chinese medicine- chitosan mixture, and its MIC was 1.563 mg/mL. The tensile bond strength of polyphylla-chitosan mixture at 0 h and 12 h when immersed in artificial saliva were significantly larger than Protefix denture adhesive. The average value and the maximum value was significantly greater than the Protefix denture adhesive (P<0.05)., Conclusions: Polyphylla-chitosan mixture has good antibacterial effect on Candida albicans and large tensile bond strength.

Objective: To study the effect of extract of Radix Tetrastigma hemsleyani on the proliferation and apoptosis of human lung carcinoma H1299 cells, and to explore its mechanisms. METHODS H1299 cells were treated with the extract of Radix Tetrastigma hemsleyani in different concentrations at different time points. Its inhibition on H1299 cell proliferation was detected by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The morphology of the H1299 cell was observed by inverted microscope. Changes of apoptosis were observed by Hoechst33258 methods. The apoptosis rate was detected by flow cytometry. Expression changes of apoptosis-related proteins pro-caspase-3, pro-caspase-9, cle-caspase-3, cle-caspase-9, and poly-ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) were detected by Western blot., Results: Compared with the control group, the inhibition rate of H1299 cells increased after acted by 0.5, 1, 5, and 10 mg/mL extract of Radix Tetrastigma hemsleyani (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). The longer the acting time, the higher the inhibition rate (P < 0.01). Under inverted microscope, typical morphological changes could be seen and the number of H1299 cells was reduced. Under fluorescence microscope, dark stained nucleus and formed apoptotic body could be observed. Results of flow cytometry showed that the apoptosis rate was obviously dose-effect correlated with the concentration of extract of Radix Tetrastigma hemsleyani. Results of Western blot indicated that compared with the control. group, the protein expression of pro-caspase-3, pro-caspase-9, and PARP were down-regulated and that of cle-caspase-3, cle-caspase-9, and cle-PARP were up-regulated by 5 and 10 mg/mL extract of Radix Tetrastigma hemsleyani (P < 0.05)., Conclusions: Extract of Radix Tetrastigma hemsleyani had obvious effect in inhibiting the proliferation and inducing apoptosis of human lung carcinoma H1299 cells, which might be achieved by activating the expression of caspase protein.

Both sides of the picornavirus genome have 5'-untranslated region (5'UTR) and 3'- untranslated region (3'UTR). This study demontrated that both the 5'-and 3'-UTR can form complex structures, such as stem-loop, clover and pseudoknot structure, These structures play an important role in the regulaton of the replication and translation of the viruses. This article reviewed the progress of research on the structure and function of picornavirus' 3'-UTR over recent years.

Objective: To investigate the protective effect of radix sophorae flavescentis (RSF) mixture on intestinal mucosa in mice infected with Cryptosporidium parvum., Methods: Thirty BALB/c male mice were randomly divided into control group, infection group and RSF mixture treatment group. Mice of the posterior two groups were inoculated intragastrically with 1 x 10(5) C. parvum oocysts, immunosuppressed with dexamethasone (5 microg/ml) and gentamycin sulfate (40 microg/ml) in drinking water. At the 8th day post-infection, mice in RSF mixture treatment group were treated with 0.2 ml dose of RSF mixture twice a week (three-day intervals) for three weeks. The mice in infection group and RSF mixture treatment group were monitored for oocyst shedding in fecal pellets every two days after treatment. At 28 days after infection, experimental mice were sacrificed, jejunal tissue was removed for preparation of paraffin-embedded sections. The changes of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+ T lymphocytes and IgA plasmocytes in intestinal mucosa were determined by immunohistochemistry. In addition, jejunum of infected mice and treated mice were collected, and ultrastructural changes were observed under electron microscopy., Results: Compared with infection group, the level of oocyst shedding was obviously lower and the time of the oocyst discharging was significantly shorter in RSF mixture treatment group. The proportion of CD3+, CD4+ T lymphocyte and CD4+/CD8+ T cell ratio in infection group (49.7% +/- 2.4%, 25.7% +/- 2.2%, 1.1 +/- 0.3) were significantly lower than that of treatment group (62.4% +/- 1.4%, 37.5% +/- 3.1%, 1.5 +/- 0.3) and control group (66.5% +/- 1.9%, 40.1% +/- 1.8%, 1.5 +/- 0.2) (P < 0.01). CD8+ T lymphocytes showed no significant difference in each group (P > 0.05). The number of IgA plasmocytes in treatment group (52.7 +/- 3.5) was significantly higher than that of control group (8.3 +/- 2.3) and infection group (33.7 +/- 2.6) (P < 0.01). After administration for three weeks, the damaged C. parvum parasites were seldom seen in mouse jejunum, and lysosomes appeared in large number, RSF mixture treatment improved mitochondrial structure and repaired microvilli. In infection group, mitochondria ridges were significantly broken and microvilli surrounding C. parvum oocysts were shed, resulting in the appearance of crater-like lesions on the surface, the oocyst wall and host cell membrane fused together., Conclusion: RSF mixture is effective against Cryptosporidium parvum. The damage of intestinal mucosa in infected mice can be repaired after treatment.

Objective: To clarify the effect of aluminum exposure on the cognitive function in electrolytic workers and the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among them by prevalence survey, and to investigate its influential factors., Methods: Sixty-six retired workers from the electrolysis workshop of an electrolytic aluminum plant were selected as an aluminum exposure group, while 70 retired workers from a flour mill in the same region were selected as a control group. MCI patients were screened out by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE); the blood aluminum level was measured by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry; multivariate statistical analysis was used to investigate the influential factors for MMSE scores and the correlation between blood aluminum level and MCI prevalence., Results: The aluminum exposure group showed a significantly higher blood aluminum level than the control group (25.18 ± 2.65 µg/L vs 9.97 ± 2.83 µg/L, P < 0.01). The total MMSE score of the aluminum exposure group (26.13 ± 2.57) was significantly lower than that of the control group (27.89 ± 1.91) (P < 0.05), particularly the scores on time and place orientation, short-term memory, calculation ability, and language skill (P < 0.05). The detection rate of MCI was significantly higher in the aluminum exposure group (18.2%) than in the control group (5.7%) (P < 0.01). The main influential factors for MMSE scores were gender, age, education level, and blood aluminum level. The logistic regression analysis indicated that the MCI prevalence was significantly correlated with blood aluminum level in the study population (OR = 1.168, P < 0.01)., Conclusion: Long-term exposure to aluminum can cause cognitive disorders in electrolytic workers and may be one of the risk factors for MCI. Advanced age, male, low education level, and high blood aluminum level may be high-risk factors for cognitive impairment.

Objective: To detect cobalt chromium alloy antimicrobial coating silver of the surface structure and the cell toxicity in order to provide a theoretical basis for clinical application., Methods: Plasma spraying technique was adopted to prepare cobalt chromium alloy antimicrobial coating silver. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive analysis and X-ray diffraction analysis were used to evaluate the surface properties. The methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium and flow cytometry method was adopted to test the L929 cell proliferation and the influence of the cell cycle., Results: The surface of the coating was uniform and compact, combined perfectly with substrate material. The content of the surface was mainly Ag, Cr and a small amount of Ag(2)O, Cr(2)O(3). After cobalt chromium alloy was cultured in leach liquor for 1, 2 and 3 days, the statistical result showed that there was no significant different between the three groups. The cytotoxic level of negative control group was level 0 at each time point and that of other groups was level 1 at each time point. There was no significant difference between cobalt chromium alloy and cobalt chromium alloy antimicrobial coating silver in cell toxicity (P > 0.05). There was no statistical significance of the influence on cell cycle between cobalt chromium alloy with Ag coating [the G2's rate of cell cycle was (8.23 ± 0.39)%] and cobalt chromium alloy group [the G2's rate of cell cycle was (8.70 ± 0.46)%] (P > 0.05)., Conclusions: The surface of the coating was stable and there was no significant difference between cobalt chromium alloy widely used in clinic and cobalt chromium alloy with Ag coating of the influence on proliferation of L929 cell and cell cycle, the cell compatibility of cobalt chromium with Ag coating is well.

Objective: To investigate the effect of Toxoplasma gondii infection on the proliferation, differentiation and migration of the embryonic neural stem cells (NSCs) in early pregnancy of rat., Methods: Twelve pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into control and infection groups. Rats in the infection group were each inoculated intraperitoneally with 1 x 10(5) T. gondii RH strain tachyzoites at day 1 (E1 day). Same amount of physiological saline was intraperitoneally injected for rats in control group. At E5 day, blood samples were taken from caudal vein and Giemsa staining of blood cells was performed to find T. gondii. At E9, E10 and E11 day, two rats in each group per time point were sacrificed and reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) was performed to detect B1 gene expression of T. gondii in amniotic fluid to confirm T. gondii infection. NSCs were cultured in vitro. The proliferation level was detected by methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. After differentiation culture of NSCs, the immunofluorescence assay was conducted to detect the expression of nestin, microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) to calculate the ratio of NSCs which differentiated to neurons and astrocytes. The embryonic nerve tissues at E9, E10 and E11 day in each group were taken to make frozen sections. The immunofluorescence assay was carried out to detect the expression of neuronal cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) in the nerve tissues at different developmental stages., Results: Both the results of blood smears and RT-PCR confirmed that the pregnant rats and embryos were all infected by T. gondii in infection group. The morphology of the cultured NSCs under microscope was consistent with the characteristics of the normal NSCs. In addition, the NSC biomarker nestin protein was stained positive. The MTT assay showed that the proliferation level was lower in infection group than that of the control, and statistical differences were found between the two groups at day 3 and 4 after passages (P < 0.05). The immunofluorescence staining of MAP2 and GFAP showed that the percentage of neuron differentiation was 15.15% (55/363) in control group and 8.73% (31/355) in infection group, respectively, with a statistical difference (P < 0.05), and the percentage of astrocyte differentiation was 53.35% (199/374) and 67.48% 249/369), respectively (P > 0.05). In both groups, NCAM protein was found expressed at E9, E10 and E11 day in embryo nerve tissues. The fluorescence became stronger with time. The expression level in control group was significantly higher than that in infection group (P < 0.01)., Conclusion: T. gondii infection at early gestation may inhibit the proliferation, differentiation and migration of neural stem cells in rats.

Objective: To investigate the effect of DADLE, a δ-opioid receptor agonist, on the proliferation of human liver cancer HepG2 cells and explore the mechanism involving PKC pathway., Methods: HepG2 cells were treated with DADLE at different doses (0.01, 0.1, 1.0 and 10 µmol/L). Cell viability was determined using methyl thiazolyl terazolium (MTT) assay. The expression of PKC mRNA and p-PKC protein were examined by RT-PCR and Western blot assay. After treated separately with DADLE plusing NAL or PMA, the cell cycle of HepG2 cells was analyzed by flow cytometer. MTT was used to detect their proliferation capacity and Western blot was used to examine the p-PKC expression. The growth inhibitory rate of HepG2 cells treated with DADLE and cis-diammine dichloridoplatinum (CDDP) was analyzed., Results: DADLE at different concentrations showed an inhibitory effect on the proliferation of HepG2 cells though inhibiting the expression of PKC mRNA and p-PKC protein. The results of flow cytometry showed that compared with the control group, the percentage of S + G(2)/M cells in DADLE-treated group was lowered by 3.94% (P < 0.01). Meanwhile, after treated with NAL and PMA, the percentage was elevated by 3.22% and 3.63%, respectively (P < 0.01). The MTT and Western blot assays showed that compared with the control group, the values of A570 and p-PKC protein levels in the HepG2 cells of DADLE-treated group were significantly decreased (P < 0.01). After treatment with NAL and PMA, the values of A570 and p-PKC protein levels were elevated significantly (P < 0.01). The growth inhibitory rate of DADLE + CDDP group was 79.9%, significantly lower than 25.2% and 43.2% of the DADLE and CDDP groups, respectively., Conclusions: Activation of δ-opioid receptor by DADLE inhibits the apoptosis of human liver cancer HepG2 cells. The underlying mechanism may be correlated with PKC pathway. DADLE can enhance the chemosensitivity of HepG2 cells to CDDP.

Objective: To introduce the Multi-state Markov model in studying the outcome prediction of mild cognitive impairment (MCI)., Methods: Based on the intelligence quotient (IQ) changes that reflecting the trends in cognitive function in the patients under follow-up program, we constructed a four states model and used Multi-state Markov model to analyze the patients., Results: Among 600 MCI patients, there were 174 (29.0%) males and 426 (71.0%) females, with age range of 65-90 years-old (average 69.7 ± 6.6). For univariate analysis, gender, age, education level, marital status, smoking, household income, cerebral hemorrhage, hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, LDL-C, SBP and DBP were found to be associated with cognitive function. For multivariate analysis, female, older age, cerebral hemorrhage and higher SBP were shown to be the risk factors for transition from the state of cognitive stability to the state of severe deterioration, and their coefficients were 0.762, 0.366, 0.885, and 0.069, respectively. Age (0.038) could influence the transition from the state of cognitive stability to slight deterioration. Higher education level was shown to be the protective factor for these transitions (-0.219 and -0.297). Transition intensity from the state of cognitive stability to the state of slight and severe deterioration was 1.2 times that of transition to the state of improving. Transition intensity from state of slight deterioration to cognitive stability was 11.4 times that of transition to severe deterioration., Conclusion: Multi-state Markov model was an effective tool in dealing with longitudinal data.

Objective: To study the current status of spontaneous abortion of primigravid women in Jiaxing areas of Zhejiang province of China., Methods: We analyzed the data from both perinatal healthcare surveillance program and spontaneous abortion, collected in Jiaxing areas by the Institute of Reproductive and Child Health, Peking University. The study population consisted of 14 769 primigravid women (excluding induced abortion, ectopic pregnancy and molar pregnancy as outcomes) attempting to become pregnant who registered between 1993 and 1995., Results: 1454 spontaneous abortion cases were identified, with the spontaneous abortion rate as 9.8% (95%CI: 9.3% - 10.3%). The mean gestational weeks at pregnancy diagnosis were 7.6 ± 2.1 weeks, the mean gestational weeks at miscarriage were (10.1 ± 3.1) weeks and the incidence of first-trimester (≤ 12 weeks) spontaneous abortion was 7.3% (95%CI: 6.8% - 7.7%), accounting for 73.7% of all the spontaneous abortion cases. A peak for risk of miscarriage was around 8 - 13 weeks, accounting for 37.7% of all spontaneous abortion. The observed multiple Cox regression model showed that increased spontaneous abortion rates were observed in women with age at pregnancy ≥ 30, being peasants and with higher education level., Conclusion: The spontaneous abortion rate of primigravid women in Jiaxing areas was higher than in other areas of China. The maximum occurrence of spontaneous abortions was during period of 8-13 gestation weeks.

Objective: To investigate the expression of apoptosis arrestin PED/PEA-15 and XIAP in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and explore their relationship with clinicopathological factors of HCC., Methods: The mRNA expressions of PED/PEA-15 and XIAP genes were detected by RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction) in resected liver tumor tissues and corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues from 40 HCC patients and normal liver tissues from 12 patients with benign lesions. Their protein levels were detected by Western blot., Results: The mRNA expressions of PED/PEA-15 and XIAP genes and their proteins were significantly higher than those in adjacent tissues and normal tissues (0.636 +/- 0.061, 0.352 +/- 0.068, 0.179 +/- 0.036; 0.579 +/- 0.090, 0.344 +/- 0.084, 0.184 +/- 0.038) (P < 0.01). The mRNA levels of PED/PEA-15 and XIAP genes and their protein levels were significantly associated with the pathological grade and clinical stage of HCC (P < 0.05). However there was not a significant correlation with such clinicopathological features as age, gender, size of tumor, tumor load, metastasis and recurrence (P > 0.05)., Conclusion: The expressions of apoptosis arrestin PED/PEA-15 and XIAP are elevated in HCC as compared with adjacent tissues and normal tissues. Thus it may serve as both a reference indicator for biological behaviors of HCC and a new target for gene therapy.

Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of Ce3+ on volatile fatty acid(VFA) concentrations by anaerobic granular sludge digestion using D-Glucose and acetic sodium as substrate in the state of stabilization and restart-up. Results show that when the concentration of Ce3+ is lower than 1 mg/L, VFA concentration decreases, which suggests the transformation of butyric acid to acetic acid and acetic acid to methane is promoted. When the concentration of Ce3+ is 1-10 mg/L, the bacterial activity decreases and decomposition of the acetic acid and butyric acid becomes more difficult compared with the control. Adding Ce3+ brings little change in the constitution of VFA: 96% of VFA is acetic acid and butyric acid, while the propionic acid accounts for less than 3%. With the acetic sodium as the sole carbon and energy source, adding 0.05 mg/L Ce3+ could accelerate acetate degradation. After being conserved for 4 months, the activity of the Ce-containing anaerobic granular sludge is higher than that of the Ce-free sludge. The present of Ce contributes to the restart-up of anaerobic reactors.