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Background: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progressive form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The diagnostic gold standard for detecting NASH still relies upon an invasive pathological biopsy. There is, therefore, a need to identify non-invasive diagnostic markers. Oxidative stress mediates fatty liver progression to NASH. Imbalanced iron metabolism produces many reactive oxygen species (ROS). Ceruloplasmin is associated with oxidase and iron metabolism-related activities. The current study aimed to determine whether there was a correlation between ceruloplasmin levels and NASH and whether such a relationship may be associated with altered iron metabolism in NASH patients. Methods: A total of 135 NAFLD patients were enrolled in this study. A pathological biopsy confirmed that 60 of those patients had NAFLD activity scores (NAS) 5, while the remaining 75 had NAS

According to the structural features, sedimentary evolution, types of sedimentary facies, source rocks features, diagenesis evolution, reservoir features and hydrocarbon formation mechanism, exploration status and hydrocargon resource potential, this article analyzed the major control fac-tors and hydrocarbon distribution rules of the lithologic reservoirs in continental fault basin. The research shows that three major control factors and one coupled factor (fractures act as a tie) in-fluence hydrocarbon formation of lithologic traps in Nantun Formation of Tanan Sag, which in-clude sand body types, effective source rocks and effective reservoirs. With the increase in depth, enough hydrocarbon generate in source rock under thermal evolution. Hydrocarbon generation and expulsion are more intensive when it comes to the depth threshold and critical conditions of hydrocarbon supplying are met. Traps that surrounded or contacted by source rock, or communi-cated by fault are qualified to form reservoirs. As buried depth increases, hydrocarbon genera-tion-expulsion intensity grows and the trap is more petroliferous. Hydrocarbon accumulation and reservoir formation are also controlled by sandbody accumulation conditions. When it meets the critical conditions of hydrocarbon generation and concrete oil and gas are charged in, better phys-ical properties of sandbody always indicate more hydrocarbon accumulation in the trap. Alloca-tion of sand type, effective source rock and effective reservoir is optimized under the effect of fractures, and coupled hydrocarbon reservoir with these three elements.

BackgroundArchitectural distortion (AD) is a common imaging manifestation of breast cancer, but is also seen in benign lesions. This study aimed to construct deep learning models using mask regional convolutional neural network (Mask-RCNN) for AD identification in full-field digital mammography (FFDM) and evaluate the performance of models for malignant AD diagnosis.MethodsThis retrospective diagnostic study was conducted at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine between January 2011 and December 2020. Patients with AD in the breast in FFDM were included. Machine learning models for AD identification were developed using the Mask RCNN method. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curves, their areas under the curve (AUCs), and recall/sensitivity were used to evaluate the models. Models with the highest AUCs were selected for malignant AD diagnosis.ResultsA total of 349 AD patients (190 with malignant AD) were enrolled. EfficientNetV2, EfficientNetV1, ResNext, and ResNet were developed for AD identification, with AUCs of 0.89, 0.87, 0.81 and 0.79. The AUC of EfficientNetV2 was significantly higher than EfficientNetV1 (0.89 vs. 0.78, P=0.001) for malignant AD diagnosis, and the recall/sensitivity of the EfficientNetV2 model was 0.93.ConclusionThe Mask-RCNN-based EfficientNetV2 model has a good diagnostic value for malignant AD.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a worldwide health problem with high morbidity and mortality rates. The therapeutic vaccine is a promising method of treatment, and HBV polymerase plays a vital role in viral replication. Therefore, a therapeutic vaccine that binds to HBV DNA polymerase may control HBV infection. We predicted and selected epitopes of polymerase using online databases and analysis software. We then performed molecular docking and peptide binding assays to evaluate the binding energies and affinities between polymerase epitopes and the HLA-A0201 molecule. Finally, we induced T cells from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of healthy donors using each epitope and quantified the functions of epitope-specific T cells by IFN-γELISPOT assay, T2 cell cytotoxicity assay, HepG2.2.15 cell cytotoxicity assay and HBV gene expression assays. Four epitopes (RVTGGVFLV, GLLGFAAPF, LLDDEAGPL and YMDDVVLGA) had low binding energy and two epitopes (RVTGGVFLV and GLLGFAAPF) had a high binding affinity. The T cells stimulated by two epitopes (GLLGFAAPF and HLYSHPIIL) had a greater ability to induce immune response and suppress HBV. The HBV DNA polymerase epitopes identified in this study are promising targets for designing an epitope-based therapeutic vaccine against HBV.

Background The aims of this study were to identify risk factors for significant fibrosis (SF) by assessing physical and laboratory parameters and develop and validate a clinical score and nomogram for the prediction of SF in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods This retrospective study included 225 patients with histologically confirmed NAFLD who were divided into two cohorts using 10-fold cross validation for model training and validation. The clinical score and nomogram were used to predict the NAFLD outcome. Results The model for predicting SF (stage ≥ 2) including the free T4/free T3 ratio, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, homeostatic model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), percentage of appendicular skeletal muscle mass and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) level in the training and validation cohorts yielded an area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.79 and 0.78, respectively. The AUROC of the combined clinical score for the prediction of SF was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.75–0.89) at a cutoff value of 3 points, with a sensitivity (SE) of 77.19%, specificity (SP) of 82.88%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 63.77%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 90.30%. The nomogram had good performance in quantitatively predicting the risk probability of SF. Conclusion Our study showed that a noninvasive clinical scoring system using easily available physical and laboratory variables can identify patients with NAFLD with or without SF with a high degree of accuracy. Application of this system may decrease the need for staging liver biopsy specimens and allow early identification and intervention in these high-risk patients.

PurposeMany high-risk osteopenia and osteoporosis patients remain undiagnosed. We proposed to construct a convolutional neural network model for screening primary osteopenia and osteoporosis based on the lumbar radiographs, and to compare the diagnostic performance of the CNN model adding the clinical covariates with the image model alone.MethodsA total of 6,908 participants were collected for analysis, including postmenopausal women and men aged 50–95 years, who performed conventional lumbar x-ray examinations and dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) examinations within 3 months. All participants were divided into a training set, a validation set, test set 1, and test set 2 at a ratio of 8:1:1:1. The bone mineral density (BMD) values derived from DXA were applied as the reference standard. A three-class CNN model was developed to classify the patients into normal BMD, osteopenia, and osteoporosis. Moreover, we developed the models integrating the images with clinical covariates (age, gender, and BMI), and explored whether adding clinical data improves diagnostic performance over the image mode alone. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed for assessing the model performance.ResultsAs for classifying osteoporosis, the model based on the anteroposterior+lateral channel performed best, with the area under the curve (AUC) range from 0.909 to 0.937 in three test cohorts. The models with images alone achieved moderate sensitivity in classifying osteopenia, in which the highest AUC achieved 0.785. The performance of models integrating images with clinical data shows a slight improvement over models with anteroposterior or lateral images input alone for diagnosing osteoporosis, in which the AUC increased about 2%–4%. Regarding categorizing osteopenia and the normal BMD, the proposed models integrating images with clinical data also outperformed the models with images solely.ConclusionThe deep learning-based approach could screen osteoporosis and osteopenia based on lumbar radiographs.

Purpose Liver fibrosis (or liver scarring) is a causative factor for hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Alginate (Agn) isolated from brown algae is known to slow the proliferation of fibroblasts, through the mechanisms of these effects remain undefined. This study explored the benefits of Agn on hepatic health and its associated mechanism(s) of action in hepatic stellate cells (HSC-T6s). Materials and methods To assess the effects of Agn, HSC-T6s were treated with PDGF and cell proliferation, colony formation, cell migration, cell invasiveness and apoptosis were assessed. Rat models of liver fibrosis were produced through 12-week injections of intraperitoneal (IP) carbon tetrachloride (CCl4). Rats were Agn-treated from weeks 8 to 12, and liver damage was assessed through Masson's and H & E staining. Gene expression profiles were assayed via RT-PCR, Western blot and commercial ELISA kits. Results Agn reduced the proliferation of HSC-T6s and increased apoptotic rates through the downregulation of the Bcl-2:Bax ratio. Agn also inhibited the invasion and migration of HSC-T6s, prevented ECM deposition, and reduced the occurrence of liver fibrosis in rat models. Agn also prevented IκBα and p65 phosphorylation. Conclusion Agn prevents liver fibrosis through its attenuation of HSC activation and division through the suppression of NF-κB in in vitro and animal models. This highlights how the clinical use of Agn can prevent hepatic fibrosis.

Background The prevalence of dyslipidemia in China is increasing annually. Current studies suggest that dyslipidemia affects the antiviral efficacy of hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapies, while recent studies suggest that serum lipids influence the response rates of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients receiving PEGylated interferon-alpha (Peg IFN-α) treatment. However, the role of dyslipidemia in the efficacy of nucleoside (acid) analogues (NAs) in CHB patients remains unclear. Methods From January 2010 to December 2013, data from 179 treatment-naive patients with CHB who were hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive and had visited the first affiliated hospital of Wenzhou Medical University were assessed. Of these patients, 68 were assigned to the dyslipidemia group (diagnosed with CHB complicated with dyslipidemia) and 111 to the normolipidemic group. The following 3 treatment strategies were performed for all CHB patients over a 5-year period: lamivudine (LAM) plus adefovir dipivoxil (ADV) combination therapy, telbivudine (LdT) monotherapy, and entecavir (ETV) monotherapy. Serum assessments, blood biochemistry, HBV serological markers, HBV DNA before treatment and HBeAg serological conversion and virological responses at different timepoints after treatment were compared between the two groups. Measurement data were compared by τ tests and enumeration data by χ2 tests. Correlation analysis was performed using binary logistic regression analysis. Results The rates of HBeAg seroconversion in the dyslipidemia group at years 1, 2, 3, and 4 were 10.3, 13.2, 17.6, and 22.1%, respectively, which were not significantly lower than those of the normolipidemic group (11.7, 16.2, 18.0 and 33.3%; χ2 = 0.085, 0.293, 0.004, and 2.601, respectively; Ρ > 0.05). However, the rates of HBeAg seroconversion in the dyslipidemia group were significantly lower than those in the normolipidemic group at year 5 (27.9% vs. 43.2%, χ2 = 4.216, Ρ Ρ = 0.038) and male gender (OR = 2.317, Ρ = 0.029) were risk factors associated with HBeAg seroconversion. Conclusions During antiviral therapy, dyslipidemia affects HBeAg seroconversion in CHB patients treated with NAs, but does not affect the virological response.

BackgroundThe prevalence of dyslipidemia in China is increasing annually. Current studies suggest that dyslipidemia affects the antiviral efficacy of hepatitis C virus (HCV) therapies. Recent studies have shown that serum lipids influence the response rates of chronic hepatitis B patients receiving PEGylated interferon-alpha (Peg IFN-a) treatment. However, the role of dyslipidemia in the efficacy of nucleoside (acid) analogues in chronic hepatitis B patients has not been determined. Methods From January 2010 to December 2013, data from 179 treatment-naive patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who were hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive and visited the first affiliated hospital of Wenzhou Medical University were collected. Amongst them, 68 patients were diagnosed with CHB complicated with dyslipidemia (dyslipidemia group) whilst 111 patients comprised the lipid control group. Three treatment strategies were performed amongst the 179 CHB patients over a 5 year period. Treatments included combination therapy of lamivudine (LAM) plus adefovir dipivoxil (ADV), telbivudine (LdT) monotherapy or entecavir (ETV) monotherapy. Serum assessments, blood biochemistry, HBV serological markers, HBV DNA before treatment and HBeAg serological conversion and virological responses at different time points after treatment were compared between the two groups. Measurement data were compared using τ tests, whilst enumeration data were compared using c2 tests. Correlation analysis was performed using binary Logistic regression analysis. Results The rates of HBeAg seroconversion in the dyslipidemia group at years 1, 2, 3 and 4 were 10.3%, 13.2%, 17.6% and 22.1%, respectively, which were not significantly lower than those of the lipid control group 11.7%, 16.2%, 18.0% and 33.3%, (c2 = 0.085, 0.293, 0.004 and 2.601, respectively; R > 0.05). However, the rates of HBeAg seroconversion in the dyslipidemia group were significantly lower than those of the lipid control group at year 5 (27.9% vs 43.2%, c2 =4.216, RConclusions During antiviral therapy, dyslipidemia affects HBeAg seroconversion in CHB patients treated with nucleoside (acid) analogues but does not affect the virological response.

Background Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-specific effector CD8+ T cells are critical for viral clearance. To determine the effects of HBV-specific effector CD8+ T cells on HBV infection, we performed a meta-analysis of the available literature. Methods Electronic database searches identified appropriately designed studies that detected specific CD8+ T cells in HBV-infected patients. Our main endpoints were the course of infection, seroconversion of HBV “e” antigen (HBeAg), the level of HBVDNA, and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity. We used a fixed/random model for analysis, according to the results of a heterogeneity test (P value of Q-squared, I2). Results Our searches found five eligible articles. Pooled estimation of the reported results showed that levels of specific CD8+ T cells were significantly higher in patients with acute hepatitis B than in patients with chronic hepatitis B (odds ratio [OR] = 76.30, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 15.37–378.70). With respect to chronic hepatitis B, patients with 107 copies/ml HBVDNA, but the difference had no statistics significance (OR: 3.89, 95% CI: 0.71–21.33). Patients with negative HBeAg or positive anti-HBeAg antibody (anti-HBe) results had significantly higher levels of specific CD8+ T cells versus patients with positive HBeAg results (OR: 5.82, 95% CI: 1.41–24.13). There were no significant associations between the levels of specific CD8+ T cells and serum ALT activity (OR = 0.86, 95% CI: 0.01–74.15). Conclusion HBV-specific effector CD8+ T cells influence the disease activity in HBV-infected patients in various ways and determine prognosis by eliminating the virus. Therefore, efforts of studying HBV-specific effector CD8+ T cells focused vaccine are potentially needed.

In this paper, aiming at the trajectory tracking problem of the nonholonomic mobile robot with static obstacles, a simultaneous trajectory tracking and obstacle avoidance method based on the model predictive control (MPC) is proposed. First, a quadratic cost function is calculated to obtain the optimal tracking error in the trajectory tracking controller. Then, the obstacle avoidance region is established, and the optimal obstacle avoidance direction is determined according to the location parameters of the robot, the reference trajectory and obstacles. Finally, simulation results are provided to show the effectiveness of the control method.

Background & Aims: Studies on the relationship between thyroid function and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) among euthyroid subjects had shown inconsistent results. Objective of the present study was to exploring the independent relationship between thyroid function parameters and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), significant fibrosis (SF) respectively after adjusting other well-identified risk factors.Method: This study enrolled 307 patients with biopsy-proven NAFLD. Thyroid dysfunction defined as serum thyroid-stimulating hormone > 4.5 mIU/l or 14.41 pmol/l or

Poyang Lake is the largest freshwater lake in China and is internationally recognized as an important lacustrine and wetland ecosystem with abundant biodiversity. Since 2003, the average la...

Additional file 1: Experimental protocol of SRM 972a detection.

Chronic respiratory disorders are some of the most frequent and severe chronic diseases in China. Epidemiological research has shown that particulate matter (PM) is a risk factor and is closely correlated to the progression of numerous respiratory diseases. Fibroblast growth factor 10 (FGF10) is a mesenchymal-epithelial signaling messenger essential for the development and environmental stability of several tissues. Nevertheless, its role in PM-induced airway inflammation remains unclear. The present study aimed to explore the mechanisms underlying the FGF10-related slowing of lung injury and inflammation in vivo and in vitro, as well as the therapeutic potential of these phenomena. Mice were intraperitoneally injected with a vehicle (PBS) or FGF10 (0.5 mg/kg) at one hour before intratracheal treatment with vehicle (PBS) or PM (4 mg/kg) for two consecutive days. Human airway epithelial BEAS-2B cells were exposed to a vehicle (PBS) or FGF10 (10 ng/ml) in vitro at one hour prior to incubation with a vehicle or PM (200 ug/ml) for 24 hours. Then, the impact on inflammatory molecules was investigated. In vivo, it was found that FGF10 diminished the inflammatory cell aggregation and reduced the apoptosis. Interestingly, in the PM group, the level of FGF10 increased in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). However, the pre-treatment with FGF10 markedly impaired the PM-induced increase in IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α and PGE2 levels in BALF and the cell supernatant. In conclusion, the present findings indicate that FGF10 attenuates PM-induced airway inflammation by inhibiting apoptosis and inflammation. This may be exploited for the prevention and management of PM-induced airway inflammation.

The histogram comparison approach (HCA) is proposed to assess the alteration of hydrologic regimes, which are characterized by the hydrologic metrics, for example, the indicators of hydrologic alteration. The HCA method considers alterations within the whole range of the hydrologic regime and estimates the alteration degree by comparing the pre-impact and post-impact histograms. A key parameter of the HCA method is the similarity degree, which considers both the class-by-class and cross-class information of histograms and reflects how many features of the pre-impact histogram remain in the post-impact histogram. The alteration degree is defined as the mathematical maximum similarity degree, that is, 100%, subtracted by the actual similarity degree in the HCA method. Comparing the HCA method to the existing range of variability approach and histogram matching approach through theoretical analysis and case studies, the HCA method can eliminate some limitations of the range of variability approach and histogram matching approach methods and can more accurately and effectively assess the hydrologic regime alteration. The Ob and Yangtze Rivers, which are located in different climatic zones, are used as case studies. Hydrologic regime alterations impacted by reservoirs with different regulation abilities (daily, seasonally and yearly) were assessed using the HCA method, the results of which verified its rationality and practicability. More sites with a wider range of flow variations will be examined in the future to assess the applicability of the HCA method. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Women with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) have poor prognosis because of the aggressive nature of the tumor, delayed diagnosis and non-specific symptoms in the early stages. Identification of novel specific TNBC serum biomarkers for screening and therapeutic purposes therefore remains an urgent clinical requirement.We obtained serum samples from a total of 380 recruited individuals split into mining and testing sets, with the aim of screening for reliable protein biomarkers from TNBC and non-TNBC (NTNBC) sera. Samples were assessed using mass spectrometry, followed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC), survival and hazard function curve as well as multivariate Cox regression analyses to ascertain the potential of the protein constituents as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for TNBC.We identified upregulated apolipoprotein C-I (apoC-I) with a validated positive effect on TNBC tumorigenesis, with confirmation in an independent test set and minimization of systematic bias by pre-analytical parameters. The apoC-I protein had superior diagnostic ability in distinguishing between TNBC and NTNBC cases. Moreover, the protein presented a more robust potential prognostic factor for TNBC than NTNBC. The apoC-I protein identified in this study presents an effective novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for TNBC, indicating that measurement of the peak intensity at 7785 Da in serum samples could facilitate improved early detection and estimation of postoperative survival prognosis for TNBC.

Hydrologic regimes are essential to riverine, lacustrine, and wetland ecosystems, and every component of a hydrologic regime has a specific ecological environmental function. In an outflow lake-river system, water levels are reduced by a reservoir constructed at the river, which interferes with the river-lake interrelationships by impairing the river’s blocking effect. This increases the lake-river hydraulic gradient and accelerates the lake’s drainage to the river, resulting in shrinkage of the lake and damaging environmental issues. To respond to these issues, we propose an environmental flow assessment that considers the river’s blocking effect on the lake. This novel methodology consists of four steps: data preparation, assessment of the lake’s environmental water level, assessment of the river’s environmental water level, and environmental flow assessment. We estimated the river’s environmental water level through a hydraulic correlation between the lake and the river, and found that the river’s blocking effect could be sustained. The Yangtze-Poyang system was selected as a case study to illustrate the methodology’s procedures and applicability. The impoundment of the Three Gorges Reservoir, during the fall retreating season, decreased the Yangtze’s water level and weakened the Yangtze’s blocking effect on Poyang Lake. Poyang Lake’s environmental water level, which ranges from 11.71 to 15.81 m in the month of October, was used to estimate the Yangtze’s environmental water level as falling in a range of 11.95 to 16.17 m, which corresponds to an environmental flow range of 16,822 to 32,371 m3/s. This study offers a solution for reservoir-induced accelerated lake drainage, which may be helpful in mitigating the negative impacts of reservoirs and sustaining natural rive-lake interactions.

Background LncRNAs are known to take part in normal brain functions and nervous system diseases. Little evidence has pointed to the dysregulation of lncRNAs in congenital intestinal atresia. We aimed to investigate the underlying molecular mechanism of congenital intestinal atresia that involves in lncRNA-MEG3. Materials and methods The expressions of LncRNA-MEG3, miR-211-5p and GDNF were determined by the qRT-PCR and Western blot assay when appropriate. The results were verified in intestinal atresia Wistar rat model and bone marrow derived stem cell (BMSCs)-derived into intestinal ganglion cells. RNA immunoprecipitation and RNA pull-down assays were performed to analyze the regulatory mechanism between MEG3 and miR-211-5p. The effects of MEG3 on the cell proliferation and apoptosis of isolated intestinal ganglion cells were detected with an MTT assay and flow cytometry, respectively. Results The expression of MEG3 was detected to be declined in congenital intestinal atresia tissues at clinic and animal levels. MEG3 promoted the differentiation of BMSCs into intestinal ganglion cells and regulated GDNF expression in retinal ganglion cells (RGC-5 cells) via targeting miR-211-5p. Hypoxia induced the apoptosis of intestinal ganglion cells via MEG3/miR-211-5p/GDNF axis. Conclusion MEG3 promoted the differentiation of BMSCs into intestinal ganglion cells and inhibited the apoptosis of intestinal ganglion cells under the exposure of hypoxia to protect against CIA injury via directly regulating miR-211-5p/GDNF axis.

This paper aims to detect climate change points and compare the extreme temperature changes with the average-value changes in the Amur River basin. The daily air temperatures of 44 stations in the Amur River basin were collected from April 1, 1954, to March 31, 2013. The change points for annual mean and extreme temperature in 44 individual stations and their average were detected by the Mann-Kendall test, respectively. The annual mean temperature changed during 1980s in terms of increased mean value and relative stable standard deviation. The annual maximum temperature from 31 stations mostly located in the central and northwest basin changed significantly, and their change points occurred mainly in 1990s. For the annual minimum temperature, 32 stations mainly located in the central basin had significant changes. The generalized extreme value distribution was fitted to the postchange point subseries of annual extreme temperature and the parameters were estimated by the maximum likelihood method. The 10/50/100-year return levels were estimated by the method of profile likelihood. For the areas in the central and Northwestern basin, the probability of occurrence of hot extremes increased, while the occurrence probability of cold extremes was decreased in the central basin under climate change.

A member of the p53 family, the p73 gene is essential for the maintenance of genomic stability, DNA repair and apoptosis regulation. This study was designed to evaluate the utility of expression and DNA methylation patterns of the p73 gene in the early diagnosis and prognosis of Wilms' tumour (WT).Methylation-specific PCR, semi-quantitative (sq-PCR), real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR), receiver operating characteristic (ROC), and survival and hazard function curve analyses were utilised to measure the expression and DNA methylation patterns of p73 in WT tissue samples with a view to assessing diagnostic and prognostic value.The relative expression of p73 mRNA was higher, while the promoter methylation level was lower in the WT than the control group (p0.05) and closely associated with poor survival prognosis in children with WT (p0.05). Increased expression and decreased methylation of p73 were correlated with increasing tumour size, clinical stage and unfavourable histological differentiation (p0.05). ROC curve analysis showed areas under the curve of 0.544 for methylation and 0.939 for expression in WT venous blood, indicating the higher diagnostic yield of preoperative p73 expression.Preoperative venous blood p73 level serves as an underlying biomarker for the early diagnosis of WT. p73 overexpression and concomitantly decreased promoter methylation are significantly associated with poor survival in children with WT.

This study was designed to evaluate the utility of expression and DNA methylation patterns of the sine oculis homeobox homolog 2 (SIX2) gene in early diagnosis and prognosis of Wilms’ tumor (WT). Methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP), real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), receiver operating characteristic (ROC), and survival curve analyses were utilized to measure the expression and DNA methylation patterns of SIX2 in a cohort of WT tissues, with a view to assessing their diagnostic and prognostic value. Relative expression of SIX2 mRNA was higher, while the promoter methylation level was lower in the WT than control group (P

Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-specific effector CD8Electronic database searches identified appropriately designed studies that detected specific CD8Our searches found five eligible articles. Pooled estimation of the reported results showed that levels of specific CD8HBV-specific effector CD8

Breast cancer (BC) is the second-leading cause of cancer mortality after lung cancer in women owing partly to a lack of specific and sensitive tests for early screening and monitoring. The detection of novel specific BC serum indicators for screening purposes is an essential clinical need. A total of 437 serum specimens from 310 BC patients that were divided into mining and testing sets were collected in this study. In contrast with the conventional BC indicators through receiver operating characteristic, survival and hazard function curves, and multivariate Cox regression analyses, we intended to hunt for stable protein indicators from serum specimens and identify their diagnostic and prognostic potential for BC. We identified a unique serum peptide located at 6648 Da originated from apoC-III with a validated correlation with BC tumorigenesis with confirmation in a substantive testing set and minimization of systematic bias by pre-analytical parameters. We found that the diagnostic efficacy of this peptide is better than the present conventional BC diagnostic indicators either alone or in combination with conventional indicators in distinguishing BC patients from control volunteers. Moreover, this peptide denotes a stronger prognostic factor for BC patients than conventional indicators. In light of these findings, we speculate that this peptide is a potential diagnostic and prognostic indicator and a supplement to conventional indicators in monitoring BC. The detection of this peptide located at 6648 Da in sera could enhance early screening and assessment of the postoperative survival opportunity for BC patients.

The Gezhouba Reservoir (GR) and Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) are the two largest water-storage projects in the middle reach of the Yangtze River. The impoundments of the reservoirs have changed natural flow-regimes in the river. This paper uses the Yichang Hydrological Station as a proxy for water-storage projects along the Yangtze River to assess alterations in river-flow conditions in three separate periods. The periods coincide with the start of water storage in the GR and TGR. The ecohydrological conditions in the river system are assessed based on annual discharge, water level, water temperature, and suspended-sediment concentration. More importantly, the entire analysis is done in relation to the Chinese sturgeon species, which face the danger of extinction in the Yangtze River. Based on the research reported in this paper, the impoundment of the GR and TGR increases downstream average annual water-temperature. In contrast, it decreases downstream average annual runoff, water level, and susp...

Hydrological parameters are significant both in hydrological events and ecological conservation. The implications of hydrological statistical parameters in river ecology were investigated by considering three basic parameters, as follows: (1) mean value, (2) coefficient of variation, and (3) extreme ratio. Four typical rivers selected as case studies include the Yellow and Yiluo Rivers in north China, and the Yangtze and Oujiang Rivers in south China. Hydrological statistical parameters were calculated using monthly flow data collected from the key hydrometric stations on each of the four rivers. The results revealed that the three hydrological statistical parameters are all crucial ecological indicators that reflect the ecological conditions of river ecosystems. The mean value of the flow may be the key determinant of habitat range and aquatic biomass. The coefficient of variation may reflect the stability or vulnerability of the ecological conditions of rivers, and the extreme ratio may reflect ...

This study analyzed the long-term trends and variations of temperature and precipitation on annual timescale in the Ili-Balkhash Basin (IBB), Kazakhstan. Some statistical tools were employed to detect any climate variations at four stations in the IBB during the period between 1936 and 2005. These methods included the Mann–Kendall trend test, the Theil–Sen approach, and the sequential Mann–Kendall test. The results showed that in temporal scale, the climate in the IBB has been becoming warmer and wetter in the past several decades as a whole. The annual mean temperature and the annual precipitation in the IBB showed an increasing trend since the 1970s and the 1940s, respectively. The significance of the annual mean temperature and annual precipitation trends in the IBB was tested at >95 % confidence level. The slope of the increasing trend of annual mean temperature ranges from 0.019 to 0.029 °C/year, and that of the annual precipitation ranges from 0.654 to 2.179 mm/year. In spatial scale, the multiyear mean values of temperature and precipitation are greater in the southern mountain region than those in the northern plain and hilly land area of the basin. The multiyear mean temperature decreases with the increasing latitudes, while increases with the increasing altitudes except for Karaganda; the multiyear mean precipitation increase with the increasing altitudes, while decreases centered with the Lake Balkhash from the surrounding area. The results may provide climatic backgrounds for solving the problems related to water sources of the IBB.

Employing the histogram matching approach, the sediment regime alteration of the upper Yangtze River was assessed and its possible causes and environmental influences were discussed. Daily sediment load and flow data from 1950 to 2008 were collected from Yichang hydrometric station. The annual sediment load series was segmented by heuristic segmentation algorithm in 1986 and 2003, and the multi-year mean values of the three phases were 5.28 × 108, 3.89 × 108 and 0.57 × 108 t, respectively. One change point was found by cross wavelet transform in 2003 when the cross wavelet power became insignificant, which indicates the interruption of the common annual cycle of the sediment load and flow series. The sediment regime from 1986 to 2002 was altered by a total of 41 % compared with the regime from 1950 to 1985. It may be mainly attributed to numerous dams constructed in the tributaries, the Gezhouba Dam constructed in the mainstream, and land use and land cover change, e.g., the increased grassland with a coverage density larger than 50 %. The sediment regime alteration after 2003, assessed to be a total of 83 %, may be mainly attributed to the Three Gorges Reservoir. It breaks the natural process of sediment transport, reduces sediment concentration and releases clear water to the downstream which may result in some environmental problems, e.g., limited nutrients availability, river bed erosion, benthic habitat destruction, etc. The assessment of sediment regime alteration may provide some references for the environmental management and conservation of the Yangtze River.

As the largest tributary of the Ob River, the Irtysh River is an international river partially joining the territories of China, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Four meteorological stations in the Irtysh Basin were selected and the long-term observed daily temperature data were collected. The extreme temperature change was analyzed considering climate change. Detected by the heuristic segmentation by histogram comparison approach, climate was changed during the first half of the 1970s in terms of the increased mean value and decreased standard deviation of the daily temperature series. The noticeable change of the monthly mean temperature was the warmer winter. After climate change, the annual maximum temperature was little changed and its series was not segmented. However, the annual minimum temperature was significantly changed in terms of the increased mean value by more than 2°C, so its series was segmented to the pre- and post-change point subseries. The generalized extreme value distribution was fitted to the annual extreme temperature and the parameters were estimated by the maximum likelihood method. The return levels for 10/50/100-year return periods estimated by the profile likelihood method were obtained for the annual extreme temperature. The probability of occurrence of the cold extremes was decreased after 1970s.

The four main Chinese carps, collectively abbreviated as MCHA, include the black carp (Mylopharyngodon piceus), grass carp (Ctenop haryngodon idellus), silver carp (Hypoph thal michthys molitrix), and the big-head carp (Aristichyths nobilis). MCHA constitutes a significant catch of China's fresh water fishery. The construction of the Gezhouba and Three Gorges Dams greatly affects the physical habitat conditions of these four main carp species. This paper presents a time-series model for the assessment of instantaneous physical conditions in MCHA habitats. The model incorporates the effects of various hydrological variables (e.g. water level fluctuation, water temperature and sediment concentration) on MCHA habitat quality. The model is tested for the Yichang-Zhijiang reaches of the Yangtze River – a suitable region for analysing the effects of dam construction on the physical conditions of MCHA habitat. The model analyses instream ecological flow (IEF) characteristics of the study area in the spawning season of MCHA. On the basis of the analysis, the min, max and optimal IEFs are 6200, 51000 and 14 500 m3/s, respectively. The model introduces an efficient method for calculating the instantaneous habitat area on the basis of IEF and other physical conditions. If properly applied, the model is an efficient tool for assessing the effects of variations in flow conditions on MCHA habitat quality. The model could also be used in real time to analyse the combined effect of ecological regulations (e.g. as induced by the Three Gorges and Gezhouba Dams) on MCHA spawning conditions. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Hydrodynamic flow fields affect the ecological processes such as the water diversity and the distribution of organisms. Understanding the hydrodynamic and ecological processes is critical for the restoration and protection of especially fragile ecological habitats in river systems. This study uses turbulent flow to characterize the ecological behaviour of Chinese Sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) in the Yangtze River. The Delft3D-Flow model, which is first validated with field-measured data, is used to simulate the flow field within spawning habitats of Chinese Sturgeon, downstream of Gezhouba Dam. The model-simulated turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) and its distribution pattern are then used to characterize the hydraulic environment of the fish's spawning habitat. For the spawning habitat, downstream of Gezhouba Dam, the lower limit of TKE for the Chinese Sturgeon egg mass field is 0.025 m2/s2, which occurs at a velocity less than 1.7 m/s. Chinese Sturgeon prefers habitats with TKE range of 0.010 ~ 0.015 m2/s2 for resting. This suggests that discharge regimes provide the basis for ecological regulation of the Three Gorges Reservoir and the scientific reference for river management. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Instream ecological flow is essential determinant of river health. In this paper, the monthly minimum flow calculation method, the (new) monthly frequency calculation method were applied to calculate and evaluate the minimum instream ecological flow and the optimal instream ecological flow for the Irtysh River, and the different criteria of instream ecological flow was calculated by the improved Tennant method. It is expected to provide a scientific basis for the reasonable allocation of water resource in Irtysh River basin by calculating the instream ecological flow.

Oujiang River was selected as the case study, and a dataset of daily flow series at Xuren Station was used to explore the hydrologic characteristics of rivers in humid areas, by using the ‘Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration’ approach and ‘Range of Variability Approach’. Results showed that the overall alteration of the hydrological regime for Oujiang River belonged to the low alteration category, and some key eco-hydrological characteristics should be protected in certain key periods to maintain the integrality and health status of river ecosystems.

Flow complexity, which means the degree of uncertainty or the rate of information production of a flow series, is analyzed for the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. Sample entropy (SampEn) is applied to measure flow complexity, and the Mann-Kendall method is applied to analyze the trend of flow-complexity change. Except for the flow complexity of the Jinsha River, which is increasing, the flow complexity of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is decreasing. The influencing factor of the flow-complexity change is analyzed. On the basis of analysis of the rainfall complexity, which is also measured by SampEn, it is considered that the flow-complexity increase of the Jinsha River may be attributed to the rainfall-complexity increase, while the flow-complexity loss of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River may be attributed to the underlying surface-condition change influenced by human activities, especially reservoir construction. The reservoir operation makes the flow series more regular and self-simil...

The Yangtze Basin is taken as a case study to investigate statistically whether the hydrologic regime affects fish diversity. Jaccard’s similarity index (I JS) is used to characterize the fish species similarity of any pair of sample rivers. On the basis of the IHA (Indicators of Hydrologic Alteration) method, a series of hydrologic indicators, some of which are modified according to the practical hydrologic characters of the Yangtze Basin, are used to characterize the hydrologic regime. A new index, named the degree of the hydrologic regime difference (I DHRD) is constructed to measure the difference between hydrologic regimes of any pair of sample rivers. An exponential model is used to estimate the correlation curve of I JS and I DHRD. We observed a negative relationship between I JS and I DHRD, which suggests that hydrologic regime affects fish diversity.

The sediment regime of the Yangtze River (Changjiang) has been altered by intensified human activities over the past decades, particularly dam construction. To investigate the impacts of dam building on the sediment regime in the Yangtze River, two of the largest reservoirs on the upper reach, i.e. the Gezhouba reservoir and the Three Gorges reservoir, have been selected as case study sites. To analyze the changes in sediment regime between pre-dam and post-dam periods, the whole study period was divided into three sub-periods according to the years when these two reservoirs started to store water. On the basis of the time series of daily water discharge and sediment concentration from four key hydrological stations, i.e. Cuntan, Yichang, Hankou and Datong, the alterations of annual, seasonal, monthly and daily sediment regimes in different sub-periods were investigated and the driving forces were explored. The results revealed: the impacts varied with reservoir storage capacity, operation modes and the distance between the target reservoir and the case study site; Sediment trapping in reservoirs together with soil and water conservation measures was of significant impacts on different time scales of sediment regimes. The results of the study could provide references for the assessment of impacts of dam construction on the health and stability of the Yangtze River ecosystem.

Drought is one of the most harmful natural hazards in the Upper Reaches of the Yangtze River basin (URYR) in the mid-west part of China. Alterations in precipitation will affect the severity of drought. The nonparametric Mann–Kendall (MK) test was used in this paper to examine the trend of precipitation and the standardized precipitation index (SPI) was adopted to analyze the spatial–temporal variations of meteorological drought over different time scales in the last 50 years. The MK test value of precipitation indicated that, for most of the URYR showed an increasing trend of precipitation in the months of January, February, March and June, mainly in the Min-Tuojiang, Jialingjiang and Wujiang sub-basins and a decreasing trend was observed in August to December. The most obvious decreasing trend of precipitation occurred in the Jialingjiang, upper mainstream and Wujiang sub-basins in September, with a rate ranging from –7.89mm/10 years to –39.36mm/10 years. The results show that the SPI is applicable in the URYR basin. The number of severe droughts differed among the six sub-basins, i.e., a more obvious 3-month drought takes place in the middle of the upper mainstream, Wujiang sub-basins and the southeast of Jialingjiang sub-basin and other droughts in 6, 9 and 12 month timescales have the same effect in these three sub-basins. The outcomes of the paper could provide references for droughts mitigation, local water resources management and agriculture decision making.

Chinese sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis) is a protected anadromous fish species. The migration pattern of the fish has been blocked by the construction of Gezhouba Dam, reducing the natural spawning site length to less than 7 km along the Yangtze River. However, the fish has since established an alternative spawning ground in the narrow reach downstream of Gezhouba Dam. To enhance navigation, a Separation Levee Project (SLP) was implemented in the new-found spawning habitat of the fish. To therefore evaluate the effect of the SLP on Chinese sturgeon spawning habitat suitability, the conditions in the spawning habitat were simulated using River2D (a two-dimensional hydrodynamic model). Two main approaches (habitat kinetic energy and circulation metrics) were used in the simulation. The study showed that SLP only slightly changed the physical conditions in the spawning habitat. Using hydrodynamic simulation, the weighted usable area (WUA) before and after the SLP construction was also computed and habitat preference curve developed for water depth and velocity. On the average, SLP reduced WUA—a finding that was consistent with field-measured data. Based on WUA, the habitat conditions were more sensitive to SLP proximity than metrics based on velocity gradients. SLP posed detrimental impacts on the suitability of spawning habitats of Chinese sturgeon. The findings in this study provide further basis for the protection and restoration of Chinese sturgeon spawning habitats in especially the lower reach of Yangtze River.

With the continuous growth of economic water consumption in arid regions, many endorheic rivers and terminal lakes have desiccated. As an important ecological engineering measure, water transport in arid regions has vital ecological significance for protecting the regional ecological environment and delaying desertification. In this study, Qingtu Lake, the terminal lake of Shiyang River, was selected to analyze the ecological effects of water transport by means of remote sensing interpretations and current year field investigations. The results demonstrated that, in July 2018, the water surface had formed and recovered to 5.68 km2. Additionally, Qingtu Lake formed a spatial gradient distribution in groundwater depth. The depth increased in gradient from the waterside to the desert edge. There was a significant increase in the overall regional vegetation coverage, which mainly occurred in the water areas because of the extensive growth in Phragmites australis, which reached 10.54 km2 in area in 2018. Furthermore, the regional vegetation formed a gradient distribution, which transitioned from hygrophytes to xerophytes. This study can provide guidelines for the protection and restoration of lakes in arid regions.

Dam constructions negatively impact river ecosystems by altering hydrologic regimes and connectivities. River continuum theory provides a useful framework for considering the specific influences of dams on the ecohydrology of river systems. This study presents a Transitional Region Concept for analysing the nature of hydrologic changes resulting from dam constructions and how these changes relate to the life history and ecology of the fish. The stream ecosystem of the transitional region is subdivided into a four-dimensional framework. The framework consists of spatial structure, matter structure, energy structure, and hydrological process. The characteristics and variations in this framework, as affected by dam construction on the Yangtze River, are quantitatively assessed. The spawning ground of the Chinese Sturgeon (Acipenser sinensis), located in inertial zone of the river ecosystem, is used as the study site. Current and historical hydrological data are used to determine the effects of dam construction on the spawning grounds of Chinese Sturgeon in the river. The results show that the Three Gorges Reservoir (TGR) has a significant impact on the suitability of the spawning grounds of Chinese Sturgeon. This could also affect the prey/predator species dynamics and the sturgeon fish population in especially the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The findings of this study could provide critical considerations for policy makers and river managers to protect Chinese Sturgeon from the adverse effects of the TGR. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

As an ecological barrier between the Badain Jaran Desert and Tengger Desert, Qingtu Lake plays an important role in maintaining the local ecological environment. Since 2010, annual artificial water transport to Qingtu Lake has caused changes in local vegetation communities, which is of great ecological significance for promoting regional vegetation restoration. In this study, Landsat satellite remote sensing images from 2010 to 2017 were used to compare the water surface area, vegetation coverage, and spatial patterns of Phragmites australis communities before and after ecological water transport. The results showed that the water surface area increased rapidly until 2016, and the growth rate of the last two years decreased. There was a slight increase in total regional vegetation coverage, which mainly occurred in the water area due to the substantial growth in P. australis. Therefore, artificial ecological water transport promoted the growth in vegetation around the lake, especially the aquatic vegetation, such as P. australis. However, the original desert vegetation in the study area may have been reduced due to submergence.

The Chinese sturgeon, Acipenser sinensis, is an anadromous protected species. Its migration pattern has been blocked since the construction of Gezhouba dam and the length of the natural spawning site reduced to less than 7 km. However, the fish eventually established an alternative spawning ground in the narrow downstream reach of Gezhouba dam. In this article, we applied Delft3D-Flow model to simulate the hydraulic suitability of the spawning ground downstream Gezhouba dam. Horizontal mean vorticity was used to assess the hydraulic environment of spawning ground. The flow field state was determined through model simulation and field-measured data used to validate the model. The computational method was improved by calculating absolute horizontal mean vorticity from estimates the literature. The final vorticity was determined from the simulation output and its distribution pattern retrieved. The horizontal mean vorticity range was 0.71–4.61 10−3 s−1 for the entire spawning grounds, with egg mass field upper limit of 1.0 × 10−3 s−1. Vorticity strength selection of Chinese sturgeon spawning can enhance our understanding of egg fertilization rate, hence the protection of fertilized eggs. Furthermore, the results of the study would add to existing scientific database for spawning ground hydraulic environment protection, especially in the ecological regulation drive of the Three Gorges Reservoir.

Contaminated river water irrigation was conducted in two couples of lysimeters with 1 and 3.5 m soil depths, respectively, to identify factors affecting transport and transformation of organic matters and nitrogen compounds. During 2 months of experimentation, 372 kg∕ha of total nitrogen mineralized into inorganic nitrogen. The amounts of nitrification and denitrification were as high as 387.8 and 321.8 kg∕ha , respectively. 40.5 kg∕ha of N O3− –N leached into groundwater, which amounted to 78% of the initial N O3− –N . Therefore, denitrification and the leaching are the main processes for the loss of nitrogen in soil. Soil moisture was a primary factor affecting the transport and transformation of nitrogen (N) compounds. Lysimeter studies demonstrate that chemical oxygen demand (COD) and N H4+ –N concentrations changed with spatial and temporal variations of the water content and the concentration of N H4+ –N is highly positively correlated with COD. However, there is no significant correlation between s...

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is a highly aggressive cancer type associated with significant mortality owing to delayed diagnosis and non-specific symptoms observed in the early stages. Therefore, identification of novel specific GC serum biomarkers for screening purposes is an urgent clinical requirement. Methods: This study recruited a total of 432 serum samples from 296 GC patients split into the mining and testing sets. We aimed to screen for reliable protein biomarkers from matched serum samples based on mass spectrometry, followed by comparison with three representative conventional markers using receiver operating characteristic and survival curve analyses to ascertain their potential values as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for GC. Results: We identified an apoC-III fragment with confirmation in an independent test set from a second hospital. We found that the diagnostic ability of this fragment performed better than current standard GC diagnostic biomarkers both individually and in combination in distinguishing patients with GC from healthy individuals. Moreover, we found that this apoC-III protein fragment represents a more robust potential prognostic factor for GC than the three conventional markers. Conclusions: In view of these findings, we suggest that apoC-III protein fragment is a novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarker, a complement to conventional biomarkers in detecting GC.

Reservoirs play an important role in modifying the natural hydrological regime. Reservoir-induced changes in flow fluctuations at monthly and hourly scales were analyzed through a case study of a tributary of the Yangtze River (China), the Qingyi River, where the Chencun reservoir is located at the upper reaches. Monthly and hourly flow data were collected from two flow gauging stations monitoring the inflow and outflow regimes, respectively. The flow fluctuations were characterized by coefficient of variation (CV) and concentration degree (Cd). Continuous Morlet wavelet transform was applied to detect diurnal period. The influence of the reservoir was revealed comparing the postdam with the predam conditions by and comparing the affected with the natural conditions. The results indicate two opposite change patterns. Reservoir impoundment may mitigate flow fluctuations at both of the monthly and the hourly scales. At a monthly scale, reservoirs usually impound water in the flood season for the dry...

Hydrological changes of the Ili River were analyzed concerning the changes of annual runoff and its distribution features within a year measured by coefficient of variation and concentration degree. Abrupt changes were detected by the heuristic segmentation method. Possible causes of the hydrological changes were investigated considering climate changes and human activities (especially the reservoir operation and irrigation extension). The Mann-Kendall method was applied to estimate whether the temperature and precipitation were changed. The increased temperature and the decreased precipitation in the flood season may decrease the runoff. At the middle reaches, the impact of the reservoir is significant and may be the main factor leading to the abrupt decreases in annual runoff and its intra-annual variability and concentration. The increased water surface area of the reservoir aggravates the evaporation and leads to annual runoff reduction. The reservoir regulates runoff by storing water in the f...