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This study aimed to evaluate the clinical utility of small breast epithelial mucin (SBEM) as a prognostic biomarker in an independent patient cohort. The paraffin-embedded tissues and clinicopathological data of 105 patients with breast cancer were collected, and the expression of SBEM in breast cancer samples was detected by immunohistochemical staining. The correlations between clinicopathological variables and the expression of SBEM were analyzed, and its significance as a prognostic indicator for breast cancer patients was determined. Immunohistochemical staining revealed that SBEM was expressed mostly in the cytomembrane and cytoplasm, with markedly increased SBEM expression (≥4 points on staining intensity) observed in 34 of 105 breast cancer tissues (32.4%). Elevated expression of SBEM was found to be significantly associated with larger tumor size (P = 0.002), more frequent lymph node metastasis (P = 0.029), advanced tumor node metastasis stage (P = 0.005), reduced expression of the progesterone receptor (PR) (P = 0.002), and a higher Ki-67 index (P = 0.006). Survival analysis indicated that patients with elevated SBEM expression had worse overall survival (OS) (5-year OS rate: 50.5 vs 93.9% for high and low SBEM expression, respectively, P < 0.001) and disease-free survival (DFS) (5-year DFS rate: 52.8 vs 81.7% for high and low SBEM expression, respectively, P = 0.001) rates than those with low expression of SBEM. Univariate and multivariate Cox analyses demonstrated that elevated expression of SBEM (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.994, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.008–3.945, P = 0.047), tumor size (HR = 2.318, 95% CI: 1.071–5.017, P = 0.033), and PR status (HR = 0.195, 95% CI: 0.055–0.694, P = 0.012) were independent predictors of OS in breast cancer patients. Elevated expression of SBEM was associated with both aggressive tumor characteristics and poor survival, indicating its potential as a useful prognostic biomarker for breast cancer patients.

Highland barley (Hordeum vulgare L. var. nudum) is a grain crop that grows on the plateau under poor and high salt conditions. Therefore, to cultivate high-quality highland barley varieties, it is necessary to study the molecular mechanism of strong resistance in highland barley, which has not been clearly explained. In this study, a high concentration of NaCl (240 mmol/L), simulating the unfavorable environment, was used to spray the treated highland barley seeds. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that the expression of more than 8,000 genes in highland barley seed cells was significantly altered, suggesting that the metabolic landscape of the cells was deeply changed under salt stress. Through the KEGG analysis, the phenylpropane metabolic pathway was significantly up-regulated under salt stress, resulting in the accumulation of polyphenols, flavonoids, and lignin, the metabolites for improving the stress resistance of highland barley seed cells, being increased 2.71, 1.22, and 1.17 times, respectively. This study discovered that the phenylpropane metabolic pathway was a significant step forward in understanding the stress resistance of highland barley, and provided new insights into the roles of molecular mechanisms in plant defense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The damage of vulnerable components inside the cylinder of reciprocating compressor, including the valve, piston ring, packing and piston ring, will cause the unexpected shutdown of the compressor unit. The indicator diagram which reflects the thermodynamic process in the cylinder is suitable for fault diagnosis of vulnerable components. However, most of the published fault diagnosis methods based on indicator diagram are aimed at the fault diagnosis of gas valve. In addition, the extracted features lack physical meaning in most fault diagnosis methods using machine learning algorithm, which is not conducive to be widely applied in practical engineering. In this study, features with definite physical meaning, including average suction pressure, average discharge pressure, area of indicator diagram and centroid coordinates of indicator diagram, are extracted from indicator diagram, and the threshold database of features under normal states and various fault states is established according to the contrast experiment. The results of the experiment show that the thresholds of the extracted parameters are obviously different under normal states and various fault states. During fault diagnosis, several groups of indicator diagrams of the compressor to be diagnosed are collected at first. After feature extraction, the extracted features are compared with the thresholds under different compressor states to obtain the average numbers of features within the threshold range under different compressor states to determine the compressor states. The accuracy of the method for judging whether the compressor is faulty or normal could reach 98.3%. Furthermore, the accuracy of identifying individual faulty components and multiple faulty components could reach 86.86%. The reason for the low overall diagnostic accuracy is that certain faults have similar effects on the features extracted from indicator diagram. The proposed method is believed as an excellent fault diagnosis method for the vulnerable components inside the cylinder of reciprocating compressor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For revealing the effects of NaCl and NaHCO3 stress at different pH levels on the absorption and accumulation of main ions in roots, stems and leaves, alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) plants were cultivated in a nutrient solution system. After NaCl and Na2HCO3 imposition, the contents of main ions in roots, stems, leaves and xylem bleeding sap were determined. Under NaCl and Na2HCO3 stresses with the same Na+ concentration, Na2HCO3 stress showed severer inhibitory effects on alfalfa growth in contrast to NaCl stress at different pH levels. Under NaCl stresses at different pH levels, alfalfa plants showed much lower Na+ accumulation and Na+ delivery rate in root bleeding sap than that under NaHCO3 stress. The plants of NaHCO3 stress showed a severer inhibition in K+ accumulation, lower K+ delivery rate, but higher Na+/K+ ratios than the plants of NaCl stress. NaHCO3 stress increased Ca2+ and Mg2+ accumulation in alfalfa roots, decreased Ca2+ and Mg2+ delivery rates and increased leaf Na+/Ca2+ ratio and Na+/Mg2+ ratio. Both NaCl and NaHCO3 stresses decreased the contents of Fe3+ and Mn2+ in roots, but increased the contents of Cu2+ in roots, stems and leaves, the content of Mn2+ in stems and leaf Zn2+ content in alfalfa plants. However, the contents of Fe3+ and Mn2+ in roots and stem Mn2+ content in the NaHCO3 treatments were much lower than those in the NaCl treatments. In conclusion, NaHCO3 stress produced severer injury and induced severer Na+ toxicity to alfalfa plants than NaCl stress. The effects of NaHCO3 stress and NaCl stress on the absorption and accumulation of trophic ions were different. Under NaCl stress, the increased pH did not alter Na+ absorption and accumulation in plants, but altered the distribution of some nutrient ions in roots, stems and leaves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Inflammation plays a role in the development of both gallstones and gallbladder cancer; however, few studies have investigated the association of circulating inflammation proteins with risk of gallstones. Methods: This study measured 13 cytokines (including 10 interleukins [ILs]) that have been associated with cancer in serum samples collected from 150 gallstone patients and 149 population‐based controls from Shanghai, China, in 1997–2001. This study estimated the associations of each cytokine, categorized into quartiles and coded as a trend, with risk of gallstones using logistic regression models adjusted for potential confounders. Results: Higher levels of IL‐6, IL‐10, IL‐12 (p70), and IL‐13 were associated with increased risk of gallstones (i.e. Ptrend < 0.003, Bonferroni corrected), with odds ratios (ORs) that ranged from ORhighest quartile [Q4] versus lowest quartile [Q1] = 3.2 (95% confidence interval: 1.4, 7.5) for IL‐13 to ORQ4 versus Q1 = 5.7 (95% confidence interval: 2.5, 13.5) for IL‐12 (p70). In a regression model including all four ILs, only IL‐12 retained statistical significance (P < 0.05). Conclusion: This study found four circulating ILs that were associated with gallstones. Future studies are needed to validate the findings and evaluate the common pathway or mechanism in the development of gallbladder diseases associated with these cytokine signatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scarcity of potable water is a critical challenge in many regions around the world. Previous studies have shown that knowledge of device-level water usage can lead to significant conservation. Although there is considerable interest in determining discriminative features via sparse coding for water disaggregation to separate whole-house consumption into its component appliances, existing methods lack a mechanism for fitting coefficient distributions and are thus unable to accurately discriminate parallel devices&#x02019; consumption. This article proposes a Bayesian discriminative sparse coding model, referred to as Virtual Metering (VM), for this disaggregation task. Mixture-of-Gammas is employed for the prior distribution of coefficients, contributing two benefits: (i) guaranteeing the coefficients&#x02019; sparseness and non-negativity, and (ii) capturing the distribution of active coefficients. The resulting method effectively adapts the bases to aggregated consumption to facilitate discriminative learning in the proposed model, and devices&#x02019; shape features are formalized and incorporated into Bayesian sparse coding to direct the learning of basis functions. Compact Gibbs Sampling (CGS) is developed to accelerate the inference process by utilizing the sparse structure of coefficients. The empirical results obtained from applying the new model to large-scale real and synthetic datasets revealed that VM significantly outperformed the benchmark methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trends in biliary tract cancer incidence rates have increased in Shanghai, China. These trends have coincided with economic and developmental growth, as well as a shift in dietary patterns to a more Westernized diet. To examine the effect of dietary changes on incident disease, we evaluated associations between diet and biliary tract cancers amongst men and women from a population-based case-control study in Shanghai, China. Biliary tract cancer cases were recruited from 42 collaborating hospitals in urban Shanghai, and population-based controls were randomly selected from the Shanghai Household Registry. Food frequency questionnaire data were available for 225 gallbladder, 190 extrahepatic bile duct, and 68 ampulla of Vater cancer cases. A total of 39 food groups were created and examined for associations with biliary tract cancer. Interestingly, only four food groups demonstrated a suggested association with gallbladder, extrahepatic bile duct, or ampulla of Vater cancers. The allium food group, consisting of onions, garlic, and shallots showed an inverse association with gallbladder cancer (OR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.68–0.97). Similar trends were seen in the food group containing seaweed and kelp (OR: 0.79, 95% CI: 0.67–0.96). In contrast, both preserved vegetables and salted meats food groups showed positive associations with gallbladder cancer (OR:1.27, 95% CI: 1.06–1.52; OR: 1.18, 95% CI: 1.02–1.37, respectively). Each of these four food groups showed similar trends for extrahepatic bile duct and ampulla of Vater cancers. The results of our analysis suggest intake of foods with greater anti-inflammatory properties may play a role in decreasing the risk of biliary tract cancers. Future studies should be done to better understand effects of cultural changes on diet, and to further examine the impact diet and inflammation have on biliary tract cancer incidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microcapsule-based adhesives hold special properties offered by encapsulation via an interfacial shell. Microencapsulation provides the possibility of combining the materials with opposite properties for which co-existence is commonly difficult. In this work, we report on a high performance pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) based on monodisperse and size-controllable core–shell microcapsules, which are prepared from double-emulsion droplets constructed using microfluidic devices. Monodisperse microcapsules containing oxalic acid are prepared with a coefficient of variation (CV) size of <5% and the core-material encapsulation efficiency of >90%. The microcapsules and urea-formaldehyde resin are mixed to obtain capsules-based PSA. The overall size uniformity achieved from droplet microfluidics and the rigid interfacial shells from photopolymerized materials ensure high rupture efficiency and sufficient curing reaction during the process. The microcapsules with proper shell thickness can well encapsulate the core material with an even distribution in the center, separating the curing agent from the matrix resin to form a latent adhesive, which is released at the right place and the right time. The bonding strength of >0.7 MPa has been achieved for plywood boards bonding using the prepared PSAs. The capsule-based PSA could encapsulate active components to achieve an extended lifetime for storage, controlled release to achieve on-demand operation, and pressurized mechanical rupture for ease of use. These would be expected to promote the use of PSAs in modern industries such as micro- and nano-optoelectronic devices by further tuning the size and materials of the microcapsules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aims Aflatoxin, which causes hepatocellular carcinoma, may also cause gallbladder cancer. We investigated whether patients with gallbladder cancer have higher exposure to aflatoxin than patients with gallstones. Methods We measured aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 )–lysine adducts in plasma samples from the Shanghai Biliary Tract Cancer case-control study, conducted from 1997 through 2001. We calculated age- and sex-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and the population-attributable fraction for 209 patients with gallbladder cancer and gallstones vs 250 patients with gallstones without cancer (controls). In 54 patients with gallbladder cancer, tumor tissue was examined for the R249S mutation in TP53 , associated with aflatoxin exposure, through targeted sequencing. Results The AFB 1 –lysine adduct was detected in 67 (32%) of 209 patients with gallbladder cancer and 37 (15%) of the 250 controls (χ 2 P < .0001), almost threefold more patients with gallbladder cancer than controls (OR, 2.71; 95% CI, 1.70–4.33). Among participants with detectable levels of AFB 1 –lysine, the median level of AFB 1 –lysine was 5.4 pg/mg in those with gallbladder cancer, compared with 1.2 pg/mg in controls. For patients in the fourth quartile of AFB 1 –lysine level vs the first quartile, the OR for gallbladder cancer was 7.61 (95% CI, 2.01–28.84). None of the 54 gallbladder tumors sequenced were found to have the R249S mutation in TP53 . The population-attributable fraction for cancer related to aflatoxin was 20% (95% CI, 15%–25%). Conclusions In a case-control study of patients with gallbladder cancer and gallstones vs patients with gallstones without cancer, we associated exposure to aflatoxin (based on plasma level of AFB 1 –lysine) with gallbladder cancer. Gallbladder cancer does not appear associate with the R249S mutation in TP53 . If aflatoxin is a cause of gallbladder cancer, it may have accounted for up to 20% of the gallbladder cancers in Shanghai, China, during the study period, and could account for an even higher proportion in high-risk areas. If our findings are verified, reducing aflatoxin exposure might reduce the incidence of gallbladder cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: With the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of dementia biomarker research, exploring its current developmental trends and research focuses has become increasingly important. This study, using literature data mining, analyzes and assesses the key contributions and development scale of AI in dementia biomarker research., Objective: The aim of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the current state, hot topics, and future trends of AI in dementia biomarker research globally., Methods: This study thoroughly analyzed the literature in the application of AI to dementia biomarkers across various dimensions, such as publication volume, authors, institutions, journals, and countries, based on the Web of Science Core Collection. In addition, scales, trends, and potential connections between AI and biomarkers were extracted and deeply analyzed through multiple expert panels., Results: To date, the field includes 1070 publications across 362 journals, involving 74 countries and 1793 major research institutions, with a total of 6455 researchers. Notably, 69.41% (994/1432) of the researchers ceased their studies before 2019. The most prevalent algorithms used are support vector machines, random forests, and neural networks. Current research frequently focuses on biomarkers such as imaging biomarkers, cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, genetic biomarkers, and blood biomarkers. Recent advances have highlighted significant discoveries in biomarkers related to imaging, genetics, and blood, with growth in studies on digital and ophthalmic biomarkers., Conclusions: The field is currently in a phase of stable development, receiving widespread attention from numerous countries, institutions, and researchers worldwide. Despite this, stable clusters of collaborative research have yet to be established, and there is a pressing need to enhance interdisciplinary collaboration. Algorithm development has shown prominence, especially the application of support vector machines and neural networks in imaging studies. Looking forward, newly discovered biomarkers are expected to undergo further validation, and new types, such as digital biomarkers, will garner increased research interest and attention., (©Wenhao Qi, Xiaohong Zhu, Danni He, Bin Wang, Shihua Cao, Chaoqun Dong, Yunhua Li, Yanfei Chen, Bingsheng Wang, Yankai Shi, Guowei Jiang, Fang Liu, Lizzy M M Boots, Jiaqi Li, Xiajing Lou, Jiani Yao, Xiaodong Lu, Junling Kang. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 08.08.2024.)

The paper aimed to investigate the effect of miR186-5p on invasion and migration of breast cancer cells and its molecular mechanism. MicroRNA-186-5p was found to be low expressed in breast cancer and highly expressed in SBEM by bioinformatics analysis. After transfecting MDA-MB-231 cells with miR-186-5p inhibitor NC, miR-186-5p inhibitor, miR-186-5p mimic NC and miR-186-5p mimic, respectively. The migration and invasive ability of breast cancer cells were detected by cell scratch test and Transwell test. Moreover, after adding 740 Y-P to the miR-186-5p mimic NC group and miR-186-5p mimic group cells, SBEM and PI3K pathway-related proteins were detected by Western blotting and proliferation of the cancer cells was evaluated by monoclonal cell experiment. Meanwhile, exogenous miR-186-5p mimic in MDA-MB-231 cells significantly inhibited the expression of SBEM, p-PI3K, p-AKT and their downstream pathways, MMP1, MMP3, MMP9, CyclinD1, PCNA and CyclinB1 proteins and reduced proliferation of breast cancer cells. Furthermore, the expression of SBEM protein in the miR-186-5p mimic + 740Y-P group was significantly lower than the miR-186-5p mimic NC + 740Y-P group after adding 740 Y-P. However, there were no significant changes in the protein's levels associated with PI3K pathway and the cancer cells proliferation. These results suggest that low expression of miR-186-5p in breast cancer results in an abnormally high expression of SBEM, activation of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway, promoting migration and invasion of human breast cancer cells.

High malignant potential and low susceptibility to treatment are characteristics of malignant melanoma. Alternol, a novel compound purified from microbial fermentation products obtained from the bark of the yew tree, exhibits a variety of antitumor activities. Based on these findings, the aim of the present study was to extend the knowledge on the antineoplastic effect of alternol in the mouse melanoma B16F0 cell line. Alternol significantly inhibited the proliferation and colony formation of B16F0 cells in a dose-dependent manner as detected by MTT and soft agar colony formation assays. NaOH alkaline lysis and oxidation of Dopa indicated that alternol enhanced the melanin content and tyrosinase activity of the B16F0 cells and results also showed a dose‑response relationship. Morphologic changes accompanied by extended dendrites were discovered in the B16F0 cells after treatment with alternol. Furthermore, the mRNA levels of tyrosinase, Trp1 and Trp2 were increased by alternol. Our results confirmed that alternol possesses marked antineoplastic properties against melanoma cells, indicating that this microbial fermentation product is a promising agent for the differentiation therapy of cancer. The inhibition of cell proliferation and colony formation by alternol was associated with both cytotoxicity and induction of differentiation.

Background/aims: Many studies have recently been published on acute pancreatitis; however, few large-sample studies have been focused on the risk factors for deaths in severe acute pancreatitis. To address this issue, the present study was intended to assess etiology, severity, and mortality of acute pancreatitis in the Guangdong Province (Guangdong), China, and to analyze the risk factors responsible for deaths in severe acute pancreatitis in this large series of patients., Methods: Four tertiary medical centers located in Guangdong were involved in this retrospective study. Data of 2,342 patients with acute pancreatitis admitted to these centers from December 1990 through December 2005 were collected in a standardized form and analyzed., Results: Of the 2,342 patients (1,130 men and 1,212 women, mean age 51+/-18, range 4-98 years), 1,778 (76.0%) had mild pancreatitis, and 564 (24.0%) had the severe form. Biliary tract disease (47.5%) was the predominant etiology, the overall mortality rate was 5.0%, and the fatality rate in patients with severe acute pancreatitis was 20.0%. Among the deceased patients in the severe acute pancreatitis group, logistic regression analysis of variables showed that the independent risk factor for mortality was shock, while a biliary origin was a protective factor against a poor prognosis., Conclusions: In this case series, the results suggest that biliary tract disease was the main etiologic factor of acute pancreatitis in Guangdong. The majority of deaths in severe acute pancreatitis occurred within the first 14 days of admission; the only independent risk factor for mortality was systematic complication of shock., (2007 S. Karger AG, Basel)