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Climate change disproportionately affects the Arctic, where warming is up to four times greater than the global annual average experienced in southern regions. Baffin Bay in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago is an ecologically and biologically significant area that will likely experience an increase in marine vessel traffic as a result of consistent declines in annual sea ice coverage. Along the western coast of Baffin Bay is known to be a region of active, natural hydrocarbon seeps where elevated levels of methane have been detected in previous surveys. Petroleum hydrocarbons released from the seafloor can fuel microbial production and shape the baseline microbiome. Establishing a microbial baseline is highly valuable as it contributes to a fundamental understanding of the existing microbial diversity that may be impacted in the future by anthropogenic stressors. In this study, 16S and 18S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing surveys revealed that the vertical stratification of the water column is largely driven by differences in depth, temperature, salinity, and inorganic nutrient concentrations. Chemical analysis provides further support that active petrogenic methane seepage occurs around Cape Dyer but not in areas targeted in this study. Presence of n-alkanes and toluene in association with hydrocarbon-synthesizing phytoplankton suggests biogenic production of these compounds. These findings provide a baseline for future environmental monitoring assessments to evaluate how the prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbiome may be impacted by ongoing climate change and anthropogenic stressors in western Baffin Bay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HER2 antagonists remain the cornerstone of therapy for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer. This study introduces a novel small-molecule inhibitor of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT-1), referred to as DI-1, designed to synergize with HER2 antagonists in treating HER2-positive breast cancer cells. Clinical data reveal a negative correlation between DNMT-1 expression and PTEN levels, and a positive correlation with the methylation rates of PTEN's promoter. In experiments with SKBR3 and BT474 cells, DI-1 effectively reduced the methylation of PTEN's promoter region, thereby upregulating PTEN expression. This upregulation, in turn, enhanced the cells' sensitivity to HER2 antagonists, indicating that DI-1's mechanism involves inhibiting DNMT-1's recruitment to PTEN's promoter region. Consequently, by increasing PTEN expression, DI-1 amplifies the sensitivity of HER2-positive breast cancer cells to treatment, suggesting its potential as a promising therapeutic strategy in this context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ten amide compounds were isolated from Physochlaina infundibularis Kuang, of which N-[4-(acetylamino)butyl]- 3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-2-propenamide (1) was a new natural product and its structure was elucidated by comprehensive spectra data. Compounds 2–10 were isolated from Physochlaina genus for the first time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordination polymers have been a hot research topic in the field of biomedicine for their interesting bioactivities. To study the effects of metal ions on the bioactivity of the resulting coordination polymers, in this study, two novel coordination polymers, [Zn4(L)4(bix)4]·n(DMF)·4n(H2O) (1) and [Cd(L)(bix)(H2O)2]n·2n(H2O) (2) (H2L = 5-(1-oxoisoindolin-2-yl)isophthalic acid, bix = 5-(1-oxoisoindolin-2-yl)isophthalic acid, DMF = N,N′-dimethylformide), have been synthesized by the reactions of H2L, bix and Zn(II) or Cd(II) salts under the solvothermal condition and further characterized via the single crystal X-ray diffraction, powder X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis and thermogravimetric analyses. The CIE chromaticity diagram indicated that complexes 1 and 2 are excellent blue luminescent materials. Their therapeutic effect with synergistic curcumin on post-stroke depression was explored in the present work. First of all, the analysis of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was exploited for testing the 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) content exists in brain. Next, the serotonin transporter relative expression was also analyzed with the detection of real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The experimental results show that the CP 1 could be a better candidate for synergistic curcumin for treating post-stroke depression by increasing 5-HT content and relative expression of serotonin transporter than CP 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate ITPKC and NLRP3 expression in children with Kawasaki disease (KD) and investigate the relationship between serum pro-inflammatory cytokines triggered by NLRP3 and inflammatory indices. Simultaneously, the methylation level in the ITPKC promoter was evaluated in children with KD. Methods: Children who satisfied the American Heart Association diagnostic criteria for KD were enrolled in the study from August 2018 to January 2019. The levels of ITPKC, NLRP3, IL-1β, and IL-18 were measured. The effect of DNA methylation on the activity of the ITPKC promoter was observed. Methylation-specific PCR was used to verify methylation modification of the ITPKC promoter region in children with KD. Results: ITPKC expression was downregulated in patients with KD, whereas NLRP3 was upregulated. Expression of the downstream cytokine, IL-18, was significantly upregulated in children with KD and correlated positively with inflammatory indices. Modifying DNA methylation significantly decreased the luciferase activity of the plasmid containing the ITPKC promoter region and thus, may inhibit ITPKC gene promoter activity. Furthermore, methylation modification was observed in the ITPKC promoter region of children with KD. Conclusion: Modification of DNA methylation inhibits ITPKC promoter activity and is involved in NLRP3 inflammasome activation in children with KD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore whether acupuncture combined with moxibustion could inhibit epithelialmesenchymal transition in Crohn's disease by affecting the transforming growth factor β 1 (TGF- β 1)/Smad3/Snail pathway. Methods: Sixty-three patients with Crohn's disease were randomly divided into an observation group (31 cases) receiving moxibustion at 43 °C combined with acupuncture, and a control group (32 cases) receiving moxibustion at 37 °C combined with sham acupuncture using a random number table. Patients were treated for 12 weeks. Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) was used to evaluate disease activity. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and transmission electron microscopy were utilized to observe the morphological and ultrastructural changes. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of transforming growth factor β 1 (TGF-β 1), T β R1, T β R2, Smad3, Snail, E-cadherin and fibronectin in intestinal mucosal tissues. Results: The decrease of the CDAI score, morphological and ultrastructural changes were more significant in observation group. The expression levels of TGF- β 1, Tβ R2, Smad3, and Snail in the observation group were significantly lower than those before the treatment (P<0.05 or P<0.01). After treatment, the expression levels of TGF-β 1, TβR2, and Snail in the observation group were significantly lower than those in the control group (all P<0.05); compared with the control group, the expression of fibronectin in the observation group was significantly decreased, and the expression of E-cadherin was significantly increased (all P<0.05). Conclusions: Moxibustion at 43 °C combined with acupuncture may suppress TGF-β 1/Smad3/Snail pathway-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition of intestinal epithelial cells in Crohn's disease patients by inhibiting the expression levels of TGF-β 1, Tβ R2, Smad3, and Snail. (Registration No. ChiCTR-IIR-16007751) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we introduce a new procedure for spatial sampling design. It is found in previous studies (Zhu and Stein in J Agric Biol Environ Stat 11:24–44, 2006) that the optimal sampling design for spatial prediction with estimated parameters is nearly regular with a few clustered points. The pattern is similar to a generalization of the Neyman–Scott (GNS) process (Yau and Loh in Statistica Sinica 22:1717–1736, 2012) which allows for regularity in the parent process. This motivates the use of a realization of the GNS process as sampling design points. This method translates the high-dimensional optimization problem of selecting sampling sites into a low-dimensional optimization problem of searching for the optimal parameter sets in the GNS process. Simulation studies indicate that the proposed sampling design algorithm is more computationally efficient than traditional methods while achieving similar minimization of the criterion functions. While the traditional methods become computationally infeasible for sample size larger than a hundred, the proposed algorithm is applicable to a size as large as n = 1024 . A real data example of finding the optimal spatial design for predicting sea surface temperature in the Pacific Ocean is also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Based on in vitro data that BV enhanced efficacy in three molecular subtypes of CD30 + DLBCL, we supposed that BV was able to kill CD30 + tumor cells of DLBCL. D Left and upper panels indicate T-cell activation score and immune escape score, respectively, stratified by 117 CD30 + DLBCL and 268 CD30-DLBCL. 1 A Prevalence of gene mutations in 55 lymphoma-associated genes, along with the P value for the difference in prevalence between 172 CD30 + DLBCL and 464 CD30-DLBCL. CD30 + DLBCL showed higher score in both T-cell activation and immune escape than CD30-DLBCL ( I P i = 0.004 and I P i < 0.001, Fig. [Extracted from the article]

This paper presents a generalization of the bagging procedure by using smoothed bootstrap with bagging, a procedure we call generalized bagging. Our generalized bagging method unifies input and output smearing, in the sense that noise is added to both the input and the output, so that input smearing and output smearing become special cases of generalized bagging. We discuss the choice of optimal smoothing parameter to control the variance of the added noise in the smoothed bootstrap. Our simulation studies show that the proposed method outperforms other competing methods, when the variance of the error term is large. We also demonstrate the performance of the proposed procedure with real datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the effects of ontogenetic stage and leaf age on leaf traits is important for understanding the utilization and distribution of resources in the process of plant growth. However, few studies have been conducted to show how traits and trait-trait relationships change across a range of ontogenetic stage and leaf age for evergreen coniferous species. We divided 67 Pinus koraiensis Sieb. et Zucc. of various sizes (0.3–100 cm diameter at breast height, DBH) into four ontogenetic stages, i.e., young trees, middle-aged trees, mature trees and over-mature trees, and measured the leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), and mass-based leaf nitrogen content (N) and phosphorus content (P) of each leaf age group for each sampled tree. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to describe the variation in leaf traits by ontogenetic stage and leaf age. The standardized major axis method was used to explore the effects of ontogenetic stage and leaf age on trait-trait relationships. We found that LMA and LDMC increased significantly and N and P decreased significantly with increases in the ontogenetic stage and leaf age. Most trait-trait relationships were consistent with the leaf economic spectrum (LES) at a global scale. Among them, leaf N content and LDMC showed a significant negative correlation, leaf N and P contents showed a significant positive correlation, and the absolute value of the slopes of the trait-trait relationships showed a gradually increasing trend with an increasing ontogenetic stage. LMA and LDMC showed a significant positive correlation, and the slopes of the trait-trait relationships showed a gradually decreasing trend with leaf age. Additionally, there were no significant relationships between leaf N content and LMA in most groups, which is contrary to the expectation of the LES. Overall, in the early ontogenetic stages and leaf ages, the leaf traits tend to be related to a "low investment-quick returns" resource strategy. In contrast, in the late ontogenetic stages and leaf ages, they tend to be related to a "high investment-slow returns" resource strategy. Our results reflect the optimal allocation of resources in Pinus koraiensis according to its functional needs during tree and leaf ontogeny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the conflict-free connection coloring of trees, which is also the conflict-free coloring of the so-called edge-path hypergraphs of trees. We first prove that for a tree T of order n, c f c (T) ≥ c f c (P n) = ⌈ log 2 n ⌉ , which completely confirms the conjecture of Li and Wu [24]. We then present a sharp upper bound for the conflict-free connection number of trees by a simple algorithm. Furthermore, we show that the conflict-free connection number of the binomial tree with 2 k - 1 vertices is k - 1 . At last, we study trees which are cfc -critical, and prove that if a tree T is cfc -critical, then the conflict-free connection coloring of T is equivalent to the edge ranking of T. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For an edge-colored graph G, a set F of edges of G is called a proper edge-cut if F is an edge-cut of G and any pair of adjacent edges in F are assigned different colors. An edge-colored graph is proper disconnected if for each pair of distinct vertices of G there exists a proper edge-cut separating them. For a connected graph G, the proper disconnection number of G, denoted by pd(G), is the minimum number of colors that are needed in order to make G proper disconnected. In this paper, we first give the exact values of the proper disconnection numbers for some special families of graphs. Next, we obtain a sharp upper bound of pd(G) for a connected graph G of order n, i.e, p d (G) ≤ min { χ ′ (G) - 1 , n 2 } . Finally, we show that for given integers k and n, the minimum size of a connected graph G of order n with p d (G) = k is n - 1 for k = 1 and n + 2 k - 4 for 2 ≤ k ≤ ⌈ n 2 ⌉ . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

An edge-colored graph G is conflict-free connected if any two of its vertices are connected by a path, which contains a color used on exactly one of its edges. The conflict-free connection number of a connected graph G, denoted by cfc(G), is defined as the minimum number of colors that are required in order to make G conflict-free connected. In this paper, we investigate the relation between the conflict-free connection number and the independence number of a graph. We firstly show that cfc(G) ≤ α(G) for any connected graph G, and give an example to show that the bound is sharp. With this result, we prove that if T is a tree with Δ (T) ≥ α (T) + 2 2 , then cfc(T) = Δ(T). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to understand if RNF13 can affect Parkinson's disease (PD) model mice by modulating the endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS)-mediated IRE1α-TRAF2-ASK1-JNK pathway. C57BL/6 mice injected with MPTP to establish PD mice models were divided into Control, MPTP, MPTP + sh-RNF13, and MPTP + sh-NC groups. Rotarod, balance beam, and open-field tests were used to assess the behavioral changes of experimental mice. Immunofluorescence assay was used to determine TH-positive expression in substantia nigra, TUNEL staining to detect apoptosis, and Western blotting to measure the expression of IRE1α-TRAF2-ASK1-JNK pathway. Besides, SH-SY5Y cells treated with MPP+ were assigned into Control, MPP+, MPP+ + sh-RNF13, and MPP+ + sh-NC groups in vitro to detect cell viability, apoptosis and Ca2+ level. When compared with those Control mice, MPTP mice showed decreased retention time spent on rotarod performance and prolonged time on balance beam test, as well as evident reductions in floor plane (FP) movements, moving time, moving distance, and mean velocity in open-field test, which had an obvious increase of TUNEL-positive cells, significant decrease of TH-positive cells, and remarkable up-regulations of RNF13, p-IRE1α/IRE1α, TRAF2, ASK1, and p-JNK/JNK. Meanwhile, MPTP mice treated with sh-RNF13 were improved in all above indexes. In vitro, MPP+ treated SH-SY5Y cells had decreased cell viability and increased cell apoptosis, as well as the upregulated IRE1α-TRAF2-ASK1-JNK pathway proteins and Ca2+ level. RNF13 knockdown improved all above indexes in SH-SY5Y cells treated with MPP+. Silencing RNF13 can alleviate motor dysfunction and dopamine neuronal damage in PD mice by inhibiting ERS-mediated IRE1α-TRAF2-ASK1-JNK pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we provide a common generalization to the well-known Erdös-Ko-Rado Theorem, Frankl-Wilson Theorem, Alon-Babai-Suzuki Theorem, and Snevily Theorem on set systems with L-intersections. As a consequence, we derive a result which strengthens substantially the well-known theorem on set systems with k-wise L-intersections by Füredi and Sudakov [J. Combin. Theory, Ser. A, 105, 143-159 (2004)]. We will also derive similar results on L-intersecting families of subspaces of an n-dimensional vector space over a finite field Fq, where q is a prime power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Our aim was to determine the prognostic factors in Chinese patients with prostate cancer receiving primary androgen deprivation therapy (PADT), validate the Japan Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment (J-CAPRA) score, and investigate the impacts of pre-existing obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM).Methods: The study enrolled Chinese patients diagnosed with prostatic adenocarcinoma and treated with bilateral orchiectomy as PADT at Huashan Hospital, Fudan University (Shanghai, China), from January 2003 to December 2015. The overall survival (OS) and prognostic value of J-CAPRA score, pre-existing obesity, DM, and various clinicopathological variables were analyzed.Results: Of the 435 patients enrolled, 174 (40.0%) deaths occurred during follow-up; 3- and 5-year OS were 74.0 and 58.9%, respectively. Multivariate analysis identified that higher Gleason score and metastasis were both correlated with worse OS and that higher J-CAPRA score was correlated with worse OS [hazard ratio (HR) 1.110, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.035-1.190, P = 0.003). Different risk categories based on J-CAPRA score showed good stratification in OS (log-rank P = 0.015). In subgroup analysis, pre-existing obesity as a protective factor in younger patients (age ≤ 65, HR 0.271, 95% CI 0.075-0.980, P = 0.046) and pre-existing DM as a risk factor in older patients (> 75, HR 1.854, 95% CI 1.026-3.351, P = 0.041) for OS were recognized, and the prediction accuracy of J-CAPRA was elevated after incorporating pre-existing obesity and DM.Conclusions: The J-CAPRA score presented with good OS differentiation among Chinese patients under PADT. Younger patients (age ≤ 65) had better OS with pre-existing obesity, while older patients (age > 75) had worse OS with pre-existing DM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new viscoelastic constitutive model is proposed based on fractional-order differential theory, replacing the Newtonian dashpot of the classical Kelvin-Voigt model with the Abel dashpot. The analytic solutions for the fractional-order three-element model and classical three-element model are presented. The results estimated by the fractionalorder three-element model correlate better with experimental data than those of the classical three-element model. The parameters of the fractional-order three-element model were further optimized using the nonlinear least squares method. The proposed fractional-order three element model was able to accurately describe the viscoelastic dynamic mechanical properties of soil during vibratory compaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background: This study was undertaken to investigate the intraoperative and postoperative complications, efficacy and outcome of two laparoscopic fundoplications for the treatment of esophageal hiatal hernia in children. Methods: To find a rational procedure, we performed a retrospective analysis of 136 children with esophageal hiatal hernia who underwent laparoscopic Nissen-Rossetti or Thal fundoplication at two children's hospitals in Shanghai over 13 years. The median follow-up time of the children was 42 months (range: 1-138 months). Their age varied from 1 month to 11 years (median: 18.6 months). Results: All the children underwent laparoscopic fundoplications (72 cases of Nissen-Rossetti and 60 cases of Thal fundoplication) and 4 children converted to open surgery. The mean age of the children at the time of operation was 1.6±1.9 years, and the mean weight was 9.1±5.6 kg. Gastroesophageal reflux was significantly more severe after a Thal fundoplication ( P=0.003) and slight esophageal stenosis was significant after a Nissen-Rossetti fundoplication ( P=0.02). The recurrent rate of hiatal hernia was 2.8% (2/72) after Nissen-Rossetti fundoplication in contrast to 5% (3/60) after Thal fundoplication. No death occurred after surgery. Conclusion: There was no statistical difference of recurrence between laparoscopic Nissen-Rossetti and Thal fundoplication in the long-term outcomes. The rate of slight dysphagia was higher in the Nissen-Rossetti group. The Thal group had a significantly higher recurrence rate of gastroesophageal reflux. There still exited learning curve for this procedure. The incidence rate of complications is significantly related to the proficiency of pediatric surgeon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Acupuncture & Tuina Science is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The objectives of this study are to assess the healing score (HS) and neointimal thickness of the Xinsorb scaffold, and explore the relationships between the implanted patterns, neointimal thickness, and HS. The Xinsorb bioresorbable sirolimus-eluting scaffold is the first domestically designed and fabricated bioresorbable scaffold in China. The 6-month follow-up found it to be safe and effective in the treatment of single de novo coronary lesions. The Xinsorb scaffolds were implanted in 30 patients with symptomatic ischemic coronary disease. A 6-month follow-up was performed in a subset of 19 patients; the HS and neointimal thickness were evaluated by optical coherence tomography. Struts were classified as ApposedCovered, ApposedUncovered, MalapposedCovered, MalapposedUncovered, jailing and presence of intraluminal masses. The implanted pressure, implanted duration, and post-expansion pressure were recorded during the operation. We evaluated the relationship between the HS or neointimal thickness and the implanted pressure, holding time, and post-expansion pressure. The device and procedure success rates were both 100%. No major adverse cardiac or scaffold-thrombus related events occurred. At 6 months, 12,295 struts were analyzed to determine the HS (6.23) and neointimal thickness (0.1021 ± 0.05718 mm) in the Xinsorb scaffolds. There was a strong negative relationship between the HS and the implantation duration (Pearson r = - 0.518, p = 0.023). A significant negative relationship also existed between the HS and post-dilatation (Pearson r = - 0.631, p = 0.004). The Xinsorb scaffold HS appears negative correlated with the implanted duration and post-dilatation. We will further evaluate the HS of randomized controlled trial of the Xissorb scaffold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mesenchymal stem cells derived from amniotic fluid have become one of the most potential stem cell source for cell-based therapy for the reason they can be harvested at low cost and without ethical problems. Here, we obtained amniotic fluid stem cells (AFSCs) from ovine amniotic fluid and studied the expansion capacity, cell markers expression, karyotype, and multilineage differentiation ability. In our work, AFSCs were subcultured to passage 62. The cell markers, CD29, CD44, CD73 and OCT4 which analyzed by RT-PCR were positive; CD44, CD73, CD90, CD105, NANOG, OCT4 analyzed by immunofluorescence and flow cytometry were also positive. The growth curves of different passages were all typically sigmoidal. The different passages cells took on a normal karyotype. In addition, AFSCs were successfully induced to differentiate into adipocytes, osteoblasts and chondrocytes. The results suggested that the AFSCs isolated from ovine maintained normal biological characteristics and their multilineage differentiation potential provides many potential applications in cell-based therapies and tissue engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) and mild-warm moxibustion (Mox) therapies for constipation-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (C-IBS) patients.Methods: Sixty C-IBS patients were assigned to 2 groups by simple randomized method, i.e. EA group (30 cases) and Mox group (30 cases). Both EA and Mox treatments were performed on bilateral Tianshu (ST 25) and Shangjuxu (ST 37) for 30 min each time, 6 times per week, for 4 consecutive weeks. The gastrointestinal symptoms and psychological symptoms of the two groups were scored before and after treatment. The effects on the corresponding functional brain areas, namely the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), insular cortex (IC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) were observed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) before and after treatment.Results: Compared with the Mox group, greater improvements in abdominal distension, defecation frequency, diffificulty in defecation and stool features were observed in the EA group (all P<0.01), both Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores were signifificantly decreased in the EA group (all P<0.01). Finally, decreased activated voxel values were observed in the ACC, right IC and PFC brain regions of EA group with 150 mL colorectal distension stimulation (P<0.05 or P<0.01).Conclusions: Both EA and Mox could signifificantly improve some of the most intrusive symptoms of C-IBS patients, and EA was more effective than Mox. The therapeutic effect of these two therapies might through modulating of the brain-gut axis function. (Registration No. ChiCTRTRC-11001349). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To compare the effects of electroacupuncture (EA) and moxibustion therapies on patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome (D-IBS). Methods: A total of 60 D-IBS patients were randomly allocated to the EA group (30 cases) and moxibustion group (30 cases). Before and after treatment, the gastrointestinal symptoms and psychological symptoms were scored by Visual Analogue Scale, Bristol Stool Form Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA), and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD); the expressions of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), 5-HT receptor (5-HT3R), and 5-HT receptor (5-HT4R) in the sigmoid mucosal tissue were measured by immunohistochemical staining. Additionally, the effects on the functional brain areas of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), insular cortex (IC) and prefrontal cortex (PFC) were observed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Compared with before treatment, both EA and moxibustion groups reported significant improvements in abdominal pain and abdominal bloating after treatment ( P<0.01 or P<0.05). The moxibustion group reported greater improvements in defecation emergency, defecation frequency, and stool feature than the EA group ( P<0.01). Both HAMA and HAMD scores were significantly decreased in the moxibustion group than in the EA group ( P<0.01). Both groups demonstrated signifificantly reduced expressions of 5-HT, 5-HT3R and 5-HT4R in the colonic mucosa after treatment ( P<0.01), with a greater reduction of 5-HT in the moxibustion group ( P<0.05). Finally, decreased activated voxel values were observed in the left IC, right IC and PFC brain regions of patients in the moxibustion group under stimulation with 150 mL colorectal distension after treatment ( P<0.05 or P<0.01), while in the EA group only PFC area demonstrated a reduction ( P<0.05). Conclusion: Moxibustion can signifificantly improve the symptoms of D-IBS, suggesting that moxibustion may be a more effective therapy than EA for D-IBS patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neuroblastoma is an embryonic neoplasm originating from the neural crest with cellular heterogeneity as one of its oncobiological characteristics. This study was undertaken to determine whether human neuroblastoma contains stem cell-like cells. Methods: Twenty patients with neuroblastoma who have been treated in our hospital since January 2005 were divided into pre-operative chemotherapy (10 patients) and non-chemotherapy (10) groups. Tumor specimens of the patients were taken and paraffin sections were made. The expressions of stem cell markers CD133, ABCG2, CD117 and nestin were immunohistochemically detected in the specimens. Neuroblastoma cells were stained with Hoechst 33342 and PI. The side population (SP) cells were analyzed by the fluorescence-activated cell sorter. The disparity drug resistance to cisplatin (DDP) of SP and non-SP cells was measured with MTT colorimetric assay. The oncogenicity of SP and non-SP cells was identified in nude mice. Results: There was no significant difference in the expression intensity of CD117 and nestin between the two groups of specimens ( P>0.05). There was a significant difference between the two groups in terms of the expression intensity of CD133 and ABCG2 ( P<0.05). The SP cells accounted for 0.2%-1.3% of the total human neuroblastoma cells and were decreased to 0.1%-0.5% after verapamil treatment. The SP and non-SP cells showed disparity in cell growth experiment and drug resistance to DDP. Oncogenicity experiment revealed that nude mice could erupt tumor by an injection of l×10 SHSY5Y and WIV SP cells. However, the nude mice could not form tumor by an injection of l×10 non-SP cells. Conclusion: Neuroblastoma might contain cancer stem cell-like cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interleukin-33 (IL-33) is a recently identified member of the IL-1 family that exerts biologic functions by binding to a heterodimer composed of IL-1 receptor-related protein ST2L and IL-1RAcP. However, the role of IL-33 and whether IL-33 accounts for inflammation, apoptotic, and autophagic neuropathology after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) are not clear. Here, we established a mouse ICH model in this study, to determine the role of IL-33 and explore the underlying mechanism. Male mice were subjected to an infusion of type IV collagenase/saline into the left striatum to induce ICH/sham model. IL-33, soluble ST2 (sST2), or saline were also administered by a single intracerebroventricular (i.c.v.) injection, respectively. The results showed that the expression level of IL-33 markedly decreased within 6 h and reached the valleys at 6 and 72 h after ICH vs. sham group. In parallel, ST2L (a transmembrane form receptor of IL-33) significantly increased within 6 h and reached the peaks at 6 h and 24 h after ICH vs. sham group. In addition, administration of IL-33 alleviated cerebral water contents, reduced the number of PI- and TUNEL-positive cells, and improved neurological function after ICH. Moreover, IL-33 treatment apparently suppressed the expression of pro-inflammation cytokines IL-1β and TNF-α, evidently increased Bcl-2 but decreased cleaved-caspase-3, and obviously decreased the levels of autophagy-associated proteins LC3-II and Beclin-1 but maintained P62 at high level after ICH. On the contrary, treatment with sST2, a decoy receptor of IL-33, exacerbated ICH-induced brain damage and neurological dysfunction by promoting apoptosis, and enhancing autophagic activity. In conclusion, IL-33 provides neuroprotection through suppressing inflammation, apoptotic, and autophagic activation in collagenase-induced ICH model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, we study the Frattini subalgebra of a restricted Lie superalgebra ( L, [ p]). We show first that if L = A 1 ⊕ A 2 ⊕⋯⊕ A n An, then ϕp( L) = ϕp( A 1) + ϕp( A 2) +⋯+ ϕp( A n ), where each A i is a p–ideal of L. We then obtain two results: F( L) = ϕ( L) = J( L) = L (1) if and only if L is nilpotent; F p ( L) and F( L) are nilpotent ideals of L if L is solvable. In addition, necessary and sufficient conditions are found for ϕp–free restricted Lie superalgebras. Finally, we discuss the relationships of E– p–restricted Lie superalgebras and E–restricted Lie superalgebras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with a discrete Nicholson's blowflies model, which involves a linear harvesting term. In the case where the coefficients are pseudo-almost periodic functions, we establish the existence and local exponential stability of pseudo-almost periodic solutions for the addressed Nicholson's blowflies model by using the contraction mapping theorem and a Lyapunov functional. An example is given to illustrate our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Sedation with propofol alone during gastroscopy has many side effects. Etomidate has advantages in terms of circulation and respiration compared to propofol. We hypothesized that etomidate plus propofol during gastroscopy would be more safe and effective than propofol alone.Methods: Four hundred (n = 400) patients were randomly divided into a propofol group (P group) and a etomidate plus propofol group (EP group). The P group was given the first dose of 1 % propofol 1 mg/kg before gastroscopy, and the EP group was given 1 % propofol 0.5 mg/kg plus etomidate 0.1 mg/kg. Repeated doses of 10-20 mg propofol or 5-10 mg propofol plus 1-2 mg etomidate were administered to maintain an adequate level of sedation. The sedation depth was maintained by bispectral index value of 40-60.Results: The EP group had a lower incidence of systolic hypotension (13.0 vs. 32.5 %; P < 0.0001), bradycardia (8.5 vs. 16.5 %; P = 0.0226), mild hypoxemia (6.5 vs. 18.0 %; P = 0.0007), and severe hypoxemia (2.5 vs. 10.0 %; P = 0.0031) compared to the P group. Also, the satisfaction of anesthetist and gastroscopist with EP was higher than that of P group (P < 0.0001; P = 0.018, respectively).Conclusion: Etomidate plus propofol had few effects on respiration and circulation in patients undergoing gastroscopy and was more safe and effective than propofol alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Saccharomyces cerevisiae AFY is a novel baker's yeast strain with strong freeze-tolerance, and can be used for frozen-dough processing. The present study armed to clarify the growth characteristics of the yeast AFY. Aerobic batch culture experiments of yeast AFY were carried out using media with various initial glucose concentrations, and the culture process was analyzed kinetically. The growth of the yeast AFY exhibited a diauxic pattern with the first growth stage consuming glucose and the second growth stage consuming ethanol. The cell yield decreased with increasing initial glucose concentration in the first growth stage, and also decreased with increasing initial ethanol concentration in the second growth stage. In the initial glucose concentration range of 5.0-40.0 g/L, the simultaneous equations of Monod equation, Luedeking-Piret equation and pseudo-Luedeking-Piret equation could be used to describe the concentrations of cell, ethanol and glucose in either of the two exponential growth phases. At the initial glucose concentrations of 5.0, 10.0 and 40.0 g/L, the first exponential growth phase had a maximal specific cell growth rate of 0.52, 0.98 and 0.99 h, while the second exponential growth phase had a maximal specific cell growth rate of 0.11, 0.06 and 0.07 h, respectively. It was indicated that the efficiency of the yeast production could be improved by reducing the ethanol production in the first growth stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying homogeneous subgroups of variables can be challenging in high dimensional data analysis with highly correlated predictors. The generalized fused lasso has been proposed to simultaneously select correlated variables and identify them as predictive clusters (grouping property). In this article, we study properties of the generalized fused lasso. First, we present a geometric interpretation of the generalized fused lasso along with discussion of its persistency. Second, we analytically show its grouping property. Third, we give comprehensive simulation studies to compare our version of the generalized fused lasso with other existing methods and show that the proposed method outperforms other variable selection methods in terms of prediction error and parsimony. We describe two applications of our method in soil science and near infrared spectroscopy studies. These examples having vastly different data types demonstrate the flexibility of the methodology particularly for high-dimensional data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to develop useful empirical research methods to advance the understanding of experimental Chinese literary translation. This will be based on an empirical corpus-based study of two modern Chinese versions of Gabriel García Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. The case study reveals that in translating linguistic events, textual features and cultural phenomena that are unknown to the target audience, for example, magical realism, into Chinese, translators may adopt a range of translation strategies and tactics that lead to significant differences between the genre of the translation and the corresponding genre in the target language. New linguistic expressions and writing techniques introduced by experimental literary translation will either be normalised by existing writing conventions or be accepted by the target readership which in turn will expand and enrich the target language and cultural system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]