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Hypomyelinating leukodystrophy (HLD) is a rare genetic heterogeneous disease that can affect myelin development in the central nervous system. This study aims to analyze the clinical phenotype and genetic function of a family with HLD-7 caused by POLR3A mutation. The proband (IV6) in this family mainly showed progressive cognitive decline, dentin dysplasia, and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism. Her three old brothers (IV1, IV2, and IV4) also had different degrees of ataxia, dystonia, or dysarthria besides the aforementioned manifestations. Their brain magnetic resonance imaging showed bilateral periventricular white matter atrophy, brain atrophy, and corpus callosum atrophy and thinning. The proband and her two living brothers (IV2 and IV4) were detected to carry a homozygous mutation of the POLR3A (NM_007055.4) gene c. 2300G > T (p.Cys767Phe), and her consanguineous married parents (III1 and III2) were p.Cys767Phe heterozygous carriers. In the constructed POLR3A wild-type and p.Cys767Phe mutant cells, it was seen that overexpression of wild-type POLR3A protein significantly enhanced Pol III transcription of 5S rRNA and tRNA Leu-CAA. However, although the mutant POLR3A protein overexpression was increased compared to the wild-type protein overexpression, it did not show the expected further enhancement of Pol III function. On the contrary, Pol III transcription function was frustrated (POLR3A, BC200, and tRNA Leu-CAA expression decreased), and MBP and 18S rRNA expressions were decreased. This study indicates that the POLR3A p.Cys767Phe variant caused increased expression of mutated POLR3A protein and abnormal expression of Pol III transcripts, and the mutant POLR3A protein function was abnormal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Purpose: To analyze the correlation between the prostate necrosis rate at 1-month after prostatic artery embolization (PAE) and the clinical efficacy at 1-year after PAE, and to explore potential predictors of clinical success after PAE for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods: The prostate magnetic resonance imaging data at 1-month after PAE were imported into 3D Slicer software for calculating the prostate necrosis rate and thus analyzing the relationship between the prostate necrosis rate at 1-month after PAE and the efficacy score ratio at 1-year after PAE. The 151 patients with PAE technical success were divided into a clinical success group (n = 126) and a clinical failure group (n = 25). Independent predictors of clinical success after PAE were analyzed by multifactorial logistic regression, and the predictive performance of each factor was evaluated by applying the receiver operating characteristic curve and the area under the curve (AUC). Results: There was a linear negative correlation between the prostate necrosis rate at 1-month after PAE and the efficacy score ratio at 1-year after surgery (P < 0.001). In the clinical success group, both the initial prostate volume (PV) and the prostate necrosis rate at 1-month after PAE were significantly higher than in the clinical failure group (P < 0.001), and acute urinary retention (AUR) and adenomatous-dominant BPH were also associated with clinical success (P < 0.05). Multifactorial logistic regression analysis revealed that larger initial PV, a higher prostate necrosis rate at 1-month after surgery, and AUR were independent predictors of clinical success after PAE. The AUC values for these three indicators and their combination were 0.720, 0.928, 0.599, and 0.951, respectively, in which the prostate necrosis rate at 1-month after PAE demonstrating a high predictive value. Conclusion: The higher the prostate necrosis rate at 1-month after PAE, the better the clinical efficacy at 1-year after PAE is likely to be, and the prostate necrosis rate at 1-month after PAE is expected to become a predictor of clinical success after PAE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine whether the integrity of the entry portal of head-neck implant is related to postoperative mechanical complications. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed consecutive patients with pertrochanteric fractures in our hospital treated from January 1, 2018, to September 1, 2021. Based on the integrity of the entry portal for head-neck implants on the femoral lateral wall, patients were divided into two groups, including the ruptured entry portal (REP) group and the intact entry portal (IEP) group. After 4:1 propensity score-matched analyses were used to balance the baseline of the two groups, a total of 55 patients were extracted from the original participants, including 11 patients in the REP group and 44 matched patients in the IEP group. The anterior to posterior cortex width on the mid-level of the lesser trochanter was measured and defined as the residual lateral wall width (RLWW). Results: Compared with the IEP group, the REP group was correlated with postoperative mechanical complications (OR = 12.00, 95% CI 1.837–78.369, P = 0.002) and hip-thigh pain (OR = 26.67, 95% CI 4.98–142.86). RLWW ≤ 18.55 mm indicated a high likelihood (tau-y = 0.583, P = 0.000) of becoming the REP type postoperatively and being more likely to suffer from mechanical complications (OR = 30.67, 95% CI 3.91–240.70, P = 0.000) and hip-thigh pain (OR = 14.64, 95% CI 2.36–90.85, P = 0.001). Conclusion: Rupture of entry portal is a high-risk factor for mechanical complications in intertrochanteric fractures. RLWW ≤ 18.55 mm is a reliable predictor of the postoperative REP type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using crustacean shell wastes to produce chitin/chitosan-based biosorbents has gained increasing attention because of its promising potential for waste recycling and environmental remediation. However, from raw materials to final biosorbents, the traditional acid-alkaline-treated chitin suffered from complicated procedures and serious secondary pollution. In this work, via an integrating one-step environmental-friendly procedure, a novel EDTA-grafted chitin (ECH) was successfully prepared using Portunus trituberculata shells. The obtained biomaterial possessed a three-dimensional porous microstructure and extra functional groups, and showed exceptional adsorption efficiency and reusability for Cu(II) adsorption. The highest Cu(II) removal rate reached 99.4%, while the corresponding adsorption capacity reached 223.70 mg g−1. Moreover, the adsorption data followed better with the Langmuir isotherm model, while it fitted well with both the pseudo-first-order model and the pseudo-second-order kinetics model. Further study suggested that the adsorption mechanisms of Cu(II) by the ECH should be a formation of EDTA–chitin–Cu complex. These findings would enlighten the development of more novel chitin-based biosorbents using crustacean shell wastes via more facile and green ways, as well as their application as biosorbents for environmental restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A straightforward, largely instrument-free, smartphone-based analytical strategy for hexavalent chromium and lysine (Lys) on-site detection via exploitation of dual-emission carbon quantum dots (DECQDs) has been demonstrated. DECQDs show dual-emission peaks at 439 and 630 nm with the excitation at 375 nm. As a dual-mode detection probe, the fluorescence and ultraviolet adsorption spectra of DECQDs vary with hexavalent chromium concentrations. Most importantly, Lys can restore the fluorescence of the hexavalent chromium added DECQD nanoprobe and change the color of the probe under natural light. At the same time, based on the participation of smartphones, the prepared DECQD probes favor the establishment of visual smart sensors that can also be used for the in-situ detection of targets. The on-site quantitative analysis exhibited a linear range of 5.3–320 μM with a detection limit of 1.6 μM towards Cr(VI) and the differentiation of Lys variation from 1 to 75 mM with a detection limit of 0.3 mM. The probe has been applied for the first time to enable vision-based colorimetric in complex samples such as water, milk and egg. The recoveries of Cr(VI) and Lys in real samples were between 90 and 104%, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) was as low as 0.4%. This work offers new perspectives for fundamental understanding and new design of functional luminescent materials that are applicable for food-safety and rapid and intelligent inspection. A straightforward, large instrument-free, smartphone-based analytical strategy with dual-emission carbon quantum dots was developed for hexavalent chromium and Lys on-site detection via fluorescent and colorimetric twofold readout measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrogen sulfide and biothiol molecules such as Cys and GSH acted important roles in many physiological processes. To simultaneously detect and distinguish them was quite necessary by a suitable fluorescent probe. A novel chemosensor 4-(4-(benzo[d]thiazol-2-yl)-2-methoxyphenoxy)-7-nitrobenzo[c][1,2,5]oxadiazole (BMNO) was designed to detect H2S/Cys/GSH using the combination of nitrobenzofurazan (NBD) and benzothiazole fluorophores linked by a facile ether bond. The probe BMNO was developed for simultaneous identification of H2S, Cys and GSH. Noticeably, the color changes (from colorless to light purple, light orange and light yellow) of probe BMNO solutions for sensing H2S, Cys and GSH could be observed by naked eyes, respectively. The probe BMNO exhibited high selectivity and sensitivity for H2S, Cys and GSH showing distinct optical signal with detection limit as low as 0.15 μM, 0.03 μM and 0.14 μM, respectively. The sensing mechanism was clarified by spectrum analysis and some controlled experiments. In addition, these outstanding properties of probe BMNO enabled its practical applications in detection H2S in beer, and in cell imaging for Cys and GSH as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Healing of gastric endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD)-induced ulcer is critical for patient recovery. During ESD treatment, submucosal incisions are made with an electrosurgical knife to accomplish en bloc resections of superficial lesions. Nevertheless, excess electrocoagulation may decrease the blood supply of ESD-induced ulcer and delay the ulcer healing. The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the effectiveness of conservative electrocoagulation followed by porcine fibrin sealant (FS) as a wound microvessels-protective hemostatic technique in promoting the healing of ESD-induced ulcer.Methods: A total of 332 patients with early gastric cancer (EGCs), or gastric precancerous lesion and gastric adenoma were retrospectively analyzed. Propensity score matching was used to compensate for the differences in age, gender, tumor location, resected specimen area, and pathology. One-month ulcer healing rates and delayed bleeding were compared between two matched groups (combined hemostats group and electrocautery group).Results: A total of 115 matched pairs were created after propensity score matching. There was no difference in tumor location, specimen surface area, tumor differentiation and invasion depth between groups. The completed healing rate 1 month after ESD was 44.3% in combined hemostats group and 30.4% in electrocautery group (P = 0.004). There was no difference in delayed massive bleeding rate between two groups (P = 0.300). In addition, based on the multivariate regression analysis for ulcer healing rate, the use of FS (OR, 0.348, 95% CI 0.196 - 0.617, P = 0.000) and larger specimen size (OR, 2.640, 95% CI 2.015-3.458, P = 0.000) were associated with nonhealing ulcer 1 month after ESD.Conclusion: Applying conservative electrocoagulation followed by porcine FS as a wound microvessels-protective hemostatic technique can promote ESD-induced ulcer healing without increasing delayed bleeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in supervised salient object detection modeling has resulted in significant performance improvements on benchmark datasets. However, most of the existing salient object detection models assume that at least one salient object exists in the input image. Such an assumption often leads to less appealing saliency maps on the background images with no salient object at all. Therefore, handling those cases can reduce the false positive rate of a model. In this paper, we propose a supervised learning approach for jointly addressing the salient object detection and existence prediction problems. Given a set of background-only images and images with salient objects, as well as their salient object annotations, we adopt the structural SVM framework and formulate the two problems jointly in a single integrated objective function: saliency labels of superpixels are involved in a classification term conditioned on the salient object existence variable, which in turn depends on both global image and regional saliency features and saliency labels assignments. The loss function also considers both image-level and region-level mis-classifications. Extensive evaluation on benchmark datasets validate the effectiveness of our proposed joint approach compared to the baseline and state-of-the-art models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metastatic fibrohistiocytic tumor of the gallbladder is an exceedingly rare entity that may lead to hemobilia or even hypovolemic shock. Its clinical course presents with acute or chronic upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding. Emergency laparoscopic cholecystectomy was performed prior to progression to life-threatening shock. Herein, we report a 47-year-old female presenting with poorly controlled anemia, melena, and fatigue over a half-year period. After surgical and postoperative pathological analysis, she was finally diagnosed as a lymph node hemorrhage associated with intraluminal metastatic fibrohistiocytic tumor of the gallbladder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) plays critical roles in both tumor-suppressive and oncogenic pathways in the pathological development and prognosis of cancers.Aims: This study aimed to explore the expression of lncRNA AFAP1-AS1 and its function in gastric cancer (GC).Methods: The expression of AFAP1-AS1 was detected in GC tissues and GC cells by quantitative real-time reverse-transcription PCR. A small interfering RNA (siRNA) that targeted AFAP1-AS1 was transfected into cells to inhibit the expression of AFAP1-AS1. MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay and colony formation assay were performed to examine the cell proliferation of SGC7901 cell transfected with si-AFAP1-AS1. Cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. The protein level of cleaved PARP, Caspase 3, Caspase 9, Caspase 8, Bcl-2, Bax, p-AKT, total-AKT, and PTEN were detected by Western blot.Results: AFAP1-AS1 was up-regulated in GC tissues and GC cells. AFAP1-AS1 knockdown suppressed cell viability of SGC7901 transfected with si-AFAP1-AS1. The number of apoptotic SGC7901 cell transfected with si-AFAP1-AS1 was increased by 3.4-fold comparing to that of control. The protein level of cleaved PARP, Caspase 3, and Caspase 9 were increased in SGC7901 transfected with si-AFAP1-AS1, as well as the expression of Bax. The protein level of Bcl-2 was decreased. AFAP1-AS1 knockdown decreased the protein level of p-AKT and increased the expression of PTEN in SGC7901 cells.Conclusions: AFAP1-AS1 was up-regulated in GC cells and regulated the gastric cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis via PTEN/p-AKT pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genome-wide association and large cohort studies have consistently linked several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in the CHRNA5/A3/B4 gene cluster to smoking behaviors and nicotine dependence. Smoking is one of the well-established environmental risk factors for psoriasis and also associated with severity of the disease. Then we conduct the study to examine whether the genetic variations related to smoking behavior located in the CHRNA5/A3/B4 gene cluster also predict the risk of psoriasis vulgaris (PV). The investigations may help explain the mechanisms of the smoking-PV relationship. This is a hospital base case-control study including 634 subjects (329 PV patients and 305 controls), all Chinese Han population. 8 SNPs were selected based on findings from recent studies on smoking and nicotine dependence, all located in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits CHRNA5/A3/B4 gene cluster. The variants were typed by SNaPshot Multiplex Kit (Applied Biosystems Co., USA). We confirmed that smoking, alcohol consumption and higher body mass index (BMI ≥25) were risk factors for PV. However, none of the selected SNPs was associated with PV risk in the overall analysis and stratification analysis. And we found no association between the selected SNPs in CHRNA5/A3/B4 gene cluster and the clinical features of PV in case-only analysis. This exploratory study does not provide a relationship between these smoking-related SNPs in the CHRNA5/A3/B4 gene cluster and PV in Chinese Han population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) pathway affects cancer initiation, progression, and metastasis, but its role in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) remains elusive. To characterize expression and clinical significance of Shh and the transcription factor Gli-1-the key elements of the Shh pathway in PTC tissues-we immunohistochemically examined Shh/Gli-1 expression in PTC tissues from 142 patients, along with adjacent non-cancerous tissues as controls. We reviewed 142 patients' clinical characteristics and analyzed their relationship with expression of Shh/Gli-1. Shh and Gli-1 were expressed in 64.1 % (91/142) and 47.9 % (68/142) in PTC tissues, respectively, compared with 16.9 % (24/142) and 9.2 % (13/142) of adjacent non-cancerous tissues. Gli-1 expression was significantly associated with patients' ages ( P < 0.05) and lymph node metastasis ( P < 0.01). Increased Shh and Gli-1 expression was significantly associated with tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage ( P < 0.01). Shh and Gli-1 were expressed in 79.2 and 60.4 %, respectively, of PTC tumors larger than 10 mm. Shh was significantly associated with tumor size ( P < 0.01). Shh and Gli-1 were expressed in 72.5 and 65.2 %, respectively, of patients with lymph node metastasis. Overall, we found increased expression of the main initiator Shh and transcription factor Gli-1 in Shh pathway in PTC tissues. The expression of Shh/Gli-1 was significantly associated with tumor size, clinical staging, and lymph node metastasis, indicating that aberrant activation of the Shh pathway is important to PTC occurrence and progression. Potentially, Shh/Gli-1 could be a diagnostic indicator and a marker of therapeutic response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new isostructural coordination polymers, namely, [Ln(nbtc)·2HO] [Ln = Eu ( 1), Tm ( 2)] (Hnbtc = 5-nitrobenzene-1,2,3-tricarboxylic acid), have been synthesized under hydrothermal conditions and characterized by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and single crystal X-ray diffraction. Both compounds are sandwich-like 2D layered network built by the 1D Ln-carboxylate chains and nbtc linkers, displaying the same 3D supramolecular network via intermolecular hydrogen bonds. The photoluminescence and lifetime of 1 in the solid state has also been investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the T ϕ-convex functions were introduced as a generalizations of convex functions. Then the characteristics of the T ϕ-convex functions were discussed. Furthermore, some new inequalities for the T ϕ-convex functions were derived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calcitonin has been shown to be a progesterone-regulated potential marker of the receptive endometrium in the rat and human. The present study was undertaken to immunohistochemically investigate the changes in calcitonin in the monkey uterus during the menstrual cycle and periimplantation period. Calcitonin immunostaining was primarily localized in the glandular epithelium on d 16, 20, and 25 of the menstrual cycle. During early pregnancy, calcitonin immunostaining was strongly observed in the glandular epithelium only on d 9 of pregnancy, the day before implantation. Since the high level of calcitonin immunostaining in the glandular epithelium during the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle and periimplantation period matched the high level of maternal progesterone during this period, the expression of calcitonin in monkey endometrium may be under the regulation of maternal progesterone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we prove that a submanifold of S[sup m] has pointwise 2- or 3-planar normal sections via the second standard immersion of S[sup m] if and only if it is totally geodesic in S[sup m]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To discover tumor-associated proteins in osteosarcoma, a quantitative proteomic analysis was performed to identify proteins that were differentially expressed between osteosarcoma and human osteoblastic cells. Through clinical screening and a functional evaluation, chromosome segregation 1-like (CSE1L) protein was found to be related to the growth of osteosarcoma cells. To date, little is known about the function and underlying mechanism of CSE1L in osteosarcoma. In the present study, we show that knockdown of CSE1L inhibits osteosarcoma growth in vitro and in vivo. By co-immunoprecipitation and RNA-seq analysis, CSE1L was found to interact with mutS homolog 6 (MSH6) and function as a positive regulator of MSH6 protein in osteosarcoma cells. A rescue study showed that decreased growth of osteosarcoma cells by CSE1L knockdown was reversed by MSH6 overexpression, indicating that the activity of CSE1L was an MSH6-dependent function. In addition, depletion of MSH6 hindered cellular proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Notably, CSE1L expression was correlated with MSH6 expression in tumor samples and was associated with poor prognosis in patients with osteosarcoma. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the CSE1L-MSH6 axis has an important role in osteosarcoma progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Receptivity is a limited time in which uterine endometrium can establish a successful dialogue with blastocyst. This study was to investigate the effect of asynchronous embryo transfer on uterine receptivity in mice. Embryos under different stages were transferred into two oviduct sides of a recipient mouse on day 1 of pseudopregnancy. Our results showed the asynchronously transferred embryos can implant in all groups. Compared to zygote-transfer group, the length of implanted embryos is longer in 8-cell embryo- or blastocyst-transfer group. The levels of Snail and COX-2 immunostaining in blastocyst-transfer group are significantly stronger than that in zygote-transfer group. Embryos in blastocyst-transfer group migrate faster than that in zygote-transfer group within uterus. Blastocysts are in a state of developmental delay after they are transferred into oviducts, and they are reactivated and implanted rapidly in uterus. The developmental rate to newborn in zygote-transfer group is obviously higher than that in blastocyst-transfer group, suggesting that a delay in embryo development and implantation will lead to a decrease of litter size. These results indicated that the window of implantation is differentially regulated in two uterine horns of a recipient by embryos at different stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]