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PURPOSE To investigate dynamic pupil changes after orbital blowout fracture repair. To compare postoperative changes in under photopic and mesopic pupil size and center position after orbital blowout fracture repair surgery. METHODS The study evaluated 19 eyes. Pupils were imaged for pupil size and center position before and 3 months after orbital blowout fracture repair surgery. Pupil size changes were measured, and the correlation between preoperative and postoperative pupil centroid shift was evaluated. RESULTS After repair, operative eyes exhibited a growth of 9.3% ± 8.6% in pupil size, and contralateral eyes showed a growth of 8.6% ± 8.2% (P = 0.011, P = 0.007). Similar findings were noted in mesopic conditions. Under mesopic conditions, the pupil of operative eyes in medial orbital wall fracture deviated 0.030 ± 0.019 mm towards the nasal side along the X-axis (P = 0.031). The postoperative orbital floor fracture group demonstrated statistical significance at a spatial frequency of 5 (P = 0.041). CONCLUSIONS Orbital blowout fracture repair surgery affects pupil size and center position.

BACKGROUND Surgical resection is regarded as the only potentially curative treatment option for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). The National Comprehensive Cancer Network clinical practice guidelines do not recommend palliative surgery unless there is a risk of severe symptoms. However, accumulating evidence has shown that palliative surgery is associated with more favorable outcomes for patients with metastatic CRC. AIM To investigate the separate role of palliative primary tumor resection for patients with stage IVA (M1a diseases) and stage IVB (M1b diseases) colorectal adenocarcinoma (CRA). METHODS CRA patients diagnosed from 2010 to 2015 with definite M1a and M1b categories according to the 8th edition of American Joint Committee on Cancer staging system were selected from the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database. To minimize potential selection bias, the data were adjusted by propensity score matching (PSM). Baseline characteristics, including gender, year of diagnosis, age, marital status, primary site, surgical information, race, grade, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, were recorded and analyzed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to explore the separate role of palliative surgery for patients with M1a and M1b diseases. RESULTS A total of 19680 patients with metastatic CRA were collected from the SEER database, including 10399 cases of M1a diseases and 9281 cases of M1b diseases. Common independent prognostic factors for both M1a and M1b patients included year of diagnosis, age, race, marital status, primary site, grade, surgery, and chemotherapy. After PSM adjustment, 3732 and 3568 matched patients in the M1a and M1b groups were included, respectively. Patients receiving palliative primary tumor resection had longer survival time than those without surgery (P < 0.001). For patients with M1a diseases, palliative resection could increase the median survival time by 9 mo; for patients with M1b diseases, palliative resection could prolong the median survival time by 7 mo. For M1a diseases, patients with lung metastasis had more clinical benefit from palliative resection than those with liver metastasis (15 mo for lung metastasis vs 8 mo for liver metastasis, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION CRA patients with M1a diseases gain more clinical benefits from palliative primary tumor resection than those with M1b diseases. Those patients with M1a (lung metastasis) have superior long-term outcomes after palliative primary tumor resection.

This article presents a wide-locking range divide-by-2 quadrature injection-locked frequency divider (QILFD) with capacitive cross-coupled oscillator. The ILFD consists of a quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO) and two NMOS switches, which are in parallel with the QVCO resonators for signal injection. The proposed CMOS QILFD has been implemented with the tsmc 0.18-µm CMOS technology and the core power consumption is 20.4mW at the supply voltage of 1V. At the input power of 0dBm, the divide-by-2 locking range is 90.322% from 3.4 GHz to 9.0 GHz. The phase noise of the locked output spectrum is lower than that of free running QILFD in the ÷2 mode for RFI reduction

Background To explore the dynamic distribution of pupil size and center,the eccentricity distribution of angle kappa, and its correlation with other biomechanics about suitable for excimer laser refractive surgery. Methods Randomly selected 225 patients (407 eyes) who underwent femtosecond laser combined with excimer laser in situkeratomileusis,preoperative use of Wavelight Allegro Topolyzer Corneal Topography ( Wavelight Laser Technologies AG, Erlangen, Germany ) to measure the pupil size and center position, the German Wavelight EX500 excimer Laser (500Hz) records the deviation between the pupil center and the coaxially sighted corneal light reflex when the patient is supine. Results The average displacement distribution of P-Dist (the eccentricity between the pupil center and the coaxially sighted corneal light reflex point) is 0.225 ± 0.102 mm, and 80% of the eyes are ≤ 0.30 mm.The coaxially sighted corneal light reflex point is mainly deviated to the superior temporal side of the corneal center (34%).Under the dark light condition, the x-axis of the left eye was: -0.046 ± 0.091 mm, the x-axis of the right eye was: -0.152 ± 0.084 mm, with statistical difference ( P = 0.015) (the right eye shifted to the temporal side), the y-axis direction had no statistical change ( P = 0.062). The WTW was positively correlated with changes of pupil diameter (dark pupil diameter-bright pupil diameter) ( r = 0.270, P

Background Several studies probed into the connection between esophageal cancer (EC) risk and PRKAA1 rs13361707 C/T polymorphism, but obtained insignificant findings. Methods In this study, 814 EC cases and 961 controls from Eastern China were recruited to validate the relationship between this polymorphism and EC susceptibility. Results Data suggested rs13361707 C/T polymorphism in PRKAA1 gene was significantly related with a lower risk for EC. Such significant connection was also uncovered in subgroups of males, smokers, drinkers and individuals with age ≥ 60 years. In addition, this polymorphism was linked with the pathological grading, distant metastasis, and histology of EC. Conclusion In summary, PRKAA1 rs13361707 C/T polymorphism is related to the risk and clinical properties of EC patients in East China.

Background Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) were closely associated with asthma. However, there were no perspective studies about the effects of glucocorticoid on ILC2s in asthma patients. Our objective was to perform a perspective study and evaluate the ILC2 activity after glucocorticoid therapy in asthma patients. Methods The asthma and asthma with allergic rhinitis patients were treated with glucocorticoid for 3 months. The circulating ILC2 levels were evaluated. The effects of glucocorticoid on ILC2s and possible signalling pathways were investigated in vitro. Results The patients were well‐controlled, and the high ILC2 levels were significantly decreased at 1 and 3 months after treatment. Peripheral blood monocytes from allergic patients produced dramatic IL‐5, IL‐13 and IL‐9 in response to IL‐25, IL‐33 plus IL‐2, and glucocorticoid significantly decreased their levels. Moreover, ILC2s were identified to be the predominant source of IL‐5, IL‐13 and IL‐9, and glucocorticoid treatment was able to reverse their high levels. STAT3, STAT5, STAT6, JAK3 and MEK signalling pathways were proved to be involved in regulating ILC2 activity under the glucocorticoid treatment. Conclusion The data suggested that glucocorticoid administration could be effective in treating asthma by regulating ILC2s via MEK/JAK‐STAT signalling pathways. This provides a new understanding of glucocorticoid application in regard to allergic diseases.

Background Human induced pluripotent stem cells-derived mesenchymal stem cells (iPSC-MSCs) have been shown to be effective in Type 2 helper T cells (Th2)-dominant eosinophilic allergic airway inflammation. However, the role of iPSC-MSCs in Type 17 helper T cells (Th17)-dominant neutrophilic airway inflammation remains poorly studied. Therefore, this study was to explore the effects of iPSC-MSCs on an experimental mouse model of steroid-resistant neutrophilic airway inflammation and further determine the underlying mechanisms. Methods A mouse model of neutrophilic airway inflammation was established using ovalbumin (OVA) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Human iPSC-MSCs were systemically administered, and the lungs or bronchoalveolar lavage fluids (BALF) were collected at 4 h and 48 h post-challenge. The pathology and inflammatory cell infiltration, the T helper cells, T helper cells-associated cytokines, nuclear transcription factors and possible signaling pathways were evaluated. Human CD4+ T cells were polarized to T helper cells and the effects of iPSC-MSCs on the differentiation of T helper cells were determined. Results We successfully induced the mouse model of Th17 dominant neutrophilic airway inflammation. Human iPSC-MSCs but not dexamethasone significantly prevented the neutrophilic airway inflammation and decreased the levels of Th17 cells, IL-17A and p-STAT3. The mRNA levels of Gata3 and RORγt were also decreased with the treatment of iPSC-MSCs. We further confirmed the suppressive effects of iPSC-MSCs on the differentiation of human T helper cells. Conclusions iPSC-MSCs showed therapeutic potentials in neutrophilic airway inflammation through the regulation on Th17 cells, suggesting that the iPSC-MSCs could be applied in the therapy for the asthma patients with steroid-resistant neutrophilic airway inflammation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13287-018-0897-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Backgrounds: Neratinib is a potent EGFR/HER2 kinase inhibitor. Gastrointestinal complications (i.e. diarrhea, vomiting and nausea) are the most common adverse events. In this study, we aimed to investigate (1) the overall incidence and relative risk (RR) of diarrhea, vomiting and nausea and (2) whether combination neratinib therapy increased the incidence of gastrointestinal complications versus neratinib alone. Methods: Relevant studies were identified from the PubMed database, from abstracts presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual conference and from the Web of Science database. Incidences, RRs, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated. Results: The incidences of all-grade diarrhea, vomiting and nausea in the neratinib groups were 89% (95% CI = 77–95%), 31% (95% CI = 25–37%) and 44% (95% CI = 33–55%), respectively. The neratinib arms significantly increased the risk of diarrhea and vomiting in comparison with the control groups (diarrhea: all-grade, RR = 2.06, 95% CI = 1.38–3.08, P = 0.0004; grade 3/4, RR = 8.77, 95% CI = 2.91–26.40, P = 0.0001; vomiting: all-grade, RR = 2.02, 95% CI = 1.10–3.71, P = 0.02; grade 3/4, RR = 7.10, 95% CI = 3.33–15.15, P Conclusions: Our meta-analysis demonstrates that the neratinib arms are associated with a significantly increased risk of diarrhea and vomiting.

Purpose. To analyze the distribution of the offset between the pupil center and the coaxially sighted corneal light reflex (P-Dist), the effects of 50% and 100% angle kappa adjustments on refractive and visual quality in patients with moderate myopia were investigated. Methods. A randomly selected 254 patients (254 eyes) with moderate myopia who underwent femtosecond laser-combined LASIK were examined. During the operation, the P-Dist of the patients was recorded by the x- and y-axis eyeball-tracking adjustment program of the WaveLight Eagle Vision EX500 excimer laser system. Preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively, the WaveLight® ALLEGRO Topolyzer was used to measure the pupil size and center position, and the wavefront sensor was used to measure the wavefront aberrations. The visual function tester (OPTEC 6500) measured contrast sensitivity. Results. The average P-Dist was 0.220 ± 0.102 mm. When the P-Dist >0.220 mm, the postoperative residual cylinder was 0.29 ± 0.34 D in the group with the 50% adjustment and 0.40 ± 0.32 D in the 100% group, which was significantly higher than the 50% group P = 0.036 . The coma was 0.21 ± 0.17 μm in the 50% adjusted group and 0.34 ± 0.25 μm in the 100% group, which was significantly higher than that in the 50% group P = 0.021 . At the 1.5 c/d spatial frequency, contrast sensitivity in the adjusted 100% group was significantly lower than that in the 50% group under visual glare conditions P = 0.039 . Conclusion. The postoperative visual acuity and spherical equivalent were not affected in the two groups. However, when P-Dist >0.220 mm, the residual astigmatism and coma were lower in the 50% group. Individualized operations for those with moderate myopia and large-angle kappa in which 100% adjustment is chosen may not result in a better visual quality effect than 50%.

The T helper 2 (Th2)-type response was considered the hypostasis of allergic airway diseases, including asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR). However, more recent studies have suggested that allergic airway inflammation also depends on innate immunity and is closely related to group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s). This study evaluated the ILC2 levels of asthma subjects, patients with asthma and AR, and healthy individuals, regarding how to investigate the relationship between clinical data and ILC2 levels. It was found that asthma patients and asthma with AR patients had higher ILC2 levels compared to healthy subjects. ILC2s were positively correlated with the percentage of eosinophils in patients with asthma and AR, but not with pulmonary function. ILC2 levels were higher in mild asthma subjects than in patients with severe asthma. This study provides a new interpretation of the pathogenesis of allergic airway inflammation and may provide a new direction for the diagnosis and assessment of allergic airway diseases.

Currently, the traffic congestion is a significant problem encountered in urban development, which should be resolved depending primarily on the management and deployment under the circumstance that road construction isn't able to keep the pace of automobile growth. WSNs (Wireless sensor networks), made up of numerous sensor nodes, form a multi-hop and self-organizing cellular system by wireless communication, which can realize real-time monitoring and collecting environmental information by cooperation. In this paper, a design of real-time and dynamic city vehicle navigation system is presented based on WSNs, GPS(Global Positioning System), and GPRS(General Packet Radio Service) techniques..

Ti-Al-Mo-Fe alloys were developed as low cost beta Ti alloys for automotive springs, and designed based on Molybdenum equivalency and Bo-Md molecular orbital method. Low priced Mo-Fe master alloys were introduced as alloying elements for the cost and elastic modulus reduction. Eight Ti-Al-Mo-Fe alloy candidates were pre-designed according to the Bo-Md method. Primary laboratory scale ingots were thus melted by ISM (Induction Skull Melting). After primary property evaluation, the Ti-2Al-9.2Mo-2Fe alloy was optimized finally and large scale ingot was made by VAR for further property evaluation. Resultantly, it shows that the alloy has lower elastic modulus (60-70 GPa) and good tensile properties in the solution condition, and compares well with the other developed commercial beta alloys.

Objective To investigate the radiosensitizing effect of nitric oxide (NO) combined with radiation on esophageal cancer cell line TE-1. Methods Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay was used to assess the effects of NO and radiation on TE-1 cells regarding inhibition of cell proliferation. Flow cytometry was used to examine the effect of NO and radiation on cell apoptosis and cycle. Reverse transcription polymerase chine reaction and Western blot were used to evaluete the effect of NO on mRNA and protein expression of manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD). Results NO inhibited the proliferation of TE-1 cells while significantly enhancing their radiosensitivity. The application of NO combined with radiation significantly increased the apoptosis rate and G2/M phase proportion of TE-1 cells, with substantial decreases in the MnSOD mRNA and protein expression levels. Conclusions NO reduces the MnSOD mRNA and protein expression levels by affecting TE-1 cell cycle, further inhibiting the apoptosis of esophageal cancer cells and enhancing the killing effect of radiation on esophageal cancer cells.

This presents a differential outputs divide-by-4 with class-A-C injection-locked frequency divider (ILFD) was implemented in the TSMC standard 0.18 μm CMOS process for biomedical sensor and wearable applications. The ILFD is based on a differential VCO with one injection MOSFET for coupling the external signal to the resonator. The locking range of the ILFD is increased by using a new LC resonator. Measurement results show that at the supply voltage of 1.5 V, the divider's free-running frequency is 3.5 GHz, and at the incident power of 0 dBm the locking range is about 3.1GHz (20.4%), from the incident frequency 3.4 to 4.1 GHz. The core power consumption is 12.9mW. The die area is 0.66mm2.

The reliability control of reinforced concrete structure during construction is important for ensuring the safety of the structure. The paper puts forth the main influence factors of construction quality and the control measures of these factors through the discussion of reliability control of construction quality, and given the processing method of quality defects of reinforced concrete structure during construction.

Postoperative radiotherapy has shown positive efficacy in lowering the recurrence rate and improving the survival rate in cases involving lymph node (LN) metastasis. However, the radiotherapy target volume remains controversial. Certain published studies have paid more attention to LNs found to be affected during surgery, while little effort has been made to study the LN metastatic pattern following surgery and its influence on the determination of the target volume of postoperative radiotherapy. In this study, the locoregional recurrence of esophageal squamous cell cancer was examined in 134 patients receiving radical surgery with two-field lymph node dissection from 2004 to 2009. In the 134 cases of recurrence, LN metastasis occurred in 126 patients (94.0%) while 13 patients (9.7%) developed anastomotic recurrence and 5 patients (3.7%) experienced tumor bed recurrence. The difference among the groups was statistically significant (P= 0.000). In the 126 cases with lymph node metastasis, the mediastinal metastasis rate (80.2%) was significantly higher compared with the rate of supraclavicular metastasis and abdominal metastasis (P= 0.000). A significant difference was identified between right and left supraclavicular LN metastasis (31.7% vs 16.7%, P= 0.005). Furthermore, the difference between the metastatic rates in the upper (73.8%), middle (39.7%) and lower mediastinum (1.6%) was statistically significant (P=0.000). Nevertheless, no significant correlation between the rate of LN metastasis was observed in the supraclavicular, mediastinal and abdominal regions for upper, middle and lower thoracic carcinomas (P= 0.404, P= 0.718 and P= 0.169, respectively). Based on our data, LN metastasis is the major locoregional recurrence pattern for esophageal squamous cell cancer following radical surgery. The high-risk lymphatic drainage areas include the supraclavicular nodes, recurrent laryngeal nerve nodes, azygos nodes and subcarinal nodes.

BACKGROUND: Kidney transplantation is the treatment of choice for most patients with end-stage renal disease and existing data suggest that post transplant graft function is a predictor of kidney graft failure. METHODS: Exome sequencing of DNA from kidney graft recipients and their donors was used to determine recipient and donor mismatches at the amino acid level. The number of mismatches that are more likely to induce an immune response in the recipient was computationally estimated and designated the allogenomics mismatch score. The relationship between the allogenomics score and post transplant kidney allograft function was examined using linear regression. RESULTS: A significant inverse correlation between the allogenomics mismatch score and kidney graft function at 36 months post transplantation was observed in a discovery cohort of kidney recipient-donor pairs (r2>=0.57, P

In order to automatically identify the electrical parameters of PMSMs, rather than measure the parameters using instruments such as RLC meters, this paper proposes an approach in which the testing voltage is injected into the motor from the drive. Based on the analysis of equivalent circuits of the PMSMs as well as the phase voltage and phase current information recorded from standstill to sensorless control operation, the RLS method is employed to estimate the values of electrical parameters of the PMSMs. Moreover, the automatic motor parameter identification algorithm developed in this paper is also integrated into the open loop startup procedure of the sensorless control drive. Consequently, the proposed automatic motor parameter identification method has attractive features such as fast identification and being highly convenient. In addition, both the proposed automatic motor parameter identification method and the sensorless control drive developed in this paper are implemented using a low-cost 16-bit microcontroller. Two commercial surface-type and interior-type PMSMs are used in the experiments to assess the performance of the proposed approach. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed automatic motor parameter identification method.

Due to its attractive features such as high power density, long duration, high efficiency, the Brushless DC Motor (BLDCM) has gradually replaced the conventional brush DC motor and has been widely used in home appliances, office equipments, industrial applications and vehicles, etc. This paper proposes an intellectual property design of functions needed to implement a BLDCM drive, including the algorithms for commutation and control. The developed IP is verified by an Altera FPGA Board. In addition, the IP developed in this paper can be implemented as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or embedded in SoC IC as a motor drive module. It is cost effective and requires shorter development time compared with the conventional microcontroller drive.

Context-aware applications become more and more popular in today's life. Location-aware information has derived a lot of research issues. This paper presents a precise indoor RF-based WLAN (IEEE 802.11) locating system named precise indoor locating system (PILS). Most proposed location systems acquire well location estimation results but consume high level of manual effort to collect a huge amount of signal data. As a consequence, the system becomes impractical and manpower-wasted. In this paper, we aim to reduce the manual effort in constructing radio map and maintain high accuracy in our system. We propose models for data calibration, interpolating, and location estimation in PILS. In data calibration and location estimation models, we consider of autocorrelation of signal samples to enhance the accuracy. Wireless channel propagation model is also in our concern. Large scale and small scale fading are involved in the wireless channel propagation.

As mobile computing technology becomes more and more mature, people feel great interest on context-aware applications and services. Referring to context, location-aware system is one of the most important components. This paper presents a precise indoor RF-based (IEEE 802.11) locating system named precise indoor locating system (PILS). In order to acquire high level of location estimation result, a large number of training samples should be collected in offline phase. As a result, the system becomes impractical and huge number of man-power is needed. In this paper, we aim to reduce the manual effort in constructing radio map and maintain high accuracy in our system. We propose models for data calibration, interpolating, location estimation, and tracking in PILS. Wireless Channel Propagation model is also in our concern. Large scale and small scale fading are involved in the wireless channel propagation

To find new serum biomarkers for liver cirrhosis (LC) in chronic carriers of hepatitis B virus (HBV).Surface enhanced laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (SELDI-TOF) mass spectrometry was used to discover biomarkers for differentiating HBV induced LC from non-cirrhotic cohorts. A training population of 25 patients with HBV-induced LC, 20 patients with HCC, and 25 closely age-matched healthy men, was studied.Two biomarkers with M(r) 7 772 and 3 933 were detected in sera of non-cirrhotic cohorts, but not in patients with HBV-induced LC. A sensitivity of 80% for all LC patients, a specificity of 81.8% for all non-cirrhotic cohorts and a positive predictive value of 75% for the study population were obtained.These two serum biomarkers for HBV-induced LC might be used for diagnosis and assessment of disease progression.