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No previous study has investigated dietary pattern in association with obesity risk in a middle-aged Chinese population. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the associations between dietary patterns and the risk of obesity in the city of Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province, east China. In this cross-sectional study of 2560 subjects aged 45-60 years, dietary intakes were evaluated using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). All anthropometric measurements were obtained using standardized procedures. The partial correlation analysis was performed to assess the associations between dietary patterns and body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), and waist to hip ratio (WHR). Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations between dietary patterns and obesity, with adjustment for potential confounders. Four major dietary patterns were extracted by means of factor analysis: animal food, traditional Chinese, western fast-food, and high-salt patterns. The animal food pattern was positively associated with BMI (r = 0.082, 0.144, respectively, p < 0.05) and WC (r = 0.102, 0.132, respectively, p < 0.01), and the traditional Chinese pattern was inversely associated with BMI (r = -0.047, -0.116, respectively, p < 0.05) and WC (r = -0.067, -0.113, respectively, p < 0.05) in both genders. After controlling for potential confounders, subjects in the highest quartile of animal food pattern scores had a greater odds ratio for abdominal obesity (odds ratio (OR) = 1.67; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.188-2.340; p < 0.01), in comparison to those from the lowest quartile. Compared with the lowest quartile of the traditional Chinese pattern, the highest quartile had a lower odds ratio for abdominal obesity (OR = 0.63; 95% CI: 0.441-0.901, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Our findings indicated that the animal food pattern was associated with a higher risk of abdominal obesity, while the traditional Chinese pattern was associated with a lower risk of abdominal obesity. Further prospective studies are warranted to confirm these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mitogen- and Stress-Activated Kinase 1 (MSK1) is a nuclear kinase that serves as active link between extracellular signals and the primary response of gene expression. However, the involvement of MSK1 in malignant transformation and cancer development is not well understood. In this study, we aimed to explore the role of MSK1 in Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1)-promoted carcinogenesis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Methods: The level of MSK1 phosphorylation at Thr581 was detected by the immunohistochemical analysis in NPC tissues and normal nasopharynx tissues, and its correlation with LMP1 was analyzed in NPC tissues and cell lines. Using MSK1 inhibitor H89 or small interfering RNA (siRNA)-MSK1, the effects of MSK1 on LMP1-promoted CNE1 cell proliferation and transformation were evaluated by CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry and focus-forming assay respectively. Furthermore, the regulatory role of MSK1-mediated histone H3 phosphorylation at Ser10 on the promoter activity and expression of Fra-1 or c-Jun was determined by reporter gene assay and western blotting analysis. Results: Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the level of MSK1 phosphorylation at Thr581 was significantly higher in the poorly differentiated NPC tissues than that in normal nasopharynx tissues (P < 0.001). Moreover, high level of phosphorylated MSK1 was positively correlated with the expression of LMP1 in NPC tissues (r = 0.393, P = 0.002) and cell lines. MSK1 inhibitor H89 or knockdown of MSK1 by siRNA dramatically suppressed LMP1-promoted CNE1 cell proliferation, which was associated with the induction of cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase. In addition, the anchorage-independent growth promoted by LMP1 was blocked in MSK1 knockdown cells. When the activity or expression of MSK1 was inhibited, LMP1-induced promoter activities of Fra-1 and c-Jun as well as their protein levels were greatly reduced. It was found that only H3 WT, but not mutant H3 S10A, dramatically increased LMP1 induction of Fra-1 and c-Jun genes compared with mock cells. Conclusion: Increased MSK1 activity is critically important for LMP1-promoted cell proliferation and transformation in NPC, which may be correlated with its induction of Fra-1 and c-Jun through phosphorylation of histone H3 at Ser10. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EGFR R521K polymorphism has been shown to reduce the activity of EGFR; however, the association between EGFR R521K polymorphism and the risk of cancer remains inconclusive; therefore we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the relationship between EGFR R521K polymorphism and susceptibility to cancer. Our results suggest that the EGFR R521K polymorphism is not associated with risk of cancer, but the different chemosensitivity to anticancer drugs may need further investigation [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of wireless technologies, mobile communication applies more and more extensively in the various walks of life. The social network of both fixed andmobile users can be seen as networked agent system. At present, kinds of devices and access network technology are widely used. Different users in this networked agent system may need different coding rates multimedia data due to their heterogeneous demand. This paper proposes a distributed flow rate control algorithmto optimizemultimedia data transmission of the networked agent systemwith the coexisting various coding rates. In this proposed algorithm, transmission path and upload bandwidth of different coding rate data between source node, fixed and mobile nodes are appropriately arranged and controlled. On the one hand, this algorithm can provide user nodes with differentiated coding rate data and corresponding flow rate. On the other hand, it makes the different coding rate data and user nodes networked, which realizes the sharing of upload bandwidth of user nodes which require different coding rate data. The study conducts mathematical modeling on the proposed algorithmandcompares the systemthat adopts theproposedalgorithmwith the existingsystembasedon the simulationexperiment andmathematical analysis. The results show that the system that adopts the proposed algorithmachieves higher upload bandwidth utilization of user nodes and lower upload bandwidth consumption of source node. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IMU rotation of an inertial navigation system (INS) can bound the free propagation of the INS error introduced by the drifts of inertial sensors. The rotation scheme of the IMU will directly affect the accuracy, structure and costs of the system. A reasonable rotation scheme should remove most of the system errors arising from the drifts of the inertial sensors, and at the same time, should not introduce other additional errors. First, this paper discusses the design and analysis approach of the rotation scheme based on the error propagation equations of the INS. Then, a conventional 8-position rotation scheme is analyzed for the applications of the optical gyro INS, and its drawbacks are discussed in detail. Following these, an improved 8-position rotation scheme and a novel 16-position rotation scheme are proposed for the optical gyro INS, and their merits are also discussed. Simulation results have shown that the 16-position rotation scheme, which can compensate not only the drifts but also the scale factor errors and the misalignment errors of the inertial sensors, is the best rotation scheme and can be used as a practical solution to compensate the drifts of the inertial sensors in the rotational INS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing thrombosis-resistant surface is crucial to develop tissue-engineered small diameter vascular grafts for arterial reconstructive procedures. The objective of this study was to evaluate the stability and anti-coagulation properties of heparin covalently linked to decellularized porcine carotid arteries. Cellular components of porcine carotid arteries were completely removed with chemical and physical means. Heparin was covalently linked to the decellularized vessels by a chemical reaction of the carboxyl end of amino acids with hydroxylamine sulphate salt and heparin-EDC. Bound heparin contents were measured by quantitative colorimetric assay of toluidine blue staining. The average content of heparin in treated vessels was 35.6 ± 11.6 mg/cm2 tissue, which represented 6.21 ± 2.03 UPS heparin/cm2 tissue. The stability of heparin linkage was tested by incubating the heparin-linked vessels either in PBS at 37°C or in 70% alcohol at room temperature up to 21 days, showing no significant reduction of heparin content. Anti-coagulation property of bound heparin was determined with a clotting time assay using fresh dog blood. Standardized small pieces of non-heparin-bound vessels were clotted in fresh dog blood within 10 min., whereas all heparin-bound vessels did not form clot during 1-hr observation. In vivo platelet deposition of the vessel was determined with a baboon model of the femoral arteriovenous external shunt and 111Indium labelling of platelets. There were 1.38 ± 0.07 × 109 and 0.64 ± 0.11×109 baboon platelets deposited on the control and heparin-linked vessels, respectively, at 60 min. These data demonstrate that covalent linkage of heparin provides an effective and stable anti-coagulation surface of decellularized porcine carotid arteries. This study may suggest a new strategy to develop tissue-engineered biological vascular grafts, which could be used for human coronary or low extremity artery bypasses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Choosing the appropriate antipsychotic drug (APD) treatment for patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) can be challenging, as the treatment response to APD is highly variable and difficult to predict due to the lack of effective biomarkers. Previous studies have indicated the association between treatment response and genetic and epigenetic factors, but no effective biomarkers have been identified. Hence, further research is imperative to enhance precision medicine in SCZ treatment. Methods Participants with SCZ were recruited from two randomized trials. The discovery cohort was recruited from the CAPOC trial (n = 2307) involved 6 weeks of treatment and equally randomized the participants to the Olanzapine, Risperidone, Quetiapine, Aripiprazole, Ziprasidone, and Haloperidol/Perphenazine (subsequently equally assigned to one or the other) groups. The external validation cohort was recruited from the CAPEC trial (n = 1379), which involved 8 weeks of treatment and equally randomized the participants to the Olanzapine, Risperidone, and Aripiprazole groups. Additionally, healthy controls (n = 275) from the local community were utilized as a genetic/epigenetic reference. The genetic and epigenetic (DNA methylation) risks of SCZ were assessed using the polygenic risk score (PRS) and polymethylation score, respectively. The study also examined the genetic-epigenetic interactions with treatment response through differential methylation analysis, methylation quantitative trait loci, colocalization, and promoter-anchored chromatin interaction. Machine learning was used to develop a prediction model for treatment response, which was evaluated for accuracy and clinical benefit using the area under curve (AUC) for classification, R 2 for regression, and decision curve analysis. Results Six risk genes for SCZ (LINC01795, DDHD2, SBNO1, KCNG2, SEMA7A, and RUFY1) involved in cortical morphology were identified as having a genetic-epigenetic interaction associated with treatment response. The developed and externally validated prediction model, which incorporated clinical information, PRS, genetic risk score (GRS), and proxy methylation level (proxyDNAm), demonstrated positive benefits for a wide range of patients receiving different APDs, regardless of sex [discovery cohort: AUC = 0.874 (95% CI 0.867–0.881), R 2 = 0.478; external validation cohort: AUC = 0.851 (95% CI 0.841–0.861), R 2 = 0.507]. Conclusions This study presents a promising precision medicine approach to evaluate treatment response, which has the potential to aid clinicians in making informed decisions about APD treatment for patients with SCZ. Trial registration Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( https://www.chictr.org.cn/ ), 18. Aug 2009 retrospectively registered: CAPOC—ChiCTR-RNC-09000521 ( https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=9014 ), CAPEC—ChiCTR-RNC-09000522 ( https://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=9013 ).

Osteosarcoma is a highly aggressive cancer and lacks effective therapeutic targets. We found that L3MBTL2 acts as a tumor suppressor by transcriptionally repressing IFIT2 in osteosarcoma. L3MBTL2 recruits the components of Polycomb repressive complex 1.6 to form condensates via both Pho-binding pockets and polybasic regions within carboxyl-terminal intrinsically disordered regions; the L3MBTL2-induced condensates are required for its tumor suppression. Multi-monoubiquitination of L3MBTL2 by UBE2O results in its proteasomal degradation, and the UBE2O/L3MBTL2 axis was crucial for osteosarcoma growth. There is a reverse correlation between L3MBTL2 and UBE2O in osteosarcoma tissues, and higher UBE2O and lower L3MBTL2 are associated with poorer prognosis in osteosarcoma. Pharmacological blockage of UBE2O by arsenic trioxide can enhance L3MBTL2-induced condensates and consequently suppress osteosarcoma growth. Our findings unveil a crucial biological function of L3MBTL2-induced condensates in mediating tumor suppression, proposing the UBE2O-L3MBTL2 axis as a potential cancer therapeutic target in osteosarcoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, by utilizing the matrix properties arising from the image restoration model, a new iterative method for solving the corresponding augmented linear system is proposed. Theoretical results about the convergence properties and computational advantage of the new method are studied in detail, showing that it just involves a matrix–vector product, which can be implemented by fast Fourier transform (FFT) or discrete Cosine transform (DCT) algorithms and can save much computation cost. Numerical experiments are provided, further confirm that our theoretical results is reliable and our method is feasible and effective.

In the crystal structure of title compound, C14H16ClNO2, the cyclohexyl ring is in a chair conformation. The molecules are connected into centrosymmetric dimers via weak C—H...O hydrogen bonds.