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Sentiment analysis is a crucial Natural Language Processing task to analyze the user's emotions and opinions towards events, entities, services, or products. Arabic NLP faces numerous challenges, some of which include: (1) the scarcity of resources, especially in modern standard Arabic and Arabic dialects, particularly the Bahraini one; (2) lack of multilingual deep learning models; and (3) insufficient transfer learning studies on Arabic dialects in general and Bahraini dialects specifically. This research aims to create a balanced dataset of Bahraini dialects that covers product reviews by translating English Amazon product reviews to modern standard Arabic, which were then converted to Bahraini dialects. Another aim of this research is to provide a reusable multilingual deep learning long short term memory model to analyze the parallel dataset of English, modern standard Arabic, and Bahraini dialects, which differ in linguistic properties. Many experiments were conducted using train-validate-test split and k-fold cross-validation to evaluate the model performance using accuracy, F1 score, and AUC metrics. The model runs average accuracy on all datasets ranging from 96.72% to 97.04%, 97.91% to 97.93% in F1 score, while in AUC was 98.46% to 98.7% when utilizing an augmentation technique. Moreover, a pre-trained Long Short Term Memory model was created to exploit and transfer the knowledge gained from analyzing the product reviews in Bahraini dialects to perform sentiment analysis on a small dataset of movie comments in the same dialects. The Pre-trained model performance was 96.97% accuracy, 96.65% F1 score, and 97.94% AUC. • A gap in Arabic NLP resources has been bridged, particularly in Bahraini dialects. • The standalone LSTM model successfully performed sentiment analysis of multilingual datasets. • The pre-trained LSTM model was a good learner for Bahraini dialects via the transfer learning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the robust stabilization issue for uncertain singular Markovian jump systems (USMJSs) via dynamic-output-feedback (DOF) control. By establishing a new Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional with state decomposition components, some sufficient mean-square exponentially (MSE) admissible conditions (such as non-impulsiveness, regularity, and MSE stability) are obtained for the unforced nominal USMJS with time-varying delays. Then, based on the established criteria, the robust MSE admissibility of the USMJS is explored. Further, a DOF controller for the closed-loop USMJS is designed. Via applying a state decomposition recombination approach, a robust MSE stabilization criterion utilizing linear matrix inequality is derived. Meanwhile, by solving each decomposition component of the DOF controller, the desired DOF controller can be accurately determined. Finally, using two numerical examples, the superiority and feasibility of our method are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the problem of global asymptotic regulation via output feedback for a class of uncertain feedforward nonlinear systems with input and state delays, where the bounds of time delays are unknown. With the help of the high-gain scaling approach and the idea of universal adaptive control, we explicitly construct an adaptive output compensator with a novel positive dynamic gain which compensates simultaneously the unknown delays and the output growth rate with unknown constant. Based on such output compensator, we reduce the conservatism of the restrictive conditions imposed on nonlinearities to generalise the existing results. By the Lyapunov–Krasovskii theorem, a delay-independent controller design scheme is proposed to guarantee that all the closed-loop signals are globally bounded while rendering the states of original system and the estimate states to globally asymptotically converge to zero. Finally, two illustrative examples are given to show the usefulness of the proposed design method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Head-mounted displays with dense pixel arrays used for virtual reality applications require high frame rates and low latency rendering. This forms a challenging use case for any rendering approach. In addition to its ability of generating realistic images, ray tracing offers a number of distinct advantages, but has been held back mainly by its performance. In this paper, we present an approach that significantly improves image generation performance of ray tracing. This is done by combining foveated rendering based on eye tracking with reprojection rendering using previous frames in order to drastically reduce the number of new image samples per frame. To reproject samples a coarse geometry is reconstructed from a G-Buffer. Possible errors introduced by this reprojection as well as parts that are critical to the perception are scheduled for resampling. Additionally, a coarse color buffer is used to provide an initial image, refined smoothly by more samples were needed. Evaluations and user tests show that our method achieves real-time frame rates, while visual differences compared to fully rendered images are hardly perceivable. As a result, we can ray trace non-trivial static scenes for the Oculus DK2 HMD at 1182 × 1464 per eye within the the VSync limits without perceived visual differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the consensus problem of multi‐agent systems by combining adaptive control protocol and event‐triggered communication strategy. Two adaptive protocols are designed to guarantee the consensus. The event‐triggered communication strategy is utilised to save communication and reduce channel occupation. Each agent in the system sends its state to neighbours only at some irregular event instants determined by an appropriately designed event‐triggering condition. At first, the distributed event‐triggering condition of an agent only employs the state of its own and the state of the neighbours at their latest event instants. Later, another event‐triggering condition is given such that no global parameter is required for agents, such as the maximum eigenvalue of the Laplacian matrix. It is proven that the system can reach consensus by utilising the proposed control method. Illustrative examples are given to show the effectiveness of the control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, mixed‐delay‐dependent robust stability problem is investigated for uncertain linear neutral systems with mixed delays. The existing stability conditions are obtained by employing the information of neutral delay and discrete delay independently, and are conservative to some extent. Different from most existing methods, this study attempts to introduce the interconnected information between neutral delay and discrete delay. Based on such an idea, the simple stability and robust stability conditions are firstly proposed by integral inequality method, then improved stability and robust stability conditions are obtained by incorporating delay‐decomposition idea and augmented Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional. Theory analysis and examples show the benefits of the proposed techniques and conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A rapid cyclodextrin modified micellar electrokinetic chromatography (CD-MEKC) method was proposed for the determination of resibufogenin and cinobufagin in the Chinese herbal extracts from toad venom and its medicinal preparation (Liushen tablet). The two components have the close structural similarity and similar hydrophobicity, which result in poor resolution in normal MEKC. The addition of neutral β-CD to the MEKC system was found to improve the separation of the studied compounds. The effects of several CD-MEKC parameters on the resolutions were evaluated systematically. Based on the investigation, a background electrolyte solution consisting of 10mM borate buffer adjusted to pH 8.5, 40mM sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), 12mM β-CD and 10% (v/v) of methanol was found to be optimal conditions for the fast separation. The contents of resibufogenin and cinobufagin were successfully determined within 5min, with satisfactory repeatability and recovery. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Cellulose tris(3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) (CDMPC) coated on small particle silica gel was prepared. Direct enantiomeric resolution of six novel chiral tetrahedrone-type clusters has firstly been achieved on this CDMPC chiral stationary phase (CSP), using hexane as the mobile phase with various alcohols as modifiers. The influence of the mobile phase composition on the enantioselectivity was discussed, and the effect of structural variation of the solutes on their enantioseparation was also investigated and compared. It was found that both the metal in the tetrahedral core and the ligand coordinated to the atom in tetrahedral core had significant effects on their chromatographic behaviors. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The dissipative filter design problem for discrete.time Markovian jump systems subject to additive time.varying delays is investigated by using event.triggered scheme. • Different from the classical methods, a novel mode.dependent Lyapunov functional which contains multiple matrices related to jumping modes is constructed. • In order to obtain a less conservative stability criterion, the Wirtinger.based inequality and a refined matrix inequality are employed. • The scheme developed in this paper can be extended to deal with the controller/filter design problem for other dynamic systems. This paper focus on the event-triggered filter design problem for delayed discrete-time Markovian jump systems. Firstly, a new mode-dependent Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional is introduced, where more than one Lyapunov matrices are dependent on jumping modes. Secondly, sufficient conditions are established by employing the Lyapunov stability theory together with Wirtinger-based inequality, under which the filtering error system is stochastically stable with strict dissipative. Thirdly, the co-design scheme of the filter parameters and event-triggered matrices is proposed. Finally, two numerical examples are given to show the usefulness of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Retarded discrete state delay and distributed delay are considered for IMJSs simultaneously; • Besides S-F decomposition and singular value decomposition techniques, Barbalat's lemma is employed to prove asymptotic admissibility of delayed IMJSs when τ (t) = τ. Then the delayed IMJSs not only satisfy stochastic stability, but also satisfy almost sure asymptotic stability; • The difficulties of controller design via S-F decomposition and singular value decomposition are overcome by matrix transformation technique in terms of LMIs; • Limitations of implicit systems normalization via P-D feedback control are uncovered and addressed by virtue of the proportional state feedback controller design method, which does not need the rigorous condition of r a n k (E , B) = n. The problem of pth moment asymptotic interval stability and stabilization for linear stochastic systems is investigated in this paper. Firstly, we define the generalized H -representation which is very helpful to transform stochastic systems into deterministic systems. Then, the problems of pth moment interval stability, the decay rate of state response and the estimation of pth moment Lyapunov exponent are proposed with the help of the model-transformation method. Furthermore, the criteria for pth moment interval stabilization of the linear stochastic systems are addressed. Some necessary numerical examples are also provided to show the effectiveness of the addressed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a comparison study between unidimensional (UD) coherent-state and UD squeezed-state protocols is performed in the continuous variable quantum key distribution domain. First, a UD squeezed-state protocol is proposed, and the equivalence between the prepare-and-measure and entanglement-based schemes of UD squeezed-state protocol is proved. Then, the security of the UD squeezed-state protocol under collective attack in realistic conditions is analyzed. Finally, the performance of the two UD protocols is compared. Based on the uniform expressions established in our study, the squeezed- and coherent-state protocols can be analyzed simply by varying the squeezing parameter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Segmentation is a critical step in analyzing the developing human fetal brain. There have been vast improvements in automatic segmentation methods in the past several years, and the Fetal Brain Tissue Annotation (FeTA) Challenge 2021 helped to establish an excellent standard of fetal brain segmentation. However, FeTA 2021 was a single center study, limiting real-world clinical applicability and acceptance. The multi-center FeTA Challenge 2022 focused on advancing the generalizability of fetal brain segmentation algorithms for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In FeTA 2022, the training dataset contained images and corresponding manually annotated multi-class labels from two imaging centers, and the testing data contained images from these two centers as well as two additional unseen centers. The multi-center data included different MR scanners, imaging parameters, and fetal brain super-resolution algorithms applied. 16 teams participated and 17 algorithms were evaluated. Here, the challenge results are presented, focusing on the generalizability of the submissions. Both in- and out-of-domain, the white matter and ventricles were segmented with the highest accuracy (Top Dice scores: 0.89, 0.87 respectively), while the most challenging structure remains the grey matter (Top Dice score: 0.75) due to anatomical complexity. The top 5 average Dices scores ranged from 0.81-0.82, the top 5 average 95 th percentile Hausdorff distance values ranged from 2.3-2.5mm, and the top 5 volumetric similarity scores ranged from 0.90-0.92. The FeTA Challenge 2022 was able to successfully evaluate and advance generalizability of multi-class fetal brain tissue segmentation algorithms for MRI and it continues to benchmark new algorithms.

Three bis-formylfluorenimide ligands with different bridging groups were designed and synthesized, leading to the successful preparation of six novel alkylaluminum complexes through their reaction with alkylaluminum reagents (AlMe 3 or AlEt 3 ). Complexes 1 and 2 were obtained by the reaction of 1,2-propylene-bridged diamine ( L 1 ) with AlMe 3 or AlEt 3 . By reacting 1,2-cyclohexylene-bridged diamine ( L 2 ) with AlMe 3 or AlEt 3 to obtain complexes 3 and 4 . The above ligands formed a bidentate four-coordinate structure with alkylaluminum, which involved the elimination of one alkyl group as the ligand reacted with alkylaluminum. The complexes 5 and 6 were synthesized through the reaction of 1,2-phenylene-bridged diamine ( L 3 ) with AlEt 3 in toluene or tetrahydrofuran. Notably, L 3 exhibited unique reactivity compared with the other ligands, which formed a tridentate four-coordinated structure when reacting with alkylaluminum. The formation of the tridentate complex resulted from the introduction of a benzimidazole derivative or tetrahydrofuran (THF) molecule along with the elimination of two alkyl groups during its coordination with alkylaluminum. All complexes were characterized via 1 H NMR, 13 C NMR, and elemental analysis, with structural determination confirmed through X-ray. Furthermore, the catalytic activity in the hydroboration reaction of aldehyde, ketone, and imines was investigated with these complexes as catalysts. Among them, complex 1 demonstrated excellent catalytic performance (up to 99% yield) and broad substrate compatibility (more than 30 substrates) at low catalyst loading (1 mol %) under mild reaction conditions.

Neuroendocrine differentiation is often found in colorectal cancer but its impact on prognosis remains controversial. This study explored the association between neuroendocrine differentiation and prognosis in stage II/III colorectal cancer patients., Methods: Between 2012 and 2018, a total of 3,441 stage II/III colorectal cancer patients were included for analysis. To verify neuroendocrine differentiation, immunohistochemistry was performed to explore the expression of chromogranin A and synaptophysin in colorectal cancer. In addition, the difference in overall survival between groups was analyzed. A Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to determine the clinicopathological characteristics significantly correlated with survival, and a Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to identify factors independently affecting overall survival prognosis. Furthermore, the findings were validated by the Gene Expression Omnibus database., Results: Among the 3441 stage II/III colorectal cancer patients, in comparison to patients with neuroendocrine differentiation (+), patients with neuroendocrine differentiation (+) had a poorer prognosis (P = 0.001). Furthermore, multivariate survival analysis of stage II cases revealed that tumor differentiation (P = 0.018), nerve invasion (P < 0.001) and neuroendocrine differentiation (+) (P = 0.002) were independent prognostic factors. Moreover, the prognosis of patients with neuroendocrine differentiation (+) was similar to that of patients with high-risk factors in stage II cases (P = 0.639). High chromogranin A expression was correlated with poor prognosis in stage II colorectal cancer patients in the Gene Expression Omnibus database (P < 0.001)., Conclusion: The prognosis of colorectal cancer with neuroendocrine differentiation (+) was poor, especially in stage II colorectal cancer patients. neuroendocrine differentiation might be another high-risk factor for the prognosis of stage II colorectal cancer patients., (S. Karger AG, Basel.)

We demonstrate an ultrasensitive optomechanical strain sensor based on a SiN membrane and a Fabry-Perot cavity, enabling the measurements of both static and dynamic strain by monitoring reflected light fluctuations using a single-frequency laser. The SiN membrane offers high-quality-factor mechanical resonances that are sensitive to minute strain fluctuations. The two-beam Fabry-Perot cavity is constructed to interrogate the motion state of the SiN membrane. A static strain resolution of 4.00 nɛ is achieved by measuring mechanical resonance frequency shifts of the SiN membrane. The best dynamic resolution is 4.47 pɛHz -1/2 , which is close to that of the sensor using high-finesse cavity and optical frequency comb, overcoming the dependence of ultrasensitive strain sensors on narrow-linewidth laser and high-finesse cavity with frequency locking equipment. This work opens up a promising avenue for a new generation of ultrasensitive strain sensors.

With a worldwide expansion of urbanization, the conservation of urban biodiversity is attracting growing attention; it is important to study the relationship between wildlife and urban green spaces. In this study, we selected 31 parks in the urban area of Fuyang City in the North China Plain. A total of 8795 individual birds from 69 species were recorded. The study found that (a) at the local level, tree diversity and heights are the most important factors contributing to each level of bird diversity, followed by the coverage of shrubs and herbs, and (b) at the landscape level, the proportion of woodland has a strong positive correlation with the multidimensional diversity of birds, followed by the patch diversity and percent of grassland. Our results showed that artificial greenland can effectively increase bird diversity. While considering urban planning and human well-being, the proportion of vegetation and landscape in urban parks should be properly planned, providing more habitats to enrich bird diversity., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small particles secreted by numerous cell types and circulate in almost all body fluids, acting as crucial messengers for cell-to-cell communication. EVs involves multiple physiological and pathological processes, including tumor progression, via their multiple cargoes. Therefore, EVs have become attractive candidates for the treatment of tumor, including melanoma. Notably, due to the crucial role of the tumor microenvironment (TME) in promoting tumor malignant phenotype, and the close intercellular communication in TME, EVs-based therapy by targeting TME has become a cutting-edge and prospective strategy for inhibiting melanoma progression and strengthening the anti-tumor immunity. In this review, we aimed to summarize and discuss the role of therapeutic EVs, which target the components of TME in melanoma, thereby providing insights into these promising clinical strategies for the treatment of melanoma patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Li and Liu.)

In order to develop an N6-methyladenosine-related gene prognostic index (m6A-GPI) that can predict the prognosis in colorectal cancer (CRC), we obtained m6A-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and m6Avar database, seven genes were screened by weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) analysis. Then, m6A-GPI was constructed based on the risk score. Survival analysis indicated that patients in the lower m6A-GPI group have more prolonged disease-free survival (DFS), and different clinical characteristic groups (tumor site and stage) also showed differential risk scores. In the analysis of the molecular characteristics, the risk score is positively associated with homologous recombination defects (HRD), copy number alterations (CNA), and the mRNA expression-based stemness index (mRNAsi). In addition, m6A-GPI also plays an essential role in tumor immune cell infiltration. The immune cell infiltration in the low m6A-GPI group is significantly higher in CRC. Moreover, we found that CIITA, one of the genes in m6A-GPI was up-regulated in CRC tissues based on real-time RT-PCR and Western blot. m6A-GPI is a promising prognostic biomarker that can be used to distinguish the prognosis of CRC patients in CRC., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Ma, Bao and Li.)

We experimentally demonstrate a high-rate discretely modulated continuous-variable quantum key distribution over 80-km standard single-mode fiber with a 2.5 Gbaud, 16-symbol, two-ring constellation. With the help of well-designed digital signal processing algorithms, the excess noise of the system can be effectively suppressed. The achieved secret key rates are 49.02 Mbits/s, 11.86 Mbits/s, and 2.11 Mbits/s over 25-km, 50-km, and 80-km optical fiber, respectively, and achieve 67.4%, 70.0%, and 66.5% of the secret key rate performance of a Gaussian-modulated protocol. Our work shows that it is feasible to build a high-performance, long-distance continuous-variable quantum key distribution system with only a small constellation size.

We propose a multidimensional reconciliation encoding algorithm based on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with variable data throughput that enables quantum key distribution (QKD) systems to be adapted to different throughput requirements. Using the circulatory structure, data flow in the most complex pipeline operation in the same time interval, which enables the structural multiplexing of the algorithm. We handle the calculation and storage of eight-dimensional matrices cleverly to conserve resources and increase data processing speed. In order to obtain the syndrome more efficiently, we designed a simplified algorithm according to the characteristics of the FPGA and parity-check matrix, which omits the unnecessary operation of matrix multiplication. The simplified algorithm could adapt to different rates. We validated the feasibility and high speed of the algorithm by implementing the multidimensional reconciliation encoding algorithm on a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA. Our simulation results show that the maximum throughput could reach 4.88 M symbols/s.

An in-fiber Michelson interferometric sensor was presented by fabricating a concavity on the end face of a single mode fiber using a single CO 2 laser pulse. Reflected beams from the bottom and air-cladding boundary of the concavity are coupled into the fiber core and superimpose to generate a two-beam in-fiber Michelson interferometer. Compared with other laser-machining methods where multiple scanning cycles with precise manipulation are needed, the proposed method is more straightforward because only a single laser pulse is used to construct the sensor. The concavity constructed by the CO 2 laser is very smooth, and its shape could be controlled flexibly by changing the position of the single mode fiber and the parameters of the CO 2 laser pulse, so the fringe visibilities of the proposed sensors could be more than 15 dB, which is higher than that of the most reported laser-machining in-fiber Michelson interferometers. The proposed sensor was demonstrated by measuring the temperature with a sensitivity of 11.13 pm/°C. Furthermore, the proposed device is compact (<100 µm), economical, and robust. These advantages make it a promising candidate in practical applications.

In continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV-QKD), the key information are encoded on quadratures of the optical field, which are measured via balanced homodyne detector (BHD). The bandwidth of the BHD is one of key parameters for precise characterization of quantum states. We establish a theoretical model to analyze the impact of the BHD bandwidth and signal modulation patterns on the channel parameters estimation of CV-QKD systems. Based on the proposed model, the secure key rate of a practical CV-QKD system under different BHD bandwidths and signal modulation patterns are investigated. Our results show that insufficient BHD bandwidth will result in wrong estimate of the transmission loss and excess noise, which significantly affects the performance of CV-QKD systems. Given the BHD bandwidth, there exists an optimal signal repetition rate that maximizes the secure key rate. The BHD bandwidth requirement of the QKD system increases with the transmission distance for large duty cycle pulse. Furthermore, the root raised-cosine pulse signal modulation performs better than the square pulse signal modulation in general.

In order to explore the imaging manifestations and pathological characteristics of spine tumors, this article explores the clinical diagnosis and treatment methods through multi-sample case analysis with the support of imaging, and proposes a targeted treatment method that uses a special PVP needle with a beveled puncture surface for puncture. Moreover, this article uses the supporting PVP syringe for bone cement injection, develops a health status questionnaire, and adopts a scoring method for comprehensive assessment. The purpose of this article is to show that through the combination of preoperative radiotherapy and postoperative bracing, bone cement injection to treat vertebral tumors can immediately obtain satisfactory pain relief. Finally, through case analysis and image performance, we can see that the method proposed in this article has a certain effect., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Jie Li et al.)

Objective: To analyse the saliva microbial abundance and composition by 16s rRNA sequence during Helicobacter pylori (H.pylori) eradication., Study Design: Descriptive study., Place and Duration of Study: Hebei University of Chinese Medicine, Hebei Provincial Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, from March 2019 to January 2020., Methodology: The saliva microbial were analysed before and after the bismuth-containing quadruple therapy. A total of ten saliva samples (three groups) were enrolled in the study. The authors used the linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) method and Welch's t-test for comparative analysis to identify which taxa could be significantly affected in three groups., Results: H.pylori 16S rRNA gene sequence was not detected in the ten saliva samples. The abundance of Prevotella&#95;sp.&#95;oral&#95;clone&#95;P4PB&#95;83&#95;P2 from healthy adults was higher than H.pylori-positive patients. Moreover, after the bismuth-containing quadruple therapy, the diversity and richness of saliva bacteria reduced. Lautropia, Burkholderiales, uncultured bacterium, Burkholderiaceae, and Actinomyces were enriched in H.pylori-positive patient samples after the bismuth-containing quadruple therapy., Conclusion: The diversity and richness of salivary microbiome were reduced in H.pylori-positive patient, and bismuth-containing quadruple therapy affected oral microbiota. Key Words: Helicobacter pylori, Saliva, Microbiota, RNA, Bismuth.

Objective: EVA1B, a protein coding gene, is a critical paralog of EVA1A gene. Herein, our study was conducted to investigate the role of EVA1B in colorectal cancer (CRC) progression and prognosis., Methods: Pan-cancer analysis was conducted to analyze expression, genetic and epigenetic alterations, and immunological characteristics of EVA1B. Especially, immunological characteristics and mutational landscape were compared between high and low EVA1B expression groups in the combined TCGA-COAD and TCGA-READ datasets. Through random survival forest analysis, an EVA1B-derived genomic model was developed, and its prognostic value was verified in the external datasets (GSE14333, GSE39582, and GSE87211). Drug sensitivity was compared between high- and low-risk subpopulations. A nomogram was conducted through integrating independent factors., Results: EVA1B expression presented a remarkable upregulation in most cancer types, especially CRC. EVA1B expression was significantly correlated to DNA methyltransferases, DNA mismatch repair genes, m 6 A regulators, TMB, and MSI across pan-cancer. High EVA1B expression indicated an undesirable CRC patients' prognosis. Additionally, its upregulation was correlated to enhanced immune cell infiltration, increased stromal and immune activation, and elevated activities of cancer immunity cycle. Higher frequencies of amplification and deletion were investigated in high EVA1B expression subpopulation. Following verification, the EVA1B-derived genomic model reliably predicted patients' prognosis and drug responses. The nomogram (age, stage, EVA1B-derived risk score) was conducted to quantify an individual's survival probability. Furthermore, our experimental validation based on immunohistochemistry indicated that EVA1B overexpression is correlated with CRC tumorigenesis and poor outcomes in our CRC patients' cohort., Conclusion: Collectively, our findings provided valuable resource for guiding the mechanisms and therapeutic analysis of EVA1B in CRC., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Ma, Wang, Liang, Meng and Li.)

Intramuscular fat, as one of the most important palatability attribute of beef carcase, is the primary determinant of beef quality. The research of adipogenesis mechanism would provide new insight into intramuscular fatty deposition. Here, the role of microRNA-378 was investigated during bovine adipogenic differentiation. It was revealed that miR-378 expression exists variably in bovine major tissue and organs by RT-qPCR. It was predicted that miR-378 targets CaMKK2, as an AMPKα kinase, by DIANA Tools. For better research, primary preadipocytes with stable transfection for up-/down-regulated expression of miR-378 were constructed by lentiviral vectors with GFP gene. The analyses of qPCR showed that PPARγ and adiponectin mRNA levels increased, but C/EBPβ, pref-1 and CaMKK2 mRNA levels decreased during adipogenic differentiation. When miR-378 was overexpressed, preadipocytes proliferation became slower, there are more cellular lipid droplets, and PPARγ and C/EBPβ mRNA levels were higher, but pref-1, adiponectin and CaMKK2 were lower than control groups. Luciferase assay and western blot analysis validated that miR-378 binds the nucleotide sites of the 3'- untranslated region of CaMKK2 , which inhibits the mRNA and protein expression of CaMKK2 . These findings suggest that miR-378 promotes adipogenic differentiation in bovine intramuscular preadipocytes by targeting CaMKK2 via AMPK signalling pathway.

Background: The tumor immune microenvironment of colorectal cancer (CRC) affects tumor development, prognosis and immunotherapy strategies. Recently, immune-related lncRNA were shown to play vital roles in the tumor immune microenvironment. The objective of this study was to identify lncRNAs involved in the immune response, tumorigenesis and progression of CRC and to establish an immune-related lncRNA signature for predicting the prognosis of CRC., Methods: We used data retrieved from the cancer genome atlas (TCGA) dataset to construct a 10-gene immune-related lncRNA pair (IRLP) signature model using a method based on the ranking and comparison of paired gene expression in CRC. The clinical prognosis, immune checkpoints and lncRNA-protein networks were analyzed to evaluate the signature., Results: The signature was closely associated with overall survival of CRC patients (p < 0.001 in both of the training and validating cohorts) and the 3-year AUC values for the training and validating cohorts were 0.884 and 0.739, respectively. And, there were positive correlations between the signature and age (p = 0.048), clinical stage (p < 0.01), T stage (p < 0.01), N stage (p < 0.001) and M stage (p < 0.01). In addition, the signature model appeared to be highly relevant to some checkpoints, including CD160, TNFSF15, HHLA2, IDO2 and KIR3DL1. Further, molecular functional analysis and lncRNA-protein networks were applied to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the carcinogenic effect and progression., Conclusion: The 10-gene IRLP signature model is an independent prognostic factor for CRC patient and can be utilized for the development of immunotherapy.

Background: Although the influence of sex on different cancer survival has been investigated, the predictive and prognostic value of sex in localized colorectal cancer (CRC) still remain controversial., Methods: Survival was evaluated in patients who diagnosed with localized CRC in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database between 2004 and 2016. Overall survival (OS) outcomes were estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method, and multivariable Cox regression was used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs)., Results: We obtained a dataset that included 70,836 males and 69,705 females of localized CRC patients. Compared with males, females more often had age ≥75 years (55.1% vs. 44%), right-sided colon cancer (56.8% vs. 45.4%), and more advanced pT stage cancer (75.5% vs. 72%). In addition, we found that females had better OS than males and that sex could be an independent factor of OS in T1-3N0M0 (Stage I-II) colon cancer (regardless of right/left-sided tumour) and T1-2N0M0 (Stage I) rectal cancer (each HR <1, each P<0.05). Although a significant OS benefit was not observed in T3N0M0 rectal cancer in the overall analysis (P=0.183), females who underwent postoperative chemotherapy had better OS than males among T3N0M0 (Stage II) rectal cancer patients significantly (P<0.001)., Conclusions: In our study, sex was shown to be a prognostic factor in localized-CRC. In particular, females may benefit more from postoperative chemotherapy than males with T3N0M0 (Stage II) rectal cancer., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/tcr-20-3421). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2021 Translational Cancer Research. All rights reserved.)

A quantum random number generator (QRNG) provides a reliable means for the generation of true random numbers. The inherent randomness of the vacuum fluctuations makes the quantum vacuum state a superior source of entropy. However, in practice, the raw sequences of QRNG are inevitably contaminated by classical technical noise, which compromises the security of the QRNG. Min-entropy conditioned on the classical noise is a useful method that can quantify the side-information independent randomness. To improve the extractable randomness from the raw sequences arising from the quantum vacuum-based QRNG, we propose and experimentally demonstrate two approaches, discarding-boundary-bin measurement and multi-interval sampling. The first one increases the conditional min-entropy at a low quantum-to-classical-noise ratio. The latter exploits parallel sampling using multiple analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and effectively overcomes the finite resolution limit and uniform sampling of a single ADC. The maximum average conditional min-entropy can reach 9.2 per sample when combining these two approaches together in contrast to 6.93 with a single 8-bit ADC.

Introduction: Immune function strongly influences the outcome of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It's vital to understand the immune state of patients through detecting the percentage and number of lymphocyte subsets accurately, and helpful to evaluate conditions of prognosis and adjust treatment for patients., Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study in First Teaching Hospital of Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China. The absolute counts and percentages of CD3+, CD3 + CD4+, CD3 + CD8+, B and NK cells were determined by single platform technologies. 172 patients received treatment including surgery or chemotherapy after surgery. The factors affecting disease progression were analyzed by Binary Logistic regression. Progression free survival (PFS) calculating survivals were with the method of Kaplan-Meier. The log-rank test and cox's proportional hazard regression (enter method) were used for univariable and multivariable analyses respectively., Results: Relative to normal controls, patients with NSCLC at different stages showed decreased absolute lymphocyte count obviously, rather than lymphocyte percentages. Different treatments had unlike influence on the homeostasis of lymphocytes and the effects last for a long time. Logistic regression showed CD3 + CD4+ and CD3 + CD8+ could contribute to favorable prognosis. Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors of PFS showed CD3 + CD4+ cell was independent factor for predicting PFS., Conclusions: The absolute count of CD3+, CD3 + CD4+, CD3 + CD8+, B and NK cells were better indication of the patient's immune state than percentages of each lymphocyte subsets. Immune function was impaired in patients with non-small cell lung. The high level of baseline absolute CD3 + CD4+ cells count contributed to longer progression free survival. Chinese Clinic Trial Registry number: ChiCTR-IOR-17014139; Registry date: 2017/12/25., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We proposed and demonstrated a method to fabricate ultrashort all-fiber Fabry-Perot interferometers by splicing a standard single-mode fiber and another single-mode fiber with a concave surface constructed by a C O 2 laser pulse. The geometric parameters of the concave surface could be controlled flexibly by adjusting the laser pulse and the relative position between the laser beam and the optical fiber. In our experiments, the minimum depth of the concave surfaces is 0.12 µm, which offers a means of fabricating an all-fiber Fabry-Perot interferometer with submicrometer cavity length. Moreover, the ultralow-roughness concave surface fabricated by a C O 2 laser pulse is beneficial to improve the fringe visibility of the interferometer. These advantages make it attractive for practical applications.

Norovirus GII.4 variants, a genotype in genogroup II belonging to the genus Norovirus , is a single-strand positive sense RNA containing three open reading frames (ORF1, ORF2 and ORF3) and is the most important pathogen causing nonbacterial gastroenteritis outbreaks. By using bioinformatic softwares such as Codon W, SPSS and so on, a total of 292 strains of the viruses isolated from 1974 to 2016 were analyzed for nucleotide composition and synonymous codon usage in each ORF. The result shows that it is enriched for A over the other bases in nucleotide composition, G behind the other bases in the 3 rd site of all synonymous codons in the three ORFs. The patterns of nucleotide composition and codon bias of ORF2 are similar to those of ORF3 and different from those of ORF1. There are generally UpA motif and CpG motif in the codons with the lowest proportion. Correspondence analysis indicates that the codon usage may be changing over a certain time period for ORF1 in 2006 and 2012, ORF2 in 2012, and ORF3 in 2013. ENC (effective number of codons) plot and other analyses indicate that both natural selection and mutational pressure play partly roles in the ORFs, but natural selection is more important for ORF2 and ORF3. Besides, we also found all optimal codons in the ORFs. The study provides a basic understanding of the mechanism for norovirus GII.4 codon usage bias. AbbreviationsORFOpen Reading FrameENCEffective Number of CodonsCOAcorrespondence analysisRSCURelative Synonymous Codon UsageCAICodon Adaptation IndexCBICodon Bias IndexFopfrequency of optimal codonsL&#95;symnumber of synonymous codonsL&#95;aalength amino acidsGRAVYgrand average of hydropathicityAromaaromaticityCommunicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Gastric cancer (GC) remains an important malignancy worldwide with poor prognosis. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) can markedly affect cancer progression. Moreover, lncRNAs have been proposed as diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers of GC. Therefore, the current study aimed to explore lncRNA-based prognostic biomarkers for GC. LncRNA expression profiles from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were first downloaded. After re-annotation of lncRNAs, a univariate Cox analysis identified 177 prognostic lncRNA probes in the training set GSE62254 (n = 225). Multivariate Cox analysis of each lncRNA with clinical characteristics as covariates identified a total of 46 prognostic lncRNA probes. Robust likelihood-based survival and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) models were used to establish a 6-lncRNA signature with prognostic value. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were employed to compare survival prediction in terms of specificity and sensitivity. Patients with high-risk scores exhibited a significantly worse overall survival (OS) than patients with low-risk scores (log-rank test P-value <.0001), and the area under the ROC curve (AUC) for 5-year survival was 0.77. A nomogram and forest plot were constructed to compare the clinical characteristics and risk scores by a multivariable Cox regression analysis, which suggested that the 6-lncRNA signature can independently make the prognosis evaluation of patients. Single-sample GSEA (ssGSEA) was used to determine the relationships between the 6-lncRNA signature and biological functions. The internal validation set GSE62254 (n = 75) and the external validation set GSE57303 (n = 70) were successfully used to validate the robustness of our 6-lncRNA signature. In conclusion, based on the above results, the 6-lncRNA signature can effectively make the prognosis evaluation of GC patients., (© 2019 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Early diagnosis of retinal OCT images has been shown to curtail blindness and visual impairments. However, the advancement of ophthalmic imaging technologies produces an ever-growing scale of retina images, both in volume and variety, which overwhelms the ophthalmologist ability to segment these images. While many automated methods exist, speckle noise and intensity inhomogeneity negatively impacts the performance of these methods. We present a comprehensive and fully automatic method for annotation of retinal layers in OCT images comprising of fuzzy histogram hyperbolisation (FHH) and graph cut methods to segment 7 retinal layers across 8 boundaries. The FHH handles speckle noise and inhomogeneity in the preprocessing step. Then the normalised vertical image gradient, and it's inverse to represent image intensity in calculating two adjacency matrices and then the FHH reassigns the edge-weights to make edges along retinal boundaries have a low cost, and graph cut method identifies the shortest-paths (layer boundaries). The method is evaluated on 150 B-Scan images, 50 each from the temporal, foveal and nasal regions were used in our study. Promising experimental results have been achieved with high tolerance and adaptability to contour variance and pathological inconsistency of the retinal layers in all (temporal, foveal and nasal) regions. The method also achieves high accuracy, sensitivity, and Dice score of 0.98360, 0.9692 and 0.9712, respectively in segmenting the retinal nerve fibre layer. The annotation can facilitate eye examination by providing accurate results. The integration of the vertical gradients into the graph cut framework, which captures the unique characteristics of retinal structures, is particularly useful in finding the actual minimum paths across multiple retinal layer boundaries. Prior knowledge plays an integral role in image segmentation.

We present and demonstrate a high-efficiency and compact scheme for generating Gaussian-modulated Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entangled optical fields by injecting a modulated signal field into a non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier (NOPA). We perform a quantum analysis of the scheme and derive the variance of the output signal (idler) mode and the quantum entanglement between the signal and idler modes from the NOPA. An experimental study is presented with different Gaussian modulation depths, showing that the modulation of the injected signal field successfully enlarges the distribution of the field quadratures of the EPR source in phase space and has a negligible effect on the entanglement quality. The experimental observations have good agreement with the theoretical analysis. Our scheme can be used readily in continuous variable quantum key distribution protocol.

Continuous variable quantum key distribution (CV QKD) is a promising candidate for the deployment of quantum cryptography. At present, the longest distance is limited to ∼100 km at fiber-based quantum channel. We investigated in depth the realistic rate-distance limit (RDL) of CV QKD, considering reconciliation efficiency, finite-size effect, and realistic excess noise under collective attack. It is shown that the excess noise generated on Bob's side degrades significantly the transmission distance and we verify it in experiment. The improvement in RDL by reconciliation efficiency depends on the excess noise level, considerable increase of RDL by improving the reconciliation efficiency occurs only for relative large excess noises. A convergence modulation variance, useful in calculation simplification, is found. Furthermore, we restudy the finite-size analysis and eliminates a loophole arising from the Holevo-bound information monotonicity and a safe RDL is guaranteed. Based on the revised finite-size analysis, the optimum ratio determining the amount of data used for parameter estimation is analyzed.

We propose to suppress acoustic wave coupling between a Si 3 N 4 membrane resonator and its support structure through cascaded low-frequency resonators fabricated on the silicon substrate of the membrane. The on-chip silicon resonators are designed to ensure that the frequencies of their oscillatory motion are well separated from the mechanical modes of the membrane resonator. Using optical interferometry, we characterize the displacement response of the membrane frame with the vibration isolation; mechanical isolation >30  dB from the mounting surface is achieved. Thus, we reliably fabricate Si 3 N 4 membrane resonators with mechanical quality factors of around 2×10 6 at room temperature.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a serious digestive system disease, for which the clinical therapeutic choices remain limited. Dried fruits of Citrus aurantium L. (CAL) are a traditional medicine used for regulation of the digestive system. The aim of this study was to identify the regulatory effects of CAL on IBD and to clarify the mechanism of the active compounds. In trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid-induced IBD rats, 125 to 500 mg/kg of oral CAL significantly alleviated weight loss and diarrhea, decreased colitis inflammatory cell infiltration, and inhibited pro-inflammatory cytokine production. The mechanisms of characteristic flavonoids in CAL were evaluated involving inflammation and intestine contraction aspects. Naringenin, nobiletin, and hesperetin showed anti-inflammatory effects on lipopolysaccharide-induced RAW cells. The mechanism may be related to the inhibition of the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)-induced nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) pathway to suppress cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expressions. Naringenin and nobiletin showed inhibitory effects on isolated jejunum contraction. The mechanism of naringenin is partly related to COX, NOS, inositol triphosphate (IP₃), and finally, to decreased jejunum motility. This study demonstrated that CAL, and its flavonoids' regulatory effects on IBD through anti-inflammation and inhibition of intestine muscle contraction, can provide basic information on developing new drugs or supplements against IBD based on CAL.

Histone methylation is closely associated with the occurrence of cancer. Histone H3 trimethylation at lysine 4 (H3K4me3) has been reported to modulate the expression of tumor-associated expression and be altered during the progression of several human cancers. WD Repeat Domain 82 (Wdr82), a key epigenetics-associated factor, is a component of the H3K4me3 methyltransferase complex. An aim of the present study was to determine H3K4me3 and Wdr82 expression and their clinical significances in colorectal cancer (CRC). Immunohistochemistry results demonstrated that the expression level of the H3K4me3 and Wdr82 were significantly decreased in CRC tissues compared with paired noncancerous tissues from 123 patients with CRC. Furthermore, the negative expression of H3K4me3 and Wdr82 expression were significantly associated with lymph node (n=33, P=0.0001) and liver metastasis (n=30, P=0.0001). Additionally, multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated that the low expression level of H3K4me3 or Wdr82 was associated with reduced overall survival (OS, P<0.05), and patients with a low H3K4me3 and Wdr82 expression had a significantly poorer outcome compared with patients with a high expression of H3K4me3 and Wdr82 (P=0.0001), suggesting that H3K4me3 and Wdr82 expression were independent factors for OS in patients with CRC. In conclusion, the decreased expressions of H3K4me3 and Wdr82 were associated with a poor prognosis in CRC. The combined expression of H3K4me3 and Wdr82 may serve as a novel prognostic marker for CRC.

The choroid is an important vascular layer that supplies oxygen and nourishment to the retina. The changes in thickness of the choroid have been hypothesized to relate to a number of retinal diseases in the pathophysiology. In this paper, an automatic method is proposed for segmenting the choroidal layer from macular images by using the level set framework. The three-dimensional nonlinear anisotropic diffusion filter is used to remove all the optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging artifacts including the speckle noise and to enhance the contrast. The distance regularization and edge constraint terms are embedded into the level set method to avoid the irregular and small regions and keep information about the boundary between the choroid and sclera. Besides, the Markov random field method models the region term into the framework by correlating the single-pixel likelihood function with neighborhood information to compensate for the inhomogeneous texture and avoid the leakage due to the shadows cast by the blood vessels during imaging process. The effectiveness of this method is demonstrated by comparing against other segmentation methods on a dataset with manually labeled ground truth. The results show that our method can successfully and accurately estimate the posterior choroidal boundary.

This work presents the analysis of data recorded by an eye tracking device in the course of evaluating a foveated rendering approach for head-mounted displays (HMDs). Foveated rendering methods adapt the image synthesis process to the user's gaze and exploiting the human visual system's limitations to increase rendering performance. Especially, foveated rendering has great potential when certain requirements have to be fulfilled, like low-latency rendering to cope with high display refresh rates. This is crucial for virtual reality (VR), as a high level of immersion, which can only be achieved with high rendering performance and also helps to reduce nausea, is an important factor in this field. We put things in context by first providing basic information about our rendering system, followed by a description of the user study and the collected data. This data stems from fixation tasks that subjects had to perform while being shown fly-through sequences of virtual scenes on an HMD. These fixation tasks consisted of a combination of various scenes and fixation modes. Besides static fixation targets, moving targets on randomized paths as well as a free focus mode were tested. Using this data, we estimate the precision of the utilized eye tracker and analyze the participants' accuracy in focusing the displayed fixation targets. Here, we also take a look at eccentricity-dependent quality ratings. Comparing this information with the users' quality ratings given for the displayed sequences then reveals an interesting connection between fixation modes, fixation accuracy and quality ratings., Competing Interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this paper.

The four-transmembrane protein MAL2 and tumor protein D52 (TPD52) have been shown to be involved in tumorigenesis of various cancers. However, their roles in colorectal cancer (CRC) remain unclear. In this study, we explored the expressions of MAL2 and TPD52 in tumor specimens resected from 123 CRC patients and the prognostic values of the two proteins in CRC. Immunohistochemical analyses showed that MAL2 (P<0.001) and TPD52 (P<0.001) were significantly highly expressed in primary carcinoma tissues compared with adjacent non-cancerous mucosa tissues. And TPD52 exhibited frequent overexpression in liver metastasis tissues relative to primary carcinoma tissues (P = 0.042), while MAL2 in lymphnode and liver metastasis tissues showed no significant elevation. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) showed the identical results. Correlation analyses by Pearson's chi-square test demonstrated that MAL2 in tumors was positively correlated with tumor status (pathological assessment of regional lymph nodes (pN, P = 0.024)), and clinic stage (P = 0.017). Additionally, the expression of TPD52 was detected under the same condition and was shown to be positively correlated withtumor status (pathological assessment of the primary tumor (pT, P = 0.035), distant metastasis (pM, P = 0.001)) and CRC clinicopathology(P = 0.024). Kaplan-Meier survival curves indicated that positive MAL2 (P<0.001) and TPD52 (P<0.001) expressions were associated with poor overall survival (OS) in CRC patients. Multivariate analysis showed that MAL2 and TPD52 expression was an independent prognostic factor for reduced OS of CRC patients. Moreover, overexpression of TPD52 in CRC SW480 cells showed an increased cell migration (P = 0.023) and invasion (P = 0.012) through inducing occurrence of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and activating focal adhesion kinase (FAK)-mediated integrin signalling and PI3K⁄Akt signalling.Whereas TPD52-depleted cells showed the reverse effect. These data suggested that MAL2 and TPD52 might be potential biomarkers for clinical prognosis and might be a promising therapeutic target for CRC.

Ubiquitin specific peptidase 22 (USP22), a putative cancer stem cell marker, is overexpressed in liver metastases of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the mechanism by which USP22 promotes CRC metastasis remains largely unknown. Here, we report that USP22 and AP4 are simultaneously overexpressed during TGF-β1-induced CRC cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). USP22 up-regulation enhances CRC cell migration and invasion and EMT-related marker and AP4 expression, but these effects are partly blocked by AP4 knockdown. In addition, USP22 binds to the promoter region of AP4 to activate its transcription. In vivo, elevated USP22 expression promotes CRC cell metastasis to the lungs in nude mice, as evidenced by the fact that CRC metastatic nodules stain deeply positive for USP22 and AP4. In human CRC tissues, the genes encoding USP22 and AP4 are overexpressed in metastatic liver lesions compared with primary cancer tissues, and their overexpression is significantly associated with poor CRC patient survival. These findings indicate that USP22 and AP4 may serve as prognostic markers for predicting the risk of developing distant metastases in CRC.

Colorectal cancer, the third most common cancer in both men and women, has gradually increased in recent years. MYSM1has been investigated as a regulator of hematopoiesis and lymphocyte development in human. It has been reported that some tumor-related genes were modulated by MYSM1. However, its exact role in cancer development remains unclear. Herein, we aimed to examine the expression level of MYSM1 in tumor tissues and its correlation with clinicopathology and survivals of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC).MYSM1expressions in tumor specimens resected from 123 CRC patients were detected by immunochemistry and Western blot analysis. The results showed that MYSM1 was significantly highly expressed in carcinoma tissues compared with adjacent normal mucosa tissues (P<0.05). Correlation analyses by Pearson's chi-square test demonstrated that MYSM1 in tumors was positively correlated with tumor status (pathological assessment of the primary tumor (pT, P<0.001), regional lymph nodes (pN, P = 0.013), distant metastasis (pM, P<0.001)) and clinic stage (P<0.001); Whereas, MYSM1 was not associated with tumor size of CRC patients and was positively associated with tumor differentiation grade (P = 0.015). Patients with positiveMYSM1expression showed poor survival compared with the MYSM1 negative group (P<0.001).Simultaneously, multivariate Cox regression analysis indicated thatMYSM1 expression in tumor cells was an independent factor for reduced overall survival in CRC patients (P<0.001).Additionally,MYSM1 in CRC SW480 cells was silenced by small interference RNA (siRNA) technology. Scratch assay and Transwell assay showed that MYSM1 silencing decreased migration and invasion abilities of SW480 cells. These data suggested that expression of MYSM1 was associated with the progression of CRC and might be a potential biomarker for clinical prognosis.

Objective: To summarize the progress of the surgical selection of fusion levels for degenerative scoliosis., Methods: The domestic and foreign related literature about degenerative scoliosis, including clinical features, classification, surgical treatment, and the fused segment, was summarized., Results: Degenerative scoliosis is very complicated. Short segment fusion and long segment fusion are the main surgical types. The long segment fusion is better in terms of reconstructing the stability of spine; however, it has more related complications. The short segment fusion has been used widely in clinical, but it causes degenerative disease easily. W/AL value can be used to direct the selection of short or long segment fusion for degenerative scoliosis., Conclusions: The key to success surgery is choosing reasonable fused segment. Now there is no unified selection standard. With more knowledge about degenerative scoliosis, greater development can be expected in the future.