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Many researches have demonstrated the effects of the extreme cold ambient temperature on the risk of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA); yet, the results have been inconsistent. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate whether extreme cold ambient temperature is related to OHCA.

Vitellogenin (Vg) is the precursor of yolk protein, which plays an important role in the reproduction and development of oviparous animals. In this study, vitellogenin1 (Vg1) from Sepiella japonica was cloned and characterized, and its potential function in ovarian development was investigated. The full-length cDNAs of Vg1 was 5853 base pair (bp) that encoded 748 amino acids. Sequence analysis revealed that the overall protein sequence of Vg1 shared 66% identity with that of Uroteuthis edulis. Analyses with quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) showed that the highest expression of Vg1 occurred in the ovary. As ovary developed, the expression of Vg1 increased in both ovary and liver from oogonia phase (I) to interstitial growth phase (III), and reached to the peak value at stage III. In addition, we examined the effects of Gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) on Vg1 expression in the ovary and liver were examined. The data showed that GnRH increased mRNA expression of Vg1, indicating that exogenous GnRH initially affected Vg1 expression and then influenced ovarian maturation. This study suggests that Vg1 might be involved in ovarian development in cephalopods. KEY WORDS: Sepiella japonica, vitellogenin, RACE, GnRH, cephalopod, INTRODUCTION The cuttlefish Sepiella japonica Sasaki, 1929 (Mollusca, Cephalopoda) is an important commercial cephalopod, and is widely distributed in East Asia. It has been regarded as one of the four [...]

Background: This study explored the significance of consolidation maintenance chemotherapy after concurrent chemoradiotherapy with different regimens in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Method: A prospective randomized controlled phase III clinical trial was designed and registered in the China Clinical Trials Registry (Registration number: ChiCTR‐TRC‐12002719). Survival data were analyzed in terms of intention‐to‐treat (ITT) and per‐protocol (PP) sets for patients undergoing cisplatin and 5‐fluorouracil (PF) (group A), or cisplatin and paclitaxel (TP) (group B). Results: The incidence risk of grade III–IV leukopenia in group B was higher than in group A (49.2% vs. 25.5%, p = 0.012). The survival rates at 1, 2, 3, and 5 years were 83.8%, 62.6%, 53.1%, and 41.3%, respectively. Consolidation chemotherapy after concurrent chemoradiation therapy had no benefit on median progression‐free survival (PFS) (p = 0.95) and overall survival (OS) (p = 0.809). According to the ITT analysis, the median PFS in group A and group B was 28.6 months and 30.3 months (X2 = 0.242, p = 0.623), while the median OS was 31.0 months and 50.3 months (X2 = 1.25，p = 0.263). For the PP analysis, the median PFS in group A and group B were 28.6 months and 30.3 months (p = 0.584), while the median OS was 31.0 months and 50.3 months (p = 0.259), respectively. Patients receiving consolidation chemotherapy did not show significant OS benefits (46.9 months vs. 38.3 months; X2 = 0.059, p = 0.866). Conclusion: Similar PFS and OS were found between PF and TP regimens with concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Consolidation chemotherapy did not show any significant OS benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Superresolution images reconstructed from single-molecule localizations can reveal cellular structures close to the macromolecular scale and are now being used routinely in many biomedical research applications. However, because of their coordinate-based representation, a widely applicable and unified analysis platform that can extract a quantitative description and biophysical parameters from these images is yet to be established. Here, we propose a conceptual framework for correlation analysis of coordinate-based superresolution images using distance histograms. We demonstrate the application of this concept in multiple scenarios, including image alignment, tracking of diffusing molecules, as well as for quantification of colocalization, showing its superior performance over existing approaches.