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Abstract: Because of endoscopist fatigue, the time of colonoscopy have been shown to influence adenoma detection rate (ADR). Computer-aided detection (CADe) provides simultaneous visual alerts on polyps during colonoscopy and thus to increase adenoma detection rate. This is attributable to the strengthening of endoscopists diagnostic level and alleviation of fatigue. The aim of the study was to investigate whether CADe colonoscopy could eliminate the influence of the afternoon fatigue on ADR.We retrospectively analyzed the recorded data of patients who were performed CADe colonoscopy from September 2017 to February 2019 in Endoscopy Center of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital. Patients demographic as well as baseline data recorded during colonoscopy were used for the analysis. Morning colonoscopy was defined as colonoscopic procedures starting between 8:00 am and 12:00 noon. Afternoon colonoscopy was defined as procedures starting at 2:00 pm and thereafter. The primary outcome was ADR. Univariate analysis and multivariate regression analysis were also performed.A total of 484 CADe colonoscopies were performed by 4 endoscopists in the study. The overall polyp detection rate was 52% and overall ADR was 35.5%. The mean number of adenomas detected per colonoscopy (0.62 vs 0.61, P > .05) and ADR (0.36 vs 0.35, P > .05) were similar in the am and pm group. Multivariable analysis shows that the ADR of CADe colonoscopy was influenced by the age (P < .001), gender (P = .004) and withdrawal time (P < .001), no correlation was found regarding bowel preparation (P = .993) and endoscopist experience (P = .804).CADe colonoscopy could eliminate the influence of the afternoon fatigue on ADR. The ADR during CADe colonoscopy is significantly affected by age, gender and withdrawal time., Competing Interests: The authors declared no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Layered perovskites have been employed for various optoelectronic devices including solar cells and light-emitting diodes for improved stability, which need exciton transport along both the in-plane and the out-of-plane directions. However, it is not clear yet what determines the exciton transport along the in-plane direction, which is important to understand its impact toward electronic devices. Here, by employing both steady-state and transient photoluminescence mapping, it is found that in-plane exciton diffusivities in layered perovskites are sensitive to both the number of layers and organic cations. Apart from exciton-phonon coupling, the octahedral distortion is revealed to significantly affect the exciton diffusion process, determined by temperature-dependent photoluminescence, light-intensity-dependent time-resolved photoluminescence, and density function theory calculations. A simple fluorine substitution to phenethylammonium for the organic cations to tune the structural rigidity and octahedral distortion yields a record exciton diffusivity of 1.91 cm 2 s -1 and a diffusion length of 405 nm along the in-plane direction. This study provides guidance to manipulate exciton diffusion by modifying organic cations in layered perovskites., (© 2020 Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

An efficient and convenient iridium(iii) catalyzed ortho -C-H bond amidation of weakly coordinating benzamides treated with readily available sulfonyl azides as the amino source has been described. In this transformation, ionic liquids represents an ideal reaction medium, giving rise to a broad range of amidation products under mild conditions in the open air. This protocol offers moderate to excellent chemical yields, exclusive regioselectivities, and good functional group tolerance., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest to declare., (This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.)

Cancer testis (CT) antigens have received particular attention in cancer immunotherapy. OY-TES-1 is a member of CT antigens. This study was to evaluate OY-TES-1 expression and immunogenicity in hepatocelluar carcinoma (HCC). OY-TES-1 mRNA expression was detected in 56 HCC tissues and 5 normal liver tissues by reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). Of the 56 cases of HCC tissues tested, 37 cases had tumor and matched adjacent non-cancer tissues and were subjected to both RT-PCR and quantitative real-time PCR. OY-TES-1 protein was subsequently observed on a panel of tissue microarrays. Sera from patients were tested for OY-TES-1 antibody by ELISA. To identify OY-TES-1 capable of inducing cellular immune response, OY-TES-1 protein was used to sensitize dentritic cells and the cytotoxicity effect was measured in vitro. The results showed that OY-TES-1 mRNA was highly expressed in 41 of the 56 (73.21%) HCC tissues, whereas none in 5 normal liver tissues. OY-TES-1 mRNA was frequently expressed not only in HCC tissues (72.97%, 27/37), but also in paired adjacent non-cancer tissues (64.86%, 24/37). But the mean expression level of OY-TES-1 mRNA in HCC tissues was significantly higher than that in adjacent non-cancer tissues (0.76854 vs. 0.09834, P=0.021). Immunohistochemistry showed that OY-TES-1 protein expression was detected in 6 of the 49 cases of HCC tissues, and absent in 9 cases of normal liver and 6 cases of cirrhosis tissues. Seropositivity was detected in 10 of the 45 HCC patients, but not detected in 17 cirrhosis patients and 76 healthy donors. The specific cytotoxic T cells elicited by OY-TES-1 could kill HLA-A 2 + HCC cell line which expressed OY-TES-1. The target lysis was mainly HLA class I -dependent and could be blocked by antibodies against monomorphic HLA class I but not HLA class II molecule. In summary, OY-TES-1 expression is up-regulated in HCC tissues and can be recognized by humoral and cellular responses, which suggests that OY-TES-1 is an attractive target for tumor immunotherapy in HCC.

Ammonia oxidation process in soil has a great contribution to the emission of nitrous oxide, which is a hot issue in the study of N cycle of rice field ecosystem. Organic amendments which partially substitute chemical nitrogen fertilizer are widely adopted to optimizing N management and reduce the use of chemical nitrogen fertilizers in the paddy ecosystem, but their long-term effects on ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) and bacteria (AOB) were not well understood. Thus, based on a 6-year field trial that comprised four fertilization strategies (CF, chemical fertilizer; PM, pig manure substituting for 20% chemical N; BF, biogas slurry substituting for 20% chemical N; and GM, milk vetch substituting for 20% chemical N) and no N fertilizer application as CK, the abundance and community structure of ammonia oxidizers were examined by using qPCR and Illumina Miseq sequencing approaches based on the functional marker genes (amoA) in a low-fertility paddy field. The results revealed that 6 years of organic-substitute fertilization significantly increased AOA abundance in comparison with NF and CF. However, only CF and PM had a higher AOB abundance than those in NF and no significant difference between CF and organic-substitute treatments was observed. Both AOA and AOB were significantly correlated with soil potential nitrification rate (PNR). Moreover, organic-substitute treatments showed the evident changes in the AOA community, while little were observed in the AOB community. Soil pH was the main predictor for AOA abundance, while NH 4 + -N and NO 3 - -N were the main predictors for AOB abundance. This study suggests that both AOA and AOB were jointly contributed to the variation of soil potential nitrification rate, while the AOA community was shown to be more responsive to organic-substitute fertilization strategies than AOB in the tested soils.

Grain boundaries have been established to impact charge transport, recombination and thus the power conversion efficiency of metal halide perovskite thin film solar cells. As a special category of grain boundaries, ferroelastic twin boundaries have been recently discovered to exist in both CH 3 NH 3 PbI 3 thin films and single crystals. However, their impact on the carrier transport and recombination in perovskites remains unexplored. Here, using the scanning photocurrent microscopy, we find that twin boundaries have negligible influence on the carrier transport across them. Photoluminescence (PL) imaging and the spatial-resolved PL intensity and lifetime scanning confirm the electronically benign nature of the twin boundaries, in striking contrast to regular grain boundaries which block the carrier transport and behave as the non-radiative recombination centers. Finally, the twin-boundary areas are found still easier to degrade than grain interior.

Background: Evidence has shown that deep learning computer aided detection (CADe) system achieved high overall detection accuracy for polyp detection during colonoscopy., Aim: The detection performance of CADe system on non-polypoid laterally spreading tumors (LSTs) and sessile serrated adenomas/polyps (SSA/Ps), with higher risk for malignancy transformation and miss rate, has not been exclusively investigated., Methods: A previously validated deep learning CADe system for polyp detection was tested exclusively on LSTs and SSA/Ps. 1451 LST images from 184 patients were collected between July 2015 and January 2019, 82 SSA/Ps videos from 26 patients were collected between September 2018 and January 2019. The per-frame sensitivity and per-lesion sensitivity were calculated., Results: (1) For LSTs image dataset, the system achieved an overall per-image sensitivity and per-lesion sensitivity of 94.07% (1365/1451) and 98.99% (197/199) respectively. The per-frame sensitivity for LST-G(H), LST-G(M), LST-NG(F), LST-NG(PD) was 93.97% (343/365), 98.72% (692/701), 85.71% (324/378) and 85.71% (6/7) respectively. The per-lesion sensitivity of each subgroup was 100.00% (71/71), 100.00% (64/64), 98.31% (58/59) and 80.00% (4/5). (2) For SSA/Ps video dataset, the system achieved an overall per-frame sensitivity and per-lesion sensitivity of 84.10% (15883/18885) and 100.00% (42/42), respectively., Conclusions: This study demonstrated that a local-feature-prioritized automatic CADe system could detect LSTs and SSA/Ps with high sensitivity. The per-frame sensitivity for non-granular LSTs and small SSA/Ps should be further improved., Competing Interests: I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: The CADe system (EndoScreener) was developed by Shanghai Wision AI Co., Ltd. The system was provided free-of-charge for this study. Employees in the company were not involved in the study in any way, including in study design, statistical analysis or manuscript writing. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

The efficiencies of green and red perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs) have been increased close to their theoretical upper limit, while the efficiency of blue PeLEDs is lagging far behind. Here we report enhancing the efficiency of sky-blue PeLEDs by overcoming a major hurdle of low photoluminescence quantum efficiency in wide-bandgap perovskites. Blending phenylethylammonium chloride into cesium lead halide perovskites yields a mixture of two-dimensional and three-dimensional perovskites, which enhances photoluminescence quantum efficiency from 1.1% to 19.8%. Adding yttrium (III) chloride into the mixture further enhances photoluminescence quantum efficiency to 49.7%. Yttrium is found to incorporate into the three-dimensional perovskite grain, while it is still rich at grain boundaries and surfaces. The yttrium on grain surface increases the bandgap of grain shell, which confines the charge carriers inside grains for efficient radiative recombination. Record efficiencies of 11.0% and 4.8% were obtained in sky-blue and blue PeLEDs, respectively.

Objective: The effect of colonoscopy on colorectal cancer mortality is limited by several factors, among them a certain miss rate, leading to limited adenoma detection rates (ADRs). We investigated the effect of an automatic polyp detection system based on deep learning on polyp detection rate and ADR., Design: In an open, non-blinded trial, consecutive patients were prospectively randomised to undergo diagnostic colonoscopy with or without assistance of a real-time automatic polyp detection system providing a simultaneous visual notice and sound alarm on polyp detection. The primary outcome was ADR., Results: Of 1058 patients included, 536 were randomised to standard colonoscopy, and 522 were randomised to colonoscopy with computer-aided diagnosis. The artificial intelligence (AI) system significantly increased ADR (29.1%vs20.3%, p<0.001) and the mean number of adenomas per patient (0.53vs0.31, p<0.001). This was due to a higher number of diminutive adenomas found (185vs102; p<0.001), while there was no statistical difference in larger adenomas (77vs58, p=0.075). In addition, the number of hyperplastic polyps was also significantly increased (114vs52, p<0.001)., Conclusions: In a low prevalent ADR population, an automatic polyp detection system during colonoscopy resulted in a significant increase in the number of diminutive adenomas detected, as well as an increase in the rate of hyperplastic polyps. The cost-benefit ratio of such effects has to be determined further., Trial Registration Number: ChiCTR-DDD-17012221; Results., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

We theoretically study the modulation instability (MI) of the two-component helicoidal spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). The effects of spin-orbit coupling, the helicoidal gauge potential, and atomic interactions on MI are investigated. The results indicate that the presence of the helicoidal gauge potential breaks the symmetric properties of MI, strongly modifies the distribution of the MI region and the MI gain in parameters space, and the MI can be excited even when the miscibility condition for the atomic interactions is satisfied. Furthermore, the effect of the helicoidal gauge potential on MI is strongly coupled with the intra and intercomponent atomic interactions. Particularly, with the increase of the helical gauge potential, the MI gain increases for the repulsive atomic interaction case, however, the MI gain decreases for the attractive atomic interaction case. The direct numerical simulations are performed to support the analytical predictions, and a good agreement is found. Our results provide a potential way to manipulate the MI in BECs with helicoidal gauge potential.

Passivation of electronic defects at the surface and grain boundaries of perovskite materials has become one of the most important strategies to suppress charge recombination in both polycrystalline and single-crystalline perovskite solar cells. Although many passivation molecules have been reported, it remains very unclear regarding the passivation mechanisms of various functional groups. Here, we systematically engineer the structures of passivation molecular functional groups, including carboxyl, amine, isopropyl, phenethyl, and tert-butylphenethyl groups, and study their passivation capability to perovskites. It reveals the carboxyl and amine groups would heal charged defects via electrostatic interactions, and the neutral iodine related defects can be reduced by the aromatic structures. The judicious control of the interaction between perovskite and molecules can further realize grain boundary passivation, including those that are deep toward substrates. Understanding of the underlining mechanisms allows us to design a new passivation molecule, D-4- tert-butylphenylalanine, yielding high-performance p-i-structure solar cells with a stabilized efficiency of 21.4%. The open-circuit voltage ( V OC ) of a device with an optical bandgap of 1.57 eV for the perovskite layer reaches 1.23 V, corresponding to a record small V OC deficit of 0.34 V. Our findings provide a guidance for future design of new passivation molecules to realize multiple facets applications in perovskite electronics.

Two-dimensional perovskites have emerged as more intrinsically stable materials for solar cells. Chemical tuning of spacer organic cations has attracted great interest due to their additional functionalities. However, how the chemical nature of the organic cations affects the properties of two-dimensional perovskites and devices is rarely reported. Here we demonstrate that the selection of spacer cations (i.e., selective fluorination of phenethylammonium) affects the film properties of two-dimensional perovskites, leading to different device performance of two-dimensional perovskite solar cells (average n = 4). Structural analysis reveals that different packing arrangements and orientational disorder of the spacer cations result in orientational degeneracy and different formation energies, largely explaining the difference in film properties. This work provides key missing information on how spacer cations exert influence on desirable electronic properties and device performance of two-dimensional perovskites via the weak and cooperative interactions of these cations in the crystal lattice.

The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are already higher than that of other thin film technologies, but laboratory cell-fabrication methods are not scalable. Here, we report an additive strategy to enhance the efficiency and stability of PSCs made by scalable blading. Blade-coated PSCs incorporating bilateral alkylamine (BAA) additives achieve PCEs of 21.5 (aperture, 0.08 cm 2 ) and 20.0% (aperture, 1.1 cm 2 ), with a record-small open-circuit voltage deficit of 0.35 V under AM1.5G illumination. The stabilized PCE reaches 22.6% under 0.3 sun. Anchoring monolayer bilateral amino groups passivates the defects at the perovskite surface and enhances perovskite stability by exposing the linking hydrophobic alkyl chain. Grain boundaries are reinforced by BAA and are more resistant to mechanical bending and electron beam damage. BAA improves the device shelf lifetime to >1000 hours and operation stability to >500 hours under light, with 90% of the initial efficiency retained.

The concentrations, congener profiles and spatial distribution of 13 phthalate esters (PAEs) in the freshwater fish ponds in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region were investigated in water and sediment samples collect from 22 sites during Jul. 2016-Sept. 2017. The di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) was the predominant compounds in both water and sediment samples, accounting for 70.1% and 66.1% of ∑PAEs, respectively. The DEHP concentrations in the water samples collected from the sites of Zhongshan (35.7 μg/L), Jingmen (17.3 μg/L) and Nanhai (14.2 μg/L) were higher than that collected from other sampling sites (p <0.05), and exceed the Chinese environmental quality standards for surface water (DEHP, 8.00 μg/L). The concentrations of ΣPAEs (mean and median were 11.8 mg/kg dw and 7.95 mg/kg dw) in sediment was higher than that in sediment of river and estuary in the PRD region (p <0.05). The median concentrations of DEHP and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) exceeded recommend environmental risk limit (ERL) that posed a potential risk to the aquaculture fish pond environment in the PRD., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Traditional cardiovascular risk factors do not underlie all incidence of cardiovascular disease. In recent years, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that gut microbiota and its metabolites also play a pivotal role in the onset and development of cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerosis, hypertension, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and myocardial fibrosis. Trillions of bacteria indwell the gastrointestinal tract and metabolize nutrients into trimethylamine-N-oxide, short-chain fatty acids and so on. Targeting these microorganisms and relevant metabolic pathways has beneficial effects in cardiovascular disease. This review will summarize the role of gut microbiota and its metabolites, mainly trimethylamine-N-oxide, in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, and discuss the possible mechanisms that drive cardiovascular diseases and highlight potential therapies in this field., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Autophagy plays many physiological and pathophysiological roles. However, the roles and the regulatory mechanisms of autophagy in response to viral infections are poorly defined in teleost fish, such as grass carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idella ), which is one of the most important aquaculture species in China. In this study, we found that both grass carp reovirus (GCRV) infection and hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) treatment induced the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in C. idella kidney cells and stimulate autophagy. Suppressing ROS accumulation with N -acetyl-l-cysteine significantly inhibited GCRV-induced autophagy activation and enhanced GCRV replication. Although ROS-induced autophagy, in turn, restricted GCRV replication, further investigation revealed that the multifunctional cellular protein high-mobility group box 1b (HMGB1b) serves as a heat shock protein 70 (HSP70)-dependent, pro-autophagic protein in grass carp. Upon H 2 O 2 treatment, cytoplasmic HSP70 translocated to the nucleus, where it interacted with HMGB1b and promoted cytoplasmic translocation of HMGB1b. Overexpression and siRNA-mediated knockdown assays indicated that HSP70 and HMGB1b synergistically enhance ROS-induced autophagic activation in the cytoplasm. Moreover, HSP70 reinforced an association of HMGB1b with the C. idella ortholog of Beclin 1 (a mammalian ortholog of the autophagy-associated yeast protein ATG6) by directly interacting with C. idella Beclin 1. In summary, this study highlights the antiviral function of ROS-induced autophagy in response to GCRV infection and reveals the positive role of HSP70 in HMGB1b-mediated autophagy initiation in teleost fish., (© 2018 Rao et al.)

The molecular mechanisms underlying the severe lung pathology that occurs during SARS-CoV infections remain incompletely understood. The largest of the SARS-CoV accessory protein open reading frames (SARS 3a) oligomerizes, dynamically inserting into late endosomal, lysosomal, and trans-Golgi-network membranes. While previously implicated in a non-inflammatory apoptotic cell death pathway, here we extend the range of SARS 3a pathophysiologic targets by examining its effects on necrotic cell death pathways. We show that SARS 3a interacts with Receptor Interacting Protein 3 (Rip3), which augments the oligomerization of SARS 3a helping drive necrotic cell death. In addition, by inserting into lysosomal membranes SARS 3a triggers lysosomal damage and dysfunction. Consequently, Transcription Factor EB (TFEB) translocates to the nucleus increasing the transcription of autophagy- and lysosome-related genes. Finally, SARS 3a activates caspase-1 either directly or via an enhanced potassium efflux, which triggers NLRP3 inflammasome assembly. In summary, Rip3-mediated oligomerization of SARS 3a causes necrotic cell death, lysosomal damage, and caspase-1 activation-all likely contributing to the clinical manifestations of SARS-CoV infection.

The aim of the study is to evaluate the impact of mariculture on phthalate esters speciation and distribution in sediments and cultured fish in the Hong Kong regions and near mainland China. Concentrations of ∑phthalate esters in mariculture surface sediments (0 to 5 cm) ranged from 0.20 to 54.3 mg/kg dw (mean 10.3 mg/kg dw), with the highest recorded at M2 (20.4 mg/kg dw). Concentrations of phthalate esters were not significantly (p > 0.05) enriched in surface and sediment cores at mariculture sites relative to the reference sediments, 1 to 2 km away in areas without mariculture activities. Among different congeners, only butyl benzyl phthalate (BBP) concentrations demonstrated a significant correlation (R 2  = 0.40, p < 0.05) with TOC values of sediments. The median concentrations of di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) in the sediments were 1.57 and 6.96 times higher than the environmental risk levels (ERL), which may pose environmental risks. Results of health risk assessments revealed that the cultured fish (snubnose pompano, orange-spotted grouper, and red snapper) were safe for consumption, in terms of phthalate esters. This is the first study to assess the differences of phthalate esters contamination between mariculture and natural coastal sediments.

The surface composition of perovskite films is very sensitive to film processing and can deviate from the optimal, which generates unfavorable defects and results in efficiency loss in solar cells and slow response speed in photodetectors. An argon plasma treatment is introduced to modify the surface composition by tuning the ratio of organic and inorganic components as well as defect type before deposition of the passivating layer. It can efficiently enhance the charge collection across the perovskite-electrode interface by suppressing charge recombination. Therefore, perovskite solar cells with argon plasma treatment yield enhanced efficiency to 20.4% and perovskite photodetectors can reach their fastest respond speed, which is solely limited by the carrier mobility., (© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Tetrathiafulvalenes (TTFs) are a class of important functional materials whose intermolecular interaction, which will contribute to constructing a supramolecular structure, still needs further understanding. In this study, the self-assembly behavior and structure of a series of TTFs bearing different alkyl chains and substituents were investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) in combination with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Contrary to previous reports, herein, a series of benzoic acid-functionalized TTFs (C n TTFCOOH) and pyridine-functionalized TTFs (C n TTFN) with different lengths of alkyl chains have been substituted on the sulfur atom, where n is equal to 8, 10, 14, or 16. Due to the weak intra- and intermolecular interactions, C n TTFN (n = 8 and 10) molecules cannot be observed during STM scanning. For other cases, various self-assembled monolayers with different nanostructures were observed depending on different substituents. The results reveal that the alkyl chains and functional groups on the TTF skeleton synergistically affect the molecular self-assembly process, which results from the synergism of van der Waals, hydrogen bonding, and SS interactions. These results not only help to explain the relationship between structures and properties, but also help to design better molecular structures for various fields.

Cancer testis antigens (CTAs) are attractive targets for tumor immunotherapy because of their tumor-specific expression. Since more than half of confirmed CTAs are located on the X-chromosome, we asked whether there is a link between CTA expression and X-chromosomes. Recent reports have shown that reactivation of the inactive X-chromosome, known as X-chromosome reactivation (XCR), a unique phenomenon that exists in many high-risk tumors in women, can transform the expression of many X-linked genes from monoallelic to biallelic. In this review, we discuss the link between CTA and XCR with the hopes of providing some novel insights into tumor biology.

Diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) results in bone abnormalities that manifest as increased bone fragility. Bone consists of two phases, the mineral phase and the matrix phase, and disorders in both are seen in DM2. However, the phase in which DM2 mediated bone fragility is initiated is still unknown. In this study, a male Zucker diabetic fatty (fa/fa) (ZDF) rat model was used to investigate the underlying mechanism initiating DM2 mediated bone fragility. The fracture surface morphology, pre- and post-yield bone mechanical behavior, insoluble collagen volume, lysyl oxidase family (LOX) enzyme levels and correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship between insoluble collagen and post-yield behavior. Four weeks after the induction of diabetes, insoluble collagen was decreased in only the matrix phase in diabetic rats. Consistently, mechanical testing of the bone showed changes only in post-yield behavior. Diabetic rats also had decreased levels of enzymes involved in insoluble collagen formation (LOX and LOXL1 families). Correlation analysis demonstrated that insoluble collagen was a positive regressor of post-yield displacement (R = 0.894, P < 0.001) and post-yield energy (R = 0.918, P < 0.001). Together, these findings suggest that bone fragility in DM2 is initiated in the matrix phase and that the LOX family may play a critical part in the pathogenesis of DM2 mediated bone fragility., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The efficiency of perovskite solar cells has surged in the past few years, while the bandgaps of current perovskite materials for record efficiencies are much larger than the optimal value, which makes the efficiency far lower than the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit. Here we show that utilizing the below-bandgap absorption of perovskite single crystals can narrow down their effective optical bandgap without changing the composition. Thin methylammonium lead triiodide single crystals with tuned thickness of tens of micrometers are directly grown on hole-transport-layer covered substrates by a hydrophobic interface confined lateral crystal growth method. The spectral response of the methylammonium lead triiodide single crystal solar cells is extended to 820 nm, 20 nm broader than the corresponding polycrystalline thin-film solar cells. The open-circuit voltage and fill factor are not sacrificed, resulting in an efficiency of 17.8% for single crystal perovskite solar cells.

Cancer/testis (CT) antigens are normally expressed in testis and overexpressed in various tumor types. However, their biological function is largely unknown. OY-TES-1, one of cancer/testis (CT) antigens, is reported overexpression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). And we assumed that OY-TES-1 contribute to oncogenesis and progression of HCC. In this study, we knocked down OY-TES-1 by small interference RNA (siRNA) in HCC cell lines (HepG2 and BEL-7404) to verify this assumption and evaluate its potential as therapeutic targets for HCC. We showed that down regulation of OY-TES-1 decreased cell growth, induced the G0/G1 arrest and apoptosis, and prevented migration and invasion in the two HCC cell lines. Further analysis revealed that down regulation of OY-TES-1 increased expression of apoptosis-regulated protein caspase-3, and decreased expression of cell cycle-regulated protein cyclin E, migration/invasion-regulated proteins MMP2 and MMP9. These findings may shed light on the gene therapy about the OY-TES-1 expression in HCC cells.

Melanoma-associated antigen D4 (MAGE-D4) is a novel member of MAGE family. This study aimed to examine the expression and immunogenicity of MAGE-D4 in colorectal cancer (CRC) to determine its potential as a prognosis and immunotherapeutic target. The expression of MAGE-D4 mRNA and protein was determined by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC) in CRCs with paired adjacent non-tumor tissues, colorectal adenomas and normal colorectal tissues, respectively. Sera from 64 CRC patients were tested for MAGE-D4 antibody by ELISA. MAGE-D4 mRNA was more frequently expressed in CRCs (76.7%, 46/60) than in adjacent non-tumor tissues (15.0%, 9/60). MAGE-D4 protein was detected in all the CRC tissues tested, 70.0% of which showed high expression. There was no MAGE-D4 protein detected in any paired adjacent non-tumor tissue. No MAGE-D4 expression was found in colorectal adenomas and normal colorectal tissues by either RT-PCR or immunohistochemistry. Patients with high MAGE-D4 protein expression had significantly shorter overall survival than those with low MAGE-D4 protein expression (median, 68.6 vs 122.2 months; P=0.030). Furthermore, multivariate analysis exhibited high MAGE-D4 protein expression had a trend toward an independent prognostic factor (hazard ratio: 6.124; P=0.050). Humoral immunity to MAGE-D4 was detected in 12 of 64 (18.8%) CRC patients' sera but not in 77 healthy donors. There was no correlation between MAGE-D4 expression, serum antibody and clinicopathological parameters. These findings suggest MAGE-D4 may serve as a potentially prognostic biomarker and an attractive target of immunotherapy in CRC.

MAGE-D4 is a novel member of MAGE super-family. It has preliminarily been demonstrated that MAGE-D4 mRNA is not expressed in majority of normal tissues except for brain and ovary in which only trace amount of MAGE-D4 mRNA can be detected, but predominantly expressed in glioma. MAGE-D4 protein expression and its immunogenicity in glioma have not been elucidated well. This study was designed to analyze MAGE-D4 expression both at mRNA and protein level, characteristic of humoral immune response, and their relationships with glioma patients' clinicopathological parameters. Recombinant MAGE-D4 protein and antiserum were generated. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that MAGE-D4 mRNA expression was overall up-regulated in 41 glioma specimens compared with that in 14 normal brain tissues. Immunohistochemistry analysis showed that 78% (21/27) glioma tissues expressed MAGE-D4 protein, which was predominantly located in the cytoplasm of tumor cells, but absent in any neuroglia cell of normal brain tissues. ELISA analysis demonstrated that humoral response against MAGE-D4 was detected in 17% (7/41) of glioma patients' sera but not in 77 healthy donors. No apparent correlation was observed between the expression and immunogenicity of MAGE-D4 with clinicopathological parameters of glioma. In summary, these results indicate that MAGE-D4 is highly expressed in glioma and can develop specifically humoral response in glioma patients, which supports that it may be a promising biomarker for glioma diagnosis and immunotherapy.

Cancer testis (CT) antigens are attractive targets for cancer immunotherapy because their expression is restricted in normal germ line tissues but frequently detected in variety of tumors. OY-TES-1 is identified as a member of CT antigens. Current knowledge about OY-TES-1 expression in colorectal cancer (CRC) is solely based on mRNA analysis. None of previous researches has studied OY-TES-1 at protein level. In this study, OY-TES-1 polyclonal antibody was generated. The expression of OY-TES-1 mRNA and protein was detected by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry in 60 CRC and paired adjacent non-tumor tissues, 24 colorectal adenoma and 3 normal colon tissues, respectively. Sera from 73 CRC patients were also tested for OY-TES-1 antibody by ELISA. Our results showed that the frequency of OY-TES-1 mRNA expression was statistically higher in CRC (73.3%, 44/60) than that in adjacent non-tumor tissue (55.0%, 33/60) and colorectal adenoma (45.8%, 11/24). For the first time, OY-TES-1 protein expression was found in (43.3%, 26/60) of CRC tissues, but absent in any of adjacent non-tumor and colorectal adenoma tissues. No OY-TES-1 expression was found in normal colon by either RT-PCR or immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, OY-TES-1 protein expression was correlated with tumor invasion stage (P=0.004) and histological grade (P=0.040). Anti-OY-TES-1 antibody was detected in (9.6%, 7/73) of CRC patients' sera but not in 76 healthy donors. This finding demonstrates that OY-TES-1 is frequently expressed in CRC and is able to induce humoral immune response spontaneously in CRC patients, suggesting that it might be a promising immunotherapy target for CRC.

Objective: To develop a novel artificial antigen-presenting system for efficiently inducing melanoma-specific CD8(+) CD28(+) cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses., Methods: Cell-sized Dynabeads® M-450 Epoxy beads coated with H-2K(b): Ig-TRP2180-188 and anti-CD28 antibody were used as artificial antigen-presenting cells (aAPCs) to induce melanoma-specific CD8(+)CD28(+) CTL responses with the help of IL-21 and IL-15. Dimer staining, proliferation, ELISPOT, and cytotoxicity experiments were conducted to evaluate the frequency and activity of induced CTLs., Results: Dimer staining demonstrated that the new artificial antigen-presenting system efficiently induced melanoma TRP2-specific CD8(+)CD28(+)CTLs. Proliferation and ELISPOT assays indicated that the induced CTLs rapidly proliferate and produce increased IFN- γ under the stimulation of H-2K(b): Ig-TRP2-aAPCs, IL-15, and IL-21. In addition, cytotoxicity experiments showed that induced CTLs have specific killing activity of target cells., Conclusions: The new artificial antigen-presenting system including aAPCs plus IL-21 and IL-15 can induce a large number of antigen-specific CD8(+) CD28(+) CTLs against the melanoma. Our study provides evidence for a novel adoptive immunotherapy against tumors., (Copyright © 2013 Hainan Medical College. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To construct the eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-N1/ACRBP and stably express ACRBP in human hepatocarcinoma cells, providing functional clues for ACRBP., Methods: A recombinant plasmid pMAL-C2/ACRBP was used as a template to amplify ACRBP cDNA. The PCR product was ligated into an eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-N1 to construct a recombinant plasmid pEGFP-N1/ACRBP. Then the pEGFP-N1/ACRBP was transfected by Fugene HD into ACRBP-negative HepG2 cells. The stably transfected clones were selected by G418. RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry were used to detect the expression of ACRBP in HepG2 cells., Results: The eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-N1/ACRBP was constructed and confirmed by sequencing. The stably transfected HepG2 cells expressed ACRBP., Conclusion: The eukaryotic expression vector pEGFP-N1/ACRBP has been successfully constructed and transfected into HepG2 cells, resulting in stable expression of ACRBP.

Background & Objective: Repair of DNA damage is important to cell survival. Our previous study showed DNA damage response induced by manumycin in cancer cells. We hypothesized that methoxyamine, an inhibitor of base-excision repair, can enhance the antineoplastic effect of manumycin. This study was to investigate apoptosis induced by manumycin combined with methoxyamine in myeloid leukemia cell line U937, and to explore the role of mitochondrial apoptotic pathway in apoptosis induction of the two drugs., Methods: U937 cells were treated with various concentrations of manumycin and/or methoxyamine for 48 h. The cell viability was analyzed by MTT assay. Colony formation was evaluated by soft agar clonogenic assay. Cell apoptosis was investigated by flow cytometry. Protein expressions of cytochrome c, caspase-9, and poly ADP-ribose polymerase (PARP) were determined by Western blot., Results: The dose-response curve of manumycin was shifted to the left after addition of methoxyamine. The combination index (CI) was less than 1 (P<0.05) in U937 cells (P<0.05), indicating a synergistic effect of manumycin and methoxyamine. Rates of colony formation of U937 cells treated with 1 micromol/L manumycin, or 5 mmol/L methoxyamine, or the combination of the two were 0.3641+/-0.0463, 0.7541+/-0.0379, and 0.0473+/-0.0024, respectively compared with that of control cells (P<0.05). Moreover, the drug combination resulted in enhanced apoptosis in U937 cells. The apoptotic rates of the control, manumycin, methoxyamine and combination group were (2.34+/-0.30)%, (8.80+/-0.95)%, (2.21+/-0.19)%, and (13.37+/-0.91)%, respectively. The combination of manumycin with methoxyamine also promoted the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria into the cytosol, activated caspase-9, and led appearance of specific cleavage of PARP in U937 cells., Conclusion: Methoxyamine enhances manumycin-induced apoptosis in U937 myeloid leukemia cells.

Objective: To analyze the maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of residential and migrant women in Beijing., Methods: A retrospective study from 1995 to 2004 was performed to analyze data from the maternal death cases., Results: The MMR of resident and migrant of Beijing from 1995 to 2004 were 17.9 and 51.3 per ten thousand respectively. The main reasons of maternal deaths among residents were embolism (21.2%), hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (18.3%), postpartum hemorrhage (14.4%) and ectopic pregnancy/heart disease (9.6%). The main reasons of migrant maternal deaths were postpartum hemorrhage (25.2%), embolism (19.7%), hypertensive disorder complicating pregnancy (17.3%) and liver disease (9.5%). The avoidable deaths were accounted for 18.9%., Conclusion: The MMR in Beijing local residents was close to that in developed countries. To further reduce MMR in Beijing would depend on the better administration of related issues among floating population. Poor quatily delivery must be banned together with strengthening the training programs on health workers. It is also important to improve the knowledge and skills of medical staff for rescuing the complications of pregnancy and ectopic pregnancy.

Background: Hepatic cryosurgery, a safe and effective approach for an unresectable hepatoma, has been extensively applied in clinical setting. But whether direct deep freezing to the tumor involving special location, i.e., Glisson's system of certain hepatic lobe could cause the impairment of the duct system or post impairment effect remains a mystery. Consequently, the aim of the study was to investigate the effect of freezing on the secondary branches enclosed in the Glisson's system of certain hepatic lobes., Methods: Twenty pigs were divided into 2 groups randomly. The treated group: the area of secondary branches of the Glisson's system in the left lateral lobe was frozen by a cryoprobe at deep low temperature for 3 minutes, with the blockage of blood flow from the porta hepatis. The control group: only the blockage of the porta hepatis was performed for 3 minutes. Serologic examinations, color Doppler examination and pathological observation were used for evaluation of this procedure postoperatively., Results: The frozen hepatic parenchyma, the wall of the frozen secondary bile duct and portal vein showed necrosis. However, the frozen hepatic artery ramification did not show any obvious changes postoperatively. Eight weeks after cryosurgery, the lumen of the hepatic artery and portal vein maintained unobstructed. Meanwhile, atrophy and fibroplasia occurred in the related hepatic lobe. All the animals recovered well., Conclusions: Animals could tolerate the direct deep-freezing of the area of secondary branches enclosed in the Glisson' s system. The therapeutic effect could be attained by the necrosis of the frozen hepatic parenchyma.

Objective: To observe blood lead level and related risk factors among children of 0 - 6-year old in Beijing., Methods: Stratified-clustered-random sampling and simple random sampling were used. A total of 2 262 children of 0 - 6 years old were investigated from May to July 2001. They were permanent residents in Beijing. Blood lead level was tested by graphite atomizer absorption spectrophotometer. At the same time, related factors were investigated using a standardized questionnaire., Results: The mean lead level of children in Beijing was 96.8 micro g/L with 35.7% of those >/= 100 micro g/L, and 2.5% >/= 200 micro g/L. The proportion of lead poisoning was significantly higher in rural children (P < 0.01). The proportion of lead poisoning in 2-year-old group was higher than that in other age groups. The proportion of lead poisoning in boys was significantly higher than that in girls (P < 0.01). The following factors might serve as major risk factors related to child lead poisoning, such as, never or rarely drinking milk, living in nearby highways (less than 50 meters) or living in the first floor/bungalow, and so on., Conclusion: The blood lead level of >/= 100 micro g/L among Beijing children appeared to be a big problem. Decision-makers should pay more attention to prevent blood lead level being high, and to cure these children who suffered in lead poisoning. Effective intervention measures on these target populations should be taken.

D- and L- amino sugars were coupled with (S)-TBMB (S)-TBMB = (S)-2-tert-butyl-2-methyl-1, 3-benzodioxole carbonyl chloride, a fluorescent chiral reagent, followed by per-O-acetylation. The reactions yielded diastereomeric per-O-acetylated N-(S)-TBMB carbonyl amino sugars. Their (1)HNMR signals, especially the strong singlet peaks of tert-Bu and Me groups were diagnostic for the determination of the D-, L- configurations of amino sugar. Furthermore, a simple and highly sensitive method for the determination of the D-, L- configuration of amino deoxy sugars was developed based on the same fluorescent labeling method and reverse phase HPLC. The total time in analysis is less than two hours and the detection limit of the method is 0.2 picomolar.