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Abstract Tubular photobioreactors (PBRs) have a great potential in large-scale biomass cultivation and mixers in tubular PBRs have been intensively investigated to achieve high biomass productivity. However, mixers increase not only biomass yield, but also energy consumption. To evaluate performances on increasing light/dark (L/D) cycles and energy consumption of adding a mixer simultaneously, a new parameter named as efficiency of L/D cycle enhancement is introduced. Discrete double inclined ribs, intensively studied in heat transfer, are introduced to tubular PBRs in this work. The number of ribs in a cross section is discussed. These tubular PBRs are investigated in terms of the flow structure, L/D cycle frequency and efficiency of L/D cycle enhancement by computational fluid dynamics. The numerical results show that the increment of L/D cycle frequency caused by the discrete double inclined ribs is larger than the increment of energy consumption caused by the ribs under a wide range of incident light intensity. In general, the increasing of rib length ratio results in a decrease of efficiency and the PBR with two pairs of ribs performs the best. Based on the general trends, a PBR with two pairs of ribs and of which the rib length ratio is 5 is recommended for further studies.

In mammals, Myostatin (MSTN) is a known negative regulator of muscle growth and development, but its role in birds is poorly understood. To investigate the molecular mechanism of MSTN on muscle growth and development in chickens, we knocked out MSTN in chicken fetal myoblasts (CFMs) and sequenced the mRNA transcriptomes. The amplicon sequencing results show that the editing efficiency of the cells was 76%. The transcriptomic results showed that 296 differentially expressed genes were generated after down-regulation of MSTN, including angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE), extracellular fatty acid-binding protein (EXFABP) and troponin T1, slow skeletal type (TNNT1). These genes are closely associated with myoblast differentiation, muscle growth and energy metabolism. Subsequent enrichment analysis showed that DEGs of CFMs were related to MAPK, Pl3K/Akt, and STAT3 signaling pathways. The MAPK and Pl3K/Akt signaling pathways are two of the three known signaling pathways involved in the biological effects of MSTN in mammals, and the STAT3 pathway is also significantly enriched in MSTN knock out chicken leg muscles. The results of this study will help to understand the possible molecular mechanism of MSTN regulating the early differentiation of CFMs and lay a foundation for further research on the molecular mechanism of MSTN involvement in muscle growth and development.

The co-delivery of chemotherapeutic agents and immune modulators to their targets remains to be a great challenge for nanocarriers. Here, we developed a hybrid thermosensitive nanoparticle (TMNP) which could co-deliver paclitaxel-loaded transferrin (PTX@TF) and marimastat-loaded thermosensitive liposomes (MMST/LTSLs) for the dual targeting of cancer cells and the microenvironment. TMNPs could rapidly release the two payloads triggered by the hyperthermia treatment at the site of tumor. The released PTX@TF entered cancer cells via transferrin-receptor-mediated endocytosis and inhibited the survival of tumor cells. MMST was intelligently employed as an immunomodulator to improve immunotherapy by inhibiting matrix metalloproteinases to reduce chemokine degradation and recruit T cells. The TMNPs promoted the tumor infiltration of CD3+ T cells by 2-fold, including memory/effector CD8+ T cells (4.2-fold) and CD4+ (1.7-fold), but not regulatory T cells. Our in vivo anti-tumor experiment suggested that TMNPs possessed the highest tumor growth inhibitory rate (80.86%) compared with the control group. We demonstrated that the nanoplatform could effectively inhibit the growth of tumors and enhance T cell recruitment through the co-delivery of paclitaxel and marimastat, which could be a promising strategy for the combination of chemotherapy and immunotherapy for cancer treatment.

Abstract Background To assess the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic retroperitoneal resection for retroperitoneal lymphatic cysts. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted based on clinical data from eight patients with hydronephrosis caused by retroperitoneal lymphatic cysts. All patients underwent laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymphatic cyst resection and received postoperative follow-up. A follow-up ultrasound was performed postoperatively every 6–12 months to evaluate the recovery of the hydronephrosis. Results All operations were successful, and their postoperative pathological results revealed lymphatic cyst walls. The operation time ranged from 43 to 88 min (mean: 62 min), with a blood loss of 20 to 130 mL (mean: 76 mL), and the length of hospital stay was 3 to 6 days (mean: 4.5 days). Within the follow-up of 12 to 36 months (mean: 28.5 months), great relief was detected in all eight cases, and no recurrence was found. Moreover, complications such as renal pedicle or renal pelvis injury were not observed. Conclusions Laparoscopic retroperitoneal lymphatic cyst resection is an effective treatment for retroperitoneal lymphatic cysts and has the advantages of being minimally invasive, producing less intraoperative blood loss and leading to a quick recovery. This treatment thus deserves further studies.

River discharge and width, as essential hydraulic variables and hydrological data, play a vital role in influencing the water cycle, driving the resulting river topography and supporting ecological functioning. Insights into bankfull river discharge and bankfull width at fine spatial resolutions are essential. In this study, 10-m Sentinel-2 multispectral instrument (MSI) imagery and digital elevation model (DEM) data, as well as in situ discharge and sediment data, are fused to extract bankfull river widths on the upper Yellow River. Using in situ cross-section morphology data and flood frequency estimations to calculate the bankfull discharge of 22 hydrological stations, the one-to-one correspondence relationship between the bankfull discharge data and the image cover data was determined. The machine learning (ML) method is used to extract water bodies from the Sentinel-2 images in the Google Earth Engine (GEE). The mean overall accuracy was above 0.87, and the mean kappa value was above 0.75. The research results show that (1) for rivers with high suspended sediment concentrations, the water quality index (SRMIR-Red) constitutes a higher contribution; the infrared band performs better in areas with greater amounts of vegetation coverage; and for rivers in general, the water indices perform best. (2) The effective river width of the extracted connected rivers is 30 m, which is 3 times the image resolution. The R2, root mean square error (RMSE), and mean bias error (MBE) of the estimated river width values are 0.991, 7.455 m, and −0.232 m, respectively. (3) The average river widths of the single-thread sections show linear increases along the main stream, and the R2 value is 0.801. The river width has a power function relationship with bankfull discharge and the contributing area, i.e., the downstream hydraulic geometry, with R2 values of 0.782 and 0.630, respectively. More importantly, the extracted river widths provide basic data to analyze the spatial distribution of bankfull widths along river networks and other applications in hydrology, fluvial geomorphology, and stream ecology.

Over previous decades, many nature-inspired optimization algorithms (NIOAs) have been proposed and applied due to their importance and significance. Some survey studies have also been made to investigate NIOAs and their variants and applications. However, these comparative studies mainly focus on one single NIOA, and there lacks a comprehensive comparative and contrastive study of the existing NIOAs. To fill this gap, we spent a great effort to conduct this comprehensive survey. In this survey, more than 120 meta-heuristic algorithms have been collected and, among them, the most popular and common 11 NIOAs are selected. Their accuracy, stability, efficiency and parameter sensitivity are evaluated based on the 30 black-box optimization benchmarking (BBOB) functions. Furthermore, we apply the Friedman test and Nemenyi test to analyze the performance of the compared NIOAs. In this survey, we provide a unified formal description of the 11 NIOAs in order to compare their similarities and differences in depth and a systematic summarization of the challenging problems and research directions for the whole NIOAs field. This comparative study attempts to provide a broader perspective and meaningful enlightenment to understand NIOAs.

CNN is particularly effective in extracting spatial features. However, the single-layer classifier constructed by activation function in CNN is easily interfered by image noise, resulting in reduced classification accuracy. To solve the problem, the advanced ensemble model XGBoost is used to overcome the deficiency of a single classifier to classify image features. To further distinguish the extracted image features, a CNN-XGBoost image classification model optimized by APSO is proposed, where APSO optimizes the hyper-parameters on the overall architecture to promote the fusion of the two-stage model. The model is mainly composed of two parts: feature extractor CNN, which is used to automatically extract spatial features from images; feature classifier XGBoost is applied to classify features extracted after convolution. In the process of parameter optimization, to overcome the shortcoming that traditional PSO algorithm easily falls into a local optimal, the improved APSO guide the particles to search for optimization in space by two different strategies, which improves the diversity of particle population and prevents the algorithm from becoming trapped in local optima. The results on the image set show that the proposed model gets better results in image classification. Moreover, the APSO-XGBoost model performs well on the credit data, which indicates that the model has a good ability of credit scoring.

Abstract Background To explore the feasibility and safety of retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with sequential segmental renal artery clamping for the patients with multiple renal tumor of who have solitary kidney or contralateral kidney insufficiency. Methods Nine patients who have undergone retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with sequential segmental renal artery clamping between October 2010 and January 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical materials and parameters during and after the operation were summarized. Results Nineteen tumors were resected in nine patients and the operations were all successful. The operation time ranged from 100 to 180 min (125 min); clamping time of segmental renal artery was 10 ~ 30 min (23 min); the amount of blood loss during the operation was 120 ~ 330 ml (190 ml); hospital stay after the operation is 3 ~ 6d (5d). There was no complication during the perioperative period, and the pathology diagnosis after the surgery showed that there were 13 renal clear cell carcinomas, two papillary carcinoma and four perivascular epithelioid cell tumors with negative margins from the 19 tumors. All patients were followed up for 3 ~ 60 months, and no local recurrence or metastasis was detected. At 3-month post-operation follow-up, the mean serum creatinine was 148.6 ± 28.1 μmol/L (p = 0.107), an increase of 3.0 μmol/L from preoperative baseline. Conclusions For the patients with multiple renal tumors and solitary kidney or contralateral kidney insufficiency, retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with sequential segmental renal artery clamping was feasible and safe, which minimized the warm ischemia injury to the kidney and preserved the renal function effectively.

Given the disposability of somatic tissue, selection can favor a higher mutation rate in the early segregating soma than in germline, as seen in some animals. Although in plants intra-organismic mutation rate heterogeneity is poorly resolved, the same selectionist logic can predict a lower rate in shoot than in root and in longer-lived terminal tissues (e.g., leaves) than in ontogenetically similar short-lived ones (e.g., petals), and that mutation rate heterogeneity should be deterministic with no significant differences between biological replicates. To address these expectations, we sequenced 754 genomes from various tissues of eight plant species. Consistent with a selectionist model, the rate of mutation accumulation per unit time in shoot apical meristem is lower than that in root apical tissues in perennials, in which a high proportion of mutations in shoots are themselves transmissible, but not in annuals, in which somatic mutations tend not to be transmissible. Similarly, the number of mutations accumulated in leaves is commonly lower than that within a petal of the same plant, and there is no more heterogeneity in accumulation rates between replicate branches than expected by chance. High mutation accumulation in runners of strawberry is, we argue, the exception that proves the rule, as mutation transmission patterns indicate that runner has a restricted germline. However, we also find that in vitro callus tissue has a higher mutation rate (per unit time) than the wild-grown comparator, suggesting nonadaptive mutational "fragility". As mutational fragility does not obviously explain why the shoot-root difference varies with plant longevity, we conclude that some mutation rate variation between tissues is consistent with selectionist theory but that a mechanistic null of mutational fragility should be considered.

Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in bacteria are emerging contaminants as their proliferation in the environment poses significant threats to human health. It is well recognized that extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) can protect microorganisms against stress or damage from exogenous contaminants. However, it is not clear whether EPS could affect the lateral transfer of ARGs into bacteria, which is one of the major processes for the dissemination of ARGs. This study investigated the lateral transfer of ARGs carried by plasmids (pUC19, pHSG298, and pHSG396) into competent Escherichia coli cells with and without EPS. Transformant numbers and transformation efficiency for E. coli without EPS were up to 29 times of those with EPS at pH 7.0 in an aqueous system. The EPS removal further increased cell permeability in addition to the enhanced cell permeability by Ca2+, which could be responsible for the enhanced lateral transfer of ARGs. The fluorescence quenching experiments showed that EPS could strongly bind to plasmid DNA in the presence of Ca2+ and the binding strength (LogKA = 10.65–15.80 L mol-1) between EPS and plasmids was positively correlated with the enhancement percentage of transformation efficiency resulting from the EPS removal. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses and model computation further showed that Ca2+ could electrostatically bind with EPS mainly through the carboxyl group, hydroxyl group, and RC-O-CR in glucoside, thus bridging the plasmid and EPS. As a result, the binding of plasmids with EPS hindered the lateral transfer of plasmid-borne ARGs. This study improved our understanding on the function of EPS in controlling the fate and transport of ARGs on the molecular and cellular scales.

Type I interferon response plays a prominent role against viral infection, which is frequently disrupted by viruses. Here, we report Bcl-2 associated transcription factor 1 (Bclaf1) is degraded during the alphaherpesvirus Pseudorabies virus (PRV) and Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infections through the viral protein US3. We further reveal that Bclaf1 functions critically in type I interferon signaling. Knockdown or knockout of Bclaf1 in cells significantly impairs interferon-α (IFNα) -mediated gene transcription and viral inhibition against US3 deficient PRV and HSV-1. Mechanistically, Bclaf1 maintains a mechanism allowing STAT1 and STAT2 to be efficiently phosphorylated in response to IFNα, and more importantly, facilitates IFN-stimulated gene factor 3 (ISGF3) binding with IFN-stimulated response elements (ISRE) for efficient gene transcription by directly interacting with ISRE and STAT2. Our studies establish the importance of Bclaf1 in IFNα-induced antiviral immunity and in the control of viral infections.

Water is essential for the survival of plants, animals, and human beings. It is imperative to effectively manage and protect aquatic resources to sustain life on Earth. Small tributaries are an important water resource originating in mountain areas, they play an important role in river network evolution and water transmission and distribution. Snow and cloud cover cast shadows leading to misclassification in optical remote sensing images, especially in high-mountain regions. In this study, we effectively extract small and open-surface river information in the Upper Yellow River by fusing Sentinel-2 with 10 m resolution optical imagery corresponding to average discharge of the summer flood season and the 90 m digital elevation model (DEM) data. To effectively minimize the impact of the underlying surface, the study area was divided into five sub-regions according to underlying surface, terrain, and altitude features. We minimize the effects of cloud, snow, and shadow cover on the extracted river surface via a modified normalized difference water index (MNDWI), revised normalized difference water index (RNDWI), automated water extraction index (AWEI), and Otsu threshold method. Water index calculations and water element extractions are operated on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. The river network vectors derived from the DEM data are used as constraints to minimize background noise in the extraction results. The accuracy of extracted river widths is assessed using different statistical indicators such as the R-square (R2) value, root mean square error (RMSE), mean bias error (MBE). The results show the integrity of the extracted small river surface by the RNDWI index is optimal. Overall, the statistical evaluation indicates the accuracy of the extracted river widths is satisfactory. The effective river width that can be accurately extracted based on satellite images is three times the image resolution. Sentinel-2 MSI images with a spatial resolution of 10 m are used to find that the rivers over 30 m wide can be connectedly, accurately extracted with the proposed method. Results of this work can enrich the river width database in the northeast Tibetan Plateau and its boundary region. The river width information may provide a foundation for studying the spatiotemporal changes in channel geometry of river systems in high-mountain regions. They can also supplement the necessary characteristic river widths information for the river network in unmanned mountain areas, which is of great significance for the accurate simulation of the runoff process in the hydrological model.

Fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) is one of the important components of Inertial Navigation Systems (INS). In order to improve the accuracy of the INS, it is necessary to suppress the random error of the FOG signal. In this paper, a variational mode decomposition (VMD) denoising method based on beetle swarm antenna search (BSAS) algorithm is proposed to reduce the noise in FOG signal. Firstly, the BSAS algorithm is introduced in detail. Then, the permutation entropy of the band-limited intrinsic mode functions (BLIMFs) is taken as the optimization index, and two key parameters of VMD algorithm, including decomposition mode number K and quadratic penalty factor α , are optimized by using the BSAS algorithm. Next, a new method based on Hausdorff distance (HD) between the probability density function (PDF) of all BLIMFs and that of the original signal is proposed in this paper to determine the relevant modes. Finally, the selected BLIMF components are reconstructed to get the denoised signal. In addition, the simulation results show that the proposed scheme is better than the existing schemes in terms of noise reduction performance. Two experiments further demonstrate the priority of the proposed scheme in the FOG noise reduction compared with other schemes.

Muscle growth and development are important aspects of chicken meat production, but the underlying regulatory mechanisms remain unclear and need further exploration. CRISPR has been used for gene editing to study gene function in mice, but less has been done in chick muscles. To verify whether postnatal gene editing could be achieved in chick muscles and determine the transcriptomic changes, we knocked out Myostatin (MSTN), a potential inhibitor of muscle growth and development, in chicks and performed transcriptome analysis on knock-out (KO) muscles and wild-type (WT) muscles at two post-natal days: 3d (3-day-old) and 14d (14-day-old). Large fragment deletions of MSTN (>5 kb) were achieved in all KO muscles, and the MSTN gene expression was significantly downregulated at 14d. The transcriptomic results indicated the presence of 1339 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between the 3d KO and 3d WT muscles, as well as 597 DEGs between 14d KO and 14d WT muscles. Many DEGs were found to be related to cell differentiation and proliferation, muscle growth and energy metabolism. This method provides a potential means of postnatal gene editing in chicks, and the results presented here could provide a basis for further investigation of the mechanisms involved in muscle growth and development.

As a green and preferred technology for energy crisis and environmental issues, continuous research on photocatalysis and gas sensing has come forth at an explosive rate. Thus far, promising synthetic methods have enabled various designs and preparations of semiconductor-based nanostructure which have shown superior activity. This review summarized various synthetic routines toward carbon sphere template derived hollow nanostructures and their successful attempts in synthesize doping, solid solution, heterostructure, and surface modified nanostructures for heterogeneous photocatalysis and gas sensing. Moreover, the challenges and future prospects are briefly discussed. It is eagerly anticipated that this review may broaden the view and in-depth understanding of carbon sphere template derived hollow nanostructures while expected to have further progresses in heterogeneous photocatalysis, gas sensing and other related fields which will make great contributions to their application.

Ketosis is one of the most prevalent transition metabolic disorders in dairy cows, and has been intrinsically influenced by both genetic and nutritional factors. However, altered gene expression with respective to dairy cow ketosis has not been addressed yet, especially at the genome-wide level. In this study, we recruited nine Holsteins diagnosed with clinical ketosis and ten healthy controls, for which whole blood samples were collected at both prepartum and postpartum. Four groups of blood samples were defined: from cows with ketosis at prepartum (PCK, N = 9) and postpartum (CK, N = 9), respectively, and controls at prepartum (PHC, N = 10) and postpartum (HC, N = 10). RNA-Seq approach was used for investigating gene expression, by which a total of 27,233 genes were quantified with four billion high-quality reads. Subsequently, we revealed 75 and four differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between sick and control cows at postpartum and prepartum, respectively, which indicated that sick and control cows had similar gene expression patterns at prepartum. Meanwhile, there were 95 DEGs between postpartum and prepartum for sick cows, which showed depressed changes of gene expression during this transition period in comparison with healthy cows (428 DEGs). Functional analyses revealed the associated DEGs with ketosis were mainly involved in biological stress response, ion homeostasis, AA metabolism, energy signaling, and disease related pathways. Finally, we proposed that the expression level of STX1A would be potentially used as a new biomarker because it was the only gene that was highly expressed in sick cows at both prepartum and postpartum. These results could significantly help us to understand the underlying molecular mechanisms for incidence and progression of ketosis in dairy cows.

Objective: Several networks in human brain are involved in the development of blepharospasm. However, the underlying mechanisms for this disease are poorly understood. A voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) method was used to quantify the changes in functional connectivity between two hemispheres of the brain in patients with blepharospasm.Methods: Twenty-four patients with blepharospasm and 24 healthy controls matched by age, sex, and education were recruited. The VMHC method was employed to analyze the fMRI data. The support vector machine (SVM) method was utilized to examine whether these abnormalities could be applied to distinguish the patients from the controls.Results: Compared with healthy controls, patients with blepharospasm showed significantly high VMHC in the inferior temporal gyrus, interior frontal gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex, and postcentral gyrus. No significant correlation was found between abnormal VMHC values and clinical variables. SVM analysis showed a combination of increased VMHC values in two brain areas with high sensitivities and specificities (83.33 and 91.67% in the combined inferior frontal gyrus and posterior cingulate cortex; and 83.33 and 87.50% in the combined inferior temporal gyrus and postcentral gyrus).Conclusion: Enhanced homotopic coordination in the brain regions associated with sensory integration networks and default-mode network may be underlying the pathophysiology of blepharospasm. This phenomenon may serve as potential image markers to distinguish patients with blepharospasm from healthy controls.

The low rock breaking efficiency of conventional polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits in hard abrasive formations prompts the development of PDC cutting elements from the planar structure to the non-planar structure. As an innovative non-planar cutter, the design and research of the three-ridged diamond element (3-RDE) cutter is still in its infancy, and its rock breaking mechanism and laws are not yet clear. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) finite element model of dynamic rock breaking with 3-RDE cutter has been established. The accuracy of the numerical model was verified by experimental data. Then, the difference of rock breaking mechanism between 3-RDE cutter and conventional cutter was studied. The effects of back-rake angle, cutting depth, rotational angle, and rock properties on rock breaking efficiency were also analyzed. The results show that, unlike the conventional PDC shear rock breaking cutter, the 3-RDE cutter breaks rock mainly by crushing and shearing, and the rock breaking efficiency is higher. A small back-rake angle and reasonable cutting depth contribute to improving the rock breaking efficiency; the existence of rotational angle is not conductive to the rock breaking. The field application shows that compared with the conventional cutter, the 3-RDE cutter is easier to penetrate into the formation, and is more stable with less torque required. The research results can be of benefit to the design and manufacture of 3-RDE PDC bits.

Background: Differentiation of transient ischaemic attack (TIA) from ischaemic stroke within the thrombolysis time window is difficult. Although TIA may be diagnosed within this window, the latest imaging technologies are complex and costly. Serum markers, which are non-invasive, rapid and economic, are used for diagnosis and prognosis of various diseases. Exosome-derived miRNA markers for TIA are unknown.Methods: We examined focal brain ischaemia produced by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery (MCAo) for 5 min, 10 min, and 2 h in rats. Exosomal miRNAs with consistent trends in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma were identified by deep sequencing and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The areas under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of these miRNAs for TIA in rats.Results: Rno-miR-122-5p and rno-miR-300-3p were selected. Plasma exosomal rno-miR-122-5p was significantly downregulated in 10 min ischaemic rats compared with control and 5 min plasma. Plasma exosomal rno-miR-300-3p was significantly upregulated in 5 min ischaemic rats compared with control, 10 min and 2 h rats. Plasma and CSF levels of these miRNAs were correlated. ROC analysis showed high AUC values for rno-miR-122-5p (0.960) and rno-miR-300-3p (0.970) in the 10 and 5 min rats, respectively, compared with controls.Conclusions: Plasma exosomal rno-miR-122-5p and rno-miR-300-3p may be blood-based TIA biomarkers.

The existing protein complex detection methods can be broadly divided into two categories: unsupervised and supervised learning methods. Most of the unsupervised learning methods assume that protein complexes are in dense regions of protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks even though many true complexes are not dense subgraphs. Supervised learning methods utilize the informative properties of known complexes; they often extract features from existing complexes and then use the features to train a classification model. The trained model is used to guide the search process for new complexes. However, insufficient extracted features, noise in the PPI data and the incompleteness of complex data make the classification model imprecise. Consequently, the classification model is not sufficient for guiding the detection of complexes. Therefore, we propose a new robust score function that combines the classification model with local structural information. Based on the score function, we provide a search method that works both forwards and backwards. The results from experiments on six benchmark PPI datasets and three protein complex datasets show that our approach can achieve better performance compared with the state-of-the-art supervised, semi-supervised and unsupervised methods for protein complex detection, occasionally significantly outperforming such methods.

Introduction: Duodenal lipoma is very rare with limited case reports present in literature. Owing to recent advances in endoscopy and modern imaging techniques, more cases are being diagnosed and treated. However, no systematic study of duodenal lipomas has been reported. Aim: To study the diagnosis and treatment of duodenal lipoma in a female patient and review the relative literatures to enhance the knowledge of it. Materials and Methods: A literature search for ‘duodenal lipoma’ was performed on PubMed. Papers published from 1948 to 2016 in the English language were identified. Each article was then read in detail and analysed for clinical data, imaging features, diagnosis and therapy. Also, we hereby present a case of upper gastrointestinal obstruction secondary to multiple duodenal lipomas in a 67-year-old woman. The patient underwent a limited bowel resection with an uneventful recovery. Results: Literature review demonstrated 59 cases of duodenal lipoma, which indicate that duodenal lipomas are rare to occur but commonly found in the second part. The peak of incidence seems to be around the fifth and seventh decade of life. Duodenal lipomas may present as gastrointestinal bleeding, abdominal pain, obstruction or upper abdominal fullness. CT, MRI, Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS), endoscopy are highly accurate diagnostic tools. The disease could be managed by endoscopy or surgery. Conclusion: Our review of literature indicated duodenal lipoma is extremely rare. The symptoms are nonspecific and CT is the first choice for diagnosis. The treatment depends on the patient’s condition as well as the size and position of the tumour.

Prostate cancer is the most common male malignancies in the United States. The specific characteristics of different disease stages have been deeply investigated. We present our data on ALDH1A3 as a potential therapeutic target for the prostate cancer based on several functional investigations. Also, we used The Cancer Genome Atlas datasets for primary prostate cancer to detect the relevance of ALDH1A3 and prostate cancer luminal phenotype. We found that ALDH1A3 correlated with androgen receptor signaling pathway in primary prostate cancer, which is consistent with its luminal layer localization. Then, from the genetic manipulation assay, we knocked out the ALDH1A3 in PC-3 cells and found significantly reduced proliferation rate as well as the invasion ability. Furthermore, we looked up our single center primary prostate cancer post-operative follow-up data and suggested that the high level ALDH1A3 expression could predict the poor progression-free survival in a 158-patient cohort. We concluded that ALDH1A3, localized in luminal layer in prostate epithelium, is highly expressed in prostate cancer. It played important role in maintaining the proliferation, invasion, and cell cycle. It can also become the potential biomarker in the future to guide the therapeutic manipulations for primary prostate cancer.

Lactate dehydrogenase C is an isoenzyme of lactate dehydrogenase and a member of the cancer–testis antigens family. In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression and functional role of lactate dehydrogenase C and its basic mechanisms in renal cell carcinoma. First, a total of 133 cases of renal cell carcinoma samples were analysed in a tissue microarray, and Kaplan–Meier survival curve analyses were performed to investigate the correlation between lactate dehydrogenase C expression and renal cell carcinoma progression. Lactate dehydrogenase C protein levels and messenger RNA levels were significantly upregulated in renal cell carcinoma tissues, and the patients with positive lactate dehydrogenase C expression had a shorter progression-free survival, indicating the oncogenic role of lactate dehydrogenase C in renal cell carcinoma. In addition, further cytological experiments demonstrated that lactate dehydrogenase C could prompt renal cell carcinoma cells to produce lactate, and increase metastatic and invasive potential of renal cell carcinoma cells. Furthermore, lactate dehydrogenase C could induce the epithelial–mesenchymal transition process and matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression. In summary, these findings showed lactate dehydrogenase C was associated with poor prognosis in renal cell carcinoma and played a pivotal role in the migration and invasion of renal cell carcinoma cells. Lactate dehydrogenase C may act as a novel biomarker for renal cell carcinoma progression and a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of renal cell carcinoma.

MicroRNAs are short non-coding RNAs, which have been implicated in several biological processes. Aberrant expression of the microRNA miR-122 has frequently been reported in malignant cancers. However, the mechanism underlying the effects of miR-122 in renal cell carcinoma remains unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the biological function of miR-122 in renal cell carcinoma and to identify a novel molecular target regulated by miR-122. We measured the expression levels of Sprouty2 in six renal cell carcinoma tissue samples and adjacent non-tumor tissues by western blot analysis. We then used reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction to measure miR-122 levels in 40 primary renal cell carcinoma and adjacent non-malignant tissue samples. The effects of miR-122 down-regulation or Sprouty2 knockdown were evaluated via Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, flow cytometry, and western blot analysis. The relationship between miR-122 and Sprouty2 was determined using dual-luciferase reporter assays. Sprouty2 was down-regulated in renal cell carcinoma tissue samples compared with adjacent normal tissue. In contrast, miR-122 was up-regulated in primary renal cell carcinoma tissue samples compared with adjacent normal tissue samples. Down-regulation of miR-122 substantially weakened the proliferative ability of renal cell carcinoma cell lines in vitro. In contrast, Sprouty2 knockdown promoted the in vitro proliferation of renal cell carcinoma cell lines. The spry2 gene could therefore be a direct target of miR-122. In conclusion, miR-122 could act as a tumor promoter and potentially target Sprouty2. MiR-122 promotes renal cell carcinoma cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and could be a molecular target in novel therapies for renal cell carcinoma.

Essential proteins are the proteins that are indispensable to the survival and development of an organism. Deleting a single essential protein will cause lethality or infertility. Identifying and analysing essential proteins are key to understanding the molecular mechanisms of living cells. There are two types of methods for predicting essential proteins: experimental methods, which require considerable time and resources, and computational methods, which overcome the shortcomings of experimental methods. However, the prediction accuracy of computational methods for essential proteins requires further improvement. In this paper, we propose a new computational strategy named CoTB for identifying essential proteins based on a combination of topological properties, subcellular localization information and orthologous protein information. First, we introduce several topological properties of the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network. Second, we propose new methods for measuring orthologous information and subcellular localization and a new computational strategy that uses a random forest prediction model to obtain a probability score for the proteins being essential. Finally, we conduct experiments on four different Saccharomyces cerevisiae datasets. The experimental results demonstrate that our strategy for identifying essential proteins outperforms traditional computational methods and the most recently developed method, SON. In particular, our strategy improves the prediction accuracy to 89, 78, 79, and 85 percent on the YDIP, YMIPS, YMBD and YHQ datasets at the top 100 level, respectively.

The deep peak regulation of thermal units is an important measure for coping with significant wind power penetration. In this paper, based on interval optimization, a novel multi-objective unit commitment method is proposed considering the deep peak regulation of thermal units. In the proposed method, a thermal power cost model was developed to accurately determine the economic performance of three different peak regulation scenarios, particularly of the deep peak regulation scenario. The midpoint and width of the cost interval are simultaneously considered in the optimization process. The non-dominated sorting GA-II (NSGA-II) algorithm was incorporated into the model for a coordinated control of the midpoint and width of the obtained cost interval for further optimization. Considering that significant wind penetration results in greater nodal variations, the affine arithmetic was employed to solve nodal uncertainties, so that all system variations can be addressed. The method proposed in this paper was validated by a modified IEEE-39 bus system. The results showed that it serves as a useful tool for power dispatchers to obtain robust and economic solutions at different wind power prediction accuracies.

OBJECTIVES: This pilot study was designed to utilize stroke volume variation and cardiac index to ensure fluid optimization during one-lung ventilation in patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomies. METHODS: Eighty patients undergoing thoracoscopic lobectomy were randomized into either a goal-directed therapy group or a control group. In the goal-directed therapy group, the stroke volume variation was controlled at 10%±1%, and the cardiac index was controlled at a minimum of 2.5 L.min-1.m-2. In the control group, the MAP was maintained at between 65 mm Hg and 90 mm Hg, heart rate was maintained at between 60 BPM and 100 BPM, and urinary output was greater than 0.5 mL/kg-1/h-1. The hemodynamic variables, arterial blood gas analyses, total administered fluid volume and side effects were recorded. RESULTS: The PaO2/FiO2-ratio before the end of one-lung ventilation in the goal-directed therapy group was significantly higher than that of the control group, but there were no differences between the goal-directed therapy group and the control group for the PaO2/FiO2-ratio or other arterial blood gas analysis indices prior to anesthesia. The extubation time was significantly earlier in the goal-directed therapy group, but there was no difference in the length of hospital stay. Patients in the control group had greater urine volumes, and they were given greater colloid and overall fluid volumes. Nausea and vomiting were significantly reduced in the goal-directed therapy group. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that an optimization protocol, based on stroke volume variation and cardiac index obtained with a FloTrac/Vigileo device, increased the PaO2/FiO2-ratio and reduced the overall fluid volume, intubation time and postoperative complications (nausea and vomiting) in thoracic surgery patients requiring one-lung ventilation.

The modal analysis method is utilized to study the influence of doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) on electromechanical oscillations. On this basis, the small signal stability region (SSSR) of power systems with DFIG in injection space is evaluated and the corresponding relationship between SSSR boundary and electromechanical oscillations is analyzed. The effects of the locations of DFIG on SSSR are considered. It is found that the boundary of SSSR consists of several smooth surfaces, which can be approximated with hyper-planes in engineering application. With the integration of DFIG, SSSR becomes smaller, thus indicating the deterioration of the small signal stability of the system. The 11-bus system with four generators is used to illustrate the proposed method.

Essential proteins are indispensable to the viability and reproduction of an organism. The identification of essential proteins is necessary not only for understanding the molecular mechanisms of cellular life but also for disease diagnosis, medical treatments and drug design. Many computational methods have been proposed for discovering essential proteins, but the precision of the prediction of essential proteins remains to be improved. In this paper, we propose a new method, LBCC, which is based on the combination of local density, betweenness centrality (BC) and in-degree centrality of complex (IDC). First, we introduce the common centrality measures; second, we propose the densities Den1(v) and Den2(v) of a node v to describe its local properties in the network; and finally, the combined strategy of Den1, Den2, BC and IDC is developed to improve the prediction precision. The experimental results demonstrate that LBCC outperforms traditional topological measures for predicting essential proteins, including degree centrality (DC), BC, subgraph centrality (SC), eigenvector centrality (EC), network centrality (NC), and the local average connectivity-based method (LAC). LBCC also improves the prediction precision by approximately 10 percent on the YMIPS and YMBD datasets compared to the most recently developed method, LIDC.

Constrained layer damping treatments promise to be an effective method to control vibration in flexible structures. Cutting both the constraining layer and the viscoelastic layer, which leads to segmentation, increases the damping efficiency. However, this approach is not always effective. A parametric study was carried out using modal strain energy method to explore interaction between segmentation and design parameters, including geometry parameters and material properties. A finite element model capable of handling treatments with extremely thin viscoelastic layer was developed based on interlaminar continuous shear stress theories. Using the developed method, influence of placing cuts and change in design parameters on the shear strain field inside the viscoelastic layer was analyzed, since most design parameters act on the damping efficiency through their influence on the shear strain field. Furthermore, optimal cut arrangements were obtained by adopting a genetic algorithm. Subject to a weight limitation, symmetric and asymmetric configurations were compared. It was shown that symmetric configurations always presented higher damping. Segmentation was found to be suitable for treatments with relatively thin viscoelastic layer. Provided that optimal viscoelastic layer thickness was selected, placing cuts would only be applicable to treatments with low shear strain level inside the viscoelastic layer.

In this paper, an improved equivalent circuit model (ECM) considering partial electrochemical properties is developed for accurate state-of-charge (SOC). In the proposed model, the solid-phase diffusion process is calculated by a simple equation about particle surface SOC, and the double layer is simulated by two resistance-capacitance (RC) networks. To improve the global accuracy of the model, a subarea parameter-identification method based on particle swarm optimization is proposed, in order to determine the optimal model parameters in the entire SOC area. Then, an SOC estimator is developed based on extended kalman filter. The comparative study shows that a model considering solid-phase diffusion with two RC networks is the best choice. Finally, experimental results show that the accuracy of the proposed model is one times higher than that of the traditional ECM in the low SOC area, and is able to estimate SOC with errors less than 1% in the entire SOC area. Furthermore, estimation results of two types of batteries under two working conditions indicate that the developed model and SOC estimator have satisfactory global accuracy and guaranteed robustness with low computational complexity, which can be applied in real-time situations.

Amorphous nanosuspensions (ANSs) enable rapid release and improved delivery of a poorly water-soluble drug; however, their preparation is challenging. Here, using hemoglobin (Hb) as a carrier, ANSs aggregated from paclitaxel (PTX)–Hb complexes were prepared to improve delivery of the hydrophobic anti-cancer agent. An affinity study demonstrated strong interaction between Hb and PTX. Importantly, the complexes could aggregate into

This paper considers the optimal dividend and capital injection problem for an insurance company, which controls the risk exposure by both the excess-of-loss reinsurance and capital injection based on the symmetry of risk information. Besides the proportional transaction cost, we also incorporate the fixed transaction cost incurred by capital injection and the salvage value of a company at the ruin time in order to make the surplus process more realistic. The main goal is to maximize the expected sum of the discounted salvage value and the discounted cumulative dividends except for the discounted cost of capital injection until the ruin time. By considering whether there is capital injection in the surplus process, we construct two instances of suboptimal models and then solve for the corresponding solution in each model. Lastly, we consider the optimal control strategy for the general model without any restriction on the capital injection or the surplus process.

Due to the increase in environmental problems and air pollution during the heating period, it is important to promote clean heating in cold regions, thereby meeting the heating demand in a green manner. In order to allocate resources more effectively and facilitate the consumption of renewable energy, this paper designs an integrated heating system that incorporates geothermal energy into the framework of an integrated energy system of electricity, heating, and gas. An analysis of the environmental and economic benefits indicates that the system reduces pollutant emissions and decreases the cost of urban heating. Using an example of central heating of residential buildings in Xi’an, the paper conducts a scenario analysis based on the gas peak-shaving ratio and the ratio of geothermal heating loads to basic heating loads. The results demonstrate that the environmental and economic benefits of the integrated heating system are higher compared to central heating using coal-fired boilers. In addition, this paper conducts a sensitivity analysis of the heat source to the price factors and the load ratios. The results show that the operating costs of the integrated heating system are most sensitive to the natural gas price and the gas peak-shaving ratio. Therefore, an optimum natural gas peak-shaving ratio can be determined.

Acupuncture has emerged as an alternative therapy for Bell's palsy in both adults and children. However, the use of acupuncture is controversial. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the efficacy of acupuncture for Bell's palsy. We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, irrespective of any language restrictions. Randomized controlled trials comparing acupuncture with other therapies for Bell's palsy in adults or children were included. Fourteen randomized controlled trials involving 1541 individuals were included in this meta-analysis. Significant association was observed in acupuncture with a higher effective response rate for Bell's palsy (relative risk, 1.14; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-1.25; P = 0.005) but there was a heterogeneity among the studies (I2 = 87%). An assessment of the included studies revealed a high risk of bias in methodological quality. An evaluation of the incidence of complications was not available, owing to incomplete data. Acupuncture seems to be an effective therapy for Bell's palsy, but there was insufficient evidence to support the efficacy and safety of acupuncture. However, the results should be interpreted cautiously, because of the poor quality and heterogeneity of the included studies.

Cu(II) and organic carboxylic acids, existing extensively in soil and aquatic environments, can form complexes that may play an important role in the photodegradation of organic contaminants. In this paper, the catalytic role of Cu(II) in the removal of methyl orange (MO) in the presence of tartaric acid with light was investigated through batch experiments. The results demonstrate that the introduction of Cu(II) could markedly enhance the photodegradation of MO. In addition, high initial concentrations of Cu(II) and tartaric acid benefited the decomposition of MO. The most rapid removal of MO assisted by Cu(II) was achieved at pH 3. The formation of Cu(II)-tartaric acid complexes was assumed to be the key factor, generating hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and other oxidizing free radicals under irradiation through a ligand-to-metal charge-transfer pathway that was responsible for the efficient degradation of MO. Some intermediates in the reaction system were also detected to support this reaction mechanism.

The RhoA/ROCK pathway and Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) participate in the process of tumorigenesis in numerous types of cancer. Up-regulation of RhoA/ROCK and Cav-1 expression is considered to be associated with the development and progression of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). We investigated the association between genetic variations of RhoA/ROCK and Cav-1 and the risk of ccRCC in the Chinese population.Between May 2004 and March 2014, a total of 1,248 clear cell renal cell carcinoma cases and 1,440 cancer-free controls were enrolled in this hospital-based case-control study. Nine SNPs in RhoA/ROCK and Cav-1 were genotyped using the TaqMan assay.We found two SNPs (Cav-1 rs1049334 and ROCK1 rs35996865) were significantly associated with the increasing risk of ccRCC (P = 0.002 and P < 0.001 respectively). The analysis of combined risk alleles revealed that patients with 2-4 risk alleles showed a more remarkable growth of ccRCC risk than the patients with 0-1 risk alleles(OR = 1.66, 95%CI = 1.31-2.11, P < 0.001). Younger subjects (P = 0.001, OR = 1.83, 95%CI = 1.30-2.57), higher weight subjects (P = 0.001, OR = 1.76, 95%CI = 1.25-2.47), female subjects (P = 0.007, OR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.17-2.62), nonsmokers (P < 0.001, OR = 1.67, 95%CI = 1.26-2.23), drinkers (P = 0.025, OR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.07-2.85), subjects with hypertension (P = 0.025, OR = 1.75, 95% CI = 1.07-2.85) and diabetes (P = 0.026, OR = 4.31, 95% CI = 1.19-15.62) showed a stronger association between the combined risk alleles and the risk of ccRCC by using the stratification analysis. Furthermore, we observed higher Cav-1 mRNA levels in the presence of the rs1049334 A allele in normal renal tissues.Our results indicate that the two SNPs (Cav-1 rs1049334 and ROCK1 rs35996865) and genotypes with a combination of 2-4 risk alleles were associated with the risk of ccRCC. The functional SNP rs1049334 may affect the risk of ccRCC by altering the expression of Cav-1 and the relevance between the risk effects and the functional impact of this polymorphism needs further validation.

Nuclear factor-κB is associated with the pathogenesis of numerous malignancies, and the functional polymorphism −94ins/del ATTG (rs28362491) in the human NFKB1 gene is associated with cancer risk. Previous studies on the association between the −94ins/del ATTG polymorphism and cancer risk reported conflicting results. To clarify this relationship, we performed a meta-analysis of 21 case-control studies involving 6127 cases and 9238 controls. We used pooled odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) to assess the association. We found that the NFKB1 promoter −94ins/del ATTG polymorphism was significantly associated with cancer risk in four genetic models (ins/ins versus del/del, OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.11–1.93; dominant model, OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.03–1.53; recessive model, OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.05–1.51; ins allele versus del allele, OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.05–1.35). Stratified analyses revealed a significant association between the polymorphism and ovarian, oral, and prostate cancers. Similar results were determined in an Asian population and not in a Caucasian population. Thus, our results suggested that the polymorphism can contribute to cancer risk. Moreover, the polymorphism can exert race- and cancer-specific effects on cancer risk. Further large-scale and functional studies are necessary to elucidate this possible effect.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to develop a follow-up strategy based on the new model to reduce unnecessary prostate biopsies in patients with prostate specific antigen (PSA) ranging from 4 to 10 ng/ml. METHODS: A total of 436 patients with PSA ranging from 4 to 10 ng/ml who had undergone transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided prostate biopsy were evaluated during the first stage. Age, PSA, free PSA (fPSA), digital rectal examination (DRE) findings, ultrasonic hypoechoic mass, ultrasonic microcalcifications, prostate volume (PV) and PSA density (PSAD) were considered as predictive factors. A multiple logistic regression analysis involving a backward elimination selection procedure was applied to select independent predictors. After a comprehensive analysis of all results, we developed a new model to assess the risk of prostate cancer and an effective follow-up strategy. RESULTS: Age, PSA, PV, fPSA, rate of abnormal DRE findings and rate of hypoechoic masses detected by TRUS were included in our model. A significantly greater area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was obtained in our model when compared with using PSA alone (0.782 vs. 0.566). Patients were grouped according to the value of prostate cancer risk (PCaR). In the second stage of our study, patients with PCaR>0.52 were recommended to undergo biopsies immediately while the rest of the patients continued close follow-up observation. Compared with the first stage, the detection rate of PCa in the second stage was significantly increased (33.0% vs 21.1%, p = 0.012). There was no significant difference between the two stages in distribution of the Gleason score (p = 0.808). CONCLUSIONS: We developed a follow-up strategy based on the new model, which reduced unnecessary prostate biopsies without delaying patients' diagnoses and treatments.

UGT2B17 is a vital member of the UGT2 family and functions as a detoxification enzyme which catalyzes the glucuronidation of lipophilic compounds. Accumulating evidences implicates that it may contribute to the susceptibility of tumor risk. Identification of a UGT2B17 deletion polymorphism has attracted studies to evaluate the association between the UGT2B17 deletion polymorphism and tumor risk in diverse populations. However, the available results are conflicting.A meta-analysis based on 14 studies from 10 publications including 5,732 cases and 5,112 controls was performed. Published literature from PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science was pooled and the crude odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to estimate the strength of the associations.Conclusively, our results indicate that individuals with a UGT2B17 deletion polymorphism were associated with tumor risks (OR = 1.29, 95% CI = 1.03-1.63, P0.1). A subgroup analysis based on tumor type, sex or race did not show significant results.These results suggest that the UGT2B17 deletion polymorphism is not associated with tumor risks.

Recent large-scale transcriptome analyses have found large numbers of transcripts, including that of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are aberrant in various diseases, especially cancers. However, it is not clear whether lncRNAs are involved specifically in renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We investigated the expression patterns of lncRNAs in five RCC tumor samples (T) relative to those of matched adjacent non-tumor tissues (N) via microarray.A microarray with 33,045 lncRNA probes and 30,215 mRNA probes was used to identify deregulated lncRNAs in five RCC patients. Furthermore, we confirmed the relative expression levels of AK096725 and ENST00000453068 in 70 paired samples by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR).The lncRNA microarray revealed 27,279 lncRNAs in RCC samples, of which 480 were significantly upregulated (P1.5) and 417 were significantly downregulated (P1.5) compared with the matched non-tumor samples. In addition, 19,995 mRNAs were detected, of which 458 were significantly upregulated (P1.5) and 413 were significantly downregulated (P1.5). The expression level changes of AK096725 (P = 0.043) and ENST00000453068 (P

Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) are members of the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) family that play important roles in carcinogenesis. We hypothesized that the functional polymorphisms in IGF-I and IGFBP-3 may be associated with the risk of prostate cancer (PCa) in the Chinese population. This hospital-based case-control study included 664 PCa patients and 702 cancer-free controls. Nine SNPs in IGF-I and IGFBP-3 were genotyped using the TaqMan assay. The genetic associations between the pathogenesis and progression of PCa were assessed by logistic regression. We found that the genotype and allele frequency distribution of rs6218, rs35767 and rs5742612 were significantly different when comparing PCa cases to controls (P = 0.005, 0.005 and 0.020, respectively). In the combined analysis, individuals with 2-6 risk alleles had an elevated risk of PCa compared to those with 0-1 risk alleles. We also found that the association between the combined risk alleles and the risk of PCa appeared stronger in the following subgroups: individuals older than 71 years of age (OR = 1.41, 95%CI = 1.05-1.91, P = 0.020), nonsmokers (OR = 1.68, 95%CI = 1.21-2.32, P = 0.002), nondrinkers (OR = 1.32, 95%CI = 1.02-1.61, P = 0.002), and those with a negative family history of PCa (OR = 1.28, 95%CI = 1.02-1.71, P = 0.022). Our results indicate that the three SNPs (rs6218, rs35767 and rs5742612) and the joint genotypes with 2-6 risk alleles, may contribute to the susceptibility to PCa, but not the progression, in the Chinese population.