Search

To access the cytotoxicity and the effect on the endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) differentiation of stainless steel sheets simultaneously coated with VEGF and anti-CD34 antibody.316L stainless steel sheets (diameter 6 mm, thickness 1 mm) were divided into the D-H (Bare metal), D-(H-V)10 (VEGF-coated metal) and D-(H-V)10-A (VEGF and anti-CD34 antibody co-coated metal) groups. The cytotoxicity effect of the three groups was measured using MTT assay. Percentage of EPC positive for CD34, CD133 and KDR were detected by flow cytometric assay. Endothelial cells positive for CD31 and VE-Cadherin were also detected by flow cytometric assay.The percentages of isolated cells positive for CD133, CD34 and KDR were 89.9%, 91.3%, and 90.4%, respectively, suggesting that the EPCs were successfully isolated. MTT results showed that the stainless steel sheets coated with VEGF and anti-CD34 antibody have less toxicity on seeded EPCs than single VEGF coating or bare metal. We further found that with VEGF and anti-CD34 antibody co-coating could significantly promote the differentiation of EPCs in vitro when compared with that of single VEGF coating and bare metal.Our study provided a preliminary evaluation of metallic steel sheet coated with VEGF and anti-CD34 antibody in vitro. Our findings suggest that simultaneously coating the stents with VEGF and anti-CD34 antibody might be a novel research direction for facilitating re-endothelialization in order to reduce ISR after stent implantation.

Ni54Mn21-xFexGa25（x=0,1,3,5,7,9）polycrystalline alloys were prepared by the technique of directional solidification and the effect of substituting Fe for Mn on the martensitic transformation and mechanical properties of the alloys was analyzed. It was found that the Curie temperature increased with increasing substitution while the martensitic transformation temperature decreased. The Fe-doped Ni54Mn21Ga25 alloys exhibit excellent magnetic properties at room temperature; the typical Ni54Mn20Fe1Ga25 alloy shows a large magnetic-induced-strain of -1040 ppm at a magnetic field of 4000 Oe.

SETTING The molecular genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is expected to lead to a better understanding of M. tuberculosis transmission in Xi'an, one of the largest cities in Western China. OBJECTIVE To characterize the population of M. tuberculosis strains circulating in Xi'an and to evaluate the feasibility of the mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeats (MIRU-VNTR) typing method. DESIGN A total of 195 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates from Xi'an were genotyped using spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR. RESULTS Thirty-two different genotypes were identified by spoligotyping, with the Beijing family identified as the largest lineage (84.6%), followed by the T1 (3.08%), T2 (1.54%), H3 (1.03%) and U (1.03%) families. The Hunter-Gaston discriminatory index (HGDI) of spoligotyping is low (HGDI = 0.392). In contrast, 15-locus MIRU-VNTR shows a higher discriminatory power (HGDI = 0.998) than 12-locus MIRU-VNTR (HGDI = 0.948). By replacing the ETR C locus with the MIRU39 locus, the discriminatory power of 15-locus MIRU-VNTR is increased to 0.999. CONCLUSIONS The Beijing family accounts for the vast majority of M. tuberculosis isolates in Xi'an, China. The modified 15-locus MIRU-VNTR showed high HGDI and can be used as a first-line genotyping method in combination with spoligotyping in routine epidemiological investigations in Xi'an, China.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Currently it is difficult to predict tumor response to anti-angiogenic therapy in individual patients. Our aim was to determine if ADC histogram analysis can stratify progression-free and overall survival in patients with newly diagnosed GBM treated “up-front” (ie, before tumor recurrence) with bevacizumab. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Up-front bevacizumab-treated and control patients (n = 59 and 62, respectively) with newly diagnosed GBM were analyzed by using an ADC histogram approach based on enhancing tumor. Progression-free and overall survival was determined by using Cox proportional HRs and the Kaplan-Meier method with logrank and Wilcoxon tests. RESULTS: For up-front bevacizumab-treated patients, lower ADC(L) was associated with significantly longer progression-free survival (median, 459 days for ADC(L) < 1200 versus 315 days for ADC(L) ≥ 1200 10(−6)mm(2)/s; P = .008, logrank test) and trended with longer overall survival (581 versus 429 days, P = .055). ADC values did not stratify progression-free or overall survival for patients in the control group (P = .92 and P = .22, respectively). Tumors with MGMT promoter methylation had lower ADC(L) values than unmethylated tumors (mean, 1071 versus 1183 10(−6)mm(2)/s; P = .01, 2-group t test). CONCLUSIONS: Pretreatment ADC histogram analysis can stratify progression-free survival in bevacizumab-treated patients with newly diagnosed GBM. Lower ADC is associated with tumor MGMT promoter methylation, which may, in part, account for the favorable outcome associated with low ADC(L) tumors.

SUMMARY Radiotherapy is a useful component of treatment strategies for esophageal cancer. The role of autophagy in response to ionizing radiation was investigated in human esophageal squamous carcinoma cells. Cell viability and clonogenic survival assay were used to evaluate the radiosensitivity of autophagy inhibitor (3-MA) on esophageal squamous carcinoma cells. The percentage of apoptotic cells and cell cycle analysis were assessed by flow cytometry; DAPI staining was used to detect apoptotic cells. The expression of beclin-1 and LC3 was measured using a Western blot. The ultrastructural analysis was under the electron microscope. 6 Gy irradiation induced a massive accumulation of autophagosomes accompanied by strong upregulation of beclin-1 and LC3-II expression in TE-1 cells. Compared with radiation alone, 3-MA combined with radiation significantly decreased cell viability, as well as autophagic ratio, beclin-1, and LC3-II protein level. Inhibition of autophagy increased radiation-induced apoptosis and the percentage of G2/M-phase cells. Blockade of autophagy with 3-MA enhanced cytotoxicity of radiotherapy in human esophageal squamous carcinoma cells. It suggests that inhibition of autophagy could be used as adjuvant therapy to treat esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

To correlate elastic parameters with collagen fibre shape and arrangement features in breast lesions.Shear-wave elastography (SWE) was used to measure the stiffness of breast lesions in 54 patients before surgical removal. The value of stiffness was expressed as the mean and maximum elasticity (Emean and Emax). Lesions were sliced and stained with picric acid-sirius red to display the extracellular matrix (ECM) collagen fibre. The categories of the collagen fibres were based on the shape and arrangement features, i.e., category 0, wavy collagen fibres similar to normal breast tissue; category 1, taut parallel collagen fibres around tumour nests; category 2, straightened and aligned collagen fibres tending to be perpendicular to the tumour boundary; category 3, collagen fibre in a honeycomb arrangement. Bivariate correlation analysis was used to analyse the relationship between elastic parameters and collagen fibre category.For all 54 lesions, the correlation coefficient between Emean and category was 0.693 (p 0.001), and between Emax and category was 0.794 (p 0.001). For 36 malignant lesions, the correlation coefficient between Emean and category was 0.658 (p 0.001), and between Emax and category was 0.771 (p 0.001).Emean and Emax of breast lesions evaluated by SWE were positively correlated with ECM collagen fibre shape and arrangement category. Changes of ECM collagen fibre shape and arrangement may account for the stiffness variations of breast lesions.

Summary Introduction: Virological responses to interferon (IFN) treatment for chronic hepatitis C (CHC) have been found to be correlated with racial differences. Furthermore, higher sustained virological response (SVR) rates were obtained in many randomised clinical trials (RCT) in Caucasian patients with CHC after treating with peg-IFN than those with IFN. However, it is not clear whether this conclusion can be adapted to patients of Chinese descent. Methods: A search of MEDLINE and China National Knowledge Infrastructure between 1966 and 2008 was performed. Trials comparing the use of peg-IFN plus ribavirin vs. IFN plus ribavirin in treating Chinese patients with CHC were assessed. Results: Of the 94 studies screened, seven RCTs including 398 patients (peg-IFN therapy 232, IFN therapy 166) were analysed. The SVRs obtained in patients treated with peg-IFN plus ribavirin were significantly higher than in patients treated with IFN plus ribavirin [70% vs. 35%, relative risk, 1.76; 95% confidence interval: 1.21–2.56; p (0.01)]. Withdrawal rates were similar between patients treated with peg-IFN plus ribavirin and IFN plus ribavirin. Conclusion: Chinese patients with CHC also have a greater likelihood of achieving an SVR with peg-IFN plus ribavirin.

The novel human oncogenehWAPLis associated with uterine cervical cancer. The HPV16 E5 oncoprotein could induce genomic instability in normal human cells. However, the mechanism of E5 interaction with hWAPL still awaits definition. In our present studies, the eukaryotic expression plasmids, pcDNA3-hWAPL and pcDNA3-hWAPL-E5 were constructed and carried out to vaccinate mice directly. The result that indicated the polyclonal antibody titer in immunized mice sera was increased by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. In addition, the proliferative responses of immunized mice spleen cells showed the optical densities values in vaccinated group remarkably higher than that in the control group. In conclusion, the recombinant plasmids could induce strong humoral and cellular immune response and exhibited great potential as therapeutic targets in the treatment of cervical cancer. However, the result didn't show significant difference in group with coexpression of HPV16 E5–hWAPL and group with only hWAPL expression. Consistent with these observations, we demonstrated that HPV16 E5 was not the optimal factor to cooperate with hWAPL in gene therapy.

There is a dearth of information on pathogen variation within an individual field. In this study, virulence diversity of Uromyces appendiculatus, cause of bean rust, within individual fields was investigated. From six bean fields in the United States, Honduras, Dominican Republic, and South Africa, 380 U. appendiculatus isolates were differentiated into 65 virulence phenotypes on bean lines containing Andean- and Middle American-derived rust resistance genes. Race variation among bean rust isolates from different geographic regions was found, and virulence phenotypes found in fields from tropical and subtropical regions were more virulent and diverse than those found in fields from temperate regions. The variance components between fields was greater than the variance within a field based on mean disease score on 12 differentials but the variance components within a field were greater than the variances between fields based on number of virulence phenotypes. This is the first report that multiple site samples are needed to represent the fungal virulence diversity in a diseased field. In developing sampling plans, the entire cost of sampling one field is higher than the cost of taking more samples; therefore, to estimate virulence diversity variation, we recommend selecting fewer fields and collecting more samples per field.

Activin A (Act A), a member of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily, is an early gene in response to cerebral ischemia. Growing evidences confirm the neuroprotective effect of Act A in ischemic injury through Act A/Smads signal activation. In this process, regulation networks are involved in modulating the outcomes of Smads signaling. Among these regulators, crosstalk between c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and Smads signaling has been found in the TGF-β induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition. However, in neural ischemia, the speculative regulation between JNK and Act A/Smads signaling pathways has not been clarified. To explore this issue, an Oxygen Glucose Deprivation (OGD) model was introduced to nerve-like PC12 cells. We found that JNK signal activation occurred at the early time of OGD injury (1 h). Act A administration suppressed JNK phosphorylation. In addition, JNK inhibition could elevate the strength of Smads signaling and attenuate neural apoptosis after OGD injury. Our results indicated a negative regulation effect of JNK on Smads signaling in ischemic injury. Taken together, JNK, as a critical site for neural apoptosis and negative regulator for Act A/Smads signaling, was presumed to be a molecular therapeutic target for ischemia.

While piezoelectric actuators have been widely used in vibration suppression and high precision controls, their intrinsic nonlinearity such as hysteresis, if not considered in control design, may deteriorate the system performance. In this research, a new methodology is proposed for the high-precision and robust control using piezoelectric actuator with hysteresis compensation. This methodology is featured by the introduction of a resistance/inductance circuit connected to the piezoelectric actuator to form an actuator network and a new integral continuous sliding mode control (ICSMC) algorithm. In addition to the well-known increased passive damping and active control authority, the main advantage of the actuator network in this particular study is that the charge and/or current in the piezoelectric actuator now become independent state variables that can be directly measured and fed back. Not only can this actuator network configuration improve the hysteresis characterization, the control design can also be greatly simplified. With the introduction of the RL shunt circuit, two dynamic subsystems (the mechanical structure and the electrical circuit) are formed. With these two coupled dynamic subsystems as basis, we then develop an ICSMC scheme which combines the advantages of conventional continuous sliding mode control and integral variable structure control. Different from the inverse cancellation of hysteresis behavior which might not be reliable due to the measurement noise, a direct piezoelectric hysteresis compensation is achieved using this control strategy. Detailed analysis and case studies demonstrate that this new methodology can lead to improved precision for both tracking control and vibration attenuation, enhanced control robustness, and smoother control action.

A large data set of 146 natural, synthetic and environmental chemicals belonging to a broad range of structural classes have been tested for their relative binding affinity (expressed as log (RBA)) to the androgen receptor (AR). These chemicals commonly termed endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) present a variety of adverse effects in humans and animals. As assays for binding affinity remains a time-consuming task, it is important to develop predictive methods. In this work, quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) were determined using three methods, multiple linear regression (MLR), radical basis function neural network (RBFNN) and support vector machine (SVM). Five descriptors, accounting for hydrogen-bonding interaction, distribution of atomic charges and molecular branching degree, were selected from a heuristic method to build predictive QSAR models. Comparison of the results obtained from three models showed that the SVM method exhibited the best overall performances, with a RMS error of 0.54 log (RBA) units for the training set, 0.59 for the test set, and 0.55 for the whole set. Moreover, six linear QSAR models were constructed for some specific families based on their chemical structures. These predictive toxicology models, should be useful to rapidly identify potential androgenic endocrine disrupting compounds.

Probabilistic neural networks (PNNs) were utilized for the classifications of 102 active compounds from diverse medicinal plants with anticancer activity against human rhinopharyngocele cell line KB. Molecular descriptors calculated from structure alone were used to represent molecular structures. A subset of the calculated descriptors selected using factor correlation analysis and forward stepwise regression was used to construct the prediction models. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was also utilized to construct the classification model to compare the results with those obtained by PNNs. The accuracy of the training set, the cross-validation set, and the test set given by PNNs and LDA were 100, 92.3, 90.9% and 71.8, 92.3, 54.5%, respectively, which indicated that the results obtained by PNNs agree well with the experimental values of these compounds and also revealed the superiority of PNNs over LDA approach for the classification of anticancer activities of compounds. The models built in this work would be of potential help in the design of novel and more potent anticancer agents.

Support vector machines (SVM), as a novel learning machine, was used to develop the non-linear quantitative structure-mobility relationship model of the peptides based on the calculated descriptors for the first time. The molecular descriptors representing the structural features of the compounds included the constitutional and topological descriptors calculated by CODESSA program, which can be obtained easily without optimizing the structure of the molecule, and CPSA (charged partial surface area) descriptors obtained by SYBYL software. The MLR method was used to select the descriptors responsible for the electrophoretic mobility of peptides and develop the linear model. The prediction result of the SVM model (epsilon = 0.04, gamma = 0.002 and C = 100) is much better than that obtained by MLR method. The RMS error of the training set, the test set and the whole set is 0.0569, 0.0553, 0.0565 and the prediction correlation coefficient is 0.925, 0.912 and 0.922. respectively. The prediction results are in agreement with the experimental values. This paper provided a new and effective method for predicting the electrophoretic behavior of peptide and some insight into what structural features are related to the electrophoretic mobility of peptides. Moreover, it also offered an idea about dealing with the structural optimization and obtaining their structural descriptors for id biomacromolecules. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A quantitative structure-mobility relationship (QSMR) was developed for the absolute mobilities of a diverse set of 277 organic and inorganic acids in capillary electrophoresis based on the descriptors calculated from the structure alone. The heuristic method (HM) and the radial basis function neural networks (RBFNN) were utilized to construct the linear and nonlinear prediction models, respectively. The prediction results were in agreement with the experimental values. The HM model gave a root-mean-square (RMS) error of 3.66 electrophoretic mobility units for the training set, 4.67 for the test set, and 3.88 for the whole data set, while the RBFNN gave an RMS error of 2.49, 3.19, and 2.65, respectively. The heuristic linear model could give some insights into the factors that are likely to govern the mobilities of the compounds, however, the prediction results of the RBFNN model seem to be better than that of the HM.

A novel nanoparticle-bioconjugate has been prepared by specific hybridization of the target with complementary thiol-labeled and nanoparticle-labeled probes. The rapid adsorption of the nanoparticle-bioconjugate onto a gold surface via a thiol-gold reaction was monitored in real-time using a quartz crystal microbalance, and used to perform microgravimetric flow analysis of nucleic acid for the first time. This innovative assay is highly reproducible and sensitive, and shows great promise for clinical applications.

The support vector machine (SVM) and the heuristic method (HM) were used to develop the non-linear and linear models between the retention time (RT) and five molecular descriptors of 149 volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Descriptors calculated from the molecular structures alone were used to represent the characteristics of compounds. The five molecular descriptors selected by the heuristic method in CODESSA were used as inputs for SVM. The results obtained by SVM were compared with those obtained by the heuristic method. The mean squared errors (MSE) in RT predictions for the whole data set given by HM and SVM were 1.270 and 0.844, respectively, which shows the performance of SVM model is better than that of the HM model. The prediction results are in very good agreement with the experimental values. This paper provided a new and effective method for predicting the chromatography retention index.

Alpinetin (7-hydroxy-5-methoxyflavanone), one of the main constituents from the seeds of Alpinia katsumadai Hayata, belongs to flavonoids with its usefulness as antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and other important therapeutic activities of significant potency and low systemic toxicity. In this paper, the interaction of alpinetin to human serum albumin (HSA) has been studied for the first time by spectroscopic method including Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, circular dichroism (CD), and UV-absorption spectroscopy in combination with fluorescence quenching study under physiological conditions with drug concentrations of 3.3 x 10(-6)-2.0 x 10(-5) mol/L. The results of spectroscopic measurements and the thermodynamic parameters obtained (the enthalpy change DeltaH(0) and the entropy change AS) were calculated to be -10.20 kJ/mol and 53.97 J/mol K-1 according to the Van't Hoff equation) suggest that hydrophobic interaction is the predominant intermolecular forces stabilizing the complex, which is also good agreement with the results of molecule modeling study. The alterations of protein secondary structure in the presence of alpinetin in aqueous solution were quantitatively estimated by the evidences from FT-IR and CD spectroscopy with reductions of alpha-helices about 24%, decreases of beta-sheet structure about 2%, and increases of P-turn structure about 21%. The quenching mechanism and the number of binding site (n approximate to 1) were obtained by fluorescence titration data. Fluorescent displacement measurements confirmed that alpinetin bind HSA on site III. In addition, the effects of common ions on the constants of alpinetin-HSA complex were also discussed. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

In this paper, a mathematical model is developed to simulate the transient phenomena in a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system. At present many electrochemical models are available to the fuel cell designers to capture steady state behavior by estimating the equilibrium voltage for a particular set of operating conditions, but models capable of describing transient phenomena are scanty. In practical applications such as powertrains of land-based vehicles or submarines, the output power from the fuel cell system undergoes large variations especially during acceleration and deceleration. During such processes, many transient dynamic mechanisms become significant, while simple empirical models are unable to represent the transient dynamics caused by such as diffusion effect and double layer capacitance at the interface between the electrodes and the electrolyte. Hence, a novel dynamic fuel cell model is developed in this paper which incorporates the effects of charge double layer capacitance, the dynamics of flow and pressure in the anode and cathode channels and mass/heat transfer transient features in the fuel cell body. This dynamic model can predict the transient response of cell voltage, temperature of the cell, hydrogen/oxygen out flow rates and cathode and anode channel temperatures/pressures under sudden change in load current. The proposed model is implemented in SIMULINK environment. The simulation results are analyzed and compared to benchmark results. Lab tests are carried out at Connecticut Global Fuel Cell Center and a good agreement is found between tests and simulations. This model will be very useful for the optimal design and real-time control of PEM fuel cell systems.

The 3D QSAR analyses of antimalarial alkoxylated and hydroxylated chalcones were first conducted by Comparative molecular field analysis (CoMFA) and Comparative similarity indices analysis (CoMSIA) to determine the factors required for the activity of these compounds. Satisfactory results were obtained after performing a leave-one-out (LOO) cross-validation study with cross-validation q 2 and conventional r 2 values of 0.740 and 0.972 by the CoMFA model, 0.714 and 0.976 by the CoMSIA model, respectively. The results provided the tools for predicting the affinity of related compounds, and for guiding the design and synthesis of novel and more potent antimalarial agents.

A new method support vector machine (SVM) and the heuristic method (HM) were used to develop the nonlinear and linear models between the capacity factor (logk) and seven molecular descriptors of 75 peptides for the first time. The molecular descriptors representing the structural features of the compounds only included the constitutional and topological descriptors, which can be obtained easily without optimizing the structure of the molecule. The seven molecular descriptors selected by the heuristic method in CODESSA were used as inputs for SVM. The results obtained by SVM were compared with those obtained by the heuristic method. The prediction result of the SVM model is better than that of heuristic method. For the test set, a predictive correlation coefficient R = 0.9801 and root-mean-square error of 0.1523 were obtained. The prediction results are in very good agreement with the experimental values. But the linear model of the heuristic method is easier to understand and ready to use for a chemist. This paper provided a new and effective method for predicting the chromatography retention of peptides and some insight into the structural features which are related to the capacity factor of peptides.

In this paper, we examine controllability problems of evolution inclusions with nonlocal conditions. Using the set-valued and single-valued Monch fixed-point theorem, we establish some sufficient conditions for the controllability under convex and nonconvex orientor fields respectively. Our approach is different from all previous approaches; we do not assume that the evolution system generates a compact semigroup; so, our method is applicable to a wide class of (impulsive) control systems and evolution inclusions in Banach spaces.

A simple and rapid micellar electrokinetic chromatography method was developed for the simultaneous determination of quercetin, gentiopicrin, forsythin, chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid in anti-viral preparations of traditional Chinese medicine (apTCM). In this method, the effects of buffer pH, concentration of the borax and SDS, organic modifiers, applied voltage and temperature on the separation were tested and discussed. The results showed that the fi ve analytes could be well separated within 11 min under conditions of 40 mM borax (pH 9.65) containing 20 mM SDS, 20 kV, at 25 degrees C. In the tested concentration range, regression equations revealed good linear relationships (correlation coefficients 0.9920-0.9991) between the peak areas and corresponding concentrations. In addition, a multiple linear regression QSPR model was constructed to predict the migration times of the analytes and the results were satisfactory. The method was validated by analysis of the five compounds in three representative apTCM samples with recoveries ranging from 89.2 to 106.6%.

A thermo-sensitive genic male-sterile (TGMS) wheat line ( Triticum aestivum L.) BNY-S was obtained from the spontaneous mutant of BNY-F. Its fertility was decided by the temperature during the differentiation stage of the spikelets. BNY-S was completely sterile when the temperature was lower than 10 degrees C during the differentiation stage of the spikelets, but fertile when the temperature was higher than 10 degrees C. Genetic analysis indicated that the sterility of BNY-S was controlled by a single recessive gene, which was named as wtms1. An F(2) population, consisting of 3,000 individuals from the cross between BNY-S and Lankao 52-24, was used for genetic analysis and statistical analysis of the TGMS and, out of them, 158 sterile and 93 fertile extremes were present for molecular tagging and mapping of the wtms1 gene. SSR (simple sequence repeat) and AFLP (amplified fragment length polymorphism) techniques combined with BSA (bulked segregant analysis) were used to screen markers linked to the target gene. As a result, wtms1 was preliminarily mapped on chromosome 2B according to SSR analysis. In AFLP analysis, 14 polymorphic AFLP loci were identified with a linkage relation to the wtms1 gene. Then linkage analysis using the F(2) population showed that three of them, E: AAG/M: CTA(163), E: AGG/M: CTC(220) and E: ACA/M: CTA(160), were linked to the wtms1 gene relatively close to a genetic distance of 6.9 cM, 6.9 cM and 13.9 cM, respectively. Finally, the wtms1 gene was mapped between the SSR marker Xgwm 374 and the AFLP marker E: AAG/M: CTA(163) with the distance of 4.8 cM and 6.9 cM, respectively. A partial linkage map was constructed according the SSR and AFLP data.

A fracture mechanics analysis for the mooring system of a semi-submersible accounting for out-of-plane bending (OPB) is presented in this paper. Stress ranges acting on the mooring chain links are calculated based on tension and OPB of mooring chain links induced by motions of wave frequency (WF) and low frequency (LF). The narrow-banded method is used for predicting the combined mooring loading process. Initial cracks are assumed to propagate from surfaces of chain links and stress intensity factors are then calculated in terms of stress ranges determined by a finite element analysis. The influence of the OPB on the remaining service life of mooring chain links is investigated and the results show that the remaining service life of mooring chain links connecting to fairleads is significantly reduced due to the OPB effects.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a chronic musculoskeletal disease characterized by progressive destruction of articular cartilage, OA lead to chronic pain and functional restrictions in affected joints. The present study was to investigate the role of osteopontin (OPN) in the athogenesis of OA through studying the effect of OPN on expression of IL-6 and IL-8 inflammatory factors in human OA chondrocytes.One-step type II collagenase digestive method was used to isolate OA chondrocytes from sectional cartilage specimens of 16 primary knee OA patients received total knee replacement surgery. Synchronized first-generation chondrocytes were then treated with OPN (100 ng/ml or 1 µg/mL). The changes in cell morphology of OA chondrocytes were analyzed before and after treated with OPN; and the expression levels of IL-6 and IL-8 were evaluated by real-time q-PCR.Chondrocytes were successfully isolated from human OA knee cartilage, and the viability of isolated chondrocytes was 92.11±3.13%. Adherent chondrocytes formed clusters of irregular polygonal shape with intercellular pseudopodia extension. After OPN treatment, cells became fusiform or irregularly shaped, and the number of intercellular pseudopodia decreased significantly. The mRNA expression of IL-6 increased to 1.83 times at 0.1 µg/ml of OPN and 3.1 times at the dose of 1 µg/ml; the expression of IL-8 increased to 1.57 and 3.27 times at the dose of 0.1 µg/ml and 1 µg/ml respectively.OPN could up-regulate expression of IL-6 and IL-8 cytokines in human OA chondrocytes, and the expression increased with the increasing concentration of OPN, which might be one of the potential mechanisms of OPN in the development of OA.

Land degradation induced by rodent activities is extensively occurred in alpine meadow ecosystem in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau that would affect the ecosystem carbon (C) balance. We conducted a field experiment with six levels of land degradation (D1–D6, degradation aggravates from D1 to D6) to investigate the effects of land degradation on ecosystem C fluxes. Soil respiration (Rs), net ecosystem exchange (NEE), ecosystem respiration (ER) and gross ecosystem production (GEP) were measured from June to September 2012. Soil respiration, ER, GEP and above-ground biomass (AGB) was significantly higher in slightly degraded (D3 and D6) than in severely degraded land (D1, D2, D4 and D5). Positive averages of NEE in the growing season indicate that alpine meadow ecosystem is a weak C sink during the growing season. Net ecosystem exchange had no significant difference among different degraded levels, but the average NEE in slightly degraded group was 33.6% higher than in severely degraded group. Soil respiration, ER and NEE were positively correlated with AGB whereas soil organic C, labile soil C, total nitrogen (N) and inorganic nitrogen were associated with root biomass (RB). Our results highlight the decline of vegetation C storage of alpine meadow ecosystem with increasing number of rodent holes and suggest the control of AGB on ecosystem C fluxes, and the control of RB on soil C and N with development of land degradation.

While the technological progress of Next Generation Lithography (NGL) steadily continues, further progress is required before successful insertion in high volume manufacturing is possible. A key issue is the development of new resists suitable to achieve higher lithographic resolution with acceptable sensitivity and line edge roughness. Molecular resists have been a primary focus of interest for NGL because they promise high resolution and small line edge roughness (LER), but no suitable resist candidate has emerged yet that fulfills all of the industry’s criteria. We have previously shown first extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) exposures for a new fullerene derivative based three-component negative tone chemically amplified resist with suitable properties close to or within the target range of the resist metrics as set out in the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors for 2016. Here we present the results of our efforts to optimize the EUVL performance of our resist system especially with regards to LER.

A new Rayleigh light scattering (RLS) assay of protein was conducted in this paper. At the optimum pH conditions, and in the presence of Tween-20, the weak RLS of dibromomethylchlorophosphonazo (DBM-CPA) can be enhanced greatly by the addition of proteins. Based on this, the reactions of DBM-CPA and proteins were studied. A new quantitative determination method for proteins has been developed. The method is simple, practical and relatively free from interference from coexisting substances, as well as much more sensitive (the dynamic ranges of 0.065-40.05 microg ml(-1) and detection limit of 30 ng ml(-1) for bovine serum albumin (BSA)) than most of the existing assays. The determination results of human body serum samples are identical to those by the CBB method, with relative S.D. of six determination of 0.5-2.2%.

A new Rayleigh light scattering (RLS) assay of protein is presented in this paper. At the optimum pH 4.10, the weak RLS of Arsenazo-DBN can be greatly enhanced by the addition of proteins due to the interaction between protein and Arsenazo-DBN. Based on this, the reactions of Arsenazo-DBN and proteins, including bovine serum albumin, human serum album, γ-globulin, egg albumin, lysozyme and trypsin, were studied. A new quantitative determination method for proteins has been developed. The linear range for human serum albumin, for example, is 0.085–34.62 μg mL−1 with a detection limit of 44.8 ng mL−1. Besides high sensitivity, the method is characterized by good reproducibility, rapidity of reaction, good stability, and few interfering substances. The determination of the proteins in human serum and urine samples by this method give results very close to those obtained using Coomassie Brilliant Blue G-250 colorimetry, with relative standard deviations of 0.7–2.5%.

The conventional, heat-based drying methods often produce changes in the physico-chemical properties of products. Therefore, heat-sensitive whey proteins dried by the electrohydrodynamic (EHD) technique were analyzed to detect product deteriorations by electrophoresis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and color measurements. Oven-dried whey proteins at 85 and 105°C produced considerable changes in the number of electrophoretic bands and band intensities whereas no such changes were observed after EHD-drying compared with the control. The DSC analysis showed EHD-dried and the native state of the protein to have similar thermograms. Brightness values, chromacity coordinates, and hue angles showed minimum color changes after EHD and ambient air-dryings of whey proteins

Yaozhou Kiln at Lidipo and Shangdian are two independent porcelain kiln groups of Yaozhou kiln series in Shanxi Province. Both of them were consisted of some individual porcelain kilns. The samples of 20 pieces of porcelain sherds produced in Shangdian and 43 pieces of porcelain sherds made in Lidipo sites which produced in Kin Dynasty (1115–1234 A.D.) have been collected. The main chemical compositions in body were determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The contents of trace elements were measured using neutron activation analysis (NAA). Principal component analysis (PCA) and stepwise discriminant analysis were used to study the provenance characteristic of these samples. The results indicated that the main components and trace elements in the specimen can be used to reveal the provenance characteristic.

The simulation room size is: 6 m × 4 m × 3 m, the window facing south, with size 2 m × 1.8 m, in which the width of the window frame is 0.15 m. Room model is shown in Figure 1. Figure 1(a) for the model with no shutter, Figure 1(b) as the model with blinds.

Much progress has been made during the last few decades in the treatment of malignancies. Many types of cancer cells comprising the tumor mass carry molecular markers that are not expressed or are expressed at much lower levels in normal cells. These findings provide new leads to drug design and development of therapeutic strategies involving monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) or related antibody drugs to treat malignancies. This article reviews recent advances in this targeting approach with a focus on the evolution and current use of prospective antibody drugs as effective ways to treat cancer. Additionally, the development of prospective antibody-drug conjugates will also be briefly described.

Endometrial cancer is the most frequent malignancy of the female reproductive system, while cutaneous metastasis is extremely rare in endometrial cancer. The authors herein report a case ofendometrial adenocarcinoma (FIGO Stage IIIC2, Grade 2) with metastasis to the skin of right lower leg and vaginal orifice. The patient was treated with local excision and combination chemotherapy, but she did not respond to therapy and died within 11 months. The authors reviewed the clinico-pathologic features, treatment, and prognosis of such case with cutaneous metastasis.

With Extreme Ultraviolet Lithography (EUVL) emerging as one of the top contenders to succeed from optical lithography for the production of next generation semiconductor devices, the search for suitable resists that combine high resolution, low line edge roughness (LER) and commercially viable sensitivity for high volume production is still ongoing. One promising approach to achieve these goals has been the development of molecular resists. We have previously reported on a molecular negative tone resist for e-beam lithography based on fullerene derivatives. Since then we have developed the system further to adapt it to EUVL. Investigation into the lithographic performance of the resist shows resolution down to 20 nm halfpitch with LERs < 5 nm and sensitivities ~ 20 mJ/cm2.

Within the framework of dielectric continuum and Loudon’s uniaxial crystal models, the transfer matrix method (TMM) is developed to investigate interface optical phonons (IOPs) in cylindrical wurtzite core-multishell nanowires (CMSNWs) consisting of ternary mixed crystals (TMCs). The IOPs in GaN/InxGa1-xN/InyGa1-yN and GaN/InxGa1-xN/InyGa1-yN/InzGa1-zN CMSNWs are calculated as examples. The results show that there may be several types of IOPs existing in certain frequency regions in CMSNWs for a given component due to the phonon dispersion anisotropy in wurtzite nitrides. The IOPs are classified by possible combinations of the interfaces in CMSNWs. Furthermore, the dispersion relations and electro-static potentials of each kind of IOPs are discussed in detail. The dispersion relations of IOPs in CMSNWs is found to be the combination of that in each nearest two layer CSNW. It can explain the fact that the total branch number of IOPs obey the 2n rule. It is also found that the peak positions of electro-static potentials are decided by the layer component order from the inner layer to outside in CMSNWs. The results indicate that TMM for IOPs is available and can be commodiously extended to other cylindrical wurtzite III-nitride CMSNWs. Based on this method, one can further discuss the IOPs related photoelectric properties in nitride CMSNWs consisting of TMCs.