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To explore the application value of white light image (WLI), endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) and magnifying endoscopy with narrow band imaging (ME-NBI) in the endoscopic treatment of early gastric cancer (EGC), and to provide basis for decision-making in clinical diagnosis and treatment.The clinicopathological data of EGC patients who underwent endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) at West China Hospital, Sichuan University between December 2013 and October 2020 were included. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of EGC invasive depth were compared between WLI and EUS. The role of ME-NBI in predicting the differentiation types of EGC was analyzed.A total of 280 patients (291 lesions) were enrolled in the study. Among them, 199 patients (207 lesions) received EUS and 160 patients (168 lesions) received ME-NBI. The overall accuracy of WLI in diagnosing the invasive depth of EGC was 87.0%, significantly higher than that of EUS (46.4%,In the evaluation of indications for endoscopic treatment of EGC, WLI showed better performance in predicting the invasive depth of EGC, while EUS demonstrated limited value. ME-NBI showed better accuracy for predicting the differentiation degree of most EGC, especially for differentiated EGC.

The urease membrane was immobilized on the surface of indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) based on polyethylene terephthalate substrate, which was used to develop an arrayed flexible urea biosensor in this study. In order to improve the properties of arrayed flexible IGZO/Al urea biosensor, graphene oxide (GO) was employed to modify the properties of arrayed flexible IGZO urea biosensor. Compared with the average sensitivity of 1.53 mV/(mg/dl) and linearity of 0.931 for arrayed flexible IGZO/Al urea biosensor, the average sensitivity and linearity of arrayed flexible IGZO urea biosensor modified by GO achieved 3.06 mV/(mg/dl) and 0.970, respectively. As the result, 5 mM pH 7.0 PBS buffer solution was the optimal measurement environment for Urease/IGZO/GO/Al urea biosensor, and which the average sensitivity was 3.65 [mV/(mg/dl)]. Anti-interference testing showed the arrayed flexible IGZO/Al urea biosensor modified by GO was not easily interfered from the other materials.

At present, there are many methods for data dimensionality reduction, but most of the results of decomposition methods allow negative values. Obviously, these negative values have no physical meaning in practical problems. The non-negative matrix factorization method is a dimensionality reduction under the condition of ensuring non-negative values. This paper mainly uses a non-negative matrix factorization algorithm to perform dimensionality reduction representation and local feature extraction of data, and then classify. Experiments show that the algorithm in this paper is reasonable and effective.

Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) present proliferative and aggressive cell phenotype. RA-FLSs are the essential effector cells that lead to symptoms like synovial inflammation and joint destruction. Currently, the cause of RA-FLSs involving in the pathological process of RA remains unknown. Accumulate researches have demonstrated that lncRNAs may play a critical role in regulating the biological behaviors of RA-FLSs, but the mechanism is still unclear. Here, we found that lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 1 (SNHG1) is up-regulated in RA-FLSs compared with FLSs from trauma arthritis and osteoarthritis patients. The results suggest that SNHG1 in RA-FLSs helps to sustain the cellular functions of proliferation, migration and invasion. Furthermore, the regulation mechanism depends on the interaction between SNHG1 and polypyridine tract-binding protein 1 (PTBP1). This interaction influences PTBP1 expression that participates in the regulation of RA-FLSs biological behaviors. Our results suggest that up-regulated SNHG1 of RA-FLSs may contribute to synovial aggression and disease progression in RA and be favourable for RA treatment target RA-FLSs.

Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) are the major effector cells that lead to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) synovitis and joint destruction. Our previous studies showed that Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathway is involved in aberrant activation of RA-FLSs and inhibition of SHH pathway decreases proliferation and migration of RA-FLSs. The objective of this study was to investigate if the SHH pathway mediates proliferation and migration of RA-FLSs via the mitogen-activated protein kinases/extracellular signal-regulated kinases (MAPK/ERK) signaling pathway. SHH signaling was studied by using SHH agonist (Purmorphamine) and antagonist (Cyclopamine) targeting the Smoothened (SMO) in FLSs. U0126-EtOH was used to inhibit the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway. The phosphorylation of ERK 1/2 (p-ERKl/2) was examined by western blot. Cell viability was detected using cell proliferation and cytotoxicity kit-8 (CCK8), and cell cycle distribution and proliferating cells were evaluated by the flow cytometry. Cell migration was examined by Transwell assay. Results showed that, compared with the control group, Purmorphamine increased the levels of p-ERK1/2 in concentration-and time-dependent manners (P < 0.01). Co-treated with Purmorphamine and U0126-EtOH or Cyclopamine both decreased the levels of p-ERK1/2 (P < 0.05). RA-FLSs treated with Purmorphamine resulted in alteration of cell cycle distribution, increasing of proliferating cells, cell viability, and migration cells compared to controls (P < 0.01). However, the above phenomenon can be abolished by U0126-EtOH (P < 0.05). The findings suggest that SHH signaling pathway mediates proliferation and migration of RA-FLSs via MAPK/ERK pathway and may contribute to progression of RA. Targeting SHH signaling may have a therapeutic potential in patients with RA.

A novel strategy for the fabrication of an electrochemical aptasensor is proposed; this strategy has been employed in this work to assay thrombin concentration. Two well-designed oligonucleotides were used as the core element. G-quadruplex-hemin complexes can be formed on the surface of the electrode to give a detectable signal only when thrombin is not bound to the aptamers. The detection limit of the biosensor has been lowered to 10nM. Moreover, since the electroactive probe is not required to be bound to the oligonucleotide, this strategy may integrate the advantages of being both label-free and cost-effective.

To evaluate the clinical value of circulating tumor cells (CTC) count in peripheral venous blood of patients with non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC).A total of 50 NSCLC patients who were diagnosed in Wuxi No. 2 People's Hospital from January 2013 to December 2013 were selected as the NSCLC group, 35 patients with lung benign tumor as the benign group, and 28 healthy subjects as the normal control group. Venous blood samples (3 mL) were collected in all subjects for counting the CTC, and a result of ≥8.7 was judged to be positive. The relationships between the positive rate of CTC and the age, sex, pathological type, and clinical stage of NSCLC were analyzed.CTC count was significantly higher in NSCLC group than in benign group and normal control group. In NSCLC patients, CTC count was not significantly correlated with sex, age, or the pathological type (P0.05) but was closely related to clinical stage (P0.01). Among NSCLC patients, CTC count significantly increased along with tumor progression.CTC count shows certain correlation with the clinical features of NSCLC and thus can, to certain extent, reflect the status of the disease.

Electrical-field distribution along the insulator surface strongly depends upon the contour design, besides the effect of pollution. The insulator contour should be designed to reach a desired uniform and minimal tangential field to increase the onset voltage of surface flashover. In this paper, with the charge simulation method (CSM) integrated, the dynamically adjustable genetic algorithm (DAGA) approach is proposed for contour optimization of a suspension insulator. The aim of the contour optimization is to minimize and make the tangential electric field uniform and to minimize the size of the insulator, subject to design constraints. In the proposed approach, the cubic spline function based on control (or contour) points on the insulator surface is optimized to derive the desired contour. The results show that a rather uniform and minimal tangential field distribution with a smaller suspension insulator can be obtained through the proposed approach in comparison with the commercial insulator practically deployed in transmission systems.

This paper proposes a combined approach of optimized charge simulation method (CSM) and hashing integrated adaptive genetic algorithm (HAGA) to the contour design of support insulators. In the combined approach, the HAGA determines the optimal displacement ratio and number of fictitious charges used in CSM, and then obtains the optimal contour design to minimize and uniform the tangential electric field along the dielectric boundary based on the optimized CSM. The proposed HAGA method considerably improves the execution efficiency by accessing the fitness values of the searched solutions saved a priori in a hashing table during the optimization process. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, three cases of different contours of support insulators have been studied. Results show that rather uniform and minimal tangential field distributions along the insulator surfaces can be effectively derived by the proposed approaches to achieve promising performance and higher probability free from flashover.

Aldosterone secretion is subjected to dopaminergic regulation. Our previous study showed that both human D2 and D4 dopamine receptors (D2R and D4R) modulate aldosterone secretion, but in opposing directions. The inhibitory effect of D2R is mediated by attenuating protein kinase C-μ (PKC-μ) and calcium-dependent signaling. The mechanism of D4R effect on angiotensin II (AII)-stimulated aldosterone secretion is explored in this study. Experiments were done with primary human adrenal cortical cells and human adrenocarcinoma (NCI-H295R) cells. Activation of different PKC isoforms was detected by specific phospho-PKC antibodies and PKC translocation. The role of calcium-dependent signaling was examined by measuring the cytoplasmic inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) and calcium ([Ca2+]i). The D4R agonist PD-168,077 enhanced AII-stimulated aldosterone synthesis and secretion as early as 30 min following exposure independently of the modulation of aldosterone synthase (CYP11B2) transcription. CYP11B2 mRNA level elevated by AII was augmented by D4R in the later period. These effects were reversed by the D4R antagonist L-745,870. AII activated PKC-α/βII, -ε, and -μ but not PKC-δ, -θ, or -ζ/λ of H295R cells. The D4R agonist selectively enhanced AII-stimulated PKC-ε phosphorylation and its translocation to the cell membrane. Furthermore, the D4R agonist enhanced the AII-stimulated elevation of intracellular IP3 and [Ca2+]i. Inhibition of PKC-ε translocation by the PKC-ε-specific inhibitory peptide attenuated AII-stimulated aldosterone secretion, CYP11B2 mRNA expression, and elevation of intracellular IP3 and [Ca2+]i. We conclude that D4R augmented aldosterone synthesis/secretion induced by AII. The mechanisms responsible for this augmentation are mediated through enhancing PKC-ε phosphorylation and [Ca2+]i elevation.

The mechanism associated with the overproduction of aldosterone by aldosterone-producing adenomas (APA) is unknown.The objective of the study was to explore the role of the D2 dopamine receptor (D2R) on aldosterone synthesis and secretion and clarify the clinical importance of this role on aldosterone overproduction in APA.D2R expression in APA was examined in 24 patients and was much less than that in the nontumorous adrenal cortex. D2R mRNA levels in APA were inversely correlated with CYP11B2 mRNA levels and the patient's plasma aldosterone concentration. Angiotensin II (AII)-stimulated aldosterone secretion and CYP11B2 mRNA expression in human adenocarcinoma cells (H295R) was attenuated by the D2 agonist, bromocriptine (BMC). BMC selectively attenuated AII-induced protein kinase C (PKC)-mu phosphorylation and its translocation to the cell membrane. PKCmu-specific short-hairpin RNA significantly decreased AII-induced CYP11B2 mRNA expression and aldosterone secretion. BMC also attenuated the AII-induced increase in cytoplasmic calcium, partially through an inhibition of cytoplasmic inositol 1,4,5 triphosphate production. Despite similar total PKCmu levels in APA and the nontumorous adrenal cortex, expression of phosphorylated PKCmu in APA was much higher.This is the first study to demonstrate that the D2R modulated aldosterone secretion and synthesis through a specific attenuation of PKCmu activity, as well as the intracellular calcium level. Down-regulation of the D2R in APA, in turn, increased PKCmu activity and led to overproduction of aldosterone in affected patients. The D2R may thus serve as a potential treatment target for primary aldosteronism.

A high-speed CMOS phase/frequency detector (PFD) for faster frequency acquisition is presented. An improved CMOS D-type master-slave flip-flop is described and adopted. Higher speed is attributed to the reduced node capacitances. Charge-sharing phenomena are circumvented. An input delay scheme is employed to achieve faster acquisition. The optimal delay for PFD maximum operating frequency is analytically studied and a design guide is given.

A complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) phase/frequency detector (PFD) is presented. An improved CMOS D-type master-slave flip-flop is described and adopted in the PFD. Higher speed and lower power operation is attributed to the reduced node capacitance. Charge-sharing phenomena are circumvented in the proposed flip-flop and PFD. The maximum frequency of operation of the PFD is analytically studied. Device-sizing equations, based upon a first-order approximation, for the PFD are derived. The proposed PFD shows improvements in both phase and frequency sensitivities at high operating frequencies. HSPICE simulations of a phase-locked loop (PLL) employing the improved PFD demonstrate a faster frequency acquisition. The PLL simulations also verify that the maximum operating frequency of the PFD is in agreement with our analytical results.

An integrated IAQ model was developed to predict volatile organic compounds (VOC) emission rate of a multi-layer material, VOC sink rate of a material, room air VOC concentration with both VOC source and sink materials, and VOC concentration distribution within a material. The model predictions were validated with experimental data. There were good agreement between the predictions made by the integrated model and the experimental data. The model was first applied to a room with a typical floor assembly (vinyl floor tile/glue/plywood) to study the multi-layer material VOC emissions. Results indicate that the multi-layer material first shows the same emission characteristics as the top layer material, and the top layer material strongly delays VOC emission from the bottom layer material. The multi-layer material has a much longer VOC emission time and slower VOC decay rate than the single-layer material. The model was further applied to a room with a floor assembly (vinyl floor tile/glue/plywood) as the source material and with plywood walls as the sink materials. Results show that the plywood substrate in the floor assembly significantly affects the VOC emission rate from floor assembly. Results also show that the plywood wall sink effect reduces VOC concentration in the room air initially and elevates it as the time progresses. However, the plywood sink impact on VOC emission rate and room air VOC concentration is not significant. The model uses four parameters: the diffusion coefficient of each material layer (Dm,i); the material/air partition coefficient of each material layer (ki); the initial concentration in each material layer (C0,i); and the convective mass transfer coefficient (h).

A numerical and an analytical model were developed to predict the volatile organic compound (VOC) emission rate from dry building materials. Both models consider the mass diffusion process within the material and the mass convection and diffusion processes in the boundary layer. All the parameters, the mass diffusion coefficient of the material, the material/air partition coefficient, and the mass transfer coefficient of the air can be either found in the literature or calculated using known principles. The predictions of the models were validated at two levels: with experimental results from the specially designed test and with predictions made by a CFD model. The results indicated that there was generally good agreement between the model predictions, the experimental results, and the CFD results. The analytical and numerical models then were used to investigate the impact of air velocity on emission rates from dry building materials. Results showed that the impact of air velocity on the VOC emission rate increased as the VOC diffusion coefficient of the material increased. For the material with a diffusion coefficient > 10 −10 m 2 / s , the VOC emission rate increased as the velocity increased; air velocity had significant effect on the VOC emission. For the material with a VOC diffusion coefficient 10 −10 m 2 / s , the VOC emission rate increased as the velocity increased only in the short term; 24 h . In the medium- to long-term time range, the VOC emission rate decreased slightly as the air velocity increased; velocity did not have much impact on these materials. Furthermore, the study also found that the VOC concentration distribution within the material; the VOC emission rate and the VOC concentration in the air were linearly proportional to the initial concentration. However, the normalized emitted mass was not a function of the initial concentration: it was a function of the properties of the VOC and the material.

We proposed the flexible arrayed lactate biosensor based on immobilizing l-lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide ( NAD + ) on nickel oxide (NiO) film, and which the average sensitivity could be enhanced by using graphene oxide (GO) and magnetic beads (MBs). By using GO and MBs, it exhibits excellent sensitivity (45.397 mV/mM) with a linearity of 0.992 in a range of 0.2 mM to 3 mM. According to the results of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), the electron transfer resistance of LDH- NAD + -MBs/GPTS/GO/NiO film was smaller than those of LDH-NAD+/GPTS/GO/NiO film and LDH- NAD + /GPTS/NiO film, and it presented the outstanding electron transfer ability. After that, the limit of detection, anti-interference effect and bending test were also investigated.

Dyschromatosis symmetrica hereditaria (DSH) is a rare autosomal dominant cutaneous disorder characterized by a mixture of hyperpigmented and hypopigmented macules of various sizes on the extremities. Pathogenic mutations in the DSRAD gene have been identified. In this report, we identified a Chinese family with a three-generation pedigree of DSH, in which a novel heterozygous nucleotide G--A transition was found. It is at position 3,125 in exon 12 of the DSRAD gene which induces a R1042H change in the putative deaminase domain of DSRAD. Our study expands the database on the DSRAD gene mutations in DSH.

Studies have shown that microRNA-148a (miR-148a) was proved to be silenced while DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) was over-expressed in gastric cancer. But the mechanism of aberrant expression of miR-148a and DNMT1 and their relationships in gastric cancer are still unknown. The aims of this study were to investigate the expression profile of miR-148a and DNMT1 and reveal whether they have any relationships. We used reverse-transcriptase quantitative real-time PCR, methylation-specific PCR and Western blot to measure the level of miR-148a expression, DNA methylation level and DNMT1 expression, respectively. Gastric cancer cells were transfected with plasmid or siRNA or treated with 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine. Cell proliferation and apoptosis were detected by cell counting and flow cytometric analysis. In this study, we demonstrated that gastric cancer tissues and cell lines displayed a consistent down-regulation of miR-148a and hypermethylation of promoter region. DNMT1 was over-expressed in primary tumors and cell lines, while knockdown of DNMT1 using siRNA could decrease methylation level of miR-148a promoter and restore its expression. Furthermore, ectopic over-expression of miR-148a in cancer cell lines caused reduction in DNMT1 expression and inhibited cell proliferation, but no obvious change was found in apoptosis rate. These results suggest that miR-148a is inactivated by DNA hypermethylation of promoter region in gastric cancer, which is mediated through DNMT1 over-expression. Additionally, the silence of miR-148a reduces its suppression to DNMT1 in gastric cancer, and this may in turn result in over-expression of DNMT1 and promote DNA hypermethylation.

To investigate the DNA methylation status of the promoter region within the coding gene hsa-miR-124a in human gastric cancer tissue, and examine its association with the expression of Rb and CDK6 protein and clinicopathological factors.Methylation-specific PCR (MS-PCR) was used to detect the DNA methylation status of hsa-miR-124a in gastric cancer tissues and adjacent normal tissues from 30 patients. The expression of Rb and CDK6 protein within these tissues was examined using immunohistochemistry.The overall methylation rate of gastric cancer tissues was 73.3%, which was significantly higher than that in the adjacent tissues(10.0%, P0.05). The overall positive rates of Rb and CDK6 protein in gastric cancer tissues were 86.7% and 80.0%, respectively. DNA methylation of hsa-miR-124a was positively correlated with the expression of Rb and CDK6 proteins. Significant associations were found between hypermethylation of hsa-miR-124a and tumor size, differentiation, lymphatic metastasis, and invasion depth(P0.01).Hypermethylation of hsa-miR-124a is present in gastric cancer, and is associated with increased expression of CDK6 and Rb protein. These may be related to the proliferation and development of malignancy in the stomach.

Background Previous studies have reported that natriuretic peptides in the blood and pleural fluid (PF) are effective diagnostic markers for heart failure (HF). These natriuretic peptides include N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), brain natriuretic peptide (BNP), and midregion pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP). This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates the diagnostic accuracy of blood and PF natriuretic peptides for HF in patients with pleural effusion. Methods PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched to identify articles published in English that investigated the diagnostic accuracy of BNP, NT-proBNP, and MR-proANP for HF. The last search was performed on 9 October 2014. The quality of the eligible studies was assessed using the revised Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool. The diagnostic performance characteristics (sensitivity, specificity, and other measures of accuracy) were pooled and examined using a bivariate model. Results In total, 14 studies were included in the meta-analysis, including 12 studies reporting the diagnostic accuracy of PF NT-proBNP and 4 studies evaluating blood NT-proBNP. The summary estimates of PF NT-proBNP for HF had a diagnostic sensitivity of 0.94 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.90–0.96), specificity of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.86–0.95), positive likelihood ratio of 10.9 (95% CI: 6.4–18.6), negative likelihood ratio of 0.07 (95% CI: 0.04–0.12), and diagnostic odds ratio of 157 (95% CI: 57–430). The overall sensitivity of blood NT-proBNP for diagnosis of HF was 0.92 (95% CI: 0.86–0.95), with a specificity of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.77–0.94), positive likelihood ratio of 7.8 (95% CI: 3.7–16.3), negative likelihood ratio of 0.10 (95% CI: 0.06–0.16), and diagnostic odds ratio of 81 (95% CI: 27–241). The diagnostic accuracy of PF MR-proANP and blood and PF BNP was not analyzed due to the small number of related studies. Conclusions BNP, NT-proBNP, and MR-proANP, either in blood or PF, are effective tools for diagnosis of HF. Additional studies are needed to rigorously evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of PF and blood MR-proANP and BNP for the diagnosis of HF.

Clonality detection through amplifying immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a useful tool in diagnosis of lymphoma, but the false negative rate is high, especially in paraffin-embedded tissues. This study was to explore the value of tumor tissue microdissection and combinational detection of IgH and immunoglobulin light chain (Ig kappa or Ig lambda) in diagnosis of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).Two pairs of conventional primers for IgH and T-cell receptor gamma (TCRgamma), 2 novel designed pairs of primers for Ig kappa and Ig lambda were used to detect 58 paraffin-embedded blocks, which had been diagnosed by pathology and histochemistry. Of the 58 cases of lymph node tissues, 39 were B-cell lymphoma, 16 were T-cell lymphoma, and 3 were reactive proliferative lymph node tissue. Lymphoma cell lines DG75 and Jurkat were used as control.The positive rates of IgH primers (P1) and IgL primers (P kappa/P lambda) were 79.5% and 71.8% in the 39 cases of B-cell lymphoma (P0.05), 6.3% and 12.5% in the 16 cases of T-cell lymphoma, respectively. The positive rate was greatly increased to 92.3% in combinationally detecting the primers for IgH and P kappa/P lambda. There was no positive detection among the reactive proliferative lymph node tissues.B-cell lymphoma detection rate can be significantly improved by the combination of IgH and IgL gene rearrangement primers, which provides efficient assistant method for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of lymphoma.

A CMOS Phase/Frequency Detector (PFD) for faster frequency acquisition is presented. An improved CMOS D-type master-slave flip-flop is described and adopted in the PFD. Higher speed and lower power operation is attributed to the reduced node capacitance. Charge-sharing phenomena are circum vented in the proposed flip-flop and PFD. The proposed PFD shows improvements in both phase and frequency sensitivities at high operating frequency. HSPICE simulations of a Phase-locked Loop (PLL) employing the improved PFD demonstrate a faster frequency acquisition.

To study the chemical constituents in the total saponin from Trigonellf foenum-graecum.The compounds were isolated by column chromatography on macroporous resin and silica gel and elucidated by physical and chemical evidences and spectroscopic analysis.Two compounds were obtained and identifiedas methyl-protodioscin and methyl-protodeltonin.Methyl-protodioscin and methyl-protodeltonin were isolated from this plant for the first time.