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Ovarian cancer (OC) is a heterogeneous cancer. In contrast to other tumor cells, which rely primarily on aerobic glycolysis (Warburg effect) as their energy source, oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) is also one of its major metabolic modes. Piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) play a regulatory function in various biological processes in tumor cells. However, the role and mechanisms of piRNAs in OC and mitochondrial OXPHOS remain to be elucidated. Here, we found that piR-26441 was aberrantly downregulated in OC, and its overexpression suppressed the malignant features of OC cells and tumor growth in a xenograft model. Moreover, overexpression of piR-26441 significantly reduced mitochondrial OXPHOS levels in OC cells. Furthermore, piR-26441 directly binds to and upregulates the expression of YTHDC1 in OC cells. piR-26441 also increased m6A levels, thereby interacting with YTHDC1 to destabilize the mRNA of TSFM. The resultant TSFM loss reduced mitochondrial complex I activity and mitochondrial OXPHOS, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction in OC cells, increased reactive oxygen species levels, and thus, DNA damage and apoptosis in OC cells, thereby inhibiting OC progression. Additionally, ago-piR-26441 suppressed tumor growth and mitochondrial metabolism in the patient-derived organoid model. Altogether, piR-26441 could inhibit OC cell growth via the YTHDC1/TSFM signaling axis, underscoring its significant importance in the context of OC, as well as offering potential as a therapeutic target., Competing Interests: Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Ethics approval: The Ethics Committee of the Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University (No: 2021-055) approved the use of human tissue in this study. All animal experiments were approved and conducted by Guangdong Medical Laboratory Animal Center (Approval No. B202208-8). We conformed with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975 (as revised in 2008) concerning Human and Animal Rights., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The development of longitudinal cohorts has made the identification and surveillance of multiple biological markers and behavioral factors which influence disease course or health status become possible. However, traditional statistical methods typically use univariate longitudinal data for research, failing to fully exploit the information from multivariate longitudinal data. The group-based multi-trajectory model (GBMTM) emerged as a method to study the developmental trajectory of multivariate data in recent years. GBMTM has distinct advantages in analyzing multivariate longitudinal data by identifying potential subgroups of populations following similar trajectories by multiple indicators that influence the outcome of interest. In this study, we introduced the application of GBMTM by explaining the fundamental principles and using the data from a health management study in the elderly by using smart wearing equipment to investigate the relationship between multiple life-related variables and hypertension to promote the wider use of GBMTM in longitudinal cohort studies.

Chronic hepatitis B virus infections are a significant cause of liver cirrhosis and cancer. Our research reveals that HBV infection leads to a marked increase in m6A modification of Foxp4 mRNA, resulting in enhanced stability of the mRNA and a subsequent increase in Foxp4 mRNA levels. Analysis of biopsy samples from chronic HBV patients demonstrated consistent upregulation of m6A-modified Foxp4 mRNA levels alongside increased Foxp4 mRNA levels. Functionally, Foxp4 was found to promote proliferation, migration, and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells in laboratory settings. Additionally, HBV gene expression was shown to activate the PI3K/AKT pathway by modulating Foxp4 mRNA stability in HCC cells. This study provides valuable insights into the underlying mechanisms of HBV infection and its potential implications for cancer development., Competing Interests: Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interest exists., (© The author(s).)

Objective: The roles of MTFR1 in the drug resistance of lung adenocarcinoma (LAC) to cisplatin remain unexplored. In this study, the expression, clinical values and mechanisms of MTFR1 were explored, and the relationship between MTFR1 expression and immune microenvironment was investigated in LAC using bioinformatics analysis, cell experiments, and meta-analysis., Methods: MTFR1 expression and clinical values, and the relationship between MTFR1 expression and immunity were explored, through bioinformatics analysis. The effects of MTFR1 on the growth, migration and cisplatin sensitivity of LAC cells were identified using cell counting kit-8, wound healing and Transwell experiments. Additionally, the mechanisms of drug resistance of LAC cells involving MTFR1 were investigated using western blotting., Results: MTFR1 was elevated in LAC tissues. MTFR1 overexpression was associated with sex, age, primary therapy outcome, smoking, T stage, unfavourable prognosis and diagnostic value and considered an independent risk factor for an unfavourable prognosis in patients with LAC. MTFR1 co-expressed genes involved in the cell cycle, oocyte meiosis, DNA replication and others. Moreover, interfering with MTFR1 expression inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of A549 and A549/DDP cells and promoted cell sensitivity to cisplatin, which was related to the inhibition of p-AKT, p-P38 and p-ERK protein expression. MTFR1 overexpression was associated with stromal, immune and estimate scores along with natural killer cells, pDC, iDC and others in LAC., Conclusions: MTFR1 overexpression was related to the unfavourable prognosis, diagnostic value and immunity in LAC. MTFR1 also participated in cell growth and migration and promoted the drug resistance of LAC cells to cisplatin via the p-AKT and p-ERK/P38 signalling pathways.

ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (Arf1) is a small GTPase belonging to the Arf family. As a molecular switch, Arf1 is found to regulate retrograde and intra-Golgi transport, plasma membrane signaling, and organelle function during mitosis. This study aimed to explore the noncanonical roles of Arf1 in cell cycle regulation and cytoskeleton dynamics in meiosis with a mouse oocyte model. Arf1 accumulated in microtubules during oocyte meiosis, and the depletion of Arf1 led to the failure of polar body extrusion. Unlike mitosis, it finds that Arf1 affected Myt1 activity for cyclin B1/CDK1-based G2/M transition, which disturbed oocyte meiotic resumption. Besides, Arf1 modulated GM130 for the dynamic changes in the Golgi apparatus and Rab35-based vesicle transport during meiosis. Moreover, Arf1 is associated with Ran GTPase for TPX2 expression, further regulating the Aurora A-polo-like kinase 1 pathway for meiotic spindle assembly and microtubule stability in oocytes. Further, exogenous Arf1 mRNA supplementation can significantly rescue these defects. In conclusion, results reported the noncanonical functions of Arf1 in G2/M transition and meiotic spindle organization in mouse oocytes., (© 2023 The Authors. Advanced Science published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.)

Endometrial cancer (EC) is a common gynaecological malignant tumour with unclear pathogenesis. Small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) is involved in many biological processes, including those of cancers. Using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database, the expression pattern of a snoRNA, SNORA73B, was analysed. The biological functions of SNORA73B were assessed by in vitro proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and invasion assays and in vivo by the xenograft model. RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) and RNA immunoprecipitation assays were performed to determine the relationship between SNORA73B and its target genes. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was performed to detect the pseudouridine content of the mindbomb E3 ubiquitin protein ligase 1 gene (MIB1). The stability of MIB1 mRNA was evaluated using a transcription inhibitor, actinomycin D. By performing co-immunoprecipitation assays, the change in the ubiquitin levels of the Jagged canonical Notch ligand 1 (Jag 1), caused by SNORA73B and MIB1, was identified. RNA-seq and qRT-PCR were performed to detect the alternative splicing of the regulator of the chromosome condensation 1 gene (RCC1). The TCGA database analysis showed that SNORA73B was highly expressed in EC. SNORA73B promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion and inhibited apoptosis. SNORA73B modified the pseudouridine content in MIB1 and increased the stability of MIB1 mRNA and protein; thus, it affected Jag 1 ubiquitination and further activated the Notch pathway. SNORA73B also affected the alternative splicing of RCC1, increasing the number of transcripts, RCC1-T2 and RCC1-T3, which promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. SNORA73B can be a potential target for EC., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine published by Foundation for Cellular and Molecular Medicine and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Most of the endometrial cancer (EC) patients are diagnosis in early stage with a good prognosis while the patients with locally advanced recurrent or metastatic result in a poor prognosis. Adjuvant therapy could benefit the prognosis of patients with high-risk factors. Unfortunately, the molecular classification of great prognostic value has not yet reached an agreement and need to be further refined. The present study aims to identify new targets that have prognostic value in EC based on the method of EC patient-derived organ-like organs (PDOs), and further investigate their efficacy and mechanism., Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database was used to determine SNORD14E expression. The effects of SNORD14E were investigated using CCK8, Transwell, wound-healing assays, and a xenograft model experiment; apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry. Antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) targeting SNORD14E was designed and patient-derived organoids (PDO) models in EC patients was established. A xenograft mouse and PDO model were employed to evaluate the effects of ASO targeting SNORD14E. RNA-seq, Nm-seq, and RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) experiments were employed to confirm the alternative splicing (AS) and modification induced by SNORD14E. A minigene reporter gene assay was conducted to confirm AS and splicing factors on a variable exon. Actinomycin-d (Act-D) and Reverse Transcription at Low deoxy-ribonucleoside triphosphate concentrations followed by PCR (RTL-P) were utilized to confirm the effects of 2'-O methylation modification on FOXM1., Results: We found that SNORD14E was overexpressed in EC tissues and patients with high expressed SNORD14E were distributed in the TCGA biomolecular classification subgroups without difference. Further, SNORD14E could reduce disease-free survival (DFS) and recurrence free survival (RFS) of EC patients. SNORD14E promoted proliferation, migration, and invasion and inhibited the apoptosis of EC cells in vitro. ASOs targeting SNORD14E inhibited cell proliferation, migration, invasion while promoted cell apoptosis. ASOs targeting SNORD14E inhibited tumor growth in the xenograft mouse model. TCGA-UCEC database showed that the proportion of patients with high expression of SNORD14E in middle-high risk and high-risk patients recommended by EMSO-ESGO-ESTRO guidelines for adjuvant therapy is more than 50%. Next, we enrolled 8 cases of high-risk and high-risk EC patients according to EMSO-ESGO-ESTRO guidelines and successfully constructed EC-PDOs. ASOs targeting SNORD14E inhibited the EC-PDO growth. Mechanistically, SNORD14E could recognize the mRNA of FOXM1 and recruit SRSF1 to promote the shearing of the variable exon VIIa of FOXM1, resulting in the overexpression of the FOXM1 malignant subtypes FOXM1b and FOXM1c. In addition, SNORD14E modified FOXM1 mRNA with 2`-O-methylation, which prolonged the half-life of FOXM1 mRNA. The nucleus accumulation of β-catenin caused by aberrant FOXM1 expression led to EC progression., Conclusions: ASO targeting SNORD14E can be an effective treatment for EC., (© 2023. Italian National Cancer Institute ‘Regina Elena’.)

Alzheimer's disease (AD), an amyloid-related disease, seriously endangers the health of elderly individuals. According to current research, its main pathogenic factor is the amyloid protein, which is a kind of fibrillar aggregate formed by noncovalent self-assembly of proteins. Based on the characteristics of aggregation-induced emission (AIE), a bislactosyl-decorated tetraphenylethylene (TPE) molecule TMNL (TPE + malononitrile + lactose), bearing two malononitrile substituents, was designed and synthesized in this work. The amphiphilic TMNL could self-assemble into fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs) with near-infrared (NIR) fluorescence emission in physiological PBS (phosphate buffered saline), achieving excellent fluorescent enhancement (47-fold) upon its combination with Aβ 1-42 fibrils. TMNL was successfully applied to image Aβ 1-42 plaques in the brain tissue of AD transgenic mice, and due to the AIE properties of TMNL , no additional rinsing process was necessary. It is believed that the probe reported in this work should be useful for the sensitive detection and accurate localization mapping of Aβ 1-42 aggregates related to Alzheimer's disease.

Microspherule protein 1 (Mcrs1) is a component of the nonspecific lethal (NSL) complex and the chromatin remodeling INO80 complex, which participates in transcriptional regulation during mitosis. Here, we investigate the roles of Mcrs1 during female meiosis in mice. We demonstrate that Mcrs1 is a novel regulator of the meiotic G2/M transition and spindle assembly in mouse oocytes. Mcrs1 is present in the nucleus and associates with spindle poles and chromosomes of oocytes during meiosis I. Depletion of Mcrs1 alters HDAC2-mediated H4K16ac, H3K4me2, and H3K9me2 levels in nonsurrounded nucleolus (NSN)-type oocytes, and reduces CDK1 activity and cyclin B1 accumulation, leading to G2/M transition delay. Furthermore, Mcrs1 depletion results in abnormal spindle assembly due to reduced Aurora kinase (Aurka and Aurkc) and Kif2A activities, suggesting that Mcrs1 also plays a transcription-independent role in regulation of metaphase I oocytes. Taken together, our results demonstrate that the transcription factor Mcrs1 has important roles in cell cycle regulation and spindle assembly in mouse oocyte meiosis., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Acrylamide (ACR) is an important chemical raw material for wastewater treatment, paper industry and textile industry, which is widely exposed from occupational, environmental and dietary situation. ACR has neurotoxicity, genotoxicity, potential carcinogenicity and reproductive toxicity. Recent study indicates that ACR affected oocyte maturation quality. In the present study, we reported the effects of ACR exposure on zygotic genome activation (ZGA) in embryos and its related mechanism. Our results showed that ACR treatment caused 2-cell arrest in mouse embryos, indicating the failure of ZGA, which was confirmed by decreased global transcription levels and aberrant expression of ZGA-related and maternal factors. We found that histone modifications such as H3K9me3, H3K27me3 and H3K27ac levels were altered, and this might be due to the occurrence of DNA damage, showing with positive γ-H2A.X signal. Moreover, mitochondrial dysfunction and high levels of ROS were detected in ACR treated embryos, indicating that ACR induced oxidative stress, and this might further cause abnormal distribution of endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus and lysosomes. In conclusion, our results indicated that ACR exposure disrupted ZGA by inducing mitochondria-based oxidative stress, which further caused DNA damage, aberrant histone modifications and organelles in mouse embryos., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Although ischemic stroke exhibits a high prevalence in the elderly population, the involved genes and pathways are poorly understood. In this study, we proposed to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and constructed a circular RAN (circRNA)/long noncoding RNA (lncRNA)/microRNA (miRNA)-mRNA network associated with the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke by using bioinformatics analysis., Methods: We constructed a rat model of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and conducted total RNA and microRNA sequencing in brain specimens from MCAO and normal rats. Transcriptome-wide expression patterns were analyzed and DEGs were defined by applying Ballgown and a cut of log2-transformed fold-change (log2FC) ≥ 1 (or ≤ -1) with a P value < 0.05. We exploited Pearson correlation analysis to determine the association between the circRNA/lncRNA/mRNA network and miRNAs ( P < 0.05 and corr ≤ -0.6), and the competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNA) interaction network was visualized with Cytoscape software and separated into subnetworks using the Molecular Complex Detection (MCODE) algorithm. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were implemented for the pathway analysis of DEGs., Results: Upregulated DEGs were significantly enhanced in positive regulation of cell migration, response to wounding, blood vessel morphogenesis, inflammatory response, and cell activation; Downregulated DEGs were associated with control of the modulation of chemical synaptic transmission, synapse organization, regulation of membrane potential, and regulation of ion transport. KEGG-pathway analysis showed that DEG-enhanced pathways were associated with the pathways of TNF signaling pathway, Fluid shear stress and atherosclerosis, NF-kappa B signaling pathway, Lipid and atherosclerosis, Human cytomegalovirus infection, Osteoclast differentiation, Chemokine signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway, Viral protein interaction with cytokine and cytokine receptor, and Cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction. We uncovered several novel lncRNAs (lnc&#95;00231, lnc&#95;002239, lnc&#95;004172; and a novel&#95;circ0001704), five miRNAs (miR-200b-3p, miR-223-3p, miR-200c-3p, miR-3084a-3p, and miR-664-2-5p), and the top-10 mRNAs (upregulated mRNAs were Pdgfa, Il1b, Gdf15, Fosl1, and Cxcl2; downregulated mRNAs were Prkar2b, Olfm3, Lrrc73, Tmem38a, and Dlgap3) that were involved in ischemic stroke., Conclusions: Through bioinformatic network analysis, we identified the underlying molecular mechanisms and key central genes that may contribute to an inflammatory response after cerebral infarction., Competing Interests: None., (AJTR Copyright © 2023.)

Objective: T cell receptor-associated transmembrane adaptor 1 (TRAT1) is one of the hub genes regulating T cell receptors (TCRs). Herein, the roles of TRAT1 in the prognosis and immune microenvironment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) were investigated., Methods: The expression and prognosis values of TRAT1 in NSCLC, and the relationship between TRAT1 expression levels and cancer immune cell infiltration was identified via the TIMER, UALCAN, TISIDB, and other databases. The mechanism of TRAT1 in NSCLC was analyzed using gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA)., Results: The expression level of TRAT1 was decreased in NSCLC tissues. Low TRAT1 expression was associated with shorter overall survival of patients with NSCLC and was related to gender, smoking, and tumor grade. TRAT1 was involved in regulating immune response, TCR signaling pathway, PI3K/AKT, and other processes. TRAT1 expression levels were positively correlated with immune cell infiltration in NSCLC., Conclusion: Down-regulation of TRAT1 expression was associated with an unfavorable prognosis and immune infiltration of NSCLC., (© 2022. Huazhong University of Science and Technology.)

Objective: To report a case of combined oxidative phosphorylation deficiency 28 (COXPD28) in China, identified the pathogenic mutation and explored the pathogenic mechanism preliminarily. Methods: The clinical characteristics of a patient with COXPD28 were retrospectively analyzed and the pathogenic mutations were identified by mitochondrial gene sequencing and whole exome sequencing. The wild-type and mutant plasmids of pathogenic genes were constructed, and effect of mutation on protein expression by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and Western blot were evaluated. Statistical methods mainly used one-way ANOVA and LSD test. Results: A 21 year old female patient presented with lactic acid poisoning due to repeated chest distress and wheezing since childhood. The sequencing of the whole exon group gene found that solute carrier family 25 member 26 (SLC25A26) gene had a compound heterozygous mutation (c.34G>C, p.A12P; c.197C>A, p.A66E), which was the first report in China. In vitro function test showed that the expression levels of SLC25A26 mRNA and S-adenosylmethionine carrier (SAMC) protein in cells transfected with SLC25A26 mutant plasmid were significantly lower than those transfected with wild type plasmid. The p.A66E mutant plasmid reduced the expression level of SLC25A26 mRNA and SAMC protein to 6% and 26% of wild type plasmids respectively (both P <0.001), while p.A12P mutant plasmid decreased to 62% and 82% of wild type plasmids respectively ( P <0.001, P =0.044). When the double mutant (p.A66E+p.A12P) plasmids were co-transfected, the expression levels of SLC25A26 mRNA and SAMC protein decreased to 47% and 57% of the wild type plasmids, respectively ( P <0.001, P =0.001). Conclusion: The pathogenic mutation gene of this patient with COXPD28 is SLC25A26 gene mutation (p.A66E, p.A12P), which causes the decrease of SLC25A26 expression level, mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation dysfunction, and induces COXPD28.

Several studies have demonstrated the involvement of apolipoprotein C1 (APOC1) in multiple cancers. However, the role of APOC1 in esophageal cancer (ESCA) has not been elucidated. Hence, we examined the expression of APOC1 in ESCA tissues acquired from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and clinical samples from our hospital. An investigation of the association of APOC1 with the clinicopathological characteristics, prognosis, and diagnosis of ESCA was carried out on the basis of survival, receiver operating characteristics, and correlation analyses. Gene ontology, KEGG analysis, and protein-protein interaction network showed that co-expressed APOC1 genes were involved in the functions, mechanisms, and action network. The effects of APOC1 expression on ESCA cells were explored using CCK-8, migration and invasion assays. The relationship between APOC1 expression and ESCA immune-infiltrating cells and cell markers were examined using correlation analysis. We found that APOC1 was overexpressed in TCGA ESCA tissues and the same was validated in clinical ESCA tissues, with the area under the curve for APOC1 being 0.887. Overexpression of APOC1 was associated with short overall survival, disease-specific survival, progression-free interval, T stage, pathological stage, body mass index, and histological grade. Inhibition of APOC1 expression significantly reduced the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCA cells. Furthermore, APOC1 expression positively correlated with the ESTIMATE, immune, and stromal scores in ESCA. Overexpression of APOC1 correlated with the tumor purity, B cells, T helper cells, natural killer cells, cytotoxic cells, and other immune cells. Moreover, APOC1 was involved in ESCA progression via T cell receptor, B cell receptor, and other immune signaling pathways. Thus, APOC1 overexpression is expected to be a biomarker for dismal prognosis and diagnosis of ESCA. Inhibition of APOC1 expression significantly reduced the proliferation, migration, and invasion of ESCA cells. Overexpression of APOC1 was associated with the immune microenvironment in ESCA. Thus, APOC1 may be an efficient biomarker for proper prognosis and diagnosis of ESCA., Competing Interests: None., (AJCR Copyright © 2022.)

Two kinds of AIE-active fluorescent organic nanoparticles were designed and constructed as anti-counterfeiting photoresponsive materials. One is fluorescent organic nanoparticles (TPELs) based on a self-assembly strategy, which were self-assembled from novel amphiphilic tetraphenylethylene (TPE) molecules decorated with a lactose moiety and different photoresponsive tags. The other is polymeric fluorescent organic nanoparticles (F-TPEs) derived from the nanoprecipitation strategy, which utilized pluronic copolymer F127 to encapsulate hydrophobic TPEs without lactosyl modifications. Upon UV light irradiation, these AIE-active materials exhibit different photooxidation behaviors in an aqueous solution to give cyan, orange and green fluorescence emissions, and they were successfully used as an anti-counterfeiting fluorescent hydrogel and ink.

Amyloid-related diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, are all considered to be related to the deposition of amyloid fibrils in the body. Insulin is a protein hormone that easily undergoes aggregation and fibrillation to form more toxic amyloid-like fibrils. So far, it is still challenging to develop a new protocol to study the ex situ detection and in situ inhibition of amyloid fibrillation. Here, we reported a modular synthetic strategy to construct nine amphiphilic sugar-coated AIE-active fluorescent organic nanoparticles (FONs, TPE2/3/4X, X = G, M or S) with glucosamine (G), mannose (M) or sialic acid (S) as a hydrophilic moiety and tetraphenylethylene (TPE) as a hydrophobic AIE core. The carbohydrate-protein interactions between insulin and TPE2/3/4X were investigated by fluorescence spectroscopy, circular dichroism spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Among the nine FON AIEgens, TPE2G was screened out as the best dual functional FON for the ex situ detection and in situ inhibition of the insulin fibrillation process, indicating that the glycosyl moiety exhibited a crucial effect on the detection/inhibition of insulin fibrillation. The molecular dynamics simulation results showed that the binding mechanism between TPE2G and native insulin was through weak interactions dominated by van der Waals interactions and supplemented by hydrogen bonding interactions to stabilize an α-helix of the insulin A chain, thereby inhibiting the insulin fibrillation process. This work provides a powerful protocol for the further research of amyloid-related diseases based on carbohydrate-protein interactions.

Background: Oxidative stress plays a role in carcinogenesis. This study explores the roles of oxidative stress-related genes (OSRGs) in lung adenocarcinoma (LAC). Besides, we construct a risk score model of OSRGs that evaluates the prognosis of LAC patients., Methods: OSRGs were downloaded from the Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) website. The expression levels of OSRGs were confirmed in LAC tissues of the TCGA database. GO and KEGG analyses were used to evaluate the roles and mechanisms of oxidative stress-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs). Survival, ROC, Cox analysis, and AIC method were used to screen the prognostic DEGs in LAC patients. Subsequently, we constructed a risk score model of OSRGs and a nomogram. Further, this work investigated the values of the risk score model in LAC progression and the relationship between the risk score model and immune infiltration., Results: We discovered 163 oxidative stress-related DEGs in LAC, involving cellular response to oxidative stress and reactive oxygen species. Besides, the areas under the curve of CCNA2 , CDC25C , ERO1A , CDK1 , PLK1 , ITGB4 , and GJB2 were 0.970, 0.984, 0.984, 0.945, 0.984, 0.771, and 0.959, respectively. This indicates that these OSRGs have diagnosis values of LAC and are significantly related to the overall survival of LAC patients. ERO1A , CDC25C , and ITGB4 overexpressions were independent risk factors for the poor prognosis of LAC patients and were associated with risk scores in the risk model. High-risk score levels affected the poor prognosis of LAC patients. Notably, a high-risk score may be implicated in LAC progression via cell cycle, DNA replication, mismatch repair, and other mechanisms. Further, ERO1A , CDC25C , and ITGB4 expression levels were related to the immune infiltrating cells of LAC, including mast cells, NK cells, and CD8 T cells., Conclusion: In summary, ERO1A , CDC25C , and ITGB4 of OSRGs are associated with poor prognosis of LAC patients. We confirmed that the risk model based on the ERO1A , CDC25C , and ITGB4 is expected to assess the prognosis of LAC patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Qiang Guo et al.)

We report a water-soluble AIEgen (TYDL) to be self-assembled into fluorescent organic nanoparticles (TYDLs) for specific sensing of SO 2 in living hepatoma cells. It is demonstrated that the TYDLs were suitable for ratiometrically detecting endogenous and exogenous SO 2 in mitochondria with good selectivity, low detection limit (75 nM) and excellent photostability (>30 min). These findings imply the great potential applications of TYDLs for the diagnosis of SO 2 -related diseases in cell biology.

Zearalenone is a mycotoxin produced by fungi of the genus Fusarium, which has severe toxicity on animal and human health including reproduction. Previous study showed that zearalenone exposure inhibited oocyte polar body extrusion, while in present study we found that high dose zearalenone disturbed oocyte meiosis resumption. Our results showed that a high concentration of 100 μM zearalenone reduced the rate of germinal vesicle (GV) breakdown in mouse oocytes. Further analysis indicated that zearalenone caused the decrease of Cyclin B1 and CDK1 expression, indicating MPF activity was affected, which further induced G2/M arrest, and this could be rescued by the inhibition of Wee1 activity. We found that the oocytes under high concentration of zearalenone showed lower γ-H2A.X expression, suggesting that DNA damage repair was disturbed, which further activated of DNA damage checkpoints. This could be confirmed by the altered expression of CHK1 and CHK2 after zearalenone treatment. Moreover, the organelles such as mitochondria, ribosome, endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus were diffused from germinal vesicle periphery after zearalenone exposure, indicating that zearalenone affected protein synthesis, modification and transport, which further induced the arrest of G2/M transition. Taken together, our results showed that high dose of zearalenone exposure induced G2/M transition defect by affecting organelle function-related CHK1/2-Wee1-MPF pathway., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Analyze the clinical and genetic characteristics of a rare Chinese family with Multiple synostoses syndrome and identify the causative variant with the high-throughput sequencing approach., Methods: The medical history investigation, physical examination, imaging examination, and audiological examination of the family members were performed. DNA samples were extracted from the family members. The candidate variant was identified by performing whole-exome sequencing of the proband, then verified by Sanger sequencing in the family., Results: The family named HBSY-018 from Hubei province had 18 subjects in three generations, and six subjects were diagnosed with conductive or mixed hearing loss. Meanwhile, characteristic features including short philtrum, hemicylindrical nose, and hypoplastic alae nasi were noticed among those patients. Symptoms of proximal interdigital joint adhesion and inflexibility were found. The family was diagnosed as Multiple synostoses syndrome type 1 (SYNS1).The inheritance pattern of this family was autosomal dominant. A novel mutation in the NOG gene c.533G>A was identified by performing whole-exome sequencing of the proband. The substitution of cysteine encoding 178th position with tyrosine (p.Cys178Tyr) was caused by this mutation, which was conserved across species. Co-segregation of disease phenotypes was demonstrated by the family verification., Conclusion: The family diagnosed as SYNS1 was caused by the novel mutation (c.533G>A) of NOG. The combination of clinical diagnosis and molecular diagnosis had improved the understanding of this rare disease and provided a scientific basis for genetic counseling in the family., (© 2022 The Authors. Molecular Genetics & Genomic Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objective: Elucidate the core clinical and genetic characteristics and identify the phenotypic variation between different regions and genotypes of fatal familial insomnia (FFI)., Methods: A worldwide large sample of FFI patients from our case series and literature review diagnosed by genetic testing were collected. The prevalence of clinical symptoms and genetic profile were obtained, and then the phenotypic comparison between Asians versus non-Asians and 129Met/Met versus 129Met/Val were conducted., Results: In total, 131 cases were identified. The age of onset was 47.51±12.53 (range 17-76) years, 106 patients died and disease duration was 13.20±9.04 (range 2-48) months. Insomnia (87.0%) and rapidly progressive dementia (RPD; 83.2%) occurred with the highest frequency. Hypertension (33.6%) was considered to be an objective indicator of autonomic dysfunction. Genotype frequency at codon 129 was Met/Met (84.7%) and Met/Val (15.3%), and allele frequency was Met (92.4%) and Val (7.6%).129 Met was a risk factor (OR: 3.728, 95% CI: 2.194 to 6.333, p=0.000) for FFI in the non-Asian population. Comparison of Asians and non-Asians revealed clinical symptoms and genetic background to show some differences (p<0.05). In the comparison of 129 polymorphisms, a longer disease duration was found in the 129 MV group, with alleviation of some clinical symptoms (p<0.05). After considering survival probability, significant differences in survival time between genotypes remained (p<0.0001)., Conclusions: Insomnia, RPD and hypertension are representative key clinical presentations of FFI. Phenotypic variations in genotypes and geographic regions were documented. Prion protein gene 129 Met was considered to be a risk factor for FFI in the non-Asian population, and 129 polymorphisms could modify survival duration., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

A new susceptible-exposed-infected-asymptomatically infected-removed (SEIAR) model is developed to depict the COVID-19 transmission process, considering the latent period and asymptomatically infected. We verify the suppression effect of typical measures, cultivating human awareness, and reducing social contacts. As for cutting off social connections, the feasible measures encompass social distancing policy, isolating infected communities, and isolating hub nodes. Furthermore, it is found that implementing corresponding anti-epidemic measures at different pandemic stages can achieve significant results at a low cost. In the beginning, global lockdown policy is necessary, but isolating infected wards and hub nodes could be more beneficial as the situation eases. The proposed SEIAR model emphasizes the latent period and asymptomatically infected, thus providing theoretical support for subsequent research., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Multispectral images contain rich recognition information since the multispectral camera can reveal information that is not visible to the human eye or to the conventional RGB camera. Due to this characteristic of multispectral images, multispectral face recognition has attracted lots of research interest. Although some multispectral face recognition methods have been presented in the last decade, how to fully and effectively explore the intraspectrum discriminant information and the useful interspectrum correlation information in multispectral face images for recognition has not been well studied. To boost the performance of multispectral face recognition, we propose an intraspectrum discrimination and interspectrum correlation analysis deep network (IDICN) approach. Multiple spectra are divided into several spectrum-sets, with each containing a group of spectra within a small spectral range. The IDICN network contains a set of spectrum-set-specific deep convolutional neural networks attempting to extract spectrum-set-specific features, followed by a spectrum pooling layer, whose target is to select a group of spectra with favorable discriminative abilities adaptively. IDICN jointly learns the nonlinear representations of the selected spectra, such that the intraspectrum Fisher loss and the interspectrum discriminant correlation are minimized. Experiments on the well-known Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Western Australia multispectral face datasets demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed approach over several state-of-the-art methods.

Two water-soluble carbohydrate-coated AIE-activate fluorescent organic nanoparticles TPE3G and TPE4G were designed and synthesized for the detection of heparin. Different from the reported strategy, we not only utilized the general detection mechanism of electrostatic interactions, but also introduced the concept of carbohydrate-carbohydrate interactions (CCIs) to enrich the detection mechanism of heparin. TPE3G can serve as an efficient "turn-on" probe with higher selectivity towards heparin than TPE4G. TEM studies revealed that the micro-aggregated TPE3G was encapsulated with the heparin chain to form a complex self-assemblied composite and emits strong fluorescence. It is believed that the results illustrated in this study provide a novel strategy based on CCls to design water-soluble and more efficient bio-probes for various biological and clinical applications., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Water-soluble ratiometric AIE-active fluorescent organic nanoparticles 2OA-FON for the specific sensing of cysteine over other biothiols are reported. The obtained amphiphilic probe included olefin aldehyde as recognizing unit, tetraphenylethylene as fluorescence reporter and lactose moiety as a hydrophilic group. This work provides a general design strategy based on the introduction of a sugar moiety into a hydrophobic AIEgen to develop ratiometric water-soluble fluorescent organic nanoparticles., (© 2019 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most aggressive malignant tumors with low early diagnosis and high metastasis. Despite progress in treatment, to combat this disease, a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms and novel therapeutic targets is needed. KIF23, which belongs to the KIF family, plays a vital role in various cell processes, such as cytoplasm separation and axon elongation. Nowadays, KIF23 has been found to be highly expressed in multiple tumor tissues and cells, suggesting a potential link between KIF23 and tumorigenesis. Herein, we reported that KIF23 expression was correlated with poor prognosis of gastric cancer and found an association between KIF23 and pTNM stage. An in vitro assay proved that the proliferation of gastric cancer cells was significantly inhibited, which is caused by KIF23 depletion. Additionally, knockdown of KIF23 resulted in a marked inhibition of cell proliferation of gastric cancer in mice, with significant downregulation of Ki67 and PCNA expression. In conclusion, these data indicate that KIF23 is a potential therapeutic target for gastric cancer treatment.

In this paper, synthesis and characterization of metal complexes [Cu 2 (L) 3 ]ClO 4 ( 1 ), [Ga(L) 2 ]NO 3 ·2H 2 O ( 2 ) and [In(L) 2 ]NO 3 ·H 2 O ( 3 ) (HL = 2-acetylpyridine N (4)-phenylthiosemicarbazone) was carried out, including elemental analysis, spectral analysis (IR, UV-vis, NMR), and X-ray crystallography. Complex 1 contains one S-bridged binuclear [Cu 2 (L) 3 ] + unit, where two Cu atoms display diverse coordination geometries: one being square planar geometry and the other octahedral geometry. Both 2 and 3 are mononuclear complexes, and the metal centers in 2 and 3 are chelated by two NNS tridentate ligands possessing a distorted octahedral geometry. Biological studies show that all the complexes possess a wide spectrum of modest to effective antibacterial activities and remarkable cytotoxicities against HepG2 cells, and 1 , in particular, with an IC 50 value of 0.19 ± 0.06 μM, is 113-fold and 28-fold more cytotoxic than HL and the antitumor drug mitoxantrone, respectively. In addition, 3 exhibits excellent photoluminescence properties. Upon the addition of 1 equiv of In 3+ ions, a remarkable fluorescence intensity of HL and fluorescent color change (from transparent to light-green) could be observed with 365 nm light, indicating that this ligand may be used as a promising colorimetric and fluorescent probe for In 3+ detection.

This study investigated the transition between the free and bound forms of functional compounds in germinated black soybean. Black soybean was germinated at 25°C over 6 days and then the free and bound forms of functional compounds were extracted. Total free polyphenol, flavonoid, and phenolic acid contents in raw black soybean increased from 1.03 mg GAE/g, 0.29 mg CE/g, and 315.67 μg/g to 1.44mg GAE/g, 0.64mg CE/g, and 511.01 μg/g, respectively, by 4 days after germination. Changes to phenolic acid compositions can be divided into four groups, and the germination process can convert compounds to phenolic acid via anabolism and catabolism. The highest total free isoflavone content in germinated black soybean (3,724.40 μg/g) was observed at 4 days. Bound polyphenol, flavonoid, phenolic acid, and isoflavone contents decreased as the germination period increased. These results suggest that the germination process increased compound functionality in black soybean.

We propose a method that achieves efficient texture mapping in fully-analytic computer generated holograms based on triangular meshes. In computer graphics, the texture mapping is commonly used to represent the details of objects without increasing the number of the triangular meshes. In fully-analytic triangular-mesh-based computer generated holograms, however, those methods cannot be directly applied because each mesh cannot have arbitrary amplitude distribution inside the triangular mesh area in order to keep the analytic representation. In this paper, we propose an efficient texture mapping method for fully-analytic mesh-based computer generated hologram. The proposed method uses an adaptive triangular mesh division to minimize the increase of the number of the triangular meshes for the given texture image data. The geometrical similarity relationship between the original triangular mesh and the divided one is also exploited to obtain the angular spectrum of the divided mesh from pre-calculated data for the original one. As a result, the proposed method enables to obtain the computer generated hologram of high details with much smaller computation time in comparison with the brute-force approach. The feasibility of the proposed method is confirmed by simulations and optical experiments.

As a naturally occurring inhibitor of mTOR, accumulated evidence has suggested that DEPTOR plays a pivotal role in suppressing the progression of human malignances. However, the function of DEPTOR in the development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is still unclear. Here we report that the expression of DEPTOR is significantly reduced in tumor tissues derived from human patients with ESCC, and the downregulation of DEPTOR predicts a poor prognosis of ESCC patients. In addition, we found that the expression of DEPTOR negatively regulates the tumorigenic activities of ESCC cell lines (KYSE150, KYSE510 and KYSE190). Furthermore, ectopic DEPTOR expression caused a significant suppression of the cellular proliferation, migration and invasion of KYSE150 cells, which has the lowest expression level of DEPTOR in the three cell lines. Meanwhile, CRISPR/Cas9 mediated knockout of DEPTOR in KYSE-510 cells significantly promoted cellular proliferation, migration and invasion. In addition, in vivo assays further revealed that tumor growth was significantly inhibited in xenografts with ectopic DEPTOR expression as compared to untreated KYSE150 cells, and was markedly enhanced in DEPTOR knockout KYSE-510 cells. Biochemical studies revealed that overexpression of DEPTOR led to the suppression of AKT/mTOR pathway as evidenced by reduced phosphorylation of AKT, mTOR and downstream SGK1, indicating DEPTOR might control the progression of ESCC through AKT/mTOR signaling pathway. Thus, these findings, for the first time, demonstrated that DEPTOR inhibits the tumorigenesis of ESCC cells and might serve as a potential therapeutic target or prognostic marker for human patients with ESCC.

Fully analytic mesh-based computer generated hologram enables efficient and precise representation of three-dimensional scene. Conventional method assigns uniform amplitude inside individual mesh, resulting in reconstruction of the three-dimensional scene of flat shading. In this paper, we report an extension of the conventional method to achieve the continuous shading where the amplitude in each mesh is continuously varying. The proposed method enables the continuous shading, while maintaining fully analytic framework of the conventional method without any sacrifice in the precision. The proposed method can also be extended to enable fast update of the shading for different illumination directions and the ambient-diffuse reflection ratio based on Phong reflection model. The feasibility of the proposed method is confirmed by the numerical and optical reconstruction of the generated hologram.

We propose a bar-type three-dimensional holographic head mounted display using two holographic optical elements. Conventional stereoscopic head mounted displays may suffer from eye fatigue because the images presented to each eye are two-dimensional ones, which causes mismatch between the accommodation and vergence responses of the eye. The proposed holographic head mounted display delivers three-dimensional holographic images to each eye, removing the eye fatigue problem. In this paper, we discuss the configuration of the bar-type waveguide head mounted displays and analyze the aberration caused by the non-symmetric diffraction angle of the holographic optical elements which are used as input and output couplers. Pre-distortion of the hologram is also proposed in the paper to compensate the aberration. The experimental results show that proposed head mounted display can present three-dimensional see-through holographic images to each eye with correct focus cues.

Mesh-based computer generated hologram enables realistic and efficient representation of three-dimensional scene. However, the dark line artifacts on the boundary between neighboring meshes are frequently observed, degrading the quality of the reconstruction. In this paper, we propose a simple technique to remove the dark line artifacts by matching the phase on the boundary of neighboring meshes. The feasibility of the proposed method is confirmed by the numerical and optical reconstruction of the generated hologram.

The expression of RNA polymerase II subunit 3 (Rpb3) was found frequent up-regulation in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tumors. Significant associations could also be drawn between increased expressions of Rpb3 and advance HCC staging and shorter disease-free survival of patients. Overexpression of Rpb3 increased HCC cell proliferation, migratory rate and tumor growth in nude mice, whereas suppression of Rpb3 using shRNA inhibited these effects. For mechanism study, we found that Rpb3 bound directly to Snail, downregulated E-cadherin, induced HCC cells epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In particular, N-terminus of Rpb3 blocked Rpb3 binding to Snail, inhibited Rpb3-high-expression HCC cells proliferation, migration, tumor growth in nude mice, and also inhibited DEN-induced liver tumorigenesis. Furthermore, N-terminus of Rpb3 did not inhibit normal liver cells or Rpb3-low-expression HCC cells proliferation. These findings suggest that N-terminus of Rpb3 selectively inhibits Rpb3-high-expression HCC cells proliferation. N-terminus of Rpb3 may be useful in treating patients diagnosed with Rpb3-high-expression HCC.

Study Design: A retrospective study, analyzing the risk factors for postoperative wound infections of the sacral chordoma after surgical excision., Objective: To determine the preoperative, intraoperative, and patient characteristics that contribute to an increased risk of postoperative wound infection in patients undergoing sacral chordoma resection., Summary of Background Data: Postoperative wound infection after spinal operations is a dreaded complication. The risk factors have been investigated earlier, but the patients with sacral chordoma may be distinct., Methods: Between January 1992 and December 2007, 45 patients with sacral chordomas were treated with surgical resection. Data regarding preoperative and intraoperative risk factors for postoperative wound infection were evaluated using univariate analysis and multivariable conditional logistic regression. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals and P values were calculated., Results: Of the 45 patients with sacral chordoma, 16 (35.6%) acquired postoperative wound infection. Significant risk factors associated with postoperative wound infection in the univariate analysis included the following: albumin <3.0, previous surgery, operating time, instrumentation, and surgical team. Albumin<3.0, operating time >6 hours, and previous surgery were statistically significant in the multivariable model., Conclusions: Patients undergoing sacral tumor surgery may be at greater risk for developing wound complications. In this study, it seems that albumin<3.0, operating time >6 hours, and previous surgery may predict those patients that were more prone to developing postoperative wound infection. Using a single surgical team and no instrumentation seems to provide protection against postoperative wound infection in this patient population.

Sacral chordoma is a vessel-rich and infiltrative tumor, but the fundamental knowledge of its biological behavior remains unknown. This study was designed to investigate the expression levels and contributions of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in the angiogenesis and recurrence of sacral chordoma and their correlations. An immunohistochemical method was used to investigate the expression of VEGF, MMP-9, and microvascular density (MVD) in 36 patients with sacral chordoma. Their differences in expressions were statistically analyzed and their correlations with angiogenesis and recurrence were evaluated. The mean MVD of sacral chordomas was significantly higher than that of the adjacent normal tissues (P = 0.033). Immunoreactivity for VEGF and MMP-9 was significantly higher in sacral chordoma tissues than in adjacent normal tissues (P = 0.008, P = 0.005). The mean MVD of VEGF and MMP-9 were statistically higher in positive group than in negative group (P = 0.015, P = 0.004), respectively . Moreover, a significant correlation was found between the VEGF and MMP-9 (P = 0.002). The log-rank test revealed that continuous disease-free survival time (CDFS) was significantly shorter in the MMP-9-positive group than in the MMP-9-negative group (P = 0.019), but the difference in the VEGF-positive group and the VEGF-negative group was not statistically significant (P = 0.938). Our data suggest that VEGF and MMP-9 might act with a synergistic effect and can positively regulate the angiogenesis in sacral chordoma. Positive expression of MMP-9 might indicate the local recurrence of sacral chordoma. The result suggests that some specific drugs which inhibit VEGF, MMP-9, or their receptors may have a good therapeutic effect for sacral chordoma.

A partially preanodized screen-printed carbon electrode (PSPCE*) coupled with flow injection analysis (FIA) was developed to raise the selectivity of ellagic acid (EA). To confirm the effectiveness of partial preanodization, two pretreated screen-printed carbon electrodes were electrochemically compared. One was a PSPCE* fabricated by potential cycling (-1.0 - +1.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl) to make the electrode surface partially preanodized and the other was a SPCE* fabricated by a high treatment potential (+2.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl). Cyclic voltammograms showed that the catalytic current of EA was observed at both the PSPCE* and SPCE*. No catalytic current of ascorbic acid 2-glucoside (AA2G) and magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (MAP) was observed at the PSPCE*. The PSPCE* selectively detected EA. The factors, which influence the EA response current, have previously been discussed. At the detection limit (0.012 ppm, S/N = 3), the linear calibration plot (R2 = 0.998) was attained for 0.1-50 ppm of EA solutions. A relative standard deviation of 4.37 and 3.90% was conducted for consecutive injections (n = 10) of 1 and 50 ppm EA, respectively. Finally, a practical application of the proposed method was demonstrated by the quantitative analysis of EA in skin whitening creams, and good recovery was obtained.

Pre-operative embolization of hypervascular spinal tumors can be helpful in tumour resection; however, few studies have been reported on its effectiveness in sacral tumors. We aimed to investigate the value of surgical excision with pre-operative transarterial embolization for primary sacral tumors and evaluate the long-term follow-up outcomes. Data were obtained from a consecutive series of 60 patients (33 female, 27 male) who had sacral tumors and who, between 1992 and 2007, underwent surgical excision in conjunction with arterial embolization. The evaluation parameters included intraoperative blood loss, transfusion, treatment, local recurrence and complications associated with surgery. All tumor masses were resected without intraoperative shock or death. The mean intraoperative blood loss was 1168.3mL (range: 200-5700mL) and the mean transfusion amount was 5.2 units (range: 0-35 units). Radical wide excision was performed on eight patients, marginal excision was conducted for 34 patients and intralesional excision was undertaken for the remaining 18 patients. The mean follow-up period was 75.2months (range: 15-180months). Nineteen (31.7%) patients developed local recurrences. Of the patients who had at least the second sacral roots and the unilateral S3 preserved, 33 (84.6%) had normal bladder function and 34 (87.2%) had normal bowel control. Pre-operative arterial embolization may significantly reduce the likelihood of intraoperative hemorrhage, and has the potential to assist surgeons in completing tumor resection and improving the outcomes for these patients., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

To understand protozoan, viral, and bacterial infections in diarrheal patients, we analyzed positivity and mixed-infection status with 3 protozoans, 4 viruses, and 10 bacteria in hospitalized diarrheal patients during 2004-2006 in the Republic of Korea. A total of 76,652 stool samples were collected from 96 hospitals across the nation. The positivity for protozoa, viruses, and bacteria was 129, 1,759, and 1,797 per 10,000 persons, respectively. Especially, Cryptosporidium parvum was highly mixed-infected with rotavirus among pediatric diarrheal patients (29.5 per 100 C. parvum positive cases), and Entamoeba histolytica was mixed-infected with Clostridium perfringens (10.3 per 100 E. histolytica positive cases) in protozoan-diarrheal patients. Those infected with rotavirus and C. perfringens constituted relatively high proportions among mixed infection cases from January to April. The positivity for rotavirus among viral infection for those aged < or = 5 years was significantly higher, while C. perfringens among bacterial infection was higher for > or = 50 years. The information for association of viral and bacterial infections with enteropathogenic protozoa in diarrheal patients may contribute to improvement of care for diarrhea as well as development of control strategies for diarrheal diseases in Korea.

Calcium hydroxide has been extensively and steadily used for direct pulp capping in modern clinical dentistry. As it was known to have potential to induce hard tissue repair, this chemical has been applied to the exposed dental pulp and the hard tissue is expected to be regenerated above the pulp. During the reparative process of exposed pulp, primary odontoblasts that were lost as a result of extensive damage are replaced with newly differentiated odontoblast-like cells. This process is known to follow the sequential steps of proliferation, migration, and differentiation of progenitor cells. This research will examine the relationship between calcium hydroxide and the recruitment, proliferation, and mineralization of postnatal dental stem cells, obtained from an immature dental tissue of beagle dogs. Immunocytochemical staining and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction were used to identify the putative stem cell markers. Immunoblot analysis, wound healing assay, cell migration assay, and alizarin red staining were used to evaluate proliferation, migration, and mineralization capacity of the calcium hydroxide-treated stem cells. As an in vivo study, a combination of calcium hydroxide and autologous dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) was applied for the treatment of intentionally created tooth defects on the premolars and the molars in beagle dogs to observe dentin regeneration. Ex vivo expanded DPSCs and periodontal ligament stem cells expressed STRO-1 and CD146, the mesenchymal stem cell markers. It was evident that calcium hydroxide increased recruitment, migration, proliferation, and mineralization of the DPSCs and periodontal ligament stem cells. Such results are valuable for future availability of DPSCs, which are recently focused as the stem cell reservoir for regeneration of dentin upon tooth injury, as well as for elucidation of the role of calcium hydroxide in pulp capping therapy.

The infrared radiation experiments on bolt and rock in the process of loading were carried out. It was found that the infrared radiation temperatures rose wholly and uniformly before stress peak with increase in loading. The bolted rock presented local dissimilation in the thermal image after stress peak. The multi-layer round infrared radiation isothermal lines were formed around bolt. The temperature was gradually reduced from inside to outside. There were two kinds of infrared omens for bolted rock fracturing, i. e., the infrared thermal image anomaly and curve of infrared radiation temperature and time anomaly, which reflected the spatial and temporal features of infrared omens respectively. The curve of infrared radiation temperature and time anomaly was temperature drop. The infrared thermal image omen was classified as high-temperature strip and low-temperature strip.

By means of the dual-level direct dynamics method, the mechanisms of the reactions, CH(3)CF(2)Cl + OH --> products (R1) and CH(3)CFCl(2) + OH --> products (R2), are studied over a wide temperature range 200-2000 K. The optimized geometries and frequencies of the stationary points are calculated at the MP2/6-311G(d,p) level, and then the energy profiles of the reactions are refined with the interpolated single-point energy method at the G3(MP2) level. The canonical variational transition-state theory with the small-curvature tunneling (SCT) correction method is used to calculate the rate constants. For the title reactions, three reaction channels are identified and the H-abstraction channel is the major pathway. The results indicate that F substitution has a significant (reductive) effect on hydrochlorofluorocarbon reactivity. Also, for all H-abstraction reaction channels the variational effect is small and the SCT effect is only important in the lower temperature range on the rate constants calculation., (Copyright 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

We systematically studied the structural, energetic and electronic properties of zigzag boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) functionalized by a class of substituted carbenes (CR(2)) where R = H, F, Cl, CH(3), CN and NO(2) on different absorption sites using density functional theory. For R = H, F and Cl, the open structure is preferred with a BNNT sidewall bond cleavage, while for R = CH(3) and CN, a competition between the open and closed cyclopropane-like three-membered ring (3MR) structure occurs. Interestingly, for R = NO(2) we find a novel double five-membered ring (5MR) structure with high reaction stability. This new structure cannot be found in BNNTs' alternative carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In addition, the electronic properties of BNNTs functionalized with carbenes are hardly changed for R = H, F, Cl, CH(3) and CN, but are significantly affected when R = NO(2) due to the heterocyclic double 5MR structure.

Magnetic resonance susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) is a new, highly-sensitive technique used to detect haemorrhage. This study evaluated the ability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect haemorrhage in 45 lung cancer patients with brain metastases and compared the results with T2*weighted imaging (T2*WI) and contrast-enhanced T1-weighted imaging (CE-T1WI). Eighty-nine haemorrhagic brain metastases were identified in 31 patients using SWI, 68 were identified in 23 patients using T2*WI and 46 were identified in 14 patients using CE-T1WI. Most micro-bleeds could only be identified by SWI. It was concluded that haemorrhage is a frequent occurrence in brain metastases originating from lung cancer and that haemorrhage can be detected using SWI in a majority of brain metastases patients.

The reaction behavior of the chemical modification of boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) with ammonia plasmas has been investigated by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Unlike previously studied functionalization with NH(3) and amino functional groups, we found that NH(2)(*) radicals involved in the ammonia plasmas can be covalently incorporated to BNNTs through a strong single B-N bond. Subsequently, the H(*) radicals also involved in the ammonia plasmas would prefer to combine with the N atoms neighboring the NH(2)-functionalized B atoms. Our study revealed that this reaction behavior can be elucidated using the frontier orbital theory. The calculated band structures and density of states (DOS) indicate that this modification is an effective method to modulate the electronic properties of BNNTs. We have discussed various defects on the surface of BNNTs generated by collisions of N(2)(+) ions. For most defects considered, the reactivity of the functionalization of BNNTs with NH(2)(*) are enhanced. Our conclusions are independent of the chirality, and the diameter dependence of the reaction energies is presented.