Search

Background Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal cancer. Approximately 80% of patients initially diagnosed with locally advanced or metastatic disease survive only 4–11 months after diagnosis. Tremendous efforts have been made toward understanding the biology of PDAC. Results In this study, we first utilized next-generation sequencing technique and existing microarray datasets to identify significant differentially expressed genes between PDAC and non-tumor adjacent tissue. By comparing top significant survival genes in PDAC Gene Expression Profiling Interactive Analysis database and PDAC transcriptome data from patients, our integrated analysis discovered five potential central genes (i.e., MYEOV, KCNN4, FAM83A, S100A16, and DDX60L). Subsequently, we analyzed the cellular functions of the potential novel oncogenes MYEOV and DDX60L, which are highly expressed in PDAC cells. Notably, the knockdown of MYEOV and DDX60L significantly inhibited the metastasis of cancer cells and induced apoptosis. Further RNA sequencing analyses showed that massive signaling pathways, particularly the TNF signaling pathway and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathway, were affected in siRNA-treated cancer cells. The siDDX60L and siMYEOV significantly inhibited the expression of chemokine CXCL2, which may potentially affect the tumor microenvironment in PDAC tissues. Conclusions The present findings identified the novel oncogene DDX60L, which was highly expressed in PDAC. Transcriptome profiling through siRNA knockdown of DDX60L uncovered its functional roles in the PDAC in humans.

Background: Chemotherapy-related adverse events may restrain taxane/cisplatin administration as a regimen for patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Genetic polymorphisms may contribute to adverse event susceptibility. Method & results: The authors genotyped ten SNPs from five genes (rs1045642, rs2032582 and rs3213619 of ABCB1; rs2231137 and rs2231142 of ABCG2; rs246221 of ABCC1; rs3740066 of ABCC2; and rs10771973, rs12296975 and rs1239829 of FGD4) in 219 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with taxane/cisplatin. Patients with severe toxicities were compared with those with minor or no adverse events by unconditional logistic regression models and semi-Bayesian shrinkage. After adjustment for age and sex, with the null prior, FGD4 rs1239829 was statistically significantly related to grade 3–4 leukopenia (odds ratio [95% CI] in dominant model = 1.77 [1.04–3.03]). Conclusion: The minor allele of FGD4 rs1239829 was related to grade 3–4 leukopenia in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with taxane/cisplatin, with unclear biological mechanism.

Objective More than 2 billion women are experiencing menopause transition in China and some of them suffered from depression; while the risk factors of depression during menopause transition were still unclearin China. We aimed to investigate the risk factors in mid-life women in Southeast China. Method This study included 1748 Chinese women aged 40–65 years-old who visited gynecology outpatient department of Women’s hospital School of Medicine, Zhejiang University during 2010–2018. Demographic information was collected, and the modified Kupperman Menopausal Index (mKMI) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression were assessed. Circulating levels of sex hormones were tested. Ordinal logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors for depression. Results The prevalence of depression symptoms was 47.43%. The majority of women had mild (38.56%) or moderate depressive symptoms (8.00%); only 0.86% had severe depressive symptoms. Compared with perimenopausal women, postmenopausal women had increased risks of more severe depression. The associations between menopausal syndromes and the intensity of depression were strongly positive (OR 6.69, 95% CI 5.39–8.29). Elder age, higher follicle stimulating hormone levels, lower estradiol levels, and fewer parity were positively related with the intensity of depression. Among postmenopausal women, underweight, mKMI > 14, earlier age at menopause, shorter reproductive period, and longer duration after menopause were risk factors for incresed intensity of depression. Conclusions The results demonstrated a high proportion of depression in women complaining of menopause. Menopausal symptoms were strongly related to the intensity of depression. In postmenopausal women, estrogen related events are associated with the intensity of depression. Gynecological endocrinologists in China should consider screening for depression in high-risk women.

Lay abstract Taxane/cisplatin is the main chemotherapy regimen in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma in China. Many patients suffer from neurotoxicity or bone marrow suppression, such as decreased white blood cells. Higher-grade adverse events, in particular, usually result in chemotherapy dose reduction or treatment termination. Researchers explored the associations between genetics and chemotherapy toxicity and found that the genetic variant (SNP rs1239829) of the gene

Background To investigate the effect of serum total bilirubin levels on blood pressure and its variability in patients with hypertension. Methods This study was a retrospective observational study. A total of 189 subjects were recruited from September 2019 to March 2020. All hypertensive patients were scheduled for ambulatory blood pressure and a 24-hour dynamic electrocardiography. Standard deviations of 24-hour systolic and diastolic blood pressure were used as blood pressure variability indicators. A multiple linear regression was used to analyze the relationship between total bilirubin serum levels and blood pressure variability in hypertensive patients. Results All patients were divided into 3 groups according to tertile values of total bilirubin: low (≤12.2 µmol/l, n = 64), moderate (12.3–16.7 µmol/l, n = 64), and high (>16.8 µmol/l, n = 62) total bilirubin groups. Compared with low total bilirubin group, 24-hour mean systolic and diastolic blood pressure, 24-hour systolic blood pressure standard deviation, systolic blood pressure coefficient of variability, and 24-hour systolic blood pressure load were reduced in the moderate and high total bilirubin groups (all P < 0.05). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that female (B = −1.408, P = 0.013), age (B = 0.043, P = 0.035), diabetes (B = 2.624, P < 0.001), and moderate and high bilirubin grouping (B = −1.582, −3.079; both P < 0.05) were influencing factors of 24-hour systolic pressure standard deviation. Serum total bilirubin levels had no effect on the standard deviation of 24-hour diastolic blood pressure(P > 0.05). Conclusions In hypertensive patients, the total bilirubin serum level is an influencing factor for 24-hour systolic blood pressure variability.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a tumor composed of heterogeneous cells that easily become radioresistant, which leads to tumor recurrence. The most commonly used treatment for ESCC is fractionated irradiation (FIR) therapy that utilizes ionizing radiation to directly induce cytotoxic cell death. However, this treatment may not be able to eliminate all cancer cells due to high adaptive evolution. To determine whether the transcriptome dynamics during ESCC recurrence formation are associated with FIR response, an in vitro cell culture model for ESCC radioresistance that mimics the common radiotherapy process in patients with ESCC was established in the present study. High-throughput sequencing analysis of in vitro cultured ESCC cells was performed using different cumulative irradiation doses, as well as tumor samples from FIR-treated patients with ESCC before and after the development of radioresistance. Radioresistance-associated genes and signaling pathways that were aberrantly expressed in radioresistant ESCC cells were identified, including autophagy-related 9B (regulation of autophagy), DNA damage-inducible transcript 4, myoglobin and plasminogen activator tissue type, which are associated with response to hypoxia, Bcl2-binding component 3, tumor protein P63 and interferon γ-inducible protein 16, which are associated with DNA damage response. The heterogeneity and dynamic gene expression of ESCC cells during acquired radioresistance were further studied in primary (41 single cells), 12 Gy FIR-treated (87 single cells) and 30 Gy FIR-treated (89 single cells) cancer cells using a single-cell RNA sequencing approach. The results of the present study comprehensively characterized the transcriptome dynamics during acquired radioresistance in an in vitro model of ESCC and patient tumor samples at the population and single cell level. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed the heterogeneity of irradiated ESCC cells and an increase in the radioresistant ESCC cell subpopulation during acquired radioresistance. Overall, these results are of potential clinical relevance as they identify a number of signaling molecules associated with radioresistance, as well as opportunities for the development of novel therapeutic options for the treatment of ESCC.

The properties of heat resistance and manufacturability of epoxy resin system are contradictory to each other. In order to maintain the balance of both properties, this article studied the heat resistance (testing the glass-transition temperature using differential scanning calorimetry) and the manufacturability (characterizing the variation trend of viscosity at molding temperature using AR2000EX rotational rheometer) of two kinds of epoxy resin systems by means of designing orthogonal table. Studies show that when the mass ratio of hydantoin epoxy resin, MF-4101 epoxy resin, anhydride and accelerant is 100:20:150:1.5, the glass transition temperature of the epoxy resin system can reach over 180°C. What’s more, the initial viscosity of the epoxy resin at 40°C is about 230mPa•s, and the viscosity can maintain no more than 800mPa•s in approximately 3 hours, which meets the requirements of liquid composite molding.

Note CO2 gas development has become a very effective reservoir mining method in low permeability oilfield of Daqing outskirt. It can effective enhance the recovery ratio. When the crude oil dissolves CO2, the volume expands and the viscosity decreases. Under the same conditions of temperature, expansion increases with pressure, CO2 drive is more effective than a single water drive, the degree of reserve recovery has been significantly improved, generally 1.3-1.4 times. Field tests shows that the input-output ratio in swallowing- spitting test of CO2 producing in formation could reach 6.25.

To study the thermal effects on airflow in a street canyon under real heating conditions (due to diurnal solar radiation), a one-way static approach combining an urban canopy model and CFD is proposed in this paper. An urban canopy model was developed to calculate the individual temperatures of surfaces in the street canyon. The calculated surface temperature may be used as a thermal boundary for CFD simulation. The reliability of this model was validated against a field experiment in Harbin, China. Using the coupling calculation method, the wind flow and air exchange process inside an idealized street canyon was studied. The simulation results show that the thermal effect has significant impacts on the transfer process in the street canyon, especially when the approaching wind is weak. Under a real diurnal thermal forcing, the flow structure within the street canyon changes from one primary vortex to two counter-rotating vortices. The change of transfer process, induced by the buoyancy force, was...

Based on the theoretical principles of coal prospecting with remote sensing, and the summings-up of the practices of coal prospecting with remote sensing of China in the past, the paper systematically elaborates the methods on and existing problems of coal prospecting with remote sensing and puts forward train of thought of technical development of coal prospecting with remote sensing, viz. make comprehensive spatial analyses of various geographical properties, ground attributes, geophysical exploration, geochemical exploration, geological drilling products and remote sensing data by adopting new-style remote sensing data of multiband, multi-polarization, multi-angle, multi-temporal, multi-resolution, and using GIS; explore the geological background of coalfield and coal-forming regularities, and extract the deep coalfield information.

With the rapid development of China's economy, coal resources are increasingly in great demand. As a result, the remaining coal reserves diminish gradually with large-scale exploitation of coal resources. Easily-found mines which used to be identified from outcrops or were buried under shallow overburden are decreasing, especially in the prosperous eastern regions of China, which experience coal shortages. Currently the main targets of coal prospecting are concealed and unidentified underground coal bodies, making it more and more difficult for coal prospecting. It is therefore important to explore coal prospecting by taking advantage of modern remote sensing and geographic information system technologies. Given a theoretical basis for coal prospecting by remote sensing, we demonstrate the methodologies and existing problems systematically by summarizing past practices of coal prospecting with remote sensing. We propose a new theory of coal prospecting with remote sensing. In uncovered areas, coal resources can be prospected for by direct interpretation. In coal bearing strata of developed areas covered by thin Quaternary strata or vegetation, prospecting for coal can be carried out by indirect interpretation of geomorphology and vegetation. For deeply buried underground deposits, coal prospecting can rely on tectonic structures, interpretation and analysis of new tectonic clues and regularity of coal formation and preservation controlled by tectonic structures. By applying newly hyper-spectral, multi-polarization, multi-angle, multi-temporal and multi-resolution remote sensing data and carrying out integrated analysis of geographic attributes, ground attributes, geophysical exploration results, geochemical exploration results, geological drilling results and remote sensing data by GIS tools, coal geology resources and mineralogical regularities can be explored and coal resource information can be acquired with some confidence.

In this paper, we discuss the diffusion motion of carriers in the transistor channel in a terahertz frequency range, and propose an resistance-capacitance-inductance (RCL) model based on Boltzmann transport theory, and then put forward the rules to determine whether the diffusion part in the RCL model can be neglected for terahertz field-effect-transistor (FET) detectors. The traditional RCL model for FET detectors is based on classic kinetic theory. In this model only the drift and the scattering motion of the carrier density in transistor channel are considered, and the diffusion part is neglected without giving any explanation. To solve this problem, in this paper we adopt three steps: first, instead of classic kinetic theory, the equations of RCL transistor model including diffusion part are derived from Boltzmann transport equation, and by comparing the two models, the specific expression for the diffusion part is given. Second, the differences between the two models are calculated and simulated, including the conductivity in quasi-static mode and the current response in high frequency mode, with different gate voltages, temperatures and working frequencies. Third, combined with the 3 rules, the conditions to neglect the diffusion motion in the model are put forward. The results show that the diffusion motion of the carriers is caused by the inhomogeneity of the carrier density, affected by the gate voltage, the temperature and the changing speed of the carriers with respect to the local voltage. In quasi-static mode, the role of diffusion part will change with the gate voltage, and when the gate voltage equals threshold voltage (which is the best working point for transistor detector), the diffusion part cannot be neglected, for which the reason is that a larger gate voltage will lead to a smaller inhomogeneity of channel carrier density and then a weaker diffusion effect, thus the effect of diffusion conductance on the whole transistor conductance becomes smaller. For the terahertz-frequency working mode, the diffusion part will depend on temperature and frequency. With temperature increasing, the current responsivity difference caused by the diffusion part in the model slightly decreases; when the working frequency increases but below 1 THz, the diffusion part can be neglected; however, when the working frequency is above 1 THz, the transistor model should contain drift, scattering and diffusion part at the same time, for which the explanation is that when the temperature increases, the random thermal motion of the carrier becomes larger, thus the diffusion effect will be stronger; and if the frequency increases, the number of the carriers in one terminal of the channel will change faster, but due to the channel damping, the number of the carriers in another terminal will always be zero, thus the changing speed of the carrier density between the two terminals will be faster, then a larger inhomogeneity of carrier density and a stronger diffusion effect will appear. In conclusion, normally the transisitor works at the threshold gate voltage, and at this point, the diffusion effect in the channel will increase with working temperature and frequency increasing, thus the diffusion part in the model cannot be neglected. The results in this paper make a significant contribution to a more accurate terahertz transistor detector model.

This article carried the statistical measurement on the situation of residents' income gap in our country, based on 6937 urban and rural residents' questionnaires from 31 provinces; and it made statistical analysis and evaluation on problems of residents' income gap moderation, such as: the basic judgment to residents' income gap moderation at this stage, the main reasons for the widening residents' income gap, endurance of the public residents to the widening income gap and satisfaction to the income distribution, the consequences caused by the aggravation of income distribution inequity, the relationship between fairness and efficiency at this stage and the main features of unfairness to rural residents, the main factors and risks affecting social stability and hindering economic efficiency, the policy focus on promoting fair distribution. The results show that: the residents' income gap of our country is large, the Gini coefficient has exceeded the warning line, the per capita income of households and the income gap is quite different because of the differences in urban and rural areas and regions, and the basic characteristics and human capital of the head of household; the residents' income gap at this stage is beyond a reasonable boundary; trading for money and power, rent-seeking and corruption; is the main reason for the widening of income gap; residents' affordability to the widening income gap is strong, but they are not satisfied with the state of the income distribution; the main possible consequence caused by the aggravation of income distribution inequity is the increase in the degree of social instability; the initial distribution and redistribution should handle the relationship between efficiency and equity, with particular emphasis on equity of redistribution; compared with urban residents, education, social security and public infrastructure are the main features of unfairness to rural residents; corrupt officials and big wealth gap are the main factors and risks affecting social stability and hindering the economic efficiency; ban illegal incomes, punish corruption is the most important measure of promoting fair distribution and narrowing the income gap. On this basis, this article puts forward the corresponding policy recommendations.

The degrading regulations of combined pollutants of chlorfenvinfos and fenthion in red soil were studied, in which soil incubation, gas chromatography with nitrogen-phosphorus detection for analysis are utilized. The main conclusions drawn are as follows: under combined pollution condition, the degrading amount of fenthion was significantly higher than that of fenthion alone in soil; under saturated soil humidity, the degrading amount of fenthion was less changed, while that of chlorfenvinfos was increased by 33.3% - 1250%. Soil drought made degradation amount of fenthion decreased a little, while made chlorfenvinfos increased significantly prior to the 21st day after addition of pesticide; nitrogen fertilizer application stimulated both fenthion and chlorfenvinfos degraded; the chemical degrading amount of fenthion in soil with organic matter eliminated was decreased by 22.4% - 30.8%, while that of chlorfenvinfos was increased 42.1% - 2370% at the earlier stage, and was decreased 11% - 17.3% at the later stage. Therefore, there are differences of degrading regulation between single pesticide pollutant and combined pesticide pollutants in soil, and the degradation of organophosphorus pesticides in combined pollutants are influenced with each other.