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Two isoforms of human Polycomb-like protein 3 (hPCL3) have been reported as components of the nuclear Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), with the short isoform (hPCL3s) showing a dominant cytoplasmic localization. The function of cytoplasmic hPCL3s has, however, not been addressed. In this study, we report that hPCL3s is upregulated in clinical hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples and its expression correlated with HCC clinical features. hPCL3s positively regulated the migration, invasion, and metastasis of HCC cells. hPCL3s interacted with components of the cytoplasmic β-catenin destruction complex, inhibited β-catenin degradation, and activated β-catenin/T-cell factor signaling. Downstream of the β-catenin cascade, IL6 mediated the motility-promoting functions of hPCL3s. Forced expression of hPCL3s in the liver of a HCC mouse model promoted tumorigenesis and metastasis. Taken together, these data show that hPCL3s promotes the metastasis of HCC by activating the β-catenin/IL6 pathway.Significance: hPCL3s has an oncogenic role in hepatocellular carcinoma by activating the β-catenin/IL6 signaling axis to promote metastasis. Cancer Res; 78(10); 2536–49. ©2018 AACR.

The supplementary infomation containing Figure legends, five supplemental figures and 3 supplemental tables. Figure S1 The higher expression of hPCL3s correlated with the poor survival of HCC patients. Figure S2 hPCL3s did not promote the tumorigenesis in vivo. Figure S3 The effects of hPCL3s on the growth of Hep3B, Huh7 and PVTT cells in a 48-hour time window were evaluated using MTT assay. Figure S4 Screening the signal pathways affected by hPCL3s. Figure S5 The AAV delivered Flag-hPCL3s was dominantly expressed in the liver. Table S1 Primer sequences. Table S2 The correlation between the expression of hPCL3s and clinical feature (Tissue array 2). Table S3 Microarray data.

Document retrieval is a research hotspot of natural language processing. Compared with short text document which has the characteristics of information diversity and length, in long text retrieval, a query statement is often not related to all sentences in a long text, and strong interference of some highly similar segments will occur. Therefore, the correlation score between a query statement and a document can not be simply calculated based on the similarity between words or strings. Text snippet mechanism (TSM) is proposed for document retrieval. TSM first divides each candidate document into snippets, and then calculates the correlation between query statements and document snippets. The correlation matching scheme used takes into account the semantic and word frequency factors. TSM selects key text snippets and obtains the relevant snippet ratio, and then calculates the correlation score between query and target document based on these information, so as to obtain the Top-K document set. Experimental results show that TSM can improve the performance of information retrieval on IR test collection of Glasgow.

As an irreversible and perennial process, aging is accompanied by functional and morphological declines in organs. Generally, aging liver exhibits a decline in volume and hepatic blood flow. Even with a preeminent regenerative capacity to restore its functions after liver cell loss, its biosynthesis and metabolism abilities decline, and these are difficult to restore to previous standards. Apoptosis is a programmed death process via intrinsic and extrinsic pathways, in which Bcl-2 family proteins and apoptosis-related genes, such as p21 and p53, are involved. Apoptosis inflicts both favorable and adverse influences on liver aging. Apoptosis eliminates transformed abnormal cells but promotes age-related liver diseases, such as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, liver fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. We summarize the roles of apoptosis in liver aging and age-related liver diseases.

Previous studies of drop impact mainly focus on homogeneous substrates while heterogeneous substrates remain largely unexplored. A convenient preparation strategy of stiff heterogeneous substrates is presented in this work, and the drop impact on such a stiffness-patterned substrate consisting of soft spirals surrounded by a rigid region is systematically investigated. The results show that the splash behavior of a drop on a stiffness-patterned substrate exhibits distinct characteristics from those on a homogeneous substrate. Prompt splash is more likely to occur on the substrate with the greater heterogeneity of stiffness, which is reflected in the lower critical impact velocity. Moreover, the splash velocity of emitted droplet is significantly larger on the heterogeneous substrate than that on a corresponding homogeneous substrate, especially at a higher impact velocity of the drop, indicating a stronger splash intensity on the heterogeneous substrate. The difference in drop splashing between homogeneous substrate and heterogeneous substrate is largely due to the stiffness heterogeneity, rather than the variation of overall stiffness of the substrate. The use of spiral shape provides a feasible solution for introducing stiffness heterogeneity of substrate. This study is conducive to the understanding of drop impact research beyond uniform substrates, reveals the potential of using stiffness-patterned substrates to control splash, and may find useful applications in industries related to drop impact and splash.

The indica ecotypes, IR64, an elite drought-susceptible variety adapted to irrigated ecosystem, and Apo (IR55423-01 or NSIC RC9), a moderate drought-tolerant upland genotype together with their hybrid (IR64 × Apo) were exposed to non- and water-stress conditions. By sequencing (RNA-seq) these genotypes, we were able to map genes diverging in cis and/or trans factors. Under non-stress condition, cis dominantly explains (11.2%) regulatory differences, followed by trans (8.9%). Further analysis showed that water-limiting condition largely affects trans and cis + trans factors. On the molecular level, cis and/or trans regulatory divergence explains their genotypic differences and differential drought response. Between the two parental genotypes, Apo appears to exhibit more photosynthetic efficiency even under water-limiting condition and is ascribed to trans. Statistical analyses showed that regulatory divergence is significantly influenced by environmental conditions. Likewise, the mode of parental expression inheritance which drives heterosis (HET) is significantly affected by environmental conditions indicating the malleability of heterosis to external factors. Further analysis revealed that the HET class, dominance, was significantly enriched under water-stress condition. We also identified allelic imbalance switching in which several genes prefer IR64- (or Apo-) specific allele under non-stress condition but switched to Apo- (or IR64-) specific allele when exposed to water-stress condition.

Targeted color-dots with varying shapes and sizes in images are first exhaustively identified, and then their multiscale 2D geometric patterns are extracted for testing spatial uniformness in a progressive fashion. Based on color theory in physics, we develop a new color-identification algorithm relying on highly associative relations among the three color-coordinates: RGB or HSV. Such high associations critically imply low color-complexity of a color image, and renders potentials of exhaustive identification of targeted color-dots of all shapes and sizes. Via heterogeneous shaded regions and lighting conditions, our algorithm is shown being robust, practical and efficient comparing with the popular Contour and OpenCV approaches. Upon all identified color-pixels, we form color-dots as individually connected networks with shapes and sizes. We construct minimum spanning trees (MST) as spatial geometries of dot-collectives of various size-scales. Given a size-scale, the distribution of distances between immediate neighbors in the observed MST is extracted, so do many simulated MSTs under the spatial uniformness assumption. We devise a new algorithm for testing 2D spatial uniformness based on a Hierarchical clustering tree upon all involving MSTs. Our developments are illustrated on images obtained by mimicking chemical spraying via drone in Precision Agriculture., 21 pages, 21 figures

Key message The homologous genes OsbHLH068 and AtbHLH112 have partially redundant functions in the regulation of the salt stress response but opposite functions to control flowering in Arabidopsis. Abstract The transcription factor (TF) basic/Helix-Loop-Helix (bHLH) is important for plant growth, development, and stress responses. OsbHLH068, which is a homologous gene of AtbHLH112 that is up-regulated under drought and salt stresses, as indicated by previous microarray data analysis. However, the intrinsic function of OsbHLH068 remains unknown. In the present study, we characterized the function and compared the role of OsbHLH068 with that of its homolog, AtbHLH112. Histochemical GUS staining indicated that OsbHLH068 and AtbHLH112 share a similar expression pattern in transgenic Arabidopsis during the juvenile-to-adult phase transition. Heterologous overexpression of OsbHLH068 in Arabidopsis delays seed germination, decreases salt-induced H2O2 accumulation, and promotes root elongation, whereas AtbHLH112 knock-out mutant displays an opposite phenotype. Both OsbHLH068-overexpressing transgenic Arabidopsis seedlings and the Atbhlh112 mutant display a late-flowering phenotype. Moreover, the expression of OsbHLH068-GFP driven by an AtbHLH112 promoter can compensate for the germination deficiency in the Atbhlh112 mutant, but the delayed-flowering phenotype tends to be more severe. Further analysis by microarray and qPCR indicated that the expression of FT is down-regulated in both OsbHLH068-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants and Atbhlh112 mutant plants, whereas SOC1 but not FT is highly expressed in AtbHLH112-overexpressing Arabidopsis plants. A comparative transcriptomic analysis also showed that several stress-responsive genes, such as AtERF15 and AtPUB23, were affected in both OsbHLH068- and AtbHLH112-overexpressing transgenic Arabidopsis plants. Thus, we propose that OsbHLH068 and AtbHLH112 share partially redundant functions in the regulation of abiotic stress responses but have opposite functions to control flowering in Arabidopsis, presumably due to the evolutionary functional divergence of homolog-encoded proteins. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11103-017-0624-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Along with the surge in mobile data, dense small cell network has become an effective method to improve system capacity and spectrum efficiency. However, because more small cells are deployed, the interference among dense small cells exacerbates. It also makes frequent handover for mobile users (UEs), which brings a great deal of signaling overhead to the core network. In order to solve the problems of interference and frequent handover, a novel clustering scheme for dense small cell network is proposed in this paper. The scheme is based on the weighted graph. First, we present a dense small cell clustering model based on X2 interface to minimize core network signaling overhead. To improve the usability of the model, we model the system as an undirected weighted graph. Then we propose the maximum benefit merging algorithm to reduce the complexity. This method enables adjacent small cells to cooperate and form virtual cellular cluster according to handover statistics information. Then we select cluster head (CH) according to certain rule in each cluster. Cluster head acts as the mobility anchor, managing the handovers between cluster members. This can reduce core network signaling overhead and the interference among small cells effectively. Compared with the 3GPP handover algorithm, the proposed clustering model in this paper can reduce the signaling overhead more than 70%. The simulation results show that the proposed clustering model can effectively cluster the dense small cell.

BackgroundThe coconut rhinoceros beetle,Oryctes rhinoceros, is a major pest of palm crops in tropical Asia and the Pacific Islands. Little molecular data exists for this pest, impeding our ability to develop effective countermeasures and deal with the species’ growing resistance to viral biocontrols. We present the first molecular biology analyses of this species, including a metagenomic assay to understand the microbiome of different sections of its digestive tract, and a transcriptomics assay to complement the microbiome data and to shed light on genes of interest like plant cell wall degrading enzymes and immunity and xenobiotic resistance genes.ResultsThe gut microbiota ofOryctes rhinoceroslarvae is quite similar to that of the termite gut, as both species feed on decaying wood. We found the first evidence for endogenous beta-1,4-endoglucanase in the beetle, plus evidence for microbial cellobiase, suggesting the beetle can degrade cellulose together with its gut microfauna. A number of antimicrobial peptides are expressed, particularly by the fat body but also by the midgut and hindgut.ConclusionsThis transcriptome provides a wealth of data about the species’ defense against chemical and biological threats, has uncovered several potentially new species of microbial symbionts, and significantly expands our knowledge about this pest.

Abstract cis and/or trans regulatory divergence within or between related taxa on a genome-wide scale has been largely unexamined in crops, more so, the effect of stress on cis/trans architecture. In this study, the indica genotypes IR64, an elite drought-susceptible lowland variety, and Apo (IR55423-01 or NSIC RC9), a moderate drought-tolerant upland genotype together with their hybrid (IR64 × Apo) were exposed to non- and water-stress conditions. Evidence of cis and/or trans regulatory differences was tested between these two indica rice genotypes. By sequencing (RNA-seq) the parents and their hybrid, we are able to map genes diverging in cis and/or trans factors between the two genotypes. Under non-stress conditions, cis dominantly explains (11.2%) regulatory differences, followed by trans (8.9%). Further analysis showed that water-limiting conditions largely affect trans and cis + trans factors. Between the two inbred lines, Apo appears to exhibit higher expression fold change of genes enriched in “response to stress” and “photosynthesis” under non- and water-stress conditions. On the molecular level, cis and/or trans regulatory divergence explains their genotypic differences and differential drought response. Parent–hybrid RNA-seq has the potential to identify genes diverging in cis and/or trans factors even between intra-sub-specifically related genotypes. By comparing cis/trans landscape under stressed and unstressed conditions, this approach has the ability to assess the impact of drought on gene expression. Computational analysis and association of several drought-yield QTL markers with cis-diverging genes provide converging evidences suggestive of a potential approach to identify trait-associated candidate genes using hybrids and their parents alone.Key Messagecis dominantly explains divergence of two indica rice genotypes, IR64 and Apo under normal conditions while trans and cis + trans regulatory factors are largely affected by drought

The cellular networks in 5G are tending to be heterogeneous and ultra-dense networks. The methods used in traditional hexagonal grid model are no more adaptive to the 5G heterogeneous cellular networks today, which are too idealized and inaccurate. A popular approach for analyzing heterogeneous cellular networks is using Poisson point process (PPP), which assumes that the deployment of base stations (BSs) is completely space random (CSR) and from which we can get a lower bound of the probability of coverage probability. However, geographical and human factors should be taken into account in reality. The BSs or mobile users may be clustered in crowded areas such as enterprises and shopping malls so that the space distribution based on PPP will be inaccurate. This motivates us to find a new approach to settle it. In this paper, we focus on using Poisson clustered process (PCP) to model ultra-dense 5G heterogeneous cellular networks which include macrocells, picocells and femtocells. First of all, a model of the locations of BSs based on Poisson clustered process (PCP) has been proposed, and the formation of clusters of the BSs has been discussed. Then the probability model of coverage and its three special cases using SINR have been derived, and the proposed model obeys to the cell selection mechanism based on instantaneous SINR. Finally, according to the proposed model, comparison and analysis of coverage probability using hexagonal grid model, PCP and PPP are done respectively. The numerical results show that using PCP can get higher coverage probability than using PPP.

Two indica inbred rice lines, IR64, a drought-sensitive, and Apo, a moderately drought-tolerant genotype, were exposed to non- (control or unstressed) and water-stress treatments. Leaf samples collected at an early flowering stage were sequenced by RNA-seq. Reads generated were analyzed for differential expression (DE) implementing various models in baySeq to capture differences in genome-wide transcriptional response under contrasting water regimes. IR64, the drought-sensitive variety consistently exhibited a broader transcriptional response while Apo showed relatively modest transcriptional changes under water-stress conditions across all models implemented. Gene ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway analyses of genes revealed that IR64 showed enhancement of functions associated with signal transduction, protein binding and receptor activity. Apo uniquely showed significant enrichment of genes associated with an oxygen binding function and peroxisome pathway. In general, IR64 exhibited more extensive molecular re-programming, presumably, a highly energy-demanding route to deal with the abiotic stress. Several of these differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found to co-localize with QTL marker regions previously identified to be associated with drought-yield response, thus, are the most promising candidate genes for further studies.

Solidification behaviors of IC10 alloy with different titanium content were investigated by isothermal solidification method. Volume percentage of liquid and precipitation temperature of primary MC type carbide, eutectic and secondary γ′ phase were investigated. The results showed that with the increase of Ti content in the alloy, the liquidus, solidus and MC carbide formation temperatures decreased, on the contrary, the formation of γ+γ′ eutectic and secondary γ′ increased. For the IC10 alloy with 1.5% titanium content, it is earlier for the interdendritic pools to be divided into the parts. At this condition, melted portion of the alloy resided during isothermal process. As a result, the castability of the IC10 with 1.5% titanium is thus the lowest.

Cross-protection triggered by a mild strain of virus acts as a prophylaxis to prevent subsequent infections by related viruses in plants; however, the underling mechanisms are not fully understood. Through mutagenesis, we isolated a mutant strain of Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV), named Tu-GK, that contains an Arg182Lys substitution in helper component-proteinase (HC-ProK) that confers complete cross-protection against infection by a severe strain of TuMV in Nicotiana benthamiana, Arabidopsis thaliana Col-0, and the Arabidopsis dcl2-4/dcl4-1 double mutant defective in DICER-like ribonuclease (DCL)2/DCL4-mediated silencing. Our analyses showed that HC-ProK loses the ability to interfere with microRNA pathways, although it retains a partial capability for RNA silencing suppression triggered by DCL. We further showed that Tu-GK infection triggers strong salicylic acid (SA)-dependent and SA-independent innate immunity responses. Our data suggest that DCL2/4-dependent and –independent RNA silencing pathways are involved, and may crosstalk with basal innate immunity pathways, in host defense and in cross-protection.

Two isoforms of human Polycomb-like protein 3 (hPCL3) have been reported as components of the nuclear Polycomb repressive complex 2 (PRC2), with the short isoform (hPCL3s) showing a dominant cytoplasmic localization. The function of cytoplasmic hPCL3s has, however, not been addressed. In this study, we report that hPCL3s is upregulated in clinical hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) samples and its expression correlated with HCC clinical features. hPCL3s positively regulated the migration, invasion, and metastasis of HCC cells. hPCL3s interacted with components of the cytoplasmic β-catenin destruction complex, inhibited β-catenin degradation, and activated β-catenin/T-cell factor signaling. Downstream of the β-catenin cascade, IL6 mediated the motility-promoting functions of hPCL3s. Forced expression of hPCL3s in the liver of a HCC mouse model promoted tumorigenesis and metastasis. Taken together, these data show that hPCL3s promotes the metastasis of HCC by activating the β-catenin/IL6 pathway. Significance: hPCL3s has an oncogenic role in hepatocellular carcinoma by activating the β-catenin/IL6 signaling axis to promote metastasis. Cancer Res; 78(10); 2536–49. ©2018 AACR.

Liver cirrhosis is a critical state in the natural course of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We sought to investigate the potential of in-depth proteomics to reveal plasma protein signatures that reflect common networks/pathways of liver cirrhosis, and to determine whether the cirrhosis-related signature in plasma is linked to the development of HCC among hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers. We first compared plasma protein profiles using a 174-antibody microarray system between three groups of HBV carriers with different Child's grades of cirrhosis, which revealed a panel of 45 differentially expressed proteins with a high accuracy for discriminating Child's B/C. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis identified two main up-regulated networks connecting the 45 proteins that were most enriched for genes in the pathway of hepatic stellate cell activation. A parsimonious subset of 11 pathway-based proteins was then selected for quantification to correlate with HCC risk among 49 HCC cases and 50 controls in a nested case-control study within a 16-yr follow-up cohort of HBV carriers. A high risk score derived from a principal component analysis, which was used to extract the cluster structure of the 11 proteins, was associated with HCC (odds ratio = 4.83, 95% confidence interval: 1.26-18.56) even after adjustment for viral and clinical variables, implying the involvement of a pattern of coordinated proteins. Stepwise logistic regression on the 11 proteins revealed ICAM-2 as an independent predictor for HCC. These findings may give further insight into the pathobiology of hepatocarcinogenesis, allow testing of the cirrhosis-related plasma protein signature as a potential predictive biomarker for HCC.

Much of the future growth of the lottery business is expected to take place in online channels. This study integrates the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology with the perceived risk concept to understand the motivations behind online lottery adoption. Using the example of Taiwan's recently launched Internet Sports Lottery, findings show that performance expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, and perceived risk influence consumers' willingness to play online lottery. The moderating effects of gender, age, education, and Internet experience are analyzed. The study concludes with suggestions for the implementation of Internet commerce in the lottery business.

According to the extensive application of shield tunnel, large-diameter shield tunnel in particular, structure stiffness of shield tunnels varies in a large rang. In this paper, shield tunnels with different diameters and thicknesses are analyzed and calculated by time-history method. Stiffness ratio is identified to measure the relationship of structure’s stiffness and soil’s stiffness. The results indicate that dynamic moment and shear forces of shield tunnels have positive correlation with the stiffness ratio. Axial forces have positive correlation with thickness and diameter of lining structure.

According to the extensive application of shield tunnel, large-diameter shield tunnel in particular, a simplified seismic design method is in urgent need. The equivalent static method is more suitable for the rigid underground structure, rather than flexible structure such as large-diameter shield tunnel. In this paper, shield tunnels with different diameters and thicknesses are analyzed and calculated by time-history method and free field deformation method. The calculation and analysis above help to identify the stiffness ratio to measure the relationship of structure’s stiffness and soil’s stiffness and the derivation of a revised stiffness solution based on the free field deformation method. The results indicate that this method can calculate seismic stress of shield tunnels with different diameters and thicknesses accurately.

The solid electrolyte Li 0.5 La 0.5 TiO 3 (LLTO) with high lithium ion conductivity was prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method, and those LLTO powders were mixed with inactive second phase (Al 2 O 3 , MgO, SiO 2 ) to give composites. The microstructure and conductivity properties of the composite are investigated by using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and AC impedance method. Those prepared LLTO is cubic crystal with superstructure. All conductivities of LLTO-based composites decrease with the addition of Al 2 O 3 or MgO, but the grain boundary conductivity increases with the addition of SiO 2 .

It can greatly improve the system performance by introducing cooperative communication into Cognitive Radio Networks (CRNs), but it has also increased the complexity of the CRNs. As is known to all, the average throughput of the CRNs will decrease as the number of relay nodes increases. In order to solve this problem, we used a selection amplify-and-forward scheme to relay. In order to maximize the system throughput of the CRNs, based on maximizing the received SNR, we proposed an optimal power allocation algorithm combined with best relay selection and cooperative communication. First, by best relay selection algorithm, we can find the best relay link. Then, an optimal power allocation algorithm was proposed to maximize the system capacity of the CRNs under the constraints of limited interference to the primary users and limited total transmission power of the secondary users. Using the convex optimization theory and Kuhn - Tucker conditions, we obtain closed-form expressions for solving the optimal solution. Finally, Mat lab based simulation experiments are used to verify the superiority of the proposed algorithms. It shows that these algorithms can effectively reduce power consumption, fully use space diversity gain, increase system capacity, and improve QoS and system reliability.

Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.) is the most economically valuable crop possessing crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM), a photosynthetic carbon assimilation pathway with high water use efficiency, and the second most important tropical fruit after banana in terms of international trade. We sequenced the genomes of pineapple varieties ‘F153’ and ‘MD2’, and a wild pineapple relative A. bracteatus accession CB5. The pineapple genome has one fewer ancient whole genome duplications than sequenced grass genomes and, therefore, provides an important reference for elucidating gene content and structure in the last common ancestor of extant members of the grass family (Poaceae). Pineapple has a conserved karyotype with seven pre rho duplication chromosomes that are ancestral to extant grass karyotypes. The pineapple lineage has transitioned from C3 photosynthesis to CAM with CAM-related genes exhibiting a diel expression pattern in photosynthetic tissues using beta-carbonic anhydrase (βCA) for initial capture of CO2. Promoter regions of all three βCA genes contain a CCA1 binding site that can bind circadian core oscillators. CAM pathway genes were enriched with cis-regulatory elements including the morning (CCACAC) and evening (AAAATATC) elements associated with regulation of circadian-clock genes, providing the first link between CAM and the circadian clock regulation. Gene-interaction network analysis revealed both activation and repression of regulatory elements that control key enzymes in CAM photosynthesis, indicating that CAM evolved by reconfiguration of pathways preexisting in C3 plants. Pineapple CAM photosynthesis is the result of regulatory neofunctionalization of preexisting gene copies and not acquisition of neofunctionalized genes via whole genome or tandem gene duplication.

Measuring the strength of dependence between two sets of random variables lies at the heart of many statistical problems, in particular, feature selection for pattern recognition. We believe that there are some basic desirable criteria for a measure of dependence not satisfied by many commonly employed measures, such as the correlation coefficient, Briefly stated, a measure of dependence should: (1) be model-free and invariant under monotone transformations of the marginals; (2) fully differentiate different levels of dependence; (3) be applicable to both continuous and categorical distributions; (4) should not have the dependence of X on Y be necessarily the same as the dependence of Y on X; (5) be readily estimated from data; and (6) be straightforwardly extended to multivariate distributions. The new measure of dependence introduced in this paper, called the coefficient of intrinsic dependence(CID), satisfies these criteria. The main motivating idea is that Y is strongly (weakly, resp.) dependent on X if and only if the conditional distribution of Y given X is significantly (mildly, resp.) different from the marginal distribution of Y. We measure the difference by the normalized integrated square difference distance so that the full range of dependence can be adequately reflected in the interval [0, 1]. The paper treats estimation of the CID, provides simulations and comparisons, and applies the CID to gene prediction and cancer classification based on gene-expression measurements from microarrays.

The transport of exogenous surfactant in an axisymmetric pulmonary airway lining is analyzed using the model based on lubrication theory to understand the parameters involved in surfactant replacement therapy for neonatal respiratory distress syndrome, including the ratio of film thickness-to-airway radius e , and the initial exogenous and endogenous surfactant distributions. Numerical simulation of the model indicates that the film disturbance induced by Marangoni flow in low generation airways (small e , such as trachea) would be more significant than that in high generation airways (large e , such as bronchioles) for the same amount of instilled surfactant. The non-dimensional transport properties of the exogenous surfactant, however, are virtually identical in various airway generations considered. Increasing the initial local exogenous concentration enhances the surfactant transport and also intensifies the film disturbance. The presence of endogenous surfactant tends to moderate the shock-like film disturbance and also prolongs the extent of surfactant monolayer front. This, however, does not mean that the spread of exogenous surfactant is enhanced with the presence of endogenous surfactant. The extended monolayer is attributed to the compression of endogenous surfactant concentration in regions ahead of the advancing exogenous surfactant front.

Background The in vivo infectious clone of Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV), p35S-TuMV, was used on plant pathology research for many years. To activate p35S-TuMV, the plasmid was mechanically introduced to the local lesion host Chenopodium quinoa. However, low infectivity occurred when the TuMV from C. quinoa was transferred to the systemic host Nicotiana benthamiana. Results To increase the efficiency of initial infectivity on N. benthamiana, the expression of the TuMV infectious clone by a binary vector that directly activates viral RNA through agro-infiltration is considered to be a good alternative. The size of the binary vector by agro-infiltration is usually large and its backbone has numerous restriction sites that increase difficulty for construction. In this study, we attempted to construct a mini binary vector (pBD003) with less restriction sites. The full-length cDNA of TuMV genome, with or without green fluorescence protein, was inserted in pBD003 to generate pBD-TuMV constructs, which were then individually introduced to N. benthamiana plants by agro-infiltration. Symptom development and ELISA positivity with TuMV antiserum indicated that the pBD-TuMV constructs are infectious. Moreover, the initial infectivity of a mild strain TuMV-GK, which contains an R182K mutation on HC-Pro, constructed in the pBD003 vector was significantly increased by agro-infiltration. Conclusion Thus, we concluded that the newly constructed mini binary vector provides a more feasible tool for TuMV researches in areas, such as creating a mild strain for cross-protection, or a viral vector for foreign gene expression. In addition, the multiple cloning sites will be further cloned in pBD003 for convenience in constructing other viral infectious clones. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1999-3110-54-22) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Liver cirrhosis is a critical state in the natural course of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We sought to investigate the potential of in-depth proteomics to reveal plasma protein signatures that reflect common networks/pathways of liver cirrhosis, and to determine whether the cirrhosis-related signature in plasma is linked to the development of HCC among hepatitis B virus (HBV) carriers. We first compared plasma protein profiles using a 174-antibody microarray system between three groups of HBV carriers with different Child's grades of cirrhosis, which revealed a panel of 45 differentially expressed proteins with a high accuracy for discriminating Child's B/C. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis identified two main up-regulated networks connecting the 45 proteins that were most enriched for genes in the pathway of hepatic stellate cell activation. A parsimonious subset of 11 pathway-based proteins was then selected for quantification to correlate with HCC risk among 49 HCC cases and 50 controls in a nested case-control study within a 16-yr follow-up cohort of HBV carriers. A high risk score derived from a principal component analysis, which was used to extract the cluster structure of the 11 proteins, was associated with HCC (odds ratio = 4.83, 95% confidence interval: 1.26-18.56) even after adjustment for viral and clinical variables, implying the involvement of a pattern of coordinated proteins. Stepwise logistic regression on the 11 proteins revealed ICAM-2 as an independent predictor for HCC. These findings may give further insight into the pathobiology of hepatocarcinogenesis, allow testing of the cirrhosis-related plasma protein signature as a potential predictive biomarker for HCC.

As an important group of brominated flame retardants, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) persist in the wildlife food webs. However, the biomagnification of PBDEs has not been adequately studied in the terrestrial food webs. In this study, a terrestrial food web composed of common kestrels, sparrows, rats, grasshoppers, and dragonflies in the urban environment from northern China was obtained. A field prey delivery study, reinforced by δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N analyses, indicates that sparrows are the primary prey items of common kestrels. Concentrations of PBDEs were in the following order: common kestrel > sparrow > rat > grasshopper and dragonfly with BDE-209 as the dominant congener. Biomagnification factors (BMFs) were calculated as the ratio between the lipid normalized concentrations in the predator and prey. The highest BMF (6.9) was determined for BDE-153 in sparrow/common kestrel food chain. Other higher brominated congeners, such as BDE-202, -203, -154, -183, -197, and -209, were also biomagnified in this terrestrial food chain with BMF of 1.3-4.7. BDE-47, -99, and -100 were found to be biodiluted from sparrow to common kestrel (BMFs < 1). Measured BMF values for BDE-153, -47, -99, and -100 were consistent with predicted values from a nonsteady-state model in American kestrels from another study. Retention factors and metabolism of BDE congeners may be confounding factors influencing the measured BMFs in this current study.

The solid electrolyte Li 0.5 La 0.5 TiO 3 (LLTO) with high lithium ion conductivity was prepared by the conventional solid-state reaction method, and those LLTO powders were mixed with inactive second phase (Al 2 O 3 , MgO, SiO 2 ) to give composites. The microstructure and conductivity properties of the composite are investigated by using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and AC impedance method. Those prepared LLTO is cubic crystal with superstructure. All conductivities of LLTO-based composites decrease with the addition of Al 2 O 3 or MgO, but the grain boundary conductivity increases with the addition of SiO 2 .

The authors sought to evaluate the treatment outcome of children with medulloblastoma at a single institution. Forty-two children were analyzed. Eighty-six percent of the children who received chemotherapy were treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy. No factors were found to affect outcome significantly. Compared with children treated before 1994 at the same institution, the median survival time was significantly longer (40 vs. 25 months, p = .0003). The authors conclude that some improvement of treatment outcome for children with medulloblastoma seemed to be achieved.