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Background: Epstein‒Barr virus-associated gastric cancer (EBVaGC) is regarded as a distinct molecular subtype of GC, accounting for approximately 9% of all GC cases, and it often exhibits unique molecular features and clinicopathological characteristics. Clinically, EBVaGC patients are found to have a significantly lower frequency of lymph node metastasis and better prognosis than uninfected individuals. RNA N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification has an indispensable role in modulating tumour progression in various cancer types. However, its impact on EBVaGC remains unclear. Methods: Methylated RNA immunoprecipitation sequence (MeRIP-seq) and m6A dot blot were conducted to compare the m6A modification levels between EBVaGC and EBV-negative GC (EBVnGC) cells. Western blot, real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and immunohistochemistry were applied to explore the underlying mechanism of the reduced m6A modification in EBVaGC. The biological function of FTO was determined in vivo and in vitro. The target genes of FTO were screened by MeRIP-seq, RT-qPCR and Western blot. The m6A binding proteins of target genes were verified by RNA pulldown and RNA immunoprecipitation assay. Chromatin immunoprecipitation and Luciferase report assay were performed to investigate the mechanism how EBV upregulated FTO expression. Results: Here, we found that m6A demethylase fat mass and obesity associated protein (FTO) was notably increased in EBVaGC, leading to a reduction in m6A modification, and higher FTO expression was associated with better clinical outcomes. Our findings revealed that FTO depressed EBVaGC cell metastasis and aggressiveness both in vitro and in vivo by controlling the expression of its downstream target gene AP-1 transcription factor subunit (FOS). Methylated FOS mRNA was specifically recognized by the m6A “reader” insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein 1/2 (IGF2BP1/2), which enhanced its transcript stability. Moreover, we demonstrated that MYC activated by EBV in EBVaGC elevated FTO expression by binding to a specific region of the FTO promoter. Conclusions: Mechanistically, our work uncovered a crucial suppressive role of FTO in EBVaGC metastasis and invasiveness via an m6A-FOS-IGF2BP1/2-dependent manner, suggesting a promising biomarker panel for GC metastatic prediction and therapy.

A water curtain system is widely adopted in the underground storage of gas/oil in unlined rock caverns to maintain a stable groundwater level and ensure a good water sealing condition for the storage facility. Hydrogeological tests were conventionally carried out in practice to assess the hydraulic conductivity of the surrounding rocks and evaluate the performance of the water curtain system. Among them, the hydraulic connectivity between adjacent boreholes is assessed using interconnectivity test, and it is commonly thought that, if the measured connectivity between two neighboring boreholes is low, a new borehole has to be added in the middle of them to improve the local efficiency of water curtain system. This paper reexamines the viewpoint of using interconnectivity test to determine the necessity of adding borehole. To this end, the conditions of water sealing were firstly discussed and the deficiency of existing water-sealing criterion was presented, with a new rigorous criterion proposed. The equivalent porous medium (EPM) flow model and fractured porous medium (FPM) flow model, two representative models for groundwater flow analysis, were then used to investigate the influences of borehole spacing and stored gas pressure on seepage field. These numerical results were employed to validate the proposed water-sealing criterion and suggested that, in terms of forming a stable water covering layer, the addition of borehole based on interconnectivity test is unnecessary and should be canceled for saving time and reducing cost.

The assessment of the groundwater flow rate around the cavern periphery is a critical requirement for the design of underground water-sealed oil storage caverns and commonly made through seepage analysis, where a reasonable estimation of the hydraulic conductivity of the host rock is the key issue. However, it is a challenge to accurately determine the hydraulic conductivity of natural rock masses owing to their heterogeneous and anisotropic nature. The underground storage cavern project has a unique favorable condition in that there is a water curtain system that can provide considerable hydraulic test data for inferring hydraulic parameters, however, no well-established method has ever been proposed to exploit these data for characterizing heterogeneity in hydraulic conductivity. This study presents a new approach to evaluate the spatial variation of hydraulic conductivity using water curtain borehole data. This approach treats the peripheral region of each borehole as a homogenous unit with a particular equivalent permeability coefficient that can be back-calculated from the measured injection flow rate of the borehole using a numerically established empirical formula. Besides, the impact of curtain gallery drainage, occurring in the construction stage, on the seepage field was investigated while the effect of the rock fracture configuration on hydraulic conductivity assessment was examined. The proposed method enables robust and accurate mapping of heterogeneity in the hydraulic conductivity of host rocks and provides a new idea of effectively utilizing hydro-geological test data to derive the hydraulic conductivity of rock masses surrounding water-sealed storage caverns.

In rock engineering, block theory is a fundamental theory that aims to analyze the finiteness, removability, and mechanical stability of convex blocks under different engineering conditions. In practice, the possible combinations of the fractures and joint sets that may generate key blocks can be identified by stereographic projection graphs of block theory. However, classic key block theory does not provide solutions for nonconvex blocks, which are very common in civil projects, such as those with underground edges, corners, and portals. To enhance the availability of block theory, a general algorithm that can analyze the removability and stability of blocks of arbitrary shapes is proposed in this paper. In the proposed algorithm, the joint pyramid for blocks of arbitrary shapes can be computed, and the faces of the blocks are grouped according to their normal vectors such that parallel or nonadjacent sliding faces with the same normal vector can be immediately identified when the sliding mode is determined. With this algorithm, blocks of arbitrary shapes can be analyzed, and users do not need to have experience interpreting graphs of block theory to take advantage of its accuracy and effectiveness. The proposed algorithm was verified by several benchmarking examples, and it was further applied to investigate the stability of the left bank rock slope of a dam. The results showed that the proposed algorithm is correct, effective, and feasible for use in the design and support of excavation in complex rock masses.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common malignant tumors with poor survival. It is urgent to search for new efficient drugs with good stability and safety for clinical therapy. This study aims to identify potential anticancer drugs from a compound library consisting of 429 natural products. Echinatin, a compound isolated from the Chinese herb Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch, was found to markedly induce apoptosis and inhibit proliferation and colony-formation ability in ESCC. Confocal fluorescence microscopy data showed that echinatin significantly induced autophagy in ESCC cells, and autophagy inhibitor bafilomycinA1 attenuated the suppressive effects of echinatin on cell viability and apoptosis. Mechanistically, RNA sequencing coupled with bioinformatics analysis and a series of functional assays revealed that echinatin induced apoptosis and autophagy through inactivation of AKT/mTOR signaling pathway, whereas constitutive activation of AKT significantly abrogated these effects. Furthermore, we demonstrated that echinatin had a significant antitumor effect in the tumor xenograft model and markedly suppressed cell migration and invasion abilities of ESCC cells in a dose-dependent manner. Our findings provide the first evidence that echinatin could be a novel therapeutic strategy for treating ESCC.

Lung cancer is the most frequent cancer worldwide with a poor prognosis. Identification of novel cancer targets and useful therapeutic strategies without toxicity are urgently needed. In this study, we screened natural products for anticancer bioactivity in a library consisting of 429 small molecules. We demonstrated for the first time that daurisoline, a constituent of Rhizoma Menispermi, repressed lung cancer cell proliferation by inducing cell cycle arrest at the G1 phase. Furthermore, daurisoline was found not only to suppress the growth of lung tumor xenografts in animals without obvious side effects, but also to inhibit cell migration and invasion. Mechanistically, quantitative proteomics and bioinformatics analyses, Western blotting and qRT-PCR confirmed that daurisoline exerted its anticancer effects by inhibiting the expression levels of β-catenin and its downstream targets c-myc and cyclin D1. Furthermore, our data from Drug Affinity Responsive Target Stability (DARTS), isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and a series of functional assays demonstrated that daurisoline could target HSP90 directly and disrupt its interaction with β-catenin, therefore increasing the ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation of β-catenin. This study reveals that daurisoline could be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of lung cancer.

The rapid development of digital mapping technologies such as terrestrial laser scanning, digital photogrammetry has allowed the exact acquisition of superficial information of discontinuities in rock exposures. Nevertheless, it remains challenging to quantify the spatial dimension and areal persistence of discontinuities due to the impossibility of direct observation of complete extent of discontinuities in three dimensions. The difficulties of characterizing individual discontinuities deterministically lead to the development of stochastic 3-D discontinuity networks. The stochastic modeling scheme are based on the statistical analysis of the measured discontinuity parameters; hence, the generated discontinuity networks represent discontinuity system in a statistical sense, and in most cases, the discontinuity traces formed by stochastic model are inconsistent with those observed at rock outcrops. To deal with this issue, this study presented a new method to simulate discontinuity network, which employs the real traces exposed on the cavern roof as the constraint condition of stochastic modeling and is described herein as semi-stochastic. The method takes discontinuities as circular discs and establishes geometrical relationship between the radius and the center of circular disc respectively for three classes of traces (i.e. trace has two ends, only one end, and neither end, visible in the sampling window). A case study with the proposed method shows that the traces yielded by the intersections of modeled discontinuity network with the cavern roof are in close agreement with actual situation. This semi-stochastic method further improves conventional stochastic modeling technique in terms of enabling a more realistic representation of rock discontinuities.

In hard rock masses, rock destruction is often manifested in the form of the local failure of the blocks formed due to fracturing. In this paper, we compare the application of block theory and three-dimensional (3D) block-cutting analysis to underground caverns. Using block theory, we can determine both the type of removable block and key block for different excavation surfaces. We can then identify ‘support-required’ blocks from the key blocks by drawing and analyzing the shapes of the maximum likely blocks (i.e. the largest blocks likely to be formed when the fractures are extended indefinitely in a definite-sized cavern). Subsequently, 3D block-cutting analysis is used to identify all the spatial blocks cut by all the finite-sized fractures in the rock mass region. Based on the geometrical information gathered about each spatial block, we carry out an analysis of the progressive failure of the block system. The simulation results allow us to explore the statistical laws governing the distribution of progressive failure blocks. This is a very important aspect which can be used to determine the spacing and length of the rock bolts required, or to check the design of the intended rock support regime. Overall, if we can understand the shortcomings of classic block theory (due to, for example, the assumptions made) and properly utilize the benefits gained from 3D block-cutting analysis, we can deal with more complicated issues. Thus, we hope to gain a more intensive and extensive understanding of block failure analysis.

In the case of very complex geometric morphology in three-dimensional (3-d) calculation regions, the subdivision of finite element meshes tends to be very difficult or even impossible. This problem was especially dominant in the element subdivision of rock blocks cut by arbitrary fracture networks. This study proposed a directed simplex subdivision method of 2- and 3-d regions which can readily subdivide a complex region and automatically adapt to arbitrary variations of region boundaries. The directed simplex was employed as finite elements for the first time. When the nodes of 2-d simplex (triangle) were connected anticlockwise and the nodes of 3-d simplex (tetrahedron) were linked by the right hand screw rule, the finite element is treated as a positive element. Otherwise, it is treated as a negative element. However, some generated elements presented superposition, which was unallowable in the normal finite element method (FEM). Therefore, the superposition principle of positive and negative finite elements was proposed. Such superposition method can transform a normal FEM mesh into a positive–negative FEM mesh with maintaining its completeness and compatibility. Finally, 1-d, 2-d, and 3-d cases were used as examples to verify the validity of the proposed method. The completeness and compatibility of the positive–negative FEM and the normal FEM are consistent. The accuracy of these two methods differs due to the difference of nodal connection relationships, node numbers, and element sizes. However, as the mesh is refined, the calculated results tend to be consistent.

Thrombin inhibition therapy is a practical strategy to reduce thrombotic and cardiovascular risks

Vemurafenib is a B-Raf V600E inhibitor that exerts significant inhibitory effects in melanoma but not in colon cancer, and the mechanism of vemurafenib resistance remains unclear. In this study, bioinformatics analysis of gene profiles in cancer cells treated with vemurafenib or its analog revealed that cell cycle progression is significantly affected by vemurafenib. We found that CDK1 is stably activated in the vemurafenib-resistant (VR) colon cancer sublines that we established, indicating that CDK1 activation is responsible for vemurafenib resistance. As the KCTD12-CDK1 interaction is necessary for CDK1 activation, we screened an FDA-approved drug library consisting of 616 compounds and identified that adefovir dipivoxil (AD), a nucleoside analog for treatment of HBV infections, disrupts the CDK1-KCTD12 interaction and induces G2 phase arrest in the cell cycle. Functional assays demonstrated that AD significantly inhibited colon cancer cell proliferation and tumorigenesis both in vitro and in vivo with no observed side effects. Furthermore, AD sensitized vemurafenib-resistant colon cancer cells and tumor xenografts to vemurafenib. This study reveals that CDK1 activation induces vemurafenib resistance and that AD is a promising therapeutic strategy for colon cancer both as a single agent and in combination with vemurafenib.

There are many studies concerning hydro-mechanical coupling model based on discontinuous deformation analysis (DDA). However, verification of the coupling model and its application to practical engineering are rarely found. In this paper, we first introduced the distributed load sub-matrix of water pressure and described the calculation procedures of hydro-mechanical coupling analysis in the framework of DDA. Then, the correctness of the coupling model was verified respectively through analyses of buoyancy, deformation of a block under uniform water pressure and hydraulic fracturing. Finally, the model was applied to evaluate the sliding stability of a gravity dam foundation in China. The failure process and stability factor were calculated by two different stability evaluation methods (the strength reduction method and the overloading method), and the obtained stability factors were compared with those solved by the commonly used limit equilibrium analysis methods. The strength reduction method revealed that the rock strata of dam foundation slide with different displacements along several weak interlayers of different depths, whereas the overloading method revealed that the rock strata slide mainly along a special interlayer beneath the anti-sliding concrete stud, which was designed to be near the dam heel. The DDA method clearly shows the process of rock block failure and profoundly reveals the difference in sliding mode caused by using different stability evaluation methods.

Due to the complexity of geometry and the difficulty of mesh discretization of 3D (three-dimensional) blocks cut by complexly distributed fractures, explicitly considering arbitrary fracture network in fractured porous medium (FPM) flow analysis is very challenging for various numerical methods. In this study, we developed a FPM flow model by taking full advantage of numerical manifold method (NMM) with independent covers. With the independent covers, arbitrarily-shaped 3D blocks identified by block-cutting analysis can be directly used as basic computational elements. Along the boundaries of the divided blocks, fractures elements are generated according to the fractures’ apertures. Therefore, it is able to handle very complicated fracture network in 3D flow analysis without need to subdivide 3D blocks into computational meshes. In order to refine the meshes, we introduced artificial fractures with same material properties as surrounding rock into a fracture network, without need to coordinate with the shapes of the blocks. We demonstrated our new model on different 2D examples. At last, we applied our model to 2D and 3D examples with complexly distributed fractures, and achieved reasonable results. The results show that our model is very powerful to analyze fluid flow in arbitrarily and complexly fractured rock mass in 3D.

Metastasis accounts for 90% of cancer death worldwide, and effective therapeutic strategies are lacking. The aim of this work is to identify the key drivers in tumor metastasis and screen therapeutics for treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). Gene Ontology analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) gene expression datasets of ESCC patients with or without lympy metastasis identifies that TGFβ2 is highly enriched in the pathways essential for tumor metastasis and upregulates in the metastatic ESCC tumors. High TGFβ2 expression in ESCC correlates with metastasis and patient survival, and functionally contributes to tumor metastasis via activating extracellular signal‐regulated kinases (ERK) signaling. By screening of a library consisting of 429 bioactive compounds, imperatorin is verified as a novel TGFβ2 inhibitor, with robustly suppressive effect on tumor metastasis in multiple mice models. Mechanistically, direct binding of imperatorin and CREB1 inhibits phosphorylation, nuclear translocation of CREB1, and its interaction with TGFβ2 promoter, represses TGFβ2 expression and fibroblasts‐secreted CCL2, and then inactivates ERK signaling to block cancer invasion and abrogates the paracrine effects of fibroblasts on tumor angiogenesis and metastasis. Overall, the findings suggest the use of TGFβ2 as a diagnostic and prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target in ESCC, and supports the potential of imperatorin as a novel therapeutic strategy for cancer metastasis.

Geological solid modeling has been widely studied and applied in geological analysis relevant to rock engineering, mining, geophysics, geo-hazard assessment, and geographic information systems (GIS). The discontinuities and other faces that may be planes or surfaces need to be fully considered in an attempt to yield solids formed by the mutual intersection and cutting between faces in practical geological modeling. As one kind of geological solid modeling approach, 3D block cutting analysis can simultaneously identify tens of thousands of solids (blocks) from a complicated 3D discontinuity network without user intervention. However, this analysis can only address planes and build flat blocks. In this paper, we propose a method of 3D curved block cutting analysis. The corresponding algorithm is presented completely, with some key processes of analysis thoroughly accounted for, such as solving the surface-to-surface intersection, analyzing the composition of vertices, and analyzing relevant loops. Our proposed method fully exploits the advantages of topology and computational geometry. The 3D curved blocks can be accurately constructed and represented with minor computation and memory. Analysis examples showed that several hundreds of curved blocks can be automatically constructed within one minute using a microcomputer. This method is of significance for the development of geological solid modeling and can provide a reference for related studies.

Integrin-linked kinase (ILK), which is an ankyrin repeat-containing serine/threonine protein kinase, interacts with integrin β1 and the β3 cytoplasmic domain and phosphorylates integrin β1. ILK has multiple functions in cells, such as cell-extracellular matrix interactions, cell cycle, apoptosis, cell proliferation and cell motility, which are associated with the interacting partners of ILK and downstream signaling pathways. Upregulation of ILK is frequently observed in cancer tissues compared to corresponding normal tissues. Emerging evidence has demonstrated that ILK plays an important role in biological processes associated with tumorigenesis, including cancer cell proliferation, angiogenesis, metastasis, and drug resistance. Furthermore, inhibition of ILK expression and activity using siRNA or chemical inhibitors has shown a significant suppressive effect on cancer development and progression, implicating the potential of ILK as a target for cancer treatment. In this review, we summarized the functional role of ILK in tumorigenesis, with the expectation that targeting ILK could provide more evidence for cancer therapy.

Summary Finite element generation of complicated fracture networks is the core issue and source of technical difficulty in three-dimensional (3-D) discrete fracture network (DFN) flow models. Due to the randomness and uncertainty in the configuration of a DFN, the intersection lines (traces) are arbitrarily distributed in each face (fracture and other surfaces). Hence, subdivision of the fractures is an issue relating to subdivision of two-dimensional (2-D) domains with arbitrarily-distributed constraints. When the DFN configuration is very complicated, the well-known approaches (e.g. Voronoi Delaunay-based methods and advancing-front techniques) cannot operate properly. This paper proposes an algorithm to implement end-to-end connection between traces to subdivide 2-D domains into closed loops. The compositions of the vertices in the common edges between adjacent loops (which may belong to a single fracture or two connected fractures) are thus ensured to be topologically identical. The paper then proposes an approach for triangulating arbitrary loops which does not add any nodes to ensure consistency of the meshes at the common edges. In addition, several techniques relating to tolerance control and improving code robustness are discussed. Finally, the equivalent permeability of the rock mass is calculated for some very complicated DFNs (the DFN may contain 1272 fractures, 633 connected fractures, and 16,270 closed loops). The results are compared with other approaches to demonstrate the veracity and efficiency of the approach proposed in this paper.

Locating all spatial blocks cut by an arbitrary three-dimensional discrete fracture network (DFN) within a rock mass volume is a basic issue in many research fields related to fractured rock masses. In this paper, analysis procedures based on both the oriented rule and the closed rule are described, followed by a description of a proposed method for block progressive failure analysis. Lastly, two engineering cases in which the proposed method is implemented are presented. The results show that the identified blocks may be extremely complicated and may even be composed of thousands of loops (block faces consist of loops); block progressive failure analysis is extremely useful and efficient in determining block-reinforcement measures. Overall, the 3-d block cutting analysis is important progress in block theory and has a large potential for application in fractured rock masses.

E-mail: baolinli@snnu.edu.cnReceived January 4, 2014, Accepted March 10, 2014Key Words : O-Isopropylidenation, Carbohydrates, Acetals, Ion exchange resinProtection of hydroxyl functions by O-isopropylidenationis an important method in the field of carbohydrate chemistry.Due to its convenient application in synthetic, configu-rational and conformational studies

The orientation, trace length, spacing, and location of probabilistic discontinuities in rock masses are randomly developed. Thus, the shape, size, and location of blocks cut off by these probabilistic discontinuities are accordingly stochastic. It is difficult, or even impossible, to determine the volume and location of the blocks using the block theory proposed by Goodman and Shi (1985) . Stochastic block analysis (SBA) is capable of identifying three-dimensional (3-D) stochastic blocks from a randomly developed discontinuity network (discrete fracture network). However, in practice, 3-D blocks are not identified well in simulated fracture networks and so the use of SBA is seldom encountered. In this paper, the procedures involved in stochastic block identification are first outlined. The concept and calculation of overlaying area and ratio are then introduced. Then, the stochastic block identification results are used to explore the statistical distribution of the block size and overlaying ratio. Subsequently, the laws governing development of the stochastic blocks were elucidated. The results show that the block size has a negative exponential distribution and the overlaying ratio follows a Γ distribution. The overlaying ratio increases as the trace length to spacing ratio increases. We further outline, for the first time, approaches to determine block support measures by analyzing the characteristics of the statistical distributions of the stochastic blocks. Block support issues relating to a practical underground plant were also studied. The lengths and anchor forces and spacings of the rock bolts were quantitatively determined according to the results of a statistical analysis of the stochastic blocks. Statistical analysis of stochastic blocks is of great significance in understanding the development characteristics of the stochastic blocks and in quantitatively determining block support measures.

Summary It is necessary to consider a great number of arbitrarily developed fractures in applications involving realistic 3-d fracture network flow models of rock masses. In order to model the fluid flow in a complicated arrangement of discrete fracture networks (DFNs), two core issues have to be solved. Firstly, how does one identify the connection relationships between fractures in the 3-d arbitrary fracture network? Secondly, how can one calculate numerically the fluid flow in arbitrarily-shaped 2-d domains? This paper first proposes that the boundaries of all enclosed blocks form flow pathways. All enclosed blocks can be identified using a 3-d block cutting method. The boundaries of the blocks are composed of loops which are formed by intersecting lines between all faces (fractures and other surfaces). Therefore, the connection relationships between fractures can be determined according to the linkages of the loops. Accordingly, the linkages of the finite element nodes between different faces can also be determined. On the other hand, the fluid flow occurring in the fractures can be treated as a 2-d continuous flow within the arbitrarily shaped loops in the fracture’s local coordinates. We propose that these loops can be meshed into triangles using a method of simplex triangulation of the arbitrarily shaped domain. Then, according to the linkages between nodes, the global conductivity matrix can be assembled and the solution of the equations governing flow can be derived. Three cases are used to validate the model. Finally, an analysis is made of a practical engineering example (with 8914 lines of intersection and 4188 loops) which shows that the proposed flow model is practicable and can deal with complicated DFNs.

We report an efficient per-O-acetylation of carbohydrates. The use was made of the sulfonated carbon nanocage with high specific surface area and uniform mesoporous structure as a recyclable heterogeneous catalyst. This protocol eliminates the need to involve pyridine and provides products in good to excellent yields.

Most odorous compounds are toxic or hazardous for ecological environment and human health. Compare with the physical or chemical methods, the biological technologies can offer a cost effective and environment friendly alternative to odorous control. The microorganisms in the bioreactor were mainly the bacteria. But the removal efficient (RE) of pollutants by bacteria in the conditions of low moisture content and low pH seemed not so excellent. Recently, fungi were found that they could keep high activity and grew better in this condition than bacteria, and some characteristics of fungi were favor to the pollutions degradation, which showed the great potential to treat the hydrophobic compounds of the odors. Some scholars had paid their attentions in this field and did related researches. This review aimed to summarize the studies about the use of fungi in the odorous treatment and insight into the future research and development (R&D) needs of fungi in odorous control.

The accuracy of ion implantation is very important in semiconductor manufacturing and will directly affect the performance of the individual devices and even the whole chip. The deviation of IMP energy, dose and angle are often encountered because of the abnormality of implant equipment or process design limit. The ion implantation energy, dose and angle information can be qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed through SIMS [2], which provides a way to diagnose the issue of ion implanter. Based on SIMS analysis results, we can judge whether ion implant results meet the requirements and whether the process design achieves the expected goal. In this paper we report a SIMS data processing method for the analysis of the deviation of ion implantation angle. A term of deviation rate was defined and the related calculation method was introduced, which is proportional to the deviation angles of the ion implanter. And then, a statistical analysis of a large number of data on deviation rates and ion implantation angles showed that the whole sampling data followed normal distribution, and thus the corresponding 3 sigma could be obtained. Using the determined 3 sigma range of the deviation rates, we can define the acceptable range for deviation rate. Further, we can use the actual deviation rate to judge if the implant equipment needs maintenance or not, or suggest the direction for improvement. The equipment's maintenance time and cost can thus be minimized. This method can be used as an early detection to find an abnormity in an ion implant tool.

To study the status of EB virus (EBV) infection and the spectrum of EBV infection-related diseases.A total of 761 plasma samples with suspected EBV infection were collected from 761 children (aged from 22 days to 14 years) admitted between August 2010 and July 2011. EBV-DNA of 761 plasma samples was detected by real-time PCR. The epidemiological characteristics and final clinical diagnosis were analyzed based on the clinical data of these EBV-positive hospitalized patients.A total of 109 cases with EBV infection were detected by real-time PCR, with a positive rate of 14.3%. There were significant differences in the positive rate of EBV-DNA among different age groups and between seasons (P0.05). The positive rate of EBV-DNA in the baby group (1 year old) was lowest (P0.05), and the positive rate of EBV-DNA in summer was higher than in winter (P0.05). The range of plasma EBV-DNA level in children with EBV-DNA positivity was 2.13 to 6.69 (median 3.72). Based on the final diagnosis of 62 EBV-positive hospitalized children, the most common disease was respiratory system infection (39%), such as acute bronchitis, acute upper respiratory infection and bronchopneumonia.The EBV-DNA positive rate is different among different age groups and between seasons. Respiratory system infection is a leading disease in hospitalized children who are EBV-DNA positive. Real-time PCR assay is useful for rapid and reliable clinical diagnosis of EBV in children.

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) is one modern information technology of the core content and important techniques that applying in education. This article aims at basketball theory teaching and brings CAI technology into the practice courses. This is in favor of improving teaching approach and system. Moreover, it can develop students’ learning initialization, intensify learning pertinence, increase teachers’ teaching level, and accelerate sports knowledge upgrade.

To investigate the nonbacterial pathogens in children with acute respiratory infection (ARI) in Nanjing.The presence of Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) was determined by quantitative PCR in the nasopharyngeal samples from 1 592 hospitalized children with ARI. Common respiratory viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), adenovirus (ADV), influenza virus types A and B (IVA and IVB), parainfluenza virus types 1, 2, 3(PIV-1, 2, 3) and human metapneumovirus (hMPV), were detected using direct immunofluorescence assay.MP and CT were detected in 25.7% and 2.4% of the 1 592 samples respectively. The overall positive rate of respiratory viruses was 40.9%. Among the viruses, the top detected virus was RSV (61.3%), followed by PIV-3 (6.7%) and hMPV (4.9%). Mixed infection among MP, CT and viruses was observed in 107 cases (6.7%). The infants under 1 year old were susceptible to mix-infection (68/107, 63.6%).Respiratory virus is the main pathogen responsible for ARI in children from Nanjing. RSV is the most commonly identified virus. MP is also the frequently identified pathogen for ARI in children. Mixed infection is common in infants under 1 year old.

Amorphous selenium is often used as the basic photoreceptor material in xerography in the form of a layer on an aluminum substrate. It is found that the dark decay rate of charge on the selenium surface can be reduced by the presence of a thin aluminum oxide film between the selenium and the substrate metal. In this study, different methods were explored for forming this film, including direct thermal oxidation and various glow-discharge methods. It was found that with thermal oxidation and low voltage glow discharge, the film thicknesses were limited to about 200 Å (1 Å = 10−10 m). However, with dc reactive sputtering, aluminum oxide films with thicknesses of more than 2000 Å could be prepared. Evaluation of the films, with the selenium layer present, indicated that the low voltage glow-discharge and direct thermal oxidation methods gave the best results xerographically.

To analyze the epidemiological conditions and characteristics of inpatients with traffic trauma in order to provide objective data for basic research and clinical application of traffic trauma.The data of 2213 inpatients with traffic trauma admitted to Lihuili Hospital, Ningbo Medical Centre, Ningbo, China, from January 2003 to September 2005 were studied retrospectively. According to the transportation ways, the patients were divided into four groups: pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists, and automobilists. And the data of injured regions, combined injuries and causes of death were analyzed statistically.Among the 2213 patients, there were 550 pedestrians (23.5%), 521 bicyclists (24.9%), 738 motorcyclists (33.3%), and 404 automobilists (18.3%). Male patients were more than female ones, with the ratio of male to female of 2.8:1. Single region injury was found in 1663 patients (75.15%) and multiple injuries in 550 patients (24.85%). In total, 2849 regions were injured. Fracture of extremities (53.3%) occurred most often, craniocerebral trauma (19.4%) next, then followed in turn by thoraco-abdominal visceral injury (6.56%), spine fracture (5.37%), fracture of ribs (4.88%), and pelvic fracture (4.18%). The percentage of multiple injuries (33.2%) was highest and the percentage of thoraco-abdominal injury (18.0%) was higher in motorcyclists. The percentages of craniocerebral trauma in pedestrians and bicyclists were 27.8% and 28.2%, respectively. The incidence of fracture of extremities in motorcyclists reached 73.8%, but with the lowest case-fatality ratio of 1.4%. The incidence of traffic accidents caused by motorcyclists themselves (32.8%) was highest. A total of 56 patients died, with the case-fatality ratio of 2.53%. Among the deaths, 47 died from craniocerebral injury, 6 from multiple fractures combined with hemorrhagic shock, 2 from combined injury in the thoraco-abdominal region, and 1 from cervical cord injury.Nowadays, the patients with traffic trauma are mainly pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists, and they suffer generally from fracture of extremities and craniocerebral injury. The main cause of death is craniocerebral injury. Another characteristic of traffic trauma is that the ratio of multiple injuries is higher.

In the process of acid hydrolysis of medical absorbent cotton, we have discovered that some of the domestic manufactured medical absorbent cotton is mixed with wasted non-cotton chemical fiber. If the cotton is used in medical treatments, the chemical fiber will cause irritation, allergy and inflammation, so it's very harmful. But the non-cotton fiber content is not stipulated in the standard of YY0330-2002, and no testing method for it is available. In this paper we discuss the existent quality problems, the control and the test method for non-cotton chemical fiber in medical absorbent cotton.