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As an essential biological feature of human beings, voiceprint is increasingly used in medical research and diagnosis, especially in identifying Parkinson’s Disease (PD). This paper proposes a Spectrogram Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Network (S-DCGAN) for sample augmentation to overcome the limited amount of existing patient voiceprint datasets and samples. S-DCGAN generates a high-resolution spectrogram by increasing network layers, adding the Spectral Normalization (SN) method, and combining feature matching strategy. The high-similarity and low-distortion spectrogram are selected in light of Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) values and Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) to augment the samples. Frechet Inception Distance (FID) and GAN-train result show the generalization ability of the generated data. We construct the ResNet50 model with a Global Average Pooling(GAP) layer to extract the voiceprint features and classify them effectively to improve recognition accuracy. The GAP suppresses the over-fitting problem and optimizes quickly. Finally, on the Sakar dataset, comparative experiments were conducted on different models and classification methods. Results show that the S-DCGAN-ResNet50 hybrid model can achieve the highest voiceprint recognition accuracy of 91.25% and specificity of 92.5%, which can distinguish between PD patients and healthy people more precisely compared with DCGAN-ResNet50. It augments the application environment of voiceprint recognition in the medical field and makes it universal in different datasets.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer type and one of the deadliest cancers worldwide. Transmembrane p24 trafficking protein 3 (TMED3) has previously been indicated to suppress CRC metastasis, but its clinical significance has remained undetermined. In the present study, the expression of TMED3 was indicated to be elevated at the mRNA and protein levels in CRC tumor samples relative to that in para-cancerous healthy tissue samples (P0.05). Furthermore, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis revealed a significant negative association between elevated TMED3 protein levels and overall survival of patients with CRC (P0.001, log-rank test). Multivariate Cox regression analysis additionally determined that elevated TMED3 expression in primary CRC tumors was an independent predictor of poor prognosis (P0.05). These results revealed that elevated TMED3 expression in CRC was associated with patient survival outcomes, suggesting that TMED3 may be a potential prognostic biomarker for this cancer type.

The recent process in the fabrication of the ordered Ge/Si quantum dots (QDs) is reviewed. The fabrication step generally started on the preparation of patterned substrate prepared in advance by using several interesting methods, such as photo lithography, focus ion beam (FIB), reactive ion etching (RIE), and extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV-IL) et al, which are introduced briefly in this article. Here, we’d like to focus on the detailed process of nanosphere lithography (NSL) which has the advantages of less cost and higher product compared with the referred methods. The ordered Ge nanostructures always show as Hexagonal close-packed array on the patterned Si substrate and have the advantages of potential applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Colorectal cancer is a severe cancer associated with a high prevalence and fatality rate. There are three major mechanisms for colorectal cancer: (1) Chromosome instability (CIN), (2) CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) and (3) mismatch repair (MMR), of which CIN is the most common type. However, these subtypes are not exclusive and overlap. To investigate their biological mechanisms and cross talk, the gene expression profiles of 585 colorectal cancer patients with CIN, CIMP and MMR status records were collected. By comparing the CIN+ and CIN-samples, CIMP+ and CIMP-samples, MMR+ and MMR-samples with minimal redundancy maximal relevance (mRMR) and incremental feature selection (IFS) methods, the CIN, CIMP and MMR associated genes were selected. Unfortunately, there was little direct overlap among them. To investigate their indirect interactions, downstream genes of CIN, CIMP and MMR were identified using the random walk with restart (RWR) method and a greater overlap of downstream genes was indicated. The common downstream genes were involved in biosynthetic and metabolic pathways. These findings were consistent with the clinical observation of wide range metabolite aberrations in colorectal cancer. To conclude, the present study gave a gene level explanation of CIN, CIMP and MMR, but also showed the network level cross talk of CIN, CIMP and MMR. The common genes of CIN, CIMP and MMR may be useful for cross-subtype general colorectal cancer drug development.

Recently, we established a new rat model of venous arterialization by grafting the jugular vein into carotid arteries. In many respects, the morphological features of this murine vascular graft model resemble those of human venous bypass graft diseases. Using this model, we studied nanoparticles that mediated the arresten gene to inhibit the neointimal formation of vein grafts.Thirty healthy Wistar female rats were randomly divided into three groups. Rat models of grafting the jugular vein into carotid arteries were established. Before and after surgery, all rats were subjected to anticoagulant drugs; and these were subcutaneously injected through different reagents after surgery. Group A: subcutaneous injection of nanoparticles to mediate the arresten gene (0.2 mL); group B: subcutaneous injection of blank nanoparticles (0.2 mL); group C: subcutaneous injection of saline (0.2 mL). At two weeks after the operation, veins of the objective blood vessel were obtained. Pathological changes of local vascular tissues and the new intima hyperplasia of experimental vascular segments were observed. Immunohistochemistry was used to observe the expression of MMPs.(I) After two weeks, pathological intimal hyperplasia reactions were more obvious in groups B and C than in group A (P0.05). The difference between groups B and C was not statistically significant (P0.05); (II) the expression of MMP-2 could be observed in different degrees among the three groups. The expression of MMP-2 markedly increased in groups B and C compared to group A (P0.05), but the difference between these two groups was not statistically significant (P0.05).(I) Nanoparticle-mediated arresten genes can reduce intimal hyperplasia in grafts; (II) we have recently shown that this gene reduced intimal hyperplasia, and this reduction is related to the reduced expression of MMP-2. This shows that the arresten gene can inhibit the degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM).

Background We retrospectively analyzed electromyogram (EMG), laboratory and clinical data of 93 patients with polymyositis (PM) to help improve early diagnostic accuracy. Methods Data were collected from hospitalized patients who were diagnosed with PM between January 1, 2006 and April 1, 2010 at Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital. Results Eighty-six (92.47%) patients exhibited an isolated myopathic EMG pattern, 3 (3.23%) showed myopathy combined with neuropathy and 1 (1.08%) had diabetes mellitus. Among the 4 without myopathic EMG, 1 had inflammatory myopathy, and 3 had prior corticosteroid treatment with clinical improvement before EMG examination. Muscle biopsy, performed in 40 cases, inclusive of the 7 cases that did not show an isolated myopathic EMG patterns, revealed that 80% exhibited typical pathological features of PM, 17.5% showed nonspecific muscle fiber necrosis and 2.5% were normal. EMG showed that tibialis anterior and biceps brachii exhibited more abnormal EMG results than abductor pollicis brevis. Patients with disease duration > 3 months had significantly higher alanine aminotransferase and reduced motor unit potential (MUP) amplitudes compared to patients with shorter disease duration. statistical analysis revealed a significant association between disease duration and MUP amplitude reduction. Patients without interstitial lung disease showed significantly longer disease duration and higher creatine kinase and lactate dehydrogenase levels than patients with interstitial lung disease. Conclusions our results show that MUP is a sensitive yardstick for diagnosis of PM and is inversely related to disease duration. our study also highlights that selecting specific muscles for EMG may improve diagnostic accuracy in PM.

Tm3+/Er3+/Yb3+co-doped oxyfluoride tellurite and germanate glasses have been synthesized by conventional melting method. Intense up-conversion (UC) luminescence emissions were simultaneously observed under 980 nm excitation at room temperature in two glasses. The possible UC mechanisms are discussed and estimated. However, in the studied Tm3+/Er3+/Yb3+co-doped oxyfluoride glasses, tellurite glass showed weaker UC emissions than germanate glass, which is inconsistent with the prediction from the difference of maximum phonon energy between oxyfluoride tellurite and germanate glasses. Absorption spectrum and Raman spectroscopy were employed to investigate the origin of the difference in UC luminescence in two glasses. Our results confirm that, besides the maximum phonon energy, the phonon density of host glasses is another important factor in determining the UC efficiency.

To evaluate the incidence and clinical characteristics of AED-related skin reactions, along with factors influencing these reactions, in a sample of 3793 Chinese epileptic patients.Between February 1999 and April 2010, consecutive patients with epilepsy were studied retrospectively. A detailed survey of each patient's medical records concerning all treatment with AEDs was performed.A total of 3793 (2323 male) Chinese epileptic patients taking at least one AED were investigated. Overall, 137/3793 (3.61%) patients experienced a skin reaction following one out of 11 different of AEDs marketed in China. In this study, we found skin reactions from carbamazepine (CBZ) in 3.80% of exposures, from lamotrigine (LTG) in 11.11%, and from oxcarbazepine (OXC) in 8.92%. Skin reactions developed significantly more often in females than in males (4.97% vs. 2.76%), and a logistic regression analysis confirmed female gender as a factor linked to AED-related rashes (OR=1.84, p0.001). LTG-induced rashes were more frequent in girls under age 13 than in women over the age of 13 (p0.05).The incidence of skin reactions was somewhat higher for LTG, CBZ, and OXC, whereas valproic acid, levetiracetam, and topiramate were rarely associated with skin reactions. Caution should be exercised when prescribing certain AEDs, particularly CBZ, LTG, and OXC. Females have a higher risk for skin reactions compared to males, though further investigation is needed to discern the underlying mechanisms.

Upconversion (UC) luminescence photonic band gap materials Tb3+-Yb3+ co-doped phosphate inverse opal photonic crystals were prepared by a self-assembly technique in combination with a sol-gel method. The effect of photonic band gap on UC luminescence was investigated in inverse opals. Effective suppression of the UC luminescence was inspected if the photonic band gap overlapped with the emission band of Tb3+ ions.

A novel blue phosphor based on phosphate host matrix, MgAl(PO4)O doped with Eu2+ was prepared by solid state reaction. The phosphor invariably emits blue luminescence with a peak wavelength at around 450 nm under ultraviolet excitation. The excitation spectrum showed that the phosphor can be efficiently excited by UV-visible light from 250 nm to 420 nm, which is coupled well with the emission of UV LED (350-410 nm). The results indicated that this novel phosphor may become the candidate of blue radiation-converting phosphor for white light emitting diodes in the further.

The Sb2O4:Yb3+, Tm3+ up-conversion luminescence powder with excellent physical, chemical stability and relative low phonon energy was synthesized by the high temperature solid-state reaction and its up-conversion luminescence property was investigated. Under the 980 nm excitation, infrared and blue up-conversion emissions centered at 800 and 480 nm were observed, which were assigned to the 1G4--3H6 and 3H4--3 He transitions of Tm2+, respectively. The influence of Yb3+ and Tm3+ concentration on the up-conversion emission property was also obtained. The up-conversion luminescence increases with increasing of Yb3+ and Tm3+ concentration. Additionally, the up-conversion luminescence mechanism was discussed based on the dependence of Tm3+ up-conversion luminescence on pump power. It is interesting that two photon excitation processes for blue and infrared emission were observed in the Sb2O04: Yb3+, Tm3+ powder under a 980 nm excitation. Based on the energy level diagram of Tma3 and Yb2+ ions, we think that two photons blue emission is contributed to the cooperation energy transfer between Tm"+ and Yb3+ ions. We believe that the Sbz04 : Yb3 , Tm2+ up-conversion luminescence powder will have potential application for new optical devices in up-conversion color displays, sensors, detection of infrared radiation, and lasers.

The BaZrO3 : 0.05Bi, xEu(x = 0, 0.010, 0.025, 0.050) phosphors were prepared by using high-temperature solid-state reaction in reducing atmosphere, and their photoluminescence properties were investigated. The broadband emission peak of Bi3+ and the typical emission peaks of Eu3+ were observed in the BaZrO3 phosphors co-doped with Bi3+ and Eu3+ under 340 nm excitation. It is confirmed that energy transfer occurred between Bi3+ and Eu3+ in the BaZrO3 : Bi, Eu phosphors, and the white light BaZrO3 phosphors can be obtained through the energy transfer between Bi3+ and Eu3+.

Transparent Er3+/Tm3+ /Yb3+ co-doped oxyfluorogermanate glasses alone containing MgF2, CaF2, SrF2 or BaF2 and nano-glass-ceramics only containing BaF2 were prepared. The thermal stabilities and the up-conversion emission properties of the samples were investigated. Analyses of absorbance spectra reveal that the UV cutoff band moves slightly to shortwave band with the doping bivalent cation mass increasing. The results show that the emission color can be adjusted by changing the alkaline earth cation species in the glass matrixes, especially as Mg2+ is concerned, and the emission intensity can increase notably by heating the glass containing alkaline-earth fluoride into glass ceramic containing alkaline-earth fluoride nanocrystals or increasing the content of bivalent alkaline earth fluorides.

Due to less experience with the cross-reactivity of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) in Chinese population, we surveyed the rates of cross- reactivity of rash among commonly used AEDs in Chinese patients with epilepsy, particularly between the traditional and the new compounds.We have retrospectively reviewed the medical records concerning all antiepileptic drug treatment in consecutive Chinese patients with epilepsy in our center. The incidence of AED-related rash was determined in 3793 outpatients, taking at least one of the AEDs-carbamazepine (CBZ), valproic acid (VPA), phenytoin (PHT), phenobarbital (PB), clonazepam (CZP), oxcarbazepine (OXC), lamotrigine (LTG), gabapentin (GBP), topiramate (TPM), levetiracetam (LEV) and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). We have performed telephone interviews among all patients with AEDs-related rash. We described the clinical characteristics of the 18 patients with cross-reactivity involving the AEDs, and the cross- reactivity pattern for CBZ, PHT, OXC, and LTG.A total of 3.61% (137/3793) of patients experienced a skin rash to at least one AEDs, of these patients, 73 (53.28%) were female and 64 were males (46.72%). While 18 patients had a rash to two or more AEDs. Of patients who had a rash to CBZ and were also prescribed PHT (n = 17), 52.9% had a rash to PHT (abbreviated as CBZ → PHT: 52.9%); of patients who had a rash to PHT and were also prescribed CBZ (n = 13), rate of rash was 69.2% (i.e., PHT → CBZ: 69.2%). Other results: CBZ → LTG: 25% (n = 16); LTG → CBZ: 44.4% (n = 9); CBZ→ OXC: 40% (n = 10); OXC → CBZ: 66.7% (n = 6); LTG → PHT: 20% (n = 5); PHT → LTG: 16.7% (n = 6); OXC → LTG: 25% (n=4); LTG → OXC: 33.3% (n = 3); OXC → PHT: 25% (n = 4); PHT → OXC: 16.7% (n = 6). There was a highly significant mutual risk for cross- reactivity for CBZ and PHT, and OXC, and LTG (p0.001), mutual risk reached statistical significance for LTG and CBZ (p = 0.01).Cross-reactivity rates between certain AEDs are high, especially when involving carbamazepine and phenytoin. There were also too few patients with rash to reach definitely conclusions about possible cross-reactivity. Larger numbers of patients would be needed to assess this and the mechanism. Caution should be exercised when prescribing certain AEDs (especially CBZ and PHT, but also OXC, and LTG).