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Supplementary Table 8. Sequence of primers for real-time PCR. Supplementary Table 9. Sequence of primers for CHIP real-time PCR.

Supplementary Table 5. Proteins in the two distict bands specific to GClnc1 identified by Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry.

Supplementary Table 4. RNA-seq analysis in BGC823 cells after GClnc1 shRNA and control shRNA transfection.

Supplementary Table 6. A, ChIP-Seq Library Statistics. B, ChIP-Seq Library Peak Calls. C, WDR5 and KAT2A peaks within 2kb of RefSeq gene promoters where read coverage were significant decreased in BGC823 GC cells after transduction of GClnc1 shRNA virus,compared with transduction of control shRNA virus. D, the differentiated expression genes in BGC823 cells after downregulation of GClnc1. E, Intersection of ChIP-Seq and RNA seq data. Supplementary Table 7. The association between GClnc1 with target genes in the coexpression network analysis.

Supplementary Methods

Supplementary Figure 1, related to Figure 1. Clinical relevance of lncRNA candidate BC041951 in gastric cancer. Supplementary Figure 2, related to Figure 2. Gene Ontology (GO) and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) in gastric cancer cells and gastric cancer patients with high and low GClnc1 expression. Supplementary Figure 3, related to Figure 3. GClnc1 is an oncogenic lncRNA in gastric cancer. Supplementary Figure 4, related to Figure 4. GClnc1 interacts with WDR5 and KAT2A epigenetic modification complex. Supplementary Figure 5, related to Figure 5. GClnc1 coordinates the localization of WDR5 and KAT2A genome-wide. Supplementary Figure 6, related to Figure 6. GClnc1 promotes gastric cancer progression via SOD2. Supplementary Figure 7, related to Figure 7. GClnc1 is a molecular link among WDR5/KAT2A and SOD2.

Colorectal cancer includes an invasive stem-like/mesenchymal subtype, but its genetic drivers, functional, and clinical relevance are uncharacterized. Here we report the definition of an altered miRNA signature defining this subtype that includes a major genomic loss of miR-508. Mechanistic investigations showed that this miRNA affected the expression of cadherin CDH1 and the transcription factors ZEB1, SALL4, and BMI1. Loss of miR-508 in colorectal cancer was associated with upregulation of the novel hypoxia-induced long noncoding RNA AK000053. Ectopic expression of miR-508 in colorectal cancer cells blunted epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), stemness, migration, and invasive capacity in vitro and in vivo. In clinical colorectal cancer specimens, expression of miR-508 negatively correlated with stemness and EMT-associated gene expression and positively correlated with patient survival. Overall, our results showed that miR-508 is a key functional determinant of the stem-like/mesenchymal colorectal cancer subtype and a candidate therapeutic target for its treatment.Significance: These results define a key functional determinant of a stem-like/mesenchymal subtype of colorectal cancers and a candidate therapeutic target for its treatment. Cancer Res; 78(7); 1751–65. ©2018 AACR.

This file contains supplementary tables 1-7 and the main information was described as follows. Table S1. All primers for real time PCR assay. Table S2. Differentially expressed genes between mesenchymal subtype and other non stem-like. Table S3. microRNA in stem-like/EMT CRC patients. Table S4. Full list of the predicted targets for the four key miRNAs. Table S5. Clinical information of 90 cases CRC patients (Renji cohort 1). Table S6. Clinical information of 100 cases CRC patients (Renji cohort 2). Table S7. Clinical information of 128 cases CRC patients (European cohort).

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This file contains methods which were not included in the main text.

Background The lack of effective prognostic models for colorectal cancer (CRC) makes it crucial to establish a reliable prognostic model for colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to develop a reliable prognostic model in CRC. Using CRC samples from the TCGA database, a multi-gene combination model was screened for prognosis in CRC patients and the prognostic power of the multi-gene combination model was validated. We screened a multi-gene combination model for risk stratification and prognosis of CRC patients, which is important for individualised clinical treatment and long-term management of colorectal cancer patients. Results To solve these questions, we used data from colorectal cancer patients in the TCGA database to uncover differential genes, screened variables using one-way COX analysis and LASSO regression analysis, and then screened for the polygenic combination most associated with colorectal cancer and assessed its significance on survival events using multi-factor COX analysis and ROC curves to assess polygenic combinations. Finally, using gene enrichment analysis, the polygenic combinations were found to be associated with tRNA biosynthesis, homologous recombination, nucleotide excision repair, ribosome biogenesis in eukaryotes and DNA replication. Conclusions The multi-gene combination (FCGBP, GSTM1, IGLV4-69, IGSF9 and PCOLCE2) model screened in this study is capable of prognosticating colorectal cancer, and the findings of this study could shed new light on the prognosis of colorectal cancer in the clinical setting.

The aim was to study and compare the clinical manifestations, auxiliary examinations, and therapeutic responses in patients with different myositis-specific antibody (MSA) types. We retrospectively investigated the medical records of 143 hospitalized dermatomyositis patients, all of whom were tested for MSAs, and performed follow-up. Patients were divided into groups with and without anti-nuclear matrix protein 2 (NXP2) antibodies (17 vs 126 patients). Demographic, clinical manifestation (occurring at any time during the disease course), imaging, laboratory, treatment response, and survival data were collected for statistical analyses. Adult dermatomyositis patients with anti-NXP2 antibodies were more prone to dysphagia (P 1000 IU/L, P

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to apply the theory of perceptual image to clothing, study the effect of bra components on the perceptual image of Chinese female consumers aged 18 to 27, explore the relationship between them, promote the computer-aided bra design to be more rapid and accurate and meet consumer's needs better.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, cognitive psychology and mathematical analysis methods were used, and two experiments were conducted. A reaction time experiment was conducted based on 3D virtual bra samples, proving that bra components have an effect on the consumer's perceptual image and obtaining a revised bra component design indicator system by multi-dimensional Scaling (MDS). A projection experiment was conducted to study what kind of relationship exists between the two, and a prediction model was constructed by the quantitative I-class theory.FindingsIt is found that bra components have an effect on perceptual image of Chinese female consumers aged 18 to 27. A total of five important components (cup area, center front height, torso width, side wing width and center back shape) that affect the consumer's perceptual image were identified by MDS and references analysis, and then a bra perceptual image space composed of five pairs of words was constructed by subjective evaluation and cluster analysis. What is more, a prediction model was obtained by the quantitative I-class theory; after testing, the model can visually and effectively predict consumer's perceptual image according to bra components indicators, which provide a convenience for the positive design of bras.Research limitations/implicationsIn this article, the authors just studied bra components, but did not take fabric, color and other factors that also affect the perceptual image into consideration. Further research can use this method to study other important influential factors as well as their comprehensive impact. Also, the subjects are Chinese young women; consumers of other age or from other countries are not involved, and more extensive research can be done in the future.Practical implicationsThe bra component indicator system can help to build a more systematic and clearer bra design library, which provides convenience for designers to search and use them quickly, improving the efficiency of bra design. The prediction model is also helpful to bra designers and companies. When they already design a bra, they can use this model to predict consumer's perceptual image, thus carry out more accurate market positioning and promotion. When they want to satisfy consumers or design a specific effect, they can also refer to this model to reverse design of components. In general, the outcomes of this paper can help companies to quickly establish a computer-aided bra design system, which is conducive to designers to accurately design and better meet market's needs, and the method is also a good attempt to apply the theory of perceptual image in psychology to clothing and can be extended to other relevant fields in the future.Originality/valueBased on cognitive psychology, this paper attempts to apply the theory of perceptual image in psychology into clothing and takes bra as an example to study the relationship between bra components and consumer's perceptual image. The prediction model constructed here is conducive to the development of bra design and to meet personalized needs of consumers. This method can also be extended to other fields in the future.

A longstanding focus of perceptual learning research is learning specificity, the difficulty for learning to transfer to tasks and situations beyond the training setting. Previous studies have focused on promoting transfer across stimuli, such as from one sound frequency to another. Here we examined whether learning could transfer across tasks, particularly from fine discrimination of sound features to speech perception in noise, one of the most frequently encountered perceptual challenges in real life. Separate groups of normal-hearing listeners were trained on auditory interaural level difference (ILD) discrimination, interaural time difference (ITD) discrimination, and fundamental frequency (F0) discrimination with non-speech stimuli delivered through headphones. While ITD training led to no improvement, both ILD and F0 training produced learning as well as transfer to speech-in-noise perception when noise differed from speech in the trained feature. These training benefits did not require similarity of task or stimuli between training and application settings, construing far and wide transfer. Thus, notwithstanding task specificity among basic perceptual skills such as discrimination of different sound features, auditory learning appears readily transferable between these skills and their “upstream” tasks utilizing them, providing an effective approach to improving performance in challenging situations or challenged populations.

Background Chemotherapy resistance is the major cause of recurrence in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). A previous study found that Fusobacterium (F.) nucleatum promoted CRC chemoresistance. Additionally, metformin rescued F. nucleatum-induced tumorigenicity of CRC. Here, we aimed to investigate whether metformin could revert F. nucleatum-induced chemoresistance and explore the mechanism. Methods The role of metformin in F. nucleatum-infected CRC cells was confirmed using cell counting kit 8 assays and CRC xenograft mice. Stemness was identified by tumorsphere formation. Bioinformatic analyses were used to explore the regulatory molecules involved in metformin and F. nucleatum-mediated regulation of the sonic hedgehog pathway. Results We found that metformin abrogated F. nucleatum-promoted CRC resistance to chemotherapy. Furthermore, metformin attenuated F. nucleatum-stimulated stemness by inhibiting sonic hedgehog signaling. Mechanistically, metformin diminished sonic hedgehog signaling proteins by targeting the MYC/miR-361-5p cascade to reverse F. nucleatum-induced stemness, thereby rescuing F. nucleatum-triggered chemoresistance in CRC. Conclusions Metformin acts on F. nucleatum-infected CRC via the MYC/miR-361-5p/sonic hedgehog pathway cascade, subsequently reversing stemness and abolishing F. nucleatum-triggered chemoresistance. Our results identified metformin intervention as a potential clinical treatment for patients with chemoresistant CRC with high amounts of F. nucleatum.

In the current study, two new transition metal-organic coordination polymers (CPs) with the chemical formula of [Cu(L)(OBA)(H2O)]n (1) and [Co(L)(OBA)]n (2) (H2OBA = 4,4(L)(OBA)]dy, two new traL = ...

This study reports the use of reverse transcription – loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT–LAMP) to detect Listeria monocytogenes in meat. The assay was designed to target the iap gene of L. monocytogenes, to which four primers, recognizing six distinct iap sites, were designed. We optimized the RT–LAMP conditions and established the following optimal systems: 60 min, 63 °C, 2.0 mmol/L MgSO4, 1.0 mol/L betaine, 2.0 mmol/L dNTPs, 320 U/mL Bst DNA polymerase, 0.4 μmol/L outer primers, and 0.8 μmol/L inner primers. The RT–LAMP amplification products were identified by a visible white Mg2P2O7 precipitate or electrophoresis on a 2% agarose gel. RT–LAMP has a sensitivity of 7.3 × 101 CFU/mL, which is 2-fold higher than that of LAMP. When commercially available raw meat samples (including beef, pork, mutton, and rabbit) were analyzed simultaneously with RT–LAMP and the Chinese National Standard GB 4789.30-2016, their abilities to detect L. monocytogenes were the same. Samples containing L. monocytogenes killed by 15 psi at 121 °C for 15 min were used to confirm the specificity of RT–LAMP for live microorganisms. Thus, we used RT–LAMP to efficiently detect L. monocytogenes in meat products.

The aim was to study and compare the clinical manifestations, auxiliary examinations, and therapeutic responses in patients with different myositis-specific antibody (MSA) types.We retrospectively investigated the medical records of 143 hospitalized dermatomyositis patients, all of whom were tested for MSAs, and performed follow-up. Patients were divided into groups with and without anti-nuclear matrix protein 2 (NXP2) antibodies (17 vs 126 patients). Demographic, clinical manifestation (occurring at any time during the disease course), imaging, laboratory, treatment response, and survival data were collected for statistical analyses.Adult dermatomyositis patients with anti-NXP2 antibodies were more prone to dysphagia (P0.001), had higher levels of muscle injury markers (CK peak, P=0.007; CK peak1000 IU/L, P0.001; CK-MB, P=0.002), were younger at onset (P=0.008), and were less likely to present with interstitial lung disease (P=0.016) than the anti-NXP2 antibody-negative subgroup. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that onset age (OR=0.96 CI 95%: 0.924-0.999, P=0.043) and dysphagia (OR=7.088, CI 95%: 1.824-27.536, P=0.005) were independent risk factors for anti-NXP2 antibody positivity. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis did not reveal that dermatomyositis patients with anti-NXP2 antibodies have a relatively worse prognosis. However, the disease course was more frequently polycyclic, and 68.75% of patients had a relapsing-remitting disease course. More than half (52.94%) of those who showed no response to treatment used at least 3 disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.We show the important clinical features of and risk factors for this unique antibody-mediated form of dermatomyositis. Although these patients had a relatively low mortality rate, they were prone to recurrence, and treatment was challenging. Key points • The clinical features and risk factors for adult dermatomyositis patients with anti-NXP2 antibodies. • The impact of anti-NXP2 antibody on survival outcomes.

Chemical investigation of the ethanol extract of the branch and leaves of Illicium majus resulted in the isolation of four new phenylpropanoid glycosides (1-4) and one new phenolic glycoside (9), along with 13 known ones. Spectroscopic techniques were used to elucidate the structures of the new isolates such as 3-[(2R,3S)-7-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-3-(hydroxymethyl)-2,3-dihydro-1-benzofuran-5-yl]propyl β-D-glucopyranoside (1), [(2R,3S)-7-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-5-(3-hydroxypropyl)-2,3-dihydro-1-benzofuran-3-yl]methyl 2-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (2), [(2R,3S)-7-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-5-(3-hydroxypropyl)-2,3-dihydro-1-benzofuran-3-yl]methyl 2-O-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl-β-D-xylopyranoside (3), 3-[(2R,3S)-3-({[2-O-(4-O-acetyl-α-L-rhamnopyranosyl)-β-D-xylopyranosyl]oxy}methyl)-7-hydroxy-2-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2,3-dihydro-1-benzofuran-5-yl]propyl acetate (4), and 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)phenyl 3-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (9). Free radical scavenging activities of the isolates were elucidated through the DPPH assay method. The most active compounds, 1-O-caffeoyl-β-D-glucopyranose (17) and soulieana acid 1 (18), exhibited moderate radical scavenging activities (IC50 =37.7±4.4 μM and IC50 =97.2±3.4 μM, respectively). The antibacterial activities of the isolates against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were also assessed, and no activity was shown at the measured concentration (

For students in the third year of junior high school, it is their first time learning the subject of chemistry. Their future learning will be largely related to the first introduction lesson taught by the teacher, so this article takes the third year chemistry introduction lesson as an example, through the combination of STSE and HPS theories applied to teaching in the process of teaching design, which plays a critical role in cultivating students' core literacy in chemistry.

TGF-β signaling plays an extremely important role in the occurrence and development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and the blockade of TGF-β/Smad3 pathway protests against the high-fat diet-induced obesity and diabetes. As a specific small molecule inhibitor of Smad3 protein, the biological activities of compound SIS3 were evaluated by high-fat diet-induced T2DM model mice. In vivo results indicated that SIS3 can not only significantly reduce the body weight, fat mass, and fasting blood glucose in high-fat diet-induced T2DM model mice, but also improve insulin sensitivity and oral glucose tolerance of high-fat diet-induced T2DM model mice after the injection of SIS3 with 5 mg/kg for 45 days.

Orodispersible films (ODFs) are promising drug delivery systems for customized medicines as it provide an alternative approach to increase consumer acceptance by advantages of rapid dissolution and administration without water. The aim of this study was to develop a platform to support the realization of tailored treatments suitable for the extemporaneous production of ODFs by semi-solid extrusion (SSE) 3D printing (3DP). Hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) was used as the polymer of ODFs, and levocetirizine hydrochloride was used as the model drug. The optimal formulation was HPMC:API:PS:maltitol:sucralose at a ratio of 64:10:10:15:1. Seventeen percent HPMC solution and optimal formulation were used to prepare film precursors. The impact of dynamic viscosities and fluid mechanics difference on printing applicability was discussed. The ODFs of cube designs with aimed dose of 1.25 mg, 2.5 mg, and 5 mg were printed by SSE 3DP. Good linear relationship between theoretical model volume and drug content (

Previous studies of tonal speech perception have generally suggested harder or later access to lexical tone than segmental information, but the mechanism underlying the lexical tone disadvantage is unclear. Using a speeded discrimination paradigm free of context information, we confirmed multiple lines of evidence for the lexical tone disadvantage as well as revealed a distinctive advantage of word and atonal syllable judgments over phoneme and lexical tone judgments. The results led us to propose a Reverse Accessing Model (RAM) for tonal speech perception. The RAM is an extension of the influential TRACE model, with two additional processing levels specialized for tonal speech: lexical tone and atonal syllable. Critically, information accessing is assumed to be in reverse order of information processing, and only information at the syllable level and up is maintained active for immediate use. We tested and confirmed the predictions of the RAM on discrimination of each type of phonological component under different stimulus conditions. The current results have thus demonstrated the capability of the RAM as a general framework for tonal speech perception to provide a united account for empirical observations as well as to generate testable predictions.

To study the mechanism of renal injury inTen male of 28-week-oldThe body mass, FPG, HbA1c, CRE and BUN levels of theLIAS, Nrf2 and NF-κB might play significant roles through regulation of oxidative stress and inflammation in the renal injury of

Extensive evidence has been obtained that supports an association between an attentional bias (AB) toward negative stimuli and vulnerability to stress-related psychopathology, little is known regarding the characteristics of individual AB in different posttraumatic growth (PTG) levels. The current study used a modified dot-probe task to investigate if individual differences in AB towards either positive or negative emotional stimuli, are related to self-reported PTG. A sample of 202 patients completed the experiment. Patients with low levels of PTG did not exhibit AB toward negative or positive stimuli, patients with medium levels of PTG had difficulty disengaging attention from negative stimuli, patients with high levels of PTG had difficulty disengaging attention from positive stimuli. And the AB towards positive stimuli was only predictive for PTG. An implication of this finding is that there are different characteristics of implicit cognitive processing in patients with different levels of PTG, suggesting the necessity of psychological intervention on the accidentally injured patients.

Feature-based algorithms are widely used in automatic matching of multi-source images (e.g., LiDAR, optical, infrared, map, and SAR images). However, it remains a challenging task to find sufficient correct correspondences for image pairs in the presence of significant noise and nonlinear intensity differences. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a novel feature descriptor named the histogram of maximum phase congruency (HMPC), which is based on the structural properties of images. Then, a novel distance formula is designed by normalizing the phase orientation and histogram value to calculate the similarity. Furthermore, the precise bilateral matching principle and consistency-checking algorithm based on the phase orientation are used to perform matching between the corresponding point sets. Benefiting from combinatorial features, the proposed method can effectively capture the structural information of images and present robust matching performance for complex texture structures and noise images compared to that of the sole feature, and it has been tested with a variety of SAR, LiDAR, optical,and map datas. The results demonstrate that the proposed HMPC achieves a more robust and accurate matching performance than many state-of-the-art methods.

Infections caused by clinical methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) are a serious public problem. Triphenyl-sesquineolignans from Illicium genus possess antibacterial activity, but few researches have reported their antibacterial spectrums, structure–activity relationships (SARs) and antibacterial mechanism. In this study, three triphenyl-sesquineolignans, dunnianol (1), macranthol (2) and isodunnianol (3) were isolated from the stems and leaves of I. simonsii Maxim, and seven dunnianol derivatives were prepared through esterification, etherification and halogenation reactions. Among all triphenyl-sesquineolignan analogues, compound 6 showed the best antibacterial activity against four Gram-positive bacteria (MICs = 1–2 µg/mL) and ten clinical MRSA strains (MICs = 2–8 µg/mL), and also exhibited characteristics of killing MRSA more rapidly than tigecycline. Meanwhile, compound 6 did not only show a low probability of drug resistance development, but also exhibited relatively low hemolysis, and good stability in 50% plasma. Further mechanism studies revealed that 6 could kill bacterial strains by disrupting bacterial membranes. These results suggested that 6 may be developed into a new antibacterial candidate for combating MRSA infections.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a common malignant tumor worldwide, with high morbidity and mortality. Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma and the majority (~80%) of hepatocellular carcinoma patients in China exhibit co-morbidity with HBV-associated liver cirrhosis. The goal of reliable early diagnostic and prognostic techniques for HBV-associated HCC remains unrealized. The aim of the present study was to explore the efficacy of serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) tests in the early diagnosis of HCC in patients with HBV-associated liver cirrhosis. A cohort of 493 patients with HBV-associated liver disease was divided into three groups: Chronic HBV (CHB) group; liver cirrhosis without HCC (LC) group; and liver cirrhosis with HCC (HCC) group. A further 47 healthy individuals comprised the healthy control (CN) group. Comparative analyses of clinical symptoms, histopathology, ultrasound imagery, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, biochemistry [α-fetoprotein (AFP) and liver function enzymes], and hs-CRP tests were conducted across these four groups. Immunohistochemical analysis showed that CRP is strongly expressed in HCC tumor tissue, but is not expressed elsewhere. Analyses of the correlations between serum hs-CRP levels and HCC clinical parameters indicated that there was no correlation between serum hs-CRP levels, tumor Edmondson grade, tumor-node-metastasis stage and AFP status. Serum hs-CRP and AFP levels were found to be significantly elevated in the HCC group compared to those in the LC, CHB and CN groups (P

Extensive evidence has been obtained that supports an association between an attentional bias (AB) toward negative stimuli and vulnerability to mental and behavioral problems; however, diabetes self-management (DSM) behavior in type 2 diabetic patients has not specifically been assessed. The current study investigated whether type 2 diabetic Chinese patients who had different levels of self-management behaviors showed different patterns of AB toward either positive or negative stimuli. A sample of 195 patients completed questionnaires measuring DSM and a modified dot-probe task measuring AB. Patients with low levels of DSM had an avoidance bias for positive stimuli, the regression showed that negative orienting index significantly predicted lower DSM; patients with medium levels of DSM had difficulty in disengaging attention from negative stimuli, the regression showed that negative disengaging index significantly predicted lower DSM; while patients with high levels of DSM had an avoidance bias for negative stimuli and difficulty in disengaging from positive stimuli. An implication of this finding is that the understanding of information processing bias affects DSM and therefore suggests a novel target for prevention and treatment interventions.

Bone tissue engineering scaffold has been successfully applied in the field of bone repair, but the major limitation is the delivery of oxygen and nutrients throughout the bulk of engineered tissue, especially for large scaffolds. Researchers have found that scaffolds with hollow channels can effectively solve this problem. We utilized a novel extrusion approach to prepare scaffolds with hollow channel arrays, which has the advantages of economy, continuous production, and high efficiency. The hollow channel scaffolds were composed of gelatin and gelatin-modified nano hydroxyapatite (nHAP). X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) results indicate that the prepared gelatin-modified nHAP are nanorod-like particles with the length of 30∼50 nm and width of 5∼15 nm. The nano particle is composed of crystalline HAP grains with the size less than 10 nm and amorphous phases. A part of OH− or PO 4 3 − are replaced by CO 3 2 − during preparation process, leading to the transformation of HAP into hydroxyl-carbonated apatite (HCA). The prepared hollow channel scaffolds exhibit much better mechanical properties compared with the sponge porous scaffolds. The axial compressive strength of the hollow channel scaffold with porosity of 51.3 ± 5.2% can reach 25 ± 1.4 MPa, which can meet the mechanical strength requirement as an implant completely. Moreover, the hollow channel scaffold exhibited good in vitro degradability and bioactivity. These results highlight the potential of using gelatin/gelatin-modified nHAP composite scaffolds with hollow channels for bone tissue engineering.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the usefulness of combined detection of liver stiffness (LS) and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver cirrhosis (LC). A total of 156 cases of previously untreated patients with HBV-related LC were classified into the LC group [LC without hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)] and the HCC group (LC with HCC). Comparative analyses of LS and serum CRP level were conducted between these two groups. LS values and serum CRP levels were found to be significantly higher in the HCC group compared with those in the LC group (P