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Objective. To analyze the function of miR-10b-5p in suppressing the invasion and proliferation of primary hepatic carcinoma cells by downregulating erythropoietin-producing hepatocellular receptor A2 (EphA2). Material and Methods. Eighty-six hepatic carcinoma (HCC) tissue specimens and 86 corresponding adjacent tissue specimens were collected, and the mRNA expression of miR-10b-5p and Ephrin type-A receptor 2 (EphA2) in the specimens was determined using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. Western blot was employed to quantify EphA2, B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia/lymphoma-2 (Bcl-2), Bcl-2-associated X protein (Bax), and Caspase-3 in the cells, and CCK8, Transwell assay, and flow cytometry were applied to evaluate the proliferation, invasion, and apoptosis of cells, respectively. Moreover, the dual luciferase reporter assay was utilized for correlation analysis between miR-10b-5p and EphA2. Results. miR-10b-5p was lowly expressed in HCC, while EphA2 was highly expressed. Cell experiments revealed that miR-10b-5p overexpression or EphA2 knockdown could reduce cell proliferation, accelerate apoptosis, strongly upregulate Bax and Caspase-3, and downregulate Bcl-2. In contrast, miR-10b-5p knockdown or EphA2 overexpression gave rise to reverse biological phenotypes. Furthermore, dual luciferase reporter assay verified that miR-10b-5p was a target of EphA2, and the rescue experiment implied that transfection of pCMV-EphA2 or Si-EphA2 could reverse EphA2 expression and cell biological functions caused by miR-10b-5p overexpression or knockdown. Conclusions. miR-10b-5p reduced HCC cell proliferation but accelerate apoptosis by regulating EphA2, suggesting it has the potential to be a clinical target for HCC.

BACKGROUND: As the base of hepatitis B patients has been increasing annually, it has developed into a high incidence source of primary liver cancer worldwide. The fatality rate of liver cancer is still relatively high. Among the many treatment methods, liver resection is the first-line treatment of primary liver cancer. Although precision hepatectomy has achieved rapid development in recent years, the understanding of its efficacy is still not completely clear. This study aimed to analyze and compare the safety and effectiveness of precision hepatectomy and traditional hepatectomy in the treatment of primary liver cancer. METHODS: We performed a literature search of the CNKI, Wanfang, Weipu.com, PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science databases for studies on precision liver resection (precision group) and traditional liver resection (traditional group) for the treatment of primary liver cancer. Data including the operation time, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, postoperative complications, liver function, and survival rate were analyzed using RevMan 5.3 software to compare the differences in the effects of the two surgical procedures. RESULTS: Ten articles were included in the study, involving a total of 1,969 patients, including 1,045 cases in the precision group and 924 cases in the traditional group. Meta-analysis results showed that compared with the traditional group, the precision group had a longer operation time [mean difference (MD) =8.01, P=0.004], and total bilirubin (TBiL; MD =–2.78, P=0.055) was similar. Meanwhile, the precision group exhibited advantages in terms of intraoperative blood loss (MD =–149.37, P=0.000), hospital stay (MD =–5.59, P=0.000), postoperative liver function indexes [aspartate aminotransferase (AST; MD =–11.61, P=0.000) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT; MD =–18.53, P=0.000)], postoperative complication rate [relative risk (RR) =0.51, P=0.000], and 1-year survival rate (RR =1.11, P=0.000). DISCUSSION: The application of precision surgery in the treatment of primary liver cancer can be a safe and effective method. It can minimize intraoperative blood loss, mitigate surgical risk, reduce postoperative complications, improve patient prognosis and quality of life, and provide better short-term curative effect and patient benefits.

We study the degree and determinants of capital allocation efficiency across firms, using comprehensive firm-level survey data that covers a broad spectrum of developing countries. As measured by the dispersion in firms’ marginal revenue product of capital, we document that capital misallocation is pervasive in firms within the same industry in a country. We find that limited access to finance, bureaucracy, information asymmetry, and gender inequality play essential roles in impeding the most efficient allocation of capital across firms in developing countries. By employing the quantile regression technique, we show these factors exert more significant effects on firms that are already highly distorted (i.e., have too little capital). The results have direct policy implications; in particular, governments could achieve a more efficient allocation of capital by eliminating these distortions to enhance economic performance.

Objectives This multicenter retrospective study aimed to compare the effects of HES and gelatin (GEL) on the risk of post-OLT AKI. Method A total of 1,672 patients undergoing OLT were enrolled from major transplant centers in China between 2005 and 2013. These patients were divided into three groups: GEL, hydroxyethyl starch (HES), and GEL + HES group. Results There was no significant difference in the incidence of post-OLT AKI among the GEL, HES, and GEL + HES groups. The GEL + HES group had a lower incidence of stage II post-OLT AKI than the other two groups. Compared with patients receiving GEL, patients receiving HES did not harbor an increased risk of AKI. Our results showed that MELD score (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.579; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.123–2.219; P = 0.009) and preoperative anemia (adjusted OR, 1.533; 95% CI, 1.212–1.939; P < 0.001) were independent risk factors for post-OLT AKI, and normal preoperative Scr level (vs abnormal; adjusted OR, 0.402; 95% CI, 0.222–0.729; P = 0.003) was independent protective factors for post-OLT AKI. Conclusion This large-scale multicenter retrospective study found that the intraoperative use of HES did not increase the overall incidence of post-OLT AKI in patients when compared with GEL, and whether to increase the risk of post-OLT AKI needs to be further explored.

DNA repair system plays a crucial role in maintaining genomic integrity and stability and in protecting against cancer. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) functions as a key enzyme in the base excision repair (BER) pathway. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) that could affect the function or expression of PARP1 gene might be associated with the risk of cancer. This study was designed to evaluate the association between PARP1 SNPs and the susceptibility to esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in a population from Cixian, a high incidence region from northern China. In 574 ESCC patients and 577 controls, PARP1 rs1136410 and rs8679 SNPs were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction ligase detection reaction (PCR-LDR) method. Upper gastrointestinal cancer (UGIC) family history enhanced the risk of ESCC (the sex-, age- and smoking status-adjusted OR 1.355, 95% CI 1.071–1.715). Overall, rs1136410 and rs8679 SNPs did not modify the risk of ESCC. When stratified by sex, age, smoking status and UGIC family history, the rs1136410 C/C genotype was associated with an increased risk of ESCC in smokers compared to T/T or T/C genotype (the sex-, age- and UGIC family history-adjusted OR 1.696, 95% CI 1.032–2.787). In Cixian high incidence region from northern China, smokers with rs1136410 C/C genotype might have higher susceptibility to ESCC than those with T/T or T/C genotype. These high-risk individuals receiving periodic upper gastrointestinal fiber tests might facilitate early detection and early treatment of ESCC.

Objective Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1), as a key enzyme in the base excision repair pathway, plays a crucial role in tumorigenesis and progression. This study aimed to assess whether polymorphisms of PARP1 gene could be used as predictive biomarkers for the survival of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) patients from Cixian high-incidence region in northern China. Methods In 203 ESCC patients with survival information, PARP1 rs1136410 T/C and rs8679 T/C single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction ligase detection reaction (PCR-LDR) method. All statistical analyses were performed using the SPSS ver. 22.0 software package (SPSS, Chicago, IL, USA). Results The mean age ± standard deviation of the ESCC patients was 60.4 ± 7.9 years. There was no significant relation of sex, age, smoking status and upper gastrointestinal cancer family history with the survival time of the ESCC patients. The mean survival time of rs1136410 T/T, T/C and C/C genotype carriers were 43.3, 42.3 and 46.6 months, respectively. The rs1136410 was not associated with the survival time of the ESCC patients. For rs8679, the mean survival time of T/T genotype carriers was 43.7 months, which was not significantly different from that of the patients with T/C genotype (42.1 months). Conclusion In Cixian high-incidence region from northern China, rs1136410 and rs8679 SNPs might not be used to predict survival of ESCC patients. There is a need to explore whether other SNPs of PARP1 gene have an effect on prognosis of ESCC patients.

Triazole heterocyclic compounds have a wide range of applications in the fields of medicine, pesticide, energetic materials, etc. Introducing halogen atoms and amino groups into the triazole ring can obtain a series of important intermediates that can be further modified. 4,5-Dibromo-1-H-1,2,3-triazole (5), 3,5-dibromo-1-H-1,2,4-triazole (6), 3,5-dibromo-4-H-1,2,4-triazole (7) and 1-amino-4,5-dibromo-1,2,3-triazole (8), 2-amino-4,5-dibromo-1,2,3-triazole (9) and 1-amino-3,5-dibromo-1,2,4-triazole (10) were synthesized through the bromination and amination of 1,2,3-triazole (1), 1-amino-1,2,3-triazole (2), 1,2,4-triazole (3) and 4-amino-1,2,4-triazole (4). Their structures were characterized by IR, EI-MS, ESI-MS, 1H and13C-NMR techniques. Single crystals of these compounds were grown by evaporation solution growth technique. The cell parameters and crystal structures were determined by X-ray single crystal diffraction studies. Among these compounds, 6 and 7, 8 and 9 were isomers, respectively. Through intermolecular hydrogen bonding, 1 forms zigzag chain structure, while 4 and 5 form cyclic trimers.

Tip-Tilt mirrors play an important role in astronomical telescopes requiring the tracking performance at the level of microradian or sub-microradian. However, the closed-loop performance suffers a lot from the low-sample rate and time delay of image sensors. Especially, this issue is under the condition of vibrations, because dynamic behaviors are complex and the models are difficult to be obtained accurately. Another challenging issue comes from the measurement of vibrations and its extraction for the closed-loop control. This paper proposes a new method based on an add-on controller of the Tip-Tilt mirror to mitigate telescope vibrations. The proposed method only uses Tip-Tilt errors from an image sensor to implement a disturbance observer, which is not being restricted by an accurate model. As a result, the closed-loop performance can be optimized by designing of a proper Q-filter. To suppress the low-frequency and high-frequency vibrations, a novel Q-filter combining a lowpass filter and a bandpass filter is proposed here. The improved control method is validated by both simulation and experiment in the tip-tilt mirror control system under the condition of vibrations.

Despite the importance of log statements in postmortem debugging, developers are difficult to establish good logging practices. There are mainly two reasons. First, there are no rigorous specifications or systematic processes to instruct logging practices. Second, logging code evolves with bug fixes or feature updates. Without considering the impact of software evolution, previous works on log enhancement can partially release the first problem but are hard to solve the latter. To fill this gap, this paper proposes to guide log revisions by learning from evolution history. Motivated by code clones, we assume that logging code with similar context is pervasive and deserves similar modifications and conduct an empirical study on 12 open-source projects to validate our assumption. Upon this, we design and implement LogTracker, an automatic tool that learns log revision rules by mining the correlation between logging context and modifications and recommends candidate log revisions by applying these rules. With an enhanced modeling of logging context, LogTracker can instruct more intricate log revisions that cannot be covered by existing tools. Our experiments show that LogTracker can detect 369 instances of candidates when applied to the latest versions of software. So far, we have reported 79 of them, and 52 have been accepted.

Magnetic Co-Ni-P nano-alloys were successfully prepared as microwave absorbers. Unfortunately, the poor dielectric properties severely restricted their microwave absorption performance. With the goal of high microwave absorption efficiency, one dimensional (1D) Co-Ni-P/SiC nanowire composites were firstly fabricated by means of an easy electroless plating method. A three dimensional (3D) conductive network can be constructed by the 1D composites. Results demonstrated that the 3D conductive network has significant effects on improving the dielectric loss of absorbers. The minimum reflection loss of the optimized composites can reach −45 dB at 12.5 GHz with a thickness of only 1.5 mm owning to their suitable impedance matching and multiple loss mechanisms. This work proposed a facile route to prepare 1D magnetic absorbers with higher absorption efficiency and their electromagnetic property and microwave absorption were also studied in detail.

We study the relationship between CEO pay‐performance sensitivity, pay‐risk sensitivity, and shareholder voting outcomes as part of the “say‐on‐pay” provision of the 2010 US Dodd‐Frank Act. Consistent with our hypothesis, we provide evidence that shareholders tend to approve of compensation packages that are more sensitive to changes in stock price (pay‐performance sensitivity). Our findings are consistent with theoretical predictions that outside owners approve of equity incentives as a means of aligning managers' interests with those of shareholders. We also document that future changes to equity‐based incentives are related to voting outcomes and that shareholders incorporate CFO incentives into their votes. Collectively, these results provide evidence of the importance of equity‐based incentives from the perspective of those most concerned with firm value and of the effectiveness of say‐on‐pay as a governance mechanism.

Mechanical vibrations in Tip-Tilt modes affect the closed-loop performance of astronomical telescopes. Large integration time of the image sensor can restrict the Tip-Tilt mirror control bandwidth, which is not sufficient to mitigate structural vibrations. This paper proposes an improved repetitive control (IRC) of the Tip-Tilt mirror based on Youla parameterization to mitigate telescope vibrations. As a learning-type control strategy, repetitive controllers can achieve optimal performance when frequencies of vibrations are provided. Although the control bandwidth of the Tip-Tilt mirror is not improved with this proposed controller, the disturbance attenuation is enhanced. Furthermore, vibrations rejection provided by this proposed control method is not restricted by an accurate model, because this repetitive controller is a plug-in type. To reduce the waterbed effect induced by the IRC, a new Q-filter based on moving average filter is proposed. Simulations and experiments demonstrate a clear improvement of performance for the IRC in comparison with the classical repetitive controller.

This paper examines whether founder family successions lower performance in large US firms. We find no significant decreases in either accounting performance or firm value, and instead find evidence that both are improved. Consistent with this, we present evidence that family successions are associated with higher levels of employee trust, and that employee's human capital is not as easily transferable at family firms. Consistent with the literature, we find that the decision to appoint a founder family member as a successor CEO is not random, and occurs in low-growth, yet profitable firms. To mitigate these endogeneity problems, we first propensity match founder family firms with non-founder firms and examine the change in performance around founder successions relative to the matched firms. We also use two instruments of founder family successions in our analysis.

We study the long-run aftermarket performance of the Emerging Growth Companies (EGCs), a new category of IPO issuers created by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act). We document that, in the long run, EGCs outperform by about 25 percentage points, compared to those firms that would have qualified as EGCs had they gone public after the enactment of the JOBS Act. We further find that institutional investors play an important role in supporting the long-run performance of EGCs—not only do EGCs have greater institutional ownership, but the positive effect of institutional ownership on IPO firms’ long-run performance is also more pronounced. The paper represents a first attempt to study the long-run aftermarket performance of EGCs and its determinants. Our findings contribute to the burgeoning literature on the effectiveness of the JOBS Act and evidence of the supporting role of institutional investors on IPO aftermarket performance.

We examine the evolutionary path of companies' corporate social responsibility (CSR) since their debuts as public companies. We find that firms' average CSR score is rising over the time they are listed in the public capital market. Neither the CSR score change over the age of the firm nor the general trend of CSR over time can explain this pattern. The phenomenon is more likely driven by the number of years the firms have been in the public market. We further find supporting evidence that this pattern of rising CSR since the public listing is more pronounced when the firm is more profitable, holds more cash, has a higher payout ratio, or has more free cash flows. Overall, our findings support the hypothesis that improving CSR performance may not be the priority of most firms new to the public market, but the "public camera effect" is an effective mechanism to assure the growth of CSR assuming the firms remain in the public market.

An improved pyramidal prefolded pattern was designed and applied to thin-walled tubes. This delicately designed pattern modularizes the tube to control the folding process and act as an inducer to trigger deformation modes with outstanding crushing performance. Dynamic crushing tests were conducted numerically; the simulation results reveal that the patterned square tube developed a deformation mode with shorter wavelength, better load consistencies, and higher energy-absorption efficiency (up to 29%) than that of the traditional counterpart. Moreover, geometric analysis was performed and structural improvements were conducted by applying the optimal geometric parameters onto an octagonal profile. The designed patterned octagonal tube collapsed into a highly efficient deformation mode known as diamond mode. Furthermore, the comparative results show that patterned octagonal tubes demonstrated an energy absorption up to 90.1% higher than that of a conventional square column while improving the geometric compliance. These findings enrich research on patterned tubes and provide new explorations for the development of high-performance energy-absorbing structures.

We document that labor relationships at founder firms are less acrimonious than at non-founder firms. Founder-firms are less likely to be unionized and employees at non-unionized founder-firms are less likely to attempt to unionize. Further, among firms that are unionized, labor at founder-firms are less likely to strike. Finally, employees of founder firms are much less likely to file unfair labor practice complaints with the NLRB. These results also hold for firms that are run by the family members of founders. Unobserved heterogeneity does not appear to drive the results. The results reveal the valuable role of employee trust in founders.