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OBJECTIVE: Changes in hormone levels, improper lipid metabolism, and oxidative stress all significantly contribute to the pathogenic process of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). According to earlier research, pioglitazone and alpha-lipoic acid are crucial in the emergence of PCOS. The beneficial effects of pioglitazone and alpha-lipoic acid on PCOS were examined in the current study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The 120 patients with PCOS received three months of treatment in pioglitazone groups (n=40 case, 30 mg/time, 1 time/day), α-lipoic acid (n=40 case, 0.6 g/time, 1 time/day), and combination therapy (n=40 case, pioglitazone 30 mg/time, 1 time/day and α-lipoic acid, 0.6 g/time, 1 time/day). Before and after therapy, the following factors were evaluated: the hormonal profile, fasting serum insulin, body weight, body mass index (BMI), menstruation status, oxidative stress, and indications of lipid metabolism. RESULTS: The combination of pioglitazone and α-lipoic acid has a significantly improving effect on BMI, body weight, oxidative stress levels, lipid metabolism, and menstrual status. A significant increase in body weight, BMI, and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels were found in mice after being treated with α-lipoic acid alone. However, the use pioglitazone alone improves body weight, BMI, the calculation of insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), Area under the curve (AUC)-insulin, fasting glucose/insulin (G/I) ratio, total testosterone, and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels in post-treatment than pre-treatment. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that pioglitazone alone has a better effect than alpha-lipoic acid in improving oxidative stress levels, BMI, and menstrual cyclicity. Additionally, treatment with pioglitazone and alpha-lipoic acid did demonstrate a greater effect than monotherapy with each medication alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The core activities of tender documents compilation are to collect similar historical tender documents, select compilation templates of tender documents and revise templates of tender documents partially. However, when the historical tender documents have accumulated to a certain amount, it becomes extremely difficult for compilers to summary, reuse and revise templates artificially in traditional compiling methods. Based on casebased reasoning (CBR), this paper studied the content recommendation method in the process of tender document construction. Firstly, a structured model of tender documents was constructed, and similar tender cases were retrieved from the tender case database according to the characteristics of tender cases; Secondly, the non-interference sequence index was used to measure the similarity of clauses used in similar tender cases, and the recommended sequences of reference template and content module of tender documents were constructed, which realized the recommendation of compiling templates of tender documents and partial revision of templates; Finally, the knowledge of the new tender case was updated. The empirical analysis shows that the construction method of tender documents based on case-based reasoning not only proposes a suitable strategy for compiling tender documents, but also improves the compilation efficiency of tender documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have investigated the influence of ZnO orientation on the valence band offset (ΔEV) of Mg0.2Ni0.8O(111)/ZnO (1120) and Mg0.2Ni0.8O(111)/ZnO(0002) heterostructures by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Combining with the experimental optical energy band gap extracted from UV-vis transmittance spectra, the energy band alignment at the interfaces has been determined. The ΔEV has been found to be 1.8 ± 0.1 eV and 1.4 ± 0.1 eV for Mg0.2Ni0.8O(111)/ZnO (1120) and Mg0.2Ni0.8O(111)/ZnO(0002), respectively. Both the heterostructures show type-II band configurations with conduction band offsets (ΔEC) of 2.4 ± 0.1 eV and 2.0 ± 0.1 eV, respectively. The ZnO orientation correlated electronic structure in p-Mg0.2Ni0.8O/n-ZnO interfaces can be explained well by the effect of spontaneous polarization in ZnO. Furthermore, the results offer opportunity that desired band offsets in MgxNi1-xO/ZnO heterostructures can be obtained by appropriately adjusting Mg composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) and β2-microglobulin (β2-MG) in infants with congenital heart disease (CHD) combined with chronic heart failure and its relationship with cardiac function. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 100 cases of infants diagnosed with CHD combined with chronic heart failure in our hospital from July 2015 to July 2018 were selected as the experimental group, and 80 cases of healthy subjects underwent health examination in our hospital during the same period were selected as the control group. The levels of serum GDF-15 and β2-MG and LVEF index of the two groups were compared. The correlation analysis of GDF-15 and β2-MG levels and cardiac function classification was conducted. The diagnostic value of GDF-15 and β2-MG was analyzed by ROC curve. RESULTS: The levels of GDF-15 and β2-MG were significantly higher in severe and moderate heart failure groups than those in mild heart failure group, and the levels were significantly higher in severe heart failure group than those in moderate heart failure group (p<0.001). Levels of GDF-15 and β2-MG in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p<0.001) and the LVEF index in the experimental group was significantly lower than that in the control group (p<0.001). There was a positive correlation between levels of GDF-15 and β2-MG and the severity of heart failure. The sensitivity, specificity, and AUC of GDF15 alone in diagnosis of CHD combined with chronic heart failure were respectively 91.25%, 74.00% and 0.821, those of β2-MG alone were 82.50%, 62.00% and 0.819, and those of GDF-15 combined with β2-MG were 82.50%, 82.00% and 0.888. In the prognosis, the sensitivity of GDF15 and β2-MG was respectively 91.30%, 56.52%, specificity was 62.96%, 94.44%, and AUC was 0.806, 0.817. CONCLUSIONS: Levels of GDF-15 and β2-MG are positively correlated with the severity of cardiac function, which can be used as an ideal indicator for early diagnosis of CHD combined with chronic heart failure, as well as a clinical indicator to judge the condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are industrially important bacteria that are widely used in the fermented food industry, especially in the manufacture of yogurt. Characteristic flavors are produced by LAB during fermentation and storage that affect the quality and acceptability of fermented milk products. In this study, the volatile compounds in milk fermented by Streptococcus thermophilus IMAU80842 alone, Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus IMAU20401 alone, or both species together were identified using solid-phase microextraction methods coupled with gas chromatographymass spectrometry. A total of 53, 43, and 32 volatile compounds were identified in milk fermented by S. thermophilus alone, L. delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus alone, or both species together, respectively. The presence of some important flavor compounds was confirmed: acetic acid, acetaldehyde, acetoin, 2,3-butanedione, ethanol, and 1-heptanol. Our results demonstrate that the composition of the volatile compounds in fermented milk depends on the species of LAB used and whether they are used alone or in combination. This is important for the selection of appropriate starter cultures for the production of different types of fermented milk product with particular flavors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new title compounds are prepared by solid state reactions of stoichiometric mixtures of MgO, In2O3, and H3BO3 (1080-1190 °C, 36 h) and their crystal structures are determined by powder XRD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expansion of polyglutamine repeats is the cause of at least nine inherited human neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington's disease (HD). It is widely accepted that deregulation of the transcriptional coactivator CBP by expanded huntingtin (htt) plays an important role in HD molecular pathogenesis. In this study, we report on a novel target of expanded polyglutamine stretches, the transcriptional coactivator Jun activation domain-binding protein 1 (Jab1), which shares DNA-sequence-specific transcription factor targets with CBP. Jab1 also plays a major role in the degradation of the cyclin-dependent-kinase inhibitor and putative transcription cofactor p27(Kip1). We found that Jab1 accumulates in aggregates when co-expressed with either expanded polyglutamine stretches or N-terminal fragments of mutant htt. In addition, the coactivator function of Jab1 was suppressed both by aggregated expanded polyglutamine solely and by mutant htt. Inhibition by mutant htt even preceded the appearance of microscopic aggregation. In an exon 1 HD cell model, we found that endogenous Jab1 could be recruited into aggregates and that this was accompanied by the accumulation of p27(Kip1). Accumulation of p27(Kip1) was also found in brains derived from HD patients. The repression of Jab1 by various mechanisms coupled with an increase of p27(Kip1) at late stages may have important transcriptional effects. In addition, the interference with the Jab1-p27(Kip1) pathway may contribute to the observed lower incidence of cancer in HD patients and may also be relevant for the understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of polyglutamine disorders in general., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)