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Background: This multi‐center study was aimed at retrospectively evaluating the feasibility, safety, clinical outcomes, and surgical learning curve of an optimized procedure for right upper lobectomy (RUL), which is challenging because of the anatomical structures and features of this lobe. Methods: This study included 45 RUL cases of robot‐assisted thoracoscopy (RATS) in a pilot cohort and 187 RUL cases of video‐assisted thoracoscopy (VATS) in three cohorts. A total of 121 and 111 patients underwent traditional and optimized RUL, respectively. The optimized surgical procedure was performed to consecutively transect the superior arterial trunk and bronchus, and finally disconnect the pulmonary vein and posterior ascending artery with interlobar fissures. Clinical and radiological data were reviewed retrospectively. Results: Optimized RUL can be performed successfully by RATS or VATS. The optimized procedure yielded better clinical outcomes than the traditional procedure, including shorter operation times, less blood loss, fewer complications, shorter hospital times, lower costs, and a lower likelihood of postoperative intermedius bronchial kinking. Additionally, for calcified interlobar lymph nodes, the optimized VATS group was less likely to be converted to thoracotomy than the traditional group. The skills required to perform optimized VATS RUL can be gained by surgeons after 12 to 15 cases. The two RUL procedures in the pilot cohort showed similar disease‐free survival. Conclusions: The optimized RUL was safe, economical, and feasible, with a short learning curve and satisfactory disease‐free survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male‐specific wing spots are usually associated with wing displays in the courtship behavior of Drosophila and may play important roles in sexual selection. Two closely related species, D. nepalensis and D. trilutea, differ in wing spots and scissoring behavior. Here, we compare male morphological characters, pigmentation intensity of male wing spots, wing‐scissoring behavior, courtship songs, and reproductive isolation between 2 species. F1 fertile females and sterile males result from the cross between females of D. nepalensis and males of D. trilutea. The pigmentation of wing spots is significantly weaker in D. trilutea than in D. nepalensis and the F1 hybrid. Males scissor both wings in front of the female during courtship, with a posture spreading wings more widely, and at a faster frequency in D. nepalensis than in D. trilutea and the F1s. Males of D. trilutea vibrate wings to produce 2 types (A and B) of pulse songs, whereas D. nepalensis and the F1s sing only type B songs. The incidence of wing vibration and scissoring during courtship suggests that wing vibration is essential but scissoring is a facultative courtship element for successful mating in both species. The association between the darker wing spots with more elaborate scissoring might be the consequence of correlated evolution of these traits in D. nepalensis; however, D. trilutea retains wing scissoring during courtship despite having weaker pigmentation of wing spots. The genetic architecture of 2 traits differs in the F1s, consistent with maternal or sex‐linked effects for spots but nonadditive effects for scissoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUD: Chinese Luzhou-flavor baijiu (LFB) was fermented in an underground cellar, and the bottom and side of the cellar were covered with pit muds (PMs), where the metabolic activity of the microorganisms had a significant effect on the LFB quality. PMs can be divided into aged pit mud (AP) and degenerated pit mud (DP), thus, the qualities of LFB generated from AP and DP were different. In this essay, metatranscriptomics method was applied to illustrate the differences of the two PMs, as well as to search out the pivotal microorganisms and genes influencing the quality of LFB. RESULTS: Archaea, Clostridium and some thermophilic microorganisms might bring significant effect in AP, while the active eukaryota and Anaeromyxobacter would cause degeneration in PM. Also, the metabolism of carbohydrate and amino acid were more active in AP. What is more, carbohydrate, amino acid and their derivant can produce important organic acids via the activity of the microorganisms in PMs. There were eight critical enzymes noticed in the organic acids metabolic pathway, which were more actively expressed in AP, demonstrating active expression of the critical genes related to organic acid metabolism could have a positive effect on LFB quality. CONCLUSION: This study identified specific differences in active microorganisms, active expressed genes and the expression levels of key genes in vital metabolic pathway between AP and DP. Which may be the actual reason for the differences in the quality of LFB made from different PMs. Mastering these results will provide assistance to improve the quality of LFB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To discuss whether the dome or anterior wall of bladder adenocarcinoma (BAC) should be classified into urachal carcinoma (UrC) and the relationship of primary tumor location (PTL) as well as treatment with survival. Methods: Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results 18 database was examined for eligible patients from 1975 to 2016. Patients were classified into adenocarcinoma originating from the urachus (UAC), the dome (D-BAC), the anterior wall (A-BAC), and the other sites adenocarcinoma of the bladder (O-BAC). The clinicopathological features, treatment, and survival were compared among the groups. Results: Comparable clinicopathologic features were obtained between UAC and DBAC, which were different from those of A-BAC and O-BAC; otherwise, the latter two had similar clinicopathologic features. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression analyses indicated that PTL was an independent predictor for survival. OBAC conferred the worst prognosis then followed by A-BAC, D-BAC, and UAC. For non-metastatic UAC or D-BAC, partial cystectomy (with an en bloc resection of the urachus and umbilicus) is optimal for survival. However, the worse survival of non-metastatic D-BAC (compared with UAC) suggested different modalities, maybe more intensive surgery approaches, should be considered for D-BAC. Conclusion: This study illustrates that PTL of UAC and BAC was an independent predictor for survival. A-BAC had comparable characters and prognosis with O-BAC and should not be classified into and treated as UrC. For non-metastatic disease, nonmetastatic D-BAC may need more intensive modality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous materials have been investigated as efficient photochromic platforms for detecting hazardous radiation, while the utilization of hydrogen bonded organic frameworks (HOFs) in this field has remained intact. Herein, two HOFs were synthesized through self‐assembly of tetratopic viologen ligand and formic acid (PFC‐25, PFC‐26), as a new class of "all‐organic" radiochromic smart material, opening a gate for HOFs in this field. PFC‐26 is active upon both X‐ray and UV irradiation, while PFC‐25 is only active upon X‐ray irradiation. The same building block yet different radiochromic behaviors of PFC‐25 and PFC‐26 allow us to gain a deep mechanistic understanding of the factors that control the detection specificity. Theoretical and experimental studies reveal that the degree of π‐conjugation of viologen ligand is highly related to the threshold energy of triggering a charge transfer, therefore being a vital factor for the particularity of radiochromic materials. Thanks to its convenient processibility, nanoparticle size, and UV silence, PFC‐25 can be further fabricated into a portable naked‐eye sensor for X‐ray detection, which shows obvious color change with the merits of high transmittance contrast, good sensitivity (reproducible dose threshold of 3.5 Gy), and excellent stability. The work exhibits the promising practical potentials of HOF materials in photochromic technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind power input to oceanic near‐inertial oscillations (NIOs) plays a crucial role in sustaining the global ocean conveyor belt. However, the impact of tropical cyclones (TCs) on wind power input to NIOs, despite being the most vigorous atmospheric dynamics capable of exciting NIOs, is often overlooked in global estimations due to their transient nature and a lack of observations. Utilizing hourly wind and ocean current records, we quantified the wind power on NIOs induced by TCs from 1990 to 2019. Our findings reveal that the wind power on NIOs due to TCs is estimated to be between 0.028 and 0.065 TW, which accounts for a significant proportion, that is, 8%–17%, of that over the globe. This study highlights the importance of incorporating the wind power induced by TCs when estimating the global wind power on NIOs, as its impact is non‐negligible. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the global energy balance by improving the estimation of wind power on NIOs. Plain Language Summary: Wind power input to oceanic near‐inertial oscillations (NIOs) is important for sustaining the global ocean conveyor belt. However, the influence of tropical cyclones (TCs) on wind power input to NIOs, despite being the most intense atmospheric dynamics that could easily excite NIOs, is often overlooked in global estimations due to their transient nature and a lack of observations. By analyzing wind and ocean current records from 1990 to 2019, the wind power on NIOs induced by TCs was quantified. We found that wind power on NIOs due to TCs is non‐negligible and accounts for a significant portion of that over the globe. This study highlights the importance of considering the wind power induced by TCs when estimating the global wind power on NIOs, which helps to achieve a more accurate estimation of wind power on NIOs, leading to an improved understanding of the global energy balance. Key Points: Observed data shows tropical cyclones contribute 8%–17% of global wind power on near‐inertial oscillationsTropical cyclones could contribute up to 90% of wind power on near‐inertial oscillations in their prone regionsAccounting for tropical cyclones is essential when estimating wind power on near‐inertial oscillations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Usually, instantaneous channel information is required by the transmitter for the precoding in multi-input multi-output interference channels. In the case of fast fading channels, the resultant additional overhead of the system will be high. Against this, this study considers the scenario where the channel is spatially correlated and the transmitter only has the covariance information of the channel so that the system overhead can be reduced. On the basis of maximum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) criterion, the author proposes two precoding methods, including the iterative precoding and bisection search precoding methods. The first method solves the optimal precoder of a given user provided that others' precoders are known, so that the SINR can be increased gradually. Whereas the second method introduces an auxiliary variable, transforms the original non-convex problem into a convex one, and solves it by convex optimisation softwares. Both the proposed methods are provedtobeconvergentand their computation complexity and overheads are also analysed. Under various system settings, the proposed two methods are compared with a few existing precoding or joint transceiver methods by numerical method and computer simulation, and the superiority of the proposed methods is also shown in most cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pooling strategies, such as max pooling and sum pooling, have been widely used to obtain the global representations for action videos. However, these pooling strategies have several disadvantages. First, they are easily affected by unwanted background local features, the absence of discriminative local features and the times of actions periodically performed by actors. Second, most pooling strategies only use local features to build the global representation that captures little mid-level features for action representation. In this study, the authors propose a novel weighted pooling strategy based on actionlets representation for action recognition. The actionlets are defined as the movements of large bodies such as legs, arms and head, which capture rich mid-level features for action representation. Besides, the authors' method also incorporates the distribution information of actionlets into pooling procedure. Specifically, a pooling weight, which determines the importance of actionlet on the final video representation, is assigned to each actionlet. To learn the weight, they propose a novel discriminative learning algorithm to capture the discriminative information for pooling operation. They evaluate their weighted pooling on three datasets: KTH actions dataset, UCF sports dataset and Youtube actions dataset. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Cortical dysplasia (CD) is a major cause of epilepsy in children and adults, but underlying mechanisms of epileptogenesis in this disorder are poorly understood. We have utilized the irradiated rat model to study an injury-based form of diffuse CD in rats. Prior studies in this model have shown reduced numbers of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic interneurons and reduced inhibitory synaptic currents in pyramidal cells in CD. We analyzed the number of excitatory and inhibitory presynaptic terminals in the neocortex of irradiated rats to better characterize altered connectivity in experimental CD. Methods: Antibodies to vesicular glutamate transporter 1 (VGLUT1), vesicular glutamate transporter 2 (VGLUT2), vesicular GABA transporter (VGAT), and parvalbumin (PV) were used to quantify glutamatergic and GABAergic presynaptic terminals in control and dysplastic cortex. Results: We found that the density of VGLUT1 terminals was increased in CD in comparison to layers IV, V, and VI in control cortex. VGLUT2 terminals were increased in CD compared to layers IV and VI. VGAT terminals were reduced in CD compared to layers II/III, IV, and V in controls as were PV-immunoreactive somata and terminals. Discussion: These findings suggest an overall increase in excitatory synaptic connectivity and decrease in inhibitory synaptic connectivity in CD in irradiated rat. We propose that these changes contribute to hyperexcitability in these animals and may contribute to epileptogenicity in some forms of human CD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the impacts of the Indian Ocean basin-scale sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) on the onset of the summer monsoon on South China Sea. It is observed that basin-wide warming in tropical Indian Ocean occurs after an El Niño event. Changes in the sea-surface temperature sustain the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) effects towards the summer monsoon in Asia and modifies the strength of the Philippine Sea anti-cyclone, which causes delay to the South China Sea monsoon onset. The methods and the conclusion of the study are discussed.

New insights into the bone collagen fibril superstructure have been obtained by novel small-angle X-ray scattering analysis. The analysis was carried out on the small-angle equidistant meridional reflections resulting from the periodic structure of collagen fibrils in their axial direction. Conventional two- dimensional analysis is difficult because of the large discrepancy of longitudinal and lateral length scales for individual fibrils, as well as their preferred orientation. The new approach represents an unapproximated analysis of the equidistant meridional reflections, which takes the exact separation of preferred orientation and fibril size effects into account. The analytical results (e.g. axial period, fibril diameter etc.) agree well with the parameters obtained from transmission electron microscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the onset date of South China Sea summer monsoon (SCSSM). It mentions that the monsoon onset date (MOD) is determined by the change in direction of the zonal winds in the South China Sea from going towards the east to west in two consecutive pentads. It discusses that the ENSO is affected by the ocean heat content (OHC). The study found that the monsoon starts late in a period of warm ENSO. It also mentions that winds in the east of the Philippines affect the onset of the MOD. The study also relates the effects of cold subsurface water in the western North Pacific with SCSSM.

Summary: Mefunidone (MFD), a novel derivation of pirfenidone (PFD), exhibits promising anti‐renal fibrosis activity. To avoid early development failures and attrition in clinical phase 1, an evaluation of the preclinical pharmacokinetic (PK) properties of MFD was conducted in this study. The absolute bioavailability was evaluated in Sprague Dawley rats and cynomolgus monkeys, who received an intragastric or intravenous administration at the dose of 31.25 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg, respectively. Tissue distribution and plasma protein binding studies were performed to evaluate the distribution characteristics of MFD. The enzymes involved in the metabolism of MFD were assayed by calculating the inhibition rate using the in vitro incubation system of human liver microsomes. The metabolic pathway of MFD was also examined in the in vitro incubation system as well as in rats in vivo. The results revealed satisfactory absorption of MFD in vivo, with an absolute bioavailability of MFD in rats and monkeys of approximately 77.2% and 70.0%, respectively. MFD was rapidly distributed to all tissues and was highly concentrated in the kidney, which was the target organ of MFD. The plasma protein binding rates in rat, monkey, and human plasma were 36.40%–41.68%, 30.88%–63.92%, and 37.75%–57.77%, respectively. MFD was primarily metabolized by the enzymes CYP3A4, CYP2C9, and CYP2C8. The metabolic pathway of MFD is nitrogen demethylation of the pyridine ring of the MFD nucleus, hydroxylation of the aromatic ring, and demethylation of the piperazine ring. In conclusion, MFD exhibited good PK properties in the initial preclinical PK study. The results strongly support further research to investigate the potential of MFD as a clinical anti‐renal fibrosis drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has gradually increased, including new drugs and surgical methods, the mortality rate of PAH patients has significantly decreased, and the average survival rate has significantly improved. However, there was no obvious improvement in sexual health, mental health, and quality of life (QoL) in patients with PAH. Although an important dimension of QoL, little is known about sexual health and sexual health-related QoL of patients with PAH in China. In this study, the female sexual function index (FSFI) scale, the Symptom Checklist- 90 (SCL-90), and emPHasis-10 were used to evaluate PAH associated with congenital heart disease (CHD-PAH) patients' sexual function, mental health, and QoL. The score of sexual function in female CHD-PAH patients ranged from 4.40 to 34.80 points, and the average score was 26.80 (19.00--27.80) points. The detection rate of sexual dysfunction was 48.30%. The FSFI score of all dimensions of the sexual dysfunction group was significantly lower than that of the nonsexual dysfunction group. In addition, the scores of SCL-90 and emPHasis-10 were significantly higher than that of the nonsexual dysfunction group (p < 0.01). The sexual function was negatively correlated with mental health (r = --0.58, p < 0.01) and QoL (r = --0.62, p < 0.01) in female CHD-PAH patients. The sexual function of female patients with CHD-PAH is not optimistic. Sexual health may impact mental health and overall QoL in female PAH patients. Reasonable intervention measures should be taken to improve their sexual health, so as to improve their overall QoL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the role of intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) in the onset of the South China Sea summer monsoon (SCSSM). Two major components of ISO (10–20‐day and 30–60‐day modes) are identified. The coupling of these two intraseasonal modes during the pre‐monsoon period of the SCSSM are investigated by examining the filtered outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), low‐level circulation, apparent heat source and apparent moisture sink from October of a previous calendar year to September of a calendar year.The zonal and meridional propagations of the 10–20‐day and 30–60‐day modes are found to be different, which reflects their different roles in the establishment and development of the SCSSM. The northwestward propagation of the 10–20‐day mode is associated with the weakening of the subtropical high over the western Pacific, while the northeastward propagation of the 30–60‐day mode originates from convection over the equatorial Indian Ocean. A hypothesis is then proposed to explain the observed variabilities in the SCSSM onset. When the equatorial Indian Ocean exhibits a 30–60‐day mode oscillation, an initially weak convection develops into a large convection band (or monsoon trough). Meanwhile, a convective disturbance of the 10–20‐day mode is induced when this monsoon trough extends to the western Pacific. These two processes then collaborate to cause a weakening of the subtropical anticyclone over the South China Sea. Because the monsoon trough associated with the 30–60‐day mode subsequently propagates northward into the Bay of Bengal (BOB), the induced vortex together with the 10–20‐day westward‐migrating convection from the equatorial western Pacific will substantially increase the effect of horizontal advection of moisture and heat, thus destabilizing the atmosphere and weakening the subtropical ridge there. Westerlies can then penetrate and prevail over the SCS region, and the SCSSM onset occurs. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, more and more rhodamine derivatives have been used as fluorophores to construct sensors due to their excellent spectroscopic properties. A rhodamine-based fluorescent and colorimetric Fe3+ chemosensor 3',6'-bis(ethylamino)-2-acetoxyl-2',7'-dimethyl-spiro[1 H-isoindole-1,9'-[9 H]xanthen]-3(2 H)-one ( RAE) was designed and synthesized. Upon the addition of Fe3+, the dramatic enhancement of both fluorescence and absorbance intensity, as well as the color change of the solution, could be observed. The detection limit of RAE for Fe3+ was around 7.98 ppb. Common coexistent metal ions showed little or no interference in the detection of Fe3+. Moreover, the addition of CN− could quench the fluorescence of the acetonitrile solution of RAE and Fe3+, indicating the regeneration of the chemosensor RAE. The robust nature of the sensor was shown by the detection of Fe3+ even after repeated rounds of quenching. As iron is a ubiquitous metal in cells and plays vital roles in many biological processes, this chemosensor could be developed to have applications in biological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study on the meridional teleconnection (MT) over the western North Pacific and East Asia (WNP-EA) on the interannual time scales. The study uses ERA-40 reanalysis data and indicates a significant change in the early-summer MT around the late 1970s. It mentions that the change in MT weakens due to the vertical easterly shear over the tropical WNP. It infers that the WNP precipitation results in a barotropic response, which is important for the MT over the WNP-EA.

The article presents a study which evaluates the effects of climate shift on the relationship between wintertime Ural blocking circulation and East Asian climate in the mid 1970s. It mentions that climate shift in the 1970s has a significant influence on the Ural blocking pattern and the East Asian winter climate. Results of the study show that enhanced relationship between Ural blocking and East Asian climates amplifies the impact of Ural blocking to the latter.

Owing to the significance in kinetic modeling of the oxidation and combustion mechanisms of hydrocarbons, a fast and relatively accurate method was developed for the prediction of ΔfHo298 of alkyl peroxides. By this method, a raw ΔfHo298 value was calculated from the optimized geometry and vibration frequencies at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level and then an accurate ΔfHo298 value was obtained by a least-square procedure. The least-square procedure is a six-parameter linear equation and is validated by a leave-one out technique, giving a cross-validation squared correlation coefficient q2 of 0.97 and a squared correlation coefficient of 0.98 for the final model. Calculated results demonstrated that the least-square calibration leads to a remarkable reduction of error and to the accurate ΔfHo298 values within the chemical accuracy of 8 kJ mol-1 except (CH3)2CHCH2CH2CH2OOH which has an error of 8.69 kJ mol-1. Comparison of the results by CBS-Q, CBS-QB3, G2, and G3 revealed that B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) in combination with a least-square calibration is reliable in the accurate prediction of the standard enthalpies of formation for alkyl peroxides. Standard entropies at 298 K and heat capacities in the temperature range of 300–1500 K for alkyl peroxides were also calculated using the rigid rotor-harmonic oscillator approximation. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2009 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the spatiotemporal features of the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) on the sea surface and the subsurface ocean. It was found that the previous positive IOD is associated with the normal South China Sea summer monsoon. Also, a stronger 100-hPa South Asian High is induced by a positive IOD in the summer after an IOD year. Summer rainfall in China is said to exhibit various patterns corresponding to different phases of the IOD, as influenced by the 850-hPa Asian monsoon circulations, as well as the position of the 500-hPa subtropical high ridge.

Summary: This retrospective study was performed to evaluate the association between the UGT2B7 tagSNPs (rs12233719, rs4356975, rs7435335 and rs7441774) and breast cancer in Chinese females. Blood samples were collected from 672 patients with breast cancer and 670 healthy controls for DNA extraction. Matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (MALDI‐TOF MS) was used to analyze UGT2B7 polymorphisms. Dual‐luciferase reporter assays were further performed to investigate the regulatory function of UGT2B7 tagSNPs. The frequency of rs7441774 G allele in the breast cancer cases was statistically significantly higher than in the controls (0.412 vs 0.358, P = .006; odds ratio [OR] = 1.27, 95% CI = 1.08‐1.48). After adjusting for conventional risk factors, individuals with the GG genotype had a higher breast cancer risk than those with the AA genotype (adjusted OR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.18‐2.26; P = .008). The GCGG haplotype of UGT2B7 was also associated with breast cancer (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.04‐1.45; P = .027). Meanwhile, the rs7441774 G allele could significantly decrease the transcriptional activity of the UGT2B7 gene. This study indicates that UGT2B7 polymorphisms may play a crucial role in the occurrence and development of breast cancer in the Han Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transcription factor nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a crucial regulator of the cellular antioxidant response and xenobiotic metabolism. Activation of the Nrf2 signaling pathway has been demonstrated to confer protection against environmental insults and prevent disease or inhibit the progression of diseases related to oxidative stress. In an attempt to identifynovel improvedNrf2 inducers for systemic protection against tissue damage by environmentalinsults, we identified artemisitene as a novel Nrf2 activ atorusing antioxidant responsive elementluciferase assayinMDA-MB-231cells. Further studies suggest that artemisitene activates Nrf2 by decreasing Nrf2 ubiquitination and increasing its stability. In Nrf2 wild-type mice, systemic administration of artemisitene strongly inhibits bleomycininduced lung damage. Artemisitene represents a novel class of Nrf2 inducer, and artemisitene-based therapeutic approach targeting Nrf2may also provide antioxidant protection for humans against tissue damage by toxic chemicals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of novel selective probes with high sensitivity for the detection of Al3+ is widely considered an important research goal due to the importance of such probes in medicine, living systems and the environment. Here, we describe a new fluorescent probe, N′-(4-diethylamino-2-hydroxybenzylidene)-2-hydroxybenzohydrazide ( 1), for Al3+. Probe 1 was evaluated in a solution of acetonitrile/water (1:1 v/ v). Compared with previously reported probes for Al3+, probe 1 can be synthesized easily and in high yield. A Job plot confirmed that probe 1 is able to complex Al3+ in a 1:1 ratio, and the binding constant was determined to be 4.25×108 m−1. Moreover, the detection limit was as low as 6.7×10−9 m, suggesting that probe 1 has a high sensitivity. Common coexistent metal ions, such as K+, Co2+, Ca2+, Ba2+, Ni2+, Pb2+, Hg2+, Ce2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, Fe3+, showed little or no interference in the detection of Al3+ in solution, demonstrating the high selectivity of the probe. Finally, the ability of probe 1 to act as a fluorescent probe for Al3+ in living systems was evaluated in Gram-negative bacteria, Escherichia coli, and confocal laser scanning microscopy confirmed its utility. The results of this study suggest that 1 has appropriate properties to be developed for application as a fluorescent probe of Al3+ for use in biological studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text information contained in scene images is very helpful for high-level image understanding. In this study, the authors propose to learn co-occurrence of local strokes for scene text recognition by using a spatiality embedded dictionary (SED). Unlike spatial pyramid partitioning images into grids to incorporate spatial information, the authors SED associates every codeword with a particular response region and introduces more precise spatial information for robust character recognition. After localised soft coding and max pooling of the first layer, a sparse dictionary is learned to model cooccurrence of several local strokes, which further improves classification performance. Experimental results on two scene character recognition datasets ICDAR2003 and CHARS74 K demonstrate that their character recognition method outperforms state-of-the-art methods. Besides, competitive word recognition results are also reported for four benchmark word recognition datasets ICDAR2003, ICDAR2011, ICDAR2013 and street view text when combining their character recognition method with a conditional random field language model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a multiparameter calibration model, which improves the accuracy of density functional theory (DFT) for the prediction of standard enthalpies of formation for a large set of organic compounds. The model applies atom based, bond based, electronic, and radical environmental correction terms to calibrate the calculated enthalpies of formation at B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level by a least-square method. A diverse data set of 771 closed-shell compounds and radicals is used to train the model. The leave-one-out cross validation squared correlation coefficient q2 of 0.84 and squared correlation coefficient r2 of 0.86 for the final model are obtained. The meanabsolute error in enthalpies of formation for the dataset is reduced from 4.9 kcal/mol before calibration to 2.1 kcal/mol after calibration. Five-fold cross validation is also used to estimate the performance of the calibration model and similar results are obtained. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem, 2010 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: While benign duodenal tumours are rare compared with malignant tumours, they comprise a wide variety of pathologies. Despite their diagnostic challenge, the optimal management of benign duodenal tumours remains undefined. We aimed to review the diagnosis and surgical treatment of benign duodenal tumours. Methods: Records of all patients with post-operative pathological diagnosis of benign duodenal tumour were retrieved. Information on clinical presentations, diagnostic methods, tumour locations, surgical approaches, pathological results and patient outcomes were analysed. Results: The operative spectrum included local resection in 8 cases, segmental duodenectomy in 1 case, subtotal gastrectomy in 1 case, papilla resection with sphincteroplasty in 3 cases and pancreaticoduodenectomy in 5 cases. The post-operative pathology results indicated 5 cases of adenoma, 2 cases of tubular adenoma, 2 cases of villous adenoma, 2 cases of tubulovillous adenoma, 2 cases of hamartoma and 1 case each of hamartomatous polyp, Brunner's adenoma, adenomyoma, fibromatosis and ectopic pancreas. Post-operatively, one patient died of unrelated disease, one case was lost in follow-up and the remaining patients survived recurrence-free with a good quality of life. Conclusion: The presentation of benign duodenal tumours is non-specific, with upper abdominal discomfort and upper gastrointestinal bleeding as common symptoms. Surgical resection is the preferable therapeutic choice with satisfactory prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a case of an 18-month-old boy with slightly whitened fingernails and toenails since birth. At the age of 100 days, he progressively developed bilateral palmoplantar keratoderma which resulted in painful walking and disabled grasping. Perianal keratotic plaques and perioral hyperkeratotic erythema could also be observed. Both fingernails and toenails were dystrophic. Scalp hairs were sparse, but total alopecia was no present. The histopathologic changes of the biopsy from the inner side of the right foot showed nonspecific changes, which mainly showed highly hyperkeratosis and acanthosis with slight superficial perivascular inflammatory infiltration. A clinical diagnosis of Olmsted syndrome was established according to the typical feature of the lesions, which is the presence of symmetrical palmoplantar keratoderma with periorificial keratotic plaques. We review the literature and present a summary of all reported cases to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated the efficacy and safety of tacrolimus ointment in the treatment of the pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis. Tacrolimus ointment therapy resulted in the remission of atopic dermatitis, this effect of tacrolimus ointment strengths 0.03% and 0.1% were better than those of 1% hydrocortisone acetate and 1% pimecrolimus. Difference between the 0.03% tacrolimus group and the 0.1% tacrolimus group was not statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abnormal phosphorylation of microtubule-associated protein tau plays a critical role in Alzheimer's disease (AD), together with a distinct decrease of energy metabolism in the affected brain regions. To explore the effect of acute energy crisis on tau phosphorylation and the underlying mechanisms, we incubated rat brain slices in artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF) at 37°C with or without an oxygen supply, or in aCSF with low glucose concentrations. Then, the levels of total, phosphorylated and unphosphorylated tau, as well as the activities and levels of protein phosphatase (PP)-1, PP-2A, glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3), extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (ERK) and C-jun amino terminal kinase (JNK), were measured. It was found, unexpectedly, that tau was significantly dephosphorylated at Ser396/Ser404 (PHF-1), Ser422 (R145), Ser199/Ser202 (Tau-1), Thr181 (AT270), Ser202/Thr205 (AT8) and Thr231 (AT180) by acute anoxia for 30 min or 120 min. The activity of PP-2A and the level of dephosphorylated PP-2A catalytic subunit at tyrosine 307 (Tyr307) were simultaneously increased. The active forms of ERK1/2 and JNK1/2 were decreased under anoxic incubation. The PP-2A inhibitor, okadaic acid (OA, 0.75 µ m), completely prevented tau from acute anoxia-induced dephosphorylation and restored the active forms of ERK1/2 and JNK1/2 to the control level. The activities and protein levels of GSK-3 and PP-1 showed no change during acute anoxia. These data suggest that acute anoxia induces tau dephosphorylation, and that PP-2A may play a key role in tau dephosphorylation induced by acute anoxia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The asymmetric unit of the title structure, C27H24Br2P+·Br−, comprises two [(CH3C6H3CHBr2)(C6H5)3P]+ cations and two bromide anions. The cations exhibit closely comparable conformations, with a slight distortion from tetra­hedral geometry around P. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

J. Neurochem. (2011) 118, 864-878. Abstract Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) plays a crucial role in memory deficits and tau hyperphosphorylation as seen in Alzheimer's disease, the most common dementia in the aged population. We reported that ventricular co-injection of wortmannin and GF-109203X (WT/GFX) can induce tau hyperphosophorylation and memory impairment of rats through activation of GSK-3 [Liu S. J., Zhang A. H., Li H. L., Wang Q., Deng H. M., Netzer W. J., Xu H. X. and Wang J. Z. (2003) J. Neurochem. 87, 1333]. In the present study, we found that feeding the rats with Acetyl-L-Carnitine (ALCAR, 50 mg/day·rat, per os) for 2 weeks rescued the WT/GFX-induced spatial memory retention impairment of the rats by antagonizing GSK-3β activation independent of Akt, PKCζ and Erk1/2. We also found that ALCAR arrested microtubule-associated protein tau hyperphosphorylation at multiple Alzheimer's disease sites in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, ALCAR enhanced the expression of several memory-associated proteins including c-Fos, synapsin I in rat hippocampus. These results suggest that ALCAR could ameliorate WT/GFX-induced spatial memory deficits through inhibition tau hyperphosphorylation and modulation of memory-associated proteins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]