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Whether combined CsA with androgen therapy was superior to androgen therapy alone in NSAA remains controversial. This study aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of combined therapy versus androgen therapy for NSAA patients using a meta-analytic approach. An electronic database of PubMed, EmBase, Cochrane library, CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang was systematically searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) from their inception to February 2020. The primary endpoint was effective rate, while the secondary endpoints included white blood cell (WBC), hemoglobin, platelet, and potential adverse events. The pooled results from included trials were calculated with the random-effects model. Forty-three RCTs recruited 2610 NSAA patients for the final quantitative meta-analysis. We noted that combined therapy was associated with an increased incidence of effective rate than androgen therapy alone (relative risk [RR]: 1.35; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.29–1.41; P < 0.001). Moreover, patients treated with combined therapy were associated with higher WBC (weighted mean difference [WMD]: 1.22; 95%CI: 0.94–1.49; P < 0.001), hemoglobin (WMD: 12.93; 95%CI: 8.86–17.01; P < 0.001), and platelet (WMD: 8.65; 95%CI: 7.05–10.24; P < 0.001). Finally, the pooled incidence of hirsutism, handshake, gingiva hyperplasia, liver function damage, and renal function damage were 0.35 (95%CI: 0.22–0.48), 0.24 (95%CI: 0.15–0.32), 0.22 (95%CI: 0.10–0.35), 0.19 (95%CI: 0.14–0.25), and 0.06 (95%CI: 0.01–0.11), respectively. This study found that combined CsA with androgen therapy was superior to androgen therapy alone for Chinese patients with NSAA, and the most common adverse of combined therapy included hirsutism, handshake, gingiva hyperplasia, liver function damage, and renal function damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was carried out to explore clinical treatment and prognosis of patients with AA with different economic status. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical outcome of 301 patients with AA in our center from April 2008 to November 2017. Treatments included anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) or anti-lymphocyte globulin (ALG) combined with cyclosporineA (CsA) (9%), allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) (7%), CsA combined with androgen or CsA alone (hereinafter referred to as CsA group) (77%), no specific therapy (7%). The 5-year overall survival (OS) was higher in patients with non-severe AA (94.6%) compared with those with severe AA (SAA) (66.6%, P <.001), very severe AA (VSAA) (41.3%, P <.001). The 5-year OS was 76.5% in patients with SAA/VSAA treated with ATG/ALG combined with CsA, 75% in allo-HSCT group(P =.936), 63.6% in CsA group (P =.557), which was significantly higher than no specific therapy group (21.8%, P =.002). For those who responded to CsA , the duration of CsA (median follow-up time: 27 months, 1–101 months) was positively correlated with progression-free survival (r=0.603, P <.001). Multivariate analysis revealed that 36–65 years of age, SAA/VSAA, and no specific therapy were independent risk factors for inferior survival. The treatment of elderly patients with AA still faces challenges. CsA is benefit to the survival of SAA/VSAA patients. AA patients, who responded to initialy CsA treatment, may benefit from prolonged CsA treatment. In view of the side effects of CsA, the timing of withdrawal is worth further exploration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scattering of electromagnetic plane waves from normal chiral materials, chiral metamaterials, chiral nihility materials are presented. Based on the volume equivalence principle, the integral equations are represented in terms of a pair of coupled bi-isotropic polarized volume electric and magnetic flux densities. The volume integral equations (VIE) are solved using the method of moments (MoM) combined with tetrahedral mesh. Then the adaptive cross approximation (ACA) algorithm is combined with the fast dipole method (FDM) based on the equivalent dipole method (EDM) is first extended to analyze the scattering of chiral materials by solving the VIE. The co-polarized and cross-polarized bistatic radar cross-scattering (RCS) of normal chiral media, chiral metamaterials and chiral nihility materials are given, and the scattering properties of them are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liposomes have successfully been used for decades to encapsulate and protect drugs that are prone to deactivation in the body. The present study aimed to demonstrate the use of liposomes to encapsulate cordycepin, an adenosine analog that quickly loses its activityin vivo. The cordycepin-loaded liposomes were prepared by the ammonium sulfate gradient approach, and itsin vitroandin vivoantitumour activities were evaluated using BEL-7402 cells and hepatocellular carcinoma H22 transplanted tumors, respectively. An MTT assay was used to observe the cytotoxicity of cells treated with cordycepin and cordycepin-loaded liposomesin vitro. High-content screening (HSC) was carried out using Hoechst 33342 to detect apoptotic cells and the ratio of cells in different cell cycle stages. The data demonstrated that both the cordycepin and the cordycepin-loaded liposomes resulted in clear cytotoxicity with IC50 values of 18.97 and 29.39 μg/mL, respectively. The latter showed significantly strong inhibitory effects on H22 tumor growth in mice, while the former did not show any inhibitory effects on tumor growth. In addition, the HSC assay showed that the cordycepin-loaded liposomes resulted in a higher rate of apoptosis than the cordycepin alone in BEL-7402 cells. Further data analysis revealed that the cells treated with cordycepin-loaded liposomes were predominately arrested at the G2/M phase (p < 0.05), while those treated with cordycepin alone were arrested in the G0/G1 phase (p < 0.05). In conclusion, these results suggest that liposomes can enhance and maintain thein vivoanti-tumor activity of cordycepin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the expression levels of T-cell immune response cDNA 7 (TIRC7) in immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) patients before and after high-dose dexamethasone (HD-DXM) treatment. Methods: Forty-four patients with ITP were enrolled and received dexamethasone (40 mg/day) for 4 consecutive days. Patients who had platelet counts more than 50 × 109/l or less were defined as responders or non-responders, respectively. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay were used to measure RNA level and plasma level of TIRC7, respectively. Results: TIRC7 levels (RNA and plasma level) were significantly higher in ITP than that in control (P < 0.0001). However, after treatment, TIRC7 levels were significantly decreased in responders (P < 0.0001) but not in non-responders (P > 0.05). Discussions: TIRC7 might be associated with the pathogenesis of ITP, and TIRC7 levels could be used as an indicator to evaluate patients’ response to HD-DXM treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrical properties of ferroelectric thin films are sensitive to structural disorders. However, the harmful structural defects are often difficult to be characterized by conventional characterization techniques. Here, we demonstrate that the local structures of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ferroelectric thin films with different amorphous phase contents can be determined using x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy of synchrotron radiation. The results showed that XAFS spectroscopy is a powerful technique to quantify the amorphous phase content in ferroelectric thin films. Influences of the amorphous phase on local structures and properties of ferroelectric thin films were further discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The effects of thermal annealing treatments on fatigue recovery of lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric thin films were investigated. The PZT thin films were prepared on Pt/TiOx/SiO2/Si electrode stacks using a chemical solution deposition method. It was found that the recovery extent of the remnant polarization, coercive electric field and relative dielectric constant depended on the annealing temperature. It was also found that the fatigue endurance of the annealed samples decreased monotonically with increasing fatigue/annealing periods with an annealing temperature of 700°C. Based on the results, a separate passive regions hypothesis for ferroelectric fatigue was proposed, which could explain the results reasonably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical properties of ferroelectric thin films depend on the quality of not only the ferroelectric thin layer but also the ferroelectric/electrode interfaces. In the present study, attempts were made to minimize the Pb depletion at the bottom electrode/ferroelectric interface in lead zirconate titanate ferroelectric thin films by adding a PbO interfacial layer using a chemical solution deposition method. The crystallographic structure of the PZT thin films with and without PbO layer were examined by X-ray diffraction. The microstructure of the thin film samples was characterized using optical microscope and atomic force microscope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our aim was to construct the eukaryotic expressional system of single-chain antibody (ScFv2F9) derived from a new clone of monoclonal antibody named ZCH-7-2F9 against human CD14 antigen, and to obtain the ScFv2F9 protein with a high biological activity for further studies on ScFv2F9 immunotoxin and other kinds of genetically engineered antibodies. Primers were synthesized according to the gene sequence of ScFv2F9, 4 tandem glysines and 1 serine (Gly4Ser)3 linker and multiple cloning site(MCS) of pSectag2A vector, which included SfiI and EcoRI enzyme cleaving site, 6 × His and stop code TGA sequences. ScFv2F9 gene was amplified through splicing by overlap extension (SOE) using the high fidelity Taq polymerase. Then the gene was cloned to pGEM-T easy and pSectag2A vectors. Positive recombinants (pSectag2A/ScFv2F9) were identified through enzyme cleaving and sequenced before expression. The recombinant plasmids were transfected into Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells for expression. The relative molecular weight (MW) and the binding activity of the interesting protein were determined by SDS-PAGE, Western-blot and flow cytometry (FCM), respectively. The scFv2F9 VH is a member of the IgH gene family V1 subgroup and the scFv2F9 VL gene belongs to the Igκ gene family V10 subgroup. The recombined ScFv2F9 gene was identified to be functional by sequencing and expressing. The interesting protein could be detected in the culture supernatant of transformed CHO cells with a MW of 31 kDa. The blocking test showed that the positive cell percentages, the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) and the peak of channel (peak Ch) were reduced by 90.02%, 63.3%and 63.38%, respectively after blockage of ScFv2F9. The ScFv2F9 gene was cloned and the interest protein against human CD14 antigen has been successfully expressed in eukaryotic cells with a high biological activity, which lays the foundation for further studies on its immunotoxin and other kinds of engineered antibodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on the relationships between homogeneous sectoral clusters in adjoining cities highlighting the case of Pearl River Delta in China. It offers information on industrial cluster which comprises of a group of companies operating similar or related businesses close to each other. It examines whether changes in cluster size influences the size of homogeneous clusters in close geographical proximity.