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A thorough examination of PLKs in breast cancer, including their expression and prognosis.With the help of the Oncomine database, the transcript levels of PLKs in breast cancer were examined. The changes in PLKs expression with tumor stage and indeed the relationship between PLKs expression and stage of cancer in women with breast cancer were scrutinized by using the GEPIA database. Based on Kaplan-Meier plots, breast cancer patients were assessed for their prognosis. Breast cancer gene expression and mutations were analyzed within the cBioPortal database.According to Oncomine data, PLK1 and PLK4 mRNA expression levels were dramatically elevated in breast cancer patients while PLK2 and PLK5P levels were significantly downregulated. PLK1 and PLK4 expression were discovered to be greater in breast cancer tissues than in healthy tissues following analysis of the GEPIA database (P 0.05). High levels of PLK1 and PLK4 transcripts have been linked to poor relapse-free survival rates across all patients with breast cancer according to the Kaplan-Meier Plotter database. The high levels of PLK2, PLK3, and PLK5 were associated with a higher recurrence-free survival rate. In the cBioPortal database, PLK was altered in 9.6% of breast cancer samples. Genetic alterations occurred in 15.07% of clinically counted invasive breast cancers, with mutations in 4.11%, gene amplifications in 9.59%, and gene deletion mutations in 1.37%. Additionally, the KEGG database demonstrates that PLKs are crucial for the cell cycle. The findings imply that elevated PLK1 and PLK4 expression in tissues of breast cancer might contribute significantly to the carcinogenesis of breast cancer. Moreover, PLK1 and PLK4 are highly expressed in breast cancer, and their use as molecular markers to identify high-risk subsets from patients with breast cancer is potentially possible.For the precise therapy of breast cancers, PLK1 and PLK4 are potential targets, while PLK2, PLK3, and PLK5 are brand-new biomarkers for predicting the prognosis of breast cancer.

A glass fiber bulk yarn fabric with a graphite coating was produced, with the glass fiber bulk yarn fabric used as the base material, E44 epoxy resin as adhesive, low molecular 650 polyamid...

AST3-2 (the second Antarctic Survey Telescope) is located in Antarctic Dome A, the loftiest ice dome on the Antarctic Plateau. It produces a huge amount of observational data which require a more efficient data reduction program to be developed. Also the data transmission in Antarctica is much difficult, thus it is necessary to perform data reduction and detect variable and transient sources remotely and automatically in Antarctica, but this attempt is restricted by the unsatisfactory performance of the low power consumption computer in Antarctica. For realizing this purpose, to develop a new method based on the existing image subtraction method and random forest algorithm, taking the AST3-2 2016 dataset as the test sample, becomes an alternative choice. This method performs image subtraction on the dataset, then applies the principle component analysis to extract the features of residual images. Random forest is used as a machine learning classifier, and in the test a recall rate of 97% is resulted for the positive sample. Our work has verified the feasibility and accuracy of this method, and finally found out a batch of candidates for variable stars in the AST3-2 2016 dataset.

Higher neutron current densities can provide convenience for neutron experiments. Using neutron optical focusing elements, large flux beams transported to sample can be achieved. As one kind of focusing elements, polycapillary lens is very suitable for neutron absorption experiments such as PGAA and NDP technology. At present, a Neutron Physics and Application Spectrometer was in construction in CSNS, which is the first pulsed neutron source in China. To provide some suggestions and ideas for the following design of enhanced PGAA or NDP instrument with polycapillary lens in CSNS, a first neutron focusing experiment using polycapillary lens in CSNS was conducted. For 0.5-12.6 polychromatic beam, a focal spot with FWHM of 800 was obtained. As the value of wavelength increased, the beam size, transmission efficiency and gain increased. For cold neutron, the gain maintained in a level of 7., Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, 12 references

The x-ray polycapillary lens is an optical device with good optic performance. Similar to the traditional X-ray polycapillary lens, square polycapillary slice lens was regulated on X-ray based on the full reflection principle of X-ray in the capillaries surfaces. According to its geometrical structure model and the X-ray tracing principle, a set of X-ray transmission procedures was established. A complete square polycapillary slice lens with quadratic curve was produced and the optical performance was tested

A few well-documented liquefaction case studies of gravelly soils during major earthquakes have increased concerns regarding the liquefaction susceptibility of gravelly sand soils. Understanding th...

A pair of new oxindole alkaloids, named macrophyllines C (1) and D (2), together with two known oxindole alkaloids isorhynchophylline (3) and corynoxine (4) were isolated from Uncaria macrophylla. Their structures were elucidated based on detailed spectroscopic analysis and by comparison with literature data. In addition, all the isolates were tested for their anti-HIV activities and cytotoxicities in C8166 cells and compounds 2���4 showed weak anti-HIV activities with EC50 values of 11.31 �� 3.29 ��M, 18.77 �� 6.14 ��M and 30.02 �� 3.73 ��M, respectively.

The demand for highly flexible and self-powered wearable textile devices has increased in recent years. Graphene coated textile-based wearable devices have been used for energy harvesting and storage due to their outstanding mechanical, electrical and electronic properties. However, the use of metal based nanocomposites is limited in textiles, due to their poor bending, fixation, and binding on textiles. We present here reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as an n-type and conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) as a p-type material for a wearable thermoelectric nanogenerator (TEG) using a (pad–dry–cure) technique. We developed a reduced graphene oxide (rGO) coated textile-based wearable TEG for energy harvesting from low-grade human body heat. The conductive polymer (PEDOT:PSS) and (rGO) nanocomposite were coated using a layer by layer approach. The resultant fabric showed higher weight pickup of 60–80%. The developed textile based TEG device showed an enhanced Seebeck coefficient of (25–150 μV K−1), and a power factor of (2.5–60 μW m−1 K−1). The developed TE device showed a higher potential to convert the low-grade body heat into electrical energy, between the human body temperature of (36.5 °C) and an external environment of (20.0 ± 5 °C) with a temperature difference of (2.5–16.5 °C). The wearable textile-based TEG is capable of producing an open circuit output voltage of 12.5–119.5 mV at an ambient fixed temperature of (20 °C). The rGO coated textile fabric also showed reduced electrical sheet resistance by increasing the number of dyeing cycles (10) and increased with the number of (20) washing cycles. The developed reduced graphene oxide (rGO) coated electrodes showed a sheet resistance of 185–45 kΩ and (15 kΩ) for PEDOT:PSS–rGO nanocomposites respectively. Furthermore, the mechanical performance of the as coated textile fabric was enhanced from (20–80 mPa) with increasing number of padding cycles. The thermoelectric performance was significantly improved, without influencing the breath-ability and comfort properties of the resultant fabric. This study presents a promising approach for the fabrication of PEDOT:PSS/rGO nano-hybrids for textile-based wearable thermoelectric generators (TEGs) for energy harvesting from low-grade body heat.

Persistent antigen exposure in chronic infection and cancer has been proposed to lead to cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) “exhaustion”, i.e., loss of effector function and disease control. Recent work identifies a population of poorly differentiated TCF-1+PD-1+ CD8+ T cells as precursors of the terminally exhausted CTL pool. These “predysfunctional” CTLs are suggested to respond to PD-1 targeted therapy by giving rise to a pool of functional CTLs. Supported by gene expression analyses, we present a model in which lack of CD4+ T cell help during CD8+ T cell priming results in the formation of predysfunctional CTLs. Our model implies that predysfunctional CTLs are formed during priming and that the remedy for CTL dysfunction is to provide “help” signals for generation of optimal CTL effectors. We substantiate that this may be achieved by engaging CD4+ T cells in new CD8+ T cell priming, or by combined PD-1 blocking and CD27 agonism with available immunotherapeutic antibodies.

BackgroundFOLFOX is a combination of drugs that is widely used to treat colorectal cancer. The response rate of FOLFOX in colorectal cancer(CRC) is 30-50%. We develop a method that analyzes mechanisms of FOLFOX resistance and predicts whether a patient will benefit from FOLFOX.MethodsGene expression data of 83 stage IV CRC tumor samples (FOLFOX responder n=42, non-responder n=41) were used to develop a supervised learning method IML and analyze subgroups of FOLFOX resistance mechanism. Datasets of 32 FOLFOX treated stage IV CRC patients and 55 FOLFOX treated stage III CRC patients were used as independent validations.ResultsAn iterative supervised learning (IML) method identified two distinct subgroups of CRC patients who resist FOLFOX. Each subgroup relies on different types of DNA damage repair proteins and they are mutually exclusive. Protein-protein networks showed the main mechanism might be the synergistic effect of resisting apoptosis and an altered cell cycle. IML method was validated in two independent validation sets, one FOLFOX treated stage IV CRC patients(HR=2.6, p-value=0.02, 3-years survival rate of the predicted responder group 61.9%, predicted nonresponder group 18.8%) and one FOLFOX treated stage III CRC patients (estimated HR=2.36, p-value=0.02). A subgroup of mesenchymal subtype patients shows the pattern as FOLFOX responders.ConclusionsIML method reflects the underlying biology of FOLFOX resistance and predicts FOLFOX response.

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-tar-10.1177_1753466620977376 for Modified and simplified clinically important deterioration: multidimensional indices of short-term disease trajectory to predict future exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by Yi-yang Zhao, Cong Liu, Yu-qin Zeng, Ai-yuan Zhou, Jia-xi Duan, Wei Cheng, Tian Sun, Xin Li, Li-bing Ma, Qi-mi Liu, Ying-qun Zhu, Ming Chen, Mei-ling Zhou and Ping Chen in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-2-tar-10.1177_1753466620977376 for Modified and simplified clinically important deterioration: multidimensional indices of short-term disease trajectory to predict future exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by Yi-yang Zhao, Cong Liu, Yu-qin Zeng, Ai-yuan Zhou, Jia-xi Duan, Wei Cheng, Tian Sun, Xin Li, Li-bing Ma, Qi-mi Liu, Ying-qun Zhu, Ming Chen, Mei-ling Zhou and Ping Chen in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

To understand the effect of f-functions in predicting the right reaction mechanism for hypervalent iodine reagents, we adopt the Ahlrichs basis set family def2-SVP and def2-TZVP to revisit the potential energy surfaces of IBX-mediated oxidation and Togni I's isomerisation. Our results further prove that f-functions (in either Pople, Dunning, or Ahlrichs basis set series) are indispensable to predict the correct rate-determining step of hypervalent iodine reagents. The f-functions have a significant impact on the predicted reaction barriers for processes involving the I-X (X = O, OH, CF$_3$, etc.) bond cleavage and formation, e.g. in the reductive elimination step or the hypervalent twist step. We furthermore explore two hypervalent twist modes that account for the different influences of f-functions for IBX and Togni I. Our findings may be helpful for theoretical chemists to appropriately study the reaction mechanism of hypervalent iodine reagents., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-3-tar-10.1177_1753466620977376 for Modified and simplified clinically important deterioration: multidimensional indices of short-term disease trajectory to predict future exacerbations in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by Yi-yang Zhao, Cong Liu, Yu-qin Zeng, Ai-yuan Zhou, Jia-xi Duan, Wei Cheng, Tian Sun, Xin Li, Li-bing Ma, Qi-mi Liu, Ying-qun Zhu, Ming Chen, Mei-ling Zhou and Ping Chen in Therapeutic Advances in Respiratory Disease

Based on the basic structure of the intelligent production line, the indicator hierarchy is established according to the basic ideas of the analytic hierarchy process; combining its intelligent features, we can complete the extraction and screening of indicators at each level. The expert consultation method is used to construct the judgment matrix for various indicators under the same level, and the consistency test is completed. The weight of each index is determined by the eigenvalue method. Finally, according to the intelligent manufacturing capability maturity model, the scoring rules and comprehensive calculation models of each indicator are formulated, and the evaluation of the total target score is completed. Compared with the score range of the intelligent level, we can judge the level of the intelligent level of the production line at the present stage, and analyze the development direction and improvement measures in the later stage.

In order to more reasonable analyze the dynamic reliability of aero-engine blade with coupling failure mode. A fuzzy intelligent multiple extremum response surface method (FIMERSM) was proposed. Considering the coupling effect of temperature load and centrifugal load, the maximum stress point, the maximum strain point and the minimum life point on blade were found by deterministic analysis. Then, the density of blade, rotor speed, elastic modulus, blade-tip temperature, blade-root temperature, fatigue strength coefficient, fatigue strength exponent, fatigue ductility coefficient, fatigue ductility exponent, blade width, blade thickness, blade torsion angle, and blade height as input random variables. By using Latin hypercube sampling technique, the sample values of the input random variables were acquired and finite element basic equation was calculated for each samples which obtained the corresponding dynamic output response of their stress, strain, and low cycle fatigue life within the analysis time domain. By taking the entire maximum values of the dynamic output response in the analysis time domain as new output response, the fuzzy intelligent multiple extremum response surface function (FIMERSF) was established. Finally, the dynamic reliability of the blade structure were obtained by using the Monte Carlo method (MCM) large amount linkage sampling of the input random variables and take it into the FIMERSF to calculate the output response. The results imply that the comprehensive reliability of blade is 99.46%. Through the comparison of MCM, Multiple extremum response surface method (MERSM) and FIMERSM, the computational results show that the FIMERSM has high computational precision and computational efficiency.

Atmospheric ducts are horizontal layers that occur under certain weather conditions in the lower atmosphere. Radio signals guided in atmospheric ducts tend to experience less attenuation and spread much farther, i.e, hundreds of kilometers. In a large-scale deployed TD-LTE (Time Division Long Term Evolution) network, atmospheric ducts cause faraway downlink wireless signals to propagate beyond the designed protection distance and interfere with local uplink signals, thus resulting in a large outage probability. In this paper, we analyze the characteristics of ADI atmospheric duct interference (Atmospheric Duct Interference) by the use of real network-side big data from the current operated TD-LTE network owned by China Mobile. The analysis results yield the time varying and directional characteristics of ADI. In addition, we proposed an SVM (Support Vector Machine)-classifier based spacial prediction method of ADI by machine learning over combination of real network-side big data and real meteorological data. Furthermore, an implementation of ADMM (Alternating Direction Methods of Multipliers) framework is proposed to implement a distributed SVM prediction scheme, which reduces data exchange among different regions/cities, maintains similar prediction accuracy and is thus of a more practical use to operators.

Undrained cyclic loading patterns and consolidation states can significantly affect the deformation features of medium-dense saturated fine-grained sand. A series of undrained cyclic loading tests with different consolidation states, i.e., various mean effective consolidation stresses ( p 0 ), principal stress direction angles ( α 0 ), ratios ( R 0 ) of major and minor principal stresses, and relative magnitudes of intermediate principal stress ( b 0 ), were performed on saturated micaceous fine sand specimens with a relative density of 50% corresponding to a wide strain range in the order of 10 − 5 to 10 − 2 . The patterns of cyclic axial, torsional, and axial–torsional combined loadings were applied in a hollow cylinder apparatus. The small-strain shear modulus G 0 , the reference shear strain γ r , curves for shear modulus reduction G / G 0 , the damping ratio λ and Poisson's ratio υ with increasing strain were determined. The results of the cyclic axial–torsional combined tests showed a close relationship between G 0 , γ r , and υ as well as the consolidation state parameters p 0 , R 0 , α 0 , and b 0 . The G 0 and γ r increased nearly linearly with increasing p 0 and with decreasing α 0 or b 0 . The υ is strain dependent and increases as the p 0 decreases. Tests indicated that the reduction of G with increasing shear strain γ became more pronounced as p 0 increased. The relationship for the G / G 0 versus γ / γ r was approximately independent of the cyclic loading patterns and the various values of parameters p 0 , R 0 , α 0 , and b 0 . A slight difference is noted between the damping ratios λ t and λ z , corresponding to vertical and torsional deformations. An empirical model was proposed for the dependence of the increase in damping ratio characteristics on the deviatoric strain.

The paper presents a simple one-bath template-free solution method to develop the conductive poly (3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) with controlled morphological structures using various monomer to oxidant (PEDOT: FeCl 3 ) ratio of 1:3, 1:6 and 1:9 respectively for the preparation and growth on textile substrate. The results of the structural analysis showed that the polymerization process affected the formation of different shapes from nanofibers, nanotubes, and nanocubes. The spherical nanotubes changed their size and shape into 3D nanocubes at monomer/oxidant ratio of 1:6. The resultant structure considerably influenced the electrical conductivity, and thermoelectric performance of PEDOT coated textile substrate towards potential energy harvesting textile based thermoelectric Nanogenerator for energy harvesting from human body heat. This study demonstrates the new systematic approach for textile-based energy harvesting TE generator with enhanced thermoelectric performance.

In this work, we show a solvent-free "explosive" synthesis (SFES) method for the ultrafast and low-cost synthesis of metal-formate frameworks (MFFs). A combination of experiments and in-depth molecular modelling analysis - using grand canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) simulations - of the adsorption performance of the synthesized nickel-formate framework (Ni-FA) revealed extremely high quality products with permanent porosity, prominent CH4/N2 selectivity (ca. 6.0), and good CH4 adsorption capacity (ca. 0.80 mmol g-1 or 33.97 cm3 cm-3) at 1 bar and 298 K. This performance is superior to those of many other state-of-the-art porous materials.

To effectively and precisely drive industrial cameras to photograph and then sort long bamboo battens, a surface-defect and color detection device and a sorting device are designed. Further, a sectionalized photography program and sorting program design is proposed. The overall machine employs STM32 as the core master controller, which is connected to the relay drive plate, the photoelectric switch, the industrial camera, etc., for control, to photograph bamboo battens of different lengths in sections, and to sort six types of bamboo batten according to the bamboo-batten category signal sent by the upper computer. Devices for improving bamboo-product processing system efficiency and enhancing the level of automation of modern agricultural products, such as the proposed design, are of considerable importance.

In most colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, outcome cannot be predicted because tumors with similar clinicopathological features can have differences in disease progression and treatment response. Therefore, a better understanding of the CRC biology is required to identify those patients who will benefit from chemotherapy and to find a more tailored therapy plan for other patients. Based on unsupervised classification of whole genome data from 188 stages I–IV CRC patients, a molecular classification was developed that consist of at least three major intrinsic subtypes (A-, B- and C-type). The subtypes were validated in 543 stages II and III patients and were associated with prognosis and benefit from chemotherapy. The heterogeneity of the intrinsic subtypes is largely based on three biological hallmarks of the tumor: epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, deficiency in mismatch repair genes that result in high mutation frequency associated with microsatellite instability and cellular proliferation. A-type tumors, observed in 22% of the patients, have the best prognosis, have frequent BRAF mutations and a deficient DNA mismatch repair system. C-type patients (16%) have the worst outcome, a mesenchymal gene expression phenotype and show no benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy treatment. Both A-type and B-type tumors have a more proliferative and epithelial phenotype and B-types benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. B-type tumors (62%) show a low overall mutation frequency consistent with the absence of DNA mismatch repair deficiency. Classification based on molecular subtypes made it possible to expand and improve CRC classification beyond standard molecular and immunohistochemical assessment and might help in the future to guide treatment in CRC patients.

To optimize the architecture of weighted average multiresolution image fusion algorithm,an extended weighted average multiresolution image fusion model to control the decision map only with the match measure is presented based on the Piella pixel-level multiresolution image fusion framework.The extended model changes the fusion pattern that the decision factor must be decided by both activity measure and match measure in the conventional weighted average multiresolution image fusion model.Since the activity measure is removed in the extended model,the corresponding algorithm architecture is rather simpler.By taking the correlated signal intensity ratio as the match measure,a weighted average multiresolution image fusion method based on the extended model is proposed.The experiment on fusing infrared and visible images shows that the proposed method is able to produce better fusion results than the conventional ones and its Edge Fusion Quality Index(EFQI) and Weight Fusion Quality Index(WFQI)has increased by 2.9% and 1.8%,respectively.Moreover,it achieves much lower computational complexity for the decision factor with decreased multiplication and addition times of 66.7% and 33.3%,respectively.

Background Classification of breast cancers into molecular subtypes may be important for the proper selection of therapy for patients as tumors with seemingly similar biology can have strikingly different clinical outcomes. We analyzed response to neo-adjuvant chemotherapy as a function of molecular sub-types and show patient survival from the multi-center neo adjuvant trial, I-SPY I (CALGB 150007/150012; ACRIN 6657). Previous analyses had shown that breast cancer subtypes as identified by immunohistochemistry or molecular analyses, have distinct clinical outcome (Esserman, ASCO 2009). Here, we analyze how the 70-gene signature (MammaPrint) together with an 80-gene molecular subtyping profile (BluePrint=Basal-type, Luminal-type, ERBB2-type; de Snoo, ASCO, 2010 and manuscript under review) can sub-classify patients. Materials: This study was carried out on genomics data of core needle biopsies from 149 out of 221 patients enrolled in the I-SPY I trial, a multi-center trial designed to identify predictive markers of pathological complete response (pCR) and disease-free survival (DFS) in women with locally advanced breast cancer (3 cm or greater). All women received neoadjuvant Doxorubicin & Cytoxan followed by paclitaxel chemotherapy. The 70-gene and the subtyping signatures, Basal, Luminal and ERBB2-type were determined on 44K Agilent arrays available through the I-SPY 1 data portal (Esserman, ASCO, 2009 and manuscript under review). Results: The 70-gene signature classified 9% of patients (13/149) as Low Risk, of whom one patient was ERBB2-type, and the other 12 were Luminal-type. None of these patients experienced a pCR. The remaining 136 were classified as 70-gene High Risk (91%), of whom 47% were classified as Luminal-type with a pCR rate of 13%, 41% were Basal-type with a pCR rate of 34%, and 12% were ERBB2-type with a pCR rate of 56%. Patients with BluePrint Basal-type tumors had a 5-year DFS of 61%; ERBB2-type had a 5-year DFS of 78%; 70-gene High Risk/Luminal-type had a 5-year DFS of 73% and 70-gene Low Risk/Luminal-type showed 5-year DFS of 100%. The molecular subtype classification shows significant association to clinically assessed receptor status. However, clinically assessed HER2+ patients were distributed across all molecular subtypes, where ER+HER+ are predominantly classified as Luminal-type. Conclusion: This study was performed with the I-SPY I dataset, which provides a platform to compare, contrast & combine marker signatures to tailor therapy. We show how combining BluePrint, with MammaPrint risk-classification can detect specific groups of patients who are at high risk of recurrence and who would have a higher likelihood to benefit from chemotherapy. Furthermore, MammaPrint Low Risk patients do not benefit from neo-adjuvant therapy, though have excellent survival rates, suggesting that the Low Risk Luminal-type patients could be managed conservatively. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2011;71(24 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-06-20.

FurinDB (freely available online at http://www.nuolan.net/substrates.html) is a database of furin substrates. This database includes experimentally verified furin cleavage sites, substrates, species, experimental methods, original publications of experiments and associated drugs targeting furin substrates. The current database release contains 126 furin cleavage sites from three species: mammals, bacteria and viruses. A main feature of this database is that all furin cleavage sites are recorded as a 20-residue motif, including one core region (eight amino acids, P6–P2′) and two flanking solvent accessible regions (eight amino acids, P7–P14, and four amino acids, P3′–P6′), that represent our current understanding of the molecular biology of furin cleavage. This database is important for understanding the molecular evolution and relationships between sequence motifs, 3D structures, cellular functions and physical properties required by furin for cleavage, and for elucidating the molecular mechanisms and the progression of furin cleavage associated human diseases, including pathogenic infections, neurological disorders, tumorigenesis, tumor invasion, angiogenesis, and metastasis. FurinDB database will be a solid addition to the publicly available infrastructure for scientists in the field of molecular biology.

When the highly-intensive and highly-directional white light from pulsed fiber laser is focused into water, many directional and colorful rings, coherent rainbows, are observed. The laser generates bubbles with similar sizes in the water, which serve as scatters. The intensive light leads to spatial self-phase modulation and thus generates the coherent rainbows. Such a phenomenon has been observed in many kinds of liquids.

Focusing white laser into samples, many colorful rings (coherent rainbows) come out. Such phenomena have been observed in many materials like water, acetone, absolute ethyl alcohol, soft drink and other liquids, and ice, colored glass, plastics, wax and other solids. From the center of the coherent rainbows to the outer side, the distance between neighboring rings becomes larger and larger. The coherent rainbow is an interference effect, whose optical path difference is induced by locally heating the material with the laser beam. Especially, the coherent rainbows from colored glass in reflection mode can be described with a simple formula, with which simulated results fit the observed interference pattern very well. Several possible mechanisms like nonlinear optical effect, thermal lens effect and self-phase modulation effect are excluded.

Proprotein convertases are enzymes that proteolytically cleave protein precursors in the secretory pathway to yield functional proteins. Seven mammalian subtilisin/Kex2p-like proprotein convertases have been identified: furin, PC1, PC2, PC4, PACE4, PC5 and PC7. The binding pockets of all seven proprotein convertases are evolutionarily conserved and highly similar. Among the seven proprotein convertases, the furin cleavage site motif has recently been characterized as a 20-residue motif that includes one core region P6-P2' inside the furin binding pocket. This study extended this information by examining the 3D structural environment of the furin binding pocket surrounding the core region P6-P2' of furin substrates. The physical properties of mutations in the binding pockets of the other six mammalian proprotein convertases were compared. The results suggest that: 1) mutations at two positions, Glu230 and Glu257, change the overall density of the negative charge of the binding pockets, and govern the substrate specificities of mammalian proprotein convertases; 2) two proprotein convertases (PC1 and PC2) may have reduced sensitivity for positively charged residues at substrate position P5 or P6, whereas the substrate specificities of three proprotein convertases (furin, PACE4, and PC5) are similar to each other. This finding led to a novel design of a short peptide pattern for small molecule inhibitors: [K/R]-X-V-X-K-R. Compared with the widely used small molecule dec-RVKR-cmk that inhibits all seven proprotein convertases, a finely-tuned derivative of the short peptide pattern [K/R]-X-V-X-K-R may have the potential to more effectively inhibit five of the proprotein convertases (furin, PC4, PACE4, PC5 and PC7) compared to the remaining two (PC1 and PC2). The results not only provide insights into the molecular evolution of enzyme function in the proprotein convertase family, but will also aid the study of the functional redundancy of proprotein convertases and the development of therapeutic applications.

Colorectal cancer patients with the BRAF(p.V600E) mutation have poor prognosis in metastatic setting. Personalized treatment options and companion diagnostics are needed to better treat these patients. Previously, we developed a 58-gene signature to characterize the distinct gene expression pattern of BRAF-mutation-like subtype (accuracy 91.1%). Further experiments repurposed drug Vinorelbine as specifically lethal to this BRAF-mutation-like subtype. The aim of this study is to translate this 58-gene signature from a research setting to a robust companion diagnostic that can use formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples to select patients with the BRAF-mutation-like subtype. BRAF mutation and gene expression data of 302 FFPE samples were measured (mutants = 57, wild-type = 245). The performance of the 58-gene signature in FFPE samples showed a high sensitivity of 89.5%. In the identified BRAF-mutation-like subtype group, 50% of tumours were known BRAF mutants, and 50% were BRAF wild-type. The stability of the 58-gene signature in FFPE samples was evaluated by two control samples over 40 independent experiments. The standard deviations (SD) were within the predefined criteria (control 1: SD = 0.091, SD/Range = 3.0%; control 2: SD = 0.169, SD/Range = 5.5%). The fresh frozen version and translated FFPE version of this 58-gene signature were compared using 170 paired fresh frozen and FFPE samples and the result showed high consistency (agreement = 99.3%). In conclusion, we translated this 58-gene signature to a robust companion diagnostic that can use FFPE samples.

Based on a detailed ray-tracing code for capillary optics, a MATLAB program for the simulation of X-ray transmission in a cylindrical polycapillary is described. The simulated and experimental results for the spatial distributions and power density gain of the X-rays in the beam guided through a cylindrical polycapillary are in good agreement, and the results show that the spatial distribution of the X-rays in the beam guided through a cylindrical polycapillary is uneven.

Introduction: Improvements in RNA processing have enabled microarray diagnostics for formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue. Recently, MammaPrint, a prognostic 70-gene profile for early-stage breast cancer, was successfully translated to FFPE tissue showing to be substantially equivalent to fresh tissue. In recent years, RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) became the standard method for transcriptome analysis, because of its low background signal and its ability of quantifying a large dynamic range of expression levels. Here we report a preliminary analysis of the FFPE MammaPrint 70-gene profile using RNA-Seq technology and the comparison with the MammaPrint® microarray diagnostic test in a series of FFPE samples. Methods: RNA-Seq was carried out using a strand-specific RNA library preparation followed by target enrichment of the coding region of the human transcriptome without relying on the presence of poly-A tail. RNA sequencing libraries were prepared starting from a minimal amount of 20 ng of total RNA based on the DV200 metric assessment. The library pools were single-end sequenced on the Illumina HiSeq 2500 instrument at the length of 65bp. The resulting sequences were mapped to the human reference genome (build 38) using TopHat v2.1. Tophat was guided by using a transcriptome index from Ensembl (version 77). The HTSeq-count tool was used to generate the total number of uniquely mapped reads for each gene. Gene expressions were normalized with Count Per Million (CPM) normalization and log2 transformed afterwards. Microarray data of the sample were available for analysis comparison. Results: On average, we obtained 22 million reads assigned to gene per sample (min=15M, max=28M). The number of reads assigned to genes vary from 61% to 70% of the total number of reads. Between 80% and 90% of the reads assigned to genes mapped to protein coding genes which is comparable to fresh frozen material. The 70-gene signature was successfully mapped to the RNA-Seq genes. A median raw read-count of 384 was observed for the 70-gene profile among the samples. Importantly, we observed a high concordance (R2 Pearson correlation=0.97) between the MammaPrint index calculated using the RNA-Seq data and the correspondent Microarray MammaPrint index. Additionally, the BluePrint profile, a microarray diagnostic test for breast cancer molecular subtyping, was successfully translated to the RNA-Seq platform. As with the MammaPrint profile, BluePrint showed high concordance between the two technologies with high correlation values for each of the subtypes (Luminal R2 Pearson correlation=0.98, Basal R2 Pearson correlation=0.97, HER2 R2 Pearson correlation=0.77). Conclusions: Next Generation RNA-sequencing is a feasible technology to assess diagnostic signatures, such as the 70 gene MammaPrint and BluePrint profiles. Citation Format: Lorenza Mittempergher, Jacob B. Spangler, Mireille H. Snel, Leonie J. Delahaye, Iris de Rink, Sun Tian, Annuska M. Glas, Rene Bernards. Assessment of the MammaPrint 70-gene profile using RNA sequencing technology [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 5409. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-5409

Study design: Cadaveric and clinical studies. Objectives: To investigate the safety and efficiency of modified decancellation posterior closing-wedge osteotomy for traumatic fixed kyphotic deformity of thoracolumbar spine. Methods: Single-level vertebral osteotomy was performed on two groups of fresh-frozen human cadaveric lumbar spines. Group I underwent conventional decancellation posterior closing-wedge osteotomy, and Group II underwent our modified cancellation posterior closing-wedge osteotomy. Sagittal plane angulation as well as anterior height and distance between the most cephalad and caudal endplate were measured before and after osteotomy. Twenty six cases of old thoracolumbar fractures with spinal cord injury were recruited in this study. The mean age was 35.6 years. The mean time from injury to operation was 25 months ranging from 3 months to 11 years. Prior to the index surgery, 9 patients received conservative treatment, and 17 patients underwent surgical treatment. There was complete paraplegia in 10 cases and incomplete paraplegia in 14 (Frankel B in 2 cases, C 10 and D 2). Two patients had no neurological deficit. All patients suffered from low back pain, the average score of Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was 4.5 (range 2.5-6.0). The patients were found to have a mean remaining kyphotic deformity of 35° (range 20°-75°). According to the deformity angles conventional or modified decancellation posterior closing-wedge osteotomy was performed. Results: The mean correction was 36° ± 3.6° for Group I and 49° ± 2.0° for Group II. The mean change in anterior height was only 2–4 mm for Group I and II. All cases were followed up for 10 months to 6 years with a mean of 12.5 months. Successful decompression and satisfied correction of kyphosis was noticed. The post-operatively mean angle of kyphosis deformity was 10.8°, ranging from 0° to 40°. Neurological function recovery was noted in 50% of cases. For complete spinal cord injury, 30% of cases had partial recovery (sensation) whereas recovery was observed in 64.3% of cases with incomplete spinal cord injury. The statistical difference between the groups was p

A new tabletop confocal micro x-ray fluorescence setup with an MCBM 50-0.6B x-ray tube is assembled. The confocal micro x-ray fluorescence setup includes two lenses, a polycapillary full lens in the excitation channel and a polycapillary half lens in the detection channel. A Ni-Cr wire in diameter 25 μm is used to investigate the FWHM of three-dimensional confocal volume. A basso-relievo capital letter of a 1-jiao RMB coin of 2005 version is studied with this confocal micro x-ray fluorescence setup.

Asymmetric hydrogenation is a significant research field in modern catalytic organic synthesis. In the past 50 years, the design of catalysts and substrates has been widely studied. A great number of phosphorus ligands for asymmetric hydrogenation have been developed. Three generations of catalysts have been reported by a number of scientists. The asymmetric hydrogenation becomes more and more efficient and applicable. High enantioselectivities and activities have been achieved. The design of substrates also makes significant progresses. Many successful examples have been reported in asymmetric hydrogenation of olefins, ketones, and imines. In chapter one, the development of phosphorus ligands is reported. The characters of phosphorus ligands are discussed and compared. Examples of representative catalysts are listed. The asymmetric hydrogenation of different substrates is also summarized and discussed. In chapter two, asymmetric hydrogenation of α-dehydroamino ketones catalyzed by a rhodium-chiral phosphorus ligand complex (up to 99% ee, 1000 TON) is reported. This reaction represents an efficient approach to chiral α-amino ketones. The reduction of α-amino ketones catalyzed by Palladium on carbon (Pd/C) leads to amphetamine precursors with quantitative yield and no significant enantioselectivity loss. In chapter three, high enantioselectivities (up to 99% ee) have been observed for the catalytic asymmetric hydrogenation of the α-ketone enol acetates. DuanPhos has been proved to be the most effective ligand for this reaction. High yield and enantioselectivity of the asymmetric hydrogenation of the α-ketone enol acetates demonstrates a feasible synthetic route to important pharmaceutical building blocks: α-hydroxy ketones. In chapter four, a series of new chiral secondary phosphine oxide (SPO) ligands are reported. Compared with traditional bisphosphine ligands, the SPO ligands are air stable, and have shorter synthetic routes. However, poor to moderate results are obtained using the new chiral SPO ligands. The study of SPO ligands still has many unsolved problems. The potential applications and challenges of SPO ligands are also discussed in chapter four.

Abstr act. 2D to 3D conversion is an important task in 3DTV due to the lack of 3D contents. In this paper, we propose a novel framework of the 2D to 3D video conversion. The proposed framework consists of two main stages: depth map generation and virtual view synthesis. In the depth map generation, motion and relative-height cues are effectively used to generate depth maps. In the virtual view synthesis, depth-image-based-rendering (DIBR) is adopted to generate the left and right virtual views from the depth maps. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed 2D to 3D conversion is very effective in generating depth maps and providing realistic 3D effects.

We propose a method for generating SU(1,1) intelligent states for the center of mass and relative motional modes for two trapped ions. In our scheme, only three laser beams are employed, and their directions are all the same as the direction of the two trapped ions' alignment. Under certain conditions, our desired states are obtained as the steady-state solution of the master equation of the system.

Objective To develop gene expression profiles that characterise KRAS -, BRAF - or PIK3CA -activated- tumours, and to explore whether these profiles might be helpful in predicting the response to the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway inhibitors better than mutation status alone. Design Fresh frozen tumour samples from 381 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients were collected and mutations in KRAS , BRAF and PIK3CA were assessed. Using microarray data, three individual oncogenic and a combined model were developed and validated in an independent set of 80 CRC patients, and in a dataset from metastatic CRC patients treated with cetuximab. Results 175 tumours (45.9%) harboured oncogenic mutations in KRAS (30.2%), BRAF (11.0%) and PIK3CA (11.5%). Activating mutation signatures for KRAS (75 genes), for BRAF (58 genes,) and for PIK3CA (49 genes) were developed. The development of a combined oncogenic pathway signature-classified tumours as ‘activated oncogenic’, or as ‘wildtype-like’ with a sensitivity of 90.3% and a specificity of 61.7%. The identified signature revealed other mechanisms that can activate ERK/MAPK pathway in KRAS , BRAF and PIK3CA wildtype patients. The combined signature is associated with response to cetuximab treatment in patients with metastatic CRC (HR 2.51, p Conclusion A combined oncogenic pathway signature allows the identification of patients with an active EGFR-signalling pathway that could benefit from downstream pathway inhibition.

Montmorillonite pillared with Fe-Ni-Al was synthesized by ion exchange method and used as heterogeneous catalysts for catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) degradation of azo dye Acid Orange II (OII). The catalyst was characterized by BET, XRD and FT-IR. The effects of the initial pH, the concentration of H2O2 and the reaction temperature on the rate of decolorization were investigated in detail. In addition, the reaction kinetics for the decolorization process was also investigated. The catalytic reaction results showed that at a reaction temperature of 333 K, pH=3.0 and 24 mM H2O2, 97.9% decolorization of OII was achieved after 60 min treatment. Furthermore, kinetic analyses based on the experimental data elucidated that the decolorization process followed a first order exponential decay kinetics model. The activation energy was determined to be 25.2 kJ/mol.

Only a minority of breast cancer patients responds to chemotherapy and we lack predictive biomarkers that help to select a patient-tailored therapy that takes into consideration the molecular heterogeneity of the cancer type. Responsiveness to the clinically important nucleoside analogs gemcitabine and decitabine may be critically determined by Deoxycytidine kinase (DCK) expression as this enzyme is required to convert the inactive prodrugs into their pharmacologically active forms. Here, we examined whether DCK is differentially expressed in breast cancer and evaluated whether DCK expression levels control responsiveness to these nucleoside analogs in vitro by experimentally modulating DCK expression levels. We examined DCK expression in gene expression data sets of breast tumors including the series of 295 consecutive patients that have been classified into low or high risk for recurrence using the MammaPrint 70 gene profile. We found that DCK is expressed at higher levels in patients having poor clinical outcome as judged by the MammaPrint assay. As such, patients that have a poor prognosis may thus be susceptible to treatment with nucleoside analogs. In support of this, we found a causal relationship between DCK levels and sensitivity to these nucleoside analogs in breast cancer cell lines. The data indicate that breast cancers that are at high risk of recurrence express higher levels of DCK, which we find to be strongly correlated to a favorable response to nucleoside analogs. The data suggest that DCK expression in breast cancer could be exploited to select patients that are likely to respond to treatment with nucleoside analogs.

Both size and distribution of oil mist droplet diameter are important factors for weighing atomized quality of oil mist in lubrication. However, because of the peculiarity of oil mist droplet, it is difficult to obtain its exact dimension. This article selects Laser Particle Sizer which is based on the scattering theory of light to measure size and its distribution of oil mist droplet diameter. At the end of the article, the conclusion about how the working parameters influence atomized droplet size of oil mist is gained through measuring the size and distribution of the oil mist droplet diameter by changing the related parameters within a certain range.

In order to evaluate the optimization efficiency of Genetic Algorithms (GA), this paper presents an efficiency evaluation criterion based on average optimization generation and time efficiency of GA, which not only can avoid infection evaluating the efficiency of GA on random factors commendably, but also consider the time firstly. So that it provides gist of evaluation criterion and theory for selecting the efficient GA parameters. According to this criterion, we have made an evaluation and analysis for GApsilas efficiency influence about the population size, crossover probability and mutation probability. Based on the statistical of function F2, simulation result shows the highest efficiency when GApsilas population size, crossover probability, mutation probability are 30, 0.7~0.8, 0.001~0.05 respectively.

Introduction Adjuvant therapy for stage II patients is recommended for patients with high risk features, especially with T4 tumors, and recommended for all stage III patients. Adjuvant therapy is not indicated for patients with MSI-H status who are considered of being at low risk of disease relapse. However, this leaves the majority of stage II patients with an undetermined risk. ColoPrint is an 18-gene expression classifier that identifies patients at higher risk of disease relapse. Together with a genomic classifier to determine MSI-status, ColoPrint can help making treatment decisions for early stage colon cancer patients. Methods ColoPrint was developed using whole genome expression data and was validated in public datasets (n = 322) and independent patient cohorts from 5 European hospitals (n = 341). Tissue specimen, clinical parameters, MSI-status and follow-up data (median follow-up 70 months) for patients were available and the ColoPrint index was determined using validated diagnostic arrays. The 64-gene MSI-signature (MSI-Print) was developed using full genome expression data of 276 primary stage II and III colorectal tumors with known MSI-status (n = 29 MSI-H, n = 247 MSS). Uni-and multivariate analysis was performed on the pooled stage II and stage IIIA patient set and in the subsets of patients who were stage IIIA or stage II T3/ MSS. Results In the analysis of all stage II and IIIA patients, ColoPrint classified two-third of stage II patients as being at lower risk. The 3-year Relapse-Free-Survival (RFS) was 91% for Low Risk and 74% for patients at higher risk with a HR of 2.9 (p = 0.001). Clinicopathological parameters from the 2012 NCCN guidelines (T4, perforation, Conclusion The diagnostic MSI signature identifies patients with MSI-H status with high accuracy. Combined with ColoPrint, the prognostic accuracy in stage II and stage IIIA patients can be significantly improved, thereby facilitating the identification of patients at higher risk who might be considered for additional treatment.

According to intensity distribution of the synchrotron radiation source focused by a toroidal mirror at the Beijing synchrotron radiation biological macromolecule station, theoretical modeling of the Beijing synchrotron radiation source is developed for capillary optics. Using this theoretical modeling, the influences of the configuration curve of the polycapillary X-ray lens on transmission efficiency and working distance are analyzed. The experimental results of the transmission efficiency and working distance at the biological macromolecule station are in good agreement with the theoretical results.