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In full reference image quality assessment (IQA), the images without distortion are usually employed as reference, while the structures in both reference images and distorted images are ignored and all pixels are equally treated. In addition, the role of human visual system (HVS) is not taken account into subjective IQA metric. In this paper, a weighted full-reference image quality metric is proposed, where a weight imposed on each pixel indicates its importance in IQA. Furthermore, the weights can be estimated via visual saliency computation, which can approximate the subjective IQA via exploiting the HVS. In the experiments, the proposed metric is compared with several objective IQA metrics on LIVE release 2 and TID 2008 database. The results demonstrate that SROCC and PLCC of the proposed metric are 0.9647 and 0.9721, respectively,which are higher than other methods and it only takes 427.5 s, which is lower than that of most other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous reporting systems of adverse drug events have been widely established in many countries to collect as could as possible all adverse drug events to facilitate the detection of suspected ADR signals via some statistical or data mining methods. Unfortunately, due to privacy concern or other reasons, the reporters sometimes may omit consciously some attributes, causing many missing values existing in the reporting database. Most of research work on ADR detection or methods applied in practice simply adopted listwise deletion to eliminate all data with missing values. Very little work has noticed the possibility and examined the effect of including the missing data in the process of ADR detection. This paper represents our endeavor towards the exploration of this question. We aim at inspecting the feasibility of applying rough set theory to the ADR detection problem. Based on the concept of utilizing characteristic set based approximation to measure the strength of ADR signals, we propose twelve different rough set based measuring methods and show only six of them are feasible for the purpose. Experimental results conducted on the FARES database show that our rough-set-based approach exhibits similar capability in timeline warning of suspicious ADR signals as traditional method with missing deletion, and sometimes can yield noteworthy measures earlier than the traditional method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The interface and nanoindentation mechanisms of alkanethiol self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) chemisorbed on a gold surface are investigated using molecular dynamics simulation. The mechanisms include the nanoindentation depths, the workpiece temperatures, the numbers of SAM layers, the length of united-atoms per chain, and the shapes of the indenters. The simulation results show that the disorder and the plastic mobility of SAM chains increased with increasing indentation depth. The relaxation force and the plastic energy almost linearly increased with increasing indentation depth. The disorder region after indentation at high temperature is larger than that at low temperature. The adhesive force shows a dependence on temperature during indentation. The potential energy decreases with increasing number of SAM layers. The structural morphologies of the SAMs were not affected at the third layers for SAM film with four layers. The maximum load quickly decreases for film with two SAM layers. The structures of the SAM can be easily tilted and bent when the united-atoms per chain length is long. The SAM atoms become more disorderly and the elastic recovery is smaller when the SAM length of the united-atoms per chain is long after indentation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We experimentally evaluate the performance of Fabry–Perot laser diodes (FPLDs) injection locked by spectrum sliced amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise for transmission at 1.25 Gb/s. We characterize the injection locked FPLDs in terms of front-facet reflectivity, operation temperature, bias current and injection locked mode location. Experiment results show that the FPLD performance is strongly dependent on the front-facet reflectivity. Therefore a reasonable range of front-facet reflectivity for FPLDs is recommended. Operating the lasers at low temperature has better receiver sensitivity, while operating at high temperature has slightly broader operation range for injected ASE power. There is an optimal bias for a given injection power and the operation range for bias current is increased for higher injection power. Injection locked mode location also affects the performance of FPLDs. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The latest deep neural networks for medical segmentation typically utilize transposed convolutional filters and atrous convolutional filters for spatial restoration and larger receptive fields, leading to dilution and inconsistency of visual semantics. To address such issues, we propose a novel attentional up-concatenation structure to build an auxiliary path for direct access to multi-level features. In addition, we employ a new structural loss to bring better morphological awareness and reduce the segmentation flaws caused by the semantic inconsistencies. Thorough experiments on the challenging optic cup/disc segmentation, cellular segmentation and lung segmentation tasks were performed to evaluate the proposed methods. Further ablation analysis demonstrated the effectiveness of the different components of the model and illustrated its efficiency. The proposed methods achieved the best performance and speed compared to the state-of-the-art models in three tasks on seven public datasets, including DRISHTI-GS, RIM-r3, REFUGE, MESSIDOR, TNBC, GlaS and LUNA. • A deep learning model, Up-Net, is proposed to overcome semantic inconsistency issue. • A lightweight up-concatenation structure and metric learning strategy is proposed. • We validated Up-Net in 3 challenging medical segmentation tasks across 7 datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transfer learning from natural image datasets, such as ImageNet, is common for applying deep learning to medical imaging. However, the modalities of natural and medical images differ considerably, and the reason for the latest medical research preferring ImageNet to medical data is questionable. In this study, we investigated the properties of medical pre-training and its transfer effectiveness on various medical tasks. Through an intuitive convolution-based analysis, we determined the modality characteristics of images. Surprisingly, medical pre-training showed exceptional performance for a classification task but not for a segmentation task since medical data are visually homogeneous and lack morphological information. Using data with diverse modalities helped overcome such drawbacks, resulting in medical pre-training achieving performance comparable to pre-training with ImageNet with considerably fewer samples than ImageNet for both aforementioned tasks. Finally, a study of learned representations and realistic scenarios indicated that while ImageNet is the best choice for medical imaging, medical pre-training has significant potential. • We study the transfer learning effectiveness based on medical and natural images. • We evaluate medical pre-training on downstream medical image analysis tasks. • We reveal the shortcomings and future potential of medical pre-training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural pesticides serve as effective controls of unwanted weeds and pests. However, these same chemicals can exert toxic effects in non-target organisms. To determine chemical modes of action, the toxicity ratio (TR) and critical body residues (CBRs) of 57 pesticides were calculated for Daphnia magna. Results showed that the CBR values of inert compounds were close to a constant while the CBR values of pesticides varied over a wider range. Although herbicides are categorized as specifically-acting compounds to plants, herbicides did not exhibit excess toxicity to Daphnia magna and were categorized as inert compounds with an average logTR = 0.41, which was less than a threshold of one. Conversely, fungicides and insecticides exhibited strong potential for toxic effects to Daphnia magna with an average logTR >2. Many of these chemicals act via disruption of the nervous, respiratory, or reproductive system, with high ligand-receptor binding activity which leads to higher toxicity for Daphnia magna. Molecular docking using acetylcholinesterase revealed that fungicides and insecticides bind more easily with the biological macromolecule when compared with inert compounds. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis revealed that the toxicity of fungicides was mainly dependent upon the heat of formation and polar surface area, while the toxicity of insecticides was more related to hydrogen-bond properties. This comprehensive analysis reveals that there are specific differences in toxic mechanisms between fungicides and insecticides. These results are useful for determining relative risk associated with pesticide exposure to aquatic crustaceans, such as Daphnia magna. Image 1 • Excess toxicity has been observed for insecticides and fungicides in D. magna toxicity. • Insecticides and fungicides can be identified as specific compounds in D. magna toxicity. • Critical body residues of insecticides and fungicides are much lower than those of baselines. • Different QSAR models have been developed for insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

FAM122A is a highly conserved protein in mammals, however its function is still largely unknown so far. In this study, we investigated the potential role of FAM122A in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). By analyzing HCC patient cohorts from RNA sequencing datasets, we found the expression level of FAM122A mRNA is significantly upregulated in HCC patients. Moreover, this abnormally higher expression pattern of FAM122A protein was also found in partial HCC tumor tissues, compared with the normal parts. Further, we demonstrated that CRISPR/Cas9-mediated FAM122A knockout significantly inhibits the growth, clonogenic potential and xenografts of HCC cells, induces cell cycle arrest and reduces the expression of proliferation-related genes. Interestingly, FAM122A deletion significantly enhances the cytotoxicity effect of Doxorubicin (Dox), a drug used in standard chemotherapy in HCC patients. In contrary, overexpression of FAM122A not only promotes HCC cell growth, but also inhibits Dox-induced DNA damage and cell death. Considering that FAM122A is previously identified as an endogenous inhibitor of PP2A, we asked whether FAM122A regulating HCC cell growth is associated with PP2A. The results showed FAM122A can also modulate PP2A activity in HCC cells although the modulated effect is relatively slight, however, treatment with a PP2A inhibitor okadaic acid did not rescue the inhibitory effects of cell growth and proliferation in FAM122A deletion cells, indicating that FAM122A may support HCC cell growth independent of its ability to modulate PP2A. Collectively, these results suggest that FAM122A is required for maintaining HCC cell growth, and its elimination combined with chemotherapy may represent a potential novel therapeutic strategy for HCC patients. • FAM122A is required for maintaining HCC cell growth and proliferation in vitro and in vivo. • FAM122A deletion induces cell cycle arrest, but not influences cell survival. • FAM122A deletion reduces the expression of proliferation-related genes possibly involved in PI3K/AKT and MAPK signaling pathways. • FAM122A deletion enhances Doxorubicin-induced cytotoxicity effects. • FAM122A is aberrantly upregulated in partial tumor samples from HCC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AgNbO 3 semiconductor have attracted much attention due to its unique visible-light photosensitivity. The first-principles calculations were used to investigate the relationship among the structural evolution, electronic structure, optical properties and carrier lifetime of La doped Ag 1- x La x NbO 3. The addition of La enlarges the cell volume and inhibits the lattice distortion, which promotes the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. After La doping, the La 4 d state gradually extends to the fermi level, resulting in more electrons to participate in the reduction reaction. The light absorption of Ag 1- x La x NbO 3 at visible range and the utilization capacity of sunlight are enhanced. The m e * of Ag 1- x La x NbO 3 is reduced, which is conducive to the charge transfer and guarantees the electronic mobility and carrier lifetime in the compound. Our study demonstrats that La doping can effectively improve the photocatalytic performance of AgNbO 3 , which provides a reference for the experimental research of photocatalytic water decomposition. [Display omitted] • The incorporation of La leads to the expanded lattice volume and the suppressed distortion, resulting in a stronger external electric field, which prevents the rapid recombination of carriers. • The band edge position for Ag 1- x La x NbO 3 shows that the incorporation of La can reduce the bandgap and enhance the electron reducibility in the system, so as to improve the photocatalytic capacity. • La doped AgNbO 3 facilitates the carrier migration and decreases the recombination rate of electron and hole, thus prolonging carrier lifetime and improving photocatalytic ability. • The absorption capacity of Ag 1- x La x NbO 3 in the light with 600∼900 nm wavelength is enhanced, which improves the photocatalytic performance of the material in the visible light range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nodular fasciitis is a benign, self-limited, pseudosarcomatous neoplasm that is cytogenetically characterized by recurrent USP6 gene rearrangement. Involvement of the breast by nodular fasciitis is very rare with only a few documented cases. It can clinically, radiologically and histologically mimic a malignancy, posing significant diagnostic challenges to clinicians, radiologists, and pathologists. In this study, we report 2 cases of nodular fasciitis occurring in the female breast, reviewing the literature and emphasizing the application of fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis of USP6 gene rearrangement in its diagnosis and differential diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The role of the α-helical domain (MH) of dengue virus (DENV) precursor membrane protein in replication was investigated by site-directed mutagenesis. Proline substitutions of three residues (120, 123 and 127) at the C-terminus, but not those at the N-terminus of MH domain, reduced the virus-like particles of DENV1, DENV2 and DENV4 detected in supernatants. In a DENV2 replicon trans-packaging system, these three mutations suppressed particles detected; two of them (I123P and V127P) also affected viral entry. In the context of DENV2 genome-length RNA, all three mutations reduced virion assembly and virus spreading in cell culture. Analysis of revertants showed that mutation A120P could partially support viral infection cycle; in contrast, mutations I123P and V127P were lethal, and adaptations of I123P→I123L and V127P→V127L were required to restore the viral infection cycle. These findings demonstrate that the C-terminus of the MH domain is involved in both assembly and entry of DENV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Wnt genes encode a large family of secreted glycoproteins that play important roles in controlling tissue patterning, cell fate and proliferation during development. Currently, little is known regarding the role(s) of Wnt genes during prostate gland development. The present study examines the role of the noncanonical Wnt5a during prostate gland development in rat and murine models. In the rat prostate, Wnt5a mRNA is expressed by distal mesenchyme during the budding stage and localizes to periductal mesenchymal cells with an increasing proximal-to-distal gradient during branching morphogenesis. Wnt5a protein is secreted and localizes to periductal stroma, extracellular matrix and epithelial cells in the distal ducts. While Wnt5a expression is high during active morphogenesis in all prostate lobes, ventral prostate (VP) expression declines rapidly following morphogenesis while dorsal (DP) and lateral lobe (LP) expression remains high into adulthood. Steroids modulate prostatic Wnt5a expression during early development with testosterone suppressing Wnt5a and neonatal estrogen increasing expression. In vivo and ex vivo analyses of developing mouse and rat prostates were used to assess the functional roles of Wnt5a. Wnt5a−/− murine prostates rescued by organ culture exhibit disturbances in bud position and directed outgrowth leading to large bulbous sacs in place of elongating ducts. In contrast, epithelial cell proliferation, ductal elongation and branchpoint formation are suppressed in newborn rat prostates cultured with exogenous Wnt5a protein. While renal grafts of Wnt5a−/− murine prostates revealed that Wnt5a is not essential for cyto- and functional differentiation, a role in luminal cell polarity and lumenization of the ducts was indicated. Wnt5a suppresses prostatic Shh expression while Shh stimulates Wnt5a expression in a lobe-specific manner during early development indicating that Wnt5a participates in cross-talk with other members of the gene regulatory network that control prostate development. Although Wnt5a does not influence prostatic expression of other Wnt morphogens, it suppresses Wif-1 expression and can thus indirectly modulate Wnt signaling. In summary, the present finds demonstrate that Wnt5a is essential for normal prostate development where it regulates bud outgrowth, ductal elongation, branching, cell polarity and lumenization. These findings contribute to the growing body of knowledge on regulatory mechanisms involved in prostate gland development which are key to understanding abnormal growth processes associated with aging. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objective: Physical inactivity is common among older populations and American Indians. Our objective was to compare two methods for increasing physical activity and walking among American Indian elders. Methods: We conducted a two arm randomized trial to increase physical activity in 125 American Indians aged 50–74 years at the Seattle Indian Health Board in 2005. Participants were randomized into either an activity monitoring (N =63) or activity monitoring with a pedometer (N =62) arm over a six-week period. Outcomes included self-reported physical activity and well-being, and the 6-min walk test. Results: There were no group differences in self-reported physical activities and well-being. The 6-min walk test yielded no between-group differences. All participants increased the frequency of leisure walking (p <0.01), frequency of all exercise-related activities (p <0.01), frequency of moderate-intensity exercise activities (p <0.01), and improved weekly caloric expenditure for all exercise activities (p <0.05) by the end of the trial. Conclusions: Pedometers did not confer enhanced performance on the physical activity outcomes beyond those achieved through self-monitoring. Physical activity can be promoted among at-risk groups in a brief, inexpensive manner in primary care. Exercise prescription and culturally relevant enhancement strategies may optimize physical activity outcomes for elder American Indians. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Surface water pollution has always posed a serious challenge to water quality management. Improving water quality management requires figuring out how to comprehend water quality conditions scientifically and effectively as well as quantitatively identify regional pollution sources. In this study, Xianghai Lake, a typical lake-type wetland on the Northeast China Plain, was taken as the research area. Based on a geographic information system (GIS) method and 11 water quality parameters, the single-factor evaluation and comprehensive water quality index (WQI) methods were used to comprehensively evaluate the water quality of the lake-type wetland in the level period. Four key water quality parameters were determined by the principal component analysis (PCA) method, and more convenient comprehensive water quality evaluation models, the minimum WQI considering weights (WQI min-w) and the minimum WQI without considering weights (WQI min-nw) were established. The multiple statistical method and the absolute principal component score-multiple liner regression (APCS-MLR) model were combined to analyse the lake pollution sources based on the spatial changes in pollutants. The findings demonstrated that the WQI min-nw model's water quality evaluation outcome was more accurate when weights were not taken into account. The WQI min-nw model can be used as a simple and convenient way to comprehend the variations in water quality in wetlands of lakes and reservoirs. It was concluded that the comprehensive water quality in the study area was at a "medium" level, and COD Mn was the main limiting factor. Nonpoint source pollution (such as agricultural planting and livestock breeding) was the most important factor affecting the water quality of Xianghai Lake (with a comprehensive contribution rate of 31.65%). The comprehensive contribution rates of sediment endogenous and geological sources, phytoplankton and other plants, and water diversion and other hydrodynamic impacts accounted for 25.12%, 19.65%, and 23.58% of the total impact, respectively. This study can provide a scientific method for water quality assessment and management of lake wetlands, and an effective support for migration of migratory birds, habitat protection and grain production security. [Display omitted] • We developed a WQI min model suitable for lake and reservoir type wetlands. • PCA/APCS-MLR is feasible for quantitative source analysis of lake and reservoir type wetlands. • Diversion works have dual impacts and scientifically designed diversion works are beneficial for improving water quality. • Endogenous/geological sources are important factors that cannot be ignored in water pollution. • Strengthening management of agricultural livestock and poultry breeding can better improve water quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It is well known that the critical body residue (CBR) can be estimated via bioconcentration factor (BCF). However, the relationship between CBR and BCF in zebrafish has not been carried out based on bio-uptake kinetics for nitro-aromatics. In this paper, the time-variable concentrations and CBRs in zebrafish were determined for five nitro substituted benzenes. The result shows that CBR values can well be calculated from the BCF and external critical concentrations (LC 50). Although CBRs measured from 5 h exposure period are greater than the CBRs obtained from 96 h for the five nitro-aromatics, no significant difference was observed, indicating that the CBR approach is a truer measure of chemical levels in exposed organisms and an ideal indicator to reflect the toxicity of a chemical. The bio-uptake can well be described by first-order kinetics and reach steady-state within 48 h. Almost same BCF values are obtained from the ratio of concentration in the fish (C f) and in the water (C w) at apparent steady-state and the ratio of the rate constants of uptake (k 1) and depuration (k 2) assuming first-order kinetics. The toxicity ratio (TR) can reflect the difference of internal critical concentrations and be used to identify mode of action. Highlights •∙ Bio-uptake in zebrafish can reach steady-state after 48 h exposure for nitro-aromatics. •∙ The toxicity ratio can reflect the difference of internal critical concentrations and be used to identify MOA. •∙ The critical body residues can be calculated from the LC 50 and BCF for nitro-aromatics. •∙ 5 h-CBRs greater than the 96 h-CBRs are due to the slow distribution rates for nitro-aromatics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Precise determination of the lymph node status is critical for determining appropriate treatment for early gastric cancer (EGC). This study attempted to establish a simple, effective risk scoring system to predict lymph node metastasis (LNM) in EGC by investigating the relationship between platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and EGC LNM. Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed 312 operable patients with EGC. The clinical utility of PLR and NLR was tested by receiver operating characteristic curves. The scoring system was developed using independent risk factors. Finally, 89 EGC patients were collected from prospective database to validate the scoring system's accuracy. Results The optimal PLR and NLR cut-off values were 106 and 2.97, respectively. High NLR ( P = 0.009) and PLR ( P = 0.007) values were associated with LNM of EGC in univariate analyses, although only high PLR ( P = 0.025) was an independent risk factor in multivariate analyses, together with age ( P = 0.009), differentiation ( P = 0.017), invasive depth ( P < 0.001), and tumor size ( P = 0.003). The scoring system's accuracy for retrospective and prospective data was 0.781 (95% confidence interval: 0.721-0.841) and 0.817 (95% confidence interval 0.714-0.920), respectively. Conclusions Preoperative PLR and NLR correlate with EGC LNM. Our scoring system is reliable, accurate, and effective in predicting LNM in EGC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phosphorylation state of heptapeptide repeats within the C-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (PolII) controls the transcription cycle and is maintained by the competing action of kinases and phosphatases. Rtr1 was recently proposed to be the enzyme responsible for the transition of PolII into the elongation and termination phases of transcription by removing the phosphate marker on serine 5, but this attribution was questioned by the apparent lack of enzymatic activity. Here we demonstrate that Rtr1 is a phosphatase of new structure that is auto-inhibited by its own C-terminus. The enzymatic activity of the protein in vitro is functionally important in vivo as well: a single amino acid mutation that reduces activity leads to the same phenotype in vivo as deletion of the protein-coding gene from yeast. Surprisingly, Rtr1 dephosphorylates not only serine 5 on the CTD but also the newly described anti-termination tyrosine 1 marker, supporting the hypothesis that Rtr1 and its homologs promote the transition from transcription to termination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: Human leukocyte antigens (HLA) play an important role in presenting virus antigens to immune cells that are responsible for the clearance of virus-infected cells and tumor cells. Herein, we evaluated whether genetic variants of HLA-DP and HLA-DQ are associated with cervical cancer risk. Methods: We genotyped four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in HLA-DP (rs3077 and rs9277535) and HLA-DQ (rs2856718 and rs7453920) in a two-stage case–control study with a total of 2317 cervical cancer cases and 2109 cancer-free controls using TaqMan allelic discrimination assay. Results: We found consistently significant associations of HLA-DP rs3077 and rs9277535 with increased risks of cervical cancer (dominant genetic model: adjusted OR=1.51, 95% CI=1.32–1.71 for rs3077; adjusted OR=1.29, 95% CI=1.12–1.49 for rs9277535). When combining the effects of HLA-DP rs3077 and rs9277535, subjects carrying “≥1” variant alleles had a 1.55-fold increased risk of cervical cancer (95% CI=1.32–1.81), compared with those carrying “0” variant allele. And cervical cancer risk significantly increased with the increasing number of variant alleles of the two SNPs in a dose-dependent manner (P for trend=4.33×10−10). However, there were no significant associations for HLA-DQ rs2856718 and rs7453920 in our population. Conclusions: These findings indicate that HLA-DP rs3077 and rs9277535 were candidate susceptibility markers for cervical cancer in Chinese females. Further validation studies with different ethnic background, biological function analyses and especially HPV typing together were needed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Imidacloprid is a neonicotinoid that targets sucking pests, such as aphids and the green leaf bug and has been widely applied in wheat fields to control wheat aphids in China. To investigate the involvement of miRNAs in imidacloprid resistance, we sequenced small RNA libraries of Sitobion miscanthi Fabricius, across two different treatments using Illumina short-read sequencing technology. As a result, 265 microRNAs (miRNAs), of which 242 were known and 23 were novel, were identified. Quantitative analysis of miRNA levels showed that 23 miRNAs were significantly up-regulated, and 54 miRNAs were significantly down-regulated in the nymphs of S. miscanthi treated with imidacloprid in comparison with those of the control. Modulation of the abundances of differentially expressed miRNAs, smi-miR-316, smi-miR-1000, and smi-miR-iab-4 by the addition of the corresponding antagomir/inhibitor to the artificial diet significantly changed the susceptibility of S. miscanthi to imidacloprid. Subsequently, the post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism was conducted, smi-miR-278 and smi-miR-316 were confirmed to be participated in the post-transcriptional regulation of nAChRα1A and CYP4CJ6, respectively. The results suggested that miRNAs differentially expressed in response to imidacloprid could play a critical regulatory role in the metabolism of S. miscanthi to imidacloprid. [Display omitted] • 77 differentially expressed miRNAs identified under imidacloprid exposure using Illumina short-read sequencing technology. • Modulation abundances of smi-miR-316, smi-miR-1000 and smi-miR-iab-4 significantly changed the susceptibility to imidacloprid. • CYP4CJ6 and nAChRα1A could be regulated by smi-miR-316 and smi-miR-278, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A novel quantitative real-time PCR method using the duplex scorpion primer for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis DNA was developed and validated. The assay employs a duplex primer; its most important feature is the intramolecular probe–target interaction. The assay had many prominent characteristics. (i) The duplex probe is simpler to synthesize and significantly easier to purify than TaqMan probe because that the fluorescent dye pair and the quencher pair are in different oligonucleotides. (ii) The method has high sensitivity, specificity, intra- and interassay reproducibilities. (iii) The assay has a quantitative dynamic range of 25 to109 genome copies per reaction mixture. (iv) The scorpion system can identify 98.6% samples in the validation panel without retest. There were 81 positive samples and 67 negative samples, which were confirmed by two FDA-approved NAATs (the Roche Amplicor PCR assay, Abbott LCR kit) and our new method. Any two positive results out of the possible three-comparator results would define the infected-patient gold standard. Of the positive samples, 79 (97.5%) were found positive (ranging from 31 to 227,648 copies/μl, M =4219 copies/μl), whereas no negative samples were found positive by the assay. A quantitative, fast, and easy-to-handle diagnostic approach such as the MOMP-based real-time PCR described here might improve the detection of C. trachomatis infection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Bisphosphonates have been reported to exhibit antiarteriosclerotic and anticalcification effects. We investigated the effect of a bisphosphonate, etidronate, on growth and phenotype of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). Etidronate (10 μM) significantly decreased DNA synthesis evaluated by [3H]thymidine incorporation in VSMC cultured without serum, and 1 μM etidronate significantly inhibited DNA synthesis in the presence of 10% calf serum. Etidronate (10 μM) significantly inhibited VSMC proliferation after 72 h incubation. Etidronate (100 μM) significantly increased the expression of SM22α mRNA and protein in VSMC, while 10 μM etidronate significantly decreased the expression of matrix Gla mRNA. These findings indicate that etidronate inhibits the exaggerated growth of VSMC from SHR, while altering their phenotype from synthetic to contractile one. These effects of etidronate may account for its antiarteriosclerotic action. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]