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Language is never an isolated or closed system, which may always related with other languages in different forms. Due to the high degree of contact between Chinese and English, “OK” becomes a frequently used word in spoken language and undergoing pragmatic variations in the Chinese context. Sociolinguistics is the sub-field of linguistics that studies the language and society between the use of language and the social structure in which the user of language live. It is found that there exists differences among different age, gender and occupation groups in the use and understanding of “OK.” By analyzing the questionnaire results from the random samples of 321 people, the paper aims to study the relationships between language usage and social factors, and the use of “OK” as a discourse marker. It is hoped that the study can help people have a deeper understanding of the various pragmatic variation of daily conversation in Chinese context.

The 60mer oligonucleotide microarray was designed and applied to detecting of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) coronavirus. Thirty 60mer specific oligos were designed to cover the whole genome of the first submitted coronavirus strain, according to the sequence of TOR2 (GENEBANK Accession: AY274119). These primers were synthesized and printed into a microarray with 12 ×12 spots. RNAs were extracted from the throat swab and gargling fluid of SARS patients and reverse-transcripted into the double strand cDNAs. The cDNAs were prepared as restricted cDNA fragments by the restriction display (RD) technique and labeled by PCR with the Cy5-universal primer. The labeled samples were then applied to the oligo microarray for hybridization. The diagnostic capability of the microarray was evaluated after the washing and scanning steps. The scanning result showed that samples of SARS patients were hybridized with multiple SARS probes on the microarray, and there is no signal on the negative and blank controls. These results indicate that the genome of SARS coronavirus can be detected in parallel by the 60mer oligonucleotide microarray, which can improve the positive ratio of the diagnosis. The oligo microarray can also be used for monitoring the behavior of the virus genes in different stages of the disease status.

The sumac species Rhus chinensis is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. APX is the key enzyme in hydrogen peroxide degradation, and may have a critical function in plant-aphid interactions. Both the cDNA and genomic sequences encoding the APX protein in R. chinensis (termed RcAPX) underwent cloning. The 1938 bp RcAPX gene encompassed 6 introns and 7 exons. The open reading frame of RcAPX was 750 bp and encoded a 249-amino acid peptide. Based on sequence alignment and phylogenetic analysis, RcAPX was shown to be cytosolic. Sequence alignment revealed that RcAPX shared 54.1–75.7% identity with APX sequences reported in other plant species. Quantitative real-time PCR showed differential expression of RcAPX mRNA in different tissues at various developmental stages. Moreover, RcAPX expression was significantly suppressed by galls. To further assess its function, RcAPX was produced in E. coli using the pET-28a plasmid, and the recombinant peptide showed high APX activity. The optimum temperature and pH for RcAPX activity were 60 °C and 8.5. To confirm the substrate binding sites and active sites of RcAPX, site-directed mutagenesis studies were performed. The present study firstly described a full-length APX gene in the family Anacardiaceae.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV)-induced human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression may be due to a complex multi-step processes. The developmental mechanism of these processes is worth investigating for the prevention, diagnosis and therapy of HCC. The aim of the present study was to investigate the molecular mechanism underlying the progression of HCV-induced hepatocarcinogenesis. First, the dynamic gene module, consisting of key genes associated with progression between the normal stage and HCC, was identified using the Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis tool from R language. By defining those genes in the module as seeds, the change of co-expression in differentially expressed gene sets in two consecutive stages of pathological progression was examined. Finally, interaction pairs of HCV viral proteins and their directly targeted proteins in the identified module were extracted from the literature and a comprehensive interaction dataset from yeast two-hybrid experiments. By combining the interactions between HCV and their targets, and protein-protein interactions in the Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes database (STRING), the HCV-key genes interaction network was constructed and visualized using Cytoscape software 3.2. As a result, a module containing 44 key genes was identified to be associated with HCC progression, due to the dynamic features and functions of those genes in the module. Several important differentially co-expressed gene pairs were identified between non-HCC and HCC stages. In the key genes, cyclin dependent kinase 1 (CDK1), NDC80, cyclin A2 (CCNA2) and rac GTPase activating protein 1 (RACGAP1) were shown to be targeted by the HCV nonstructural proteins NS5A, NS3 and NS5B, respectively. The four genes perform an intermediary role between the HCV viral proteins and the dysfunctional module in the HCV key genes interaction network. These findings provided valuable information for understanding the mechanism of HCV-induced HCC progression and for seeking drug targets for the therapy and prevention of HCC.

Our purpose was to evaluate chemotactic response of Ginseng bacterial soft-rot to ginseng root exudates. The exudates of plant roots has a significant influence on the population changes of rhizosphere microorganisms and chemotaxis is an important way in which many pathogens sense the signals of host plants and invade the host plants. In this study, with the capillary method, we tested the chemotactic responses of Ginseng bacterial soft-rot for three ginseng roots exudates under four chemotactic parameters (concentration, temperature, pH and time). The results showed that the chemotatic response of the Ginseng bacterial soft-rot for the ginseng roots exudates at the water layer where pH = 7 and the concentration was 0.0125 mg/L reached its peak value under the circumstance that the exudates was cultivated for 60 min at 25 °C. The chemotatic ratios were respectively 124.89% and 89.44%. For the butanol extract layer and the petroleum ether faction at the concentration of 0.125 mg/L and the pH value at 7, the ginseng roots exudatess reached peak values at 25 °C and 30 °C and 60 min and 75 min respectively, and the chemotatic ratios were respectively 139.64% and101.87%, and 115.29% and 81.36%. The three ginseng roots exudates had positive effects for the chemotaxis of the Ginseng soft-rot bacteria, but the effect declined as the concentration increased.

Triple‑negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous disease characterized by an aggressive phenotype and reduced survival. The aim of the present study was to investigate the molecular mechanisms involved in the carcinogenesis of TNBC and to identify novel target molecules for therapy. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in TNBC and normal adjacent tissue were assessed by analyzing the GSE41970 microarray data using Qlucore Omics Explorer, Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes. Pathway enrichment analyses for DEGs were performed using the Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery online resource. A protein‑protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using Search Tool for the Retrieval of Interacting Genes, and subnetworks were analyzed by ClusterONE. The PPI network and subnetworks were visualized using Cytoscape software. A total of 121 DEGs were obtained, of which 101 were upregulated and 20 were downregulated. The upregulated DEGs were significantly enriched in 14 pathways and 83 GO biological processes, while the downregulated DEGs were significantly enriched in 18 GO biological processes. The PPI network with 118 nodes and 1,264 edges was constructed and three subnetworks were extracted from the entire network. The significant hub DEGs with high degrees were identified, including TP53, glyceraldehyde‑3‑phosphate dehydrogenase, cyclin D1, HRAS and proliferating cell nuclear antigen, which were predominantly enriched in the cell cycle pathway and pathways in cancer. A number of critical genes and pathways were revealed to be associated with TNBC. The present study may provide an improved understanding of the pathogenesis of TNBC and contribute to the development of therapeutic targets for TNBC.

BACKGROUND Leukemia seriously threats human health and life. MicroRNA regulates cell growth, proliferation, apoptosis, and cell cycle. Whether microRNA could be treated as a target for leukemia is still unclear and the mechanism by which microRNA143 regulates K562 cells needs further investigation. MATERIAL AND METHODS miRNA143 and its scramble miRNA were synthesized and transfected to K562 cells. MTT assay was used to detect K562 cell proliferation. Flow cytometry and a caspase-3 activity detection kit were used to test K562 cell apoptosis. Western blot analysis was performed to determine breakpoint cluster region-Abelson (BCR-ABL) expression. BCR-ABL overexpression and siRNA were used to change BCR-ABL level, and cell apoptosis was detected again after lipofection transfection. RESULTS miRNA143 transfection inhibited K562 cell growth and induced its apoptosis. miRNA143 transfection decreased BCR-ABL expression. BCR-ABL overexpression suppressed miRNA143-induced K562 cell apoptosis, while its reduction enhanced miRNA143-induced apoptosis. CONCLUSIONS miRNA143 induced K562 cell apoptosis through downregulating BCR-ABL. miRNA143 might be a target for a new leukemia therapy.

This paper presents a new model for improving the pointing accuracy of a telescope. The Denavit–Hartenberg (D–H) convention was used to perform an error analysis of the telescope's kinematics. A kinematic model was used to relate pointing errors to mechanical errors and the parameters of the kinematic model were estimated with a statistical model fit using data from two large astronomical telescopes. The model illustrates the geometric errors caused by imprecision in manufacturing and assembly processes and their effects on the pointing accuracy of the telescope. A kinematic model relates pointing error to axis position when certain geometric errors are assumed to be present in a telescope. In the parameter estimation portion, the semi-parametric regression model was introduced to compensate for remaining nonlinear errors. The experimental results indicate that the proposed semi-parametric regression model eliminates both geometric and nonlinear errors, and that the telescope's pointing accuracy significantly improves after this calibration.

Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a vital process in epithelial cancer invasion and metastasis. The induction of EMT by Six1 has been described as a common mode of cancer progression, which could promote breast cancer migration and invasion. In the study, we found that miR-204-5p could suppress the migration and invasion of breast cancer cell lines. Since overexpression of Six1 promote EMT, we identified a mechanism by which miR-204-5p inhibited the EMT by downregulating the Six1, which was mediated by a conserved miR-204-5p seed-matching sequence in the 3'-UTR of Six1 mRNA. We also identified that upregulation of Six1 could downregulate miR-204-5p expression, affecting the migration and invasion of breast cancer cell lines. In conclusion, the frequent upregulation of Six1 and/or downregulation of miR-204-5p in breast cancer may shift the equilibrium of these reciprocal regulations and lock breast cancer cells in the mesenchymal state.

Sushi domain containing 2 (SUSD2) has been identified as a gene encoding an 822-amino acid protein, which contains a transmembrane domain and functional domains inherent to adhesion molecules. Previous studies have reported that increased expression of SUSD2 has a critical role in tumorigenesis in human breast cancer. However, to the best of our knowledge, SUSD2 expression status and its correlation with the clinicopathological features of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have not previously been investigated. In the present study, reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blotting were used to evaluate SUSD2 messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression in NSCLC and adjacent normal lung tissues. The clinicopathological significance of SUSD2 was investigated by immunohistochemical analysis of an NSCLC tissue microarray. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to determine the cut-off score for positive expression of SUSD2. Furthermore, the correlation between SUSD2 expression and the clinicopathological features of NSCLC was analyzed by χ2 test. The results revealed that SUSD2 mRNA (P47.5% (area under ROC curve, 0.799; P

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been shown by certain studies to be associated with diabetes mellitus (DM); however, the results of these studies were controversial. For that reason, a meta-analysis of the literature was performed in order to determine the association between HBV infection and the prevalence of DM more accurately. The PubMed, Embase, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure and Wan Fang databases, as well as the Chinese Science and Technology Journal Database, were searched for literature published until June 2014. The reference lists of all relevant articles were also searched. The summary odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) were calculated based on a random-effects model. Heterogeneity was assessed using the I2 statistic. Subgroup analyses were conducted based on study type and region for the purpose of assessing the factors that could potentially affect the outcome. A total of 15 eligible studies (in 14 articles) were selected for the meta-analysis, involving 12,974,690 HBV-infected patients and 231,776,232 controls. The OR for the prevalence of DM was 1.33 (95% CI, 1.09–1.62; P=0.005) between the patients with HBV infection and the controls. The subgroup analysis based on study type revealed a significantly higher prevalence of DM in the HBV-infected group than that in the control group in both case-control (OR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.08–3.30; P=0.025) and cross-sectional (OR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.04–1.90; P=0.027) studies. The subgroup analysis based on region revealed a significantly higher prevalence of DM in the HBV-infected group than in the control group in the Asia-Pacific region (OR, 1.67; 95% CI, 1.08–2.58; P=0.022). Compared with uninfected patients, the pooled results suggest that HBV-infected patients have a higher risk of developing DM; however, given the fact that this is a meta-analysis of observational studies, further randomized controlled trials are required in order to reach a more accurate conclusion.

BACKGROUND Excision repair crossing-complementing group 2 (ERCC2), also called xeroderma pigmentosum complementary group D (XPD), plays a crucial role in the nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway. Previous epidemiological studies have reported associations between ERCC2 polymorphisms and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) risk, but the results have remained controversial. MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted this meta- analysis based on eligible case-control studies to investigate the role of two ERCC2 polymorphisms (Lys751Gln and Asp312Asn) in determining susceptibility to NHL. Ten case-control studies from several electronic databases were included in our study up to August 14, 2014. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using fixed- or random-effects models to estimate the association strength. RESULTS The combined results based on all studies did not show any association between Lys751Gln/Asp312Asn polymorphisms and NHL risk for all genetic models. Stratified analyses by histological subtype and ethnicity did not indicate any significant association between Lys751Gln polymorphism and NHL risk. However, a significant reduced risk of NHL was found among population-based studies (Lys/Gln versus Lys/Lys: OR=0.87, 95% CI=0.77-0.99, P=0.037) but not hospital-based studies. As for Asp312Asn polymorphism, there was no evidence for the association between this polymorphism and the risk of NHL in all subgroup analyses. CONCLUSIONS This meta-analysis suggests that there may be no association between Lys751Gln/Asp312Asn polymorphism and the risk of NHL and its two subtypes, whereas ERCC2 Lys751Gln heterozygote genotype may provide protective effects against the risk of NHL in population-based studies. Therefore, large-scale and well-designed studies are needed to clarify the effects of haplotypes, gene-gene, and gene-environment interactions on these polymorphisms and the risk of NHL and its different histological subtypes in an ethnicity specific population.

Aquaporin genes are differentially expressed in primitive versus definitive erythropoiesis. Our previous research results showed that over-expression of aquaporin-1 (AQP1) gene greatly promotes the erythroid differentiation of erythroleukemia K562 cells, using benzidine staining and quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis for representative erythroid-related genes, including γ-globin. But the molecular mechanisms underlying erythroid-specific gene regulation remain unknown. In this study, we demonstrated that AQP1 induced hemoglobins expression and altered erythroid gene expression by microarray analysis in K562 cells. The retroviral expression vector of AQP1 (pBABE-puro-AQP1) was constructed and infected K562 cells to establish a stable AQP1 over-expression cell line (K562-AQP1). AQP1 over-expression effectively inhibited cell proliferation and induced cell growth arrest in G1 phase of K562 cells. Then microarray profile was applied to analyze the differentially expressed genes which involved the mechanism of AQP1 in erythroid differentiation induction. The DAVID functional annotation clustering tool was used to identify biological functions enriched with the differentially expressed genes (n = 466 genes) and to group genes into clusters based on their functional similarity. Significant enrichment of genes involved in "oxygen transporter activity" (p = 3.8E-7) including hemoglobins (HBD, HBG, HBB, HBE1, and HBQ1), HEMGN, and EBP42 were validated by qRT-PCR. Moreover, silencing of HEMGN by RNA interference in K562-AQP1 cells resulted in down-regulation of these genes. These data provide a better understanding of the role of AQP1 in erythroid differentiation, by promoting HEMGN induction and other potential signaling pathways associated with hemoglobin induction.

It is known that chemoresistance is a major cause of treatment failure in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Substantial data indicate that the CD44 adhesion molecule is strongly expressed on AML blasts and that it can also inhibit apoptosis. Our study shows that drug resistance of the AML cell line HL60/ADM is due to overexpression of CD44. In an in vitro study, we knocked down CD44 in the HL60/ADM cell line using small interfering RNA (siRNA). Cell proliferation and the 50 % inhibitory concentrations (IC50) were determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. Cell apoptosis and intracellular ADM accumulation were detected by flow cytometry. Expression of CD44, Bcl-2, c-Myc were assayed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and Western blot. The results indicate that the expression of CD44 in HL60/ADM cell line was much higher than in HL60 cell, and siRNA targeted CD44 (siRNA/CD44) could silence its expression in both mRNA and protein levels effectively. siRNA/CD44 substantially induces cell apoptosis, inhibits cell proliferation, enhances susceptibility to ADM and Ara-C, and at the same time increases intracellular ADM accumulation even reverses chemoresistance to ADM and Ara-C. Furthermore, by qRT-PCR and Western blot, we found that siRNA/CD44 decreases Bcl-2 and c-Myc synthesis. Our study provides a novel clue that CD44 plays a significant role in the chemoresistance of AML cells to Ara-C and ADM. Moreover, this provides a new direction to the approaches that combination therapy including targeting CD44 may overcome drug resistance and improve treatment effects.

Ornithine decarboxylase antizyme (OAZ) has recently emerged as a potential therapeutic target in various malignant tumors because it plays vital roles in cellular functions including proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis and genomic stability. Therefore, there is a significant interest in discovering its function in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Firstly, OAZ1 mRNA was measured by qRT-PCR in 43 cases with CML and 23 controls, and we demonstrated that it is significantly down-regulated in CML patients. To further understand its functions in CML pathogenesis, OAZ1 was overexpressed, and the human leukemia PCR array analysis was used to monitor the expression of key genes commonly involved in leukemia development, classification and therapeutic response. We found several favorable up-regulation factors including CXCL10, DAPK1 and IKZF3. In conclusion, OAZ1 may be a useful therapeutic target in CML due to its potential ability to induce erythroid differentiation and cell apoptosis. These functions were proven to be associated with several gene changes that were directly or indirectly caused by OAZ1. The mechanism of how OAZ1 affects other genes remains to be elucidated.

The use of hydrostatic bearing for support of telescope offers a number of potential performance advantages, but the structure parameter of bearing is the main factor which influence the bearing. The temperature rise of bearing is also important for the stiffnees of the telescope mount.In addition to the known benefit of mount stiffness and tracking accuracy from exceedingly low friction, the hydrostatic bearing provides a wide range of geometric possibilities for large telescopes [1].This paper analyzes various familiar hydrostatic bearing for the azimuth and elevation axes of telescope.Theoretical calculation and simulation show that the performance of bearing meets telescope’s design requirements.The principle and process of this work and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) are introduced in detail. According to the CFX result, the structure parameter and performance of bearing ,temperature field and pressure distribution have obtained.

Hypertrophic scarring (HSc) is a fibroproliferative disorder of the dermis characterized by erythematous, swollen, and pruritic lesions of healing skin. An increased understanding of the role of TGFβ1 in the development of HSc provides the potential for treating HSc by down-regulating TGFβ1 expression. siRNAs that effectively interfered with TGFβ1 expression were screened. It was concluded that the siRNA-TGFβ1-337 was able to effectively down-regulate TGFβ1 expression in HSc fibroblasts. The effects of siRNA-TGFβ1-337 on cell proliferation, cell cycle, and apoptosis of HSc fibroblasts were investigated. It was shown that it inhibited cell proliferation, arrested cells in the G1 stage of the cell cycle, and induced apoptosis of HSc fibroblasts. The transdermal patch of siRNA-TGFβ1-337 was a combination of siRNA-TGFβ1-337 and a pressure-sensitive adhesive hydrogel. The treatment effects of the transdermal patch were assessed in an animal model established by transplanting human HSc to nude mice. Decreased expression of TGFβ1 was observed with treatment with the transdermal siRNA-TGFβ1-337 patch. Consequently, the treatment resulted in type I collagen down-regulation and regularly arranged scar fibroblasts being significantly reduced and undergoing apoptosis; the scar size was decreased significantly. Thus, our findings indicate that a transdermal siRNA-TGFβ1-337 patch is a potential treatment for hypertrophic scars.

Background MicroRNAs are a class of small non-coding RNAs that are involved in many important physiological and pathological processes by regulating gene expression negatively. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of miR-32 on cell proliferation, migration and apoptosis and to determine the functional connection between miR-32 and FBXW7 in breast cancer. Methods In this study, quantitative RT-PCR was used to evaluate the expression levels of miR-32 in 27 breast cancer tissues, adjacent normal breast tissues and human breast cancer cell lines. The biological functions of miR-32 in MCF-7 breast cancer cells were determined by cell proliferation, apoptosis assays and wound-healing assays. In addition, the regulation of FBXW7 by miR-32 was assessed by qRT-PCR, Western blot and luciferase reporter assays. Results MiR-32 was frequently overexpressed in breast cancer tissue samples and cell lines as was demonstrated by qRT-PCR. Moreover, the up-regulation of miR-32 suppressed apoptosis and promoted proliferation and migration, whereas down-regulation of miR-32 showed an opposite effect. Dual-luciferase reporter assays showed that miR-32 binds to the 3′-untranslated region of FBXW7, suggesting that FBXW7 is a direct target of miR-32. Western blot analysis showed that over-expression of miR-32 reduced FBXW7 protein level. Furthermore, an inverse correlation was found between the expressions of miR-32 and FBXW7 mRNA levels in breast cancer tissues. Knockdown of FBXW7 promoted proliferation and motility and suppressed apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. Conclusions Taken together, the present study suggests that miR-32 promotes proliferation and motility and suppresses apoptosis of breast cancer cells through targeting FBXW7.

Plate assay and spore germination method were used to study the chemotaxis response of Alternaria panax to arginine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid and threonine. The result showed that the optimum temperature of A. panax chemotaxis response to four amino acids were all 25 ℃. And chemotaxis responses of A. panax were different under conditions of different concentration and pH value. The chemotaxin reached to the highest under the condition of 2 mg•L⁻¹ and pH value was 7 for arginine, glutamic acid and threonine while 20 mg•L⁻¹ and pH value was 6 for aspartic acid . The data of chemotactic migration index (CMI) were 1.24, 1.38, 1.27, 1.31 and chemotactic growth rates(CGR) were 0.451 0, 0.353 0, 0.381 3, 0.228 8 and spores germination rates(SGR) were 57.33%，63%，56.67%，58% and the dry weight of mycelial (DWM) were 372.9, 348.5, 314.4, 390.2 mg•L⁻¹ respectively. It indicated that the low and middle concentration of amino acid had significant promoting effect on chemotaxis response of A. panax. As important substances generated in ginseng root, amino acids exhibited an efficient chemotactic effect on A. panax, and some even show inhibition effect under high concentration.

The chemotaxis response of Erwinia carotovora to different sugars and amino acids in four kinds of chemotactic parameters (concentration, time, temperature and pH ) was determined by capillary method. The results showed that when pH was 8, concentration was 0.025 mg•L ⁻¹, culture temperature was 25 ℃ and the duration was 60 minutes, the optimal chemotaxis rate of lysine was 2.509,when pH was 6, concentration was 0.25 mg•L ⁻¹, culture temperature was 25 ℃ and the duration was 60 minutes, the optimal chemotaxis rate of arginine was 2.218 8,when pH was 7, concentration was 0.25 mg•L ⁻¹, culture temperature was 30 ℃ and the duration was 60 minutes, the optimal chemotaxis rate of L-rhamnose was 3.091 2, when pH was 6, concentration was 0.25 mg•L ⁻¹, culture temperature was 30 ℃ and the duration was 45 minutes, the optimal chemotaxis rate of D-arabinose was 3.026 3. Sugars and amino acids had obvious chemotaxis with E. carotovora,the high concentration of carbohydrate and amino acid exited an inhibitory effect on chemotaxis response of E. carotovora, and the chemotaxis response decreased with the increase of concentration of carbohydrates and amino acids.

Background Sushi Domain Containing 2 (SUSD2) has been identified as a regulator of colon and breast cancer. Increasing evidence suggests that SUSD2 plays a key role in tumorigenesis. However, the SUSD2 expression status and its functions in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are still unrevealed. In the present study, we intended to investigate SUSD2 expression status and its correlation with the clinicopathological features in HCC patients. Furthermore,we examined the influence of SUSD2 on the proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and migration of the HCC cell lines HepG2 and SMMC7721. Methods We evaluated the SUSD2 expression in HCC tissues and paired normal liver tissues by quantitative real-time PCR and western blotting analysis. The clinicopathological significance of SUSD2 was investigated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on a HCC tissue microarray. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was applied to determine the optimal cut-off score for positive expression of SUSD2. The correlation between SUSD2 protein expression and clinicopathological features of HCC was analyzed by Chi square test. The cell proliferation, apoptosis, invasion and migration potential were observed to detect the functions of SUSD2 in HCC cells. Results Decreased expression of SUSD2 mRNA and protein were observed in the majority of HCC tissues, compared with paired normal liver tissues. When SUSD2 high expression percentage was determined to be above 52.5 % (area under ROC curve = 0.769, P = 0.000), low expression of SUSD2 was observed in 62.2 % (112/180) of HCC tissues and high expression of SUSD2 was observed in all normal liver tissues (16/16) by IHC. Decreased expression of SUSD2 in patients was correlated with high histological grade (χ2 = 5.198, P = 0.023), advanced clinical stage (χ2 = 30.244, P = 0.000), pT status (χ2 = 33.175, P = 0.000), pN status (χ2 = 4.785, P = 0.029), pM status (χ2 = 4.620, P = 0.032). Down-regulation of SUSD2 promoted cell proliferation,invasion and migration,reduced the cell apoptosis. Conclusions Our findings suggest that SUSD2 may play as a tumor suppressor in HCC cells and could be served as an additional potential marker for diagnosis.

The aim of this study was to detect the expression of the pp GalNac-T10 protein in gastric carcinoma and to investigate the role of pp GalNac-T10 in the occurrence and development of gastric cancer tissues. pp GalNac-T10 protein expression was immunohistochemically analyzed in 96 gastric adenocarcinoma tissue samples, and in 88 5-cm adjacent non-tumor gastric mucosa samples, used as controls. pp GalNAc-T10 expression in gastric cancer tissues was higher compared with that in the adjacent non-tumor gastric tissue. pp GalNAc-T10 protein expression had a significant positive correlation with histological type and degree of differentiation of gastric cancer (P0.05). pp GalNAc-T10 expression is a useful indicator of tumor differentiation in gastric cancer.

In this paper, we propose two new methods to decrease the torque ripple for an arc permanent magnet linear synchronous motor (Arc PMLSM), which will be applied on the next generation large telescope. By connecting different phase windings of different stators, the problem of unbalanced three-phase winding was solved. Compared with the primary three-phase winding, there were fewer harmonics in the current. Besides, by changing the angle between two stators, the end cogging force of different stators was counteracted. After these methods were adopted on the optimized Arc PMLSM, the torque ripple was decreased from 3.2% to 0.65%, which can satisfy the requirement of tracking accuracy for telescope.

Epidemiological studies have evaluated the association between polymorphic sites in the thymidylate synthase (TYMS) gene and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) risk, but the results remain controversial. Here we performed a meta-analysis to estimate the relationship between TYMS polymorphisms and the risk of NHL and two of its subtypes from all nine published case-control studies. Our meta-analysis suggested that both 1053CT and IVS6-68CT polymorphisms were significantly associated with decreased risks of NHL among Caucasians (for 1053CT: TT vs. CC, odds ratio [OR] = 0.78, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.64-0.95; recessive model, OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.67-0.98 and for IVS6 - 68CT: TT vs. CC, OR = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.40-0.92; recessive model, OR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.42-0.93), whereas the TSER, 1122AG and 1494del6 polymorphisms had no influence on the susceptibility to NHL. Further analysis revealed that the T allele of the 1053CT polymorphism might provide protective effects in Caucasians against the risk of NHL (OR = 0.90, 95% CI = 0.82-0.98) and follicular lymphoma (FL) (OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.71-0.93), but not diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). Additionally, the IVS6 - 68CT variant homozygote genotype was significantly associated with reduced risks for DLBCL (TT vs. CC: OR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.28-0.94; recessive model: OR = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.29-0.96), but not FL. However, individuals carrying the T allele of the IVS6 - 68CT polymorphism were not significantly associated with reduced risks for DLBCL and FL.

This study was carried out to investigate the sensitivity to abscisic acid (ABA) and the resistance to salt of homologous ANAC (Arabidopsis thaliana NAM/ATAF/CUC protein) mutants of Arabidopsis, na...

The published data on the association between xeroderma pigmentosum group D (XPD) Lys751Gln polymorphism and esophageal cancer (EC) remained controversial. The present meta-analysis of literatures was performed to derive a more precise estimation of the relationship. A comprehensive literature search was conducted to identify all case-control studies of Lys751Gln polymorphism and risk for two main types of EC: esophageal adenocarcinoma (EADC) and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). A total of 12 studies were identified to the meta-analysis, including 2,575 cases (1,294 ESCC and 1,281 EADC) and 4,951 controls (1,891 ESCC and 3,060 EADC). Random-effects or fix-effects model was used according to between-study heterogeneity. The odds ratio (OR) for the variant homozygous genotype Gln/Gln of the Lys751Gln polymorphism, compared with the wild type homozygote Lys/Lys, was 1.26, with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.02-1.56, for EADC risk without between-study heterogeneity. When stratified by ethnicity, statistically significantly elevated risk was found among Chinese (Gln/Gln vs. Lys/Lys: OR 2.45, 95% CI = 1.10-5.44). However, no significant associations were found between XPD Lys751Gln polymorphism and EC risk when all studies pooled into the meta-analysis (Lys/Gln vs. Lys/Lys: OR 1.07, 95% CI = 0.88-1.28; Gln/Gln vs.us Lys/Lys: OR 1.25, 95% CI = 0.92-1.71; dominant model: OR 1.09, 95% CI = 0.90-1.33). In conclusion, this meta-analysis suggests that the Lys751Gln genetic polymorphism may be a potential biomarker of EC susceptibility in Chinese populations. And a study with the larger sample size is needed to further evaluate gene-environment interaction on XPD Lys751Gln polymorphism and EC risk.

Development of a versatile mammalian display system is essential for the selection of functional human antibodies with high affinities. Here we described a novel strategy for rapid construction of full-length antibody libraries that could be efficiently expressed on mammalian cell surfaces. The universal vector pDGB-HC-TM was constructed by inserting multiple cloning site unique sequences recognized by restriction endonucleases BsmBI, SfiI, and BstXI for the pop-in and pop-out of genes of interest. Cytomegalovirus promoter, a commonly used promoter for high expression of proteins in a variety of mammalian cells, was used to drive expression of the inserted antibody genes and a transmembrane domain from platelet-derived growth factor receptor was fused in frame to the C-terminus of heavy chain consistent region to anchor the antibody expressed on the mammalian cell surface. Using this strategy, we constructed a full-length human antibody display library. DNA sequence analysis and expression analysis indicated that the library constructed had a combinatory expressible, detectable diversity of 6.58 x 10(10).

Changes in mRNA expression levels of ECV304 cells infected with the wild-type rubella strain were analyzed using a microarray system representing 18,716 human genes. Four hundred eighty-seven genes exhibited differential expression levels; 456 of these genes were up-regulated while 31 genes were down-regulated. We identified 53 biological processes that were significantly relevant to the RV-infection. Among these biological processes, 52 were one-gene processes and one was a process involving five genes: IFNA21 (interferon, alpha 21), interferon stimulated exonuclease gene 20 kDa (ISG20), zinc finger protein 175 (ZNF175), tripartite motif-containing 22 (TRIM22), and MX2 [myxovirus (influenza virus) resistance 2 (mouse)]. Except for ZNF175, gene annotation indicated four of these genes encoded interferon or interferon-induced genes. These results suggest that genes relevant to interferon-regulated pathways may be involved in the pathogenesis of rubella.

Sineoculis homeobox homolog 1 (Six1), normally a developmentally restricted transcriptional regulator, is frequently dysregulated in mutiple cancers. Increasing evidences show that overexpression of Six1 plays a key role in tumorigenesis. However, the Six1 expression status and its relationship with the clinicopathological characteristics in prostate cancer were unclear. In this study, the mRNA and protein levels of Six1 in prostate cancer tissues and normal prostate tissues were evaluated. The clinicopathological significance of Six1 was investigated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) on a prostate cancer tissue microarray. The cut-off score for high expression of Six1 was determined by the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The correlation between Six1 protein expression and clinicopathological characteristics of prostate cancer was analyzed by Chi-square test. Increased expression of Six1 protein was observed in the majority of prostate cancer, compared with their paired adjacent normal prostate tissues. When Six1 high expression percentage was determined to be above 55 % (area under ROC curve = 0.881, P = 0.000), high expression of Six1 was observed in 55.6 % (80/144) of prostate cancer tissues and low expression of Six1 was observed in all normal prostate tissues by IHC. Increased expression of Six1 in patients was correlated with high histological grade (χ2 = 58.651, P = 0.00), advanced clinical stage (χ2 = 57.330, P = 0.000), high Gleason score (χ2 = 63.480, P = 0.000), high primary tumor grade (χ2 = 57.330, P = 0.000) and positive regional lymph node metastasis (χ2 = 19.294, P = 0.000). Furthermore, univariate and multivariate survival analysis suggested that Six1 was an independent prognostic indicator for overall survival (P

A simple and inexpensive method to improve oxidation resistance of titanium alloys, liquid-phase aluminizing and siliconizing by an Al–Si alloy, has been proposed. The surface reaction at 1013 K for 20 min on a Ti60 alloy using Al–10 wt.%Si melt as reaction medium resulted in a modified layer with a thickness of about 50 μm, composed of TiAl 3 and TiSi 2 . The coating significantly improved the isothermal oxidation resistance of the alloy at 1073 K. An approximately continuous alumina-rich scale was formed at the outermost surface after oxidation. SiO 2 was also detectable in the oxide scale. It was inferred that during oxidation, the TiSi 2 in the coating was oxidized to SiO 2 . In the meantime, the TiSi 2 was reduced to a lower silicide, Ti 5 Si 4 . The formation of the alumina-rich scale (containing silica) at the outermost surface accounted for the improvement in the oxidation resistance.

The miniaturization of biological and chemical analytical devices by micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) technology has posed a vital influence on such fields as medical diagnostics, microbial detection and other bio-analysis. Among many miniaturized analytical devices, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) microchip/microdevices are studied extensively, and thus great progress has been made on aspects of on-chip micromachining (fabrication, bonding and sealing), choice of substrate materials, surface chemistry and architecture of reaction vessel, handling of necessary sample fluid, controlling of three or two-step temperature thermocycling, detection of amplified nucleic acid products, integration with other analytical functional units such as sample preparation, capillary electrophoresis (CE), DNA microarray hybridization, etc. However, little has been done on the review of above-mentioned facets of the PCR microchips/microdevices including the two formats of flow-through and stationary chamber in spite of several earlier reviews [Zorbas, H. Miniature continuous-flow polymerase chain reaction: a breakthrough? Angew Chem Int Ed 1999; 38 (8):1055-1058; Krishnan, M., Namasivayam, V., Lin, R., Pal, R., Burns, M.A. Microfabricated reaction and separation systems. Curr Opin Biotechnol 2001; 12:92-98; Schneegabeta, I., Köhler, J.M. Flow-through polymerase chain reactions in chip themocyclers. Rev Mol Biotechnol 2001; 82:101-121; deMello, A.J. DNA amplification: does 'small' really mean 'efficient'? Lab Chip 2001; 1: 24N-29N; Mariella, Jr. R. MEMS for bio-assays. Biomed Microdevices 2002; 4 (2):77-87; deMello AJ. Microfluidics: DNA amplification moves on. Nature 2003; 422:28-29; Kricka, L.J., Wilding, P. Microchip PCR. Anal BioAnal Chem 2003; 377:820-825]. In this review, we survey the advances of the above aspects among the PCR microfluidic devices in detail. Finally, we also illuminate the potential and practical applications of PCR microfluidics to some fields such as microbial detection and disease diagnosis, based on the DNA/RNA templates used in PCR microfluidics. It is noted, especially, that this review is to help a novice in the field of on-chip PCR amplification to more easily find the original papers, because this review covers almost all of the papers related to on-chip PCR microfluidics.

To explore a method for enhancing the immobilization and hybridization efficiency of oligonucleotides on DNA microarrays, conventional protocols of poly‐L‐lysine coating were modified by means of surface chemistry, namely, the slides were prepared by the covalently coupling of poly‐L‐lysine to a glycidoxy‐modified glass surface. The modified slides were then used to print microarrays for the detection of the SARS coronavirus by means of 60mer oligonucleotide probes. The characteristics of the modified slides concerning immobilization efficiency, hybridization dynamics, and probe stripping cycles were determined. The improved surface exhibited high immobilization efficiency, a good quality uniformity, and satisfactory hybridization dynamics. The spotting concentration of 10 μmol/L can meet the requirements of detection; the spots were approximately 170 nm in diameter; the mean fluorescence intensity of the SARS spots were between 3.2 × 104 and 5.0 × 104 after hybridization. Furthermore, the microarrays prepared by this method demonstrated more resistance to consecutive probe stripping cycles. The activated GOPS‐PLL slide could undergo hybridization stripping cycles for at least three cycles, and the highest loss in fluorescence intensity was found to be only 11.9 % after the third hybridization. The modified slides using the above‐mentioned method were superior to those slides treated with conventional approaches, which theoretically agrees with the fact that modification by surface chemistry attaches the DNA covalently firmly to the slides. This protocol may have great promise in the future for application in large‐scale manufacture., One of the key steps in oligonucleotide microarray fabrication is the immobilization of oligonucleotides on a modified glass slide surface. Conventional protocols of poly‐L‐lysine coating were modified by means of surface chemistry in a way similar to the immobilization of 60mer oligonucleotides by deposition technology. The slides prepared by covalently coupling of poly‐L‐lysine to a glycidoxy‐modified glass surface were used to print microarrays for the detection of the SARS coronavirus.

A simple and inexpensive method to modify the surface of a TiAl-based alloy by liquid-phase siliconizing by Al–Si alloys, has been proposed. The Al–12.87wt%Si alloy and the Al–10wt%Si alloy resulted in the main siliconizing products of Ti7Al5Si12 and Al12Si3Ti5, respectively. The increase of the thickness of the silicide coatings obtained by the Al–10wt%Si alloy obeyed the parabolic law, and the parabolic rate constant (k) can be described as k=5.266 × 10−7 exp (−115 379/RT) m2/s. A protective SiO2-based scale and alumina-based scale were formed at the outermost surface during isothermal oxidation at 1273 K from the Ti7Al5Si12 and Al12Si3Ti5, respectively. In particular, a remarkable effect on the improvement in the oxidation resistance at 1273 K was achieved by the siliconizing condition of 1053 K/20 min + 953 K/20 min using Al–10wt%Si alloy, with a low Kp value of 0.7216 g2/m4 h, only about 1/1050 of that of the bare alloy. The results of cyclic oxidation test of 1173 K/100 h followed by 1273 K/100 h showed that the alumina-based scale had a good adherence with the inner partially-oxidized silicide coating. The diffusion reactions between the silicide coating and the TiAl substrate were also discussed.

To establish a method to evaluate the quality of the printed microarray and DNA fragments' immobilization. The target gene fragments that were made with the restriction display PCR (RD-PCR) technique were printed on a superamine modified glass slide, then immobilized with UV cross-linking and heat. This chip was hybridized with universal primers that were labeled with cy3-dUTP, as well as cDNA that was labeled with cy3-dCTP, as the conventional protocol. Most of the target gene fragments on the chip showed positive signals, but the negative control showed no signal, and vice versa. We established a method that enables an effective evaluation of the quality of the microarrays.

Background Pin2/TRF1 binding protein X1 (PinX1) has been identified as an endogenous telomerase inhibitor and a major haploinsufficient tumor suppressor gene. Increasing evidence suggests that reduced expression of PinX1 plays a key role in tumorigenesis. However, the PinX1 expression status and its correlation with the clinicopathological features in prostate cancer (PCa) have not been investigated. Methods PinX1 mRNA and protein expression in PCa and adjacent normal prostate tissues were evaluated by real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) and western blotting. The clinicopathological significance of PinX1 was investigated by immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis on a PCa tissue microarray (TMA). The cut-off score for positive expression of PinX1 was determined by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. The correlation between PinX1 expression and clinicopathological features of PCa was analyzed by Chi-square test. Results Reduced expression of PinX1 mRNA and protein was observed in the majority of PCa, compared with their paired adjacent normal prostate tissues. When PinX1 positive expression percentage was determined to be above 60% (area under ROC curve = 0.833, P = 0.000), positive expression of PinX1 was observed in 100% (8/8) of normal prostate tissues and 32.5% (13/40) of PCa tissues by IHC. Reduced expression of PinX1 in patients was correlated with advanced clinical stage (χ2 = 10.230, p = 0.017), high Gleason score (χ2 = 4.019, p = 0.045), positive regional lymph node metastasis (χ2 = 10.852, p = 0.004) and distant metastasis (χ2 = 7.965, p = 0.005). Conclusions Our findings suggest that reduced expression of PinX1 is correlates to progressive features in patients with PCa and may serve as a potential marker for diagnosis.

To retrospectively evaluate the efficiency of dental treatment under general anesthesia (GA) in child patients, and analyze the related factors.The records of patients treated under GA in the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Peking University School and Hospital of Stomatology, between Aug 2008 and Jun 2012 were collected and analyzed. Two hundred and twenty eight records were found, of which 111 patients under 18 years old who were recalled more than 3 months after GA were selected randomly. The unplanned treatments including caries, failed restoration, root canal treatment and space maintenance fall-off etc. were recorded and analyzed. The survival rate and median survival time of the teeth were calculated, and a multivariate analysis was performed by Cox proportional hazard model.Totally, there were 1 415 teeth treated under GA. The median survival time was 825 days, 77.0% of the teeth were present during their recall period. The median time of the first unplanned treatment was 215 days, and the failed restoration was the main reason for the unplanned treatment. Other factors such as the age at treatment, gender, total number of decayed teeth, reason for GA, and living place were found unassociated with the survival rate.The effect of dental treatment under GA is satisfied. Regular dental visit after GA is very important for children's dental health.