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Increased granulosa cell division is associated with abnormal folliculogenesis in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Lethal-7i microRNA (let-7i) may play an important role in the follicular development and granulosa cell growth; therefore is let-7i involved in PCOS pathogenesis?The expression of let-7i was measured in granulosa-luteal cells (GLC) from women with or without PCOS. A human granulosa cell line, KGN, was used for the functional study. Mimics and inhibitors of let-7i, lentiviruses expressing insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA binding protein (IMP2), and small-interfering RNAs were transfected into KGN cells. KGN cell proliferation was determined by 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU) and Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assays. The cell cycle and apoptosis were assessed by propidium iodide-annexin V (PI-A) staining and fluorescence-activated cell sorting. Oestradiol concentration was determined by enzyme-linked immunoassay. Bioinformatics analysis and luciferase reporter assay were applied to confirm the let-7i target genes.The study showed that let-7i was down-regulated in PCOS GLC (P = 0.001). Mimics of let-7i inhibited KGN proliferation (P = 0.001), and decreased aromatase expression (P = 0.030) and oestradiol production (P = 0.029), whereas let-7i inhibitors had the opposite effect. Bioinformatics analysis and quantitative real-time (qRT) PCR identified IMP2 as a target of let-7i (P = 0.021). qRT-PCR and western blot analysis indicated that IMP2 was up-regulated in GLC in women with PCOS (P = 0.001 and P = 0.044), and IMP2 expression was suppressed by let-7i in KGN cells (P 0.001). Luciferase reporter assay results (P = 0.002), combined with the rescue assay, confirmed that let-7i inhibited KGN cell proliferation and reduced oestradiol concentration by directly targeting IMP2.let-7i was down-regulated in PCOS GLC. Overexpression of let-7i inhibited KGN cell proliferation and decreased oestradiol production in an IMP2-dependent manner, providing a new molecular mechanism for PCOS.

We analyze the influence of non-Gaussian noise on the accuracy of the parameter estimation. Specially, we estimate the intensity of magnetic field by adopting a spin-1/2 system which is influenced by random telegraph noise and colored noise with 1 / f α spectrum. We find that, for the random telegraph noise case, both weak coupling and strong coupling conditions are suitable for the parameter estimation. For the colored noise case, the accuracy of the parameter estimation decreases with the parameter α firstly and then increases with it. We also give physical explanations for these phenomena.

Introduction: Traditional thoracic ultrasound (TUS) is often the initial tool used to help diagnose malignant pleural effusion (MPE). Ultrasound elastography (UE), a new technique, has been used to differentiate malignant disease from benign disease by evaluating tissue "hardness". However, no studies evaluating the efficacy of UE in diagnosing MPE are available. We assessed the diagnostic value of UE for diagnosing MPE prospectively. Methods: All 244 enrolled patients were divided into a development set and a validation set in chronological order. TUS and UE were performed to diagnose MPE. The cut-off elasticity values (the mean and maximal values) were established using a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve constructed from continuous data of the patients in the development set. The diagnostic performance of UE was compared with that of TUS in the validation set. Results: In development set, the mean elasticity value (47·25 kPa) was the optimal cut-off. In the validation set, pleural UE had a sensitivity of 83·64%, a specificity of 90·67%, a positive predictive value (PPV) of 86·79%, and a negative predictive value (NPV) of 88·31% for distinguishing MPE from benign pleural effusion. The sensitivity of UE was significantly higher (p=0·006) than that of TUS (sensitivity of 60·00%, specificity of 93·33%, PPV of 86·84%, and NPV of 76·09%). Pleural UE detected 91·11% (41/45) of MPE cases from among false-negative cases as determined by TUS in all patients. Conclusion: Pleural UE is a good technique compared with TUS for differentiating MPE from benign pleural disease, especially in high tuberculosis burden countries. Funding Statement: The authors state: "No funding source was involved." Declaration of Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the Institutional Ethical Review Board of the First Hospital of China Medical University, and written informed consent was obtained from all patients.

Sequences with nice pseudo-randomness play an important role in not only communication system but also cryptography system. Based on the Legendre-Sidelnikov sequence, a modified Legendre-Sidelnikov sequence was introduced. The exact value of the autocorrelation function was derived by strict computation. According to the values of the autocorrelation functions of the two Legendre-Sidelnikov sequences, it is proven that both of them have perfect pseudo-randomness. Furthermore, a detailed comparison between autocorrelation functions of the two Legendre-Sidelnikov sequences was deduced. It indicates that no matter which parameters are chosen, the modified sequence has pseudo-randomness as good as the primitive sequence, which is of great significance for applications.

The capacity of root oxygen release by selected wetland plants pre-grown under both nutrient solution and artificial wastewater conditions were determined. The results indicated that the significant differences of root oxygen release by the tested wetland plants existed, and the biochemical process was the main source of root oxygen release as oxygen released by Vetiveria zizanioides L. Nash roots through biochemical process was contributed to 77% and 74% of total root oxygen release under nutrient solution conditions and artificial wastewater conditions, respectively, and that was 72% and 71% of total root oxygen release for Cyperus alternifolius L. It was found that the formation of root plaque with iron oxide was a function of root oxygen release as iron oxide concentration in root plaque was positively correlated to the potential of oxygen released by wetland plant roots with the regression coefficients as 0.874 *(p < 0.05) under nutrient solution conditions and 0.944 **(p < 0.01) under artificial wastewater conditions, which could be regarded as an important mechanism of wetland plants being tolerant to anoxia during wastewater treatment. It was suggested that the potential of root oxygen release could be used as a parameter for selecting wetland plants that can increase oxygen supply to soil or substrate of constructed wetlands and enhance nutrient transformation and removal, and V. zizanioides L. Nash with the highest potential of root oxygen release and higher tolerance to wastewater could be recommended to establish vegetated wetlands for treating nutrient-rich wastewater such as domestic wastewater.

Objective To investigate the effect of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) on the growth and invasion of human first trimester cytotrophoblasts in vitro. Methods Serum contained drug was collected from rats adiministered with herbs intragastricly. Serum collected from rats administered with saline was used as the control. Isolated from first trimester placental tissues, human cytotrophoblast cultured in media with 5%, 10%, 20% drug-containing serum for a 24 h, 48 h or 72 h period. Then cell morphology was measured by scanning electric microscope, cell viability by MTT assay, cell DNA content by flow cytomester, and cell invasion by transwell assay. Results After a 48 h- and 72 h-culture period in media with drug-containing rat serum, cytotrophoblast showed more and longer cell pseudopodia than control cells. In addition, cytotrophoblast exhibited more cell microvillous than control cells after a 72 h culture with drug-containing serum. Cell viability cultured with drug-containing serum was higher than control cells. Cells cultured with drug-containing serum in S phase were more, by contrast, in sub-G1 and G2/M phase were less than the control. Cells cultured with drug-containing serum for 72 h showed significantly greater invasive ability than control cells. Conclusion TCM had a beneficial role in the growth and invasion of human first trimester cytotrophoblast in vitro.

Objective To investigate the ultrasonic detection probability, type, prenatal diagnosis, and outcome of congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation of lung (CCAM). Methods In this retrospective study, all 12 cases which were diagnosed with suspected prenatal CCAM over the period in the hospital were analyzed. Information on diagnosis time, types and progression of the lesions during pregnancy, the additional abnormalities, and the outcome of pregnancies were recorded. Results The positive rate of ultrasonic detection of CCAM was about 1.01‰ (1/11 124) before 28 gestation weeks. There were 1 case of type I (8%), 2 cases of type II (17%) and 9 cases of type III (75%). Nine pregnancies were terminated and 2 cases were confirmed by pathology. Three neonates were alive and without any symptom now. Conclusions Type III is the major type. Ultrasound examination during 20–28 weeks and following up, prenatal consultation, chromosome examination of fetus, delivery with a pediatrician standing by, and all suspected neonates being investigated are recommended.

An amperometric immunosensor based on the gold nanoparticles (nano-Au) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP)-modified gold electrode for the determination of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) has been developed. The novelty of the methodology was the first use of the HRP, instead of bovine serum albumin (BSA), to block the possible remaining active sites of the gold nanoparticles monolayer, avoid the nonspecific adsorption and amplify the response of the antigen-antibody reaction at the same time. Tests performed with this immunosensor showed good linearity and sensitivity when it was evaluated on several clinical samples. The system was optimized to realize a reliable determination of HBsAg in the range of 2.56–563.2 ng/ml with a detection limit of 0.85 ng/ml. Moreover, the proposed sensor was comparable to BSA-blocked immunosensor in terms of the linearity and sensitivity.