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To discover novel strobilurin fungicides, a series of methyl (E)-1-(2-((E)-2-methoxy-1-(methoxy-imino)-2-oxoethyl)benzyl)-2-(1-arylidene)hydrazine-1-carboxylates were designed based on the principle of biologically active splicing and the receptor target structure. The fungicidal activity results show that this class of compounds has excellent fungicidal activity, especially against S. sclerotiorum (Lib.) deBary, wheat white powder and puccinia polysora. The result of structure–activity relationship implied that the introduction of t-butyl in the side chain facilitates the hydrophobic interaction between the compound and the active site. The electrostatic effect of the substituents on the benzene ring is also a key factor affecting such activities. Among them, the compound I-1 not only showed a fungicidal effect comparable to that of kresoxim-methyl in vivo, but also had an excellent inhibitory effect on spore germination of P. oryzae Cav in vitro, which indicated that it could be used as a potential commercial fungicide for plant disease control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of total disc arthroplasty (TDA) and anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) for treating cervical degenerative diseases.Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search in the electronic databases including Pubmed, Medline, EBSCO, Springer, Ovid, CNKI and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Two independent reviewers performed the data extraction from archives. All data were performed with Review Manager 5.2 software. The relative risk (RR) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for count data. Standardized mean difference (SMD) and corresponding 95% CI for continuous outcomes were pooled.Results: After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, nine papers were included in meta-analyses. The results of the meta-analysis indicated better neurological success, better overall success, lower incidence of secondary surgical procedures and lower incidence of secondary surgical procedures in TDA group than in ACDF group. After removing a study with considerable weight, TDA group displayed lower incidence of dysphagia and dysphonia than ACDF group.Conclusion: This meta-analysis revealed that the clinical outcomes of TDA are equivalent or superior to ACDF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are recently described as a class of short non-coding RNAs, which play important roles in post-transcriptional gene regulation and involved in many physiological and pathological processes. MicroRNA-223 (miR-223) has been showed highly elevated in the injured spinal cord. However, the potential role and underlying mechanisms of miR-223 in spinal cord injury (SCI) were incompletely understood. In the present study, we observed the persistent high levels of miR-223 in the injured spinal cord at different time points (1, 3, 7, and 14 days) after SCI. Besides, inhibiting miR-223 by intrathecally injection with antagomir-223 significantly improved recovery in hindlimb motor function and attenuated cell apoptosis in spinal cord-injured rats. Additionally, antagomir-223 treatment markedly decreased the pro-apoptotic protein levels, including Bax and cleaved caspase-3, up-regulated the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 protein level, as well as the expression of GluR2. Moreover, inhibition of miR-223 promoted angiogenesis, as evidenced by the increased CD31 expression and microvascular density. Taken together, our results indicate that inhibition of miR-223 with antagomir-223 exerts protective role in functional recovery, angiogenesis, and anti-apoptosis during SCI. Thereby, miR-223 may be a promising target of therapy for SCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Actuarial theory in a stochastic interest rate environment is an active research area in life insurance; business and life insurance reserves are one of the key contents in actuarial theory. In this study, an interest force accumulation function model with a Gauss process and a Poisson process is proposed as the basis for the reserve model. With the proposed model, the net premium reserve model, which is based on the semi-continuous variable payment life insurance policy, is approximated. Based on this reserve model, the future loss variance model is proposed and the risk, which is caused by drawing on the reserve, is analyzed and evaluated. Subsequently, assuming a uniform distribution of death (UDD) the reserve and future loss variance models are also provided. Finally, a numerical example is presented for illustration and verification purposes. Using the numerical calculation, the relationships between reserve, future loss variance and model parameters are analyzed. The conclusions are a good fit to real life insurance practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]