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Background: Plantar fasciitis, a common musculoskeletal disorder, is characterized by inflammation of the plantar fascia, a thick band of tissue that connects the heel bone to the toes. The plantar fascia plays a crucial role in supporting the arch of the foot and absorbing shock during movement. Factors such as excessive physical activity, improper footwear, and biomechanical abnormalities are recognized contributors to the development of plantar fasciitis. However, the prevalence and underlying causes may vary across different demographic groups, necessitating targeted investigations. Objective: This study aims to investigate the prevalence, causes and treatment of plantar fasciitis in young female students (18–30) of a medical college in Pakistan and explore potential associations with high-heel footwear. Methodology: In this study, a cross-sectional survey was carried out, engaging 100 young females from a medical college. Employing a structured questionnaire, we assessed a spectrum of parameters, including heel pain symptoms, footwear habits, and available treatment options. The diagnostic precision of the Windlass test, specific to plantar fasciitis, was incorporated. Rigorous data analysis, utilizing SPSS, centered on discerning associations between the nuances of high-heel wear (considering types and duration) and the reported symptoms. This methodological framework ensures a comprehensive and precise exploration of the prevalence, causes, and treatment of plantar fasciitis in our targeted demographic. Results: All the participants were female, and the total number was 100, of which 66% felt pain in the heel when they wore high heels. Out of this 66%, only 6% are diagnosed with plantar fasciitis. The rest of the 60% have pain in the heel due to different causes such as heel spurs, stress fractures, etc. 2% of people receive treatment with steroid injections, and 12% are treated with ice. Conclusion: We conclude that the prevalence of plantar fasciitis is high in females wearing high heels. This study reveals that an increase in the total duration of wearing high heels with hard soles increases the symptoms of plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis can be prevented by education and applying ergonomics and could be treated by steroids and the ice method, according to medical practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When electrons moving in two dimensions (2D) are subjected to a strong uniform magnetic field, they form flat bands called Landau levels (LLs). LLs can also arise from pseudomagnetic fields (PMFs) induced by lattice distortions. In three-dimensional (3D) systems, there has been no experimental demonstration of LLs as a type of flat band thus far. Here, we report the experimental realization of a flat 3D LL in an acoustic crystal. Starting from a lattice whose bandstructure exhibits a nodal ring, we design an inhomogeneous distortion corresponding to a specific pseudomagnetic vector potential (PVP). This distortion causes the nodal ring states to break up into LLs, including a zeroth LL that is flat along all three directions. These findings suggest the possibility of using nodal ring materials to generate 3D flat bands, allowing access to strong interactions and other attractive physical regimes in 3D.Artificial magnetic fields have been meticulously engineered in a 3D acoustic crystal, facilitating the creation of 3D flat bands through Landau quantization of quasiparticles arising from nodal-ring band degeneracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zero-shot learning (ZSL) methods currently employed to identify seen or unseen classes rely on semantic attribute prototypes or class information. However, hand-annotated attributes are only for the category rather than for each image belonging to that category. Furthermore, attribute information is inconsistent across different images of the same category due to variant views. Therefore, we propose a dynamic visual-guided selection (DVGS) which helps dynamically focus on different regions and refines class prototype on each image. Instead of directly aligning an image's global feature with its semantic class vector or its local features with all attribute vectors, the proposed method learns a vision-guided soft mask to refine the class prototype for each image. Additionally, it discovers the most task-relevant regions for fine-grained recognition with the refined class prototype. Extensive experiments on three benchmarks verify the effectiveness of our DVGS and achieve the new state-of-the-art. Our DVGS achieved the best results on fine-grained datasets within both the conventional zero-shot learning (CZSL) and generalized zero-shot learning (GZSL) settings. In particular, on the SUN dataset, our DVGS demonstrates a significant superiority of 10.2% in the CZSL setting compared with the second-best approach. Similarly, our method outperforms the second-best method by an average of 4% on CUB in both the CZSL and GZSL settings. Despite securing the second-best result on the AWA2 dataset, DVGS remains closely competitive, trailing the best performance by a mere 3.4% in CZSL and 1.2% in GZSL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To assess clinical efficacy and safety of liraglutide combined with metformin (LMT) in obese patients with type 2 diabetes (ODP) by conducting a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CNKI, CNKI, and VIP databases were systematically searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) through January 1, 2015 to investigate the effectiveness of liraglutide combined with metformin treatment (LMT) in obesity patients with type 2 diabetes (ODP). Meta-analysis (using generic inverse variance random effects model) was performed when there were two or more studies reporting on the same evaluation indicators. Review Manager V.5.3 was used to perform the meta-analysis. Results: A total of 1289 participants from 15 RCTs were selected for the final meta-analysis. A synthesis of current evidence of LMT for treating ODP was provided in this protocol. Conclusion: This review will offer insights for future research and provide reference for LMT treatment for ODP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The composite casing drilling technology in a deep-water riserless well construction is the technology providing drilling of the tandem borehole composed of the surface conductor borehole and the surface casing borehole in a one-trip drilling operation. The composite casing is put into place and is cemented in one trip. The composite casing drilling technology not only combines the advantages of the drilling method and the jetting technology but also overcomes the limitations of both technologies. The composite casing drilling technology has been successfully applied in the Mozambique block A drilling projects. The results of the field application show that this technology is able to provide secure and efficient drilling operations, which can considerably reduce the installation time and the costs. In this paper, based on the example of application in the Mozambique block A gas field, the process of the composite casing drilling technology is described in detail. Then, the authors analyze the field conditions and put forward an optimization method. The optimization method is applied to select the optimal technology for drilling and installing the surface conductor and the surface casing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the non-planar vibration equations of a cable made of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP), the nonlinear behaviors of the cable are studied. The one-to-one internal resonance of the lowest in-plane and out-of-plane modes of the cable is investigated. Three different cases, namely, 1/3-order subharmonic resonance of the in-plane mode, 1/3-order subharmonic resonance of the out-of-plane mode and 1/3-order subharmonic resonance of both of the in-plane and out-of-plane modes are examined. The vibration equations of the cable are discretized by using Galerkin's method. In this way, the ordinary differential equations (ODEs) are obtained. The multiple time scale method is employed to solve the ODEs, and the corresponding modulation equations are derived. Then, the response curves of the cable are obtained by using Newton-Raphson method and pseudo arc-length algorithm. Meanwhile, the response curves of the CFRP cable are compared with those of the steel cable to explore the differences in nonlinear behaviors of the cables made of different materials. The results show that the response amplitude of CFRP cable is smaller than that of steel cable, and the nonlinear behavior becomes better. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the exploitation of deep-water gas fields, the complex deep-water environment conditions result in extremely harsh requirements for the tubing selection. In this paper, the authors studied the selection of tubing in a deep-water gas field. Based on the specific practices in the deep-water gas reservoir A, they suggested the algorithm of the size selection and material selection of tubing. Assuming the flow pressure at the wellhead is 7.5 MPa, the optimized size of the tubing is selected from the most commonly used tubing sizes 5-1/2", 7", and 9-5/8". The selection of the tubing size is determined by the comprehensive analysis of the tubing sensitivity, liquid-carrying capacity, and fluid erosion rate. Based on the analysis results, as well as the safety and economy issues, the 7" tubing size is regarded as the most suitable. The selection of the tubing material is determined by the analysis of the gas composition in the reservoir, the formation water characteristics, and the acid gas corrosion. The safety of the selected tubing material and the final strength of the optimized tubing are verified by the WellCat software. The results show that the strength of the 13Cr L80 tubing is satisfactory to meet the requirements for operations in the initial gas reservoir stage, the production stage, the well shut-in stage, the well killing stage, and for tubing leak situations under the conditions of different water-gas ratios. In this paper, the selection principles of the tubing size and material are summarized. The conclusions may be vitally important for improving the production safety and efficiency of the tubing, which is important in promoting the development of production technologies in the deep-water oil and gas reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Directional routing of one-way classical wave has raised tremendous interests about spin-related phenomena. This sparks specifically the elastic wave study of pseudo-spin in meta-structures to perform robust manipulations. Unlike pseudo-spin in mathematics, the intrinsic spin angular momentum of elastic wave is predicted quite recently which exhibits selective excitation of unidirectional propagation even in conventional solids. However, due to the challenge of building up chiral elastic sources, the experimental observation of intrinsic spin of elastic wave is still missing. Here, we successfully measure the elastic spin in Rayleigh and Lamb modes by adopting elaborately designed chiral meta-sources that excite locally rotating displacement polarization. We observe the unidirectional routing of chiral elastic waves, characterize the different elastic spins along different directions, and demonstrate the spin-momentum locking in broad frequency ranges. We also find the selective one-way Lamb wave carries opposite elastic spin on two plate surfaces in additional to the source chirality. 'Following up on the recent theoretical demonstration here the authors bring us a step closer to the real implementation of efficient ultrasonic chiral sources. They experimentally demonstrate the presence of elastic spin waves, Rayleigh and Lamb waves, generated by a chiral-meta source, characterizing their basic properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Person reidentification rate has become a challenging research topic in the field of computer vision due to the fact that person appearance is easily affected by lighting, posture and perspective. In order to make full use of the continuity of video data on the time line and the unstructured relationship of features, a video person reidentification algorithm combining the neural ordinary differential equation with the graph convolution network is proposed in this paper. First, a continuous time model is constructed by using the ordinary differential equation (ODE) network so as to capture hidden information between video frames. By simulating the hidden space of the hidden variables with the hidden time series model, the hidden information between frames that may be ignored in the discrete model can be obtained. Then, the features of the generated video frames are given to the graph convolution network to reconstruct them. Finally, weak supervision is used to classify the features. Experiments on PRID2011 datasets show that the proposed algorithm can significantly improve person reidentification performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the advantages of flexible control ability, unmanned surface vehicle (USV) has been widely applied in civil and military fields. A number of researchers have been working on the development of intelligent path planning algorithms to plan a high-quality and collision-free path which is applied to guide USV through cluttered environments. The conventional algorithms may either have issues with trapping into a local optimal solution or face a slow convergence problem. This paper presents a novel multi-subpopulation bacterial foraging optimisation (MS-BFO) algorithm for USV path planning that enhances the searching performance, especially, in a complex environment. This method constructs the deletion and immigration strategies (DIS), which guarantees the elite optimised individual of each subpopulation to be inherited by others, thus to consequently lead to fast convergence speed. The experimental results show that the proposed method is able to suggest an optimised path within the shortest length of time, compared with other optimisation algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zero-shot learning (ZSL) now has gained a great deal of focus due to its ability of recognizing unseen categories by training with samples of only seen categories. Existing efforts have been devoted to learn a projection between semantic space and feature space, which has made a big progress in ZSL. However, simply establishing a projection often suffers from the visual semantic ambiguity problem and hubness problem. Specifically, visual patterns and semantic concepts often can not properly match each other, and lead to inaccurate recognition result. To this end, in this paper, we propose a novel ZSL model, namely Asymmetric Graph-based Zero Shot Learning (AGZSL), to simultaneously preserve class level semantic manifold and instance level visual manifold in a latent space. In addition, to make the model more discriminative, we also constrain the latent space to be orthogonal, which means that the projected visual features and semantic embeddings in the latent space are orthogonal when they belong to different categories. We test our approach on four benchmark datasets under both standard zero-shot setting and more realistic generalized zero-shot learning (GZSL) setting, and the results show that our AGZSL can significantly improve the final performance comparing to the state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of combination therapy with sodium–glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) or obese adults. Methods: A meta-analysis was conducted of trials by searching in PubMed, Embase, CENTRAL, Web of Science, and Scopus. Results: A total of five randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and six nonrandomized controlled trials (NCTs) enrolled 1604 participants were identified for meta-analysis. Compared with control/placebo, the combination therapy group had significantly reduced fasting plasma glucose level and 2 h postprandial glucose by 1.28 mmol/L (95% confidence interval [CI]: −1.39, −1.16; p < 0.001) and 1.34 mmol/L (95% CI: −1.47, −1.21; p < 0.001); glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) by 1.32% (95% CI: −1.43, −1.20; p < 0.001); body weight by 0.93 kg (95% CI: −1.04, −0.83; p < 0.001), and systolic blood pressure (SBP) by 1.05 mmHg (95% CI: −1.17, −0.93; p < 0.001). The incidence of genital mycotic infections and urinary infections did not significantly differ from those in the control group, with relative risks (RRs) of 1.67 (95% CI: 0.85, 3.27; p = 0.651) and 1.25 (95% CI: 0.73, 2.15; p = 0.905), respectively. A decreased incidence of cardiovascular events was seen in the combination therapy group (RR = 0.19; 95% CI: 0.04, 0.96; p = 0.403), while an incidence of hypoglycemia was reported (RR = 2.22; 95% CI: 1.20, 4.10; p = 0.71). Conclusions: SGLT2 inhibitors and GLP-1 agonists combination treatment improved glycemic control, reduced body weight, and decreased SBP without an increase in total adverse events or genital and urinary infections in patients with T2DM or obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional zero-shot learning methods usually learn mapping functions to project image features into semantic embedding spaces, in which to find the nearest neighbors with predefined attributes. The predefined attributes including both seen classes and unseen classes are often annotated with high dimensional real values by experts, which costs a lot of human labors. In this paper, we propose a simple but effective method to reduce the annotation work. In our strategy, only unseen classes are needed to be annotated with several binary codes, which lead to only about one percent of original annotation work. In addition, we design a Visual Similes Annotation System (ViSAS) to annotate the unseen classes, and build both linear and deep mapping models and test them on four popular datasets, the experimental results show that our method can outperform the state-of-the-art methods in most circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a dispersion flattened fiber (DFF) front-haul transmission system with high bitrate, polarization multiplexing (PM) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal at low input optical power. The modulation format of the system is PM-16QAM, and the bitrate is 256 Gbit/s. The transmission characteristics over DFF link system are experimentally studied, which are compared with those over non-zero dispersion shifted fiber (NZDSF) link and standard single mode fiber (SSMF) link. The experimental results show that the error vector magnitude (EVM) of 256 Gbit/s and PM-16QAM signal over 25 km DFF link is 0.75% better than that over 25 km NZDSF link at least, and the bit error rate (BER) and Q-factor are much better than those of NZDSF. Their EVM and BER are both decreased with the increase of input optical power, and the Q-factor is increased. Those characteristics over 25 km SSMF are the worst at the same case. The larger the dispersion is, the more the constellation points are deviated from their respective centers and the worse the constellation characteristics are. The greater the attenuation of the DFF is, the smaller the input power of the DFF is, the more the constellation points are deviated from their centers and the worse the constellation characteristics are. This study provides a new idea and experimental support for long span front-haul propagation in mobile communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ubiquitin regulatory X domain-containing proteins (UBXNs) are likely involved in diverse biological processes. Their physiological functions, however, remain largely unknown. Here we present physiological evidence that UBXN3B positively regulates stimulator-of-interferon genes (STING) signaling. We employ a tamoxifen-inducible Cre-LoxP approach to generate systemic Ubxn3b knockout in adult mice as the Ubxn3b-null mutation is embryonically lethal. Ubxn3b−/−, like Sting−/− mice, are highly susceptible to lethal herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) infection, which is correlated with deficient immune responses when compared to Ubxn3b+/+ littermates. HSV-1 and STING agonist-induced immune responses are also reduced in several mouse and human Ubxn3b−/− primary cells. Mechanistic studies demonstrate that UBXN3B interacts with both STING and its E3 ligase TRIM56, and facilitates STING ubiquitination, dimerization, trafficking, and consequent recruitment and phosphorylation of TBK1. These results provide physiological evidence that links the UBXN family with antiviral immune responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the substantial limitation of study population, Spindle cell sarcoma (SCS) was unexplored comprehensively. In this study, we investigated the clinical characteristics and disease specific prognostic factors of SCS. 3299 SCS cases were identified and extracted from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database (1973–2017). White people account for 79.1% with median age of 57 years without predominance in any gender. Significant disease specific survival (DSS) and overall survival (OS) were found differentiated in age, T stage, N stage, M stage, AJCC stage, SEER historic stage, tumor locations, surgery, and pathologic grade. In the multivariate Cox analysis, the age >64 years (for DSS, P < 0.001 and for OS, P < 0.001; Reference age ≤64 years), AJCC stage III (for DSS, P = 0.006 and for OS, P = 0.04; Reference: AJCC stage I), and non-surgical treatment (for DSS, P < 0.001 and for OS, P < 0.001; Reference: surgery) were independently associated with worse DSS and OS. In brief, our study demonstrated that SCS mostly found in white people at fifth to seventh decades of life without gender predilection. The patient’s age, AJCC stage, tumor location and surgery were independent prognostic indicators for both DSS and OS of SCS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

General regular shaped diagrid structures can express diverse shapes because braces are installed along the exterior faces of the structures and the structures have no columns. However, since irregular shaped structures have diverse variables, studies to assess behaviors resulting from various variables are continuously required to supplement the imperfections related to such variables. In the present study, materials elastic modulus and yield strength were selected as variables for strength that would be applied to diagrid structural systems in the form of Twisters among the irregular shaped buildings classified by Vollers and that affect the structural design of these structural systems. The purpose of this study is to conduct sensitivity analysis for axial rotation diagrid structural systems according to changes in brace angles in order to identify the design variables that have relatively larger effects and the tendencies of the sensitivity of the structures according to changes in brace angles and axial rotation angles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrically driven molecular light emitters are considered to be one of the promising candidates as single-photon sources. However, it is yet to be demonstrated that electrically driven single-photon emission can indeed be generated from an isolated single molecule notwithstanding fluorescence quenching and technical challenges. Here, we report such electrically driven single-photon emission from a well-defined single molecule located inside a precisely controlled nanocavity in a scanning tunneling microscope. The effective quenching suppression and nanocavity plasmonic enhancement allow us to achieve intense and stable single-molecule electroluminescence. Second-order photon correlation measurements reveal an evident photon antibunching dip with the single-photon purity down to g(2)(0) = 0.09, unambiguously confirming the single-photon emission nature of the single-molecule electroluminescence. Furthermore, we demonstrate an ultrahigh-density array of identical single-photon emitters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

HLA-DRA gene polymorphisms might play an important role in alcohol dependence (AD). We examined genetic associations of 29 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the HLA-DRA gene with AD using two Caucasian samples-the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) sample (660 AD cases and 400 controls) and the Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment (SAGE) sample (623 cases and 1,016 controls). Logistic regression analysis using PLINK showed that 16 SNPs were associated with AD in the COGA sample and 13 SNPs were associated with AD in the SAGE sample ( p < 0.05). The best novel signal was SNP rs2239803 associated with AD in both samples ( p = 0.000817 for the COGA sample and p = 0.0026 for the SAGE sample, respectively) while one flanking SNP rs4935356 also showed strong association in both samples ( p = 0.00219 and 0.0026 for the COGA and SAGE samples, respectively). Furthermore, these two SNPs revealed stronger associations in meta-analysis of these two samples ( p = 8.97 × 10 and 2.02 × 10 for rs2239803 and rs4935356, respectively). In addition, the G-A haplotype from these two SNPs revealed a significant association with AD in both the COGA and SAGE samples ( p = 0.0007 and 0.0019, respectively). These findings highlight the novel associations with HLA-DRA that may play an important role in the etiology of AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PPARδ, a member of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor superfamily, plays a key role in the transcriptional regulation of genes involved in cellular lipid and energy metabolism. Therefore, PPARδ may represent a new target for the treatment of obesity, hyperlipidemia, and type 2 diabetes. MafA is a β-cell-specific and glucose-regulated transcriptional activator for insulin gene expression and plays a crucial role in pancreas development, β-cell differentiation as well as maintenance of β-cell function. However, little is known about how PPARδ regulates MafA and ameliorates glucose-stimulated insulin secretion impaired by free fatty acids (FFA). In the present study, we evaluated the basal insulin secretion (BIS), glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), and insulin secretion index (ISI) of INS-1E cells that were cultured in media supplemented with or without 0.5 mM palmitate and treated with or without a PPARδ agonist (GW501516) or PPARδ siRNA. The expression of MafA, glucose transportor-2 (GLUT2), and insulin was found to be up-regulated in cells treated with GW501516. Finally, analysis of the level of JNK phosphorylation revealed that activated PPARδ could inhibit the activation of JNK and increase the expression of MafA. Accordingly, the insulin secretion dysfunction in lipotoxic INS-1E cells was improved. Collectively, these results demonstrate that activation of PPARδ improves insulin secretion impaired by palmitate and plays a role in the JNK-MafA-GLUT2 pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several genome-wide association (GWA) studies of alcohol dependence (AD) and alcohol-related phenotypes have been conducted; however, little is known about genetic variants influencing alcohol withdrawal symptoms (AWS). We conducted the first GWA study of AWS using 461 cases of AD with AWS and 408 controls in Caucasian population in the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) sample. Logistic regression analysis of AWS as a binary trait, adjusted for age and sex, was performed using PLINK. We identified 51 SNPs associated with AWS with p < 10. The first best signal was rs770182 ( p = 3.65 × 10) at 5q21 near EFNA5 gene which was replicated in the Australian twin-family study of 273 families ( p = 0.0172). Furthermore, three SNPs (rs10975990, rs10758821 and rs1407862) within KDM4C gene at 9p24.1 showed p < 10 ( p = 7.15 × 10, 2.79 × 10 and 4.93 × 10, respectively) in the COGA sample while one SNP rs12001158 within KDM4C with p = 1.97 × 10 in the COGA sample was replicated in the family sample ( p = 0.01). Haplotype analysis further supported the associations of single-marker analyses of KDM4C in the COGA sample. Moreover, two SNPs (rs2046593 and rs10497668) near FSIP2 at 2q32.1 with moderate associations with AWS in the COGA sample ( p = 2.66 × 10 and 9.48 × 10, respectively) were replicated in the family sample ( p = 0.0013 and 0.0162, respectively). In addition, several SNPs in GABRA1, GABRG1, and GABRG3 were associated with AWS ( p < 10) in the COGA sample. In conclusion, we identified several loci associated with AWS. These findings offer the potential for new insights into the pathogenesis of AD and AWS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a variety of conjugated derivatives with different number of arms (4-styryl-triphenylamine: C1, 4, 4′-di-styryltriphenylamine: C2, 4, 4′, 4″-tri-styryltriphenylamine: C3). The linear absorption and fluorescence maxima and the molar extinction coefficients are in the order of C1< C2< C3 in various solvents. Two-photon absorption (TPA) up-converted emission of the derivatives were determined with Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser. The maximal TPA emission wavelength and the two-photon absorption cross section of the derivatives are also in the order of C1< C2< C3 in various solvents. The dipole moment changes of the derivatives between the excited state and the ground state were estimated from experiment, and they are in the order of C1< C2< C3, which is confirmed further by the molecular geometry optimization of the derivatives. The electron density distribution and the energy levels of the frontier orbital of the derivatives were analyzed. The cyclic voltammograms of the derivatives were performed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Desmoid tumor originating from the small intestine is extremely rare. We report a 50-year-old man who presented with the sudden onset of severe abdominal pain. Computerized tomography (CT) demonstrated a huge homogeneous tumor in the lower abdomen that appeared to be in continuity with the distal ileum. The mass adherent to the ileum was resected and proved to be a desmoid tumor. The patient has remained recurrence free on follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coniothyrium minitans is a mycoparasite and a promising biocontrol agent of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, an omniovorous plant pathogenic fungus. Our previous studies indicate that mycoparasitism and antibiosis of C. minitans are greatly affected by ambient pH, implying that a pH-regulatory system may exist in C. minitans. In this study, we cloned a putative pH-responsive transcription factor gene, cmpacC, from strain Chy-1 of C. minitans. The full-length DNA sequence of cmpacC (GenBank Acc. No. FJ176399) has one open reading frame (ORF) and two introns. cmpacC putatively encodes a polypeptide with 596 amino acid residues (GenBank Acc. No. ACN43303). The sequence of this polypeptide has three conserved zinc finger domains. Meanwhile, a 2,740 bp-long 5′ flanking sequence of cmpacC was obtained. It contains five copies of PacC binding sequences (5′-GCCAAG-3′). Real-time RT-PCR analysis indicated that with the increase of ambient pH from 3 to 8, expression of cmpacC, as well as the chitinase gene ( cmch1) and the β-1,3-glucanase gene ( cmg1), increased consistently in C. minitans. Cloning of cmpacC from C. minitans suggests that the conserved pH-dependent signaling pathway might exist in C. minitans. It provides a clue for further deciphering of the pH-regulatory mechanism responsible for the pH-associated interaction between C. minitans and S. sclerotiorum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a range of novel new branched conjugated dyes containing benzophenone moiety. As compared with those of 4-( p-benzoyl-styrene)yl-4′-(styrene)yl-triphenylamine ( C1) and 4-( p-benzoyl-styrene)yl-4′-3,4,5-trimethoxyl-styrene)yl-triphenylamine ( C2), the maximal linear absorption and emission wavelength of 4-( p-benzoyl-styrene)yl-4′-( p′-nitro-styrene)yl-triphenylamine ( C3) displays red-shifted remarkably, While the fluorescence quantum yields of C3 are lower than those of C1 and C2 in various solvents. The fluorescence lifetimes of the derivatives were measured, and radiative and non-radiative transition constants of the derivatives were calculated. Two-photon absorption (TPA) optical data of the derivatives were measured by Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser tuning from 720 to 880 nm at intervals of 20 nm. TPA induced fluorescence emission of C3 is red-shifted with respected to that of C1 and C2. TPA cross sections of C3 are larger than those of C1 and C2 in various excited laser frequencies. TPA cross section of C2 and C3 are much larger than those of 3,4,5-(trimethoxylstyrene)yl-triphenylamine ( C4) and 4-( p-nitrostyrene)yl-triphenylamine ( C5) respectively under various near-IR Ti:sapphire femtosecond laser wavelength. C1 and C2 show similar one- and two- photon optical nature. Geometry optimization with ab initio method confirms that C3 has different electron density distribution, the energy levels in frontier orbitals, the dipole moment changes, the absorption and emission spectroscopy from those of C1 and C2. The cyclic voltammograms of the derivatives were detected in methylene chloride at various scan rates, and the energy of frontier orbials were estimated further from the redox potentials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caspase-12 has been shown to negatively modulate inflammasome signaling during bacterial infection. Its function in viral immunity, however, has not been characterized. We now report an important role for caspase-12 in controlling viral infection via the pattern-recognition receptor RIG-I. After challenge with West Nile virus (WNV), caspase-12-deficient mice had greater mortality, higher viral burden and defective type I interferon response compared with those of challenged wild-type mice. In vitro studies of primary neurons and mouse embryonic fibroblasts showed that caspase-12 positively modulated the production of type I interferon by regulating E3 ubiquitin ligase TRIM25-mediated ubiquitination of RIG-I, a critical signaling event for the type I interferon response to WNV and other important viral pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Danthron (1,8-dihydroxyanthraquinone), is one of component from Rheum palmatum L. (Polygonaceae), has been shown several biological activities but did not show to induce apoptosis in human brain tumor cells. The aim of this study is to investigate the mechanisms by danthron for the induction of apoptotic potential on human brain glioblastoma multiforms GBM 8401 cell line. Danthron showed a marked concentration- and time-dependent inhibition of GBM 8401 cell viability and induced apoptosis in a dose-and time-dependent manner. There was an attenuation of mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨ m) with the alterations of Bcl-2/Bax protein ratio in GBM 8401 cells, indicating the participation of a mitochondria-related mechanism. Pretreatment of a caspase-8 inhibitor (Z-IETD-FMK), caspase-9 inhibitor (Z-LEHD-FMK) and caspase-3 inhibitor (Z-DEVE-FMK) significantly increased the viable of GBM 8401 cells implied that the participations of caspases. Western blotting analysis also showed the activation of initiator caspase-8 and caspase-9, and executor caspase-3 in GBM 8401 cells. Meanwhile, danthron also promoted the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and cytosolic Ca2+ in GBM 8401 cells. Taken together, our data showed that danthron induced apoptosis in GBM 8401 cells through mitochondria-related and caspase-related pathways, and it may be further evaluated as a chemotherapeutic agent for human brain cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suitable chemical strategy is a useful approach on the tuning color and photoluminescence of organic dyes. This paper presented tuning novel branched p-nitro-stilbene derivatives efficiently with a new chemical strategy through variation of chemical bridged bond. Linking bonds played significant effects on the absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy of the branched p-nitro-stilbene derivatives. A change from "D-π-A" to "A-π-A" chemical structural characteristics occurred for the branched p-nitro-stilbene derivatives as ester bond was attached. This led to not only large hypsochromic shift of the maximal absorption wavelength of the branched p-nitro-stilbene derivatives, but considerable reduction of the fluorescence intensity. While in contrast, the branched p-nitro-stilbene derivatives with ether bond exhibited longer wavelength absorption and much stronger fluorescence emission in modest polar solvent. The cyclic voltammograms of these branched p-nitro-stilbene derivatives were determined. Different electrochemistry processes were observed for the branched p-nitro-stilbene derivatives with various linking bonds. The energies of frontier orbital of the branched p-nitro-stilbene derivatives were estimated from their corresponding redox potentials. Molecular geometry optimization of the branched p-nitro-stilbene derivatives was performed, and the electron density distribution of frontier orbital was analyzed. Thermal stabilities of these branched nitrostilbene derivatives were investigated via the analysis of the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermograving (TGA) curves. This paper presented strong evidences that the absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy of the branched stilbene derivatives could be mediated efficiently by chemical strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Novel nitro-azobenzene dyes bearing one or two benzophenone branches were proposed and synthesized to improve their photophysical and photochemical properties. The new dyes exhibited double UV/visible bands, and they displayed weak fluorescence emission as excited at 350 nm. Single crystal X-ray diffraction data showed that two phenyl rings of azobenzene was almost coplanar, and the benzophenone part was neither coplanar nor linear connection with azobenzene via ether bridged bond, which have good fit with molecular geometry optimization calculation results. The cyclic voltammeric results of nitro-azobenzene dyes were firstly reported in this paper, which demonstrated that the electrochemical properties of nitro-azobenzene dyes was altered by the substitution of benzophenone part. Thermal stabilities of the new dyes were studied by the analysis of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermograving (TG) in this paper. Efficient visible-light photoinitiating polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) by the novel nitro-azobenzene dyes was presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  Newcastle disease virus (NDV), formally recognized as avian paramyxovirus 1 (APMV-1), is the etiological agent of Newcastle disease (ND), an affliction which can cause severe losses in the poultry industry. Better understanding of the molecular basis of viral structural genes involved with production should contribute significantly toward the development of improved prophylactic and therapeutic reagents to control the infection. Here we show that a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) eukaryotic expression vector targeting nucleocapsid (NP) gene of NDV can potently inhibit NDV production in both primary cells and embryonated chicken eggs. Moreover, shRNA specific for NP abolished the accumulation of not only the corresponding mRNA but also P, HN, F, M gene mRNA. The findings reveal that newly synthesized NP mRNA is essential for NDV transcription and replication, and provide a basis for the development of shRNAs as a prophylaxis and therapy for NDV infection in poultry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protracted hypocalcemia is the most common complication after parathyroidectomy for secondary hyperparathyroidism. Several parameters have been identified to predict the degree of postoperative hypocalcemia. The purpose of this study was to determine whether there were any factors associated with prolonged hospitalization in these patients. A total of 81 consecutive patients with end-stage renal disease and advanced secondary hyperparathyroidism who underwent parathyroidectomy between January 2004 and December 2006 were studied. The postoperative calcium infusion protocol and discharge criteria were standardized. Clinical variables were compared between patients with a shorter or longer postoperative stay. The mean postoperative hospital stay was 5.6 days. Preoperative alkaline phosphatase levels were significantly higher in patients with a longer stay ( p = 0.035). In a linear regression model, the postoperative length of stay was moderately but significantly correlated with preoperative alkaline phosphatase levels ( R 2 = 0.254; p < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed a significant area under the curve (0.678; 95% confidence interval 0.550–0.805; p = 0.014). With a cutoff of preoperative alkaline phosphatase levels at 200 IU/L, the sensitivity was 0.57 and the specificity was 0.59 for predicting a prolonged stay. A high preoperative alkaline phosphatase level is significantly associated with prolonged hospital stay in patients undergoing parathyroidectomy for secondary hyperparathyroidism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  The single crystal of the title compound (C15H13N3O3S) with two conformational isomers was obtained from the solution of the title compound dissolved in the N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) by slow evaporation at room temperature. The crystal is triclinic, space group P-1 with a = 10.418(2), b = 10.758(2), c = 14.494(3) Å, α = 71.07(3), β = 81.56(3), γ = 85.61(3)º, V = 1519.2(5) Å3, Z = 2, C30H26N6O6S2, D c  = 1.379 g/cm3, μ(MoKα) = 0.229 mm−1, S = 0.994, F(000) = 656, R = 0.0688 and wR = 0.1695. In the unit cell, there are two independent molecules having only slightly different bond lengths and angles, but the corresponding dihedral angles of the two molecules are different. Intermolecular N–H···S and N–H···O hydrogen bonds forming R 2 2(8) and R 2 2(12) rings, respectively, link the molecules into ribbons. Index Abstract  In the unit cell, there are two independent molecules having only slightly different bond lengths and angles between them, but different corresponding dihedral angles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The likelihood of thyroid cancer is similar in patients with one or more nodules, but tumor characteristics of thyroid cancer in glands with multinodular goiter are unclear. This study consisted of 100 consecutive patients (ages 15–81 years; 84 women), who underwent thyroidectomy for papillary or follicular thyroid carcinoma between 2005 and 2006. Patient demographics, diagnostic tests, operations, and pathological findings were reviewed. In a univariate analysis, cancer diagnosed within multinodular goiter was different from solitary cancer nodule in age of diagnosis (48 vs 40 years, p = 0.002), tumor size (1.42 vs 2.20 cm, p = 0.024), and the presence of cervical lymph node metastases ( p = 0.035). There was no difference in gender, extrathyroidal invasion, multifocality, and types of operation. Only age (odds ratio, 1.056) and tumor size (odds ratio, 0.730) revealed independent correlation in multivariate analysis. Thyroid cancer in glands with multiple nodules is associated with older age at diagnosis and smaller tumor size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract  In this paper, we have presented a range of new nitro-stilbene derivatives with benzophenones via ether or ester bridged bond. These nitro-stilbene derivatives with benzophenones have been conveniently obtained by condensation reaction. The linked benzophenones were efficiently introduced to nitro-stilbene dyes. The structures of these compounds have been characterized with NMR and element analysis. The single crystals of two target compounds (11 and 12) have been obtained, and their X-ray crystallographic data have been determined and discussed. Remarkably different absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy was observed for nitro-stilbene derivatives with benzophenones via different linked bonds. The results show that electron-donating or electron withdrawing bridged bonds have significant influence on the absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, which makes it possible for the development of ideal nitro-stilbene dyes with benzophenones through chemical strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By comparing the energy spectrum and total kinetic energy, the effects of numerical errors (which arise from aliasing and discretization errors), subgrid-scale (SGS) models, and their interactions on direct numerical simulation (DNS) and large eddy simulation (LES) are investigated. The decaying isotropic turbulence is chosen as the test case. To simulate complex geometries, both the spectral method and Padé compact difference schemes are studied. The truncated Navier-Stokes (TNS) equation model with Padé discrete filter is adopted as the SGS model. It is found that the discretization error plays a key role in DNS. Low order difference schemes may be unsuitable. However, for LES, it is found that the SGS model can represent the effect of small scales to large scales and dump the numerical errors. Therefore, reasonable results can also be obtained with a low order discretization scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy in elderly patients has been linked to higher complication rates and longer lengths of stay. The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors associated with prolonged postoperative hospitalization in elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. The records of 287 patients aged 65 years or older, who underwent successful laparoscopic cholecystectomy between January 2001 and July 2006, were retrospectively reviewed. Clinical data was abstracted from the chart and compared between patients with a shorter or longer postoperative stay. The median postoperative hospital stay was three days (interquartile range 3–5). Forty-eight patients had complications, with an overall morbidity of 16% and mortality of 0.7%. The only independent predictor of prolonged postoperative stay was the occurrence of any major complication [odds ratio, 3.144; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.882–5.251]. The physiological and operative severity score for the enumeration of mortality and morbidity (POSSUM) and underlying chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were independently associated with major complications. A major complication is the most important cause of prolonged hospital stay after laparoscopic cholecystectomy in the elderly. No specific comorbidity has direct impact on the duration of hospitalization, but pulmonary disease is associated with increased risk of major complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the presence of the heavy atom perturber Pb(Ac)2, fluorescein (HFin) can emit strong and stable room temperature phosphorescence (RTP) on the surface of a nitrocellulose membrane (NCM) at λex max/λem max = 480/648 nm. It can be spiked with the 1.5-generation polyamidoamine dendrimers (abbreviated: D-1.5) to emit stronger RTP. It was found that a quantitative specific affinity adsorption (AA) reaction between concanavalin agglutinin (abbreviated: Con A) labeled with D-1.5-HFin and N-acetylglucosamine (G) could be carried out on the surface of NCM. The product of the reaction (D-1.5-HFin- Con A-G) could emit strong and stable RTP, and the ΔIp was proportional to the content of G. According to the above facts, a new method for determination of G by affinity adsorption solid substrate-room temperature phosphorimetry (AA-SS-RTP) was established, based on Con A labeled with fluorescein using D-1.5 dendrimers molecules as sensitizer. The linear range of the sandwich method was 0.040–60 pg G spot−1 (corresponding concentration range: 0.10–150 ng mL−1; sample volume: 0.40 µL spot−1). The regression equation of the working curve was ΔIp = 6.880 + 5.610 mG pg spot−1, r = 0.9987. The working solutions containing 0.10 and 150 ng mL−1 G were determined repeatedly 11 times, respectively. The corresponding RSDs were 2.9 and 3.8%. The detection limit of this method calculated by 3Sb/k was 0.021 pg spot−1 (5.2 × 10−11 g mL−1). Compared with the direct method (detection limit: 0.078 pg spot−1, linear range: 0.40–40 pg G spot−1), the sensitivity was obviously improved and the linear range was wider. This method has been successfully applied to the determination of G in human plasma, as well as to the supervision and forecast of human diseases, for it is of good sensitivity, accuracy and precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Settlement of mussels is commonly associated with macroalgae. The effects of 19 macroalgal species on the settlement and metamorphosis of pediveliger larvae of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis were investigated in the laboratory. Settlement and metamorphosis inducing activities of macroalgae Chlorodesmis fastigiata and Ceramium tenerrimum collected each month during the period between January 2005 and April 2006 were also investigated. Furthermore, C. fastigiata and C. tenerrimum were subjected to various treatments to investigate the roles of bacteria and diatoms on the algal surface in the induction of larval settlement and metamorphosis of M. galloprovincialis and the characteristics of the cues in these two macroalgae. Pediveliger larvae of M. galloprovincialis settled and metamorphosed in high percentages on Cladophora sp., Chlorodesmis fastigiata, Centroceras clavulatum, and Ceramium tenerrimum, all of which were filamentous in morphology. Macroalgae that were cylindrical, phylloid, flabellate, palmate and pinnate all showed low (<8%) percentages of post-larvae but four other filamentous macroalgae also had low mussel larval settlement, suggesting that chemical factors may also be involved. Seasonal variation had no effect on inductive activities of C. fastigiata and C. tenerrimum. Treatment of C. fastigiata and C. tenerrimum with formalin, ethanol and heat resulted in the significant decrease or loss of their inductive activities. Survival of algal cells within treated macroalgae also decreased significantly. Treatment of the two macroalgae with antibiotics and GeO2 reduced the numbers of bacteria and diatoms on their surface but did not affect their inductive activities, indicating that the cue was produced by macroalgae and not by coexisting bacteria and diatoms. However, conditioned water and crude extracts of these two macroalgae did not induce larval settlement and metamorphosis. Thus, larvae of M. galloprovincialis settled and metamorphosed on specific filamentous macroalgae. The chemical cues produced by C. fastigiata and C. tenerrimum were susceptible to ethanol and heat treatments and were not recovered in the conditioned water nor in the extracts. The finding that inactive C. tenerrimum can be produced from culturing its apical segments provides a new tool to elucidate the chemical cue(s) from macroalgae through manipulation of their culture conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial isolates from multi-species biofilms were identified by 16S rDNA gene sequences and investigated for their inductive effects as monospecific biofilms on larval metamorphosis of Mytilus galloprovincialis. Alteromonas sp. 1 biofilm was found to have inductive activity, which increased with increasing cell density. The cue(s) of Alteromonas sp. 1 biofilm responsible for inducing larval metamorphosis was further investigated. Treatment of the biofilm with formalin, ethanol, heat or ultraviolet irradiation resulted in a significant reduction in the inductive activity of Alteromonas sp. 1, and the crude extract of surface-bound products of the biofilm showed no activity. These results indicated that if the cue was a surface-bound chemical cue, it was unstable, or susceptible to the treatments or the extraction process. On the other hand, the inductive activity of treated biofilms had a linear regression to the cell survival of bacteria, indicating a metabolically active biofilm was a requirement for larval metamorphosis. Conditioned water of the biofilm did not induce larvae to metamorphose. However, larval crawling behavior in the conditioned water was the same as that in the biofilm prior to larval metamorphosis, and significantly different to larval behavior in seawater. This indicated that a potential or partial waterborne cue existed, but remained inactive when alone. A synergistic effect of the conditioned water with formalin-fixed Alteromonas sp. 1 biofilm resulted in a significant increase in larval metamorphosis. Heat treatment and fractionation of the conditioned water demonstrated that the waterborne cue was heat-stable and <3,000 Da in molecular weight. Platinum-coating, Lentil Lectin and Wheat Germ Agglutinin treatments of the formalin-fixed biofilm significantly reduced its synergistic effect with the conditioned water, suggesting that a surface-bound cue was present on the biofilm and that the cue might be associated with the bacterial exopolysaccharide or glycoprotein. Evidence presented here suggests that two chemical cues derived from bacteria act synergistically on larval metamorphosis of Mytilus galloprovincialis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biofilms were allowed to develop on glass slips immersed 1.0–1.5 m below the sea surface in Tachibana Bay, Nagasaki, Japan, for different periods of time from November 2003 to January 2005. The effects of age, immersion month, dry weight, bacterial and diatom densities of these biofilms on the settlement and metamorphosis of pediveliger larvae of the mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis were investigated in the laboratory. Furthermore, biofilms were subjected to various treatments to investigate the nature of the settlement and metamorphosis cue in the biofilm. Pediveliger larvae of the mussel settled and metamorphosed in response to biofilms. Settlement and metamorphosis to the post-larval stage significantly increased with the biofilm age. In addition, the biofilm activity varied depending on the immersion month (season), e.g., for biofilms with the same age, those immersed between June and August had higher activities than those immersed between November and March. The activity of the biofilm also positively correlated with the dry weight, bacterial and diatom densities. These three quantitative parameters of the biofilm were significantly affected by the film age but were not affected by the immersion month, suggesting that other parameters (e.g., community structures, extracellular products) also affected the inductive activity of the biofilm. The fixative agents (formalin and glutaraldehyde), heat, ethanol, ultraviolet irradiation and antibiotics treatments of the biofilm resulted in significant reduction or loss of its inductive activity. The survival of bacterial cells in the treated films where activities were either reduced or lost also decreased significantly. No settlement and metamorphosis were obtained when larvae were exposed to the conditioned water of the biofilm. Thus, larvae of M. galloprovincialis settled and metamorphosed in response to a cue produced by living bacteria in the biofilm. The cue may be a bacterial extracellular product which was susceptible to the above treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Luminescent nanoparticles of silicon dioxide (SiO2) containing fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) with a particle size of 20 nm were synthesized using the Sol–Gel method (abbreviated FITC–SiO2). FITC–SiO2 nanoparticles whose surfaces are modified (FITC–SiO2–S–CH2COOH) can emit strong and stable solid substrate room temperature phosphorescence (SS-RTP) on acetyl cellulose membranes. When the original color-producing agent (R) in the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits for determination of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was substituted with (FITC–SiO2–S–CH2COOH), the system maintained good FITC–SiO2 phosphorescence properties. Furthermore, the phosphorescence intensity enhanced markedly after the ELISA reaction. The relationship between the phosphorescence intensity and the content of AFP obeyed Beer’s law. Based on the facts stated above, a new method for the determination of human AFP by SS-RTP-ELISA (using the luminescent nanoparticle as marker) was established. The linear range of this method is 0.040–16.0 pg of human AFP per spot (sample volume: 0.40 µL spot−1, corresponding concentration: 0.10–40.0 ng mL−1). The regression equation of the working curve is ΔIp = −6.289+18.075 mAFP (pg spot−1) (r = 0.9960, n = 6). The detection limit (LD) of this method calculated by 3 Sb/k is 6.7 fg spot−1 (corresponding concentration: 17 ng L−1). Compared to the ELISA method using a traditional color-producing agent, the new method exhibited a 34.8 times higher sensitivity and a wider linear range. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of human AFP in serum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ganoderic acid (GA), produced by submerged culture of Ganoderma lucidum, at 500 μg/ml, caused nearly a 70% inhibition of the growth of human hepatoma cell line BEL7402 but not of a normal human liver cell line L02. Flow cytometry analyses showed that GA blocked the BEL7402 cell cycle at the transition from G1 to S phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]