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AIM: To evaluate the differences in corneal biological parameters between transepithelial and epithelium-off corneal cross-linking in keratoconus. METHODS: In our prospective clinical trial, 40 patients (60 eyes) with progressive keratoconus were randomized to undergo corneal cross-linking with transepithelial (TE group, n=30) or epithelium-off (EO group, n=30) keratoconus. Examinations comprised topography, corneal biomechanical analysis and specular microscopy at 6mo postoperatively. RESULTS: The keratometer values were not significantly different between the TE and EO corneal cross-linked groups in different periods (each P>0.05). The corneal thickness of the EO group was greater than that of the TE group at 1wk after the operation (each P

Objectives To investigate the effect of corneal stromal pocket irrigation after small-incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) on visual acuity, intraocular pressure (IOP), corneal parameters and complications after surgery. Methods A total of 242 eyes of 121 patients undergoing SMILE were enrolled in this prospective controlled study, and it was designed for one eye to randomly undergo SMILE with balanced salt solution irrigation of the corneal stromal pocket, while the other eye was not. The uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) and slit lamp examination were recorded at 1 hour, 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month. Postoperative corneal density, corneal biomechanical, corneal endothelial cell number, and anterior OCT images were compared at 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month. Results Compared with the nonirrigation group, the irrigation group showed significantly higher UDVA at 1 day postoperatively (P Conclusions Interlamellar irrigation did not affect IOP, corneal parameters, morphology, complications, or UDVA at 1 hour, 1 week, and 1 month after the operation, but it may promote UDVA 1 day after the operation.

Li Zhou,1 Zhe-Zhi Deng,2 Hai-Yan Li,2 Nan Jiang,3 Zhi-Sheng Wei,4 Ming-Fan Hong,4 Ji-Hui Wang,2 Ming-Xing Zhang,1 Yi-Hua Shi,1 Zheng-Qi Lu,1,2 Xu-Ming Huang1 1Department of Rehabilitation, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510080, China; 2Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510000, China; 3Department of Hepatic Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510000, China; 4Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510080, China Introduction: Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common malignancies of gastrointestinal tract in the world, and the long-term prognosis for ESCC patients still remains dismal due to the lack of effective early diagnosis biomarkers. Materials and methods: Western blot and immunochemistry were used to determine the expression of PRR11 in 201 clinicopathologically characterized ESCC specimens. The effects of PRR11 on stem cell-like traits and tumorigenicity were examined by tumor sphere formation assay and SP assays in vitro and by a tumorigenesis model in vivo. The mechanism by which PRR11 mediated Wnt/β-catenin signaling was explored using luciferase reporter, immunochemistry, and real time-PCR (RT-PCR) assays. Results: We found that PRR11 was markedly upregulated, at the level of both transcription and translation, in ESCC cell lines as compared with normal esophageal epithelial cells (NECCs). Immunohistochemical analysis showed that 69.2% paraffin-embedded archival ESCC specimens exhibited high levels of PRR11 expression, and multivariate analysis revealed that PRR11 upregulation might be an independent prognostic indicator for the survival of patients with ESCC. Furthermore, overexpression of PRR11 dramatically enhanced, whereas inhibition of PRR11 reduced the capability of cancer stem cell (CSC)-like phenotypes and tumorigenicity of ESCC cells both in vitro and in vivo. Mechanically, we demonstrated PRR11-enhanced tumorigenicity of ESCC cells via activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling, and PRR11 expression is found to be significantly correlated with β-catenin nuclear location in ESCC. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that the PRR11 might represent a novel and valuable prognostic marker for ESCC progression and play a role during the development and progression of this malignancy. Keywords: PRR11, CSC-like phenotypes, tumorigenesis, Wnt/β-catenin, ESCC

Li Zhou,1 Zhe-Zhi Deng,2 Hai-Yan Li,2 Nan Jiang,3 Zhi-Sheng Wei,4 Ming-Fan Hong,4 Xiao-Dang Chen,2 Ji-Hui Wang,2 Ming-Xing Zhang,1 Yi-Hua Shi,1 Zheng-Qi Lu,1,2 Xu-Ming Huang1 1Department of Rehabilitation, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510080, China; 2Department of Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510000, China; 3Department of Hepatic Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510000, China; 4Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Clinical Medicine of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University, Guangzhou 510080, China Background: Glioma is the most lethal primary brain tumor, the survival rate still isn’t improved in the past decades. It’s essential to study the regulatory mechanism of glioma progression, hoping to find new therapy targets or methods. The family of tripartite motif (TRIM) containing proteins are E3 ubiquitination ligases, which play critical role in various tumor progression. Methods: Cell proliferation and invasion were analyzed by colony formation assay, soft agar growth assay, BrdU incorporation assay and transwell invasion assay. Luciferase reporter analysis was used to analyze NF-κB pathway activity. Results: We found TRIM31 was upregulated in glioma cells and tissues, its overexpression significantly promoted glioma cell proliferation and invasion, while its knockdown significantly inhibited glioma cell proliferation and invasion. Mechanism analysis found TRIM31 promoted NF-κB pathway activity and increased its targets expression. NF-κB inhibition reversed the phenotype caused by TRIM31, confirming TRIM31 promoted glioma progression through activating NF-κB pathway. Using clinical specimens found TRIM31 expression was positively correlative with NF-κB activity. Conclusion: This study found TRIM31 promoted glioma proliferation and invasion through activating NF-κB activity. Keywords: TRIM31, glioma, NF-κB, proliferation, invasion

Rules for nonlinear borders of irregular domain is the thorny issues when using analytical method for solving mathematical and physical equations. On the basis of solution in the form of separated variables, the border of arbitrary shape with non-orthogonal boundary will be separated into a limited number of discrete points, and then direct assignment for the form solution at each of the discrete points on the border according to boundary conditions, at every discrete points on the border can establish an equation. If the number of discrete points on the border is equal with truncated series after retained series, all coefficients of the form solution can be determined and the problem solved. This paper use Laplace equation as an example to illustrate Collocation Trefftz Method can solve certain steady heat conduction problems within irregular domain with non-linear border.

Rules for non-orthogonal borders of irregular domain is the thorny issues when using analytical method for solving mathematical and physical equations. On the basis of solution in the form of separated variables, the border of arbitrary shape with non-orthogonal boundary will be separated into a limited number of discrete points, and then direct assignment for the form solution at each of the discrete points on the border according to boundary conditions, at every discrete points on the border can establish an equation. If the number of discrete points on the border is the same with truncated series after retained series, all coefficients of the form solution can be determined and the problem solved. This paper use Laplace equation as an example to illustrate Collocation Trefftz Method can solve certain steady-state heat conduction problems within non-orthogonal border and irregular domain.

As a late-model heating technique, radiant floor heating is much more energy-efficient as compared to the conventional air-conditioning system. For the sake of inner temperature distribution of the configuration, a steady three-dimensional model was performed based on the CFD software--CFX. On the basis of temperature distribution of the radiant floor, the total quantity of heat transferred can be calculated. It is observed that most heat quantity of heating water transferred to the concrete packing layer and the floor so as to heat the room.

Rail transit hub is key node in urban transportation system. The study on properties of ventilation and smoke control system can improve response ability in case of fire and give ventilation and smoke control design guidance for underground rail transit hub. Take Beijing DongZhimen underground rail transit hub as research object, according to its air turbulent flow characteristics, introducing standard turbulence model based on the N-S equation. Build the computational fluid dynamics model for solving the flow field within underground rail transit hub. Through theoretical analysis and numerical simulation, take "Siamese model” results as the boundary condition and establish a mathematical model of rail transit hub with CFX. Then research fire smoke development and spread laws when the exhaust fan within underground rail transit hub delayed open.

The typical subway island-platform of Beijing as research object was present in the article. Taking two-equation turbulence model and giving boundary conditions of piston wind and train heat load change with the time, adopting numerical method simulates air distribution of air-conditioning and ventilation system in subway. The results indicate that piston wind effect has significant impact on the area of platform entrance and staircase entrance while station with safety doors can obstruct piston effect at a certain degree. Simultaneity, the supply- exhaust air system offers relatively uniform temperature and velocity field, which meets requirements of transitory comfort for passengers. It is found that numerical simulation method can simulate and forecast air distribution of air conditioning and ventilating system in subway station. In conclusion, it can provide the reference for optimizing air-conditioning and ventilation system, improving thermal environment designing of subway station.

We study the transmission characteristics of surface plasmons at the interface of a one-dimensional photonic crystal (1DPC) and a monolayer graphene sheet. The composite structure with a plasmonic band gap (PGB) was obtained by covering a graphene sheet on the lateral side of the 1DPC. Defect modes in these structures appeared when defect layers were inserted in the 1DPC. On the condition that the chemical potential of graphene is much larger than , the PBG and defect mode shift to higher frequencies as the chemical potential increases. As the carrier density in graphene can be controlled by the gate voltage, both the PBG and defect mode can be easily tuned by the chemical potential, which is determined by the carrier density.

In this paper, we propose a novel wavelength division demultiplexer (WDDM) based on multimode interference (MMI) effect. The structure of WDDM is composed of three MMI regions, which can efficiently make two wavelengths (1310 nm and 1500 nm) to get through and one wavelength (1550 nm) to reflect back. In addition, it may also realize the separation for 1310/1500 nm. The transmittance higher than 97% and the crosstalk lower than -25 dB are achieved. It can also be extended to other wavelengths by changing the parameters of structure. The proposed device may have practical applications in photonic integrated circuits.