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Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major obstacle in the effective chemotherapeutic treatment of cancers. Triptolide (TPL) is a diterpenoid isolated from Tripterygium wilfordii Hook. f., a traditional Chinese medicine. It was demonstrated in our previous study that TPL exerts anti-MDR cancers on various MDR cell lines (including A549/Taxol, MCF-7/ADR and Bel7402/5-Fu). The present study was designed to investigate its anti-proliferative activity on A549/Taxol cells, and explore the underlying mechanism of action. The anti-proliferative activity of TPL on A549/Taxol cells was assessed by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Its pro-apoptosis and cell cycle arrest activities were analyzed by flow cytometry. Western blot assay was employed to investigate the levels of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) and apoptosis-related proteins in cells. TPL efficiently suppressed the proliferation of A549/Taxol cells. Co-treatment with MAPK inhibitors in the MTT assay indicated that the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathways were involved in the process. Upregulation of p-p38, p-ERK, p-GSK-3β, Bax and cleaved caspases-3 and -9, and downregulation of p-JNK, p-Akt and Bcl-2 were observed upon treatment with TPL in the A549/Taxol cells. The results from flow cytometry assay revealed that TPL induced apoptosis and S-phase arrest in A549/Taxol cells. This occurred as a result of the upregulation of p-ERK and p-GSK-3β, and the downregulation of p-JNK and p-Akt, and was responsible for the subsequent anti-proliferative activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that the RAS (renin–angiotensin system) might participate in airway remodelling in asthma. As a main component of the RAS, Ang-(1–7) [angiotensin-(1–7)] has been reported in few studies regarding its protective effect on asthma. However, the functional roles and relevant signalling pathways of Ang-(1–7) have not been well illustrated. In the present study, we analysed the effect of Ang-(1–7) on AngII (angiotensin II)-induced HLF (human lung fibroblast)–MF (myofibroblast) transition by detecting Col-I (collagen type I), TGF-β1 (transforming growth factor-β1) and α-SMA (α-smooth muscle actin) expression. We explored further the possible signalling pathways involved in HLF–MF transition. Our results showed that Ang-(1–7) could down-regulate the expression of Col-I, α-SMA and TGF-β1/Smad2/3 (all P<0.05). A significant decrease was found in phosphorylation of PI3K (phosphoinositide 3-kinase), Akt, p38-MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) and JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) signalling pathways during HLF–MF transition (all P<0.05). Our data suggests that Ang-(1–7) decreases the expression of Col-I via TGF-β1/Smad2/3 and subsequently inhibits HLF–MF transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an innovative data-driven non-linear dynamical system modelling method, ALS-SVR-ARMA2K, is proposed for a high consistency refining (HCR) process in papermaking to online estimate the freeness index. First, to completely capture the non-linear dynamics of the process, the autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model is constructed by modelling system output as a non-linear dynamical function of the past system inputs (moving average) and past system output (autoregression). Then, the non-parametric kernel learning method, least squares support vector regression (LS-SVR), is presented for learning of the ARMA model. Moreover, to increase the modelling accuracy and make the model has both good interpolation and extrapolation abilities, improvements of multi-kernel learning and adaptive output regulation are implemented. Finally, to further enhance the modelling accuracy and efficiency of the constructed ALS-SVR-ARMA2K model, the adaptive mutation particle swarm optimisation (AMPSO) is proposed to optimise the hybrid model parameters. Industrial experiments and comparative studies have been carried out on an industrial HCR process, where it has been demonstrated that the developed AMPSO-ALS-SVR-ARMA2K model produces a better modelling accuracy, stronger generalisation capability and sparsity, and faster learning speed than the other methods. Moreover, these superiorities are especially true in the case of small samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional power Doppler imaging (PDI) and the novel Superb Microvascular Imaging (SMI) technique were applied to observe the distribution of microvessels in 135 breast lesions, using semi-quantitative grading, penetrating vessel evaluation and flow distribution pattern to evaluate diagnostic efficacy. Compared with PDI, SMI detected more flow signals and details of microvessels. Further, when a centrally distributed branching or diffusing mode was used as a criterion for diagnosing malignancy, SMI improved diagnosis of breast masses. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of SMI-assessed flow distribution were 85.4%, 92.6%, 83.3% and 93.5%, respectively, compared with 70.7%, 92.6%, 80.5% and 87.9% for PDI. We also found that flow distribution pattern analysis is superior to semi-quantitative grading and the penetrating vessel method in differentiating malignant breast lesions. Our work here further supports SMI as a novel and promising technique in visualizing microvasculature in breast lesions that may be of paramount use in initial diagnosis as well as follow-up assessment in various treatment regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel, meshless numerical method, called general particle dynamics (GPD), is proposed to simulate the initiation, propagation, and coalescence of three-dimensional (3D), pre-existing penetrating and embedded flaws as well as size effects and large deformations of rock materials. On the basis of the nonlinear unified strength criterion, an elastic-brittle-plastic damage model was developed to reflect the initiation, growth, and coalescence of the 3D flaws and the macrofailure of rocklike materials by tracing the propagation of the cracks. Then, growth paths of cracks were captured through the sequence of such damaged particles. In this paper, the GPD code is applied to simulate the macrofailure, large deformation, and size effects of the heterogeneous rocklike materials. The present numerical simulations focus on the effects of sample sizes, the nonoverlapping length and types of flaws on the failure, and the complete stress-strain curves of the rocklike materials. The initiation, propagation, and coalescence processes of the wing cracks, the antiwing cracks, the oblique secondary cracks, the out-of-plane shear cracks, and the quasi-coplanar shear crack in a rocklike sample subjected to uniaxial compression is numerically simulated using GPD3D. The numerical results indicate that the nonoverlapping lengths and types of flaws significantly influence the coalescence types. The numerical results are in good agreement with the experimental results. It is proven that the GPD3D can adequately simulate the failure processes, large deformation, and size effects of the rocklike materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pterygium is a common ophthalmic disease affecting humans only. Extensive epidemiological data have demonstrated a causative effect of chronic ultraviolet (UV) radiation on pterygia. Progress has been made in determining the origin of pterygia, their nasal predilection and wing-shaped appearance, and the roles of UV radiation in the initiation and the development of pterygia. In the present review, the current understanding of the involvement of UV radiation in the pathogenesis of pterygia is summarized. This involvement includes the alteration of limbal stem cells and fibroblasts that contribute to the initiation of pterygia and the induction of various pro-inflammatory cytokines, growth factors and matrix metalloproteinases that promote the progression of pterygia. Further elucidation of the roles of UV radiation in the pathogenesis of pterygia may help to encourage individuals at risk of developing pterygia to take preventive measures and aid researchers in the development of novel targeted therapeutic agents to treat pterygia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study was to describe the clinical features and outcomes of Chinese patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer. Method: The clinical data and survival statuses of 732 patients with operable HER2-positive breast cancer who were treated at the Department of Breast Surgery of the Shanghai Cancer Center from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2011, were collected. The patients were divided into two groups according to treatment with and without trastuzumab. Disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test. The associations of the patient characteristics with prognosis were analyzed via Cox regression. Results: A total of 732 women with HER2-positive breast cancer were included in this study, among whom 258 (35.2%) received trastuzumab. The median follow-up duration was 41 months. By the end of the follow-up period, 86 (12%) women experienced local recurrence or metastasis. Patients who received both anti-HER2 therapy and chemotherapy exhibited a longer DFS than those who received chemotherapy alone (P=0.001). Tumor size, lymph node status, and family history of breast cancer were associated with median DFS, and tumor size, lymph node status, clinical stage, age, and body mass index were associated with median overall survival. Patients who received both neoadjuvant chemotherapy and trastuzumab exhibited a higher rate of pathological complete remission. In the neoadjuvant group, the patients who received both anti-HER2 therapy and chemotherapy exhibited a longer DFS than those who received chemotherapy alone (P=0.049). Conclusion: Significant clinical features were observed in the Chinese patients with HER2- positive breast cancer. Furthermore, targeted anti-HER2 therapy may improve the prognosis of these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of Ni-imidazolate cubic cages, one-dimensional and two-dimensional coordination polymers based on the cubic cages, have been prepared by solvothermal subcomponent self-assembly of 5-methyl-4-formylimidazole, m-xylylenediamine, and NiII salts with varied anions. These compounds have been characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffractions, elemental analysis, IR spectra, and powder X-ray diffractions. The formation of an oligomerized coordination cage or an infinite coordination polymer depends on the anions chosen. An oligomerized 8-nuclear Ni-imidazolate cubic cage is formed when the anion Cl-, Br-, I-, SCN-, NO2-, or NO3- is utilized in the reactions, and a two-dimensional coordination polymer based on the Ni-imidazolate cubic cage will be obtained when N3-, (CN)2N-, or (CN)3C- act as the anions. When only ClO4- or both ClO4- and [Ni(C4N2S2)2]2- (C4N2S2 = dimercaptomaleonitrile) as anions exist in the reaction mixture, a ladder-like one-dimensional coordination polymer based on the Ni-imidazolate cubic cage and formate is formed unpredictably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of the location of damages in pipeline is important and still needs to be improved due to the problems such as limited number of sensors that can be placed in the pipeline, uncertainty of the working environment. In this paper, a new approach is presented, which shows an improved diagnosis performance. The new approach is based on combining an improved D-S evidence theory and an improved index which is based on three specific identification techniques known to the pipeline community. The improved D-S evidence theory is based on the idea of preserving similar evidences and using weighted average evidence to represent the conflict evidence. The paper also presents an experiment to verify the new approach by comparing the result of the new approach with the traditional D-S approach. The experimental result has shown that the new approach is promising. The new approach also renders the possibility to visualize the location of the damages in the pipeline, which facilitates the access to the damage for repair and any compensation measure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present microwave self-collimated properties in two-dimensional ferromagnetic photonic crystals (FPCs) made of an array of ferrite rods. Through utilizing the time reversal symmetry-breaking nature of the FPCs, a technique, i.e., unidirectional self-collimation transmission, can be exhibited near the magnetic surface plasmon resonance and the spin wave resonance by designing the appropriate structure. An incident self-collimated beam can be absorbed completely at a particular bending channel, while an obvious transmission is observed at the symmetrically opposite direction. The working frequency of the unidirectionality can be controlled as well by tuning the external static magnetic field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topsoil carbon (C) stocks are known to decrease as a consequence of the conversion of natural ecosystems to plantations or croplands; however, the effect of land use change on subsoil C remains unknown. Here, we hypothesized that the effect of land use change on labile subsoil organic C may be even stronger than for topsoil due to upward concentration of plantations and crops root systems. We evaluated soil labile organic C fractions, including particulate organic carbon (POC) and its components [coarse POC and fine POC], light fraction organic carbon (LFOC), readily oxidizable organic carbon, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and microbial biomass down to 100 cm soil depth from four typical land use systems in subtropical China. Decrease in fine root biomass was more pronounced below 20 cm than in the overlying topsoil (70% vs. 56% for plantation and 62% vs. 37% for orchard. respectively) driving a reduction in subsoil labile organic C stocks. Land use changes from natural forest to Chinese fir plantation, Chinese chestnut orchard, or sloping tillage reduced soil organic C stocks and that of its labile fractions both in top and subsoil (20-100 cm). POC reduction was mainly driven by a decrease in fine POC in topsoil, while DOC was mainly reduced in subsoil. Fine POC, LFOC and microbial biomass can be useful early indicators of changes in topsoil organic C. In contrast, LFOC and DOC are useful indicators for subsoil. Reduced proportions of fine POC, LFOC, DOC and microbial biomass to soil organic C reflected the decline in soil organic C quality caused by land use changes. We conclude that land use changes decrease C sequestration both in topsoil and subsoil, which is initially indicated by the labile soil organic C fractions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C36H26N2O4Zn, monoclinic, C2/c (no. 15), a = 43.237(10) Å, b = 17.201(4) Å, c = 11.271(2) Å, β = 103.009(5)°, V = 8168(3) Å3, Z = 12, Rgt(F) = 0.0442, wRref(F2) = 0.1530, T = 100(2) K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of the piston wind caused by vehicle traffic on the temperature field distribution of the tunnel cannot be ignored, especially in spiral tunnels, where the temperature field distribution is more complicated than that in straight tunnels. Based on the world's longest highway spiral tunnel, this study explores the influence of traffic on the temperature fields of spiral and straight tunnels, and proposes a new design method for laying length of insulation layer. The results show that traffic has a significant effect on the temperature field distribution in the tunnel. The influence degree of different traffic elements decreases in the following order: average vehicle speed > daily traffic > morning rush hour > evening rush hour. The temperature field distribution of spiral tunnels is asymmetry on the left and right compared with straight tunnels, while the influence degree of traffic on the outside of spiral tunnels is similar to that of straight tunnels. Due to the difference of wind direction and traffic direction at different tunnel openings, an asymmetric insulation layer laying method is proposed. It is suggested that the lengths of the insulation layers of the Jinjiazhuang Tunnel should be 1200 m for the right tunnel inlet, 700 m for the right tunnel outlet, 700 m for the left tunnel inlet, and 1400 m for the left tunnel outlet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlorogenic acid (CGA) exhibits various biological properties, including the inhibition of oxidation, obesity, apoptosis and tumorigenesis. CGA is also able to promote cell survival and proliferation. The aim of the present study was to determine the effects and underlying molecular mechanisms of CGA on the adipogenesis of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs). Treatment with CGA had a marginal effect on cell proliferation, by promoting the expression levels of phosphorylated Akt and cyclin D1. Furthermore, treatment with CGA also upregulated the phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) and inhibited the adipocyte differentiation of BMSCs by inhibiting the expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ and CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP)α. However, knockdown of the expression of Shp2 attenuated CGA-induced proliferation and inhibited the phosphorylation of Akt and expression of cyclin D1. Furthermore, CGA treatment upregulated Erk phosphorylation and decreased the expression levels of PPARγ and CEBPα, which was inhibited by treatment with the Shp2 PTPase activity inhibitor, NSC-87877. The results of the present study suggested that CGA-induced Akt and Erk pathways regulate proliferation and differentiation and that Shp2 is important in the proliferation and differentiation of BMSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bi2Te3 is known to be an excellent thermoelectric material as well as a topological insulator. We prepare Bi2Te3 {0 1 1 5} nanosheets with a hydrothermal method and find that the interplanar spacings have a little difference though they belong to a same family of crystal planes. Then, we investigate the structural and electronic properties of Bi2Te3 {0 1 1 5} nanoribbons with one to six atomic layers by density-functional theory. The results indicate that the nanoribbons exhibit insulator with a band gap except the three-atomic-layer ribbon, which unexpectedly shows a metallic behavior with a gapless band structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective(s): Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion is a major problem, which may lead to multiorgan failure and death. The aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effects of dexmedetomidine on cell proliferation, antioxidant system, cell death, and structural integrity in intestinal injury induced by ischemia-reperfusion in rats. Materials and Methods: Animals were randomized into three groups: group A, sham-operated or control; group B, intestinal ischemia/reperfusion (IR); and group C, intestinal IR pretreated with 50 μg of dexmedetomidine. Intestine tissue was collected from all rats 30 min after desufflation, and fresh frozen for histological and biochemical evaluation. Results: The intestinal tissue of group B rats showed a significant decrease in the antioxidant enzyme activities. However, these enzyme activities were improved by the administration of dexmedetomidine. Inhibiting the protein expression of MCP7, PAR2, P-JAK, P-STAT1, and P-STAT3 proved the protective effect of dexmedetomidine. The immunohistochemical staining revealed its protective effect by maintaining the normal structural integrity, less caspase-3 immuno reactivity, and increased cell proliferation count in the intestinal tissues. Conclusions: Intraperitoneal injection of dexmedetomidine significantly protected intestine IR injury in rats by inhibiting the inflammatory response, intestinal epithelial apoptosis, and maintaining structural integrity of intestinal cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Four new triterpenoids which were identifed as 2α,3β,6β,19α-tetrahydroxyoleanolic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (1), 2-O-β-D-glucopyranosyloxy-3α,19α-dihydroxyoleanolic acid (2), 2-O-β-D-glucopyranosyloxy-3α,19α-dihydroxyursolic acid (3), 2α,3α,6β,19α-tetrahydroxyursolic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (4), were isolated from the aerial parts of Callicarpa kwangtungensis together with three known triterpenoids identified as 2α,3β,21β-trihydroxyursolic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (5), 2α,3α,19α,23-tetrahydroxyoleanolic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (6), 2α,3α,19α,23-tetrahydroxyursolic acid 28-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (7). Their structures were elucidated by the combination of mass spectrometry (MS), one and two-dimensional NMR experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in high-density surface electromyogram (EMG) decomposition have made it a feasible task to discriminate single motor unit activity from surface EMG interference patterns, thus providing a noninvasive approach for examination of motor unit control properties. In the current study, we applied high-density surface EMG recording and decomposition techniques to assess motor unit firing behavior alterations poststroke. Surface EMG signals were collected using a 64-channel 2-D electrode array from the paretic and contralateral first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscles of nine hemiparetic stroke subjects at different isometric discrete contraction levels between 2 to 10 N with a 2 N increment step. Motor unit firing rates were extracted through decomposition of the high-density surface EMG signals and compared between paretic and contralateral muscles. Across the nine tested subjects, paretic FDI muscles showed decreased motor unit firing rates compared with contralateral muscles at different contraction levels. Regression analysis indicated a linear relation between the mean motor unit firing rate and the muscle contraction level for both paretic and contralateral muscles (p <; 0.001), with the former demonstrating a lower increment rate (0.32 pulses per second (pps)/N) compared with the latter (0.67 pps/N). The coefficient of variation (averaged over the contraction levels) of the motor unit firing rates for the paretic muscles (0.21 ± 0.012) was significantly higher than for the contralateral muscles (0.17 ± 0.014) (p <; 0.05). This study provides direct evidence of motor unit firing behavior alterations poststroke using surface EMG, which can be an important factor contributing to hemiparetic muscle weakness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, a projective synchronization approach for a class of fractional-order chaotic systems with fractional-order 1 < q < 2 is demonstrated. The projective synchronization approach is established through precise theorization. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, we discuss two examples: (1) the fractional-order Lorenz chaotic system with fractional-order q = 1.1; (2) the fractional-order modified Chua's chaotic system with fractional-order q = 1.02. The numerical simulations show the validity and feasibility of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the rates of approximation by a type of feed-forward neural networks with four layers, for some important function classes including functions of bounded Ø-variation, functions in Sobolev space Wp,[a,b] and functions in Lp spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient safety climate has been recognized as a core determinant for improving safety in hospitals. Describing workforce perceptions of patient safety climate is an important part of safety climate management. This study aimed to describe staff's perceptions of patient safety climate in public hospitals in Shanghai, China and to determine how perceptions of patient safety climate differ between different types of workers in the U.S. and China. Methods: Survey of employees of 6 secondary, general public hospitals in Shanghai conducted during 2013 using a modified version of the U.S. Patient Safety Climate in Health Care Organizations (PSCHO) tool. The percentage of "problematic responses" (PPRs) was used to measure safety climate, and the PPRs were compared among employees with different job types, using ² tests and multivariate regression models. Results: Perceptions of patient safety climate were relatively positive among hospital employees and similar to those of employees in U.S. hospitals along most dimensions. For workers in Chinese hospitals, the scales of "fear of blame" and "fear of shame" had the highest PPRs, whereas in the United States the scale of "fear of shame" had among the lowest PPRs. As in the United States, hospital managers in China perceived a more positive patient safety climate overall than other types of personnel. Conclusions: "Fear of shame" and "fear of blame" may be important barriers to improvement of patient safety in Chinese hospitals. Research on the effect of patient safety climate on outcomes is necessary to implement effective polices to improve patient safety and quality outcomes in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We invesigate the rates of approximation by a type of feed-forward neural networks with four layers, for some important function classes including functions of bounded Ф--variation, functions in Sobolev Wp,(a,b) space and functions in Lp spaces [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telomerase plays an important role in governing the life span of cells for its capacity to extend telomeres. As high activity of telomerase has been found in stem cells and cancer cells specifically, various methods have been developed for the evaluation of telomerase activity. To overcome the time-consuming procedures and complicated manipulations of existing methods, we developed a novel method named Telomeric Repeat Elongation Assay based on Quartz crystal microbalance (TREAQ) to monitor telomerase activity during the self-renewal and differentiation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). TREAQ results indicated hiPSCs possess invariable telomerase activity for 11 passages on Matrigel and a steady decline of telomerase activity when differentiated for different periods, which is confirmed with existing golden standard method. The pluripotency of hiPSCs during differentiation could be estimated through monitoring telomerase activity and compared with the expression levels of markers of pluripotency gene via quantitative real time PCR. Regular assessment for factors associated with pluripotency or stemness was expensive and requires excessive sample consuming, thus TREAQ could be a promising alternative technology for routine monitoring of telomerase activity and estimate the pluripotency of stem cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Porous SnO2 nanospheres with uniform morphologies and sizes were fabricated via a biopolymer (sodium alginate, SA)-assisted hydrothermal route. The products were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high solution TEM (HRTEM), nitrogen adsorption-desorption, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and UV-vis absorption spectroscopy. The obtained tetragonal SnO2 nanospheres were characteristic of hierarchical mesoporous structures with good crystallinity and high purity. Moreover, it was found that the porous SnO2 nanospheres were composed of numerous tiny nanocrystals as building blocks and the SA played a key role in formation of the porous nanospheres with uniform morphologies and sizes. Additionally, the photocatalytic activity of the obtained porous SnO2 nanospheres under sunlight irradiation was also evaluated by degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The magnetoelectric effects on ferromagnetic and ferroelectric phase transitions in multiferroic materials were researched experimentally and theoretically. Shifts of the ferroelectric/ferromagnetic Curie temperature under magnetic/electric fields were observed due to the magnetoelectric coupling in magnetoelectric composites. We employed the Landau method with a Gibbs free energy function including ferroelectric, ferromagnetic and magnetoelectric items to understand our experimental results and some recent reports. The numerical simulations presented some important conclusions, including the jump of magnetization/polarization near the ferroelectric/ferromagnetic phase transition, the shifts of Curie temperature under external fields and the enhancement of magnetoelectric susceptibility near the Curie temperatures. These calculations coincide very closely with the experimental results. The magnetoelectric limitation (χme2<χm·χp) was also proved with this simple method. The results indicate that parameters such as Curie temperature, polarization, magnetization and susceptibilities can be adjusted by the magnetic or electric field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In systemic light-chain amyloidosis, λ light chains produced by clonal plasma cells cause organ damage and early death. In pursuit of novel therapy, we developed 1 pool of short interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting the constant region of λ light chains that substantially and promptly reduces λ-light-chain production and secretion by human plasma cells regardless of sequence diversity. In clones producing intact immunoglobulin G (lgG) λ antibodies (containing paired heavy and light chains), the secretion of intact antibodies is reduced, and all 3 branches of the unfolded protein response are activated by accumulation of unpaired lgG heavy chains in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Moreover, an ER stress response can then become terminal with effector caspase activity mediated in part by the transcription of the Bcl-2 homology 3 domain only family member NOXA. This pool of SiRNA can be used to reduce pathological λ-light-chain production and cause apoptosis in human plasma cells making intact IgGλ antibodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Direct and converse magnetoelectric effects are two opposite processes, which were integrated in a model based on equivalent circuit. Following the piezoelectric and magnetostrictive constitutive equations, we obtained magnetic-mechanical-electric equations, and then built a symmetric equivalent circuit about the magnetoelectric coupling. We equivalently analyzed the direct and converse magnetoelectric effects with this equivalent circuit. The numerical calculations fit the reported results very well, including the magnetoelectric changes with the thickness ratio and frequency, the relative lower converse magnetoelectric resonance frequency, and the phase increase of π around the direct and converse magnetoelectric resonance frequencies. This model helps us understand the magnetoelectric properties deeply, especially for the converse magnetoelectric effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: By employing first principle and a quasi-harmonic Debye model, we study the phase stability, phase transition, electronic structure and thermodynamic properties of cadmium sulfide (CdS). The results indicate that CdS is a typical ionic crystal and that the zinc-blende phase in CdS is thermodynamically unstable. Moreover, the heat capacity of the wurtzite and rocksalt phases of CdS decreases with pressure and increases with temperature, obeying the rule of the Debye T 3 law at low temperature and the Dulong–Petit limit at high temperature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Purpose:In order to explore the multiplicative interaction between clustering and reach, as well as their effect on members’ knowledge production and patent value, the authors researched university–industry collaboration networks in the emerging interdisciplinary field at a corporate level. Methodology:The authors based their research on a platform of nano-biopharmaceuticals complex network analysis. Furthermore, they built a network to analyze the influence of small-world properties, as well as the impact of the largest component on the patent value of innovation activities at a corporate level. In this article, the authors conduct an empirical investigation of university–industry patent innovation collaboration in the nano-biopharmaceutical field and propose that their research be considered as new evidence in addition to the previously published literature in this field. Given the pre-existing high skew of patent values in relation to registered patents, they used weighted patent value in the measurement of university–industry innovation performance, rather than simple patent counts. Results:The results show that small-world structures have a parabolical influence on patent innovation performance at corporate level. Findings:The findings go beyond previous research results and can contribute to policy formulation and relevant entrepreneurial decisions in the establishment of university–industry collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is still a worldwide disease, which may cause liver cirrhosis or even hepatocellular carcinoma. Telbivudine is a potent nucleoside analogue used in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B (CHB); however, drug resistance has remained a challenge. As early virological response can predict long-term efficacy of nucleotide analogue treatment, numerous studies have been conducted in this area. Objectives: The aim of this study was to establish baseline prognostic factors and a statistical model to predict early virological response in telbivudine-treated CHB patients. Patients and Methods: One hundred and eight CHB patients without any experience of nucleotide analogue therapy were assigned to receive telbivudine (600 mg, once daily) for at least 24 weeks, and then were followed up every two weeks. Cox proportional hazard regression model analyses were employed to evaluate baseline variables, and further developing a statistical model to predict early virological response. Results: Negative family history of HBV infection (P = 0.000235), baseline higher serum TBIL (P = 0.038714) and AST (P = 0.020684) concentrations, and lower level of HBV-DNA (P = 0.0034784) were identified to be associated with higher possibility of early virological response. A model was established based on these variables to calculate the risk scores (R) for CHB patients. R > -0.38 suggested early virological response to telbivudine. The model was validated among an independent set of 20 patients. Conclusions: Family history as well as baseline bilirubin, AST and HBV DNA levels can predict early virological response. The model provides a better tool for response prediction based on the four prognostic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new device, the diffractive optics calibrator, for measuring duty cycle and etching depth for computer-generated holograms (CGHs). The system scans the CGH with a collimated laser beam and collects the far-field diffraction pattern with a CCD array. The relative intensities of the various orders of diffraction are used to fit the phase shift from etching and the duty cycle of the binary pattern. The system is capable of measuring variations that cause 1-nm peak- to-valley (PV) phase errors in the wavefront created by the CGH. The measurements will be used primarily for quality control CGHs, but the data can also be used to provide a lookup table for corrections that allow calibration of the lithography errors. Such calibrations may be necessary for us to achieve our goal of measuring freeform aspheric surfaces with 1-nm RMS accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anterior cervical interbody grafts/cages combined with a plate were frequently used in multilevel discectomies/corpectomies. In order to avoid additional posterior stabilization in patients who undergo anterior reconstructive surgery, an anterior cervical transpedicular screw fixation, which offers higher stability is desirable. We investigated in this study the anatomical (morphologic) characters for cervical anterior transpedicular screw fixation. Materials and Methods: Left pedicle parameters were measured on computed tomography (CT) images based on 36 cervical spine CT scans from healthy subjects. The parameters included outer pedicle width (Distance from lateral to medial pedicle surface in the coronal plane), outer pedicle height (OPH) (Distance from upper to lower pedicle surface in the sagittal plane), maximal pedicle axis length (MPAL), distance transverse insertion point (DIP), distance of the insertion point to the upper end plate (DIUP), pedicle sagittal transverse angle (PSTA) and pedicle transverse angle (PTA) at C3 to C7. Results: The values of outer pedicle width and MPAL in males were larger than in females from C3 to C7. The OPH in males was larger than in females at C3 to C6, but there was no difference at C7. The DIP and PTA were significantly greater in males than in females at C3, but there was no difference in the angle at C4‑7. The PSTA was not statistically different between genders at C3, 4, 7, but this value in males was larger than females at C5, 6. The DIUP was significantly greater in males at C3, 4, 6, 7 but was non significant at C5. Conclusions: The placement of cervical anterior transpedicular screws should be individualized for each patient and based on a detailed preoperative planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of neutral cubic nickel(II)-imidazolate Ni8L12X4 cages were prepared by rational choices of substituents and anions with solvothermal subcomponent self-assembly technology. Both substituents and halide anions play a critical role in the formation and stabilization of cubic cages. Changing one of the factors in the reaction will switch the final structure to a Ni14L24 rhombic dodecahedral cage. The cubic cage can transform to a large rhombic dodecahedral cage in the presence of methylamine at room temperature accompanied by a color change from purple to light yellow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Very little is known about manganese (Mn)-toxicity-responsive genes in citrus plants. Seedlings of 'Xuegan' (Citrus sinensis) and 'Sour pummelo' (Citrus grandis) were irrigated for 17 weeks with nutrient solution containing 2 μM (control) or 600 μM (Mn-toxicity) MnSO4. The objectives of this study were to understand the mechanisms of citrus Mn-tolerance and to identify differentially expressed genes, which might be involved in Mn-tolerance. Results: Under Mn-toxicity, the majority of Mn in seedlings was retained in the roots; C. sinensis seedlings accumulated more Mn in roots and less Mn in shoots (leaves) than C. grandis ones and Mn concentration was lower in Mn-toxicity C. sinensis leaves compared to Mn-toxicity C. grandis ones. Mn-toxicity affected C. grandis seedling growth, leaf CO2 assimilation, total soluble concentration, phosphorus (P) and magenisum (Mg) more than C. sinensis. Using cDNA-AFLP, we isolated 42 up-regulated and 80 down-regulated genes in Mn-toxicity C. grandis leaves. They were grouped into the following functional categories: biological regulation and signal transduction, carbohydrate and energy metabolism, nucleic acid metabolism, protein metabolism, lipid metabolism, cell wall metabolism, stress responses and cell transport. However, only 7 up-regulated and 8 down-regulated genes were identified in Mn-toxicity C. sinensis ones. The responses of C. grandis leaves to Mn-toxicity might include following several aspects: (1) accelerating leaf senescence; (2) activating the metabolic pathway related to ATPase synthesis and reducing power production; (3) decreasing cell transport; (4) inhibiting protein and nucleic acid metabolisms; (5) impairing the formation of cell wall; and (6) triggering multiple signal transduction pathways. We also identified many new Mn-toxicity-responsive genes involved in biological and signal transduction, carbohydrate and protein metabolisms, stress responses and cell transport. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that C. sinensis was more tolerant to Mn-toxicity than C. grandis, and that Mn-toxicity affected gene expression far less in C. sinensis leaves. This might be associated with more Mn accumulation in roots and less Mn accumulation in leaves of Mn-toxicity C. sinensis seedlings than those of C. grandis seedlings. Our findings increase our understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the responses of plants to Mn-toxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new 4D fractional-order chaotic system, which has an infinite number of equilibrium points, is introduced. There is no-chaotic behavior for its corresponded integer-order system. We obtain that the largest Lyapunov exponent of this 4D fractional-order chaotic system is 0.8939 and yield the chaotic attractor. A chaotic synchronization scheme is presented for this 4D fractional-order chaotic system. Numerical simulations is verified the effectiveness of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pedestrian crashes, making up a large proportion of road casualties, are more likely to occur at signalized intersections in China. This paper aims to study the different pedestrian behaviors of regular users, late starters, sneakers, and partial sneakers. Behavior information was observed manually in the field study. After that, the survey team distributed a questionnaire to the same participant who has been observed, to acquire detailed demographic and socioeconomic characteristics as well as attitude and preference indicators. Totally, 1878 pedestrians were surveyed at 16 signalized intersections in Nanjing. First, correlation analysis is performed to analyze each factor's effect. Then, five latent variables including safety, conformity, comfort, flexibility, and fastness are obtained by structure equation modeling (SEM). Moreover, based on the results of SEM, a multinomial logit model with latent variables is developed to describe how the factors influence pedestrians' behavior. Finally, some conclusions are drawn from the model: (1) for the choice of being late starters, arrival time, the presence of oncoming cars, and crosswalk length are the most important factors; (2) gender has the most significant effect on the pedestrians to be sneakers; and (3) age is the most important factor when pedestrians choose to be partial sneakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new function projective synchronization scheme between different fractional-order chaotic systems, called scaling-base drive function projective synchronization (SBDFPS), is discussed. In this SBDFPS scheme, one fractional-order chaotic system is chosen as scaling drive system, one fractional-order chaotic system is chosen as base drive systems, and another fractional-order chaotic system is chosen as response system. The SBDFPS technique scheme is based on the stability theory of nonlinear fractionalorder systems, and the synchronization technique is theoretically rigorous. Numerical experiments are presented and show the effectiveness of the SBDFPS scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pokemon (POK erythroid myeloid ontogenic factor), which belongs to the POK protein family, is also called LRF, OCZF and FBI-1. As a transcriptional repressor, Pokemon assumes a critical function in cellular differentiation and oncogenesis. Our study identified an oncogenic role for Pokemon in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We successfully established human HepG2 and Huh-7 cell lines in which Pokemon was stably knocked down. We demonstrated that Pokemon silencing inhibited cell proliferation and migration. Pokemon knockdown inhibited the PI3K/Akt and c-Raf/MEK/ERK pathways and modulated the expression of various cell cycle regulators in HepG2 and Huh-7 cells. Therefore, Pokemon may also be involved in cell cycle progression in these cells. We confirmed that Pokemon silencing suppresses hepatocellular carcinoma growth in tumor xenograft mice. These results suggest that Pokemon promotes cell proliferation and migration in hepatocellular carcinoma and accelerates tumor development in an Akt- and ERK-signaling-dependent manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For most mammals, running is their major locomotive style, however, cetaceans and bats are two mammalian groups that have independently developed new locomotive styles (swimming and flying) from their terrestrial ancestors. In this study, we used a genome-wide comparative analysis in an attempt to identify the selective imprint of the development of new locomotive styles by cetaceans and bats to adapt to their new ecological niches. We found that an elevated proportion of mitochondrion-associated genes show evidence of adaptive evolution in cetaceans and on the common ancestral lineage leading to bats, compared to other terrestrial mammals. This result is consistent with the fact that during the independent developments of swimming and flying in these two groups, the changes of energy metabolism ratios would be among the most important factors to overcome elevated energy demands. Furthermore, genes that show evidence of sequence convergence or parallel evolution in these two lineages were overrepresented in the categories of energy metabolism, muscle contraction, heart, and glucose metabolism, genes that perform functions which are essential for locomotion. In conclusion, our analyses showed that on the dolphin and bat lineages, genes associated with locomotion not only both show a greater propensity to adaptively evolve, but also show evidence of sequence convergence, which likely reflects a response to a common requirement during their development of these two drastic locomotive styles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mapping DNase I hypersensitive sites (DHSs) within nuclear chromatin is a traditional and powerful method of identifying genetic regulatory elements. DHSs have been mapped by capturing the ends of long DNase I-cut fragments (>100,000 bp), or 100-1200 bp DNase I-double cleavage fragments (also called double-hit fragments). But next generation sequencing requires a DNA library containing DNA fragments of 100-500 bp. Therefore, we used short DNA fragments released by DNase I digestion to generate DNA libraries for next generation sequencing. The short segments are 100-300 bp and can be directly cloned and used for high- throughput sequencing. We identified 83,897 DHSs in 2,343,479 tags across the human genome. Our results indicate that the DHSs identified by this DHS assay are consistent with those identified by longer fragments in previous studies. We also found: (1) the distribution of DHSs in promoter and other gene regions of similarly expressed genes differs among different chromosomes; (2) silenced genes had a more open chromatin structure than previously thought; (3) DHSs in 3'untranslated regions (3'UTRs) are negatively correlated with level of gene expression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional row crop planter closing wheel systems are sometimes unreliable, causing inadequate seed-soil contact, thereby reducing seed germination and emergence. To solve this problem, a star-tooth spherical disc closing wheel system is proposed. To further explore the operational mechanism of the closing wheels, a discrete element interaction model between the furrow soil and the closing wheels was established, and the operation process of the closing wheels was analyzed. A single factor test was designed with forward speed, disc tilt angle, disc lateral distance, and disc penetration depth as the test factors. Based on simulation tests and soil bin tests, the effects of the velocity and displacement of soil aggregates, closing wheel draft, and operational quality under different test conditions were explored. The test results showed that properly increasing the forward speed, disc tilt angle, and disc penetration depth, and selecting the appropriate lateral distance between the rotation centers of the two discs can increase the trend of soil aggregates moving towards the furrow, increase the weight of the covering soil, improve the uniformity of soil covering, facilitate the closure of the seed furrow, and improve the quality of operation. The Discrete Element Method (DEM) can accurately simulate operational quality in the soil covering process. The operational quality of the closing wheels can be explained by the movement of the soil aggregates. These results provide theoretical support for the performance of closing wheel systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes to use depth perception to represent raters' decision in holistic evaluation of ESL essays, as an alternative medium to conventional form of numerical scores. The researchers verified the new method's accuracy and inter/intra-rater reliability by inviting 24 ESL teachers to perform different representations when rating 60 essays written by Chinese ESL learners. During numerical representation, the raters expressed their evaluation in the form of numbers, while with the DP-based method, the raters expressed their evaluation by marking distances with nail tags on a wood ruler with hidden scale marks. Then the researchers translated the distance results into numbers and compared the accuracy and inter/intrarater consistency of the two approaches by referring to these essays' criteria scores from eight expert raters. The results showed that DP-based method could improve raters' performance, producing more similar results to experts' scores, with higher consistency both among different raters and within the same individual rater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a general scheme for multiparty joint remote preparation of an arbitrary m-qudit state with a pure entangled quantum channel via positive operator-valued measurement (POVM). The n senders share the information of the prepared state. The first sender performs POVM on his particles according to his knowledge of the original state, the other n-1 senders perform m-particle projective measurement and the receiver can probabilistically reconstruct the original state by performing unitary operations on his particles according to the senders' measurement results. The scheme has the advantage of having high success probability for multiparty joint remote preparation of an arbitrary m-qudit state via pure entangled quantum states. Moreover, it discusses the relationship between the coefficients of the pure entangled states and the success probability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

6-Shogaol is an active compound isolated from Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc). In this work, we demonstrated that 6- shogaol induces apoptosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma cells in relation to caspase activation and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling. Proteomic analysis revealed that ER stress was accompanied by 6-shogaol-induced apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma cells. 6-shogaol affected the ER stress signaling by regulating unfolded protein response (UPR) sensor PERK and its downstream target eIF2α. However, the effect on the other two UPR sensors IRE1 and ATF6 was not obvious. In prolonged ER stress, 6-shogaol inhibited the phosphorylation of eIF2α and triggered apoptosis in SMMC-7721 cells. Salubrinal, an activator of the PERK/eIF2α pathway, strikingly enhanced the phosphorylation of eIF2α in SMMC-7721 cells with no toxicity. However, combined treatment with 6-shogaol and salubrinal resulted in significantly increase of apoptosis and dephosphorylation of eIF2α. Overexpression of eIF2α prevented 6-shogaol-mediated apoptosis in SMMC- 7721 cells, whereas inhibition of eIF2α by small interfering RNA markedly enhanced 6-shogaol-mediated cell death. Furthermore, 6-shogaol-mediated inhibition of tumor growth of mouse SMMC-7721 xenograft was associated with induction of apoptosis, activation of caspase-3, and inactivation of eIF2α. Altogether our results indicate that the PERK/eIF2α pathway plays an important role in 6-shogaol-mediated ER stress and apoptosis in SMMC-7721 cells in vitro and in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial molecular architecture from a large number of subcomponents (>50) via self-assembly remains a formidable challenge for chemists. Reaction of 38 components [14 Ni2+ and 24 N-methyl-1-(4-imidazolyl)methanimine] under solvothermal conditions reproducibly leads to the formation of a high-symmetry coordination cage. This polyhedral cage can also be obtained in high yield by self-assembly of 62 commercially available subcomponents (24 methylamine, 24 4-formylimidazole, and 14 Ni2+) under mild conditions involving synchronized formation of both dynamic covalent bonds and coordination bonds. Guest molecules (e.g., water, methylamine, and methanol) are randomly imprisoned in the cage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gyroid is ubiquitous for underlying the construction of natural substance and artificial zeolites, but it has been, surprisingly, overlooked by chemists who work in the field of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). In this work, a series of gyroidal MOFs with gie topology, constructed from 1,2-bis( (5H-imidazol-4-yl)methylene)hydrazine and octahedral metal ions, such as ZnII, MnII,CuII,and NiII, have been synthesized. The ZnII analogue, named as STU-1, shows exceptional thermal and chemical stabilities, and exhibits permanent porosity and CO2 capture ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A hybrid projective synchronization scheme for two identical fractional-order chaotic systems is proposed in this paper. Based on the stability theory of fractional-order systems, a controller for the synchronization of two identical fractional-order chaotic systems is designed. This synchronization scheme needs not to absorb all the nonlinear terms of response system. Hybrid projective synchronization for the fractional-order Chen chaotic system and hybrid projective synchronization for the fractional-order hyperchaotic Lu system are used to demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unstable equilibrium points of the fractional-order Lorenz chaotic system can be controlled via fractional-order derivative, and chaos synchronization for the fractional-order Lorenz chaotic system can be achieved via fractional-order derivative. The control and synchronization technique, based on stability theory of fractional-order systems, is simple and theoretically rigorous. The numerical simulations demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Electromyography (EMG) pattern-recognition based control strategies for multifunctional myoelectric prosthesis systems have been studied commonly in a controlled laboratory setting. Before these myoelectric prosthesis systems are clinically viable, it will be necessary to assess the effect of some disparities between the ideal laboratory setting and practical use on the control performance. One important obstacle is the impact of arm position variation that causes the changes of EMG pattern when performing identical motions in different arm positions. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of arm position variation on EMG pattern-recognition based motion classification in upper-limb amputees and the solutions for reducing these impacts. Methods: With five unilateral transradial (TR) amputees, the EMG signals and tri-axial accelerometer mechanomyography (ACC-MMG) signals were simultaneously collected from both amputated and intact arms when performing six classes of arm and hand movements in each of five arm positions that were considered in the study. The effect of the arm position changes was estimated in terms of motion classification error and compared between amputated and intact arms. Then the performance of three proposed methods in attenuating the impact of arm positions was evaluated. Results: With EMG signals, the average intra-position and inter-position classification errors across all five arm positions and five subjects were around 7.3% and 29.9% from amputated arms, respectively, about 1.0% and 10% low in comparison with those from intact arms. While ACC-MMG signals could yield a similar intra-position classification error (9.9%) as EMG, they had much higher inter-position classification error with an average value of 81.1% over the arm positions and the subjects. When the EMG data from all five arm positions were involved in the training set, the average classification error reached a value of around 10.8% for amputated arms. Using a two-stage cascade classifier, the average classification error was around 9.0% over all five arm positions. Reducing ACC-MMG channels from 8 to 2 only increased the average position classification error across all five arm positions from 0.7% to 1.0% in amputated arms. Conclusions: The performance of EMG pattern-recognition based method in classifying movements strongly depends on arm positions. This dependency is a little stronger in intact arm than in amputated arm, which suggests that the investigations associated with practical use of a myoelectric prosthesis should use the limb amputees as subjects instead of using able-body subjects. The two-stage cascade classifier mode with ACC-MMG for limb position identification and EMG for limb motion classification may be a promising way to reduce the effect of limb position variation on classification performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: High-density surface electromyography (HD-SEMG) has recently emerged as a potentially useful tool in the evaluation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This study addresses a practical constraint that arises when applying HD-SEMG for supporting the diagnosis of ALS; specifically, how long the surface EMG should be recorded before one can be confident that fasciculation potentials (FPs) are absent in a muscle being tested. Methods: HD-SEMG recordings of 29 muscles from 11 ALS patients were analyzed. We used the distribution of intervals between FPs, and estimated the observation duration needed to record from one to five FPs with a probability approaching unity. Such an approach was previously tested by Mills with a concentric needle electrode. Results: We found that the duration of recording was up to 70 s in order to record a single FP with a probability approaching unity. Increasing recording time to 2 minutes, the probability of recording five FPs approached approximately 0.95. Conclusions: HD-SEMG appears to be a suitable method for capturing FPs comparable to intramuscular needle EMG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]