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Modern data center topologies often take the form of a multi-rooted tree with rich parallel paths to provide high bandwidth. However, various path diversities caused by traffic dynamics, link failures and heterogeneous switching equipments widely exist in production data center network. Therefore, the multi-path load balancer in data center should be robust to these diversities. Although prior fine-grained schemes such as RPS and Presto make full use of available paths, they are prone to experi-ence packet reordering problem under asymmetric topology. The coarse-grained solutions such as ECMP and LetFlow effectively avoid packet reordering, but easily lead to under-utilization of multiple paths. To cope with these inefficiencies, we propose a load balancing mechanism called PDLB, which adaptively adjusts flowcell granularity according to path diversity. PDLB increases flowcell granularity to alleviate packet reordering under large degrees of topology asymmetry, while reducing flowcell granularity to obtain high link utilization under small degrees of topology asymmetry. PDLB is only deployed on the sender without any modification on switch. We evaluate PDLB through large-scale NS2 simulations. The experimental results show that PDLB reduces the average flow completion time by up to ∼11-53% over the state-of-the-art load balancing schemes.

We explored the effect of psychological contract breach on employees' unethical behavior and examined the mediating and moderating roles of organizational disidentification and organizational ethical climate, respectively, using data from 362 paired questionnaires. The results of multiple linear regression analysis showed that psychological contract breach was positively related to employees' unethical behavior and also that organizational disidentification completely mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and employees' unethical behavior. In addition, organizational ethical climate moderated the relationship between psychological contract breach and employees' unethical behavior by weakening the mediating role of organizational disidentification. The results demonstrated that avoidance of organizational disidentification and cultivation of a higher level of organizational ethical climate were conducive to the reduction of employees' unethical behavior.

Fengjiao Yao, Yacong An, Xundou Li, Zhaoyi Li, Jinhong Duan, Xian-Da Yang Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Xian-Da Yang Email ayangmd@hotmail.comPurpose: Chemotherapy is the primary treatment for advanced colon cancer, but its efficacy is often limited by severe toxicities. Targeted therapy in the form of selectively drug delivery system (SDDS) is an important strategy to reduce adverse effects. Here, we aim to design a novel SDDS with potential for practical application using biocompatible components and scalable production process, for targeted delivery of doxorubicin (Dox) to colon cancer cells.Methods: The SDDS was made of a self-assembled DNA nano-cross (Holliday junction, or HJ) functionalized by four AS1411 aptamers (Apt-HJ) and loaded with Dox.Results: Apt-HJ had an average size of 12.45 nm and a zeta potential of − 11.6 mV. Compared with the monovalent AS1411 aptamer, the quadrivalent Apt-HJ showed stronger binding to target cancer cells (CT26). A complex of Apt-HJ and doxorubicin (Apt-HJ-Dox) was formed by intercalating Dox into the DNA structure of Apt-HJ, with each complex carrying approximately 17 Dox molecules. Confocal microscopy revealed that Apt-HJ-Dox selectively delivered Dox into CT26 colon cancer cells but not the control cells. Moreover, Apt-HJ-Dox achieved targeted killing of CT26 cancer cells in vitro and reduced the damage to control cells. Importantly, compared with free Dox, Apt-HJ-Dox significantly enhanced the antitumor efficacy in vivo without boosting the adverse effects.Conclusion: These results suggest that Apt-HJ-Dox has application potential in targeted treatment of colon cancer.Keywords: colon cancer, targeted therapy, aptamer, holliday junction, doxorubicin

Background. Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) remains as a big unsolved challenge for cancer patients and oncologists. However, there is no effective treatment to prevent and cure it. This systematic review and meta-analysis chiefly aimed to assess the effectiveness and safety on the method of activating blood and dredging collaterals in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for reducing CIPN. Methods. Two authors comprehensively searched all the randomized controlled trials (RCTs) via PubMed, Cochrane, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and Wanfang Database of China Science Periodical Database (CSPD). The Review Manager (RevMan) 5.0 was used to conduct the meta-analysis. Results. 20 trials including 1481 participants were analyzed. 15 trials tested the incidence of all-grade CIPN which was significantly lower in intervention arm and 16 trails presented that the result of high-grade CIPN was the same. The total effective rate of the use of Chinese herbs was 77.19% versus 45.79% in the comparator group. Besides, the use of Chinese herbs statistically promoted the sensory nerve conduction velocity (SNCV) and the motor nerve conduction velocity (MNCV). Besides, the quality of life (QoL) in the intervention group was better than the comparator one. Herbs-related adverse events were skin allergy, skin chap, and scald, which could be managed well. Conclusions. The work involving studies of the effectiveness and safety on TCM for reducing CIPN proves to be encouraging. Herbs with the function of activating blood and dredging collaterals were found to potentially promote the curative effects as well as making improvements of SNCV and MNCV. However, in the future, more double-blind, multicenter, large-scale RCTs and more comprehensive researches are still required.