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V. amurensis is native to north-eastern China and is resistant to low temperature, even at -40°C. V. amurensis has high resistance to many diseases such as grape white rot and grape anthracnose. Wines made from these grapes have an unusual color, aroma and taste, quite different from the wine made from the grape V. vinifera and contain abundant bioactive natural substances, which have important effects on lowering human blood pressure, anti-aging, cardiovascular disease prevention, etc. China cultivates the largest area of V. amurensis in the world with about 5000 ha and Chinese researchers have made great contributions to the grape wine industry of cold temperature production areas. The present article addresses breeding research progress of V. amurensis achieved in the past decades. Further studies are proposed.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the movement characteristics of children in building stairs. In this study, four different experimental scenarios were conducted in a stairwell of a teaching building. The movement processes of children in the stairs were recorded by video cameras. The movement parameters of children in stairs were extracted and analyzed based on the recording data, including speed comparison between different scenarios, individual speed with respect to time and the fundamental diagrams. The results demonstrate that the gender and the movement type could influence the speed of children. The decreased trend of speed with the increase of density agrees with the results of adults, and the density of children on stairs in evacuation process could reach 6.4per/m 2 .

Cell-cell interactions between epithelial and stromal cells are predominant in the mammary gland, and various stromal cell-derived factors can elicit mitogenic responses in adjacent epithelial cells. Adiponectin is a hormone secreted mainly by adipocytes that mediates stromal-epithelial interactions in a number of tissues. Adiponectin receptors are expressed by bovine mammary epithelial cells, but the regulatory effects of adiponectin on the development and function of the mammary gland remain unclear. We therefore sought to investigate the effects of adiponectin on bovine mammary epithelial (MAC-T) cells and the regulatory mechanisms that underlie these adiponectin-induced actions. Our results revealed an increase in MAC-T cell proliferation and cell cycle progression in response to adiponectin. The expression of nuclear proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and cyclin D1 was induced in MAC-T cells, and intracellular signaling molecules such as serine/threonine protein kinase (AKT), 70 kDa ribosomal S6 kinase (P70S6K), ribosomal protein S6 (S6), extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2), 90 kDa ribosomal S6 kinase (P90S6K), and cyclin D1 were activated in a dose-dependent manner. The abundance of adiponectin-induced signaling proteins was suppressed following inhibition of AKT or ERK1/2 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling. In addition, inhibition of AKT or ERK1/2 signaling significantly reduced adiponectin-stimulated MAC-T cell proliferation. Furthermore, adiponectin reduced tunicamycin-induced expression and activation of endoplasmic reticulum stress-related proteins in MAC-T cells and attenuated the repressive effect of tunicamycin on proliferation of MAC-T cells. Collectively, these results suggest that adiponectin-mediated signaling may affect the development and function of the mammary gland in dairy cows by increasing mammary epithelial cell numbers. These findings may result in important implications for improving our fundamental understanding of lactation physiology in livestock species.

The mechanical properties and hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility of 7075 aluminium alloy were studied by means of cathodic H permeation, hydrogen determinator, slow strain rate test (SSRT), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that both before and after hydrogen charging, the strength and other properties all have double peaks for the examined alloys, and it was of excellent performance such as high strength and low hydrogen enbrittlement susceptibility under the second aging peak. Mg segregated at grain boundary during aging process, and there may exist Mg–H interaction during the hydrogen charging process, which played a significant role in hydrogen embrittlement.

Recent studies have suggested that contactin-1 has a key role in cancer cell proliferation and migration, however the detailed mechanism of this process is still unclear. Here, human gastric cancer cell line MKN45 was employed. It was found that under hypoxia conditions contactin-1 mRNA and protein levels were both up-regulated by HIF-1alpha expression. Furthermore, although hypoxia increased the migration rate of MKN45 cells, contactin-1 (CNTN1) shRNA reversed this process. Meanwhile, RhoA V14 and RhoA V14N19 mutation constructs were employed, and it was found that constitutively active form of RhoA reversed the cell migration suppression induced by contactin-1 knockdown, while dominant-negative form of RhoA blocked hypoxia induced hypermigration. Apart from this, contactin-1 displayed the ability to phosphorylate the RhoA activator p115 RhoGEF. Thus, under hypoxia conditions, elevated HIF-1alpha seems to up-regulate contactin-1 expression and by this activate RhoA and facilitate migration of cancer cells.

The connection between renal dysfunction and cardiovascular dysfunction has been consistently shown. In patients with liver cirrhosis, renal dysfunction shows a tight correlation with prognosis after liver transplantation (LT); therefore, precise renal assessment is mandatory. Cystatin C, a sensitive biomarker for assessing renal function, has shown superiority in detecting mild renal dysfunction compared to classical biomarker creatinine. In this study, we aimed to compare cystatin C and creatinine in predicting 30-day major cardiovascular events (MACE) and all-cause mortality in LT recipients with normal serum creatinine levels.Between May 2010 and October 2015, 1181 LT recipients (mean Model for End-stage Liver Disease score 12.1) with pretransplantation creatinine level ≤1.4 mg/dL were divided into tertiles according to each renal biomarker. The 30-day MACE was a composite of troponin I0.2 ng/mL, arrhythmia, congestive heart failure, death, and cerebrovascular events.The highest tertile of cystatin C (≥0.95 mg/L) was associated with a higher risk for a 30-day MACE event (odds ratio: 1.62; 95% confidence interval: 1.07 to 2.48) and higher risk of death (hazard ratio: 1.96; 95% confidence interval: 1.04 to 3.67) than the lowest tertile (0.74 mg/L) after multivariate adjustments. However, the highest tertile of creatinine level showed neither increasing MACE event rate nor worse survival rate compared with the lowest tertile (both insignificant after multivariate adjustment).Pretransplantation cystatin C is superior in risk prediction of MACE and all-cause mortality in LT recipients with normal creatinine, compared to creatinine. It would assist further risk stratification which may not be detected with creatinine.

To explore the effects of remote ischemic preconditioning on myocardial injury and prognosis after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute coronary syndrome.The study was a single center, prospective, randomized, controlled study. A total of 184 patients with unstable angina undergoing elective PCI were randomly assigned to remote ischemic preconditioning group (induced by four times of 5-min inflations of a blood pressure cuff to 200 mmHg around the upper arm, followed by 5-min intervals of reperfusion at 1 h before PCI therapy) or control group (an uninflated cuff around the arm). Successful completion of the PCI eventually included 130 cases of patients, including 72 cases in the remote ischemic preconditioning group and 58 cases in the control group. CK-MB, cTnI, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and Hs-CRP levels were measured at 6 am. of the day operating PCI and at 24 h after PCI in the two groups. Major adverse cardiac events were recorded of two groups of patients in the postoperative 6 months. (MACE, including recurrence of angina pectoris, myocardial infarction and death).There were no statistically significant differences in baseline indicators between the 2 groups. CK - MB, cTnI, sICAM-1, sVCAM-1 and Hs-CRP levels in patients with remote ischemic preconditioning group were significantly lower than those form the control group after PCI (p0.05), but there were no significant differences between the occurrence of MACE in the postoperative 6 months (p0.05).Remote ischemic preconditioning can reduce PCI related myocardial injury and protect vascular endothelial function.

Homogeneous (Cu, Ni)

Neuregulin 1 (NRG1), a signaling protein that binds to members of the erythroblastoma (ErbB) family, is known to play essential biological roles in mediating cell-cell interactions and orchestrating vital cell functions in the heart and nervous system. NRG1 is closely associated with developmental processes in various organs and expression of several NRG1 isoforms are regulated by estrogen. However, expression and its hormonal regulation during development of the female reproductive tract remain unknown. The reproductive system of chickens undergoes dynamic morphological and functional changes in response to estrogen and the molting process. Therefore, in the current study, we found differential expression of and candidate microRNA regulating chicken transcription in response to estrogen stimulation and/or the molting process. The results revealed that relative expression of mRNA increased in the oviducts of chicks treated with diesthylstilbestrol (DES; a synthetic non-steroidal estrogen). Additionally, abundant NRG1 mRNA expression was primarily in the glandular (GE) and luminal (LE) epithelia of the magnum in the developing chick oviduct in response to exogenous estrogen. Also, expression decreased during regression of the oviduct following induced molting by feeding high levels of zinc in the diet, and then gradually resurged as the oviduct underwent remodeling and recrudescence in laying hens. In addition, the present results revealed changes in relative expression of candidate chicken microRNA (, and ) targeting transcription in chicken oviducts in response to exogenous estrogen. In conclusion, these results provide the first evidence that is a novel estrogen-responsive gene closely correlated with the estrogen-dependent development of the oviduct of chicks and regeneration of the oviduct after molting. Further, regulation of expression involving at least 3 chicken miRNA is likely a prerequisite for those estrogen regulated developmental events.

To assess the diagnostic rate, safety and clinical application of percutaneous renal masses biopsy for advanced renal cell carcinoma patients.In this retrospective study, we collected the data of renal masses from the patients who underwent renal masses biopsy under ultrasound from April 2001 to December 2014 in Peking University First Hospital. A total of 75 patients who were undiagnosed or diagnosed with advanced renal cell carcinoma by the imageological method were enrolled in this study. The patient and lesion characteristics such as tumor size, pathology of tumor, histologic subtype, pathological grade, biopsied location and biopsied cores were recorded and analyzed.Among all the 75 patients, biopsy was diagnostic in 64 cases (85.3%) and non-diagnostic in 11 cases (14.7%). Of the 64 diagnostic biopsies, 60 were malignant, including 37 (61.7%) renal cell carcinoma (RCC), 13 (21.7%) urothelial carcinoma and 10 (16.7%) other malignant masses. Of all the RCC subjects, 24 suffered from clear cell RCC, 5 papillary RCC, 3 collecting duct carcinomas, 1 unclassified RCC and 4 unknown subtypes. The 11 non-diagnostic biopsied samplings included inflammatory, blood and extrarenal tissue and normal renal tissue. The proportion of collecting duct carcinoma in RCC was 10.8% and the proportion of squamous carcinoma in urothelial carcinoma was 23.1%, which were both higher than the previous research findings. For the male and female groups, non-diagnostic yields were 6.5% and 30.4%, respectively (P=0.022). Of all the 75 patients, 13 renal cell carcinoma patients underwent the surgical treatment and got the results of postoperative pathology. Comparing preoperative biopsy pathological diagnosis with postoperative pathological diagnosis, we found the diagnostic correct rates for benign and malignant lesions, pathological subtype and pathological grade were 100%, 81.8% and 60%, respectively. Mild macroscopic hematuria occurred in 1 case after RMB and there were no serious complications in all the cases.Percutaneous renal masses biopsy under ultrasound with a high diagnostic rate which can define the histologic subtype of renal cell carcinoma. With targeted therapy, more and more patients whose evaluation suggests local advanced disease or metastatic tumors adopt renal tumor biopsy to define the histologic subtype, which could avoid unnecessary surgical treatment.

To explore risk factors including prostate-specific antigen (PSA) kinetics for the prediction of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), and to build a practical model for predicting the progression to CRPC after androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) so as to facilitate clinicians in decision-making for prostate cancer patients receiving ADT.A total of 185 patients with prostate cancer who had received ADT as the primary therapy in Department of Urology of Peking University First Hospital from 2003 to 2014 were enrolled retrospectively. All the patients were diagnosed with prostate cancer via prostate biopsy and followed up every four weeks from the initiation of ADT. All the patients received ADT with luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists (LHRH-A) or surgical castration accompanied with an antiandrogen (bicalutamide or flutamide, combined androgen blockade). The clinical information of the patients were collected including age, clinical TNM stage, Gleason score (GS), risk groups of prostate cancer, PSA at the initiation of ADT, PSA nadir after ADT, PSA decline velocity, and the time to PSA nadir. The end point of this study was the diagnosis of CRPC, which was based on the European Association of Urology (EAU) Guideline 2016. Cox proportional hazards regression models were established to analyze and estimate their effects on the time of progression to CRPC.In this study, 185 patients with prostate cancer who had received ADT as the primary therapy were included. The mean age was (71.02±8.67) years. The median time to progression to CRPC in this cohort was 38 months (ranging from 4 to 158 months). On univariate analysis, we found clinical T stage, N stage, the metastasis state before ADT, risk groups of prostate cancer, PSA decline velocity, and PSA nadir were all related to the time to CRPC progression, P0.01 for all the above variables. And on multivariate analysis, the presence of distant metastasis before ADT (HR=6.030, 95% CI: 3.229-11.263, P=0.001), higher PSA nadir (HR=1.185, 95% CI: 1.080-1.301, P=0.001), higher PSA decline velocity11 μg/(L×month) (HR=2.124, 95% CI: 1.195-3.750, P=0.001), and time to PSA nadir ≤9 months (HR=3.623, 95% CI: 1.640-4.817, P=0.004) were found to be significantly associated with an increased risk of progression to CRPC.Patients with rapid decreasing of PSA in the initial ADT were more likely to progress to CRPC.

Photoacoustic Tomography (PAT) is a promising medical imaging modality that combines optical imaging contrast with the spatial resolution of ultrasound imaging. It can also distinguish the changes in biological features. But, real-time PAT system should be confirmed due to photoacoustic effect for tissue. Thus, we have developed a real-time PAT system using a custom-developed data acquisition board and ultrasound linear probe. To evaluate performance of our system, phantom test was performed. As a result of those experiments, the system showed satisfactory performance and its usefulness has been confirmed. We monitored the degradation of inflammation which induced on the rat’s kidney using real-time PAT., {"references":["Oraevsky A A, Jacques S L, Esenaliev R O, Tittel F K, Time-resolved optoacoustic imaging in layered biological tissues, Advances in Optical Imaging and Photon Migrationed R R Alfano (New York: Academic) pp 161.5, 1994","Kruger R A, Photo-acoustic ultrasound: pulse production and detection in 0.5% Liposyn, Med. Phys. 21 127.31, 1994","Kruger R A, Liu P-Y, Fang Y, Thermoacoustic ultrasound (PAUS)-reconstruction tomography, Med. Phys.22 1605.9, 1995","Oraevsky A A, Esenaliev R O, Jacques S L, Tittel S K, Laser opto-acoustic tomography for medical diagnostics: principles, Proc. SPIE 2976 22.31, 1996","Hoelen C G A, de Mul F F M, Pongers R, Dekker A, Three-dimensional photoacoustic imaging of blood vessels in tissue, Opt. Lett. 23 648-650, 1998","A. Oraevsky and A. Karabutov, Optoacoustic tomography, in Biomedical Photonics Handbook, T. Vo-Dinh, CRC, Boca Raton, Ed., Chap. 34, pp. 1-34, 2003.","L. V. Wang and H. Wu, Ed. Biomedical Optics: Principles and Imaging, John Wiley, 2007.","Lihong V. Wang, Ed. Photoacoustic Imaging and Spectroscopy, 1st ed., Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2009.","J. T. Oh, M. L. Li, H. F. Zhang, K. Maslov, G. Stoica, and L. V. Wang, Three-dimensional imaging of skin melaNoma in vivo by dual-wavelength photoacoustic microscopy, J. Biomed. Opt., Vol. 11, No. 3, p. 034032, Nov. 2006.\n[10]\tS. Yang, D. Xing, Q. Zhou, L. Xiang, and Y. Lao, Functional imaging of cerebrovascular activities in small animals using high-resolution photoacoustic tomography, Med. Phys., Vol. 34, No. 8, p. 3294-3301, Aug. 2007\n[11]\tQ. Zhou, X. Ji and D. Xing, Full-field 3D photoacoustic imaging based on plane transducer array and spatial phase-controlled algorithm, Med. Phys. 38(3), 1561 (2011).\n[12]\tJ. Gamelin, A. Maurudis, A. Aguirre, F. Huang, P. Guo, L. V. Wang and Q. Zhu, A real-time photoacoustic tomography system for small animals, Optics Express 10489, 17(13), 22 (2009).\n[13]\tV. Moock, C. Garcia-Segundo, E. Garduno, F. Arambula Cosio, J. Jithin, P. van Es, S. Manohar and W. Steenbergen, Signal Processing for Photoacoustic Tomography, IEEE CISP 2012, 957 (2012).\n[14]\tY. Zhang, Y. Wang, An Improved Filtered Back-Projection Algorithm for Photoacoustic Tomography, IEEE iCBBE 2011, 1 (2011).\n[15]\tT. Oruganti, J. G. Laufer and B. E. Treeby, Vessel filtering of photoacoustic images, Proc. SPIE 8581, 85811W (2013).\n[16]\tJ. T. Oh, M. L. Li, H. F. Zhang, K. Maslov, G. Stoica and L. V. Wang, Three-dimensional imaging of skin melanoma in vivo by dual-wavelength photoacoustic microscopy, J. Biomed. Opt. 11(3), 34032 (2006).\n[17]\tS. Manohar, A. Kharine, J. C. van Hespen, W. Steenbergen and T. G. van Leeuwen, The twente photoacoustic mammoscope: system overview and performance, Phys. Med. Biol. 50(11), 2543 (2005).\n[18]\tS. A. Ermilov, R. Gharieb, A. Conjusteau and A. A. Oraevsky, Hybrid optoacoustic and ultrasonic imaging system for detection of prostate malignancies, Proc. SPIE 6856, 68560T (2008).\n[19]\tJ. T. Oh, M. L. Li, H. F. Zhang, K. Maslov, G. Stoica, and L. V. Wang, Three-dimensional imaging of skin melaNoma in vivo by dual-wavelength photoacoustic microscopy, J. Biomed. Opt., Vol. 11, No. 3, p. 034032, Nov. 2006.\n[20]\tS. Yang, D. Xing, Q. Zhou, L. Xiang, and Y. Lao, Functional imaging of cerebrovascular activities in small animals using high-resolution photoacoustic tomography, Med. Phys., Vol. 34, No. 8, p. 3294-3301, Aug. 2007\n[21]\tE. Z. Zhang, J. G. Laufer, R. B. Pedley, and P. C. Beard, In vivo high-resolution 3D photoacoustic imaging of superficial vascular anatomy, Phys. Med. Biol., Vol. 54, No. 4, p. 1035-1046, Jan. 2009"]}

Objective In this study, we aimed to assess the relative efficacy and safety of intravenous (IV) or subcutaneous (SC) belimumab compared with those of placebo in patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods We performed a Bayesian network meta-analysis to combine the direct and indirect evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the efficacy and safety of belimumab 1 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg IV administration, and belimumab 200 mg SC injection, and placebo in patients with active SLE despite having received standard therapy. Results Five RCTs (3460 patients) met the inclusion criteria. The SLE Responder Index (SRI) response rate at week 52 was significantly higher in the belimumab 10 mg/kg group than in the placebo group (OR 2.63, 95% CrI 2.14–3.23). Similarly, the SRI response rates were significantly higher in the belimumab 1 mg/kg, and belimumab 200 mg SC groups than in the placebo group (OR 2.42, 95% CrI 1.90–3.09; OR 1.71, 95% CrI 1.27–2.29). Ranking probability based on surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) indicated that belimumab 10 mg/kg had the highest probability of being the best treatment for achieving the SRI response (SUCRA = 0.9174), followed by belimumab 1 mg/kg (SUCRA = 0.7338), belimumab 200 mg SC (SUCRA = 0.3487), and placebo (SUCRA = 0.0000). However, a sensitivity test by omitting one outlier study showing low SRI response rate compared with the other three studies (11% vs. 33%, 40%, 48%) showed that belimumab 200 mg SC and belimumab 10 mg/kg had the highest probability of being the best treatment for achieving the SRI response (SUCRA = 0.7903, SUCRA = 0.7456), followed by belimumab 1 mg/kg, and placebo. The number of serious adverse events (SAEs) did not differ significantly among the four treatment options. Conclusions Belimumab at 1 and 10 mg/kg IV and belimumab 200 mg SC in combination with standard therapy was an efficacious intervention for active SLE, and was not associated with a significant risk of SAEs.

Background Measuring activated clotting time (ACT) is widely performed to monitor heparin therapy. Regardless of anticoagulant use, ACT is affected by coagulopathies such as coagulation factor deficiency and thrombocytopenia. However, its use in end-stage liver disease (ESLD) with complex coagulopathy is not well characterized. We evaluated whether ACT could be used to detect innate coagulopathy in ESLD patients. Methods We retrospectively assessed Hemochron (International Technidyne, Edison, NJ, USA) ACT (FTCA 510, normal range 105–167 seconds) and INTEM clotting time (CT) of rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM; ROTEM delta, Pentapharm GmbH, Munich, Germany) (100–240 seconds) in 366 liver transplantation (LT) recipients, simultaneously measured before anesthetic induction for LT. Multiple linear regression analyses helped identify the factors related to ACT in ESLD patients. The relationship between ACT and INTEM CT was evaluated by Spearman rank correlation analysis and receiver operating characteristic curve. Results Median ACT was 143 seconds (range 73–295 seconds), and 60 patients (16.4%) had ACTs of >167 seconds. Multiple regression analyses revealed that prolonged prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, low antithrombin III, and young age were associated with high ACT levels. INTEM CT was associated with ACT independent of liver disease severity, while EXTEM CT was not. ACT was moderately correlated with INTEM CT ( r = 0.535), and the optimal cutoff value of ACT for predicting INTEM CT >240 seconds was 151 seconds (area under the curve = 0.787). Conclusions In ESLD patients, ACT is effective in detecting prolonged INTEM CT. Therefore, ACT may be used to predict intrinsic pathway defects with a cutoff value of 151 seconds, suggesting feasibility when ROTEM is unavailable.

Background The importance of heart rate (HR) measurement as a prognostic factor has been recognized in many clinical conditions, such as hypertension, coronary artery disease, or heart failure. Patients with liver cirrhosis tend to have increased resting HR as consequence of hyperdynamic circulation. In the current study, we examined whether pretransplant resting increased HR is associated with overall mortality in cirrhotic patients following liver transplantation (LT). Patients and Methods We retrospectively collected and analyzed the data of 881 liver recipients who underwent LT surgery between October 2009 and September 2012. Patients were categorized into 3 groups by tertile of resting HR as follows: tertile 1 group, HR ≤ 65 beats per minute (bpm); tertile 2 group, HR 66 to 80 bpm; and tertile 3 group, HR > 80 bpm. Results Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the all-cause mortality rate was significantly different according to tertiles of HR ( P = .016, log-rank test). The multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that tertile 3 group was significantly associated with higher risk for all-cause mortality (hazard ratio 1.83, 95% confidence interval, 1.10–3.07; P = .021) compared with tertile 1 group, after adjusting for clinically significant variables in univariate analysis. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that pretransplant resting tachycardia can identify patients at high risk of death in cirrhotic patients following LT, suggesting that further study will be need to clarify relationship between HR burden and sympathetic cardiac neuropathy.

The fluid management of cirrhotic patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT) is challenging. Phonocardiography, a graphic recording of heart sounds, provides valuable information concerning heart function and hemodynamic condition. We assessed whether the systolic time interval (STI) and its respiratory variation could predict fluid responsiveness in cirrhotic patients undergoing LT.Thirty LT recipients who needed volume expansion were included. The fluid challenge consisted of 500 mL 5% albumin administered over a period of 10 minutes. STI was measured as the time interval between the maximal amplitude of each heart sound corrected with the corresponding RR interval (cSTI). The respiratory variation in STI (STV) induced by mechanical ventilation was calculated. Responders were defined as those showing a ≥10% increase in stroke volume index after volume expansion.In all, 14 of the 30 patients were responders. Significant increases in cSTI were observed after volume expansion in both responders (P .001) and non-responders (P = .008). Responders showed significant decreases in STV (11.1% ± 4.3% vs 6.1% ± 2.6%, P .001) after fluid loading, whereas STV in non-responders remained unchanged (6.4% ± 2.6% vs 6.4% ± 4.2%, P = .86). A cut-off value of ≥7.5% STV from baseline could predict fluid responsiveness with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.804 (95% confidence interval, 0.618-0.925).Intra-operative STV can predict fluid responsiveness in patients undergoing LT. Beat-to-beat monitoring of STI and STV may be useful as a non-invasive hemodynamic index and for fluid management.

Background Baricitinib is a potent, selective JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor. Baricitinib has been investigated in phase II and phase III studies of active patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). who showed an inadequate response to disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), including methotrexate (MTX) and biologics. However, due to the lack of adequate multiple comparisons, the comparative efficacy and safety of baricitinib in various treatment regimens with different dosages or in combination with DMARDs or MTX remains unclear. Objectives This study aimed to assess the relative efficacy and safety of once-daily baricitinib 2 mg and 4 mg administration in patients with active RA. Methods We performed a literature search using MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, and the EULAR and ACR conference proceedings. In this network meta-analysis, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining the efficacy and safety of baricitinib in patients with active RA were included. A Bayesian network meta-analysis was conducted to combine the direct and indirect evidence from the RCTs. Results Seven RCTs involving 3,461 patients met the inclusion criteria. There were 10 pairwise comparisons, including 7 direct comparisons and 5 interventions. The ACR20 response rate was significantly higher in the baricitinib 4 mg in combination with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) group than in the placebo+DMARD group (OR 3.13, 95% CrI 2.32–4.33). Compared with the placebo+DMARD group, the baricitinib 4 mg, baricitinib 2 mg+DMARD, and adalimumab 40 mg+MTX groups showed a significantly higher ACR20 response rate. The ranking probability based on the surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) indicated that baricitinib 4 mg+DMARD was likely to elicit the best ACR20 response rate (SUCRA =0.7930), followed by baricitinib 4 mg (SUCRA =0.7034), baricitinib 2 mg+DMARD (SUCRA =0.6304), adalimumab 40 mg+MTX (SUCRA =0.3687), and placebo+DMARD (SUCRA =0.0045). By contrast, the safety based on the number of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) did not differ significantly among the 5 interventions. Conclusions Baricitinib 2 mg and 4 mg administered once daily was an efficacious intervention for active RA that had no significant risk of TEAE development. Acknowledgements None Disclosure of Interest None declared

The development of high performance colorless polyimide (PI) films is one of the targets of PI chemistry, since heat resistant colorless PI films are key materials for reliable plastic substrates in image display devices. In the present work, 2,3,3′,4′-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (a-BPDA) was used to polymerize with diamines to afford a series of PI, as shown in Scheme 1. Due to the fully aromatic composition, the films displayed high thermal decomposition temperatures (T5%). PI-FDA and PI-FFDA had similar glass transition temperatures (Tg) around 425°C, and much higher than that of PI-TFMB. PI-TFMB and PI-FFDA showed a transparent and colorless feature, with high transparency at 400nm (T400). Coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE) were found around 55ppm.°C−1 for the series of PI films, larger than the requirement of flexible substrate applications, which could be attributed to the distorted chain structure derived from the a-BPDA component.

Background Although both Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) and risk, injury, failure, loss, and end-stage (RIFLE) kidney disease criteria are frequently used to diagnose acute kidney injury (AKI), they have rarely been compared in the diagnosis of AKI in patients undergoing surgery for infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). This study investigated the incidence of, and risk factors for, AKI, defined by AKIN and RIFLE criteria, and compared their ability to predict mortality after infrarenal AAA surgery. Methods This study examined 444 patients who underwent infrarenal AAA surgery between January 1999 and December 2011. Risk factors for AKI were assessed by multivariable analyses, and the impact of AKI on overall mortality was assessed by a Cox's proportional hazard model with inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW). Net reclassification improvement (NRI) was used to assess the performance of AKIN and RIFLE criteria in predicting overall mortality. Results AKI based on AKIN and RIFLE criteria occurred in 82 (18.5%) and 55 (12.4%) patients, respectively. The independent risk factors for AKI were intraoperative red blood cell (RBC) transfusion and chronic kidney disease (CKD) by AKIN criteria, and age, intraoperative RBC transfusion, preoperative atrial fibrillation, and CKD by RIFLE criteria. After IPTW adjustment, AKI was related to 30 day mortality and overall mortality. NRI was 15.2% greater (P=0.04) for AKIN than for RIFLE criteria in assessing the risk of overall mortality. Conclusions Although AKI defined by either AKIN or RIFLE criteria was associated with overall mortality, AKIN criteria showed better prediction of mortality in patients undergoing infrarenal AAA surgery.

The effect of heat treatment on the microstructure, hardness and rollability of V 55 Ti 30 Ni 15 alloy membranes has been investigated in this study. The microstructure resulting from different heat treatment conditions has a great influence on hardness. Fine NiTi particles precipitate from the supersaturated V-matrix solid solution at temperatures above 600 °C, increase in quantity until 800 °C, then dissolve back into the V-matrix with a further increase in temperature up to 950 °C. The resultant hardness decreases with temperature until 800 °C, and then increases from 800 to 950 °C. In the present study, a comparison has been made between the rollability of the as-cast and the heat treated state selected for deformation at different rolling temperatures. The percent reduction in thickness of the heat-treated alloy (800 °C/18 h) has been found to be up to 30% higher than that of the as-cast alloy, even at room temperature (cold rolling).

Objective To investigate whether interleukin-10 (IL-10) polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to pre-eclampsia. Methods A meta-analysis was conducted on the associations between IL-10-1082 G/A, -819 C/T and -592 C/A polymorphisms and pre-eclampsia using allele contrast, a recessive model, a dominant model and an additive model. Results Thirteen groups from 11 papers involving 1534 patients with pre-eclampsia and 2271 controls were considered in the meta-analysis. Meta-analysis of the IL-10-1082 G/A polymorphism in 3500 study subjects revealed no association between pre-eclampsia and the IL-10-1082 G allele [odds ratio (OR) 0.890, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.729–1.087; p = 0.254]. Stratification by ethnicity indicated an association between the IL-10-1082 G allele and pre-eclampsia in the Iranian groups (OR 1.408, 95% CI 1.097–1.807; p = 0.007), but not in the European groups (OR 0.759, 95% CI 0.506–1.136; p = 0.180). Meta-analysis revealed an association between pre-eclampsia and the IL-10-819 C allele in all study subjects (OR 1.296, 95% CI 1.012–1.661; p = 0.040), particularly among the Iranian groups (OR 1.390, 95% CI 1.067–1.811; p = 0.015). Meta-analysis showed no association between pre-eclampsia and the IL-10-592 C allele (OR 1.215, 95% CI 0.967–1.527; p = 0.094) in any groups, except for the Iranian groups (OR 1.380, 95% CI 1.056–1.805; p = 0.018). However, the associations found in the meta-analysis became non-significant after exclusion of the studies in which the controls showed deviation from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Conclusions This meta-analysis suggests that IL-10-1082 G/A, -819 C/T and -592 C/A polymorphisms are unlikely to be important in susceptibility to pre-eclampsia.

The aim of this study was to explore whether polymorphisms in miR-146a, miR-499 and IRAK1 are associated with susceptibility to inflammatory arthritis. Manual searches performed in the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were used to identify published articles in which the roles of microRNA (miRNA) and IRAK1 polymorphisms in inflammatory arthritis were determined. A meta-analysis was conducted to investigate associations of the miR-146a rs2910164, miR-499 rs3746444, IRAK1 rs3027898 and IRAK1 rs1059703 polymorphisms with susceptibility to inflammatory arthritis. Nine studies containing 1224 patients and 1841 controls were included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis revealed no association between inflammatory arthritis and the rs2910164 C allele of miR-146a (odds ratio, OR = 0.974; 95 % confidence interval, CI = 0.810–1.091; p = 0.650). Stratification by ethnicity or disease type revealed no association between the miR-146a C allele and inflammatory arthritis in European, Middle Eastern or Asian patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). However, the meta-analysis revealed an overall association between RA and the miR-499 rs374644 C (OR = 1.123, 95 % CI = 1.019–2.586, p = 0.041); stratification by ethnicity revealed a particular association in Middle Eastern populations (OR = 1.943, 95 % CI = 1.508–2.504, p = 2.7 × 10–8). The meta-analysis of IRAK1 polymorphisms revealed an association between inflammatory arthritis and the rs3027898 CC genotype (OR = 2.602, 95 % CI = 1.387–4.879, p = 0.003). An analysis using the homozygote contrast showed the same pattern for the rs3027898 CC genotype (OR = 2.472, 95 % CI = 1.300–4.700, p = 0.006). No association between inflammatory arthritis and the rs1059703 polymorphism was found. This meta-analysis suggests that the miR-499 rs374644 and IRAKI rs3027898 polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to inflammatory arthritis.

The microstructure, hardness, and precipitate free zones (PFZ) of V55Ti30Ni15 alloys during heat treatment have been investigated in this study. The microstructure resulting from different heat treatment conditions has a great influence on hardness. The microstructure resulting from different heat treatment conditions has a great influence on hardness. Fine NiTi particles precipitate from the supersaturated V-matrix solid solution at 750 °C, increase in quantity until 800 °C, and then dissolve back into the V-matrix at 850 °C. The resultant hardness decreases with temperature until 800 °C, and then increases from 800 to 850 °C. The microstructure containing small NiTi precipitates resulting from the treatment of 18 h at 800 °C has a good soft condition for workability. PFZ formed at the grain boundary of V-matrix during heat treatment was observed. Vacancies depletion in V-matrix maybe led to the formation of PFZ.

We present the results of flux density monitoring of the S5 sample at 5GHz with the Urumqi 25-m radio telescope during Dec. 2008 and Nov. 2009. Most sources exhibited >2% rms variation in our one-year monitoring. Twenty-five highly variable sources were detected at a confidence level of 99%. Weaker sources show larger amplitude of variability. Sources that have a steep spectral index are not as variable in flux density as the flat spectrum objects. No galactic dependent variability was found. Supplemental IDV observations for several strong variables were performed in order to search for possible rapid variability, and to compare variability on different time-scales. The absence of short time-scale variability in S5 0633+73 indicates that mid time-scale variability is a main source of intrinsic origin.

Background Fluzoparib (FLU; SHR3162) is a selective PARP1 inhibitor that showed antitumour activity in xenograft models. We conducted a two-arm phase I, first-in-human, dose-escalation and expansion (D-Esc and D-Ex) trial of FLU in patients (pts) with advanced cancer. (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03509636). Methods This was a 3 + 3 phase I D-Esc trial with a 3-level dose expansion (D-Ex) at 5 centers in China. Eligible pts were diagnosed with advanced solid tumors refractory to standard therapies or with no standard therapy. FLU was administered orally (daily or 2x/day (BID)) at 11 dose levels from 10–400 mg/day. The D-Ex arm evaluated FLU at 80, 100 or 150 mg BID in pts with ovarian cancer (OC). Endpoints included dose-finding, safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and estimation of preliminary antitumor activity. Results 79 pts with advanced solid tumors: (OC) [47; 59.5%]; breast cancer (BC) [16; 20.3%]; colorectal cancer [8; 10.1%], other tumors: [8; 10·1%]) were enrolled from 3/2015 to 3/2019. 48 pts were treated in the D-Esc arm and 31 in the D-Ex arm. The maximum tolerated dose (MTD) was 150 mg BID, with a half-life of 9 hours. Hematologic adverse events (AEs; all grades) included anemia (53.2%), thrombocytopenia (17.7%) and neutropenia (24.1%); main non-hematologic AEs (all grades) were fatigue (48.1%), vomiting (17.7%), nausea (34.2%) and decreased appetite (29.1%). Grade 3/4 AEs included anemia (7.6%) and neutropenia (5.1%). Objective responses were observed in 3 of 10 (30%) patients with platinum-sensitive OC and 1 of 13 (7·7%) with BC. Among patients treated with FLU ≥120 mg/day, median progression free survival (mPFS, range) was 4.4 mo (1–24) in OC; 10.2 mo (2–24) in platinum-sensitive OC; 3.5 mo (2–28) in BC. 11/43 OC and 2/16 BC had BRCAMut. In patients with BRCAMut, mPFS was 14 mo (one pt with BC at 160 mg/d) and 8.5 mo (range 1-24; 95%CI 0-17.1; 11 pts with OC). As of 3/1/2019, one pt with BC (BRCA wild type, 60 mg BID,28+mo) and 3 pts with BRCAMut OC (one at 80 mg BID, +21 mo; two at 150 mg BID, +15 and +14mo) continue on FLU. Conclusions The MTD of FLU was 150mg BID in advanced solid malignancies. FLU demonstrated single-agent antitumour activity in BC and OC, particularly in platinum-sensitive and BRCAMut OC. Clinical trial identification NCT03509636. Legal entity responsible for the study Huiping Li. Funding Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co. Disclosure All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

The effects of polarisation (including cathodic and anodic polarisation) on mechanical properties and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) susceptibility (ISCC) of 7050 aluminium alloy have been investigated by means of polarisation and slow strain rate test. The results of cathodic polarisation experiments showed that the ISCC increased with shifting negatively the polarisation potential when the cathodic potential EC≧−1100 mV(SCE), while it decreased with shifting negatively the polarisation potential when the cathodic potential EC

The tendency of vanadium-based alloy membranes to embrittle is the biggest commercialisation barrier for this hydrogen separation technology. Excessive hydrogen absorption and the α → β hydride transition both contribute to brittle failure of these membranes. Alloying is known to reduce absorption, but the influence of alloying on hydride phase formation under conditions relevant to membrane operation has not been studied in great detail previously. Here, the effect of Cr, Ni, and Al alloying additions on V–H phase equilibrium has been studied using hydrogen absorption measurements and in situ X-ray diffraction studies. The addition of 10 mol% Ni increases the critical temperature for α + β hydride formation to greater than 400 °C, compared to 170 °C for V. Cr also increases the critical temperature, to between 200 and 300 °C. The addition of 10 mol% Al, however, suppresses the critical temperature to less than 30 °C, thereby enabling this material to be cycled thermally and hydrostatically while precluding formation of the β-hydride phase. This is despite Al also decreasing hydrogen absorption. The implication of this finding is that one of the mechanisms of brittle failure in vanadium-based hydrogen-selective membranes has been eliminated, thereby increasing the robustness of this material relative to V.

Vegetation at mining sites can produce increased heavy metal leaching by the organic acids and protons originating from root secretion and litter degradation. Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of organic acids and pH on the extraction of Pb, Cd, Zn and Cu from an alkaline mine soil (sampled from a mining site of Chenzhou City, Hunan Province) and an acid mine soil (sampled from a mining site of Daxin county, Guangxi Province). The results showed that in the presence of organic acids (acetic, oxalic, malic, fumaric, tartaric and citric acids) at pH 7, the extraction of Pb, Cd, Zn and Cu from the acid mine soil was much higher than that from the alkaline mine soil, in which only citric acid with higher concentration was capable of extracting some heavy metals. Citric acid had the strongest ability in extracting heavy metals, followed by oxalic acid. Heavy metal extraction dramatically decreased with increasing pH. Moreover, at low pH, oxalic acid promoted the risk of Cu leaching; at high pH, the leaching of Pb, Zn, Cd and Cu was enhanced by both oxalic and citric acids. This indicated that those plants, which can produce substantial citric acid or oxalic acid by root secretion and litter degradation, should not be selected for the revegetation of mining sites.

Formaldehyde is widely used in chemical manufacturing industry and classified as a human carcin- ogen. Discharging wastewater containing formaldehyde without treatment can cause serious risk to the water environment. In this study, a formaldehyde-resistant fungal strain was isolated from sewerage of a furniture factory. Isolate strain was identified based on the morphological and phylogenetic analyses. Formaldehyde-degrading fun- gus was determined by characterizing the mycelia growth in culture media, formaldehyde-resistant, formaldehyde- degrading efficiencies, and specific enzyme activity involved in formaldehyde removal. Isolate strain HUA was identified as a member of Aspergillus sydowii. The strain HUA showed a growth in the presence of formaldehyde up to 2,400 mg l -1 at an optimum temperature of 25 C and optimum pH of 7. The specific activity of formaldehyde dehydrogenase and formate dehydrogenase could reach up to 5.02 and 1.06 U mg -1 , respectively. It indicated that

The mass of the tritium produced in 6Li(n,α)T reaction was obtained by quantitatively analyzing the byproduct 4He with mass spectrometer. The self-expending seal method was employed to quantitatively prepare the Li–Pb alloy targets in room temperature. They were irradiated for 2 h in two rabbit irradiation channels in Xi’an pulsed reactor and measured after cooling 15 days. A sample purifying unit was set up to get rid of the hydrogen isotopes to remarkably reduce the interference to helium isotopes when measuring. And the sample disposal platform including purifying unit was testified with simulative gas and nature atmosphere. The targets were melted at 700 °C to release most of the 4He atoms which were measured by adding dilution gas 3He. And it was testified that 4He had released completely by repetitiously melting the targets. This approach had solved the problem that the tritium couldn’t be accurately determined by directly analyzing it because of non-complete releasing from lithium alloy.

The ongoing development of H 2 -selective alloy membranes is gradually increasing the competitiveness of membrane-based H 2 /CO 2 separation against established H 2 /CO 2 separation technologies. Continued advances in terms of their flux, cost and durability, however, will be required before they are widely adopted. Palladium-based alloy membranes have appeared on the market in recent years in the form of thin, supported, alloy films which minimise the Pd consumption (and therefore, cost). Vanadium-based alloys are an emerging alternative to these Pd membranes, and while they potentially offer high H 2 flux at much lower cost, they lag behind Pd-based alloy membranes in terms of robustness. The challenge remains to improve the mechanical stability of vanadium (primarily by reducing hydrogen absorption) while minimising the associated permeability penalty. A number of prospective alloying elements have been identified, including Ni, Al, Cr and Ti. This work has shown that substitution of V by Ti increases hydrogen absorption and decreases hydrogen diffusivity, with the overall effect being a negligible change in permeability, but greater hydrogen absorption brings the penalty of poorer mechanical properties. As this is the opposite of the preferred case ( i.e. , reduced absorption and higher diffusivity), Ti is therefore an unfavourable addition to the base V 90 Al 10 alloy. These findings are in contrast to previous work on V–Ti–Ni alloys, in which the segregation of V, Ti and Ni between multiple phases had the overall effect of increasing hydrogen diffusivity relative to the base V 90 Ni 10 alloy. Whereas the true role of Ti was masked in the V–Ti–Ni system, the single-phase V–Ti–Al system examined here provides a clear illustration of the negative impact of Ti on vanadium solid solution alloy membranes.

We studied the relationship between hypoxia and microRNA-210 (miR-210) levels, the miR-210 levels in patients with hepatitis B and the roles of miR-210 in liver inflammation. We used the concanavalin A (Con A) murine hepatitis model and inflammation, hypoxia and miR-210 levels were examined. In these patients, we studied serum miR-210 levels and clinical indexes related to hepatitis in 90 patients with different stages of chronic hepatitis B and 30 controls. Two functional assays of miR-210 in vitro under hypoxic condition were conducted. The animal experiments indicated that the liver and serum miR-210 levels significantly increased with liver hypoxia and inflammation. In humans, serum miR-210 levels enhanced with hepatitis severity and were related to serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), total bilirubin (TB) and prothrombin activity (PTA) levels. The miR-210 functional assays showed that miR-210 elevation might be related to the decreases in HepG2.2.15 cell dehydrogenase activity and HBV replication under hypoxic conditions. Because the liver inflammation causes liver hypoxia which also results in liver and serum miR-210 level elevation, the serum miR-210 level may serve as a molecular biomarker for the severity of hepatitis and increases in liver miR-210 that we see may be a response of hepatocytes to hypoxia during hepatitis progression.

The present study investigated the interaction of stocking density and cool perch availability on broiler chickens raised at high ambient temperature (30.8°C). Behavior, live performance, and the incidence of footpad and hock burns and abdominal plumage damage were investigated over a 4-wk experimental period. A total of 1,152 one-day-old Arbor Acres chicks were subjected to a 2 (cool perches) × 3 (stocking densities) factorial arrangement of treatments. From 1 d of age, birds were provided with or without cool perches at each of 3 stocking densities (12, 16, or 20 birds/m(2); low, medium, or high stocking density, respectively) and corresponded to 48, 64, and 80 birds per pen. The perch design provided 380 cm of linear perching space in each treatment pen. The results showed that high stocking density decreased the growth (P0.05) and welfare (P0.01) of broilers. Cool perch availability increased BW gain and feed conversion efficiency of broilers (P0.05) regardless of stocking density. The birds' use of cool perches increased with age (P0.01) and decreased with higher stocking density (P0.05). The accessibility of cool perches changed birds' behavior patterns (P0.01) and reduced footpad or hock burns and damage to abdominal plumage (P0.05). These results suggest that cool perches have a favorable effect on the performance and welfare of broilers.

Vanadium-based alloys are an emerging alternative to palladium alloys for use in hydrogen-selective alloy membranes. The tendency of vanadium to embrittle, due to its high hydrogen absorption, means it lacks the robustness required for industrial hydrogen separation applications. Alloying vanadium with certain elements reduces hydrogen absorption, but also influences the diffusivity of hydrogen through the bulk material. Consequently, diffusivity and absorption data must be decoupled in order to fully evaluate the influence of various alloying additions on the hydrogen transport properties of vanadium alloys. To address this need, the hydrogen transport properties of V–Al (V 95 Al 5 , V 90 Al 10 , V 85 Al 15 , V 80 Al 20 , V 75 Al 25 , expressed as atom%) and V–Cr (V 95 Cr 5 , V 90 Cr 10 , V 85 Cr 15 ) alloys have been compared through a series of absorption and flux measurements. Pd-coated alloy disks were formed from arc melted and sectioned ingots, and each alloy was subjected to a microstructural analyses and a detailed examination of hydrogen absorption and permeation properties. Additions of Al and Cr reduce the hydrogen absorption and diffusivity of vanadium, with V–Cr alloys exhibiting the greatest hydrogen diffusivity for a given hydrogen feed pressure. The diffusivity of each alloy showed strong concentration dependence. Diffusivity-concentration results have been overlayed with an isoflux curve corresponding to a target flux of 1.0 mol m −2 s −1 , enabling prediction of the thickness and pressure required to achieve this target flux target for a given alloy.

Cisatracurium was initially characterized to have no evident histamine-releasing potential with excellent cardiovascular stability. However, severe anaphylactic reactions to cisatracurium that resulted in bronchospasms and cardiovascular collapse have been reported worldwide. Two cases of severe anaphylactic reactions after the administration of cisatracurium are presented. The anesthetics used in both cases were lidocaine, midazolam, propofol (microemulsion propofol in the second case), remifentanil and cisatracurium. After the administration of these drugs, bronchospasm and hypotension manifested, leading to the diagnosis of anaphylaxis and appropriate treatment. Skin intradermal testing confirmed that both cases were due to immune-mediated anaphylaxis to cisatracurium, despite the fact that neither of the patients had been exposed to the allergen previously. The anaphylaxis may be due to cross-reactivity between neuromuscular blocking agents and substances with quaternary ammonium ions. Anesthesiologists should be aware that cisatracurium has the potential to trigger severe anaphylactic reactions via an immune-mediated mechanism. (Korean J Anesthesiol 2013; 65: 147-150)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCR) on perioperative outcomes, tumor pathology, and survival following surgical resection of clinical stage II and III esophageal cancer. Patients undergoing esophagectomy for clinical stage II and III cancer were divided into two groups: those who received NCR and those who underwent primary surgery (1991–2011). A total of 173 (50.9 %) of 340 stage II/III patients received NCR, 108 (31.8 %) patients underwent primary surgery, and 59 (17.4 %) underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery. Patients who received NCR were younger but had a similar Charlson comorbidity index and incidence of adenocarcinoma. There were no differences between groups in the incidence of complications, in-hospital mortality, and ICU stay, but patients who received NCR demonstrated a reduced length of hospital stay. NCR was associated with a reduced the incidence of positive pathological lymph node status and positive resection margin (3.1 vs. 21.1 %) in stage III esophageal cancer. No overall survival benefit was seen with use of NCR, although a nonsignificant improvement in survival of 22 months (p = 0.06) was noted in patients with adenocarcinoma. Negative resection margin was associated with an improved survival in both stage II and III patients. This study highlights the importance of planning operations to optimize the opportunity to provide negative surgical resection margins and to identify patients not responding to NCR to allow them to proceed directly to surgery. Additional assessment of the effect of NCR on patients with adenocarcinoma is warranted.

To investigate the relationship between the gene polymorphism of osteoprotegerin (OPG) and bone mineral density (BMD) in hemodialysis patients.A total of 147 patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who were admitted to the Weifang People's Hospital for maintenance hemodialysis between January 2014 and December 2015 were enrolled. Peripheral blood was collected from the subjects for assay of the polymorphism of A163G and G1181C loci of OPG. The measurements of the levels of RANK, RANKL, TNF-α, IL-6, PINP, CTX-I, CTX-II and TRACP5 in the isolated serum were taken.For the polymorphism of A163G locus on the OPG gene, the BMDs of left femoral neck and lumbar poster anterior L1-L4 of the AA genotype were significantly higher than those of the AG and GG genotypes. There was no significant difference in comparison of BMDs at the forearm (distal 1/3) between the AA genotype and AG and GG genotypes. No significant differences were found in the comparison of BMDs at all sites between AG and GG genotypes. The serum level of RANKL of the AA genotype was significantly higher than levels of AG and GG genotypes, but the levels of RANK, TNF-α, IL-6, PINP, CTX-I, CTX-II and TRACP5 were prominently lower than those levels of AG and GG genotypes. For the polymorphism of G1181C locus on the OPG gene, the BMDs of left femoral neck and lumbar poster anterior L1-L4 of the CC genotype were significantly higher than the BMDs of GG and GC genotypes, There was no significant difference in the comparison of BMDs at the forearm (distal 1/3) between the CC genotype and GG and GC genotypes. No significant differences were found in the comparison of BMDs at all sites between GG and GC genotypes. The serum level of RANKL of the CC genotype was significantly higher than the level of GG and GC genotypes. However, the levels of RANK, TNF-α, IL-6, PINP, CTX-I, CTX-II and TRACP5 were prominently lower than those levels of GG and GC genotypes.The polymorphisms of A163G and G1181C loci on the OPG gene were correlated with the BMD of hemodialysis patients. The genotype AA of A163G and genotype CC of G1181C were identified as the protective factors for BMD.