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The objective of the study was to evaluate the expression of l-selectin ligands in tubal epithelia during tubal ectopic pregnancy. Sixteen fallopian tube samples from ectopic pregnancies and four normal control fallopian tubes from women undergoing sterilization were obtained for the study. Oviduct tissues from ectopic pregnancies were separated into implantation sites and matched nonimplantation sites. Expression of l-selectin ligands was evaluated by immunohistochemistry with antibodies against HECA-452 and MECA-79 and by real-time PCR. Immunoreactivity levels against HECA-452 and MECA-79 were significantly higher at the implantation site than at the paired nonimplantation site or at the normal oviducts. Moreover, compared with MECA-79 staining, stronger HECA-452 staining was observed in the implantation and nonimplantation groups. HECA-452 histologic scores at implantation sites correlated with serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels. Increased expression of l-selectin ligands may be involve...

The objective of the study was to evaluate the expression of L-selectin ligands in tubal epithelia during tubal ectopic pregnancy. Sixteen fallopian tube samples from ectopic pregnancies and four normal control fallopian tubes from women undergoing sterilization were obtained for the study. Oviduct tissues from ectopic pregnancies were separated into implantation sites and matched nonimplantation sites. Expression of L-selectin ligands was evaluated by immunohistochemistry with antibodies against HECA-452 and MECA-79 and by real-time PCR. Immunoreactivity levels against HECA-452 and MECA-79 were significantly higher at the implantation site than at the paired nonimplantation site or at the normal oviducts. Moreover, compared with MECA-79 staining, stronger HECA-452 staining was observed in the implantation and nonimplantation groups. HECA-452 histologic scores at implantation sites correlated with serum human chorionic gonadotropin levels. Increased expression of L-selectin ligands may be involved in the implantation process in tubal pregnancy.

Channel variations caused by motility would introduce inter-carrier interference (ICI), which degrades channel estimation and data detection in underwater orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. To deal with this problem, a joint time-varying channel estimation and inter-carrier interference mitigation method is proposed in this paper, where time domain channel estimation and interference auto-cancellation are merged into an iterative scheme. Meanwhile, linear approximation is used to track the time-varying channel while interference auto-cancellation is achieved via pre-coding to reduce the sensibility of OFDM systems to frequency shifts. Unlike frequently-used opposite or conjugate mapping, which leads to an inevitable decrease in frequency utility ratio, differential coding is introduced for pre-coding without adding redundancy. Simulations show that the proposed algorithm can accurately estimate channel state information (CSI), and robustly mitigate ICI over time-varying underwater acoustic channels (UWAC).

TDMA is an ideal choice for solving the data collision in underwater acoustic communication networks, but it needs the global clock synchronization, which is hard to realize in underwater environment. Further, the asymmetrical energy consumption of the main node and the sub nodes will reduce the network lifetime. To address these problems, we presented a relative clock based and energy sense MAC protocol. In this protocol, global clock synchronization is not needed, all nodes mapped the network schedule on its local clock according to the relative propagation delay and worked on it. The gateway is changed dynamically according to its energy level, in order to prolong the network lifetime. The performance and the engineering feasibility of this protocol were demonstrated by simulations and lake trail.

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are one of the most intensively studied stem cell types with application aims. However, the molecular characterisation and the relationship between the molecular characterisation and functional properties of MSCs are largely unknown. In this study, we purified the surface proteins from rat bone marrow MSCs (rBMMSCs) and characterised their surface proteome by LC-MS/MS. Moreover, we comparatively analysed the data from this study with the surface proteomics data of mouse and human embryonic stem (ES) cells and human mesenchymal stromal cells (hMSCs). The data showed that, in contrast to ES cells and human mesenchymal stromal cells, rBMMSCs possessed a surface proteomics pattern biased to neural and neural-endocrine lineages, indicating a neural/neural crest bias, and suggested a neural differentiation tendency of these cells. The different surface proteomics pattern between rBMMSCs and hMSCs also suggested that MSCs of different origin might possess a different lineage bias.

This paper presents some experimental results of underwater acoustic communication networks both in a lake trial and a sea trial. Three specially designed MAC protocols are introduced and tested: full-duplex based protocol (FD-MAC), relative clock based protocol (RC-MAC) and collision free protocol (CF-MAC). The FD-MAC protocol was implemented on a full-duplex modem; a vector hydrophone was used to improve the receiving gain, and dual-mode communication and acoustic baffle technology were applied to reduce the local emission interference. Experimental results show that the exposed/hidden terminal problems can be well resolved. The RC-MAC protocol was an improved TDMA protocol suited for centralized networks in the underwater environment; neither global clock synchronization nor the periodical broadcast of a synchronized signal is needed. The net schedule was arranged by the gateway according to the propagation delays, and the sub nodes were working on their local clock by mapping the net schedule to their local time line separately. The working slot for each sub node can be customized according to the information flow to improve the network throughput, and the main node and sub node can be reversed to prolong the network lifetime. Experimental results show that this protocol was easy to implement and worked well. The CF-MAC protocol was designed for the regional underwater observation networks. This protocol avoids channel contentions by using the top-down channel assignment. In this scheme, temporary channel access is assigned by the gateway/AUV using a require-data-send signal (RDS). RDS is used to wake up the specific node and cannot be heard by the other nodes. Two types of acknowledgement signal were designed to shorten the poll duration and to save energy. The practicability of this protocol was validated by experiments. All modems used in these trials were designed and implemented by our lab.

Objective To determine whether the recently published A global reference for fetal-weight and birthweight percentiles (Global Reference) improves small- (SGA), appropriate- (AGA), and large-for-gestational-age (LGA) definitions in predicting infant mortality. Design Population-based cohort study. Setting The US Linked Livebirth and Infant Death records between 1995 and 2004. Population Singleton births with birthweight >500 g born at 24–41 weeks of gestation. Methods We compared infant mortality rates of SGA, AGA, and LGA infants classified by three different references: the Global Reference; a commonly used birthweight reference; and Hadlock's ultrasound reference. Main outcome measures Infant mortality rates. Results Among 33 997 719 eligible liveborn singleton births, 25% of preterm and 9% of term infants were classified differently for SGA, AGA, and LGA by the Global Reference and the birthweight reference. The Global Reference indicated higher mortality rates in preterm SGA and preterm LGA infants than the birthweight reference. The mortality rate was considerably higher in infants classified as preterm SGA by the Global Reference but not by the birthweight reference, compared with the corresponding infants classified by the birthweight reference but not by the Global Reference (105.7 versus 12.9 per 1000, RR 8.17, 95% CI 7.38–9.06). Yet, the differences in mortality rates were much smaller in term infants than in preterm infants. Black infants had a particularly higher mortality rate than other races in AGA and LGA preterm and term infants. Conclusions In respect to the commonly used birthweight reference, the Global Reference increases the identification of infant deaths by improved classification of abnormal newborn size at birth, and these advantages were more obvious in preterm than in term infants.

Infection by human papillomavirus (HPV) can cause cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cancer. Down-regulation of E6 and E7 expression may be responsible for the positive clinical outcomes observed with IFN treatment, but the molecular basis has not been well determined. As miRNAs play an important role in HPV induced cervical carcinogenesis, we hypothesize that IFN-β can regulate the expressions of specific miRNAs in cervical cancer cells, and that these miRNAs can mediate E6 and E7 expression, thus modulate their oncogenic potential. In this study, we found that miR-129-5p to be a candidate IFN-β inducible miRNA. MiR-129-5p levels gradually decrease with the development of cervical intraepithelial lesions. Manipulation of miR-129-5p expression in Hela cells modulates HPV-18 E6 and E7 viral gene expression. Exogenous miR-129-5p inhibits cell proliferation in Hela cells, promotes apoptosis and blocks cell cycle progression in Hela cells. SP1 is a direct target of miR-129-5p in Hela cells. This study is the first report of a cellular miRNA with anti-HPV activity and provides new insights into regulatory mechanisms between the HPV and the IFN system in host cells at the miRNA level.

Energy consumption and channel access time are two of the most crucial design issues in underwater acoustic communication networks since prolonging the network lifetime and improving the network throughput depends on the efficient energy resource management and channel access rules. This paper proposes an improved CSMA protocol for the underwater acoustic communication networks which are characterized by long propagation delays. This protocol shortens the hand-shaking procedure by arranging the sending time in stagger according to the distance between the sender and the receiver. Nodes do not need to be synchronized, are half-duplex, and use the same transmission power. This protocol achieves a throughput much higher than that of the traditional CSMA protocol, while offering similar savings in energy. We have evaluated performance, efficiency and engineering feasibility of this protocol by both software simulations and semi-physical platform tests.

This paper designed a conflict-free Media Access Control (MAC) protocol for the regional underwater observation networks, which avoids channel contentions by using the top-down channel assignment. In this scheme, temporary channel access is assigned by the gateway or Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) using a require-data-send signal (RDS). RDS is used to wake up the specific node and can not be heard by the other nodes. We designed two types of acknowledgement (ACK) signal to shorten the poll duration and save energy. If data received correctly, ACK1 will be sent to sleep the transmitting node and wake up the next node to transmit data. Otherwise, ACK2 will be sent to require the error data to be retransmitted. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that this protocol provides a better performance than ALOHA and CSMA protocols. Finally, we conducted a Lake Trails to validate the practicability of this protocol.

Acoustic modem is one of the key components of underwater acoustic communication, in order to adapt to the complex and changeable acoustic environment and complete the underwater sensor network, an intelligent modem management platform is needed to achieve the parameter adjustment and the network protocol operation, while the commercial underwater acoustic modems which are already in use are hard to meet this requirement. in this paper, we designed and implemented an intelligent underwater acoustic modem management platform, based on the chip ARM6410. the platform supports the executable program written by users, and can complete the functions of modem state control, data storage and forwarding, and network protocol implementation. Experiments on testing capability of the platform were conducted in the yellow sea, results show that the management platform performs well.

Special AT-rich sequence binding protein 1 (SATB1) is a master chromatin organizer that has recently been reported to directly upregulate metastasis-associated genes and downregulate tumor suppressor genes. However, its clinical significance in the case of ovarian cancer remains unclear. In the current study, we assessed the expression levels of SATB1 in ovarian cancer and aimed to show whether it may be a conventional clinicopathological parameter. Epithelial ovarian cancer (n=91), borderline cystadenoma (n=13) and normal ovarian background tissues (n=8) were collected immediately following excision during surgery. The mRNA expression levels of SATB1, VEGF-A and MMP-9 were determined using real-time quantitative PCR. Western blotting and immunohistochemical staining were carried out to detect the protein expression levels of SATB1. Expression levels within the ovarian cancer specimens were compared to the normal background tissues and analyzed against FIGO stage, lymph node involvement and histological type. SATB1 mRNA in malignant and borderline ovarian cystadenoma tissues was 6.74- and 5.70-fold higher compared with normal ovarian tissue, respectively (P

BACKGROUND: It has long been proposed that early embryos and reproductive organs exhibit similar gene expression profiles. However, whether this similarity is propagated to the protein level remains largely unknown. We have previously characterised the promiscuous expression pattern of cell surface proteins on mouse embryonic stem (mES) cells. As cell surface proteins also play critical functions in human embryonic stem (hES) cells and germ cells, it is important to reveal whether a promiscuous pattern of cell surface proteins also exists for these cells. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Surface proteins of hES cells and human mature sperms (hSperms) were purified by biotin labelling and subjected to proteomic analyses. More than 1000 transmembrane or secreted cell surface proteins were identified on the two cell types, respectively. Proteins from both cell types covered a large variety of functional categories including signal transduction, adhesion and transporting. Moreover, both cell types promiscuously expressed a wide variety of tissue specific surface proteins, and some surface proteins were heterogeneously expressed. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings indicate that the promiscuous expression of functional and tissue specific cell surface proteins may be a common pattern in embryonic stem cells and germ cells. The conservation of gene expression patterns between early embryonic cells and reproductive cells is propagated to the protein level. These results have deep implications for the cell surface signature characterisation of pluripotent stem cells and germ cells and may lead the way to a new area of study, i.e., the functional significance of promiscuous gene expression in pluripotent and germ cells.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have shown that embryonic stem (ES) cells globally express most genes in the genome at the mRNA level; however, it is unclear whether this global expression is propagated to the protein level. Cell surface proteins could perform critical functions in ES cells, so determining whether ES cells globally express cell surface proteins would have significant implications for ES cell biology. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The surface proteins of mouse ES cells were purified by biotin labeling and subjected to proteomics analysis. About 1000 transmembrane or secreted cell surface proteins were identified. These proteins covered a large variety if functional categories including signal transduction, adhesion and transporting. More over, mES cells promiscuously expressed a wide variety of tissue specific surface proteins. And many surface proteins were expressed heterogeneously on mES cells. We also find that human ES cells express a wide variety of tissue specific surface proteins. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results indicate that global gene expression is not simply a result of leaky gene expression, which could be attributed to the loose chromatin structure of ES cells; it is also propagated to the functional level. ES cells may use diverse surface proteins to receive signals from the diverse extracellular stimuli that initiate differentiation. Moreover, the promiscuous expression of tissue specific surface proteins illuminate new insights into the strategies of cell surface marker screening.

The drought-resistance of ten soybean cultivars of various ecotypes was investigated by pot culture and in field. At the stages from flowering and podding, the physiological and ecological indices related to drought-resistance were measured and analyzed under normal and water stress conditions. Taking each drought-resistance coefficient as an index to measure single drought-resistance capacity, all drought-resistance coefficients were synthesized into several new independent comprehensive indices by using principal component analysis. On the bases of above results, subordinate values of comprehensive indices were worked out by subordinate function, on which, the drought resistance of different soybean cultivars or lines could be evaluated. By means of this method, Jinda 74 and Jinda 53 were evaluated as two cultivars with strong drought-resistance. The evaluation results corresponded well to the fact.