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OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis aims to assess the susceptibility to and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic disease (AIRD) and following AIRD drug use.\ud \ud MATERIALS AND METHODS: We included observational and case-controlled studies assessing susceptibility and clinical outcomes of COVID-19 in patients with AIRD as well as the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 with or without use of steroids and conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs).\ud \ud RESULTS: Meta-analysis including three studies showed that patients with AIRD are not more susceptible to COVID-19 compared to patients without AIRD or the general population (OR: 1.11, 95% CI: 0.58 to 2.14). Incidence of severe outcomes of COVID-19 (OR: 1.34, 95% CI: 0.76 to 2.35) and COVID-19 related death (OR: 1.21, 95% CI: 0.68 to 2.16) also did not show significant difference. The clinical outcomes of COVID-19 among AIRD patients with and without csDMARD or steroid showed that both use of steroid (OR: 1.69, 95% CI: 0.96 to 2.98) or csDMARD (OR: 1.35, 95% CI: 0.63 to 3.08) had no effect on clinical outcomes of COVID-19.\ud \ud CONCLUSIONS: AIRD does not increase susceptibility to COVID-19, not affecting the clinical outcome of COVID-19. Similarly, the use of steroids or csDMARDs for AIRD does not worsen the clinical outcome.

Consisting of 6 radiating elements and a 3×3 Butler matrix, a novel tri-beam antenna system is proposed in this paper. The radiating element consists of two U-shaped arms and coupled strips, which shows a wide impedance characteristic. Three branch line couplers and four -90° phase shifters are combined into 3×3 Butler matrix as a beam-forming network (BFN). In order to avoid the crossover of transmission lines, one main line of a 1.76dB coupler is designed and located between two 3dB couplers. With this arrangement, the signal from one input port can be divided into three output signal with equal amplitude and specify phase differences of 0°, +120° and -120°. Furthermore, a 2×3 antenna array is connected with this BFN for three orthogonal beams. Measured results show that three beams at θ=0°, 40° and -40° are produced when different input ports are excited.

This article aims to explore the expression and mechanism of miR-10a-5p in pancreatic cancer. MiR-10a-5p mimic, MiR-10a-5p inhibitor and negative control were transfected into human pancreatic cancer cell line SW1990. Real-time quantitative PCR technology was used to analyze the expression level of miR-10a-5p in pancreatic cancer tissues and cells. The proliferation, invasion and apoptosis of SW1990 cells in each group were detected by CCK-8 analysis, Transwell analysis, TUNEL method and flow cytometry. Targetscan7.2 was used to predict the target protein of MiR-10a-5p, and the expression of related proteins was detected by Western blot analysis. The results showed that the expression of miR- 10a-5p in cancer tissues of patients with pancreatic cancer was significantly higher than that in adjacent tissues (P0.05). The expression of miR-10a-5p in cancer cells increased significantly, which could promote the proliferation and invasion of SW1990 cells and inhibit apoptosis (P0.05). Overexpression of miR-10a-5p can regulate the expression of BDNF and SEMA4C. miR-10a-5p can promote the occurrence and development of pancreatic cancer by regulating the BDNF / SEMA4C pathway, and may become a molecular target for the diagnosis and treatment of pancreatic cancer in the future.

To explore the effect of hypoxia on the Twist1 expression in epithelial-mesenchymal transition of the cervical cancer cells.In this study, we simulated the normoxia and hypoxia environment, where HeLa cells were cultured, respectively. Cell invasion ability was measured by the transwell assay, while the GLI-1 protein and mRNA expressions were measured by Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot assays. After that, HeLa cells were transfected with the GLI-1-specific siRNA, followed by the measurement of mRNA and protein expressions using RT-PCR and Western blot assays, as well as the cell invasion ability by the transwell assay.We found that in hypoxic environment, GLI-1 was up-regulated in HeLa cells, with enhanced invasion ability. However, silencing the expression of GLI-1 could reverse the up-regulation of GLI-1 compromising the invasion ability of HeLa cells.Hypoxia may account for the increased invasion of HeLa cells, which is realized by the up-regulated GLI-1.

The aim of the present study was to determine the anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects of dihydromyricetin (DHM) on the AGS human gastric cancer cells and their underlying mechanisms. The effects of DHM on AGS cells were evaluated by using 3-(4, 5-di-methylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), lactate dehydrogenase, and Annexin V/propidium iodide (PI) double-staining assays. The underlying mechanisms were determined by using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The results demonstrated that DHM significantly (P < 0.05) inhibited AGS cell proliferation and induced cell cytotoxicity in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Additionally, Annexin V/PI double-staining assay showed that DHM promoted cell apoptosis in both, early and late stages. Furthermore, DHM also regulated the expression of apoptotic genes such as p53 and B-cell lymphoma-2 (bcl-2) in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In conclusion, this is the first report demonstrating the anticancer and pro-apoptosis effects of DHM on AGS human gastric cancer cells. The results strongly suggest that DHM may be a potential therapeutic candidate for the treatment of gastric cancer.

A nonlinear thermodynamic analysis is adopted to study the electrocaloric effect of B a x S r 1 − x Ti O 3 (BST) solid solutions. The results reveal that the location of maximum adiabatic temperature change Δ T can be shifted from a high temperature to room temperature via tuning chemical composition x. Comparing the electrocaloric properties of BST with those values reported in other electrocaloric materials, it is found that BST with x = 0.7 shows a large electrocaloric response over a broad temperature range near room temperature and possesses a large electrocaloric strength Δ T / Δ E ∼ 1.978 × 10 − 6 K m/V due to a significant change in polarization with respect to temperature. This suggests that BST with high electrocaloric performance has potential for practical cooling applications.

Aims Multiple pathogenic pathways are involved in diabetic neuropathy and diverse treatments have been tried without success. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of α-lipoic acid on skin blood flow in patients with diabetic neuropathy. Methods We measured skin blood flow in 13 control subjects and 19 patients with diabetic neuropathy using the laser Doppler blood flow technique. Skin blood flow and the extent of skin blood flow changes were compared before and after diabetic patients received 600 mg/day α-lipoic acid intravenously for 14 days. Results Although no significant differences in absolute values of skin blood flow or in the extent of changes were noted, symptoms were reduced after α-lipoic acid treatment. Conclusions This study suggests that α-lipoic acid, a potent antioxidant, improves symptoms of diabetic neuropathy. Larger studies are needed to determine whether improvements in skin blood flow also occur in patients with diabetic neuropathy.

We report a patient with bowenoid papulosis (BP) involving two high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPVs) and the development of invasive squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Our patient showed verrucous lesions on the penis, perianal area and groin that had been noted over the previous 8 years and had recurred after all therapeutic approaches. The perianal and left inguinal lesions revealed invasive SCC on histology. HPV-31 and HPV-67 sequences were detected by polymerase chain reaction from BP lesions of the perianal area and the shaft of the penis. HPV-31 has already been reported in BP as a high-risk HPV for the development of SCC, but HPV-67 is a novel one that has never been reported in BP. As HPV-67 has sequence homology to HPV-52 and HPV-58, it belongs to the family of HPV-16, a high-risk HPV group. Thus our patient showed two high-risk HPVs, i.e. HPV-31 and the novel HPV-67, which may be directly involved in the development of SCC.

A new method has been developed for the extraction and determination of linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) in plant tissues (rice stems and leaves). It consists of methanol-ultrasonic extraction followed by clean-up with aluminum oxide, enrichment with C18 solid-phase extraction column and determination by HPLC. Both efficiency and accurracy of the overall method were high, i.e. mean recovery of: 89% (84 to 93% for LAS concentrations ranging from 1 to 100 mg kg−1) and repeatability of: 3% relative standard deviation for 6 replicate analyses. With a 2 g sample for analysis, LAS levels of 0.5 mg kg−1 in plants could be detected with the proposed method. Further advantages were: it was less time consuming (1 h for extraction), less solvent consumption, and smaller samples (2 to 3 g) required when compared with Soxhlet extraction.

The crystal structure of the title compound, [SmCl2{C2H4N2(CH2C5H4N)4}]ClO4, at room temperature was solved and compared with the previously determined structure of [EuIIICl2(R-tppn)]ClO4 [where R-tppn is N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)-(R)-propylenediamine]. The Sm3+ ion is eight-coordinated through the six N atoms of the N,N,N',N'-tetrakis(2-pyridylmethyl)ethylenediamine ligand and two Cl− ions. The coordination is best described as dodecahedral with some important distortions.

By unequal-frequency hybrid resonance followed by hybrid resonance four-wave mixing in Na2-Na mixture, broadly tunable UV coherent radiation in the wavelength region 319.2-354.2 nm has been generated. The experimental and theoretical analysis have been focused on the particular mechanism and the features of the UV coherent radiation.

We report a Chinese pedigree with familial medullary thyroid carcinoma. Direct sequencing of the entire coding sequences of Rearranged during Transfection (RET) identified a recurrent c.T1852A (p.C618S) mutation in 13 of 23 members. The polymorphisms c.A135G (p.A45A), c.A1296G (p.A432A), c.T2307G (p.L769L) and IVS19 + 15T > C were also found in 13 carriers, and c.G2073A (p.G691S) was found in 1 carrier. Of the 13 carriers, seven (mean age: 42.6 years, range: 27-64) presented MTC as the isolated clinical phenotype, with elevated basal serum calcitonin (average: 1077.9 ng/L, range: 504-2,652) and a mean diameter of thyroid nodules of 2.97 cm (range: 1.6-4.3); they underwent a total thyroidectomy with modified bilateral/unilateral neck dissection and/or level VI lymph node dissection. The other 6 carriers did not accept surgery (4 rejected, 2 awaited). These were 2 older patients (63 and 32 years) with elevated calcitonin (1359 and 41.4 ng/L) and multi-centric hypoechoic nodules (1.5 and 0.6 cm) with calcifications in both/left thyroid lobes; and Doppler ultrasound showed normal bilateral thyroids in 4 younger carriers (median age: 8.3 years, range: 4-12) but with increased calcitonin (average: 9.7 ng/L, range: 7.87-12.2) in 3 of them. The phenotype here is consistent with the clinical symptoms reported worldwide. We recommend that screening of hotspot regions of RET should be preferentially carried out, while whole-exon sequencing should be performed when clinical signs fail to reveal hotspot mutations or different phenotype discrepancies. Moreover, we strongly suggest prophylactic thyroidectomy should be performed before age 5 in carriers with p.C618S to prevent the occurrence and metastasis of MTC.

To study the relationship of Metallothionein (MT) and antioxidases in hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) and hypoxic preconditioning (HPC).H/R and HPC model of rat cultured cardiomyocytes were established. Then the contents of MT and relevant changes of activities of antioxidases (SOD, CAT, GSHpx) of cardiomyocytes were determined while pretreated with the treatment: HPC. Zn2+ inducing MT or MT antibody.In HPC and Zn2+ induced groups, all the contents of MT and the activities of antioxidases were obviously higher than those in H/R (P0.05, P0.01 respectively). While using MT, the activities of SOD were progressively increased than control (P0.05), CAT and GSHpx activities were lower than control (P0.01), but were significantly higher than those in I/R group (P0.01). In MT antibody groups, the activities of antioxidase were decreased extremely.MT has effects on the cardiomyocytes protective role of HPC. And can afford more capacity for cardiomyocytes to tolerate the H/R damage by the mechanism of increasing the activities of antioxidase.

Aim To determine changes in small nerve fibres in gastric mucosa in patients with Type 2 diabetes by morphological observation. Methods In twenty-five non-diabetic and 21 Type 2 diabetic participants, gastric mucosal biopsy under endoscopy was performed. Innervation in gastric mucosa was detected using immunohistochemical staining. Anti-protein gene product (PGP) 9.5 positive nerves underwent morphological observation and quantitative analysis. Results Small nerve fibres in gastric mucosa were shortened in the diabetic subjects. The ratio of gastric mucosal protrusions maintaining nerve fibres between gastric pits to total observed protrusions was lower in patients with Type 2 diabetes compared with the non-diabetic subjects (ratio of innervated protrusion/total protrusion: 0.49 ± 0.12 vs. 0.89 ± 0.06, P

This paper proposes a new image processing method for laser speckle, adaptive windowing laser speckle contrast analysis (aLASCA) that adaptively processes laser speckle images in the temporal and spatial direction. Conventional fixed window based LASCA has shortcoming in that it uses the same window size regardless of target areas. Inherently laser speckle contains undesired noise. Thus a large window is helpful for removing the noise but it results in low resolution of image. Otherwise a small window may detect small vascular but it has limits in noise removal. To overcome this trade-off, we newly introduce the concept of adaptive windowing to conventional laser speckle image analysis. We have compared conventional LASCA and its variants with the proposed method in terms of image quality and processing complexity

Surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy have been the mainstay of colorectal cancer treatment. There is however current intense research on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) as novel or additional treatment methods for colorectal cancer. This article reviews the current use of TCM in colorectal cancer so as to increase the awareness of colorectal surgeons. The pathogenesis of colorectal cancer according to TCM is discussed. TCM has been used successfully during the perioperative period to relieve intestinal obstruction, reduce postoperative ileus and reduce urinary retention after rectal surgery. Good results have been reported in the treatment of the complications of chemotherapy and radiation enterocolitis. Favourable results have also been shown in the use of TCM either alone or in combination with chemotherapy to treat advanced colorectal cancer. Molecular studies have shown some TCM compounds to reduce tumour cell proliferation and induce apoptosis. Although the reported results of TCM have been exciting thus far, problems of lack of consensus on treatment regimes and questions on the reliability, validity and applicability of published studies prevent its widespread use. There is now an urgent need for colorectal surgeons to work with TCM physicians in the continuing research on this 6,000-year-old art so as to realize its full potential for our patients.

We investigate the effect of contact potential between Au, CuOx and Au-CuOx, and pentacene thin films by Kevin Probe microscopy Compared to the Au contact, although the injection barrier is lower for CuOx contact, the extraction barrier is higher, and the total contact resistance is only slightly smaller. The better performance of CuOx contact device results from the doping effect from the p-type CuOx. The introduction of additional Au top layer deposited on the thin CuOx layer lowersthe extraction barrier and facilitates better carrier transfer, which further reduces the contact resistance. Therefore, both the apparent mobility and channel mobility are the best in the device with Au-CuOx double layer contact.

Three isoforms of metallothionein protein induced with Zinc were isolated and purified from housefly larvae, Musca domestica, by gel filtration on Sephadex G-75, G-25 and anion exchange on DEAE-52 chromatography. Among them, one was found to possess antibacterial activity, and was further characterized by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, sulphydryl group determination, enzyme hydrolysis, and spectra property. Our results showed that the novel protein has the characteristics of heat-stable, low-molecular weight (6 kDa), rich-cysteine (approximately 12 cysteine residues in one molecule), metal affinity, and antibacterial activity. This paper was the first to report that metallothionein had antibacterial activity. We expect that this characteristic would give some help to investigate definite physiological functions of metallothionein.

We calculate the masses of the $1^{-+}$ four quark states which decay dominantly into $\rho\pi$ and $\eta\pi$ respectively by QCD sum rules approach. We include the zero mode contribution and find it plays an important role in the sum rules. We predict that the masses of the states $\eta\pi$ and $\rho\pi$ both are 1.4-1.5 GeV. This is close to the experimental candidates $\pi_1(1370)$ and $\pi_1(1440)$., Comment: 5 pages, 4 Postscript figures

We construct the heavy baryonic currents by using the Bethe-Salpeter wave functions in the heavy quark limit. We discuss the one-loop renormalization of these heavy baryonic currents as well as their two-point correlators up to the order $1/M_h$. For a special case, we do the QCD sum rule for masses of the doublet (3/2,5/2)., Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures

We calculate the radiative corrections to the current-current correlator of the hybrid current $g\bar q(x)\gamma_{\nu}iG_{\mu\nu}^aT^aq(x)$. Based on this new result we use the QCD sum rule approach to estimate lower bounds on the masses of the $J^{PC}$=$1^{-+}$ and $0^{++}$ light hybrids.

The micronuclei (MN) of peripheral blood lymphocytes from radiation-exposed people were monitored with the binucleated lymphocyte micronucleus assay (CBMN). MN rates in people with radiation-disease, radiation exposed and a control group were 12.57/1000, 4.20/1000 and 3.26/1000, respectively. The MN rate of patients with radiation-disease was significantly higher than those of other groups (P0.01). The difference between the radiation-exposed group and control group was not significant (P0.05). Meanwhile, chromosome aberrations (CA) of 3 groups were determined. The results were similar to those seen while the MN assay. CA rates were 2.06%, 0.93% and 0.69%, respectively. CA rate of the radiation-disease group was significantly higher than that of other groups (P0.05, P0.01). The difference between the radiation-exposed group and the control group was not significant (P0.05). The study indicates that the CBMN assay is a rapid, sensitive and accurate method which can be used to monitor a large population exposed to radiation.

This experiment which was divided into three items studied the relativity between normal human emotion and extrication wave of mental load (EML) in a paradigm of combining CNV feedback with EML. Fourteen young persons were taken as subjects. After Fz, Cz, Pz, P3-T5 and P4-T6 were recorded, shorter EML latency and higher EML amplitude were caused by positive emotion in comparison with those caused by negative emotion. EML changes of the five recorded points were consistent under the effects of positive and negative emotions. This experiment also discussed the question of EML brain sources. Under the emotional conditions provided in the present experiment, EML possibly can be regarded as ERP index reflecting its positive and negative attributes.

By hybrid and two-photon pumping covering a wide wavelength region of 685. 0-718. 0 nm in K2-K system , yellow stimulated deffuse-band radiation corresponding to the transition 2 fII, — a of molecular potassium was generated. The excitation and coffision energy-transfer mechanisms are discussed. Key words : StilnUL3ted diffuse-band radiation ;hybrid pumping ;two-photon pumping1. IntroductIonThe generation of stimulated diffuse-band radiation is an important topic for molecular physics and laser spectroscopy , as it might be utilized to obtain some valuable informations about the molecules and todevelop tunable lasers. UV and violet diffuse-band stimulated radiation in molecular sodium and blue one inmolecular lithium have been generated by pumping the atoms or the moieculei'. Yellow diffuse-bandspontaneous radiation in molecular potassium has been observed via one-photon pumping of molecular high-lying states or some other excitation processes9.This paper reports some new results about the generation of stimulated diffuse-band radiation (565. 0-580. 0 nm) in the potassium vapor via two-photon pumping of molecular high-lying states with either pumpwavelength within the region of 685. 0-718. 0 nm and via hybrid excitation of the molecule-atom systemwith some certain wavelengths. The interesting excitation and collision energy- transfer processes are

Tunable UV coherent radiation in the wavelength region 319.2 nm to approximately 354.2 nm has been generated by unequal-frequency hybrid resonance of Na 2 -Na system and followed four-wave mixing. The wave-mixing processes and experimental results are discussed.

In guinea pig plasma, bradykinin (BK) was degraded mainly to des-Arg1-BK by an aminopeptidase-like enzyme, which was inhibited by 2-mercaptoethanol. Besides this degradation, BK was also hydrolyzed by kininase I and kininase II from C-terminal end to des-Arg9-BK, des-Phe8-Arg9-BK and Arg-Pro-Pro-Gly-Phe ([1-5] BK). The formation of des-9-BK was strongly blocked by DL-2-mercaptomethyl-3-guanidinoethylthiopropanoic acid (MGPA) and that of des-8,9-BK and [1-5] BK was inhibited by captopril. When guinea pigs were pretreated with a cocktail of 2-mercaptoethanol, MGPA and captopril, intravenous administration of leukotriene (LT) C4 (10 nmol/kg) caused an increase in the levels of free kinin in the bronchial washings of guinea pigs. This increase was accompanied with the increase in glandular-kallikrein activity, which could be inhibited by aprotinin. As BK is reported to induce both bronchoconstriction and bronchial secretion, the increased free BK induced by LTC4 might enhance the effect of LTC4.

Durch die Radikalitat von Operationen zur Behandlung des Ovarialkarzinoms soll die Heilungsaussicht der Patienten verbessert werden. Eine Hilfe fur den Operateur sind praoperative, nicht-invasive Lokalisierungsmethoden. Hierzu gehortu.a. die Radioimmunszintigraphie. Bei diesem Verfahren werden z.B. 131J-markierte F(ab)2-Fragmente des Antikorpers OC125 (IMACIS 2 der Firma CIS) den Patienten injiziert und am 3., 4. und 5. Tag mit der Gamma-Kamera Aufnahmen gemacht. Man kann so Tumorlasionen bis zu einer Grose von ca. 1 cm O lokalisieren. Kleinere Rezidive bzw. Metastasen konnen kaum nachgewiesen werden.

The fundamental deficiency and outward excess syndrome of coronary heart disease can be classified into Qi Yang deficiency with blood stasis (QYD) and Yin deficiency with blood stasis (YD). The patients showed disturbances in immunofunction manifested as marked increase of serum IgG, CIC, IC-IgG and IC-C3 levels and the percentage of B cells in the peripheral blood, while the percentages of OKT3+, OKT4+ and OKT8+ cells markedly decreased, especially the percentage of OKT8+ cells, resulting in an increase of the ratio of T4/8 and imbalance between TS and TH. The authors deem that the fundamental deficiency of coronary heart disease is related to the low cellular immunity, especially the imbalance between TS and TH cells, while outward excess of coronary heart disease is related to hyperactivity of humoral immunity.