Search

Our team utilized qRT-PCR for prospecting miR-32 expression level in primary lung carcinoma tissues and cell lines, as well as Kaplan–Meier method for dissecting the relation of miR-32 expression with the prognosis of lung carcinoma. We transfected lung cancer A549 cells with miR-32 mimic/inhibitor and mimic/inhibitor NC, and appraised the influences of miR-32 on the phenotype changes of lung carcinoma cells via MTT assay, wound healing assay and cell apoptosis assay, separately. Then the target gene of miR-32 was predicted via bioinformatics. Finally, Western blotting was adopted for analyzing the impact of alteration of miR-32 expression on the PI3K/Akt axis in A549 cells. In lung carcinoma tissues as well as cells, miR-32 expression is down-regulated, and miR-32 partakes in the progress of lung carcinoma via PI3K/Akt pathway.

The present study aimed to investigate the levels of IL-36α and its association with disease activity in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). A total of 60 patients with SLE and 29 healthy controls were enrolled in the present study. Disease activity was evaluated using the SLE disease activity index (SLEDAI). The serum levels of IL-36α, IL-36 receptor antagonist (IL-36Ra) and IL-17 were assessed using ELISA. The levels of IL-36α in patients with SLE were significantly higher compared with those of healthy controls. There was a significant increase in IL-36α in the active SLE group (SLEDAI score ≥5) compared with that of the healthy controls (P

Chronic kidney disease (CKD), a global disease burden related to high rates of incidence and mortality, manifests as progressive and irretrievable nephron loss and decreased kidney regeneration capacity. Emerging studies have suggested that exposure to air pollution is closely relevant to increased risk of CKD, CKD progression and end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Inhaled airborne particles may cause vascular injury, intraglomerular hypertension, or glomerulosclerosis through non-hemodynamic and hemodynamic factors with multiple complex interactions. The mechanisms linking air pollutants exposure to CKD include elevated blood pressure, worsening oxidative stress and inflammatory response, DNA damage and abnormal metabolic changes to aggravate kidney damage. In the present review, we will discuss the epidemiologic observations linking air pollutants exposure to the incidence and progression of CKD. Then, we elaborate the potential roles of several air pollutants including particulate matter and gaseous co-pollutants, environmental tobacco smoke, and gaseous heavy metals in its pathogenesis. Finally, this review outlines the latent effect of air pollution in ESKD patients undergoing dialysis or renal transplant, kidney cancer and other kidney diseases. The information obtained may be beneficial for further elucidating the pathogenesis of CKD and making proper preventive strategies for this disease.

In this work, adopting bamboo shoots as raw materials, three kinds of bamboo shoots dietary fibers were prepared by physical, chemical, and enzymatic methods, termed BSPDF, BSCDF, and BSEDF, respectively, and then investigating their adsorption characteristics for polyphenols through soaked them in different concentrations and different types of polyphenol solutions. The results of the adsorption kinetics showed that the adsorption amounts of polyphenols significantly increased during the initial 30 s of soaking, and the subsequent adsorption rate became slower and slower achieving adsorption kinetics after 2 hr. Moreover, their adsorption isotherms met well with the Langmuir model, but differences in saturated adsorption capacity and adsorption rate. More impressively, the maximum adsorption capacities Qmax of them to polyphenols followed the order of catechin > phlorizin dihydrate > chlorogenic acid > gallic acid. In addition, BSPDF, BSCDF and BSEDF all could adsorb a large amount of free catechin with the saturated adsorption capacity of 15.77, 14.69 and 16.76 mg/g, respectively and which exhibited blue and green characteristic fluorescence emission signals in the presence of catechin. Therefore, compared with the other two methods, the enzymatic hydrolysis method retains the spatial network structure of the fibrils, has a larger surface area and porosity, retains the original bound phenol of fibrils, with stronger physiological activity and more potential applications. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Polyphenols are easy to oxidize in vitro, and are easily affected by gastric acid and various enzymes in vivo, which reduce their physiological activity. However, dietary fibers can resist the destruction of various enzymes and acids in the gastrointestinal tract. It is increasingly being realized that dietary fibers play a very important role in adsorbing polyphenols into its network structure, which can achieve the purpose of protecting polyphenols. In this contest, the bamboo shoots dietary fibers prepared by different methods had different adsorption characteristics for polyphenols. The aim of current study was to compare the saturated adsorption capacity of three kinds of dietary fibers to polyphenols, and screen suitable processing technology. We believed that our findings could be to provide basis for the development of new functional foods.

To assess the accuracy of paralleling technique in measuring the depth of approximal infrabony pocket after periodontal flap surgery by comparing the measured and actual depths.The study population included 26 patients with infrabony defects who had undergone periodontal flap surgery, bone graft surgery, and guided tissue regene-ration. The measured and actual depths of approximal infrabony pocket after periodontal flap surgery were compared. The 26 infrabony defects were categorized into the following groups according to tooth position: anterior teeth, premolar, and molar groups, and according to type of infrabony pocket: one-walled, two-walled, and three-walled infrabony pocket groups. Paired t-test was used to detect the difference between the two values.Depth measurements of the approximal infrabony pocket depth of the anterior teeth and premolar were not significantly different (P0.05), whereas those of the molar group were significantly different (P0.05). In addition, depth measurements in one-walled and two-walled infrabony pocket groups showed no significant differences (P0.05), whereas those in the three-walled infrabony pocket group were significantly different (P0.05).Paral-leling technique can accurately measure the depth of approximal infrabony pockets of anterior teeth and premolar teeth that are one- or two-walled. However, this method cannot accurately measure the approximal infrabony pockets of molar teeth and three-walled infrabony pockets as indicated by significant differences in their depth measurements.目的 通过与翻瓣术中实际测量的邻面骨下袋深度进行比较，评估术前应用平行投照技术测量的邻面骨下袋深度的准确性。方法 将进行牙周翻瓣术+植骨术+引导组织再生术的26位患者的26颗牙作为研究对象，将平行投照根尖片上测量的邻面骨下袋深度与术中实际测量的邻面骨下袋深度进行比较。按照牙位分为：前牙组、前磨牙组和磨牙组；按照骨袋类型分为：一壁骨袋组、二壁骨袋组和三壁骨袋组。通过配对t检验检测两种方法测量结果的差异。结果 采用平行投照技术测量前牙和前磨牙的邻面骨下袋深度和术中测得的邻面骨下袋深度相比，差异无统计学意义（P0.05），而在磨牙组的差异则有统计学意义（P0.05）；在一壁骨袋组和二壁骨袋组，两种测量方法的差异无统计学意义（P0.05），而在三壁骨袋组的差异则有统计学意义（P0.05）。结论 采用平行投照技术，在不同的牙位可以较准确地测量前牙和前磨牙的邻面骨下袋深度，在不同的骨袋类型可以较准确地测量一壁和二壁骨袋的邻面骨下袋深度；而在磨牙骨下袋及三壁骨下袋测量中存在较明显的测量误差。.

The evidence from epidemiological research on whether the efficacy of rituximab in treatment of refractory nephrotic syndrome (NS) is better than other agents is inconsistent. This meta-analysis aimed to assess the efficacy of rituximab in the treatment of NS compared with other immunosuppressive agents. Relevant literatures were identified and evaluated for quality before October 2019 through multiple search strategies on PubMed and EMBASE. Statistical evidence of the symmetry of the funnel plot obtained from Begg’s test was indicated by Egger’s linear regression and a sensitivity analysis identified heterogeneity. A fixed- or a random-effects model was applied to calculate the pooled SMDs and RRs. A total of 12 studies, involving 383 patients and 354 controls, were included. Compared with other agents, rituximab significantly improved complete remission both in children and adults [Overall: RR = 1.313, 95% CI = 1.170–1.475, P

To investigate the prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients and its possible influencing factors. MHD patients were consecutively enrolled from five hemodialysis centers in Hefei. Clinical, demographics, and laboratory data were recorded from December 2013 to March 2014. RLS diagnosis scale, Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and kidney disease and quality of life (KDQOLTM-36) were used for analysis. A total of 269 MHD patients (81 women, 188 men) were enrolled, among which 39 patients were diagnosed as RLS. The median duration of dialysis therapy was 33 months and the prevalence of RLS was 14.5%. Compared with RLS-negative patients, RLS-positive patients had lower hemoglobin level (98.67 ± 13.50 vs 106.34 ± 17.75, P = 0.011) and higher alkaline phosphatase concentration [131.0 (98.0, 226.0) vs 94.0 (69.8, 157.5), P = 0.001]. The multivariate logistic regression showed that high hemoglobin level (OR 0.975, 95% CI 0.956–0.995, P = 0.015) was a protective factor for RLS, while high alkaline phosphatase (OR 1.003, 95% CI 1.001–1.005, P = 0.018) was an independent risk factor for RLS. RLS patients had significantly higher PSQI scores (P

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE The evidence regarding the association between serum/plasma vitamin D (VitD) concentrations and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is inconsistent. The study was based on relevant results from literatures that were identified and evaluated. The aim of this meta-analysis is to determine circulating VitD in SLE patients and explore influencing factors. METHODS Studies examining VitD levels in SLE patients were identified through targeted searches in the PubMed and EMBASE databases (up to December 2017). Data extracted from eligible studies was synthesized to calculate the standardized mean difference (SMD), odds ratio (OR), and 95% confidence interval (CI). A fixed or a random effects model was applied to calculate the pooled SMDs and ORs depending on heterogeneity across studies. RESULTS A total of 24 studies, including 6017 patients and 18,417 controls were included. The pooled analysis suggested that VitD levels were significantly lower in SLE patients compared with those in controls [SMD= -0.09, 95%CI= -0.12 to -0.06, P < 0.001]. When the studies were stratified by ethnicity, VitD concentrations were also significantly lower in Asian, Caucasian and African patients. When the studies were stratified by age, gender, VitD level was lower in patients than that in controls. Subgroup analyses stratified by measurement type (expect for radioimmunoassay) also demonstrated consistent results. Moreover, VitD insufficiency was more prevalent in SLE patients than healthy controls [OR=6.57, 95%CI=4.64-9.29]. CONCLUSION Compared with healthy controls, SLE patients had lower concentration of VitD. Additionally, the prevalence of VitD insufficiency is more common in SLE patients.

To investigate the clinical significance of the ratio of T helper cell 17 (Th17) cells to single immunoglobulin IL-1-related receptor (SIGIRR)+ cluster of differentiation (CD4)+ T cells in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), novel data and data from previous studies were analyzed. The frequency of Th17 cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and their correlation with clinical data were evaluated in 48 patients with SLE and 38 healthy controls through flow cytometry. Compared with healthy controls, the percentage of Th17 cells was significantly increased in the PBMCs of patients with SLE (Z=-5.82, P

To investigate the clinical significance of the ratio of T helper cell 17 (Th17) cells to single immunoglobulin IL-1-related receptor (SIGIRR)+ cluster of differentiation (CD4)+ T cells in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), novel data and data from previous studies were analyzed. The frequency of Th17 cells in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and their correlation with clinical data were evaluated in 48 patients with SLE and 38 healthy controls through flow cytometry. Compared with healthy controls, the percentage of Th17 cells was significantly increased in the PBMCs of patients with SLE (Z=−5.82, P

Objective: To explore associations between maternal and fetal vitamin D status in preeclamptic pregnancies. Methods: A case-control experiment was carried out with proportion ratio of 1:1 (controls: n = 60 vs cases: n = 60). Blood collection of both maternal and cord were performed before and during delivery, respectively, and 25(OH)D measurement was conducted. Difference analysis was performed according to returned data. Immunohistochemical analysis, together with semi-quantitative Western blot, was also performed to determine protein expression of vitamin D receptor in placenta and cord tissues of ESPE. Results: Mean ± SD values of maternal 25(OH)D in control and PE group were 38.06 ± 6.28 and 33.05 ± 4.10, respectively, and significant differences with P < 0.0001 were found between control and PE in both continuous and categorical variables, especially in ESPE subtype (32.96 ± 4.49). The deficiency category (< 30 nmol/L) showed increased odds of PE (OR, 2.83, 95% CI, 1.32-6.08) in both maternal 25(OH)D and cord 25(OH)D in multivariable logistic regression. Semi-quantitative analysis showed that expression of placenta VDR in the ESPE subgroup was significantly higher than that in control group with P < 0.001, while expression of umbilical vein VDR in ESPE subgroup was significantly higher than that in control group with P < 0.05. Conclusions: The present study finds that lowest maternal and fetal vitamin D status in ESPE existed in the preeclampsia subsets. The VDR expression in placenta and fetus in ESPE were higher than that of normal pregnancy, which indicated that it might be related to placenta compensatory mechanism and is worthy of further research.

Predictive control is one of the robust control algorithms that suitable for computerized implementation, and requests lower accuracy of the model. It has been widely used in process control recently. Considering the features of distillation column stripping section, such as complex internal mechanism, time-varying parameters and large time delay, the DMC-PID cascade control strategy is adopted. The simulation results show that this strategy combined the advantages of predictive control and cascade control, can make distillation column stripping section have good dynamic and static characteristic in the presence of external disturbance and time delay. The performances are better than DMC and conventional PID control.

A new hybrid technique based on ADALINE (Adaptive linear element neuron) associated with Prony algorithm is presented for harmonics and interharmonics estimation in power system. The Prony algorithm can detect the accurate frequencies of harmonics and interharmonics, and the ADALINE can get the amplitudes and phase angles. If the noise is present, the Prony algorithm can get less accurately frequencies to reduce convergence time of the ADALINE, and the ADALINE will obtain higher accurately frequencies, amplitudes and phase angles by adjusting the weights. The validity and feasibility of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by numerical simulations.

The associations between rs6887695 and 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within interleukin-12B (IL-12B) and autoimmune diseases (ADs) remain controversial and inconclusive. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between IL-12B (3'-UTR A/C and rs6887695 C/G SNPs) and ADs by meta-analysis.PubMed and EMBASE were exhaustively searched for studies on the association between IL-12B SNPs and ADs. Publication bias was examined by a funnel plot and Egger's test. The robustness of the pooled results was assessed by sensitivity analysis. A fixed- or a random-effects model was applied to calculate the pooled odds ratios (ORs).A total of 34 studies were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled results demonstrated that IL-12B rs6887695 SNPs were significantly associated with the risk of ADs. However, there was no significant association between IL-12B 3'-UTR SNPs and ADs. When the studies were stratified by ethnicity, significant association between IL-12B 3'-UTR SNPs and ADs was observed in both Asian and European population. In addition, allele A within 3'-UTR of IL-12B gene was found to be a protective factor for T1DM, but a risk factor for psoriasis.The IL-12B 3'-UTR and rs6887695 SNPs are associated with susceptibility to ADs.

A rapid, selective and sensitive method using UPLC-MS/MS was first developed and validated for quantitative analysis of koumine in rat plasma. A one-step protein precipitation with methanol was employed as a sample preparation technique. Plasma samples were separated on an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (50 × 2.1 mm, i.d. 1.7 µm) with a gradient mobile phase consisting of methanol with 0.1% (v/v) formic acid and water containing 0.1% (v/v) formic acid at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. Detection and quantification were performed on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer by multiple reaction monitoring mode via positive eletrospray ionization. Good linearity (r > 0.9997) was achieved using weighted (1/x2) least squares linear regression over a concentration range of 0.025–15 µg/mL with a lower limit of quantification of 0.025 µg/mL for koumine. The intra- and inter- precisions (relative standard deviation) of the assay at all three quality control samples were 5.6–14.1% with an accuracy (relative error) of 5.0–14.0%, which meets the requirements of the US Food and Drug Administration guidance. This developed method was successfully applied to an in vivo pharmacokinetic study in rats after a single intravenous dose of 20 mg/kg koumine. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In large loop transient electromagnetic method (TEM), the late time apparent resistivity formula cannot truly reflect the geoelectric model, thus it needs to define the all-time apparent resistivity with the position information of measuring point. Utilizing very fast simulated annealing (VFSA) to fit the theoretical electromagnetic force (EMF) and measured EMF could obtain the all-time apparent resistivity of the measuring points in rectangular transmitting loop. The selective cope of initial model of VFSA could be confirmed by taking the late time apparent resistivity of transient electromagnetic method as the prior information. For verifying the correctness, the all-time apparent resistivities of the geoelectric models were calculated by VFSA and dichotomy, respectively. The results indicate that the relative differences of apparent resistivities calculated by these two methods are within 3%. The change of measuring point position has little influence on the tracing pattern of all-time apparent resistivity. The first branch of the curve of all-time apparent resistivity is close to the resistivity of the first layer medium and the last branch is close to the resistivity of the last layer medium, which proves the correctness of the arithmetics proposed.

BsrDI and BtsI restriction endonucleases recognize and cleave double-strand DNA at the sequences GCAATG (2/0) and GCAGTG (2/0), respectively. We have purified and partially characterized these two enzymes, and analyzed the genes that encode them. BsrDI and BtsI are unusual in two respects: each cleaves DNA as a heterodimer of one large subunit (B subunit) and one small subunit (A subunit); and, in the absence of their small subunits, the large subunits behave as sequence-specific DNA nicking enzymes and only nick the bottom strand of the sequences at these respective positions: GCAATG (-/0) and GCAGTG (-/0). We refer to the single subunit, the bottom-strand nicking forms as 'hemidimers'. Amino acid sequence comparisons reveal that BsrDI and BtsI belong to a family of restriction enzymes that possess two catalytic sites: a canonical PD-X(n)-EXK and a second non-canonical PD-X(n)-E-X12-QR. Interestingly, the other family members, which include BsrI (ACTGG 1/-1) and BsmI/Mva1269I (GAATGC 1/-1) are single polypeptide chains, i.e. monomers, rather than heterodimers. In BsrDI and BtsI, the two catalytic sites are found in two separate subunits. Site-directed mutagenesis confirmed that the canonical catalytic site located at the N-terminus of the large subunit is responsible for the bottom-strand cleavage, whereas the non-canonical catalytic site located in the small subunit is responsible for hydrolysis of the top strand. Top-strand specific nicking variants, Nt.BsrDI and Nt.BtsI, were successfully engineered by combining the catalytic-deficient B subunit with wild-type A subunit.

Radiotherapy is the primary curative treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) with the dose-response relationship. Local recurrence is one of the major treatment failure patterns. With high accuracy, high tumor dose, high therapeutic enhancement ratio and low normal tissue dose, stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) is used as boost irradiation for residual lesions and is able to improve the local control rate. Residual lesions involving the carotid artery or cavernous sinus, or with tumor necrosis are treatment contraindications to SRT boost irradiation; while the old patients, patients with hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and severe nasopharyngeal infection are relative treatment contraindications to SRT boost irradiation. Fractionated SRT can spare vessels and nerves better than stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). SRT can definitely improve the outcome for the boost of NPC residual lesions. Proper patient selection, individualized fractionated regimen, and balance of the benefit of tumor control and the risk of normal tissue damage are of paramount importance to ensure the satisfactory clinical outcome and quality of life.

A rapid, selective and sensitive method using UPLC-MS/MS was first developed and validated for quantitative analysis of koumine in rat plasma. A one-step protein precipitation with methanol was employed as a sample preparation technique. Plasma samples were separated on an Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (50 × 2.1 mm, i.d. 1.7 µm) with a gradient mobile phase consisting of methanol with 0.1% (v/v) formic acid and water containing 0.1% (v/v) formic acid at a flow rate of 0.3 mL/min. Detection and quantification were performed on a triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometer by multiple reaction monitoring mode via positive eletrospray ionization. Good linearity (r0.9997) was achieved using weighted (1/x(2) ) least squares linear regression over a concentration range of 0.025-15 µg/mL with a lower limit of quantification of 0.025 µg/mL for koumine. The intra- and inter- precisions (relative standard deviation) of the assay at all three quality control samples were 5.6-14.1% with an accuracy (relative error) of 5.0-14.0%, which meets the requirements of the US Food and Drug Administration guidance. This developed method was successfully applied to an in vivo pharmacokinetic study in rats after a single intravenous dose of 20 mg/kg koumine.

Local failure of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after radiotherapy (RT) remains one of the major treatment failures. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy and complications of fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (FSRT) with vagina carotica protection technique for local residual of NPC patients after the primary RT.From August 2006 to August 2010, FSRT with vagina carotica protection technique was applied to 36 patients in our department, the patients aged between 13 and 76 years with a median of 41.3 years, 25 of them were male and 11 were female. According to 2002 Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) Staging System, the stages before primary radiotherapy were: IIa 2, IIb 5, III 18, IVa 7, IVb 4. In the first course of radiotherapy, 9 patients received conventional RT, 27 patients received intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) and 20 out of the 36 patients received concurrent chemoradiotherapy. The total dose in the first course of RT was 69.96 - 76.90 Gy (median, 72.58 Gy). The intervals between the primary RT and FSRT ranged from 12 to 147 days (median, 39.8 days). Target volumes ranged from 1.46 to 32.98 cm(3) (median, 14.94 cm(3)). The total FSRT doses were 10.0 - 24.0 Gy (median, 16.5 Gy) with 2.0 - 5.0 Gy per fraction. The most common regimen was 15 Gy in 5 fractions of 3 Gy, the irradiation dose to vagina carotica was less than 2 Gy per fraction.The median follow-up time was 34 months (range, 12 - 59 months). The 3-year local control rate was 100%; the 3-year overall survival rate was 94.4%; the 3-year disease-free survival rate was 77.8%. In this study, we had one case of cranial nerve injury, two cases of temporal lobe necrosis, and no nasopharyngeal massive hemorrhage was observed.FSRT with vagina carotica protection technique is an effective and safe RT regimen for local residual of NPC with reduction of radiation-related neurovascular lesions.

Metastatic lung cancer is one of the most common oncologic problems. This study aimed to evaluate the long-term clinical outcome of stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for metastatic lung tumors.We retrospectively reviewed the 71 patients with lung metastases, who had 172 lesions treated with SBRT from January 2000 to December 2006. All patients were unfit or failed after surgery and/or chemotherapy. The median total dose was 48 Gy (range, 30 - 60) in 4 (range, 2 - 12) fractions. The median size of the irradiated lesions was 2.1 cm (range, 0.9 - 7.9 cm).All but two patients received follow up. The median follow-up time was 24.7 months (range, 2.9 - 114.4 months). The median follow-up time for living patients was 86.8 months (range, 58.1 - 114.4 months). The 1-, 3-, 5-year local control and overall survival rates were 88.8%, 75.4%, 75.4% and 78.9%, 40.8%, 25.2%. Multivariate analysis showed that the absence of extrapulmonary metastases (P = 0.024; hazard ratio (HR), 1.894; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.086 - 3.303) and disease-free interval ≤ 12 months (P = 0.014; HR, 0.511; 95%CI, 0.299 - 0.873) were independent prognostic factors. No grade 3 or more acute and late toxicities occurred. Only one patient developed a non-symptomatic rib fracture.SBRT could be an alternative treatment to surgery for subsets of patients with lung metastases with favorable long-term survival and tolerable complications.

A new E. coli strain has been constructed that contains the dinD1::LacZ+ fusion and is deficient in methylation-dependent restriction systems (McrA-, McrBC-, Mrr-). This strain has been used to clone restriction endonuclease genes directly into E. coli. When E. coli cells are not fully protected by the cognate methylase, the restriction enzyme damages the DNA in vivo and induces the SOS response. The SOS-induced cells form blue colonies on indicator plates containing X-gal. Using this method the genes coding for the thermostable restriction enzymes Taql (5'TCGA3') and Tth111l (5'GACNNNGTC3') have been successfully cloned in E. coli. The new strain will be useful to clone other genes involved in DNA metabolism.

The purpose of this study was to determine the features of the elderly patient with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).The medical records of 212 patients with NPC, aged ≥65 years, and receiving radiotherapy were retrospectively reviewed. Comorbidity was rated using the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI).Twenty-four patients (11.3%) scored ≥3 and 188 patients (88.7%) scored3 rated by CCI. The median actuarial irradiated dose of the nasopharynx was 72 Gy (range, 20-94 Gy) with 87.3% patients receiving70 Gy. One hundred fifty-four patients had stage III/IV disease. The actuarial local control, cancer-specific survival (CSS), and overall survival (OS) rates at 5 years were 68.8%, 63.5%, and 47.0%, respectively. On multivariate analysis, stage (hazard ratio [HR], 1.489; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.168-1.897; p = .001), the technique of radiotherapy (HR, 0.674; 95% CI, 0.476-0.953; p = .025), and anemia (HR, 3.081; 95% CI, 1.624-5.845; p = .001) were independent prognostic factors.The elderly patients with NPC may inherently predict poor outcomes.

This paper presents an automatic feature recognition method based on center-surround difference detecting and fuzzy logic that can be applied in ground-penetrating radar (GPR) image processing. Adopted center-surround difference method, the salient local image regions are extracted from the GPR images as features of detected objects. And fuzzy logic strategy is used to match the detected features and features in template database. This way, the problem of objects detecting, which is the key problem in GPR image processing, can be converted into two steps, feature extracting and matching. The contributions of these skills make the system have the ability to deal with changes in scale, antenna and noises. The results of experiments also prove that the system has higher ratio of features sensing in using GPR to image the subsurface structures., {"references":["Daniels DJ, Ground Penetrating Radar (2nd Edition). Knoval (Institution\nof Engineering and Technology). pp. 1-4, (2004).","Miao JIN, Yonghui ZHAO, Jiansheng WU and Xiongyao XIE, \"Gradient\nMethod to Extract ROI of GPR Image\", Journal of Image and Graphics,\nVol. 14, No. 4, pp. 579-584, April 2009.","Jin-feng Hu, Zheng-ou Zhou \"Target Detection and Orientation in\nSubsurface Penetrating Radar Data \" , Chinese Journal of Scientific\nInstrument, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 372-375, April 2006.","M Heisenberg and R Wolf, Studies of Brain Function, Springer-Verlag\nPress, Berlin, 1984.","T Eduardo and C Torras, \"Detection of Nature Landmarks through\nMultiscale Opponent Features\", Proceedings of International Conference\non Pattern Recognition, Barcelona, pp. 976-979, September 2000.","W Sheng and B Xia, \"Texture segmentation method based on Gabor ring\nfiltering\", Infrared and Laser Engineering (in Chinese), Vol. 32, No. 5, pp.\n484-488, 2003.","K Mikolajczyk and C Schmid, \"Scale & affine Invariant Interest Point\nDetectors\", International Journal of Computer Vision, Vol. 60, No. 1, pp.\n63-86, 2004.","L Wang and Z X Cai, \"Saliency based natural landmarks detection under\nunknown environments\", Pattern recognition and artificial intelligence (in\nChinese), Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 46-51, 2006.","D Lowe, \"Object Recognition from Local Scale Invariant Features\",\nProceedings of the International Conference on Computer Vision, Greece,\npp. 1150-1157, September 1999."]}

To study the relationship between the symptoms and prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).The clinical data of 905 M0 NPC patients who received radical radiotherapy from January 1990 to May 1999 were retrospectively studied. Nodal distribution, cranial nerve paralysis, as well as the relationship between symptom duration and prognosis were analyzed.The most common symptom in patients with NPC is neck node metastasis, with an incidence of 40.0% at the time of diagnosis, followed by blood-staining sputum (18.7%) and aural symptoms (17.0%). Node metastasis in the lower neck and supraclavicular region alone was seen in 10 patients (1.1%). Cranial nerve paralysis was found in 179 patients (19.8%). The 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival were significant lower in symptom duration more than 6 months group than in less than 6 months group (71.2% vs 79.8%, P = 0.008 and 51.9% vs 63.6%, P = 0.0008); however, the local control rate between these two group was not significantly different (79.4% vs 83.5%, P = 0.138).The symptom duration is associated with the prognosis of NPC. Early diagnosis and treatment are the most important factors in improving the prognosis of NPC.

To evaluate the clinical value of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for uveal melanoma.From Jan, 1996 to March, 2004, 16 patients with uveal melanoma were treated with SRS, two by one session (35 Gy, 25 Gy) and fourteen by fractionated SRS (30-55 Gy/2-4F/4-16D). The follow-up period ranged from 3 to 100 months (median: 66 months).All 16 patients were still alive though all were blind in the diseased eye during recent follow-up. Local control rate was 93.4%, 5-year survival rate of 13 patients who have been followed for more than 5 years, was 100% (13/13). However, 7 patients received eyeball enucleation due to corneal ulcer (n = 2), suspicion for uncontrolled tumor (n = 2) and secondary glaucoma (n = 3). One patient developed distant metastasis, though still alive.Fractionated radiosurgery is safe and effective for uveal melanoma. It is indicated for lesions of limited size (longest diameter20 mm, depth15 mm) located in the posterior pole or behind the equator at the back of the eyeball.

Importance The management of cervical esophageal cancer (CEC) is controversial. The advantages of radiotherapy (RT) for CEC are lower rates of acute morbidity and mortality compared with surgery and potential for larynx preservation. The advantage of surgery is that the transposed stomach may function better over the long term than an irradiated esophagus, which tends to become stenotic over time. Which one is the primary treatment of CEC? Objective To evaluate treatment outcomes of primary RT and primary surgery in patients with CEC. Design, Setting, and Participants This retrospective study conducted in a university hospital included 224 patients treated for CEC between 2001 and 2012. Interventions One hundred and sixty-one patients who received primary RT with or without subsequent surgery were assigned to the RT group, including 133 patients who received RT alone or RT with concurrent chemotherapy and 28 patients who received preoperative RT plus surgery. Sixty-three patients who received primary surgery with or without subsequent RT were assigned to the primary surgery group, including 27 patients who received surgery alone and 36 patients who received surgery plus postoperative RT. Main Outcomes and Measures The rates of overall 2-year local failure-free survival (FFS), regional FFS, distant FFS, and overall survival for patients undergoing primary RT and primary surgery were compared. A separate analysis using matched cases between the primary RT group and primary surgery group was conducted. Results The median follow-up time was 15.1 months. The rates of overall 2-year local FFS, regional FFS, distant FFS, and overall survival for patients undergoing primary RT and primary surgery were 69.9% and 68.6%, 79.5% and 69.8%, 74.3% and 62.5%, 49.3% and 50.7%, respectively ( P > .05 for all). Matched-case analyses did not show any significant differences in measured survival rates between the treatment groups. Conclusions and Relevance Given the similarities in rates of local FFS, regional FFS, distant FFS, and overall survival between the primary RT and primary surgery CEC treatment groups, we recommend primary RT for larynx preservation, with surgery offered subsequently for patients who do not respond to RT.