Search

OBJECTIVE: To explore the regulatory effect of magnesium sulfate combined with nifedipine and labetalol on disease-related molecules in serum and placenta in the treatment of preeclampsia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Altogether 100 patients with preeclampsia admitted to the Children & Women's Healthcare of Laiwu City were selected. They were divided into control group and experimental group according to different treatment methods. Among them, 51 patients in the control group were treated with magnesium sulfate combined with nifedipine, and 49 patients in the experimental group were treated with labetalol on the basis of the treatment in the control group. The therapeutic effects of the two methods were compared. The levels of the following factors in the two groups were compared: kallikrein expression, pregnancy- associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A), pregnancy- specific β1 glycoprotein (SPI), placental growth factor (PLGF), human placental prolactin (HPL), transforming growth factor β1(TGF-β1), vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) and E-selectin in serum and placenta tissues. RESULTS: After treatment, the blood pressure in the experimental group was lower than that in the control group (p<0.05). The expression of kallikrein in serum and placental tissue of the patients in the experimental group was higher than that of the patients in the control group (p<0.05); PAPP-A level was lower than that in the control group (p<0.05); TGF-β1 level was higher than that in the control group (p<0.05); VCAM-1 and E-selectin were lower than those in the control group (p<0.05), and kallikrein and TGF-β1 in serum and placenta in the non-occurrence group were higher than those in the occurrence group (p<0.05). The serum and placenta PAPP-A, VCAM-1, and E-selectin in the non-occurrence group were lower than those in the occurrence group (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Magnesium sulfate combined with nifedipine and labetalol has good efficacy in the treatment of preeclampsia. They can promote the expression of endogenous kallikrein, reduce the level of pregnancy-related hypertension predictors, and weaken the infiltration ability of cytotrophoblasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the observation of reversible electroresistance in a metallic film La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO). The transport behavior of the Ag/LSMO system is found to be sensitive to external electric field, and a switching of the resistance between two definite resistive states can be induced by electric pulses of different polarity. The current-voltage relation, measured by tuning bias voltage, is significantly nonlinear, asymmetric against field polarity, and hysteretic in the field increase/decrease processes. This relation can be well described by a simple equation I=σV+kVn with n being a number between 1.8 and 2.4. It is found that the rough surface of the LSMO film favors the electroresistance effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents information on the optical properties of ZnO hexagonal prisms grown from poly (vinylpyrrolidone)-assisted electrochemical assembly onto Si (111) substrate. ZnO has attracted considerable research attention recently because it is a suitable candidate for blue or ultraviolet light-emitting devices and photodetectors. ZnO is a direct wide-band-gap s3.37 eVd semiconductor with a high exciton binding energy of 60 meV. The morphology, size, and orientation of ZnO are crucial to the application of this material.

The authors report on the assembly and photoelectric performance of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV)/Fe3O4 nanofiber array. The composite nanofibers were fabricated by electrospinning of PPV precursor/Fe3O4 nanoparticle solution, followed by thermal conversion. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed in the PPV matrix. During the electrospinning process, magnetic fields were used to orient the nanofibers. The resulting nanofiber array was assembled directly into a photoconductor device. The photoelectric performances of the devices have been investigated, which show notable light sensitivity, good response speed, wavelength sensitivity, and reproducibility. Electrospinning is thus proposed as a simple and versatile method of fabricating one-dimensional PPV-based photoconductor devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LaCoO3 (LCO) has attracted much attention due to the unique magnetic transition and spin transition of Co3+ ions. Epitaxial LCO film exhibits an unexpected ferromagnetism, in contrast to the non-magnetism of bulk LCO. An in-depth study on the property of strained LCO film is of great importance. We have fabricated 30 nm LCO films on various substrates and studied the magnetic and transport properties of films in different strain states (compressed strain for LCO/LaAlO3, tensile strain for LCO/(LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2TaAlO6)0.35, SrTiO3). The in-plane tensiled LCO films exhibit ferromagnetic ground state at 5K and magnetic transition with TC around 85K, while compressed LCO/LaAlO3 film has a negligibly small moment signal. Our results reveal that in-plane tensile strain and tetragonal distortion are much more favorable for stabilizing the FM order in LCO films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical significance of the expression of PSMA (prostate specific membrane antigen), TERT (telomerase reverse transcriptase), and PDEF (prostate derived Ets factor) in malignant tumors of the prostate. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was conducted with paraffin slices from 33 specimens of malignant tumors of the prostate and 17 of normal tissue. We found high levels of PSMA, TERT, and PDEF protein by Western blot and immunofluorescence in the malignant tumor of the prostate. We also detected upregulation of PSMA, TERT, and PDEF mRNA in the malignant tumor of the prostate, suggesting complex regulation of these three genes in prostate cancer. RESULTS: Variance analysis showed statistically significant differences comparing the expression of PSMA, TERT, and PDEF in the malignant tumor of the prostate and normal tissues. The high expression of PSMA, TERT, and PDEF in the malignant tumor of the prostate suggests the important roles of these three factors in the occurrence and development of the malignant tumors of the prostate. CONCLUSIONS: PSMA, TERT, and PDEF may serve as a reference for clinical diagnosis and as potential targets for the malignant tumor of the prostate therapeutics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SrTiO3 is a model perovskite oxide of abundant physical properties, which are closely associated with internal oxygen vacancy (VO) defects. Through in situ X-ray diffraction measurements, we observed a remarkable structural expansion in the near-surface region of (001)-SrTiO3 induced by an external electric field. By repeated scanning and consistently monitoring the 002 reflections, forming process of the unique structural distortion was obtained and considered to be the results of electromigration and redistribution of VOs. Peculiarly, it was found that a much greater lattice distortion would occur rapidly in SrTiO3 under the illumination of visible light, and be effectively tuned depending on wavelength. We propose that the light effect stems from photo-excitation, which generates extra carriers and remarkably speeds up the diffusion of VOs. This work provides a feasible way towards tuning the kinetics of VOs and structure of SrTiO3 by combined stimuli of electric field and light illumination, yielding novel properties in above films as well as hetero-interface at SrTiO3-based oxide system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Our study is intended to explore the correlation of long non-coding RNA CCHE1 (CCHE1) and clinicopathological factors of cervical cancer patients, and evaluate the impact of CCHE1 on the prognosis of cervical cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The CCHE1 expression in cervical cancer tissues was examined by quantitative Real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and its correlation with clinicopathological features was also analyzed. A Kaplan-Meier survival curve was generated following a log-rank test. Multivariate Cox regression analyses were finally used to determine the independent factors for overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) times. RESULTS: Our results showed that higher CCHE1 expression was found in cervical cancer tissues compared with the match normal cervical tissues. Then, we found that high levels of CCHE1 expression correlated with FIGO stage (p= 0.014), tumor size (p = 0.007), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.022) and HPV (p = 0.001). Results of Kaplan-Meier survival curve revealed that patients with low CCHE1 expression had better OS (p = 0.019) and RFS (p = 0.006) than patients with high CCHE1 expression. Finally, overexpression of CCHE1 was supposed to be an independent poor prognostic factor for predicting the 5-year RFS and OS of cervical cancer patients through multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Increased CCHE1 was associated with poor survival in cervical cancer patients, suggesting that CCHE1 was a potential prognostic biomarker for cervical cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]