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Background: Studies have suggested that acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients with incomplete hematologic recovery undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo‐HSCT) had inferior overall survival (OS). Study Design and Methods: This single‐center, retrospective study of AML patients evaluated the relationship between red blood cell (RBC) and platelet (PLT) transfusion requirements during the first 30 days and long‐term outcomes after allo‐HSCT through multivariate analyses. Results: A total of 692 AML patients received peripheral blood stem cells (89.2%), marrow (5.6%), or umbilical cord (5.2%) from matched related (37.4%), unrelated (49.1%), or haploidentical (8.2%) donors in 2011–2017. Transfusion requirements during the first 30 days for RBC (89.5% transfused, median 3, range 1–18 units) or PLT (98.2% transfused, median 6, range 1–144 units) were variable. By Day 30, 56.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 52.8–60.3%) and 86.1% (95% CI: 83.2–88.5%) had achieved RBC and PLT transfusion independence, respectively. Median follow‐up among survivors (n = 307) was 7.1 years (range: 2.7–11.8). Lack of RBC transfusion independence by Day 30 was strongly and independently associated with worse 5‐year OS (39.2% vs. 59.6%, adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.83, 95% CI: 1.49–2.25), leukemia‐free survival (35.8% vs. 55.5%, HR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.43–2.14), and NRM (29.7% vs. 13.7%, HR = 2.05, 95% CI: 1.45–2.89) (p <.001). There was no difference in relapse rates among patients who achieved or did not achieve RBC (p =.34) or PLT (p =.64) transfusion independence. Conclusion: Prolonged RBC dependence predicted worse survival and NRM rates, but not increased relapse. Posttransplant surveillance of such patients should be adjusted with more attention to non‐relapse complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this study, three litchi glycans (Lzp1–Lzp3) with molecular weights (Mw) of 2.25 × 106 Da, 6.00 × 103 Da and 3.24 × 102 Da were purified, and their structural characteristics, biological activities and structure–activity relationships were investigated. The results showed that Lzp1–Lzp3 had similar inhibitory effects on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, as evidenced by the fact that there were no significant correlations between the Mw, active groups, monosaccharide compositions of Lzp1–Lzp3 and their antimicrobial activities. Lzp1 consisted of more mannose, galactose and arabinose, and less ribose and xylose, thus leading to its higher antioxidant activities of DPPH, ABTS, hydroxyl and superoxide radical scavenging and ferric‐ion reducing with the values of 78.0%, 99.0%, 90.2%, 1.08 and 3.93 respectively. Lzp2 contained more sulphonic acid and uronic acid, and the least glucose possessed the best effect on the promotion of exopolysaccharide production (24.77 mg/mL) by Weissella confusa, and the proliferation of Weissella confusa, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium bifidum and Bifidobacterium breve with the OD600 ranging from 0.278–1.082. This study can provide a reference for the preparation of litchi glycans possessed specific biological activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Understanding the etiology and risk factors of lung cancer (LC) is the key to developing scientific and effective prevention and control strategies for LC. CYP4B1 genetic polymorphism has been reported to be associated with susceptibility to various diseases. We aimed to explore the association between CYP4B1 genetic variants and LC susceptibility. Methods: One thousand three hundred thirty-nine participants were recruited to perform an association analysis through SNPStats online software. Statistical analysis of this study was mainly completed by SPSS 22.0 software. False-positive report probability analysis (FPRP) to detect whether the positive findings were noteworthy. Finally, the interaction of SNP-SNP in LC risk was evaluated by multi-factor dimensionality reduction. Results: We found evidence that missense variants in CYP4B1 (rs2297810, rs4646491, and rs2297809) are associated with LC susceptibility. In particular, genotype GA of CYP4B1-rs2297810 was significantly associated with an increased risk of LC in both overall and stratified analyses (genotype GA: OR (95% CI) = 1.35 (1.08-1.69), p = 0.010). CYP4B1-rs4646491 (overdominant: OR (95% CI) = 1.30 (1.04-1.62), p = 0.023) and CYP4B1-rs2297809 (genotype CT: OR (95% CI) = 1.26 (1.01-1.59), p = 0.046) are also associated with an increased risk of LC. FPRP analysis showed that all positive results in this study are noteworthy findings Conclusion: Three missense variants in CYP4B1 (rs2297810, rs4646491, and rs2297809) are associated with increasing risk of LC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CO2 sequestration (CS) into the shale formations can reduce not only carbon emissions but also enhance gas recovery (EGR). The adsorption and diffusion behaviour of CO2 and CH4 on kerogens with different maturity play a crucial role in CS-EGR as they determine the efficiency of CO2 storage and energy recovery. In this work, GCMC and MD simulations were performed to investigate the adsorption and diffusion behaviour of CO2 and CH4 on kerogen models at different grades of maturity. It indicated that, in the same maturity, the CO2 adsorption capacity was more significant than that of CH4. With increasing maturity, the adsorption capacity and diffusion rate increased. With the increase of water contents, the swelling ratio of kerogens increased, and the adsorption capacity and the diffusion coefficients of CH4 and CO2 decreased. However, the adsorption selectivity of CO2 over CH4 significantly increased. H2O and CO2 molecules both preferred to adsorb on functional groups of oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur. This study consolidated our hypothesis that an injected CO2 to shale gas and oil formations contributed positively to enhanced energy recovery owing to the difference in adsorption and diffusion behaviour of CH4 and CO2 in kerogens with different maturity in gas and oil reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Aromatic primary amines (APAs) are key intermediates in the chemical industry with numerous applications. Efficient and mild biocatalytic synthesis is an excellent complement to traditional chemical synthesis. Our lab previously reported a whole-cell catalytic system for the synthesis of APAs catalyzed by carboxylic acid reductase from Neurospora crassa (ncCAR) and ω-transaminase from Ochrobactrum anthropi (OATA). However, the accumulation of toxic intermediates (aromatic aldehydes) during biocatalytic synthesis affected yields of APAs due to metabolic imbalance. Results: In this work, the biocatalytic synthesis of APAs (taking cinnamylamine as an example) was metabolically regulated by the overexpression or knockout of five native global transcription factors (TFs), the overexpression of eight native resistance genes, and optimization of promoters. Transcriptome analysis showed that knockout of the TF arcA increased the fluxes of NADPH and ATP in E. coli, while the rate of pyruvate metabolism was accelerated. In addition, the genes related to stress and detoxification were upregulated with the overexpression of resistance gene marA, which reduced the NADPH level in E. coli. Then, the expression level of soluble OATA increased by promoter optimization. Overall, arcA and marA could regulate the catalytic rate of NADPH- dependent ncCAR, while arcA and optimized promoter could regulate the catalytic rate of OATA. Lastly, the cinnamylamine yield of the best metabolically engineered strain S020 was increased to 90% (9 mM, 1.2 g/L), and the accumulation of cinnamaldehyde was below 0.9 mM. This work reported the highest production of cinnamylamine by biocatalytic synthesis. Conclusion: This regulatory process provides a common strategy for regulating the biocatalytic synthesis of other APAs. Being entirely biocatalytic, our one-pot procedure provides considerable advantages in terms of environmental and safety impacts over reported chemical methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic fibrosing interstitial pneumonia of unknown cause. No therapeutic modalities can reverse or stop its ever-deteriorating course. The stimulation of lung innate immunity using bacterial lysates was found to protect against lethal pulmonary infection. Hence, this study aimed to explore whether the immune-stimulating enhancement by pretreatment with bacterial lysates led to protection against bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis. C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into 4 groups with 20 mice in each group. The mice were exposed to an aerosolized mixture of polyvalent bacterial lysates (PVBL) or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) three times on separate days. Twenty-four hours after the last exposure, the lungs were intratracheally infused with bleomycin (BLM) or normal saline (NS). The pulmonary morphology, Ashcroft's scale of pulmonary fibrosis, and levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as interferon (IFN)-γ and interleukin (IL)-4 were evaluated 14 days after the intratracheal infusion. The exposure to PVBL did not induce any discernible structural abnormalities in the lungs, while the IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio increased. BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis was associated with an overwhelming downregulation of IFN-γ and IL-4 expression. Pre-exposure to PVBL protected against BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis, which was demonstrated by a greater reduction of Ashcroft's fibrotic score and a greater decrease in the hydroxyproline level in the lungs. Although the PVBL pre-exposure did not restore the BLM-induced downregulation of IL-4 and IFN-γ levels, the IFN-γ/IL-4 ratio was still maintained greater than the animals with BLM infusion. BLM-induced murine pulmonary fibrosis is associated with downregulation of IFN-γ and IL-4 levels. Pre-exposure to the aerosolized PVBL protects against BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence and disability rate of spinal cord injury (SCI) worldwide are high, imposing a heavy burden on patients. Considerable research efforts have been directed toward identifying new strategies to effectively treat SCI. Governor Vessel electro‐acupuncture (GV‐EA), used in traditional Chinese medicine, combines acupuncture with modern electrical stimulation. It has been shown to improve the microenvironment of injured spinal cord (SC) by increasing levels of endogenous neurotrophic factors and reducing inflammation, thereby protecting injured neurons and promoting myelination. In addition, axons extending from transplanted stem cell‐derived neurons can potentially bridge the two severed ends of tissues in a transected SC to rebuild neuronal circuits and restore motor and sensory functions. However, every single treatment approach to severe SCI has proven unsatisfactory. Combining different treatments—for example, electro‐acupuncture (EA) with adult stem cell transplantation—appears to be a more promising strategy. In this review, we have summarized the recent progress over the past two decades by our team especially in the use of GV‐EA for the repair of SCI. By this strategy, we have shown that EA can stimulate the nerve endings of the meningeal branch. This would elicit the dorsal root ganglion neurons to secrete excess amounts of calcitonin gene‐related peptide centrally in the SC. The neuropeptide then activates the local cells to secrete neurotrophin‐3 (NT‐3), which mediates the survival and differentiation of donor stem cells overexpressing the NT‐3 receptor, at the injury/graft site of the SC. Increased local production of NT‐3 facilitates reconstruction of host neural tissue such as nerve fiber regeneration and myelination. All this events in sequence would ultimately strengthen the cortical motor‐evoked potentials and restore the motor function of paralyzed limbs. The information presented herein provides a basis for future studies on the clinical application of GV‐EA and adult stem cell transplantation for the treatment of SCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study explored the relationship between the intrinsic saliency of apologetic strategies and the effects of implicit learning. Seventeen Taiwanese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners with intermediate proficiency participated in the experiment with a pretest on apology in the first week, a noticing session in the second week and a posttest in the third week. The results from the noticing session indicated that providing reasons (e.g., taking on responsibility/explanation or account) and offer of repair were more salient in input to those learners. Additionally, the use of the apologetic strategies taking on responsibility and offer of repair increased in the posttest. Taken together, the results indicated that higher degrees of saliency in input led to better implicit learning outcomes. The interplay between input saliency and explicit/implicit learning as well as the pedagogical implications were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The design and fabrication of efficient, less costly, and stable bifunctional oxygen electrode electrocatalysts is crucial for large‐scale production of rechargeable zinc‐air batteries. Herein, electrocatalytically active, hybrid materials composed of Fe−Co alloy nanoparticles‐embedded N‐doped carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are synthesized from Fe/Co‐polyporphyrin‐CNTs via pyrolysis. The materials serve as highly effective bifunctional oxygen electrode catalysts for zinc‐air batteries. In particular, the one synthesized at 700 °C, named CNTs@(Fe,Co)PP‐700, shows a very good activity for both the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in an alkaline solution. This material catalyzes ORR with a limiting current density of 5.11 mA cm−2 and a half‐wave potential of 0.86 V vs RHE. It also catalyzes OER with 10 mA cm−2 at a small overpotential of 360 mV. Besides, it operates well as an air cathode in a home‐made rechargeable zinc‐air battery, with a small voltage gap of 0.71 V at 2 mA cm−2, while remaining stable in hundreds of charge‐discharge cycles for >83 h. Its performance in a zinc‐air battery is better than that of a benchmark air‐electrode containing noble metals, Pt/C+RuO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultivated caladiums (Caladium × hortulanum Birdsey) are popular ornamental plants. Although somaclonal variation occurs frequently in caladium during tissue culture, little research has been conducted on obtaining and detecting variants from long-term callus cultures. Herein, plants were regenerated from 'Red Flash' caladium calluses subcultured for approximately 40 mo, and 116 out of 520 established plants were grouped into 14 somaclonal variation types based on their morphological differences. Nuclear DNA content of six types (SVT1, SVT2, SVT4, SVT5, SVT8, and SVT10) varied from − 1.08% to 0.33% compared with the wild type, and these variants shared a similar chromosome number to the wild caladium (2n = 2x = 30). Three types (SVT3, SVT7, and SVT9) containing 2.82 to 5.42% less nuclear DNA content was the result of losing one or two chromosomes, and one type (SVT6) with significantly lower cellular DNA content was due to losing four chromosomes. Four types (SVT11–SVT14) contained 85.16 to 101.52% more DNA content and the SVT12 and the SVT13 had a double number of chromosomes (2n = 4x = 60), while the SVT11 and SVT14 had four more chromosomes and six less chromosomes as compared with a typical tetraploid, respectively. Correlation analysis suggested that leaf thickness, leaf index, and stomatal characteristics could be used as indicators of plant ploidy in caladium. A wide variation of pigment content was found among the variation types, and the content of chlorophyll, flavonoid, and anthocyanin had a significant positive correlation with the color parameters a* and b*. Leaf color variants created by prolonged in vitro callus cultures might hold great promise for caladium breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phloroglucinol (PG) is an important chemical that has been produced in engineered E. coli. Low yield and high cost are the bottlenecks that limit the industrialisation and popularisation of PG biosynthesis. In this study, a new expression system (pNEW vector) was developed for PG biosynthesis by using inexpensive p-isopropylbenzoate (cumate) as the inducer, and the copy number control element (rop) was added to optimise the original pNEW vector, which not only promoted the PG yield, but also reduced the leakage expression. Compared to traditional IPTG inducible expression system, 2-fold enhancement of PG yield was obtained with optimised expression system and the cost of inducer was reduced to 1/9. These results provide technical support for the biosynthesis of PG and reference for the selection of induced expression systems for other chemical biosynthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing highly active, stable and sustainable electrocatalysts for overall water splitting is of great importance to generate renewable H 2 for fuel cells. Herein, we report the synthesis of electrocatalytically active, nickel foam-supported, spherical core-shell Fe-poly(tetraphenylporphyrin)/Ni-poly(tetraphenylporphyrin) microparticles (FeTPP@NiTPP/NF). We also show that FeTPP@NiTPP/NF exhibits efficient bifunctional electrocatalytic properties toward both the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Electrochemical tests in KOH solution (1 M) reveal that FeTPP@NiTPP/NF electrocatalyzes the OER with 100 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 302 mV and the HER with 10 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 170 mV. Notably also, its catalytic performance for OER is better than that of RuO 2 , the benchmark OER catalyst. Although its catalytic activity for HER is slightly lower than that of Pt/C (the benchmark HER electrocatalyst), it shows greater stability than the latter during the reaction. The material also exhibits electrocatalytic activity for overall water splitting reaction at a current density of 10 mA cm−2 with a cell voltage of 1.58 V, along with a good recovery property. Additionally, the work demonstrates a new synthetic strategy to an efficient, noble metal-free-coordinated covalent organic framework (COF)-based, bifunctional electrocatalyst for water splitting. Image 1 • Core-shell Fe/Ni-poly(tetraphenylporphyrin) microparticles on Ni-foam are reported. • These composite materials are synthesized in one-step under mild condition. • The materials are excellent electrocatalysts for OER and HER in alkaline media. • The materials catalyze the overall water splitting while remaining stable/durable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant (allo-HSCT) recipients often require substantial but variable transfusion support.Study Design and Methods: This single-center, retrospective study evaluated the red blood cell (RBC) and platelet (PLT) transfusion data of first-time allo-HSCT recipients transplanted in 2011 to 2017. Multivariate analyses were performed to assess the associations between patient and transplant-related factors and transfusion requirements.Results: The study included 1762 patients who received peripheral blood stem cells (88.2%), marrow (7.0%), or umbilical cord (4.8%) from matched related (38.3%), unrelated (49.2%), or haploidentical (7.8%) donors. Almost all patients required RBCs (88.3%) or PLTs (97.4%) during the first 30 days, with medians of 3 (range, 1-37) RBC and 6 (range, 1-144) PLT units transfused. Fewer patients required RBC (43.8%) or PLT (27.3%) transfusions during Days 31 to 100, but the median (range) numbers of RBC and PLT units remained high at 3 (1-36) and 6 (1-116) among transfused patients. RBC and PLT transfusion independence was reached in medians of 24 (95% confidence interval [CI], 22-26) and 12 (95% CI, 11-12) days, respectively. Haploidentical donor, cord graft, and requiring RBC transfusions in the 10 days before HSCT were the most significant independent factors predictive of increased transfusion requirements. Advanced disease, diagnosis, ABO incompatibility, conditioning intensity, CD34+ cell dose, presence of severe acute graft-vs-host disease, and changes in recommended transfusion triggers were also shown to independently impact transfusion requirements.Conclusions: This study provided for the first time quantitative and comparative transfusion data on a large contemporary cohort of HSCT recipients, including haploidentical and cord graft recipients, and identified factors predictive of increased transfusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R-2-(4-hydroxyphenoxy)propionic acid (R-HPPA) is a key chiral intermediate for phenoxypropionic acid herbicide synthesis. In this study, to improve the production of R-HPPA with B. bassiana ZJB16007, the cultivation conditions in solid-state fermentation (SSF) were investigated. The effects of various substrates on R-HPPA production were evaluated and the process parameters were also optimized. The results showed that rice bran was the optimal substrate for R-HPPA production. The optimal medium components and cultivation conditions were: rice bran: silkworm chrysalis powder = 5.25: 2.25 (g: g), nutrient salts solution 12 mL which contained 50 g/L R-PPA, pH 5.0, and cultivated at 28 °C for 11 days. Under the optimized conditions, the transformation of R-HPPA was significantly improved and the yield of R-HPPA reached 77.78%, which was 15.14% higher than that of the control (67.55%). Therefore, SSF may serve as an alternative for R-HPPA production by B. bassiana ZJB16007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accelerated failure time model always offers a valuable complement to the traditional Cox proportional hazards model due to its direct and meaningful interpretation. We propose a variable selection method in the context of the accelerated failure time model for survival data, which can simultaneously complete variable selection and parameter estimation. Meanwhile, the proposed method can deal with the potential outliers in survival times as well as heteroscedastic model errors, which are frequently encountered in practice. Specifically, utilizing the general nonconvex penalty, we propose the adaptive penalized weighted least absolute deviation estimator for the accelerated failure time model. Under some regularity conditions, we show that the proposed method yields consistent estimator and possesses the oracle property. In addition, we propose a new algorithm to compute the estimate in the high dimensional settings, and evaluate the practical utility of the proposed method through extensive simulation studies and two real examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The volume of haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplant (haplo-HSCT) has increased dramatically in recent years. However, the associated higher risk of delayed engraftment may increase patient transfusion requirements.Study Design and Methods: The post-HSCT RBC and platelet transfusions of 195 haplo-HSCT recipients were evaluated. Patient and transplant-related factors potentially impacting the number of products transfused and time to transfusion independence were assessed.Results: Nearly all (98.4%) patients were transfused in the first 30 days, and 59.2% were transfused between days 31 and 100. Among the transfused patients, medians of 5 units (interquartile range [IQR] = 3-8) of RBCs and 11 units (6-20) platelets were given in the first 30 days, and medians of 3 units (IQR = 1-7) of RBCs and 6 units (2-18) of platelets were transfused between days 31 and 100. Median times for achieving RBC and platelet transfusion independence were 34 (95% CI: 28-40) and 25 (95% CI: 23-27) days, respectively. Multivariable analyses showed that RBC transfusions in the 10 days before HSCT were associated with significantly increased and sustained RBC and platelet transfusion requirements. Major ABO incompatibility led to increased RBC transfusions. Advanced disease was associated with increased transfusions during the first 30 days, whereas GVHD increased platelet transfusions between days 31 and 100. Effects of age, sex, CD34+ cell dose, stem cell source, and conditioning regimen were limited or insignificant.Conclusions: This study for the first time provided quantitative transfusion data on a large cohort of haplo-HSCT recipients and identified factors predictive of increased transfusions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The article focuses on preferential flow character in MSW. • MSW columns were dyed and sectioned in the horizontal and vertical direction. • Regressions on BTCs were performed using a bimodal probability density model. • The results are useful for water transport simulation using dual-porosity models. Abstract Municipal solid waste (MSW) is a porous medium comprising macropores and matrix, such that the flow pattern often takes the form of preferential flow. The objective of this paper was to study the preferential flow in MSW and to quantify the flow character. Dye tracing tests and solute breakthrough tests were carried out using MSW samples taken from different depths of a landfill. Test procedures were proposed to make the sectioning of MSW sample easy. The MSW columns were dyed and then sectioned in the horizontal and vertical direction. Digital image processing technology was used to investigate the preferential flow pattern. In order to quantitatively characterize the preferential flow in MSW, regression analysis was performed on the breakthrough curves using the bimodal probability density model. The dye tracing tests show that more preferential flow happened under a higher application rate, under higher initial water content, and in shallow MSW. The results of vertical sectioning tests are consistent with that of horizontal sectioning tests, showing that the test procedure has no obvious influence on the preferential flow pattern in MSW. The results of the solute breakthrough tests show that between 55 and 70% of the total solute was transported through large pores. The modeled proportion of solute movement through large pores decreases as the depth and age increase, and increases as the application rate increases. The results are beneficial to simulate water and solute migration in MSW using a dual-porosity model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decades, implicature has been recognized as an indispensable topic in L2 pragmatics research. While various instruments have been used to test implicature knowledge, scant research has verified their construct validity of implicature items by examining test takers' cognitive processes while responding to them. In response to this research gap, Roever, Carsten. 2005. Testing ESL pragmatics: Development and validation of a web-based assessmentbattery. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Peter Lang implicature test was scrutinized. Twelve L2 test takers with high and low proficiency levels were asked to verbalize their thoughts retrospectively. Content analyses were employed to examine whether their cognitive processes were (ir)relevant to what the test intended to elicit and how well their processes aligned with the test results. The findings revealed that relevant processes were associated with idiosyncratic implicature questions, while irrelevant processes were related to formulaic implicature ones. The high-proficiency test takers generally reported engaging in relevant processes, whereas the low-proficiency test takers reported using for the most part irrelevant processes. Moreover, test takers' cognitive processes aligned with the test results on the whole. In other words, when the respondents' cognitive processes corresponded to those the test designed to elicit, the test results were normally correct. One the other hand, when the cognitive processes deviated from the expected ones, the test results were generally incorrect. However, fourteen misalignments were identified and classified as irrelevant conceptual blending, contextual judgment, insufficient effort responding, intuition, and wild guessing. These misalignments were seen as construct irrelevant variance and pose potential threats to the construct validity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is the first of a series of papers constraining cosmological parameters with weak lensing peak statistics using ∼ 450 deg2 of imaging data from the Kilo Degree Survey (KiDS-450). We measure high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR: ν) weak lensing convergence peaks in the range of 3 < ν < 5, and employ theoretical models to derive expected values. These models are validated using a suite of simulations. We take into account two major systematic effects, the boost factor and the effect of baryons on the mass-concentration relation of dark matter haloes. In addition, we investigate the impacts of other potential astrophysical systematics including the projection effects of large-scale structures, intrinsic galaxy alignments, as well as residual measurement uncertainties in the shear and redshift calibration. Assuming a flat Λ cold dark matter model, we find constraints for S8=σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.5=0.746+0.046-0.107 S8=σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.5=0.746-0.107+0.046 according to the degeneracy direction of the cosmic shear analysis and Σ8=σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.38=0.696+0.048-0.050 Σ8=σ8(Ωm/0.3)0.38=0.696-0.050+0.048 based on the derived degeneracy direction of our high-SNR peak statistics. The difference between the power index of S8 and in Σ8 indicates that combining cosmic shear with peak statistics has the potential to break the degeneracy in σ8 and Ωm. Our results are consistent with the cosmic shear tomographic correlation analysis of the same data set and ∼2σ lower than the Planck 2016 results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in the fields of data processing and sonification have been applied to transcribe a variety of visual experiences into an auditory format. Although image sonification examples exist, the application of these principles to visual art has not been examined thoroughly. We sought to develop and evaluate a set of guidelines for the sonification of visual artworks. Through conducting expert interviews (N = 11), we created an initial sonification algorithm that accounts for art style, lightness, and color diversity to modulate the sonified output in terms of tempo and pitch. This algorithm was evaluated through user evaluations (N = 22). User study responses supported expert interview findings, the notion that sonification can be designed to match the experience of viewing an artwork, and showed interesting interaction effects among art styles, visual components, and musical parameters. We suggest the proposed guidelines can augment visitor experiences at art exhibits and provide the basis for further experimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of single channel source separation is to accurately recover signals from mixtures. Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is a popular method to separate mixed signals using learned dictionaries. These dictionaries can be produced efficiently by sparse NMF to approximate the input signal as closely as possible. However, the literature does not consider the structure of the data in terms of the similarity among vertices of the input signal. Furthermore, state-of-art variants of NMF that are more efficient than conventional ones have not been utilized, and the learned dictionary is typically fixed in the separating phase. This strategy is not favorable because the training data and the testing data totally differ. To deal with these issues, our work proposes a method that incorporates the graph regularization into group sparsity ß-NMF to improve the performance of source separation. The proposed algorithms differ from those in the literature by using an adaptive dictionary in which particular characteristics of the testing data are updated to produce newer dictionaries. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method is outstandingly effective in speech separation in various scenarios, relative to the baseline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugar-rich effluent from prehydrolysis of eucalyptus wood (prehydrolysate) is an abundant byproduct of paper and pulp industries. It can be used as a resource for xylose production and biorefinery. However, it is mostly concentrated and burned for energy production. In this paper, a commercial xylanase was applied to examine the feasibility of enzymatic treatment of the prehydrolysate. The xylanase efficiently hydrolyzed the xylooligosaccharides in the prehydrolysate to xylose. The optimal hydrolysis conditions were determined to be at pH 5.0, a temperature of 50 °C, a concentration of xylooligosaccharides at 23.46 g/L, and xylanase loading of 75 U/g xylooligosaccharides. Using the aforementioned reaction conditions, xylooligosaccharides in the prehydrolysate were completely hydrolyzed within 24 h. The total xylose concentration reached 50.41 g/L. The xylose was recovered by active carbon decolorization, ion exchange chromatography, desalination, and crystallization, which produced crystal xylose with a 97% purity at a 35% recovery rate. The results demonstrated that xylanase is an efficient and ecofriendly tool for eucalyptus pulping prehydrolysate. Moreover, the prehydrolysate from hardwood pulp industry can serve as an abundant and low cost resource for industrial xylose production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) with mobilized peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) has become a widely applied therapeutic approach for many hematologic and nonhematologic diseases. Adequate PBSC mobilization is critical to the success of ASCT. However, many factors can contribute to poor mobilization. Plerixafor is an effective yet costly adjunct agent that has been increasingly used to improve mobilization in a variety of diagnoses and clinical settings. However, to achieve both optimal cell collection yields and cost-effectiveness, the role of plerixafor in PBSC mobilization needs to be well defined in terms of triggers for initiating its use and criteria for monitoring response. As one of the largest hematopoietic transplant centers in the country, we have developed an approach to PBSC mobilization and collection that incorporates patient laboratory assessments, monitoring of the collection yields, and judicious use of plerixafor as well as various patient support and education programs. These measures have resulted in an increase in our collection success rate and a decrease in the mean number of collection days. In this article we describe our approach to autologous PBSC mobilization and collection. Pertinent reports in the literature are also reviewed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (allo-HCT) recipients often require substantial but variable transfusion support. Few studies have quantified their transfusion burden, or identified prognostic factors for increased transfusions to guide patient counseling or inventory management. Data on haploidentical HCT (Haplo-HCT) patients are especially scarce. Objectives To identify factors associated with increased RBC and platelet (PLT) transfusions, and provide for the first time data on a large cohort of Haplo-HCT patients. Methods We retrospectively evaluated 1803 consecutive first time adult allo-HCT patients transplanted at our center in 2011-17. Multivariate linear regression and Fine-Gray subdistribution hazards models were used to examine the associations between baseline characteristics (age, sex, disease stage, graft type, donor type, ABO compatibility and conditioning regimen) and log-transformed transfusion units in the first 30 days after HCT and time to reach transfusion independence respectively. Results The median age of the cohort was 53(18-78); 56.2% were male. Most common diagnoses were AML (38.8%), ALL (19.6%), and lymphoma (14.8%); 50.2% had advanced disease. Patients received nonmyeloablative/reduced intensity (58.9%) or myeloablative conditioning regimens (MAC, 41.1%), followed by peripheral blood stem cell (88.4%), bone marrow (6.9%) or umbilical (UC, 4.7%) HCT. Most grafts were from matched related (MRD, 38.7%) or unrelated (MUD, 49.1%) donors, and 7.6% were haploidentical. ABO incompatibility (Major 15.8%, minor 18.6%, bi-directional 8.5%) was present in 42.9% of the cases (Table 1). Most of the 1764 patients who survived 30+ days received RBC (88.2%) or PLT (97.2%) transfusions during the first 30 days, with a median of 3 (0-37) RBC and 5(0-144) apheresis PLT units. RBC and PLT transfusion independence was reached in 28 (95%CI: 26-31) and 12 (95%CI: 12-13) days respectively. Multivariate analyses showed that Haplo-HCT and UC graft were independently associated with more RBC and PLT transfusions, as were advanced disease, ABO incompatibility, older age, and MAC (P<0.001 for all variables). Prolonged PLT or RBC transfusion dependence was independently associated with Haplo-HCT, UC graft and advanced disease (P<0.001 for all three), older age (P=0.003) and ABO incompatibility (P<0.001 for RBC, P=0.008 for PLT), but not sex or conditioning regimen. Haplo-HCT patients needed fewer transfusions than UC, but more than MRD/MUD recipients; they also became transfusion-independent faster than UC, but slower than MRD/MUD recipients regardless of graft type (Table 2 & 3). Conclusions We identified patient and transplant factors strongly associated with increased transfusions in the first 30 days after allo-HCT, and quantified the transfusion burden of Haplo-HCT relative to other types of HCT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While many empirical studies demonstrate the effects of instruction on enhancing second language (L2) learners’ pragmatic competence (Rose, 2005), few have attempted to gain an understanding of the quality of classroom life in addition to instructional efficacy. Drawing on the framework of Exploratory Practice (Allwright, 2005), the present study examines how intermediate-level Taiwanese students of English enrolled in an advanced writing class developed greater pragmatic awareness in email literacy. Instruction was divided into four distinct stages: Setting the context, Modelling, Joint construction and Independent construction. The outcomes, gleaned through questionnaires, class discussions, student presentations, and pre- and post-instruction emails, provide striking evidence of greater pragmatic awareness and positive attitudes towards instruction on email literacy, and pinpoint aspects of email literacy which may require more instructional attention. Overall, this Exploratory Practice offers interesting insights into how instruction on pragmatics in everyday life (email literacy) can contribute to the quality of classroom life for English language students and their teacher. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The rapid rise of mobile communication technologies has the potential to dramatically change and improve blood donor recruitment and retention efforts.Study Design and Methods: E-mail invitations were sent to blood donors in a large metropolitan area to participate in a Web-based survey designed to gauge their readiness and interest level for a blood donation mobile application ("app").Results: A total of 982 ethnically diverse respondents of various age groups and prior donation experiences were surveyed. Among the respondents, 87.3% had ready access to smart phones. E-mail was chosen by 62.1% as the currently preferred method when contacted by the blood center, followed by texting (10.1%). App features desired by most respondents were the abilities to request appointments 24/7 (76.8%) and to receive appointment confirmations quickly (81.3%). Many were concerned about receiving too many alerts or messages (64.1%) or insufficient protection for personal information (53.5%). Overall, 67.7% of respondents indicated that they were likely to use a blood donation mobile app. Likelihood was not significantly different by sex or ethnicity, and the impact of education level was limited. Donors who currently made donation appointments via telephone or a website were equally likely to use such an app. However, donors older than 45 years were less likely than younger donors (p = 0.001), and donors with more than five lifetime donations were more likely than less frequent donors to use such an app (p = 0.02).Conclusion: In a metropolitan area, donors are very receptive to using a mobile app to manage their donations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined mainland Chinese and Taiwanese students' perceptions of two aspects of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF): phonology and lexico-grammar. The researchers surveyed a total of 400 students at two universities in mainland China and at two universities in Taiwan (200 in each area). The results indicated that although students in both groups were aware that they could not speak English as native speakers did, they still preferred to achieve a native speaker accent. They admitted that they spoke with Chinese accents, but they believed that their accents were intelligible and acceptable. Nevertheless, the students in both groups tended to not maintain their local accents in English. With respect to ELF lexico-grammar, both groups considered some features incorrect, but they were uncertain about others. However, they could understand and tended to accept all the ELF sentences. The present study also revealed variations between the two groups with respect to their perceptions of ELF phonology and lexico-grammar. Given that little research has compared ELF users' perceptions across different geographical areas, this study addresses an important research gap by investigating the interaction of ELF perceptions and local contexts. Findings of the study may have important implications for ELF researchers and practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a robust environmental sound recognition system using a fast noise suppression approach for home automation applications. The system comprises a fast subspace-based noise suppression module and a sound classification module. For the noise suppression module, we propose a noise suppression method that applies fast subspace approximations in the wavelet domain. We show that this method offers a lower computational cost than conventional methods. In the sound classification module, we use a feature extraction method that is also based on the wavelet subspace, derived from seventeen critical bands in a signal's wavelet packet transform. Furthermore, we create a multiclass support vector machine by employing probability product kernels. The experimental results for ten classes of various environmental sounds show that the proposed system offers robust performance in environmental sound recognition tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past decades, cross-cultural and interlanguage pragmatics have focused on native and non-native speech act descriptions, and only a small number of studies have investigated the cognitive processes involved in speech act productions. To bridge the gap, the present study examined the cognitive processes of L2 learners engaged in an email task involving two requests to faculty. Concurrent and retrospective verbal reports were collected from 15 pairs of intermediate-level Chinese EFL learners and were analyzed in terms of intention, cognition, planning and evaluation . The analysis identified that when responding to the email task, the learners adopted various politeness strategies to express their requestive intentions, and focused their attention on lexical, grammatical and situational features of the task. In addition, the learners planned their emails systematically in the order of Greeting, Message and Closing, and evaluated their performances in terms of degree of politeness and the persuasiveness of their reasons. This study concludes with suggestions for future research and pedagogy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

3-(Aminomethyl) pyridine (3-AMP) is a versatile compound for the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals and numerous polymers. Efficient and mild biocatalytic synthesis is often an excellent supplement to traditional chemical synthesis methods. However, there has been no report of biocatalytic 3-AMP synthesis. In this paper, 3-AMP was synthesized for the first time by using biocatalysts co-expressing carboxylic acid reductase from Neurospora crassa (ncCAR) and ω-transaminase from Ochrobactrum anthropi (OATA) in one pot. In addition, the metabolic pathway was optimized by knocking out the transcriptional dual regulator arcA , which resulted in a 90% increase in the yield of 3-AMP. Furthermore, efficient self-sufficient whole-cell bioconversion was established by optimization, achieving 93% yield and a 40.6 mM (4.4 g/L) titer of 3-AMP without additional carbon sources. This whole-cell bioconversion system was also suitable for the high-efficiency biocatalytic synthesis of other aromatic or heterocyclic primary amines, such as benzylamine, 2-furfurylamine, 4-fluorobenzylamine, 2,4-difluorobenzylamine and 2-(aminomethyl) pyridine. Being entirely biocatalytic, our one-pot procedure provides considerable advantages in terms of economic, environmental and safety impacts over reported chemical methods. • 3-AMP was synthesized for the first time by using biocatalysts in one pot. • The metabolic pathway was optimized, which resulted in a 90% increase in 3-AMP yield. • The self-sufficient bioconversion was established, achieving 93% yield and a 40.6 mM titer of 3-AMP. • This whole-cell bioconversion was suitable for the synthesis of other aromatic or heterocyclic primary amines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abamectin (ABM)-degrading bacterium, Stenotrophomonas maltophilia ZJB-14120, was isolated and identified. This strain is capable of degrading 84.82% of ABM at an initial concentration of 200 mg/L over a 48 h incubation period. This strain showed efficient biodegradation ability (7.81 mg/L/h) to ABM and high tolerance (1000 mg/L) to all macrolides tested. In addition to ABM, emamectin, erythromycin and spiramycin can also be degraded by this strain. Modifications involving either reduction of the double bond between C22–C23 or replacement of the C25-group of ABM with a cyclohexyl group can completely inhibit biodegradation of ABM. The ABM-degrading capability of strain ZJB-14120 is likely to be intrinsic to its metabolism and could be inhibited by incubating with erythromycin, azithromycin, spiramycin or rifampicin. A new and successive degradation pathway was proposed based on metabolite analysis. Although there is evidence for metabolite inhibition, this strain has high ABM degradation activity and reusability. Further investigation showed that activated macrolide efflux pump(s) and an undetermined mechanism for regulating the intracellular ABM concentration are responsible for normal uptake of essential metabolites while pumping out excess harmful compounds. Strain ZJB-14120 may provide efficient treatment of water and soil contaminated by toxic levels of abamectin and emamectin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To gain a competitive edge, companies must continually invest in new product development (NPD), and must decide how to strategically allocate limited resources. The most critical NPD activity is the accurate assessment of the attractiveness of new products, simultaneously considering favorable factors (project value and strategic fit) and unfavorable factors (project risks), especially in robust companies in developing countries. In the NPD development process, the attractiveness of products is often evaluated using information that is imprecise or ambiguous. Fuzzy logic is well-suited to inform NPD decision-making. Thus, a comprehensive method considering both favorable and unfavorable factors, and using a fuzzy weighted average to devise a fuzzy possible-attractiveness rating (FPAR) of an NPD project for portfolio selection, is proposed in this paper. FPAR is a measurement of information, which is able to retain the multiplicity of that information. The proposed evaluation technique was demonstrated using a Taiwanese company as an example. The results indicated that this method provided an accurate assessment of overall product attractiveness, necessary for obtaining organizational buy-in, and can effectively aid managers to conduct sensitive analyses, balance the impact of changes in strategy, and receive quick feedback on the results of such changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study followed a pre-test-instruction-post-test design to examine the effectiveness of teaching email requests to faculty to a group of 28 intermediate-level Chinese students of English. Drawing on the genre-based pedagogy developed by Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), the six-hour instruction was structured in the order of setting the context, modeling, joint construction and independent construction. A total of 224 email scripts collected before and after the instruction were analyzed quantitatively by paired t -test and qualitatively by move analysis. The quantitative analysis showed that the students made overall progress after the instruction. However, the qualitative analysis revealed that the students made greater improvements in framing moves (i.e., subject, greeting and closing) than in content moves (i.e., request strategies and request support). It is because framing moves are interpersonally oriented and formulaic in nature, thus more controllable in an instructional setting and easier for the students to acquire. On the other hand, content moves are informationally loaded and idiosyncratic in nature, thus less controllable in an instructional setting and more difficult for the students to acquire. These findings are discussed with implications for classroom practices and future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Cerebral palsy is one of the most common childhood neuromuscular diseases in the world. Spinal anaesthesia in children is an evolving technique with many advantages in perioperative management. The aim of this retrospective study was to provide first-hand reports of children with cerebral palsy who underwent orthopaedic surgery under spinal anaesthesia. Methods: Records of the children with cerebral palsy who underwent orthopaedic surgery under spinal anaesthesia between May 2012 and June 2013 at Selcuk University Hospital were investigated. In all patients, lumbar puncture was performed in lateral decubitus position with mask sevoflurane-nitrous oxide anaesthesia. In patients who were calm prior the spinal block, inhalation anaesthesia was terminated. In patients who were restless before the spinal block, anaesthesia was combined with light sevoflurane anaesthesia and a laryngeal mask. From anaesthesia records, the number of attempts required to complete the lumbar puncture, and the success rates of spinal anaesthesia and perioperative complications were noted. Data were expressed as numbers and percentages. Results: The study included 36 patients (20 girls and 16 boys). The mean age was 71 months. The rate of reaching subarachnoid space on first attempt was 86%. In all patients, spinal anaesthesia was considered successful. In 26 patients, laryngeal mask and light sevoflurane anaesthesia were required to maintain ideal surgical conditions. No major perioperative complications were observed. Conclusion: Spinal anaesthesia alone or combined with light sevoflurane anaesthesia is a reliable technique with high success rates in children with cerebral palsy undergoing orthopaedic surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malignant melanoma is an aggressive and deadly form of skin cancer, and despite recent advances in available therapies, is still lacking in completely effective treatments. Rg3, a monomer extracted from ginseng roots, has been attempted for the treatment of many cancers. It is reported that the expressions of histone deacetylase 3 (HDAC3) and p53 acetylation correlate with tumor cell growth. However, the antitumor effect of Rg3 on melanoma and the mechanism by which it regulates HDAC3 expression and p53 acetylation remain unknown. We found high expression of HDAC3 in human melanoma tissues to be significantly correlated to lymph node metastasis and clinical stage of disease (p<0.05). In melanoma cells, Rg3 inhibited cell proliferation and induced G0/G1 cell cycle arrest. Rg3 also decreased the expression of HDAC3 and increased the acetylation of p53 on lysine (k373/k382). Moreover, suppression of HDAC3 by either siRNA or a potent HDAC3 inhibitor (MS-275) inhibited cell proliferation, increased p53 acetylation and transcription activity. In A375 melanoma xenograft studies, we demonstrated that Rg3 and HDAC3 short hairpin RNA (shHDAC3) inhibited the growth of xenograft tumors with down-regulation of HDAC3 expression and up-regulation of p53 acetylation. In conclusion, Rg3 has antiproliferative activity against melanoma by decreasing HDAC3 and increasing acetylation of p53 both in vitro and in vivo. Thus, Rg3 serves as a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of melanoma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Plerixafor is a Food and Drug Administration-approved agent for improving peripheral blood stem cell ( PBSC) mobilization in filgrastim (granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor [ G- CSF])-stimulated patients with multiple myeloma and non- Hodgkin's lymphoma. Limited information is available on its use in Hodgkin's lymphoma ( HL) patients. We describe our experience with plerixafor as an immediate rescue agent in HL patients with poor PBSC mobilization. Study Design and Methods We retrospectively reviewed the collection data of 27 consecutive HL patients at our center in whom plerixafor was added to rescue a failing PBSC collection after G- CSF and chemotherapy (26) or G- CSF alone (1). Plerixafor was added in 11 patients due to peripheral blood ( PB) CD34+ counts that persisted below the threshold (>10 × 106/ L) to initiate collection (median, 1.47 × 106; range 0 × 106-6.28 × 106/ L) and in 16 patients due to low collection yields, who had a median yield of 0.33 × 106 (0.14 × 106-0.65 × 106) CD34+ cells/kg on the last collection before plerixafor administration. Results After a median of 2 (range, 2-4) collections with plerixafor, the patients collected a median of 1.82 × 106 (0.52 × 106-11.14 × 106) CD34+ cells/kg. The addition of plerixafor enabled 20 patients (74.1%) to reach the 2.0 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg minimum required for autologous stem cell transplantation ( ASCT) during the same collection cycle. Subsequent remobilization in three patients with plerixafor enabled all three to reach this goal. Conclusion Plerixafor can be used in HL patients with poor mobilization as a rescue agent and boosts mobilization sufficiently in most patients in the same collection attempt, thus not only permitting ASCT, but also avoiding remobilization and the associated costs, treatment delays, and patient inconvenience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The existing epidemiological data cannot represent the situation of undernutrition among Chinese children, particularly those in rural China. Hence, in this community-based cross-sectional study, the prevalence and associated factors of stunting, underweight and wasting among children (age < 6 years) from rural Hunan Province were analyzed.Methods: Totally 5529 children aged 0 to 71 months and their caregivers were randomly chosen by multistage stratified cluster sampling from 72 villages from rural Hunan, which were distributed in 24 towns of 12 counties. Data about the children and their mothers, caregivers and family conditions was acquired using unified questionnaire, and the length/height and weight of each child were measured using unified instruments. The prevalence of undernutrition among children was evaluated using the length/height for age, weight for age, weight for length/height, and body mass index for age z scores, which were computed according to the 2006 and 2007 WHO Child Growth Standards.Results: The prevalence of stunting, underweight, and wasting among the 5529 children were 4.4% (241), 3.9% (217), and 4.0% (221), respectively. The significant associated factors on higher risks of undernutrition in the children were low birth weight, maternal gestational weight gain <10 kg (stunting); low birth weight, maternal gestational weight gain <10 kg, ethnicity of caregivers being minority, large family size (underweight); low birth weight, ethnicity of caregivers being minority, large family size (wasting). High education level of caregivers and high family food expenditure were common protective factors for all three types of undernutrition, except that high family food expenditure was not protective against wasting.Conclusions: The prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting is low among rural children under age of 6 years in Hunan. As for the measures, the gestational care and reasonable diet of mothers should be strengthened, and nutritional deficiency during pregnancy be avoided, which will prevent low birth weight. The local economic development and the education level of caregivers need to be further improved, especially for minorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spectrophotometric screening method for avermectin oxidizing microbes by determination of 4″-oxo-avermectin was established based on the reaction between 4″-oxo-avermectin and 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine. Combined with a gradient HPLC assay, microorganisms capable of regioselectively oxidizing avermectin to 4″-oxo-avermectin were successfully obtained by this method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hyperfractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, dexamethasone/methotrexate, cytarabine (Hyper-CVAD) chemotherapy exerts deleterious effects on peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) mobilization. We retrospectively reviewed the use of plerixafor to salvage mobilization in 18 Hyper-CVAD treated patients who initially mobilized poorly with chemotherapy and granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). After plerixafor administration the median peripheral blood (PB) CD34 + count rose from 3.74/μL (0-17/μL) to 6.85/μL (0-47.2/μL). The patients collected a median of 1.64 (0.21-5.56) × 106 CD34 + cells/kg with a median number of 3 (1-4) doses in the same collection cycle, and 11 patients reached the 2.0 × 106 CD34 + cells/kg minimum required for transplant. Six patients were remobilized later with G-CSF and plerixafor, and three additional patients reached this goal. For these 14 patients the median number of doses of plerixafor required to reach 2.0 × 106 CD34 + cells/kg was 3 (range 1-4). In conclusion, plerixafor can be utilized successfully in many cases to overcome the effects of Hyper-CVAD on PBSC mobilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Plerixafor is a recently introduced agent used to improve peripheral blood stem cell ( PBSC) mobilization in patients with hematologic malignancies. However, some patients still cannot mobilize adequately even with plerixafor. Study Design and Methods We retrospectively reviewed the PBSC collections of 18 consecutive lymphoma and multiple myeloma patients, who had previously mobilized poorly despite the use of plerixafor and received plerixafor again during remobilization. Results During the first mobilization attempt, all 18 recombinant granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor ( G- CSF; two) or G- CSF plus chemotherapy-mobilized patients (16) had poor response to plerixafor, with peripheral blood ( PB) CD34+ counts ranging from 0 to 7.48 × 106/ L after the first dose. They collected only 0.15 × 106 to 1.63 × 106 (median, 0.40 × 106) CD34+ cells/kg after one to four collections. The median average daily yield was 0.24 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg. Remobilization began 1 to 4 weeks later with G- CSF, plerixafor, and with (three) or without (15) cyclophosphamide. The PB CD34+ cell counts after the first dose of plerixafor were 3.04 × 106 to 127.54 × 106/ L (median, 14.58 × 106/ L). After one to four doses of plerixafor, each patient collected an additional 0.39 × 106 to 14.02 × 106 (median, 1.89 × 106) CD34+ cells/kg, and the median daily average was 0.78 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg. Cumulatively, after two rounds of collections, 15 collected more than 2.0 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg. Thirteen have proceeded to autologous stem cell transplantation ( ASCT) and successfully engrafted. Conclusion In patients who had responded poorly to the use of plerixafor as a mobilization salvage agent, response to remobilization with plerixafor for the second time was variable, but most (83.3%) patients were able to collect enough PBSCs to proceed to ASCT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study explored the possibility that the consonantal landmarks served as predictors of dysarthric speech produced by English-speaking adults with cerebral palsy (CP). Additionally, the relationship between the perceptual severity of dysarthric speech and the consonantal landmarks was explored. The analyses included 210 sentences from the TORGO database produced by seven English-speaking CP speakers with dysarthria and seven typically developing controls matched in age and gender. The results indicated that the clinical group produced more total landmark features than did the control group. A binominal regression analysis revealed that the improper control of laryngeal vibration and the inability to tactically control the energy in a voiced segment would lead to the higher likelihood of dysarthric speech. A multinominal regression analysis revealed that producing too many +v and −v landmark features would lead to higher perceptual severity levels among the CP speakers. Together with literature, the current study proposed that the landmark-based acoustic analysis could quantify the differences in consonantal productions between dysarthric and non-dysarthric speech and reflect the underlying speech motor deficits of the population in concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N–N bonded compounds are a relatively small but valuable group of natural products with a variety of important biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-bacterial and anti-oxidant activities. Currently, the synthesis of natural products containing N–N bonds is mainly based on chemical synthesis, but the chemical synthesis of N–N bonds may have safety issues and raw material sustainability problems. A variety of N–N bond biosynthetic mechanisms exist in nature, including comproportionation, rearrangement, and radical recombination reactions, which provide ideas for the biosynthesis of many N–N bond compounds. But at this stage, only a few N–N bond synthases have been reported, and difficulties exist in the biosynthesis of N–N bond-containing compounds. The new N–N-bond synthase PAI2, which was found to catalyze the synthesis of piperazinic acid, expands the family of N–N-bond synthases and provides better catalytic activity and different enzymatic properties for the substrate L-N5-hydroxyornithine than the known enzyme KtzT derived from the piperazinic acid biosynthetic gene cluster of Kutzneria sp. 744. Moreover, PAI2 was found to have the ability to catalyze the formation of C–N bonds in Pro. • The N–N-bond synthase PAI2 was found for the first time to catalyze the synthesis of piperazinic acid. • The PAI2 had better catalytic activity and different enzymatic properties compared with KtzT. • PAI2 was found to have the ability to catalyze the formation of C–N bonds in Pro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, the effects of fermentation manners on the structure and immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharide in longan wine or vinegar were investigated. Compared to longan polysaccharide (CP1), polysaccharide in longan wine (CP2) or vinegar (CP3 and CP4) had smaller molecular weights, and was consisted of more mannose, arabinose, rhamnose, galactose and less glucose. After purification, the major fraction (P1-P4) was obtained from CP1-CP4, respectively. The structures and immunoregulatory activities of P1-P4 were characterized. Fermentation and purification were favorable to increase the immunoregulatory activities of P2-P4, which were contributed to their different structural features. The structure-activity relationship analysis indicated that molecular weight, mannose, rhamnose, glucuronic acid, glucose and arabinose were significantly associated with the cytokines secretion. Compared with other polysaccharides, P3 displayed better immunomodulatory activity due to its lower molecular weight, lower contents of rhamnose and glucose, and higher levels of mannose and arabinose by activating MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. • Polysaccharides in longan vinegar or wine were prepared, and characterized. • Fermentation significantly changed the structural features of polysaccharides. • The relationship of structure-immune activity of polysaccharide was illustrated. • The polysaccharide (P3) in longan vinegar had higher immunomodulatory activity. • P3 induced macrophage activation via MAPK and PI3K/Akt signal pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) provides lifesaving hemodynamic and respiratory support to neonatal and pediatric patients with a variety of congenital or acquired cardiopulmonary defects. Successful ECMO support requires close collaboration among multiple services, including critical care medicine, perfusion, and transfusion medicine services. Neonatal and pediatric ECMO patients require significant transfusion support, both at the time of cannulation and after the ECMO circuit has been established, often with little advance notice. Thus a number of communication and logistic issues must be addressed through a multidisciplinary approach to ensure both good patient outcome and judicious use of resources. In this article, we describe our protocol for transfusion support for ECMO and potential ECMO patients, which was developed to address a number of issues, including identifying and stratifiying ECMO candidate patients, streamlining the ordering and communication processes, and improving blood product turnaround times and availability. Additional measures of quality improvement are also discussed. As the number of centers performing ECMO procedures remains high, we believe that our experience may be of interest to our colleagues in transfusion medicine and critical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is devoted to multiple solutions of generalized asymptotical linear Hamiltonian systems satisfying Bolza boundary conditions. We classify the linear Hamiltonian systems by the index theory and obtain the existence and multiplicity of solutions for the Hamiltonian systems, based on an application of the classical symmetric mountain pass lemma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a combinatorial clustering algorithmof cloud model and quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (COCQPSO) to solve the stochastic problem. The algorithm employs a novel probability model as well as a permutation-based local search method. We are setting the parameters of COCQPSO based on the design of experiment. In the comprehensive computational study, we scrutinize the performance of COCQPSO on a set of widely used benchmark instances. By benchmarking combinatorial clustering algorithm with state-of-the-art algorithms, we can show that its performance compares very favorably. The fuzzy combinatorial optimization algorithm of cloud model and quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (FCOCQPSO) in vague sets (IVSs) ismore expressive than the other fuzzy sets. Finally, numerical examples show the clustering effectiveness of COCQPSO and FCOCQPSO clustering algorithms which are extremely remarkable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Fretting wear and subsequent fatigue are the damage processes caused by micro slip under high cycle fatigue (HCF) loading between contacting structural members. Fretting fatigue has become recognized as a major failure mode in aircraft, which can reduce the life of a structure by as much as 40–60% under certain conditions. There are two keys to evaluating the fretting fatigue life of dovetail assemblies: one is determining the high stress gradients at the edge of the contact zone under complex loading by means of numerical methods, especially the finite element method (FEM); the other is finding suitable parameters to correlate with fretting fatigue life to improve predictive accuracy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Objectives: The purposes of this study were to determine the prevalence of sexual harassment victimization (SHV) among junior high students and to analyze the relationship between SHV and psychological distress. Methods: Trained interviewers went to randomly selected junior high school classrooms in Keelung City, and administered a structured questionnaire to collect data anonymously. A total of 2,282 students took the survey but 1,846 were excluded due to incomplete data. Sexual harassment was defined as a situation with sexual overtones that felt uncomfortable (American Associaction of University Women, AAUW). The BSRS-5 was used to measure coping strategies and to classify psychological distress as none, mild, moderate, or severe. Polytomous logistic regression was used to analyze the data. Results: Almost half (46.9%) of the students experienced at least one episode of sexual harassment in the previous year. There was no gender difference in this. After adjustment for gender, coping style, and other stressful conditions, victims of sexual harassment had higher rates of mild and severe psychological distress, 1.65 and 2.28 respectively, than did the non-victims. The relationships between SHV and psychological distress varied with SHV type and gender. Conclusions: Nearly half of junior high students in Keelung City experienced sexual harassment in the previous year and there was a significant relationship between sexual harassment and psychological distress. Health and education authorities need to develop effective strategies to prevent sexual harassment in the schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study utilizes a pre-test/post-test assessment to investigate the instructional efficacy of a genre-based approach to teaching summary writing. Forty-one EFL university students in Taiwan were asked before and after the instruction to summarize a simplified version of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer in a maximum of 500 words. All the students’ summaries on the pre- and post-tests were evaluated against content, organization, vocabulary, and language use. The statistical results showed that such an approach was effective in improving students’ overall summarization performance of a narrative source text and that the students benefited to a greater extent in content and organization than in vocabulary and language use. The results were also supported by the students’ interview comments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]