Summary
Background
Vitiligo is an autoimmune chronic depigmentation disorder caused by melanocyte loss. Previous studies found that CD4+CD25+ regulatory T‐cell (Treg) dysfunction was involved in the ...pathogenesis of vitiligo and that gene polymorphisms in forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) – a master regulator of Treg development and function – were associated with susceptibility to some autoimmune disorders. Therefore, we hypothesized that functional polymorphisms of the FOXP3 gene might be associated with vitiligo via dysregulation of Treg cells.
Objectives
To evaluate whether FOXP3 polymorphisms are associated with vitiligo risk.
Material and methods
In this hospital‐based case–control study of 682 patients with vitiligo and 682 vitiligo‐free age‐ and sex‐matched controls, we genotyped three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the FOXP3 gene – rs2232365, rs3761548 and rs5902434 – by performing polymerase chain reaction with sequence‐specific primers (PCR‐SSP).
Results
Significantly increased vitiligo risk was associated with the rs2232365 GG odds ratio (OR) 1·68, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·17–2·39, P = 0·004 and rs3761548 AA (OR 1·82, 95% CI 1·10–3·01, P = 0·033) genotypes compared with the rs2232365 AA and rs3761548 CC genotypes. On combined analysis of these three variant alleles, we found that individuals carrying 2–6 variant alleles had significantly increased vitiligo risk (OR 1·34, 95% CI 1·08–1·66). This risk was more pronounced in the following subgroups: age > 20 years, male sex, active vitiligo, nonsegmental vitiligo and other accompanying autoimmune diseases.
Conclusions
FOXP3 gene polymorphisms contributed to vitiligo risk in a Han Chinese population.
What's already known about this topic?
Previous findings have suggested that forkhead box P3 (FOXP3) is a master regulator of regulatory T cells (Tregs) for maintaining immune tolerance and abrogating autoimmune diseases.
Dysfunction of Tregs is involved in the autoimmune mechanism of vitiligo.
FOXP3 polymorphisms negatively affect the expression and functions of FOXP3 as well as of its target genes.
What does this study add?
Our study suggests an association between FOXP3 gene polymorphisms and vitiligo susceptibility.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Quantum metrology aims at delivering new quantum-mechanical improvement to technologies of parameter estimations with precision bounded by the quantum Cramér-Rao bound. The currently used quantum ...Cramér-Rao bound was established with measurements of observables restricted to be Hermitian. This constrains the bound and limits the precision of parameter estimation. In this paper, we lift the constraint and derive a previously unknown quantum Cramér-Rao bound. We find that the new bound can reach arbitrary small value with mixed states and it breaks the Heisenberg limit in some cases. We construct a setup to measure non-Hermitian operators and discuss the saturation of the present bound. Two examples—the phase estimation with Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states of trapped ions and the adiabatic quantum parameter estimation with the nuclear magnetic resonance—are employed to demonstrate the theory. The present study might open a new research direction—non-Hermitian quantum metrology.
Catheters are commonly inserted life supporting devices. Because serious complications can arise from malpositioned catheters, X-ray images are used to assess the position of a catheter immediately ...after placement. Previous computer vision approaches to detect catheters on X-ray images were either rule-based or only capable of processing a limited number or type of catheters projecting over the chest. With the resurgence of deep learning, supervised training approaches are beginning to show promising results. However, dense annotation maps are required, and the work of a human annotator is difficult to scale. In this work, we propose an automatic approach for detection of catheters and tubes on pediatric X-ray images. We propose a simple way of synthesizing catheters on X-ray images to generate a training dataset by exploiting the fact that catheters are essentially tubular structures with various cross sectional profiles. Further, we develop a UNet-style segmentation network with a recurrent module that can process inputs at multiple scales and iteratively refine the detection result. By training on adult chest X-rays, the proposed network exhibits promising detection results on pediatric chest/abdomen X-rays in terms of both precision and recall, with
F
β
= 0.8. The approach described in this work may contribute to the development of clinical systems to detect and assess the placement of catheters on X-ray images. This may provide a solution to triage and prioritize X-ray images with potentially malpositioned catheters for a radiologist’s urgent review and help automate radiology reporting.
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NUK, OBVAL, SBMB, SBNM, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
We consider the time correlated multiple-input single-output (MISO) broadcast channel where the transmitter has imperfect knowledge of the current channel state, in addition to delayed channel state ...information. By representing the quality of the current channel state information as P -α for the signal-to-noise ratio P and some constant α ≥ 0, we characterize the optimal degrees of freedom region for this more general two-user MISO broadcast correlated channel. The essential ingredients of the proposed scheme lie in the quantization and multicast of the overheard interferences, while broadcasting new private messages. Our proposed scheme smoothly bridges between the scheme recently proposed by Maddah-Ali and Tse with no current state information and a simple zero-forcing beamforming with perfect current state information.
Heavy metal contamination of agricultural soils poses risks and hazards to humans. The remediation of heavy metal-polluted soils has become a hot topic in environmental science and engineering. In ...this review, the application of clay minerals for the remediation of heavy metal-polluted agricultural soils is summarized, in terms of their remediation effects and mechanisms, influencing factors, and future focus. Typical clay minerals, natural sepiolite, palygorskite, and bentonite, have been widely utilized for the in-situ immobilization of heavy metals in soils, especially Cd-polluted paddy soils and wastewater-irrigated farmland soils. Clay minerals are able to increase soil pH, decrease the chemical-extractable fractions and bioavailability of heavy metals in soils, and reduce the heavy metal contents in edible parts of plants. The immobilization effects have been confirmed in field-scale demonstrations and pot trials. Clay minerals can improve the environmental quality of soils and alleviate the hazards of heavy metals to plants. As main factors affecting the immobilization effects, the pH and water condition of soils have drawn academic attention. The remediation mechanisms mainly include liming, precipitation, and sorption effects. However, the molecular mechanisms of microscopic immobilization are unclear. F~ture studies should focus on the long-term stability and improvement of clay minerals in order to obtain a better remediation effect.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Using in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we have observed nanometre scale dislocation loops formed when an ultra-high-purity tungsten foil is irradiated with a very low fluence of ...self-ions. Analysis of the TEM images has revealed the largest loops to be predominantly of prismatic 1/2〈111〉 type and of vacancy character. The formation of such dislocation loops is surprising since isolated loops are expected to be highly mobile, and should escape from the foil. In this work we show that the observed size and number density of loops can be explained by the fact that the loops are not isolated-the loops formed in close proximity in the cascades interact with each other and with vacancy clusters, also formed in cascades, through long-range elastic fields, which prevent the escape of loops from the foil. We find that experimental observations are well reproduced by object Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations of evolution of cascades only if elastic interaction between the loops is taken into account. Our analysis highlights the profound effect of elastic interaction between defects on the microstructural evolution of irradiated materials.
Abstract
A notable feature of non-Hermitian systems with skin effects is the sensitivity of their spectra and eigenstates to the boundary conditions. In the literature, three types of boundary ...conditions–periodic boundary condition, open boundary condition (OBC) and a defect in the system as a boundary, are explored. In this work we introduce the other type of boundary condition provided by a giant atom. The giant atom couples to a nonreciprocal Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH) chain at two points and plays the role of defects. We study the spectrum and localization of eigenstates of the system and find that the giant atom can induce asymmetric zero modes. A remarkable feature is that bulk states might localize at the left or the right chain-atom coupling sites in weak localization regimes. This bipolar localization leads to Bloch-like states, even though translational invariance is broken. Moreover, we find that the localization is obviously weaker than the case with two small atoms or OBCs even in strong coupling regimes. These intriguing results indicate that nonlocal coupling of the giant atom to a nonreciprocal SSH chain weakens the localization of the eigenstates. We also show that the Lyapunov exponent in the long-time dynamics in real space can act as a witness of the localized bulk states.
This study aimed to evaluate the effects of genistein on glycolipid metabolism in postmenopausal women.
Electronic databases were searched and relevant reports were hand-screened. We included only ...randomized controlled trials of isolated genistein for glycolipid metabolism. The primary outcome for lipid metabolism included a changed value of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and for glucose metabolism was a changed value of homeostasis model assessment for insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Secondary outcomes included a changed value of total cholesterol, triglyceride, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), fasting blood glucose (FBG), fasting blood insulin (INS), and body mass index (BMI).
Ten trials with 11 articles were included. The level of LDL-C was not decreased in the genistein group compared with the placebo group (standardized mean difference SMD = −0.58; 95% confidence interval CI − 1.19, 0.02; p = 0.06). No statistical significance was found in subgroup analyses. HOMA-IR was obviously improved in the genistein group with SMD of −0.51 (95% CI −0.88, −0.14; p = 0.006). In subgroup analyses, HOMA-IR was improved more in women with BMI <30 kg/m
2
and without metabolic disorders (p < 0.0001). For secondary outcomes, there were significant differences in total cholesterol, HDL-C, FBG, and INS, but not triglyceride or BMI.
Genistein was effective in ameliorating glycolipid metabolism by increasing HDL-C levels and decreasing total cholesterol levels and improving insulin sensitivity.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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