Effective screening and treatment have reduced the number of women dying from breast cancer (BC). However, the long-term sequelae of BC treatment and psychosocial factors seriously affect the life ...quality of BC patients and survivors. Therefore, the discovery and application of targeted biomarkers to improve the functional outcome and life quality of BC patients is necessary.
To explore the impact of leptin (LEP)/ leptin receptor (LEPR) expression on occurrence and survival of BC.
Totally 132 primary BC and 66 non-BC patients who underwent surgery in department of breast surgery in Shanxi Cancer Hospital from January to October in 2009 were enrolled in this retrospective study. LEP and LEPR were examined in BC tissues, benign breast tissues, para-carcinoma tissues using immunohistochemical staining. Kaplan-Meier curve was generated to test survival time.
The high level expression of LEP and LEPR in BC tissues were significantly higher than that in benign breast tissues and in para-carcinoma tissues (all P < 0.05). The LEP expression in patients with lymph node metastases was significantly higher than that in patients without lymph nodes metastases (P = 0.002). LEPR expression was correlated with higher Ki-67 rate (P = 0.002). LEP and LEPR both had no impact on survival (all P > 0.05).
High LEP/LEPR expression were risk factors for occurrence of BC, but without impact on survival.
Abstract
Background
There has been considerable interest in the interrelationship between the liver and hypertension. The relationship between serum total bile acid (TBA) and hypertension has been ...reported. Moreover, intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy was correlated to gestation hypertension. However, the association between maternal serum TBA level in the normal range and new-onset hypertension disorders during pregnancy remains unclear. The present study aimed to evaluate the relationship between maternal serum TBA level in the normal range and the risk, disease severity and adverse pregnancy outcomes of new-onset hypertension during pregnancy.
Method
Using the electronic medical records on all pregnant women from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Third Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, between 2014 and 2020, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of 2581 singleton pregnant women with maternal serum TBA levels in the normal range. Patients were grouped into the non-hypertension during pregnancy (1071), gestational hypertension (480) and preeclampsia (1030) groups.
Result
We found that maternal serum TBA levels were significantly higher in the preeclampsia and gestational hypertension groups than in the non-hypertension group (
p
< 0.01). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that TBA level was independently and significantly associated with preeclampsia and gestational hypertension (odds ratio: 1.37, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.27–1.48,
p
= 0.001, odds ratio: 1.34, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.24–1.46,
p
= 0.005, respectively). Moreover, elevated TBA level was positively associated with the risk of severe PE and negatively with mild PE (
p
< 0.01). In addition, maternal serum TBA levels were negatively related to birth weight (
p
< 0.001).
Conclusions
These results suggest that maternal serum TBA in the normal range also might be a valuable biomarker for disease severity in preeclampsia and gestational hypertension. Additionally, our results also indicate associations of serum total bile acid levels in the normal range with an increased risk of fetal growth restriction and low birth weight among offspring. These results suggest that TBA could serve as a prognostic biomarker for new-onset hypertension during pregnancy.
Abstract
Nitrenium ions are important reactive intermediates in both chemistry and biology. Although singlet nitrenium ions are well-characterized by direct methods, the triplet states of nitrenium ...ions have never been directly detected. Here, we find that the excited state of the photoprecursor partitions between heterolysis to generate the singlet nitrenium ion and intersystem crossing (ISC) followed by a spontaneous heterolysis process to generate the triplet
p
-iodophenylnitrenium ion (
np
). The triplet nitrenium ion undergoes ISC to generate the ground singlet state, which ultimately undergoes proton and electron transfer to generate a long-lived radical cation that further generates the reduced p-iodoaniline. Ab Initio calculations were performed to map out the potential energy surfaces to better understand the excited state reactivity channels show that an energetically-accessible singlet-triplet crossing lies along the
N-N
stretch coordinate and that the excited triplet state is unbound and spontaneously eliminates ammonia to generate the triplet nitrenium ion. These results give a clearer picture of the photophysical properties and reactivity of two different spin states of a phenylnitrenium ion and provide the first direct glimpse of a triplet nitrenium ion.
In this paper, we study the global subsonic irrotational flows in a multi-dimensional (
n
≥ 2) infinitely long nozzle with variable cross sections. The flow is described by the inviscid potential ...equation, which is a second order quasilinear elliptic equation when the flow is subsonic. First, we prove the existence of the global uniformly subsonic flow in a general infinitely long nozzle for arbitrary dimension with sufficiently small incoming mass flux and obtain the uniqueness of the global uniformly subsonic flow. Then we show that there exists a critical value of the incoming mass flux such that a global uniformly subsonic flow exists uniquely, provided that the incoming mass flux is less than the critical value. This gives a positive answer to the problem of Bers on global subsonic irrotational flows in infinitely long nozzles for arbitrary dimension (
Bers
in Surveys in applied mathematics, vol 3, Wiley, New York,
1958
). Finally, under suitable asymptotic assumptions of the nozzle, we obtain the asymptotic behavior of the subsonic flow in far fields by means of a blow-up argument. The main ingredients of our analysis are methods of calculus of variations, the Moser iteration techniques for the potential equation and a blow-up argument for infinitely long nozzles.
► An analytical approach to predict the short-term link travel time distribution. ► An information fusion model combining a discrete distribution and a range of states. ► An information quality ...measure in terms of information accuracy and time delay.
As intelligent transportation systems (ITS) approach the realm of widespread deployment, there is an increasing need to robustly capture the variability of link travel time in real-time to generate reliable predictions of real-time traffic conditions. This study proposes an adaptive information fusion model to predict the short-term link travel time distribution by iteratively combining past information on link travel time on the current day with the real-time link travel time information available at discrete time points. The past link travel time information is represented as a discrete distribution. The real-time link travel time is represented as a range, and is characterized using information quality in terms of information accuracy and time delay. A nonlinear programming formulation is used to specify the adaptive information fusion model to update the short-term link travel time distribution by focusing on information quality. The model adapts good information by weighing it higher while shielding the effects of bad information by reducing its weight. Numerical experiments suggest that the proposed model adequately represents the short-term link travel time distribution in terms of accuracy and robustness, while ensuring consistency with ambient traffic flow conditions. Further, they illustrate that the mean of a representative short-term travel time distribution is not necessarily a good tracking indicator of the actual (ground truth) time-dependent travel time on that link. Parametric sensitivity analysis illustrates that information accuracy significantly influences the model, and dominates the effects of time delay and the consistency constraint parameter. The proposed information fusion model bridges key methodological gaps in the ITS deployment context related to information fusion and the need for short-term travel time distributions.
Integrated solar absorption cooling and heating (SACH) systems, which use solar energy to provide space heating, space cooling, and water heating, represent a promising substitute to reduce the ...earth's carbon emissions. SACH systems currently are designed based on engineering experience for the most part and few systematic methodologies are available to identify the key optimal parameters for SACH systems, such as the slope of the solar collectors, the area of the solar collectors, and the volume of the storage tanks. As a result, the established systems usually are not capable of yielding the greatest returns on investment. Motivated by the above facts, this study investigates a formal method for SACH system optimization by incorporating simultaneously a system's performance related to its economic, energy, and environmental aspects. The proposed method includes central composite design, regression, and multi-objective optimization. Central composite design (CCD) is used to select the significant experimental data generated by energy system simulation and life cycle analysis. Linear regression models are used to predict the functional relationship between system performance and the key system parameters using data sets. A multi-objective optimization model is then formulated and solved based on the Weighted-Tchebycheff metric approach. The proposed approach is applied to medium-sized office buildings located in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Chicago; and the results suggest that the approach can provide a systematic mechanism to optimally design SACH systems.
► An optimization methodology for SACH system is developed. ► The optimization considers economic, energy, and environmental aspects. ► The methodology is applied to the medium-sized office building in multiple locations. ► Pareto-front was obtained for each case. ► The solar system applied in Phoenix has the best performance among all locations.
The 3',5'-dimethoxybenzoin (DMB) system has been widely investigated as a photoremovable protecting group (PRPG) for the elimination of various functional groups and has been applied in many fields. ...The photolysis of DMB fluoride leads to a highly efficient photocyclization-deprotection reaction, resulting in a high yield of 3',5'-dimethoxybenzofuran (DMBF) in a MeCN solution, while there is a competitive reaction that produces DMB in an aqueous solution. The yield of DMB increased as the volume ratio of water increased. To understand the solvent effect of the photolysis of selected DMB-based compounds, a combination of femtosecond to nanosecond transient absorption spectroscopies (fs-TA and ns-TA), nanosecond time-resolved resonance Raman spectroscopy (ns-TR
) and quantum chemical calculation was employed to study the photophysical and photochemical reaction mechanisms of DMB fluoride in different solutions. Facilitated by the bichromophoric nature of DMB fluoride with electron-donating and -withdrawing chromophores, the cyclized intermediates could be found in a pure MeCN solution. The deprotection of a cyclic biradical intermediate results in the simultaneous formation of DMBF and a cyclic cation species. On the other hand, in aqueous solution, fs-TA experiments revealed that α-keto cations could be observed after excitation directly, which could easily produce the DMB through the addition of a hydroxyl within 8.7 ps. This work provides comprehensive photo-deactivation mechanisms of DMB fluoride in MeCN and aqueous conditions and provides critical insights regarding the biomedical application of DMB-based PRPG compounds.
Objective
Many studies have been done to seek the relationship between general anesthesia and neurodevelopment in pediatrics. However, there is no unified conclusion, especially single anesthesia ...affecting a child before 3 and 4 years. The association between anesthesia and neurodevelopment is studied using a meta-analysis.
Methods
We summarized the currently available evidence by searching PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane library over the past 10 years. An evaluation of neurodevelopment including learning disability, behavioral disorders, and cognitive problems was conducted. We estimated the synthesized hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence interval (CI) according to inter-study heterogeneity and analyzed the factors for this association using meta-regression method.
Results
Thirteen eligible studies met the inclusion criteria. The neurodevelopment damage was associated with single general anesthesia before age of 4 (adjusted HR 1.28 95 % CI 1.10–1.45). The pooled adjusted HR was 1.17 (95 % CI 1.07–1.28,
p
= 0.001) before 4 years old after the influence analysis and the adjusted HR was 1.18 (95 % CI 1.07–1.30,
p
= 0.001) before 3 years old. There was no significant difference between 3 and 4 years exposed to single general anesthesia (HR
3
/HR
4
= 1.008,
p
= 0.9). Due to limitations of retrospective studies, prospective investigations are needed to determine whether anesthesia is causative.
Conclusions
The current evidence suggests a modestly elevated risk of neurodevelopmental disorders exists in children near 3 years of age. A single general anesthesia is relatively safe after 3 years, as the outcome is very close before 3 and 4 years old.
Several developed vehicle spaces and time headway distribution models in traffic flow theory have been widely used in the literature, reflecting the primary uncertainty in drivers’ car-following ...movements and explaining the traffic flow stochastic features. Moreover, effective vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication is a key to decentralizing traffic information systems. Accurate vehicle headway distribution estimation will ensure reliable communication and benefit passengers’ safety and comfort. Consider several proposals for headway distribution in the literature; this paper studies the effect of space-headway distribution on information propagation delay in assessing the reliability of the V2V communication networks. We utilize the properties of reliability measurement for headway data by introducing the quasi-maximum likelihood estimator (QMLE) to measure the effects that different headway models have on estimating the parameters of headway distribution in a V2V communication network. The statistical analysis is then applied to the real Next-Generation Simulation (NGSIM) data. It validates the proposed methodology and formulations by measuring the effects of model selection on headway data and information propagation delay on the reliability of the V2V network. The results show that the effect of headway distribution when the vehicle’s transmission range is smaller than the road segmentation is not negligible, especially when cars are very distant. Based on our results, we recommend new metrics based on Kullback–Leibler divergence for model selection of headway data, thereby enhancing the reliability of the V2V network.
•Modeling driver behavior and traffic flow uncertainties.•V2V communication as a key for decentralized traffic information systems.•Assessing the impact of headway distribution on V2V information propagation delay.•Real-world traffic data (NGSIM) for validating the methodology.•Measuring the model impact on parameter estimation and network reliability via QMLE.
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