Abstract Background/Aims To explore the unique microRNA expression pattern of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in a rat model, and search for targets of certain dysregulated microRNAs. Methods ...Microarray and stem-loop RT-PCR were utilized to detect dysregulated microRNAs in a rat model. Significance Analysis of Microarray, Prediction Analysis of Microarray and clustering analysis were implemented to calculate significantly aberrantly expressed microRNAs. TargetScan, miRanda and PicTar were jointly used to predict targets of microRNAs. Results Confirmed by Significance Analysis of Microarray and predicted by Prediction Analysis of Microarray, portfolios of 27 and 21 microRNAs were selected as an accurate molecular signature in distinguishing steatosis and steatohepatitis from normal rat liver. Besides, a panel of microRNA-target pairs that may be involved in lipid and glucose metabolism and inflammation process was delineated. Conclusion This is by far the first report on the dysregulated microRNAs expression pattern in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. The successful differentiation of steatosis and steatohepatitis from normal liver hints to the potential of using lists of dysregulated microRNAs for diagnosis, though many problems need to be solved. Besides, these data will guide further studies of the contribution of microRNAs to the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease while disease-specific microRNAs might become potential targets for therapeutic intervention.
Abstract Aim The expression of cysteine cathepsins in human carious dentine suggests that this enzyme contributes to the collagen degradation in caries progress. This study investigated whether ...silver diamine fluoride (SDF) inhibited the activity of cysteine cathepsins. Methods Three commercial SDF solutions with concentrations at 38%, 30% and 12% were studied. Two fluoride solutions with the same fluoride ion (F- ) concentrations as the 38% and 12% SDF solutions, and 2 silver solutions with the same silver ion (Ag+ ) concentrations as the 38% and 12% SDF solutions were prepared. Five samples of each experimental solution were used to study their inhibitory effect on two cathepsins (B and K) using cathepsin assay kits. Positive control contained assay buffer and cathepsins dilution was used to calculate the percentage inhibition (difference between the mean readings of the test solution and control solution divided by that of the control group). Results The percentage inhibition of 38%, 30% and 12% SDF on cathepsin B were 92.0%, 91.5% and 90.3%, respectively ( p < 0.001); on cathepsin K were 80.6%, 78.5% and 77.9%, respectively ( p < 0.001). Ag+ exhibited the inhibitory effect against both cathepsin B and K with or without the presence of F- ( p < 0.01). The solutions containing Ag+ have significantly higher inhibitory effect than the solutions containing F- only ( p < 0.01). Conclusion According to this study, SDF solution at all 3 tested concentrations significantly inhibited the activity of cathepsin B and K.
Three-dimensional topological insulators (TIs) exhibit time-reversal symmetry protected, linearly dispersing Dirac surface states with spin-momentum locking. Band bending at the TI surface may also ...lead to coexisting trivial two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) states with parabolic energy dispersion. A bias current is expected to generate spin polarization in both systems, although with different magnitude and sign. Here we compare spin potentiometric measurements of bias current-generated spin polarization in Bi
Se
(111) where Dirac surface states coexist with trivial 2DEG states, and in InAs(001) where only trivial 2DEG states are present. We observe spin polarization arising from spin-momentum locking in both cases, with opposite signs of the measured spin voltage. We present a model based on spin dependent electrochemical potentials to directly derive the sign expected for the Dirac surface states, and show that the dominant contribution to the current-generated spin polarization in the TI is from the Dirac surface states.
Abstract Background In early breast cancer patients with sentinel node metastasis, the effect of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) is controversial. The purpose of this study is to compare the ...safety and efficacy of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) alone versus ALND in patients with early breast cancer and sentinel node metastasis. Methods We searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases from 1965 to February 2014. All data were analyzed using Review Manager Software 5.2. Results 12 studies, which included 130,575 patients from five randomized controlled trials and seven observational studies, met our inclusion criteria. 26,870 early breast cancer patients underwent SLNB alone and 103,705 underwent ALND. Patients underwent ALND had more paresthesia (risk ratio RR 0.26, 95% confidence interval CI 0.20–0.33; p < 0.01) and lymphedema (RR 0.28, 95% CI 0.20–0.41; p < 0.01) than those had SLNB alone. There were no significant differences in overall survival (hazard ratio HR 0.95, 95% CI 0.85–1.06; p = 0.35), disease-free survival (HR 1.00, 95% CI 0.98–1.02, p = 0.96), and locoregional recurrence (RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.59–1.44; p = 0.73). Conclusion Current evidence indicates that axillary dissection may be omitted in early breast cancer patients with sentinel lymph metastasis.
High temperatures cause rosetting and the continued vegetative growth of Eustoma grandiflorum. Eustoma requires a period of cold treatment to promote flowering. Ortholog of flowering time gene FT ...(EgFT) was isolated and characterized from E. grandiflorum. The ectopic expression of EgFT significantly promotes flowering in transgenic E. grandiflorum even when grown at high (28–30 °C) temperature conditions without any cold treatment. In addition, a severe defect in stamen and carpel formation in which they are converted into sepal/petal-like structures were observed in transgenic E. grandiflorum that strongly expressed EgFT. This homeotic conversion was correlated with the upregulation of A (EgAP1/EgFUL) and E (EgSEP1/3) and downregulation of C (EgAG) functional MADS box genes in transgenic E. grandiflorum. In wild-type E. grandiflorum, EgFT mRNA was detected in leaves and was expressed higher in young than in mature flower buds. In flowers, EgFT mRNA was strongly expressed in sepals, moderately expressed in petal, and was almost undetectable in stamen and carpel. This expression pattern was very similar to that found for EgAP1 and completely inverse to that found for EgAG. These results indicated that EgFT is able to promote flowering and regulate sepal/petal formation by activating the A/E genes and suppressing the C gene in E. grandiflorum. 35S::EgFT also caused early flowering in transgenic Arabidopsis. However, the flower organ formation and the expression of the Arabidopsis AG gene were not affected. Thus, the ability for EgFT to regulate EgAG expression may represent a distinct mechanism in E. grandiflorum for the regulation of flower organ formation.
Due to the limitation of capacity in an enterprise, cooperation among these enterprises is necessary to handle a complex production task. Cloud manufacturing (CMF) provides a cooperation platform for ...efficient utilization of distributed manufacturing resources in regional enterprise cluster. However, effective scheduling of tasks or subtasks to these resources is a challenging problem. Based on the analysis on the procedure of task processing, this paper proposes a CMF scheduling model for efficiently exploiting distributed resources, so industrial robots in different enterprises can cooperatively handle a batch of tasks. Specifically, this paper considers the performance of four robot deployment methods, including random deployment, robot-balanced deployment, function-balanced deployment, and location-aware deployment. Furthermore, three subtask-scheduling strategies are derived for three optimization objectives, including load-balance of robots, minimizing overall cost, and minimizing overall processing time. Moreover, these strategies are implemented by genetic algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that each strategy can achieve the relevant optimization objective. In addition, the results also show that the physical distance between two enterprises can influence the overall cost, and location-aware deployment leads to smaller transportation cost. Location-aware deployment and function-balanced deployment lead to smaller overall processing time for the low-workload state and high-workload state of the system, respectively.
Miniaturized gas chromatography (GC) systems can provide fast, quantitative analysis of chemical vapors in an ultrasmall package. We describe a chemical sensor technology based on resonant ...nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) mass detectors that provides the speed, sensitivity, specificity, and size required by the microscale GC paradigm. Such NEMS sensors have demonstrated detection of subparts per billion (ppb) concentrations of a phosphonate analyte. By combining two channels of NEMS detection with an ultrafast GC front-end, chromatographic analysis of 13 chemicals was performed within a 5 s time window.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It has also imposed a substantial economic and social burden on the health care system. In ...Taiwan, a nationwide COPD pay-for-performance (P4P) program was designed to improve the quality of COPD-related care by introducing financial incentives for health care providers and employing a multidisciplinary team to deliver guideline-based, integrated care for patients with COPD, reducing adverse outcomes, especially COPD exacerbation. However, the results of a survey of the effectiveness of the pay-for-performance program in COPD management were inconclusive. To address this knowledge gap, this study evaluated the effectiveness of the COPD P4P program in Taiwan.
This retrospective cohort study used data from Taiwan's National Health Insurance claims database and nationwide COPD P4P enrollment program records from June 2016 to December 2018. Patients with COPD were classified into P4P and non-P4P groups. Patients in the P4P group were matched at a ratio of 1:1 based on age, gender, region, accreditation level, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), and inhaled medication prescription type to create the non-P4P group. A difference-in-difference analysis was used to evaluate the influence of the P4P program on the likelihood of COPD exacerbation, namely COPD-related emergency department (ED) visit, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, or hospitalization.
The final sample of 14,288 patients comprised 7144 in each of the P4P and non-P4P groups. The prevalence of COPD-related ED visits, ICU admissions, and hospitalizations was higher in the P4P group than in the non-P4P group 1 year before enrollment. After enrollment, the P4P group exhibited a greater decrease in the prevalence of COPD-related ED visits and hospitalizations than the non-P4P group (ED visit: -2.98%, p<0.05, 95% confidence interval CI: -0.277 to -0.086; hospitalization: -1.62%, p<0.05, 95% CI: -0.232 to -0.020), whereas no significant difference was observed between the groups in terms of the changes in the prevalence of COPD-related ICU admissions.
The COPD P4P program exerted a positive net effect on reducing the likelihood of COPD exacerbation, namely COPD-related ED visits and hospitalizations. Future studies should examine the long-term cost-effectiveness of the COPD P4P program.
A
bstract
Using a data sample of 980 fb
−
1
collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy
e
+
e
−
collider, we study for the first time the singly Cabibbo-suppressed decays
$$ ...{\Omega}_c^0\to {\Xi}^{-}{\pi}^{+} $$
Ω
c
0
→
Ξ
−
π
+
and Ω
−
K
+
and the doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decay
$$ {\Omega}_c^0\to {\Xi}^{-}{K}^{+} $$
Ω
c
0
→
Ξ
−
K
+
. Evidence for an
$$ {\Omega}_c^0 $$
Ω
c
0
signal in the
$$ {\Omega}_c^0 $$
Ω
c
0
→
Ξ
−
π
+
mode is reported with a significance of 4
.
5
σ
including systematic uncertainties. The ratio of branching fractions to the normalization mode
$$ {\Omega}_c^0 $$
Ω
c
0
→
Ω
−
π
+
is measured to be
$$ \mathcal{B}\left({\Omega}_c^0\to {\Xi}^{-}{\pi}^{+}\right)/\mathcal{B}\left({\Omega}_c^0\to {\Omega}^{-}{\pi}^{+}\right)=0.253\pm 0.052\left(\textrm{stat}.\right)\pm 0.030\left(\textrm{syst}.\right). $$
B
Ω
c
0
→
Ξ
−
π
+
/
B
Ω
c
0
→
Ω
−
π
+
=
0.253
±
0.052
stat
.
±
0.030
syst
.
.
No significant signals of
$$ {\Omega}_c^0\to {\Xi}^{-}{K}^{+} $$
Ω
c
0
→
Ξ
−
K
+
and Ω
−
K
+
modes are found. The upper limits at 90% confidence level on ratios of branching fractions are determined to be
$$ \mathcal{B}\left({\Omega}_c^0\to {\Xi}^{-}{K}^{+}\right)/\mathcal{B}\left({\Omega}_c^0\to {\Omega}^{-}{\pi}^{+}\right)<0.070 $$
B
Ω
c
0
→
Ξ
−
K
+
/
B
Ω
c
0
→
Ω
−
π
+
<
0.070
and
$$ \mathcal{B}\left({\Omega}_c^0\to {\Omega}^{-}{K}^{+}\right)/\mathcal{B}\left({\Omega}_c^0\to {\Omega}^{-}{\pi}^{+}\right)<0.29. $$
B
Ω
c
0
→
Ω
−
K
+
/
B
Ω
c
0
→
Ω
−
π
+
<
0.29
.
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