This study aimed to conduct a systematic review to sum up evidence of the associations between different aspects of night shift work and female breast cancer using a dose–response meta-analysis ...approach.
We systematicly searched all cohort and case–control studies published in English on MEDLINE, Embase, PSYCInfo, APC Journal Club and Global Health, from January 1971 to May 2013. We extracted effect measures (relative risk, RR; odd ratio, OR; or hazard ratio, HR) from individual studies to generate pooled results using meta-analysis approaches. A log-linear dose–response regression model was used to evaluate the relationship between various indicators of exposure to night shift work and breast cancer risk. Downs and Black scale was applied to assess the methodological quality of included studies.
Ten studies were included in the meta-analysis. A pooled adjusted relative risk for the association between ‘ever exposed to night shift work’ and breast cancer was 1.19 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05–1.35. Further meta-analyses on dose–response relationship showed that every 5-year increase of exposure to night shift work would correspondingly enhance the risk of breast cancer of the female by 3% (pooled RR = 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.05; Pheterogeneity < 0.001). Our meta-analysis also suggested that an increase in 500-night shifts would result in a 13% (RR = 1.13, 95% CI 1.07–1.21; Pheterogeneity = 0.06) increase in breast cancer risk.
This systematic review updated the evidence that a positive dose–response relationship is likely to present for breast cancer with increasing years of employment and cumulative shifts involved in the work.
We propose an efficient bio-inspired algorithm for design of optimal supply chain networks in a competitive oligopoly markets. The firms compete in manufacture, storage and distribution of a product ...to several markets. Each firm aims at maximisation of its own profit by optimising the design capacity and product flow in the supply chain. We model the supply chain network as a multi-layer graph of manufacturing nodes, distribution nodes and storage centres. To optimise the network, we adopt the mechanisms of a foraging behaviour of slime mould Physarum polycephalym. First, we extend the original Physarum model to deal with networks with multiple sources and sinks. Second, we develop a novel method to solve the user equilibrium (UE) problem by exploiting the adaptivity of the Physarum model: we update the link costs according to the product flow. Third, we refer to an equivalent transformation between system optimum problem and UE problem to determine the optimal product flows and design capacities of a supply chain. At last, we present an approach to update the amount of product supplied by each firm. By comparing our solutions with that in Nagurney (2010b) on several numerical examples, we demonstrate the efficiency and practicality of the proposed method.
Cancer stem cell (CSC), the primary source of cancer-initiating population, is involved in cancer recurrence and drug-resistant phenotypes. This study demonstrates that the loss of DAB2IP, a novel ...Ras-GTPase activating protein frequently found in many cancer types, is associated with CSC properties. Mechanistically, DAB2IP is able to suppress stem cell factor receptor (c-kit or CD117) gene expression by interacting with a newly identified silencer in the c-kit gene. Moreover, DAB2IP is able to inhibit c-kit-PI3K-Akt-mTOR signaling pathway that increases c-myc protein to activate ZEB1 gene expression leading to the elevated CSC phenotypes. An inverse correlation between CD117 or ZEB1 and DAB2IP is also found in clinical specimens. Similarly, Elevated expression of ZEB1 and CD117 are found in the prostate basal cell population of DAB2IP knockout mice. Our study reveals that DAB2IP has a critical role in modulating CSC properties via CD117-mediated ZEB1 signaling pathway.
The xanthine oxidase (XOD) inhibitory activity and anti-hyperuricemia effect in mice of
Cinnamomum osmophloeum, which is an endemic tree in Taiwan, were evaluated in this study. The results ...demonstrated that the essential oil of
C. osmophloeum leaves presented the strongest XOD inhibition activity (IC
50=16.3
μg/ml); however, no significant XOD inhibition activities were found in ethanolic and hot water extracts. Furthermore, among the main compounds of essential oil, the cinnamaldehyde exhibited the potent XOD inhibition activity with an IC
50=8.4
μg/ml. Besides, the reducing serum uric acid levels in oxonate-induced mice by cinnamaldehyde were further investigated. The hyperuricemic mice were oral administrated cinnamaldehyde at a dosage of 150
mg/kg, the uric acid value in serum was reduced from 5.25±0.63 to 2.10±0.04
mg/dl, the levels of serum uric acid in mice was lowered down by 84.48% as compared to the hyperuricemic control group. Based on the results obtained in this study, cinnamaldehyde may be a potential lead compound for developing the pharmaceutic for anti-hyperuricemia agent.
The blazar AO 0235+164 (z = 0.94) has been one of the most active objects observed by Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) since its launch in Summer 2008. In addition to the continuous coverage by ...Fermi, contemporaneous observations were carried out from the radio to gamma -ray bands between 2008 September and 2009 February. In this paper, we summarize the rich multi-wavelength data collected during the campaign (including F-GAMMA, GASPWEBT, Kanata, OVRO, RXTE, SMARTS, Swift, and other instruments), examine the cross-correlation between the light curves measured in the different energy bands, and interpret the resulting spectral energy distributions in the context of well-known blazar emission models. We find that the gamma -ray activity is well correlated with a series of near-IR/optical flares, accompanied by an increase in the optical polarization degree. On the other hand, the X-ray light curve shows a distinct 20 day high state of unusually soft spectrum, which does not match the extrapolation of the optical/UV synchrotron spectrum. We tentatively interpret this feature as the bulk Compton emission by cold electrons contained in the jet, which requires an accretion disk corona with an effective covering factor of 19% at a distance of 100 R sub(g). We model the broadband spectra with a leptonic model with external radiation dominated by the infrared emission from the dusty torus.
ZrO2/epoxy nanocomposite for LED encapsulation Chung, Pao Tang; Yang, Chun Ting; Wang, Sho Hsun ...
Materials chemistry and physics,
10/2012, Letnik:
136, Številka:
2-3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
ZrO2/epoxy nanocomposite has been prepared and tested as encapsulant in several types of LED package. The composite was prepared by the blending of cycloaliphatic epoxy/anhydride resin with ...silane-modified ZrO2 fillers in ethyl acetate solvent, which was removed before curing. The maximum filler loading achieved for a workable encapsulant was about 20% by volume. This led to an increase of 0.04 on the refractive index. A high-power LED package encapsulated with this composite showed more than 10% increase of the light output compared to that with the pure epoxy. The enhancement was more than that predicted by the reduction of internal total reflection at the chip/encapsulant interface. The extra enhancement was traced back to the unusually high scattering and a better heat dissipation. The scattering was found to be wavelength independent, thus more consistent with the Mie theory than the Rayleigh one. The thermal resistance of the composite was measured directly in a LED package and found to be 16% lower than that of a commercial silicone encapsulant. Unfortunately, no improvement on the durability was observed with the addition of inorganic fillers. The temperature-humidity-bias life-time of the packages encapsulated with our composite was practically the same as that with the pure cycloaliphatic epoxy. Therefore, the durability of the composite is largely determined by the matrix itself.
► High refractive index ZrO2/epoxy nanocomposite prepared. ► Tested as the encapsulant in high-power LED packages. ► Showing 10% more luminance intensity than that encapsulated with pure epoxy. ► Better heat dissipation than silicone encapsulant. ► No improvement on temperature humidity bias life-time.
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