Activated androgen receptor binds to androgen-responsive elements (AREs) in genome to regulate target gene transcription and, consequently, mediates physiological or tumorigenic processes of the ...prostate. Our aim was to determine whether genetic variants in AREs are associated with clinical outcomes after androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT) in prostate cancer patients.
We systematically investigated 55 common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the genome-wide insilico-predicted AREs in a cohort of 601 men with advanced prostate cancer treated with ADT. The prognostic significance of these SNPs on disease progression, prostate cancer-specific mortality (PCSM) and all-cause mortality (ACM) after ADT was assessed by Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox regression model.
In univariate analysis, two, five, and four SNPs were associated with disease progression, PCSM, and ACM, respectively. After adjusting for known prognostic factors, ARRDC3 rs2939244, FLT1 rs9508016, and SKAP1 rs6504145 remained as significant predictors for PCSM and FBXO32 rs7830622 and FLT1 rs9508016 remained as significant predictors for ACM in multivariate analysis. Moreover, strong combined genotype effects on PCSM and ACM were also observed (Ptrend < 0.001).
Our results suggest that SNPs in AREs influence prostate cancer survival and may further advance our understanding of the disease progression.
Removal of Cu
2+ and Zn
2+ from aqueous solutions by sorption on the montmorillonite modified with sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) was investigated. Experiments were carried out as a function of solution ...pH, solute concentration, and temperature (25–55
°C). The Dubinin–Kaganer–Radushkevick model was adopted to describe the single-solute sorption isotherms. Also, the binary-solute sorption equilibria could be reasonably predicted by the competitive Langmuir model, in which the Langmuir parameters were directly taken from those obtained in single-solute systems. The thermodynamic parameters (Δ
H
o and Δ
S
o) for Cu
2+ and Zn
2+ sorption on the modified clay were also determined from the temperature dependence. The kinetics of metal ions sorption was examined and the pseudo-first-order rate constant was finally evaluated.
. Huang C‐N, Huang S‐P, Pao J‐B, Hour T‐C, Chang T‐Y, Lan Y‐H, Lu T‐L, Lee H‐Z, Juang S‐H, Wu P‐P, Huang C‐Y, Hsieh C‐J, Bao B‐Y (Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung; Kaohsiung Medical ...University, Kaohsiung; Taipei City Hospital, Taipei; Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung; China Medical University, Taichung; National Taiwan University Hospital; Oriental Institute of Technology; National Taiwan University, Taipei; China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan). Genetic polymorphisms in oestrogen receptor‐binding sites affect clinical outcomes in patients with prostate cancer receiving androgen‐deprivation therapy. J Intern Med 2012; 271: 499–509.
Background. Accumulating evidence indicates that oestrogens have significant direct effects on normal prostate development and carcinogenesis. The majority of the biological activities of oestrogens are mediated through the oestrogen receptor (ER), which functions as a hormone‐inducible transcription factor to regulate target gene expression by binding to oestrogen response elements (EREs) in the regulatory regions of target genes. Sequence variants in EREs might affect the ER–ERE interaction and subsequent physiological activities. Therefore, we tested whether common single‐nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) inside EREs are related to the clinical outcomes of androgen‐deprivation therapy (ADT) in men with prostate cancer.
Methods. We systematically evaluated 49 ERE SNPs predicted using a genome‐wide database in a cohort of 601 men with advanced prostate cancer treated with ADT. The prognostic significance of these SNPs on disease progression, prostate cancer‐specific mortality (PCSM) and all‐cause mortality (ACM) after ADT was assessed using Kaplan–Meier analysis and a Cox regression model.
Results. Based on multiple hypothesis testing, BNC2 rs16934641 was found to be associated with disease progression; in addition, TACC2 rs3763763 was associated with PCSM, and ALPK1 rs2051778 and TACC2 rs3763763 were associated with ACM. These SNPs remained significant in multivariate analyses that included known clinicopathological predictors. Moreover, a combined genotype effect on ACM was observed when ALPK1 rs2051778 and TACC2 rs3763763 were analysed in combination. Patients with a greater number of unfavourable genotypes had a shorter time to ACM during ADT (P for trend <0.001).
Conclusion. The incorporation of ERE SNPs into models with known predictors might improve outcome prediction in patients with prostate cancer receiving ADT.
A low voltage and wide locking range injection-locked frequency divider using a standard 0.18-μm complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) process is presented. The wide locking range and the ...low-voltage operation are performed by adding an injection nMOS between the differential outputs of the divider that contains on-chip transformers which result in positive feedback loops to swing the output signals above the supply and below the ground potential. This dual-swing capability maximizes the carrier power and achieves low-voltage performance. The measurement results show that at the supply voltage of 0.75-V, the divider free-running frequency is 2.02 GHz, and at the incident power of 0 dBm the locking range is about 1.49 GHz (36.88%), from the incident frequency 3.27 to 4.64GHz.
In this article, the technical feasibility of the use of activated carbon, synthetic resins, and various low-cost natural adsorbents for the removal of phenol and its derivatives from contaminated ...water has been reviewed. Instead of using commercial activated carbon and synthetic resins, researchers have worked on inexpensive materials such as coal fly ash, sludge, biomass, zeolites, and other adsorbents, which have high adsorption capacity and are locally available. The comparison of their removal performance with that of activated carbon and synthetic resins is presented in this study. From our survey of about 100 papers, low-cost adsorbents have demonstrated outstanding removal capabilities for phenol and its derivatives compared to activated carbons. Adsorbents that stand out for high adsorption capacities are coal-reject, residual coal treated with H
3PO
4, dried activated sludge, red mud, and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide-modified montmorillonite. Of these synthetic resins, HiSiv 1000 and IRA-420 display high adsorption capacity of phenol and XAD-4 has good adsorption capability for 2-nitrophenol. These polymeric adsorbents are suitable for industrial effluents containing phenol and its derivatives as mentioned previously. It should be noted that the adsorption capacities of the adsorbents presented here vary significantly depending on the characteristics of the individual adsorbent, the extent of chemical modifications, and the concentrations of solutes.
The removal of single heavy metals Co and Zn from aqueous solutions using various low-cost adsorbents (Fe
2O
3, Fe
3O
4, FeS, steel wool, Mg pellets, Cu pellets, Zn pellets, Al pellets, Fe pellets, ...coal, and GAC) was investigated. Experiments were performed at different solution pH values (1.5–9) and metal concentrations (0.67–333
mg/l). The effect of solution pH on metal adsorption using Fe
2O
3 and Fe
3O
4 was significant, but was negligibly small using steel wool, Mg pellets, Fe pellets, and Al pellets over the entire pH range. Steel wool and Mg pellets were the most excellent adsorbents; for example, the removal of Zn and Co from dilute solutions (<35
mg/l) was greater than 94% at an adsorbent dose of 1.7
g/l. A mass transfer model, which involves two parameters
τ (50% breakthrough time) and
k (proportionality constant), was proposed to describe breakthrough data of Co in the fixed beds packed with steel wool and Mg pellets. The calculated breakthrough curves agreed well with the measured data (standard deviation < 6%). The value of
τ decreased with increasing the flow rate. The effects of flow rates on the value of
k and adsorption capacity are discussed.
In this brief, we propose a lower error and ROM-free logarithmic converter. The proposed converter can lead to area-efficient hardware implementation as it avoids the need for a ROM by employing ...simple computation units for logarithmic approximation. Our proposed logarithmic conversion algorithm partitions the exact logarithmic curve into two symmetric regions such that the slopes in the two regions that are used for logarithmic approximation are inversed. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves an error range and percentage error range of only 0.045 and 3.339%, respectively, which outperforms previously proposed one-region and two-region conversion methods. We have implemented the proposed logarithmic converter using 0.13-¿m CMOS technology, and the latency is 2.8 ns. The proposed converter can be used to reduce the overhead of computation-intensive operations for real-time digital-signal-processing applications.
Summary
Background: Radiographic measurements do not always reflect the biological response of hepatocellular carcinoma to drug therapy.
Aims: To evaluate the clinical implications of tumour marker ...(α‐fetoprotein) response in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients with thalidomide treatment.
Patients and methods: Forty‐two advanced hepatocellular carcinoma patients with baseline α‐fetoprotein levels above 200 ng/mL and thalidomide therapy were included. Serum α‐fetoprotein levels were measured every 4 weeks. α‐fetoprotein response was defined as a 50% or greater reduction of α‐fetoprotein levels for 4 or more weeks during treatment. Radiographic response was assessed by World Health Organization criteria; survivals were estimated by Kaplan–Meier method and prognostic factors were assessed by Cox's proportional hazard model.
Results: With intention‐to‐treat analysis, radiographic response and α‐fetoprotein response were obtained in 7% (three of 42, 95% confidence interval: 0–15) and 24% (10 of 42, 95% CI: 10–38) of patients, respectively. All radiographic response was observed in α‐fetoprotein responders. Multivariate analyses showed α‐fetoprotein response was independent prognostic factor for both progression‐free survival (relative risk = 0.394, 95% CI: 0.189–0.820, P = 0.013) and overall survival (relative risk = 0.241, 95% CI: 0.096–0.606, P =0.003), whereas radiographic response was not.
Conclusion: α‐fetoprotein response can more accurately reflect the biological response of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma to thalidomide therapy than radiographic response.
Orthonormal wavelet transformation (OWT) is a computationally efficient technique for quantifying underlying frequencies in nonstationary and gap-infested time series, such as ...eddy-covariance-measured net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE). We employed OWT to analyze the frequency characteristics of synchronously measured and modeled NEE at adjacent pine (PP) and hardwood (HW) ecosystems. Wavelet cospectral analysis showed that NEE at PP was more correlated to light and vapor pressure deficit at the daily time scale, and NEE at HW was more correlated to leaf area index (LAI) and temperature, especially soil temperature, at seasonal time scales. Models were required to disentangle the impacts of environmental drivers on the components of NEE, ecosystem carbon assimilation (Ac) and ecosystem respiration (RE). Sensitivity analyses revealed that using air temperature rather than soil temperature in RE models improved the modeled wavelet spectral frequency response on time scales longer than 1 day at both ecosystems. Including LAI improved RE model fit on seasonal time scales at HW, and incorporating parameter variability improved the RE model response at annual time scales at both ecosystems. Resolving variability in canopy conductance, rather than leaf-internal CO2, was more important for modeling Ac at both ecosystems. The PP ecosystem was more sensitive to hydrologic variables that regulate canopy conductance: vapor pressure deficit on weekly time scales and soil moisture on seasonal to interannual time scales. The HW ecosystem was sensitive to water limitation on weekly time scales. A combination of intrinsic drought sensitivity and non-conservative water use at PP was the basis for this response. At both ecosystems, incorporating variability in LAI was required for an accurate spectral representation of modeled NEE. However, nonlinearities imposed by canopy light attenuation were of little importance to spectral fit. The OWT revealed similarities and differences in the scale-wise control of NEE by vegetation with implications for model simplification and improvement.
This paper presents a new low phase noise quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO), which consists of two differential complementary Colpitts voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs) with a tail ...inductor. The output of the tail inductor in one differential VCO is injected to the bodies of the nMOSFETs in the other differential VCO and vice versa. The proposed CMOS QVCO has been implemented with the TSMC 0.18 mum CMOS technology and the die area is 0.725 times 0.839 mm 2 . At the supply voltage of 1.1 V, the total power consumption is 9.9 mW. The free-running frequency of the QVCO is tunable from 5.26 GHz to 5.477 GHz as the tuning voltage is varied from 0.0 V to 1.1 V. The measured phase noise at 1 MHz frequency offset is -124.36 dBc/Hz at the oscillation frequency of 5.44 GHz and the figure of merit (FOM) of the proposed QVCO is -189.1 dBc/Hz.
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