In the research community, resistance to apoptosis is often considered a hallmark of cancer. However, pathologists who diagnose cancer via microscope often see the opposite. Indeed, increased ...apoptosis and mitosis are usually observed simultaneously in cancerous lesions. Studies have shown that increased apoptosis is associated with cancer aggressiveness and poor clinical outcome. Furthermore, overexpression of Bcl-2, an antiapoptotic protein, is linked with better survival of cancer patients. Conversely, Bax, CD95, Caspase-3, and other apoptosis-inducing proteins have been found to promote carcinogenesis. This notion of the role of apoptosis in cancer is not new; cancer cells were found to be short-lived 88 years ago. Given these observations, resistance to apoptosis should not be considered a hallmark of cancer.
Background Telbivudine,one of the five nucleos(t)ide antiviral drugs,was reported to be superior to lamivudine in a better biochemical,virological,and histological response for treatment-naive ...patients in the GLOBE trial.The aim of this study was to determine the antiviral potency,viral resistance,and the significance of early response for long-term telbivudine treatment.Methods We recruited 161 patients of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) on telbivudine between January 2009 and September 2011 in Macau,China.The serum hepatitis B virus DNA levels,hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion,alanine aminotransferese (ALT) normalization,and viral resistance were analyzed.Results The median age and follow-up duration were 48 years and 16.9 months.All patients were followed up for at least 6 months,while data were collected for 132,120,95,and 53 patients at 12,24,48,and 96 weeks respectively.The cumulative HBeAg seroconversion rate was 20.8% and only three patients (1.9%) presented with telbivudine low level resistance.The ALT normalization rates were 76.9% at 48 weeks and 77.6% at 96 weeks.Undetectable HBV DNA was achieved by 1.8%,31.6%,60%,and 74.1% in HBeAg positive patients and 29.3%,60.3%,84%,and 84.6% in HBeAg negative patients at each time point.Week 12 HBV DNA level 〈1000 copies/ml (〈200 IU/ml) was a better predictor of viral suppression at 2-year follow-up (P=-0.001,OR=27.00) than undetectable HBV DNA level at week 24 (P=0.120,OR=4.81).Conclusions Two-year telbivudine treatment yielded high rates of viral suppression and ALT normalization.Serum HBV DNA level at week 12 is a superior predictor for long-term viral suppression.
The Design and Implement of Memory Manager in STM Zhang Ping; Li QingBao; Huang GuoRui ...
2010 Ninth International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Applications to Business, Engineering and Science,
2010-Aug.
Conference Proceeding
Software transactional memory (STM) is one of the promising models in parallel programming for multi-core processor system and has being studied by many researchers. Memory management is an important ...aspect of STM system design which affects the performance of the whole STM system directly. This paper presents the design and implementation of an effective memory manager. It uses private heap to manage transactions' memory space of each thread and a global heap to manage the whole memory space in STM system. Algorithms ensure that the memory access is no-blocking. Tests show that performance of the memory manager is satisfying.
The brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, the most destructive pest of rice, is a typical monophagous herbivore that feeds exclusively on rice sap, which migrates over long distances. Outbreaks of ...it have re-occurred approximately every three years in Asia. It has also been used as a model system for ecological studies and for developing effective pest management. To better understand how a monophagous sap-sucking arthropod herbivore has adapted to its exclusive host selection and to provide insights to improve pest control, we analyzed the genomes of the brown planthopper and its two endosymbionts.
We describe the 1.14 gigabase planthopper draft genome and the genomes of two microbial endosymbionts that permit the planthopper to forage exclusively on rice fields. Only 40.8% of the 27,571 identified Nilaparvata protein coding genes have detectable shared homology with the proteomes of the other 14 arthropods included in this study, reflecting large-scale gene losses including in evolutionarily conserved gene families and biochemical pathways. These unique genomic features are functionally associated with the animal's exclusive plant host selection. Genes missing from the insect in conserved biochemical pathways that are essential for its survival on the nutritionally imbalanced sap diet are present in the genomes of its microbial endosymbionts, which have evolved to complement the mutualistic nutritional needs of the host.
Our study reveals a series of complex adaptations of the brown planthopper involving a variety of biological processes, that result in its highly destructive impact on the exclusive host rice. All these findings highlight potential directions for effective pest control of the planthopper.
Central vein catheter (CVC) placement, which is widely utilized in clinical departments, is also highly important in preoperative preparations for radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA). The ...internal jugular vein or subclavian vein is the routine target. Arterial injury is not uncommon during the procedure but is potentially devastating in spite of the safety and advantages of the Seldinger technique. Compressing of the airway by a hematoma, as well as hemothorax, pseudoaneurysm, arteriovenous fistula, stroke, and even death, has been well-described.
Cassava starch-based superabsorbent polymer was successfully synthesized using a new technology that based on modification of a Haake twin-roll mixer as reactor. The cassava starch was first ...gelatinized then modified by grafting under external shear stress in the reactor. The torque and temperature curves as a function of time can reflect the variations in the reactor and also offer some information about the copolymerization reaction. The advantages of this system include starch modification can be carried out (l) with high starch concentration, (2) under controlled ticne and (3) smaller amount of sample (60 g) required. The technology provides useful guides for reactive extrusion. The starch grafted composites were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA). The TGA was also used for determining the percentage of grafting ratio. The results show that the cassava starch has been successfully grafted with acrylamide then crosslinked by N,N'-methylene-bisacrylamide using this reactor. The ultimate water absorbent capacity of the cassava-based superabsorbent polymer impacted by various pH values illustrated that the acid and basic solutions inhibit the ability of imbibing water. Additionally, gel properties of the cassava-based superabsorbent polymer were investigated. It can be concluded that the structure of cassava gel is stable, while the three dimensional network of cassava-based superabsorbent polymer is rigid but its structure could not resist external force effectively and everlastingly since G' was decreased with increasing amplitude.
The facile synthesis of 5-formylporphyrin Liu, Peng Peng; Feng, Ya Qing; Gu, Cheng Zhi ...
Chinese chemical letters,
05/2012, Letnik:
23, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A facile synthetic route of 5-formylporphyrin(2) has been developed.Using pyrrole and pivaldehyde as the starting materials,2 was obtained through several facile reactions.The synthetic route is easy ...to perform and can be scaled up,which gives the compound a better application perspective.
Objective: To investigate the effects of Herbal Compound 861 (Cpd 861) on collagen synthesis and degradation in rat mesangial cells exposed to high glucose. Methods: The third to fifth passage of rat ...mesangial cells were exposed to high glucose and Cpd 861 at a concentration of 0.25-4.00 g/L for 24, 48 and 72 h, respectively. Benazepril (107-10s mmol/L) was selected as positive control. The methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium colorimetric assay was used to evaluate the effect of Cpd 861 on cell proliferation. After incubation with Cpd 861 at a concentration of 2.00 g/L for 48 h, the protein secretions of collagen type IV, matrix metallopeptidase 9 (MMP-9), tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1), transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-131), and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. And rat mesangial cells were harvested to determine MMP-9, TIMP-1, TGF-131 and HGF mRNA expression by revers~transcription polymerase chain reaction. Results: Cpd 861 inhibited cell proliferation induced by high glucose in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Compared with high glucose, collagen type IV production was decreased significantly by Cpd 861 (P〈0.01). Cpd 861 increased the protein secretions and mRNA expressions of MMP-9 and HGF, whereas the protein secretions and mRNA expressions of TIMP-1 and TGF-131 were reduced markedly (P〈0.05). The ratio of MMP-9 to TIMP-1 was enhanced by Cpd 861 significantly. There was no significant difference in all above-mentioned effects between Cpd 861 (2.00 g/L) and benazepril (10-5 mmol/L). Conclusion: The anti-glomerulosclerosis mechanisms of Cpd 861 were partly attributed to its effects of inhibiting mesangial cell proliferation, decreasing collagen synthesis and enhancing collagen degradation.
Objective To evaluate the effect of the aluminum hydroxide (Al-OH) adjuvant on the 2009 pandemic influenza A/H1N1 (pH1N1) vaccine. Methods In a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, ...placebo-controlled trial, participants received two doses of split-virion formulation containing 15 ug hemagglutinin antigen, with or without aluminum hydroxide (N-OH). We classified the participants into six age categories (〉61 years, 41-60 years, 19-40 years, 13-18 years, 8-12 years, and 3-7 years) and obtained four blood samples from each participant on days 0, 21, 35, and 42 following the first dose of immunization. We assessed vaccine immunogenicity by measuring the geometric mean titer (GMT) of hemagglutination inhibiting antibody. We used a two-level model to evaluate the fixed effect of aluminum Al-OH and other factors, accounting for repeated measures. Results The predictions of repeated measurement on GMTs of formulations with or without Al-OH, were 80.35 and 112.72, respectively. Al-OH significantly reduced immunogenicity after controlling for time post immunization, age-group and gender. Conclusion The Al-OH adjuvant does not increase but actually reduces the immunogenicity of the split-virion pH1N1 vaccine.
The electrochemical N2 fixation, which is far from practical application in aqueous solution under ambient conditions, is extremely challenging and requires a rational design of electrocatalytic ...centers. We observed that bismuth (Bi) might be a promising candidate for this task because of its weak binding with H adatoms, which increases the selectivity and production rate. Furthermore, we successfully synthesized defect‐rich Bi nanoplates as an efficient noble‐metal‐free N2 reduction electrocatalyst via a low‐temperature plasma bombardment approach. When exclusively using 1H NMR measurements with N2 gas as a quantitative testing method, the defect‐rich Bi(110) nanoplates achieved a 15NH3 production rate of 5.453 μg mgBi−1 h−1 and a Faradaic efficiency of 11.68 % at −0.6 V vs. RHE in aqueous solution at ambient conditions.
Beneficial defects: Defect‐rich bismuth nanoplates achieve a 15NH3 production rate of 5.453 μg mgBi−1 h−1 and a Faradaic efficiency of 11.68 % at −0.6 V vs. RHE in aqueous solutions at ambient conditions because of their poor binding with H adatoms, which increases the selectivity and production rate. Also, 1H NMR measurements with N2 gas ware used as a quantitative test method in aqueous electrolytes.