The utilisation of reactive magnesia or quicklime as novel activators for slag offers a range of technical and environmental benefits over conventional caustic alkali activators and showed great ...potential in soil stabilisation. This paper investigates the mechanical and microstructural properties of two model soils, i.e., a clayey soil and a slightly silty clayey sand, stabilised by ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GGBS) using various techniques including unconfined compressive strength (UCS) test, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). A number of MgO and CaO mixtures with different MgO/CaO ratios were adopted for slag activation. The activator to GGBS ratio was 1:3 and the dosage of the binder (including MgO, CaO and GGBS) was 12% by weight of the dry soil. The result demonstrated that the increasing MgO/CaO ratio in the binder led to an increase in the UCS of the stabilised clayey soil up to 90days, due to the increased homogeneity of C–S–H gel structure, the decreased Ca/Si ratio of C–S–H gel and the increased amount of voluminous hydrotalcite-like phases. On the other hand, slag activated with MgO–CaO mixtures showed poorer mechanical performance than slag activated with either MgO or CaO alone for sand stabilisation. In addition, strength enhancement was observed for the stabilised clayey soil upon different soaking conditions up to 7days. After 28days, although binders with higher MgO/CaO ratios showed slight strength degradation upon soaking, they still exhibited higher strength than those with lower MgO/CaO ratios.
•Two model soils were stabilised with GGBS activated with MgO–CaO mixtures.•Effect of MgO/CaO ratio on mechanical properties of stabilised soils was studied.•Higher MgO/CaO ratio led to higher strength of clayey soil.•Combination of MgO and CaO led to lower strength of stabilised sand.•Durability of stabilised clayey soil in waterish conditions was investigated.
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Variations in the water and soil background in the signal path can cause variations in canopy spectral reflectance, which leads to uncertainty in estimating the canopy nitrogen ...(N) status. The primary objective of this study was to explore the optimum vegetation indices that were highly correlated with canopy leaf N concentration (LNC) but less influenced by the canopy leaf area index (LAI) and vegetation coverage (VC) in rice. METHODS: A systematic analysis of the quantitative relationships between various hyperspectral vegetation indices and LNC, VC and LAI was conducted based on 4-year rice field experiments using different rice varieties, N rates and planting densities. New spectral indices were derived to estimate LNC in rice under variable vegetation coverage. RESULTS: Although the newly developed simple green ratio indices, SR (R₅₅₃, R₅₃₇) and SR (R₅₄₅, R₅₃₈), and the three-band index (R₆₀₅-R₅₂₁-R₆₈₂)/(R₆₀₅+R₅₂₁+R₆₈₂) correlated well with the LNC. Only SR (R₅₅₃, R₅₃₇) was less influenced by VC/LAI and showed a stable performance in both the independent calibration and validation datasets. For the published indices tested in the present study, NDVIg-b and ND (R₅₀₃, R₄₈₃) showed a good predictive ability for the LNC. However, both of these indices and other published indices were found to be significantly dominated by the VC/LAI. CONCLUSION: SR (R₅₅₃, R₅₃₇) was the best index to reliably estimate the LNC in rice under various cultivation conditions, and is recommended for this use. However, other spectral indices need to be examined to determine if they influenced by factors such as VC/LAI. Such studies will improve the applicability of these indices to different types of rice cultivars and production systems.
Molecular classification of breast cancer is an important prognostic factor. The distribution of molecular subtypes of breast cancer and their prognostic value has not been well documented in Asians.
...A total of 2,791 breast cancer patients recruited for a population-based cohort study were evaluated for molecular subtypes of breast cancer by immunohistochemical assays. Data on clinicopathological characteristics were confirmed by centralized pathology review. The average follow-up of the patients was 53.4 months. Overall and disease-free survival by molecular subtypes of breast cancer were evaluated.
The prevalence of the luminal A, luminal B, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), and triple-negative subtypes were 48.6%, 16.7%, 13.7%, and 12.9%, respectively. The luminal A subtype was more likely to be diagnosed in older women (P = 0.03) and had a stronger correlation with favorable clinicopathological factors (smaller tumor size, lower histologic grade, and earlier TNM stage) than the triple-negative or HER2 subtypes. Women with triple-negative breast cancer had a higher frequency of family history of breast cancer than women with other subtypes (P = 0.048). The 5-year overall/disease-free survival percentages for the luminal A, luminal B, HER2, and triple-negative subtypes were 92.9%/88.6%, 88.6%/85.1%, 83.2%/79.1%, and 80.7%/76.0%, respectively. A similar pattern was observed in multivariate analyses. Immunotherapy was associated with improved overall and disease-free survival for luminal A breast cancer, but reduced disease-free survival (HR = 2.21, 95% CI, 1.09-4.48) for the HER2 subtype of breast cancer.
The triple-negative and HER2 subtypes were associated with poorer outcomes compared with the luminal A subtype among these Chinese women. The HER2 subtype was more prevalent in this Chinese population compared with Western populations, suggesting the importance of standardized HER2 detection and anti-HER2 therapy to potentially benefit a high proportion of breast cancer patients in China.
Excessive application of nitrate, an essential macronutrient and a signal regulating diverse physiological processes, decreases malate accumulation in apple (
) fruit, but the underlying mechanism ...remains poorly understood. Here, we show that an apple BTB/TAZ protein, MdBT2, is involved in regulating malate accumulation and vacuolar pH in response to nitrate. In vitro and in vivo assays indicate that MdBT2 interacts directly with and ubiquitinates a bHLH transcription factor, MdCIbHLH1, via the ubiquitin/26S proteasome pathway in response to nitrate. This ubiquitination results in the degradation of MdCIbHLH1 protein and reduces the transcription of MdCIbHLH1-targeted genes involved in malate accumulation and vacuolar acidification, including
-
, which encodes a vacuolar H
-ATPase, and
, which encodes a vacuolar H
-pyrophosphatase, as well as
, which encodes an aluminum-activated malate transporter. A series of transgenic analyses in apple materials including fruits, plantlets, and calli demonstrate that MdBT2 controls nitrate-mediated malate accumulation and vacuolar pH at least partially, if not completely, via regulating the MdCIbHLH1 protein level. Taken together, these findings reveal that MdBT2 regulates the stability of MdCIbHLH1 via ubiquitination in response to nitrate, which in succession transcriptionally reduces the expression of malate-associated genes, thereby controlling malate accumulation and vacuolar acidification in apples under high nitrate supply.
To examine the association of quality of life (QOL) after diagnosis of breast cancer with mortality and recurrence.
From 2002 to 2004, a total of 2,230 breast cancer survivors completed the General ...Quality of Life Inventory-74 6 months after diagnosis as part of the Shanghai Breast Cancer Survivor Study. Also collected at baseline was information on demographic and clinical characteristics. At 36 months postdiagnosis, 1,845 of these women were re-evaluated for QOL. Outcomes were ascertained by in-person interview and record linkage to the vital statistics registry. The association of QOL with total mortality and cancer recurrence was assessed by using Cox regression analysis.
During a median follow-up of 4.8 years after the 6-month postdiagnosis QOL assessment, 284 deaths were identified. Recurrence was documented in 267 patients after 108 patients with stage IV breast cancer or recurrence before study enrollment were excluded. Women with the highest tertile of social well-being QOL score, compared with those with the lowest score, had a 38% decreased risk of mortality (95% CI, 0.46 to 0.85; P for trend = .002) and a 48% decreased risk of breast cancer recurrence (95% CI, 0.38 to 0.71; P for trend < .001). QOL assessed at 36 months postdiagnosis was not significantly associated with subsequent risk of mortality or recurrence.
Social well-being in the first year after cancer diagnosis is a significant prognostic factor for breast cancer recurrence or mortality, suggesting a possible avenue of intervention by maintaining or enhancing social support for women soon after their breast cancer diagnosis to improve disease outcomes.
Abstract
Basic helix−loop−helix (bHLH) domain-containing transcription factors are known for their roles in regulating various plant growth and developmental processes. Previously, we showed that ...MdbHLH3 from apple (
Malus domestica
) has multiple functions, modulating both anthocyanin biosynthesis and cell acidification. Here, we show that MdbHLH3 also regulates ethylene biosynthesis and leaf senescence by promoting the expression of
dehydratase-enolase-phosphatase complex 1
(
MdDEP1
). Therefore, we propose a model whereby MdbHLH3 acts as a crucial factor that modulates anthocyanin biosynthesis and cell acidification in addition to fruit ripening and leaf senescence by regulating distinct target genes.
We carried out a genome-wide association study among Chinese women to identify risk variants for breast cancer. After analyzing 607,728 SNPs in 1,505 cases and 1,522 controls, we selected 29 SNPs for ...a fast-track replication in an independent set of 1,554 cases and 1,576 controls. We further investigated four replicated loci in a third set of samples comprising 3,472 cases and 900 controls. SNP rs2046210 at 6q25.1, located upstream of the gene encoding estrogen receptor α (ESR1), showed strong and consistent association with breast cancer across all three stages. Adjusted odds ratio (95% CI) were 1.36 (1.24-1.49) and 1.59 (1.40-1.82), respectively, for genotypes A/G and A/A versus G/G (P for trend 2.0 × 10−15) in the pooled analysis of samples from all three stages. We also found a similar, albeit weaker, association in an independent study comprising 1,591 cases and 1,466 controls of European ancestry (Ptrend = 0.01). These results strongly implicate 6q25.1 as a susceptibility locus for breast cancer.
Summary
In this paper, mixed passive / H∞ hybrid controllers are designed for a delayed Markovian jump system with actuator constraints and alarm signal. The actuator constraints include the unknown ...actuator bias failure and the actuator partial failure, and the controllers are switched by using alarm signals. First, a sufficient condition for mixed passive / H∞ performance of the closed‐loop system is constructed, and robust controllers and fault‐tolerant controllers are designed, respectively. Then, mixed passive / H∞ observers are presented to ensure that the actuator bias failure is well estimated. Next, an alarm system is proposed by designing multiple thresholds to avoid false alarm, and this system is used to invoke suitable controllers and determine whether to remove the estimated value of actuator bias failure. Finally, two numerical examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the method.
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