Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) is complex, time-consuming, and impractical. The aim of this study was to investigate whether a newly developed, simple, web-based self-reporting Crohn's Disease ...symptom diary (CDSD) was as effective as CDAI in assessing disease severity.
CDSD consisted of 5 clinical parameters based on the Harvey–Bradshaw Index (HBI), which could easily be recorded online, by using CDSD website (www.cdsd.or.kr). Images were added to help patients better understand complications. All patients were asked to visit the website and record their symptoms 7days before their next hospital appointment. CDAI scores were calculated at the subsequent hospital visit. The collected data were analyzed to determine if the CDAI scores correlated with those obtained from CDSD, and to define a cut-off value of CDSD that would be representative of disease remission.
Analysis of 171 visits showed a positive correlation between scores from CDSD and CDAI (Spearman correlation coefficient r=0.720, p<0.001). Receiver Operating Characteristic curves showed CDSD score ≤5 points as corresponding with CDAI score ≤150 points (clinical remission). Using a cut-off value of 5 points by CDSD, the positive and negative predictive values for clinical remission were 91.7% and 88.5%, respectively.
This study demonstrates that CDSD correlated well with CDAI. CDSD score of 5 is the cut-off value for clinical remission (CDAI score ≤150). Use of CDSD might permit a simple, patient-friendly assessment of CD activity, which can provide useful early-phase information on patients with CD as part of their long-term clinical assessment.
Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin B subunit (LTB) can be used as a potent mucosal immunogen and immunoadjuvant for co-administered antigens. The synthetic LTB (sLTB) was modified based on ...plant optimized codon usage, and fused to a translation signal (the Kozak sequence) in the front of start codon and the ER retention signal, SEKDEL, in the c-terminus of sLTB gene. The sLTB and the wild-type LTB gene (wLTB) were located into plant expression vectors under the control of the wheat Bx17 HMW (High Molecular Weight) glutenin endosperm-specific promoter containing the first intron of the rice actin 1 gene.
In this paper, we propose a power-efficient and QoS (quality of service)-aware MAC (medium access control) scheduling algorithm for Bluetooth scatternet. If the inter-piconet scheduler in a bridge ...node between piconets operates simply by the round robin (RR) policy, a number of time slots may be wasted due to the guard time for piconet switching and the exchange of POLL-NULL packets. To overcome the link wastage problem in Bluetooth scatternet scheduling, several algorithms have been proposed. Although they can provide all of the links of a bridge node with fair service opportunities, they may cause waste of wireless resources since different Bluetooth devices may have various traffic characteristics. In addition, since Bluetooth devices are often required to operate under limited battery capacity, the number of unnecessary piconet switching has to be minimized for the power-efficient operation of a Bluetooth scatternet. Therefore, we propose a mechanism to support the power-efficient operation of a Bluetooth scatternet while guaranteeing various QoS requirements of Bluetooth devices. The proposed algorithm is compliant with the current Bluetooth specification, and we demonstrate its improved performance via simulations.
The aim of this study was to report a case series of in vitro matured (IVM) oocyte freezing in gynecologic cancer patients undergoing radical surgery under time constraints as an option for fertility ...preservation (FP).
Case series report. University-based in vitro fertilization center. Six gynecologic cancer patients who were scheduled to undergo radical surgery the next day were referred for FP. The patients had endometrial (n=2), ovarian (n=3), and double primary endometrial and ovarian (n=1) cancer. Ex vivo retrieval of immature oocytes from macroscopically normal ovarian tissue was followed by mature oocyte freezing after IVM or embryo freezing with intracytoplasmic sperm injection.
A total of 53 oocytes were retrieved from five patients, with a mean of 10.6 oocytes per patient. After IVM, a total of 36 mature oocytes were obtained, demonstrating a 67.9% maturation rate. With regard to the ovarian cancer patients, seven IVM oocytes were frozen from patient 3, who had stage IC cancer, whereas one IVM oocyte was frozen from patient 4, who had stage IV cancer despite being of a similar age. With regard to the endometrial cancer patients, 15 IVM oocytes from patient 1 were frozen. Five embryos were frozen after the fertilization of IVM oocytes from patient 6.
Immature oocytes can be successfully retrieved ex vivo from macroscopically normal ovarian tissue before radical surgery. IVM oocyte freezing provides a possible FP option in patients with advanced-stage endometrial or ovarian cancer without the risk of cancer cell spillage or time delays.
The B subunit of Escherichia coli heat-labile enterotoxin (LTB) has been transformed to plants for use as an edible vaccine. We have developed a simple and reliable Agrobacterium-mediated ...transformation method to express synthetic LTB gene in N. tabacum using a phosphinothricin acetyltransferase (bar) gene as a selectable marker. The synthetic LTB gene adapted to the coding sequence of tobacco plants was cloned to a plant expression vector under the control of the ubiquitin promoter and transformed to tobacco by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Transgenic plants were selected in the medium supplemented with 5 mg l(-1) phosphinothricin (PPT). The amount of LTB protein detected in the transgenic tobacco was approximately 3.3% of the total soluble protein, approximately 300-fold higher than in the plants generated using the native LTB gene under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter. The transgenic plants that were transferred to a greenhouse had harvested seeds that proved to be resistant to herbicide. Thus, the described protocol could provide a useful tool for the transformation of tobacco plants.
Dynamic shape-morphing soft materials systems are ubiquitous in living organisms; they are also of rapidly increasing relevance to emerging technologies in soft machines, flexible electronics, and ...smart medicines. Soft matter equipped with responsive components can switch between designed shapes or structures, but cannot support the types of dynamic morphing capabilities needed to reproduce natural, continuous processes of interest for many applications. Challenges lie in the development of schemes to reprogram target shapes post fabrication, especially when complexities associated with the operating physics and disturbances from the environment can prohibit the use of deterministic theoretical models to guide inverse design and control strategies. Here, we present a mechanical metasurface constructed from a matrix of filamentary metal traces, driven by reprogrammable, distributed Lorentz forces that follow from passage of electrical currents in the presence of a static magnetic field. The resulting system demonstrates complex, dynamic morphing capabilities with response times within 0.1 s. Implementing an in-situ stereo-imaging feedback strategy with a digitally controlled actuation scheme guided by an optimization algorithm, yields surfaces that can self-evolve into a wide range of 3-dimensional (3D) target shapes with high precision, including an ability to morph against extrinsic or intrinsic perturbations. These concepts support a data-driven approach to the design of dynamic, soft matter, with many unique characteristics.
Abstract To investigate whether dysregulated selection of autoreactive marginal zone (MZ) B cells is involved in autoimmune diseases, we examined MZ B cell profile in multiple strains of mice, and ...found that type II collagen (CII)-reactive autoreactive CD80high MZ B cells spontaneously developed in the DBA/1, but not in C57BL/6 mice. CD80high MZ B cells that were characteristically found in DBA/1 mice expressed higher levels of TACI, SLAM3, and SLAM6 than the usual CD80low MZ B cells. Notably, the CD80high MZ B cells were more sensitive to ibrutinib, a Bruton
'
s tyrosine kinase inhibitor, than CD80low MZ or follicular B cells and their transient depletion via intravenous injection of ibrutinib significantly delayed the induction of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). In summary, we suggest that the positive selection of CII-reactive CD80high MZ B cells is a critical homeostatic process predisposing the DBA/1 mice to the CIA induction.
To investigate whether dysregulated selection of autoreactive marginal zone (MZ) B cells is involved in autoimmune diseases, we examined MZ B cell profile in multiple strains of mice, and found that ...type II collagen (CII)-reactive autoreactive CD80
MZ B cells spontaneously developed in the DBA/1, but not in C57BL/6 mice. CD80
MZ B cells that were characteristically found in DBA/1 mice expressed higher levels of TACI, SLAM3, and SLAM6 than the usual CD80
MZ B cells. Notably, the CD80
MZ B cells were more sensitive to ibrutinib, a Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor, than CD80
MZ or follicular B cells and their transient depletion via intravenous injection of ibrutinib significantly delayed the induction of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). In summary, we suggest that the positive selection of CII-reactive CD80
MZ B cells is a critical homeostatic process predisposing the DBA/1 mice to the CIA induction.
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