bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Clinical outcomes, ultrastructure and immunohistochemical features of canine high‐grade olfactory neuroblastoma
Authors: Church Molly E. , Veluvolu Sridhar M. , Durham Amy C. , Woolard Kevin D.
Published: June 2019

Olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB) is a rare intranasal neoplasm in both dogs and humans. Similar clinical presentation and overlapping histologic and immunohistochemical features of ONB with other intranasal neoplasms can make diagnosis and treatment of intranasal neoplasia challenging. Furthermore, in part because of their rarity, there is a lack of reporting on therapeutic regimen for these neoplasms. In humans, initial debulking surgery is usually followed by radiation therapy. Here we report on the histologic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural characteristics of canine ONB and report on the clinical progression of cases treated with radiation therapy. In all nine canine ONB examined here, neoplastic cells were arranged in a lobular manner amidst a prominent neurofibrillary matrix and had features consistent with Grade III (high grade) ONB. The neoplastic cells demonstrated positive immunohistochemical staining for TuJ‐1, a Class III beta‐tubulin neuronal cytoskeletal protein, and variable staining for other markers, including chromogranin, synaptophysin, AE1/AE3 and MAP2. The longest surviving case was treated with a regimen similar to that used in humans, consisting of debulking surgery followed by definitive radiation therapy. Our study found that TuJ‐1 is a useful marker for ONB and that radiation therapy, even in cases of advanced disease, may result in prolonged survival.
Prevalence and laboratorial determinants of the clinical relevance of antibodies of undetermined specificity
Authors: de Albuquerque da Veiga Conrado Marina Cavalcanti , Cardoso Regina A. , Dezan Marcia Regina , Oliveira Valeria Brito , Neto Abel da Costa , Ziza Karen Chinoca , Krieger José Eduardo , Pereira Alexandre Costa , Sabino Ester Cerdeira , Rocha Vanderson , Mendrone‐Júnior Alfredo , Dinardo Carla Luana
Published: June 2019

Background and Objectives

Antibodies of unknown specificity (AUS) are frequently identified in the pre‐transfusion testing. These antibodies can be insignificant or potentially cause post‐transfusion haemolysis. Information about the prevalence of clinically relevant AUS is still lacking. Our aim was to predict the potential clinical relevance of AUS using the monocyte monolayer assay (MMA) and to identify the clinical and laboratorial determinants of AUS’ significance.

Materials and Methods

Antibodies of unknown specificity identified at a single institution from 2015–2017 were evaluated through MMA. A monocyte index (MI) of more than 5% was predictive of potential post‐transfusion haemolysis.

Results

Thirty‐two patients with AUS were included in the study. Of the studied AUS, 37·5% (12/32) presented with a monocyte index (MI) more than 5%. In the group of significant AUS, 41·7% of the patients presented with sickle cell disease (SCD) and the AUS were associated with Rh antibodies in 75% of the cases. In the group of insignificant AUS, only 10% of the patients had SCD and the association with Rh antibodies was detected in 20% of the cases. The presence of Rh antibodies was independently associated with the AUS clinical relevance (P = 0·012).

Conclusion

More than one‐third of the AUS are potentially clinically relevant, and the association with Rh antibodies is predictive of AUS relevance. Services must honour AUS in the pre‐transfusion process in order to ensure transfusion safety.
PSO-FuzzyNN Techniques in Gender Classification Based on Bovine Bone Morphology Properties
Authors: Sahadun Nur Afiqah , Ali Nor Azizah , Haron Habibollah
Published: June 2019

This simulation project aims to solve forensic anthropology issues by using the computational method. The positive identification on gender is such a potential field to be explored. Basically, gender identification in forensic anthropology by comparative skeletal anatomy by atlas and crucially affect the identification accuracy. The simulation identification method was studied in order to determine the best model, which reduce the total costs of the post-mortem as an objective. The computational method on simulation run improves the identification accuracy as proven by many studies. Fuzzy K-nearest neighbours classifier (FuzzyNN) is such a computational intelligence method and always shows the best performance in many fields including forensic anthropology. Thus, this intelligent identification method was implemented within the determining for best accuracy. The result of this proposed model was compared with raw data collection and standard collections datasets; Goldman Osteometric dataset and Ryan and Shaw Dataset (RSD) as a benchmark for the identification policy. To improve the accuracy of FuzzyNN classifier, Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) feature selection was used as the basis for choosing the best features to be used by the selected FuzzyNN classification model. The model is called PSO-FuzzyNN and has been developed by MATLAB and WEKA tools platform. Comparisons of the performance measurement namely the percentage of the classification accuracy of the model were performed. The result show potential the proposed PSO-FuzzyNN method demonstrates the capability to the obtained highest accuracy of identification.
Role of zebrafish ClC‐K/barttin channels in apical kidney chloride reabsorption
Authors: Pérez‐Rius Carla , Castellanos Aida , Gaitán‐Peñas Héctor , Navarro Almudena , Artuch Rafael , Barrallo‐Gimeno Alejandro , Estévez Raúl
Published: June 2019

Key points

We have characterized the zebrafish clc‐k and barttin proteins, demonstrating that they form a protein complex mediating chloride flux in a similar manner to their mammalian counterparts.

As in mammals, in zebrafish, clc‐k and barttin are basically expressed in the kidney. Contrary to what is found in mammals, in zebrafish both proteins show an apical localization in the kidney.

We have generated the first knockout in zebrafish of a CLC protein. Lack of clc‐k in zebrafish resulted in embryonic lethality, possibly caused by a reduction in total chloride content. As a consequence, there is an up‐regulation of other chloride channels and other regulatory mechanisms such as renin or the uro‐guanylin receptor in the kidney.

barttin is mislocalized in vivo when clc‐k is not present, indicating that there is a mutual dependence of the protein expression and localization between barttin and clc‐k proteins.

ClC‐K/barttin channels are very important for salt transport in the kidney. This function can be clearly seen since mutations in CLCNKB or BSND cause Bartter's syndrome types III and IV, respectively. Working with the freshwater teleost zebrafish, we characterized the genes homologous to the mammalian chloride channel ClC‐K and its obligate subunit barttin and we obtained and studied clc‐k knockout zebrafish. The zebrafish clc‐k/barttin proteins are very similar to their mammalian counterparts, and both proteins are necessary to mediate chloride currents. Localization studies indicated that both proteins are exclusively expressed in the apical membranes of zebrafish kidney tubules. Knockout of clc‐k resulted in embryonic lethality. These animals showed barttin mislocalization and a reduction in whole‐body chloride concentration, as well as up‐regulation of the expression of other chloride channels and renin, and an increase in the kidney expression of the uroguanylin receptor. Our results indicate that apical kidney chloride reabsorption through clc‐k/barttin channels is crucial for chloride homeostasis in zebrafish as it is in humans. The zebrafish model could be used as a new in vivo system to study ClC‐K function.
Effect of Geographic Isolation on the Nasal Virome of Indigenous Children
Authors: Altan Eda , Dib Juan Carlos , Gulloso Andres Rojas , Escribano Juandigua Duamaco , Deng Xutao , Bruhn Roberta , Hildebrand Kristen , Freiden Pamela , Yamamoto Janie , Schultz-Cherry Stacey , Delwart Eric
Published: June 2019

Extreme geographic and cultural isolation can still be found in some indigenous South American villages. Such isolation may be expected to limit the introduction of otherwise common and widely distributed viruses. Very small population sizes may also result in rapid local viral extinction due to a lack of seronegative subjects to maintain transmission chains for rapidly cleared viruses. We compared the viruses in the nasal passages of young children in three villages with increasing levels of geographic isolation. We found that isolation did not reduce the overall diversity of viral infections. Multiple infections with nearly identical rhinoviruses could be detected within each village, likely reflecting recent viral introductions and transmission clusters among epidemiologically linked members of these very small communities. We conclude that, despite their geographic isolation, remote indigenous villages show evidence of ongoing exposure to globally circulating viruses.
Genome Editing of
Babesia bovis
Using the CRISPR/Cas9 System
Authors: Hakimi Hassan , Ishizaki Takahiro , Kegawa Yuto , Kaneko Osamu , Kawazu Shin-ichiro , Asada Masahito
Published: June 2019

Babesia bovis
is the most virulent cause of bovine babesiosis worldwide. The disease consequences are death, abortion, and economical loss due to reduced milk and meat production. Available vaccines are not effective, treatment options are limited, and emergence of drug and acaricide resistance has been reported from different regions. There is an urgent need to identify new drug and vaccine targets. Greater than half of the genes in
B. bovis
genome, including several expanded gene families which are unique for
Babesia
spp., have no predicted function. The available genetic engineering tools are based on conventional homologous recombination, which is time-consuming and inefficient. In this study, we adapted the CRISPR/Cas9 system as a robust genetic engineering tool for
B. bovis
. This advancement will aid future functional studies of uncharacterized genes.
Ocular injuries from gel blasters: not just a harmless toy
Authors: Hayes Rylan , Dai Shuan
Published: June 2019

Gel blasters fire a hydrated gel polymer and are developed to circumvent the restrictions placed on paintball and airsoft guns. Because there are no reported cases of injury caused by gel blasters in the literature, some Australian jurisdictions have categorised them as a toy. Presented here are two cases of potentially blinding blunt ocular trauma which question the misguided notion they are a harmless toy. Two children each with a macrohyphaema were managed at a tertiary ophthalmology centre within 2 weeks of each other after being struck by a gel blaster projectile. Their vision ultimately returned to normal, but both face lifelong risks of ocular complications. These cases highlight the need for vigilance, and the appropriate restriction of powerful weapons, with the inherent need for eye protection when operating any such projectiles reiterated. It is recommended their licensing is made congruous with paintball guns to prevent false reassurance of their safety.
Randomized prospective trial of cooled versus traditional radiofrequency ablation of the medial branch nerves for the treatment of lumbar facet joint pain
Authors: McCormick Zachary L , Choi Heejung , Reddy Rajiv , Syed Raafay H , Bhave Meghan , Kendall Mark C , Khan Dost , Nagpal Geeta , Teramoto Masaru , Walega David R
Published: June 2019

Background and objectives

No previous study has assessed the outcomes of cooled radiofrequency ablation (C-RFA) of the medial branch nerves (MBN) for the treatment of lumbar facet joint pain nor compared its effectiveness with traditional RFA (T-RFA). This study evaluated 6-month outcomes for pain, function, psychometrics, and medication usage in patients who underwent MBN C-RFA versus T-RFA for lumbar Z-joint pain.

Methods

In this blinded, prospective trial, patients with positive diagnostic MBN blocks (>75% relief) were randomized to MBN C-RFA or T-RFA. The primary outcome was the proportion of ‘responders’ (≥50% Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) reduction) at 6 months. Secondary outcomes included NRS, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and Patient Global Impression of Change.

Results

Forty-three participants were randomized to MBN C-RFA (n=21) or T-RFA (n=22). There were no significant differences in demographic variables (p>0.05). A ≥50% NRS reduction was observed in 52% (95% CI 31% to 74%) and 44% (95% CI 22% to 69%) of participants in the C-RFA and T-RFA groups, respectively (p=0.75). A ≥15-point or ≥30% reduction in ODI score was observed in 62% (95% CI 38% to 82%) and 44% (95% CI 22% to 69%) of participants in the C-RFA and T-RFA groups, respectively (p=0.21).

Conclusions

When using a single diagnostic block paradigm with a threshold of >75% pain reduction, both treatment with both C-RFA and T-RFA resulted in a success rate of approximately 50% when defined by both improvement in pain and physical function at 6-month follow-up. While the success rate was higher in the C-RFA group, this difference was not statistically significant.

Trial registration number

NCT02478437.
Norm inequalities related to matrix commutators involving matrix functions
Authors: Kan Osman , Solak Süleyman
Published: June 2019

In this paper, we construct matrix commutators involving hyperbolic functions [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and obtain some results related to the relation between these commutators and [Formula: see text].
On derivation of pseudo BCI-algebras
Authors: Uzay Di̇dem Sürgevi̇l , Firat Alev
Published: June 2019

In this paper, we introduce the notion of derivation of pseudo BCI-algebras and investigate some related properties.
战后新加坡华文学校的国家改革： 一个华校比较研究的分析架构
Authors: 黄 庭康
Published: June 2019

二次世界大战后，新加坡脱离殖民化统治，为了打造以新加坡为中心的身份认同，掌权者打压传播中国为中心世界观的华文学校。当局的政策引发华人的反抗。因为华人的压力，执政者被迫承认华校地位，把它们吸纳成为国家教育体系的一部分。为了确保华校被收编后不再传播不利于建国的意识形态，当局致力把华文学校课程转变为以新加坡为中心。然而掌权者的课程改革并不成功。因为他们无法切断外在教育行动者的影响，再加上本土知识传统薄弱，要打造一套真正的以新加坡为中心的课程实在困难重重。本文的历史个案显示，在运用霸权理论分析教育政策时，应该把对学校的组织吸纳及课程改造作概念上的区分；通过新加坡的历史案例，本文提出一个有助华校比较研究的霸权理论架构。
集体记忆与学校认同的建构： 以圣公会中学的筹款活动为例
Authors: 曲 景毅
Published: June 2019

集体记忆是一群人的共同过去，有助于塑造集体身份的认同。圣公会中学由新加坡圣公会教会中文会众于1955年资助成立，目前是新加坡政府的特选学校。常年的筹款活动是让圣中师生、校友上下一心的典范性活动，这种认同和归属在重复与坚持中形塑与传承，从而成为一种集体的文化记忆留存于一代代圣中人心目中，形成对圣中的身份认同。本文以圣中四位校友的口述历史访问及校方出版的文献资料为据，着力探讨圣中: 1) 创校至1970年代的建设体育馆的筹款活动; 2) 1980至1990年代的义卖会与文娱表演; 以及3) 新世纪至今的慈善益走与嘉年华的结合。通过以上三个历史时期的筹款活动的论述，证明常年的筹款活动对学校身份认同的促进作用
Making Emergency Calls More Accessible to Older Adults Through a Hands-free Speech Interface in the House
Authors: Vacher Michel , Aman Frédéric , Rossato Solange , Portet François , Lecouteux Benjamin
Published: June 2019

Wearable personable emergency response (PER) systems are the mainstream solution for allowing frail and isolated individuals to call for help in an emergency. However, these devices are not well adapted to all users and are often not worn all the time, meaning they are not available when needed. This article presents a Voice User Interface system for emergency-call recognition. The interface is designed to permit hands-free interaction using natural language. Crucially, this allows a call for help to be registered without necessitating physical proximity to the system. The system is based on an ASR engine and is tested on a corpus collected to simulate realistic situations. The corpus contains French speech from 4 older adults and 13 younger people wearing an old-age simulator to hamper their mobility, vision, and hearing. On-line evaluation of the preliminary system showed an emergency-call error rate of 27%. Subsequent off-line experimentation improved the results (call error rate 24%), demonstrating that emergency-call recognition in the home is achievable. Another contribution of this work is the corpus, which is made available for research with the hope that it will facilitate related research and quicker development of robust methods for automatic emergency-call recognition in the home.
Design and Psychometric Evaluation of American Sign Language Translations of Usability Questionnaires
Authors: Berke Larwan , Huenerfauth Matt , Patel Kasmira
Published: June 2019

To promote greater inclusion of people who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) in studies conducted by Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) researchers or professionals, we have undertaken a project to formally translate several standardized usability questionnaires from English to ASL. Many deaf adults in the U.S. have lower levels of English reading literacy, but there are currently no standardized usability questionnaires available in American Sign Language (ASL) for these users. A critical concern in conducting such a translation is to ensure that the meaning of the original question items has been preserved during translation, as well as other key psychometric properties of the instrument, including internal reliability, criterion validity, and construct validity. After identifying best-practices for such a translation and evaluation project, a bilingual team of domain experts (including native ASL signers who are members of the Deaf community) translated the System Usability Scale (SUS) and Net Promoter Score (NPS) instruments into ASL and then conducted back-translation evaluations to assess the faithfulness of the translation. The new ASL instruments were employed in usability tests with DHH participants, to assemble a dataset of response scores, in support of the psychometric validation. We are disseminating these translated instruments, as well as collected response values from DHH participants, to encourage greater participation in HCI studies among DHH users.
Phage Therapy in the Twenty-First Century: Facing the Decline of the Antibiotic Era; Is It Finally Time for the Age of the Phage?
Authors: Hesse Shayla , Adhya Sankar
Published: June 2019

Burgeoning problems of antimicrobial resistance dictate that new solutions be developed to combat old foes. Use of lytic bacteriophages (phages) for the treatment of drug-resistant bacterial infections is one approach that has gained significant traction in recent years. Fueled by reports of experimental phage therapy cases with very positive patient outcomes, several early-stage clinical trials of therapeutic phage products have been launched in the United States. Eventual licensure enabling widespread access to phages is the goal; however, new paths to regulatory approval and mass-market distribution, distinct from those of small-molecule antibiotics, must be forged first. This review highlights unique aspects related to the clinical use of phages, including advantages to be reaped as well as challenges to be overcome.
A Resilience Toolbox and Research Design for Black Sky Hazards to Power Grids
Authors: Borisoglebsky Dmitry , Varga Liz
Published: June 2019

A structured collection of tools for engineering resilience and a research approach to improve the resilience of a power grid are described in this paper. The collection is organized by a two‐dimensional array formed from typologies of power grid components and business processes. These two dimensions provide physical and operational outlooks, respectively, for a power grid. The approach for resilience research is based on building a simulation model of a power grid which utilizes a resilience assessment equation to assess baseline resilience to a hazards’ profile, then iteratively selects a subset of tools from the collection, and introduces these as interventions in the power grid simulation model. Calculating the difference in resilience associated with each subset supports multicriteria decision‐making to find the most convenient subset of interventions for a power grid and hazards’ profile. Resilience is an emergent quality of a power grid system, and therefore resilience research and interventions must be system‐driven. This paper outlines further research required prior to the practical application of this approach.
A Retrospective Case Series of a Novel Spinal Cord Stimulator Trial Technique with Less Displacement and Migration of the Trial Leads
Authors: Shaparin N. , Gritsenko K. , Agrawal P. , Kim S. , Wahezi S. , Gitkind A. , Hascalovici J. , Vydyanathan A. , Bernstein J. , Dizdarevic A. , Mehta N. , Kaufman A.
Published: June 2019

Background. Spinal cord stimulation is an established treatment option for certain chronic pain conditions which have been previously unresponsive to conservative therapies or potentially for a subset of patients who have not improved following spine surgery. Prior to permanent lead implantation, stimulator lead trials are performed to ensure adequate patient benefit. During these trials, one of the most common complications and reasons for failure is the displacement and migration of the trial leads, resulting in lost therapeutic coverage. Other complications include infection and dislodged bulky dressings. There is a paucity of literature describing an adequate procedural method to prevent these common complications. Objective. This study utilizes a series of 19 patients to evaluate a new technique for securing percutaneous spinal cord simulator trial leads, which may minimize dislodgement and migration complications and improve the rate of trial success. Study Design. Retrospective case series. Setting. New Jersey Medical School, Department of Anesthesiology, Pain Management Division. Methods. A retrospective chart review was conducted on 19 consecutive patients undergoing placement of the percutaneous thoracic spinal cord stimulator trial leads for pain associated with lumbar spine pathology over a two-year period (2010–2012). Results. Of the 19 patients in our cohort, there was one trial lead displacement, no lead migrations, and no site infections. Thirteen patients went on to permanent lead implantation. This improved trial lead placement technique had a high success rate with a low number of complications. Limitations. Small sample size, retrospective case series, and no control group for comparison. Conclusion. This case series was able to demonstrate that our described novel spinal cord stimulator trial lead placement and dressing technique can decrease the incidence of lead displacement and migration, thus improving trial success.
Stability and Hopf Bifurcation of a Vector-Borne Disease Model with Saturated Infection Rate and Reinfection
Authors: Hu Zhixing , Yin Shanshan , Wang Hui
Published: June 2019

This paper established a delayed vector-borne disease model with saturated infection rate and cure rate. First of all, according to the basic reproductive number R0, we determined the disease-free equilibrium E0 and the endemic equilibrium E1. Through the analysis of the characteristic equation, we consider the stability of two equilibriums. Furthermore, the effect on the stability of the endemic equilibrium E1 by delay was studied, the existence of Hopf bifurcations of this system in E1 was analyzed, and the length of delay to preserve stability was estimated. The direction and stability of the Hopf bifurcation were also been determined. Finally, we performed some numerical simulation to illustrate our main results.
An Advanced Multicarrier Residential Energy Hub System Based on Mixed Integer Linear Programming
Authors: Yuan Yue , Bayod-Rújula Angel A. , Chen Huanxin , Martínez-Gracia Amaya , Wang Jiangyu , Pinnarelli Anna
Published: June 2019

This work proposes a multicarrier energy hub system with the objective of minimizing the economy cost and the CO2 emissions of a residential building without sacrificing the household comfort and increasing the exploitation of renewable energy in daily life. The energy hub combines the electrical grid and natural gas network, a gas boiler, a heat pump, a photovoltaic plant, and a photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system. In addition, to increase the overall performance of the system, a battery-based energy storage system is integrated. To evaluate the optimal capacity of each energy hub component, an optimization scheduling process and the optimization problem have been solved with the YALMIP platform in the MATLAB environment. The result showed that this advanced system not only can decrease the economic cost and CO2 emissions but also reduce the impact to electrical grid.
Extracellular Vesicles and Their Potential Use in Monitoring Cancer Progression and Therapy: The Contribution of Proteomics
Authors: Cufaro Maria Concetta , Pieragostino Damiana , Lanuti Paola , Rossi Claudia , Cicalini Ilaria , Federici Luca , De Laurenzi Vincenzo , Del Boccio Piero
Published: June 2019

Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are small membrane-enclosed particles released by cells and able to vehiculate information between them. The term EVs categorizes many and different vesicles based on their biogenesis and release pathway, such as exosomes (Exo), ectosomes, or shedding microvesicles (SMVs), apoptotic blebs (ABs), and other EVs subsets, generating a heterogeneous group of components able to redistribute their cargo into the entire organism. Moreover EVs are becoming increasingly important in monitoring cancer progression and therapy, since they are able to carry specific disease biomarkers such as Glypican-1, colon cancer-associated transcript 2, CD63, CD24, and many others. The importance of their biological role together with their heterogeneity prompted researchers to adopt and standardize purification methods able to isolate EVs for characterizing their cargo. In this way, mass spectrometry (MS)-based proteomics approaches are emerging as promising tool for the identification and quantification of EVs protein cargoes, but this technique resulted to be deeply influenced by the low quality of the isolation techniques. This review presents the state-of-the-art of EVs isolation, purification, and characterization for omics studies, with a particular focus to their potential use in monitoring cancer progression and therapy.
Aberrations in Oxidative Stress Markers in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Wang Zihao , Bai Zhile , Qin Xiaoyan , Cheng Yong
Published: June 2019

Oxidative stress has been reported to be involved in the onset and development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Data from clinical studies have highlighted increased peripheral blood oxidative stress markers in patients with ALS, but results are inconsistent. Therefore, we quantitatively pooled data on levels of blood oxidative stress markers in ALS patients from the literature using a meta-analytic technique. A systematic search was performed on PubMed and Web of Science, and we included studies analyzing blood oxidative stress marker levels in patients with ALS and normal controls. We included 41 studies with 4,588 ALS patients and 6,344 control subjects, and 15 oxidative stress marker levels were subjected to random-effects meta-analysis. The results demonstrated that malondialdehyde (Hedges’ g, 1.168; 95% CI, 0.812 to 1.523; P<0.001), 8-hydroxyguanosine (Hedges’ g, 2.194; 95% CI, 0.554 to 3.835; P=0.009), and Advanced Oxidation Protein Product (Hedges’ g, 0.555; 95% CI, 0.317 to 0.792; P<0.001) levels were significantly increased in patients with ALS when compared with control subjects. Uric acid (Hedges’ g, -0.798; 95% CI, -1.117 to -0.479; P<0.001) and glutathione (Hedges’ g, -1.636; 95% CI, -3.020 to -0.252; P=0.02) levels were significantly reduced in ALS patients. In contrast, blood Cu, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, ceruloplasmin, triglycerides, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein, coenzyme-Q10, and transferrin levels were not significantly different between cases and controls. Taken together, our results showed significantly increased blood levels of 8-hydroxyguanosine, malondialdehyde, and Advanced Oxidation Protein Product and decreased glutathione and uric acid levels in the peripheral blood of ALS patients. This meta-analysis helps to clarify the oxidative stress marker profile in ALS patients, supporting the hypothesis that oxidative stress is a central component underpinning ALS pathogenesis.
Comparative Study on Torsional Shear and Triaxial Test of Asphalt Mixtures
Authors: Xie Jun , Wang Yifan
Published: June 2019

In order to verify the reliability and effectiveness of the torsional shear test method, a comparative study of the torsional test under normal stress conditions and triaxial test was carried out with two different asphalt types (unmodified asphalt and SBS‐modified asphalt) for asphalt mixtures of AC‐13 and AC‐20 at three temperatures of 20°C, 40°C, and 60°C. The results showed that the crack spreading routine and the spreading angle were different between the two test methods. The cohesion of the torsional test was slightly larger than that of the triaxial test for different mixtures, asphalts, and temperatures. The main cause of this result is the difference of loading mode. The internal friction angle was basically equivalent in the two methods for different mixtures, asphalts, and temperatures, which indicated that the internal friction angle was mainly related to the spatial distribution of the aggregates or the mutual interlock and had little to do with the test method and external conditions. The results of the ANOVA and regression analysis indicated that the two test methods have a good correlation, and the torsional shear test is a reliable and effective laboratory test method for evaluating the shear performance of asphalt mixtures.
Clinical Features and Surgical Management of Bile Duct Cyst in Adults
Authors: Wu Xin , Li Binglu , Zheng Chaoji , He Xiaodong
Published: June 2019

Objectives. Bile duct cyst (BDC) is a rare congenital biliary malformation with 20% of cases initially diagnosed during adulthood. Although the incidence of BDC in adults is increasing worldwide, the clinical features of adult BDC remain unclear. The present study was aimed at characterizing the demographic and clinical features of this rare disease.Methods. We constructed a retrospective database and analyzed records of 106 patients (mean age,41.0±14.8 years; 18 men (17.0%)) with BDC treated at our institution from May 2012 to October 2018. Data collected included demographic characteristics, clinical manifestations, surgical patterns, and prognoses. We compared the characteristics of patients undergoing their primary BDC resection against those of patients undergoing reoperation. Risk factors for bile duct infection (BDI), a common complication of BDC, were identified using univariate and multivariate analyses.Results. Abdominal pain was the most common preoperative symptom, but 12 patients (11.3%) were asymptomatic. Ninety-nine patients underwent their primary BDC resection, and 7 patients received reoperation at our hospital. There was no significant difference in the postoperative complication rate between the two groups. Ninety-four patients were followed up for37.8±23.8 months, and BDI occurred in 33 patients (35.1%). Hilar anastomosis was an independent risk factor for BDI (odds ratio=3.561;95%confidence interval=1.101,11.517; andp=0.034).Conclusion. BDC was more frequent in women and abdominal pain was the most common preoperative symptom. The primary reason for reoperation was anastomotic stenosis. Reoperation had similar outcomes to primary resection and may be considered safe and acceptable if performed by a skillful surgeon. BDI was the most frequent postoperative complication with hilar anastomosis being the only independent risk factor. This highlights the importance of proper bile duct flow for surgical outcomes of BDC.
Satisfaction with Care in Late Stage Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Rosqvist Kristina , Hagell Peter , Iwarsson Susanne , Nilsson Maria H , Odin Per
Published: June 2019

In late stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) (i.e., Hoehn and Yahr (HY) stages IV-V), both motor and nonmotor symptoms (NMS) are pronounced, and the patients become increasingly dependent on help in their daily life. Consequently, there is an increasing demand on health-care and social care resources for these patients and support for their informal caregivers. The aim of this study was to assess satisfaction with care in late stage PD patients and to identify factors associated with satisfaction with care. Moreover, to assess their informal caregivers’ satisfaction with support and to identify factors associated with caregivers’ satisfaction with support. Factors potentially associated with satisfaction with care/support were assessed in 107 late stage PD patients and their informal caregivers (n=76) and entered into multivariable logistic regression analyses. Fifty-eight (59%) of the patients and 45 (59%) of the informal caregivers reported satisfaction with their overall care/support. Patients satisfied with their care reported higher independence in activities of daily living (ADL) (Katz ADL index; P=0.044), less depressive symptoms (Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS-30; P=0.005), and higher individual quality of life (QoL) (Schedule for the Evaluation of Individual Quality of Life Questionnaire, SEIQoL-Q; P=0.036). Multivariable logistic regression analyses identified depressive symptoms (P=0.015) and independence in ADL (P=0.025) as independently associated with satisfaction with care. For informal caregivers, the analyses identified patients’ HY stage (P=0.005) and caregivers’ QoL (Alzheimer’s Carers Quality of Life Inventory, ACQLI; P=0.012) as independently associated with satisfaction with caregiver support. The results indicate that an effective both pharmacological and nonpharmacological PD therapy is important, to adequately treat motor and NMS (e.g., depressive symptoms) in order to improve depressive symptoms and patient independence in ADL. This may benefit not only the patients, but also their informal caregivers.
PARP1 and Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation Signaling during Autophagy in Response to Nutrient Deprivation
Authors: Rodríguez-Vargas José Manuel , Oliver-Pozo Francisco Javier , Dantzer Françoise
Published: June 2019

Autophagy is considered to be the primary degradative pathway that takes place in all eukaryotic cells. Morphologically, the autophagy pathway refers to a process by which cytoplasmic portions are delivered to double-membrane organelles, called autophagosomes, to fuse with lysosomes for bulk degradation. Autophagy, as a prosurvival mechanism, can be stimulated by different types of cellular stress such as nutrient deprivation, hypoxia, ROS, pH, DNA damage, or ER stress, promoting adaptation of the cell to the changing and hostile environment. The functional relevance of autophagy in many diseases such as cancer or neurodegenerative diseases remains controversial, preserving organelle function and detoxification and promoting cell growth, although in other contexts, autophagy could suppress cell expansion. Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation (PARylation) is a covalent and reversible posttranslational modification (PTM) of proteins mediated by Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) with well-described functions in DNA repair, replication, genome integrity, cell cycle, and metabolism. Herein, we review the current state of PARP1 activation and PARylation in starvation-induced autophagy.
Low Expression of GLIS2 Gene Might Associate with Radiosensitivity of Gastric Cancer
Authors: Sun Haitong , Gu Jincheng , Li Zhongyang , Liu Qianqian , Lin Jiaxi , Tian Ye , Cao Jianping , Qin Hualong , Tang Zaixiang
Published: June 2019

Human gene GLIS family zinc finger 2 (GLIS2) is a member of GLI-similar zinc finger protein family. Previous studies indicated GLIS2 gene involved in tumorigenesis mechanisms. However, the association between GLIS2 expression and radiosensitivity of gastric cancer has not been well understood. In this study, we used the gastric cancer database in TCGA, and significant association was observed between the low expression of GLIS2 and radiosensitivity of patients with gastric cancer. The adjusted HR values for radiotherapy were 0.162(0.035-0.756) and 0.089(0.014-0.564), with p values 0.021 and 0.010, respectively, in training and testing data, for these patients with low expression of GLIS2, while for patients with high expression of GLIS2, there was no significant survival difference between radiotherapy and nonradiotherapy groups. The adjusted HR were 0.676(0.288-1.586) and 0.508(0.178-1.450), with p values 0.368 and 0.206 in training and testing data, respectively. Further study showed that, for low expression patients, radiotherapy did not significantly increase new tumor event rate and disease progression rate, which partially supported our assumption. These results suggested that low expression of GLIS2 might significantly associate with the radiosensitivity of patients with gastric cancer. The GLIS2 gene might be a potential effective molecular marker of gastric cancer for precise radiotherapy.
Nonlinear Dynamics Characteristic of Risk Contagion in Financial Market Based on Agent Modeling and Complex Network
Authors: Wu Binghui , Duan Tingting
Published: June 2019

Risk contagion is becoming a research hotspot in the field of econophysics with the rise of interdisciplinary studies and gains more and more attention from theoretical circles and practical departments. This paper proposes a new research frame to discuss the microscopic mechanism of risk contagion based on agent modeling technology and complex network theory and reveals nonlinear dynamics characteristic of risk contagion from the perspective of market participants in financial market. Based on the proposed SICM model, financial risk can transmit from susceptible agents to infected agents, to contagious agents, or to immune agents. With the increases of contagious probabilities, the simulation experiments show that (1) the amount of susceptible agents continuously decreases; (2) the amount of infected agents increases first and then decreases; (3) the amount of contagious agents increases first and then decreases with a lower speed, relative to the amount of infected agents; and (4) the amount of immune agents continuously increases. The major contribution of this paper is a new method for studying nonlinear dynamics characteristic of risk contagion, which can be used as a theoretic basis for further researches on the behavioral features of microcosmic subject and the inner mechanisms of risk contagion.
Direct Cellularity Estimation on Breast Cancer Histopathology Images Using Transfer Learning
Authors: Pei Ziang , Cao Shuangliang , Lu Lijun , Chen Wufan
Published: June 2019

Residual cancer burden (RCB) has been proposed to measure the postneoadjuvant breast cancer response. In the workflow of RCB assessment, estimation of cancer cellularity is a critical task, which is conventionally achieved by manually reviewing the hematoxylin and eosin- (H&E-) stained microscopic slides of cancer sections. In this work, we develop an automatic and direct method to estimate cellularity from histopathological image patches using deep feature representation, tree boosting, and support vector machine (SVM), avoiding the segmentation and classification of nuclei. Using a training set of 2394 patches and a test set of 185 patches, the estimations by our method show strong correlation to those by the human pathologists in terms of intraclass correlation (ICC) (0.94 with 95% CI of (0.93, 0.96)), Kendall’s tau (0.83 with 95% CI of (0.79, 0.86)), and the prediction probability (0.93 with 95% CI of (0.91, 0.94)), compared to two other methods (ICC of 0.74 with 95% CI of (0.70, 0.77) and 0.83 with 95% CI of (0.79, 0.86)). Our method improves the accuracy and does not rely on annotations of individual nucleus.
The Association of HOTAIR with the Diagnosis and Prognosis of Gastric Cancer and Its Effect on the Proliferation of Gastric Cancer Cells
Authors: Xu Zhiying , Chen Hui , Yang Bin , Liu Xiangfeng , Zhou Xiaoli , Kong Hongfang
Published: June 2019

Background. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a group of noncoding RNA with the length of more than 200nt. They have been identified as important diagnostic and prognostic molecules for many cancers and play an important role in the development of cancers. However, their clinical value and roles in gastric cancer (GC) remain unclear.Methods. The expression levels of HOTAIR in 54 GC tissues and their matched adjacent nontumor tissues from GC patients and 24 normal mucosa or those with minimal gastritis as healthy controls were determined by qRT-PCR. The expression levels of HOTAIR in human GC cell lines and a normal gastric epithelium cell line were also assessed by qRT-PCR. The potential relationships between its level in GC tissues and the clinicopathological features were analyzed. Furthermore, a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed. Additionally, the correlation between this lncRNA and overall survival (OS) was analyzed. SiRNA transfection was used to silence the expression of HOTAIR in GC cells. And cell proliferation and cell cycle assays were employed to determine the effect of HOTAIR on GC cell growth. Western blot was performed for the detection of the P53, P21, and Bcl2 proteins.Results. The expression levels of HOTAIR were significantly upregulated in GC tissues and cell lines. Increased HOTAIR was associated with tumor differentiation, lymph node and distant metastasis, and clinical stage. Furthermore, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) was up to 0.8416 (95 % CI=0.7661 to 0.9170, P<0.0001). The sensitivity and specificity were 66.67 and 87.04%, respectively. The correlation between HOTAIR expression and overall survival (OS) was statistically significant. The hazard ratio was 2.681, and 95% CI of ratio was 1.370 to 5.248. In addition, knockdown of HOTAIR can inhibit GC cell growth and affect cell cycle distribution. And knockdown of HOTAIR could enhance the protein levels of P21 and P53.Conclusion. The present study demonstrated that HOTAIR was highly expressed in GC tissues and may serve as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker for GC. And HOTAIR promoted GC cell proliferation.
Fully Automated Segmentation of Lower Extremity Deep Vein Thrombosis Using Convolutional Neural Network
Authors: Huang Chen , Tian Junru , Yuan Chenglang , Zeng Ping , He Xueping , Chen Hanwei , Huang Yi , Huang Bingsheng
Published: June 2019

Objective. Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a disease caused by abnormal blood clots in deep veins. Accurate segmentation of DVT is important to facilitate the diagnosis and treatment. In the current study, we proposed a fully automatic method of DVT delineation based on deep learning (DL) and contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (CE-MRI) images. Methods. 58 patients (25 males; 28~96 years old) with newly diagnosed lower extremity DVT were recruited. CE-MRI was acquired on a 1.5 T system. The ground truth (GT) of DVT lesions was manually contoured. A DL network with an encoder-decoder architecture was designed for DVT segmentation. 8-Fold cross-validation strategy was applied for training and testing. Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) was adopted to evaluate the network’s performance. Results. It took about 1.5s for our CNN model to perform the segmentation task in a slice of MRI image. The mean DSC of 58 patients was 0.74± 0.17 and the median DSC was 0.79. Compared with other DL models, our CNN model achieved better performance in DVT segmentation (0.74± 0.17 versus 0.66±0.15, 0.55±0.20, and 0.57±0.22). Conclusion. Our proposed DL method was effective and fast for fully automatic segmentation of lower extremity DVT.
Alfa-Fetoprotein-Producing Female Primary Urethral Adenocarcinoma with Neuroendocrine Differentiation
Authors: Natsuyama Takao , Mitsui Yozo , Uetani Masato , Ohta Shigeyuki , Inoue Masafumi , Akakura Koichiro
Published: June 2019

We report an extremely rare case of an alpha-fetoprotein- (AFP-) producing female primary urethral adenocarcinoma with neuroendocrine differentiation (NED). The patient was a 65-year-old woman with a 2-year history of urinary frequency and voiding difficulty. Enhanced computed tomography showed an approximately 3.0×5.0-cm mass around the proximal urethra and bladder neck. Of examined tumor markers, serum AFP was elevated (48.3 ng/mL), while others including carcinoembryonic antigen were within a normal range. Transurethral resection of the tumor led to a diagnosis of carcinosarcoma of the urethra, with a radical cystourethrectomy and ileal conduit formation subsequently performed. The pathological assessment was poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma in the urethra. Immunostaining showed tumor cells strongly positive for AFP. In addition, some cancer cells were positive for CD56, chromogranin A, and synaptophysin, indicating focal NED. The tumor was finally diagnosed as an AFP-producing urethral adenocarcinoma with NED. Serum AFP was immediately normalized after surgery and no sign of tumor recurrence has been noted 2 years postoperatively.
Studies on Antibacterial Activity and Diversity of Cultivable Actinobacteria Isolated from Mangrove Soil in Futian and Maoweihai of China
Authors: Li Feina , Liu Shaowei , Lu Qinpei , Zheng Hongyun , Osterman Ilya A. , Lukyanov Dmitry A. , Sergiev Petr V. , Dontsova Olga A. , Liu Shuangshuang , Ye Jingjing , Huang Dalin , Sun Chenghang
Published: June 2019

Mangrove is a rich and underexploited ecosystem with great microbial diversity for discovery of novel and chemically diverse antimicrobial compounds. The goal of the study was to explore the pharmaceutical actinobacterial resources from mangrove soil and gain insight into the diversity and novelty of cultivable actinobacteria. Consequently, 10 mangrove soil samples were collected from Futian and Maoweihai of China, and the culture-dependent method was employed to obtain actinobacteria. A total of 539 cultivable actinobacteria were isolated and distributed in 39 genera affiliated to 18 families of 8 orders by comparison analysis of partial 16S rRNA gene sequences. The dominant genus wasStreptomyces(16.0 %), followed byMicrobacterium(14.5 %),Agromyces(14.3 %), andRhodococcus(11.9 %). Other 35 rare actinobacterial genera accounted for minor proportions. Notably, 11 strains showed relatively low 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities (< 98.65 %) with validly described species. Based on genotypic analyses and phenotypic characteristics, 115 out of the 539 actinobacterial strains were chosen as representative strains to test their antibacterial activities against “ESKAPE” bacteria by agar well diffusion method and antibacterial mechanism by the double fluorescent protein reporter system. Fifty-four strains in 23 genera, including 2 potential new species, displayed antagonistic activity in antibacterial assay. Meanwhile, 5 strains in 3 genera exhibited inhibitory activity on protein biosynthesis due to ribosome stalling. These results demonstrate that cultivable actinobacteria from mangrove soil are potentially rich sources for discovery of new antibacterial metabolites and new actinobacterial taxa.
The Role of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa (Aiton) Hassk. Fruits in Downregulation of Mast Cells-Mediated Allergic Responses
Authors: Vo Thanh Sang , Kim Young-Sang , Ngo Dai-Nghiep , Ngo Dai-Hung
Published: June 2019

Rhodomyrtus tomentosa, a flowering plant of Myrtaceae family from southern and southeastern Asia, was known to possess a rich source of structurally diverse and various biological activities. In this study, the inhibitory effect of R. tomentosa fruit extract (RFE) on allergic responses in calcium ionophore A23187-activated RBL-2H3 mast cells was investigated. The result showed that RFE was able to inhibit mast cell degranulation via decreasing β-hexosaminidase release and intracellular Ca2+ elevation at the concentration of 400 μg/ml. Moreover, the suppressive effects of RFE on the production of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were evidenced. In addition, RFE effectively scavenged DPPH radical and suppressed the reactive oxygen species generation in a dose-dependent manner. Notably, the pretreatment of RFE caused the downregulation of tyrosine kinase Fyn phospholipid enzyme phospholipase Cγ (PLCγ), extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK), and nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) phosphorylation. These results indicated that RFE could be a promising inhibitor of allergic responses and may be developed as bioactive ingredient for prevention or treatment of allergic diseases.