Periodic and solitary waves in systems of coherently coupled nonlinear envelope equations

Exact solutions for two classes of coherently coupled nonlinear envelope equations are derived in terms of products of Jacobi elliptic functions. Physical applications are illustrated in the context of nonlinear optics, namely, polarization of light beams and quadratic (or parametric) solitons. Stabilities of these double-humped solitary pulses are studied by direct numerical simulations. The use of computer is crucial, both in terms of symbolic manipulation in the derivation process and in the implementation of numerical schemes in stability consideration. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.postprin

The estrogen-related receptor alpha upregulates secretin expressions in response to hypertonicity and angiotensin II stimulation

Osmoregulation via maintenance of water and salt homeostasis is a vital process. In the brain, a functional secretin (SCT) and secretin receptor (SCTR) axis has recently been shown to mediate central actions of angiotensin II (ANGII), including initiation of water intake and stimulation of vasopressin (VP) expression and release. In this report, we provide evidence that estrogen-related receptor α (ERRα, NR3B1), a transcription factor mainly involved in metabolism, acts as an upstream activator of the SCT gene. In vitro studies using mouse hypothalamic cell line N-42 show that ERRα upregulates SCT promoter and gene expression. More importantly, knockdown of endogenous ERRα abolishes SCT promoter activation in response to hypertonic and ANGII stimulations. In mouse brain, ERRα coexpresses with SCT in various osmoregulatory brain regions, including the lamina terminalis and the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, and its expression is induced by hyperosmotic and ANGII treatments. Based on our data, we propose that both the upregulation of ERRα and/or the increased binding of ERRα to the mouse SCT promoter are two possible mechanisms for the elevated SCT expression upon hyperosmolality and central ANGII stimulation. © 2012 Lee et al.published_or_final_versio

The Fear-Avoidance Model of Chronic Pain: Assessing the Role of Neuroticism and Negative Affect in Pain Catastrophizing Using Structural Equation Modeling

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Emergence of CD26+ cancer stem cells with metastatic properties in colorectal carcinogenesis

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Dupuytren's disease in bosnia and herzegovina. An epidemiological study

BACKGROUND: It is generally held that Dupuytren's disease is more common in northern than in southern Europe, but there are very few studies from southern European countries. METHODS: We examined the hands of 1207 men and women over the age of 50 years in Bosnia and Herzegovina. RESULTS: The prevalence of Dupuytren's disease was highly age-dependent, ranging from 17% for men between 50–59 years to 60% in the oldest men. The prevalence among women was lower. The great majority only had palmar changes without contracture of the digit. The prevalence was significantly lower among Bosnian Muslim men than among Bosnian Croat and Serbian men and significantly increased among diabetics. No association could be detected between Dupuytren's disease and smoking, alcohol consumption or living in rural or urban areas. CONCLUSION: We conclude that, contrary to previous opinion, Dupuytren's disease is common in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Prognostic significance of CD26 in patients with colorectal cancer

Background: CD26, dipeptidyl peptidase IV, was discovered firstly as a membrane-associated peptidase on the surface of leukocyte. We previously demonstrated that a subpopulation of CD26+ cells were associated with the development of distant metastasis, enhanced invasiveness and chemoresistance in colorectal cancer (CRC). In order to understand the clinical impact of CD26, the expression was investigated in CRC patient's specimens. This study investigated the prognostic significance of tumour CD26 expression in patients with CRC. Examination of CD26+ cells has significant clinical impact for the prediction of distant metastasis development in colorectal cancer, and could be used as a selection criterion for further therapy. Methods: Tumour CD26 expression levels were studied by immunohistochemistry using Formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues in 143 patients with CRC. Tumour CD26 expression levels were correlated with clinicopathological features of the CRC patients. The prognostic significance of tumour tissue CD26 expression levels was assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses. Result: CD26 expression levels in CRC patients with distant metastasis were significantly higher than those in non-metastatic. High expression levels of CD26 were significantly associated with advanced tumour staging. Patients with a high CD26 expression level had significantly worse overall survival than those with a lower level (p<0.001). Conclusions: The expression of CD26 was positively associated with clinicopathological correlation such as TNM staging, degree of differentiation and development of metastasis. A high CD26 expression level is a predictor of poor outcome after resection of CRC. CD26 may be a useful prognostic marker in patients with CRC. © 2014 Lam et al.published_or_final_versio

The clinicopathological significance of miR-133a in colorectal cancer

This study determined the expression of microRNA-133a (MiR-133a) in colorectal cancer (CRC) and adjacent normal mucosa samples and evaluated its clinicopathological role in CRC. The expression of miR-133a in 125 pairs of tissue samples was analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) and correlated with patient's clinicopathological data by statistical analysis. Endogenous expression levels of several potential target genes were determined by qRT-PCR and correlated using Pearson's method. MiR-133a was downregulated in 83.2% of tumors compared to normal mucosal tissue. Higher miR-133a expression in tumor tissues was associated with development of distant metastasis, advanced Dukes and TNM staging, and poor survival. The unfavorable prognosis of higher miR-133a expression was accompanied by dysregulation of potential miR-133a target genes, LIM and SH3 domain protein 1 (LASP1), Caveolin-1 (CAV1), and Fascin-1 (FSCN1). LASP1 was found to possess a negative correlation (γ=-0.23), whereas CAV1 exhibited a significant positive correlation (γ=0.27), and a stronger correlation was found in patients who developed distant metastases (γ=0.42). In addition, a negative correlation of FSCN1 was only found in nonmetastatic patients. In conclusion, miR-133a was downregulated in CRC tissues, but its higher expression correlated with adverse clinical characteristics and poor prognosis. © 2014 Timothy Ming-Hun Wan et al.published_or_final_versio

Evidence of individual differences in the long-term social, psychological, and cognitive consequences of child maltreatment

Background: The prevalence and consequences of child maltreatment are alarming, but evidence from studies with long follow-up intervals are limited. This study examined the long-term consequences of child maltreatment in relation to age of onset and follow-up interval. / Methods: The exposed group comprised 63 individuals (aged 13–34 years) with a first-time diagnosis of child maltreatment between 2001 and 2010, whereas the unexposed group comprised 63 individuals who were matched upon gender, age of onset, follow-up period, and poverty status at the index hospital admission but had no medical records of maltreatment in Hong Kong. The participants completed a set of questionnaires on executive functions and mental health and provided blood samples for measurement of IL-6 and IL-10 levels during a health assessment session. / Results: Compared with the unexposed group, the exposed group reported poorer maternal care during childhood (β = −4.64, p < 0.001) and had lower family support (β = −2.97, p = 0.010) and higher inflammatory responses (IL-6: β = 0.15, p = 0.001; IL-10: β = 0.11, p = 0.011) at follow-up. Additionally, the associations of childhood maltreatment exposure with family support and maternal care differed by age of onset and the length of time since exposure. / Conclusions: This matched cohort study highlights childhood maltreatment as a risk factor for systemic inflammation and an indicator of suboptimal social environment, both of which could persist over a long period of time

The Reform of Employee Compensation in China’s Industrial Enterprises

Although employee compensation reform in Chinese industrial sector has been discussed in the literature, the real changes in compensation system and pay practices have received insufficient attention and warrant further examination. This paper briefly reviews the pre- and post-reform compensation system, and reports the results of a survey of pay practices in the four major types of industrial enterprises in China. The research findings indicate that the type of enterprise ownership has little influence on general compensation practices, adoption of profit-sharing plans, and subsidy and allowance packages. In general, pay is linked more to individual performance and has become an important incentive to Chinese employees. However, differences are found across the enterprise types with regard to performance-related pay. Current pay practices are positively correlated to overall effectiveness of the enterprise