452 research outputs found
Characterizing and Predicting Early Reviewers for Effective Product Marketing on E-Commerce Websites
Online reviews have become an important source of information for users before making an informed purchase decision. Early reviews of a product tend to have a high impact on the subsequent product sales. In this paper, we take the initiative to study the behavior characteristics of early reviewers through their posted reviews on two real-world large e-commerce platforms, i.e., Amazon and Yelp. In specific, we divide product lifetime into three consecutive stages, namely early, majority and laggards. A user who has posted a review in the early stage is considered as an early reviewer. We quantitatively characterize early reviewers based on their rating behaviors, the helpfulness scores received from others and the correlation of their reviews with product popularity. We have found that (1) an early reviewer tends to assign a higher average rating score; and (2) an early reviewer tends to post more helpful reviews. Our analysis of product reviews also indicates that early reviewers' ratings and their received helpfulness scores are likely to influence product popularity. By viewing review posting process as a multiplayer competition game, we propose a novel margin-based embedding model for early reviewer prediction. Extensive experiments on two different e-commerce datasets have shown that our proposed approach outperforms a number of competitive baselines
Variability of size-fractionated chlorophyll a in the high-latitude Arctic Ocean in summer 2020
The size structure of phytoplankton has considerable effects on the energy flow and nutrient cycling in the marine ecosystem, and thus is important to marine food web and biological pump. However, its dynamics in the high-latitude Arctic Ocean, particularly ice-covered areas, remain poorly understood. We investigated size-fractionated chlorophyll a (Chl a) and related environmental parameters in the highly ice-covered Arctic Ocean during the summer of 2020, and analyzed the relationship between Chl a distribution and water mass through cluster analysis. Results showed that inorganic nutrients were typically depleted in the upper layer of the Canada Basin region, and that phytoplankton biomass was extremely low (mean= 0.05 ± 0.18 mg·m−3) in the near-surface layer (upper 25 m). More than 80% of Chl a values were <0.1 mg·m−3 in the water column (0–200 m), but high values appeared at the ice edge or in corresponding ice areas on the shelf. Additionally, the mean contribution of both nanoplankton (2–20 μm) (41%) and picoplankton (<2 μm) (40%) was significantly higher than that of microplankton (20–200 μm) (19%). Notably, the typical subsurface chlorophyll maximum (0.1 mg·m−3) was found north of 80°N, where the concentration of sea ice reached approximately 100%. The Chl a profile results showed that the deep chlorophyll maximum of total-, micro-, nano-, and picoplankton was located at depth of 40, 39, 41, and 38 m, respectively, indicating that nutrients are the primary factor limiting phytoplankton growth in the ice-covered Arctic Ocean during summer. These phenomena suggest that, despite the previous literatures pointing to significant light limitation under the Arctic ice, the primary limiting factor for phytoplankton in summer is still nutrient
Risk score constructed with neutrophil extracellular traps-related genes predicts prognosis and immune microenvironment in multiple myeloma
BackgroundMultiple myeloma (MM) exhibits considerable heterogeneity in treatment responses and survival rates, even when standardized care is administered. Ongoing efforts are focused on developing prognostic models to predict these outcomes more accurately. Recently, neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) have emerged as a potential factor in MM progression, sparking investigation into their role in prognostication.MethodsIn this study, a multi-gene risk scoring model was constructed using the intersection of NTEs and differentially expressed genes (DEGs), applying the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) Cox regression model. A nomogram was established, and the prognostic model’s effectiveness was determined via Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, and decision curve analysis (DCA). The ESTIMATE algorithm and immune-related single-sample gene set enrichment analysis (ssGSEA) were employed to evaluate the level of immune infiltration. The sensitivity of chemotherapy drugs was assessed using the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer (GDSC) database. Ultimately, the presence of the detected genes was confirmed through quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis in MM cell specimens.Results64 NETs-DEGs were yielded, and through univariate Cox regression and LASSO regression analysis, we constructed a risk score composed of six genes: CTSG, HSPE1, LDHA, MPO, PINK1, and VCAM1. MM patients in three independent datasets were classified into high- and low-risk groups according to the risk score. The overall survival (OS) of patients in the high-risk group was significantly reduced compared to the low-risk group. Furthermore, the risk score was an independent predictive factor for OS. In addition, interactions between the risk score, immune score, and immune cell infiltration were investigated. Further analysis indicated that patients in the high-risk group were more sensitive to a variety of chemotherapy and targeted drugs, including bortezomib. Moreover, the six genes provided insights into the progression of plasma cell disorders.ConclusionThis study offers novel insights into the roles of NETs in prognostic prediction, immune status, and drug sensitivity in MM, serving as a valuable supplement and enhancement to existing grading systems
Comparison of endometrial preparation protocols (natural cycle versus hormone replacement cycle) for frozen embryo transfer (COMPETE) : A study protocol for a randomised controlled trial
Funding Information: This study is supported by General Projects of Social Development (2022SF-565). BWM is supported by a NHMRC Investigator grant (GNT1176437). BWM reports consultancy for ObsEva. BMW has received research funding from Ferring and Merck. The other authors have none to declare. Acknowledgements: We thank all the physicians, scientists, and embryologists in our IVF clinic for their assistance with data collection as well the patients for participating in this studyPeer reviewedPublisher PD
Syntropic spin alignment at the interface between ferromagnetic and superconducting nitrides
The magnetic correlations at the superconductor/ferromagnet (S/F) interfaces
play a crucial role in realizing dissipation-less spin-based logic and memory
technologies, such as triplet-supercurrent spin-valves and "{\pi}" Josephson
junctions. Here we report the coexistence of an induced large magnetic moment
and a crypto ferromagnetic state at high-quality nitride S/F interfaces. Using
polarized neutron reflectometry and d. c. SQUID measurements, we quantitatively
determined the magnetization profile of S/F bilayer and confirmed the induced
magnetic moment in the adjacent superconductor only exists below TC.
Interestingly, the direction of the induced moment in the superconductors was
unexpectedly parallel to that in the ferromagnet, which contrasts with earlier
findings in S/F heterostructures based on metals or oxides. The
first-principles calculations verify the observed unusual interfacial spin
texture is caused by the Heisenberg direct exchange coupling through d orbital
overlapping and severe charge transfer across the interfaces. Our work
establishes an incisive experimental probe for understanding the magnetic
proximity behavior at S/F interfaces and provides a prototype epitaxial
building block for superconducting spintronics.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, supplementary file with 14 figure
MEIS2C and MEIS2D promote tumor progression via Wnt/β-catenin and hippo/YAP signaling in hepatocellular carcinoma
Abstract
Background
MEIS2 has been identified as one of the key transcription factors in the gene regulatory network in the development and pathogenesis of human cancers. Our study aims to identify the regulatory mechanisms of MEIS2 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which could be targeted to develop new therapeutic strategies.
Methods
The variation of MEIS2 levels were assayed in a cohort of HCC patients. The proliferation, clone-formation, migration, and invasion abilities of HCC cells were measured to analyze the effects of MEIS2C and MEIS2D (MEIS2C/D) knockdown with small hairpin RNAs in vitro and in vivo. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) was performed to identify MEIS2 binding site. Immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence assays were employed to detect proteins regulated by MEIS2.
Results
The expression of MEIS2C/D was increased in the HCC specimens when compared with the adjacent noncancerous liver (ANL) tissues. Moreover, MEIS2C/D expression negatively correlated with the prognosis of HCC patients. On the other hand, knockdown of MEIS2C/D could inhibit proliferation and diminish migration and invasion of hepatoma cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, MESI2C activated Wnt/β-catenin pathway in cooperation with Parafibromin (CDC73), while MEIS2D suppressed Hippo pathway by promoting YAP nuclear translocation via miR-1307-3p/LATS1 axis. Notably, CDC73 could directly either interact with MEIS2C/β-catenin or MEIS2D/YAP complex, depending on its tyrosine-phosphorylation status.
Conclusions
Our studies indicate that MEISC/D promote HCC development via Wnt/β-catenin and Hippo/YAP signaling pathways, highlighting the complex molecular network of MEIS2C/D in HCC pathogenesis. These results suggest that MEISC/D may serve as a potential novel therapeutic target for HCC.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152244/1/13046_2019_Article_1417.pd
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Evapotranspiration estimation considering anthropogenic heat based on remote sensing in urban area
Urbanization influences hydrologic cycle significantly on local, regional even global scale. With urbanization the water resources demand for dense population sharpened, thus it is a great challenge to ensure water supply for some metropolises such as Beijing. Urban area is traditionally considered as the area with lower evapotranspiration (ET) on account of the impervious surface and the lower wind speed. For most remote sensing models, the ET, defined as latent heat in energy budget, is estimated as the difference between net radiation and sensible heat. The sensible heat is generally higher in urban area due to the high surface temperature caused by heat island, therefore the latent heat (i.e. the ET) in urban area is lower than that in other region. We estimated water consumption from 2003 to 2012 in Beijing based on water balance method and found that the annual mean ET in urban area was about 654 mm. However, using Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS) model, the annual mean ET in urban area was only 348 mm. We attributed this inconsistence to the impact of anthropogenic heat and quantified this impact on the basis of the night-light maps. Therefore, a new model SEBS-Urban, coupling SEBS model and anthropogenic heat was developed to estimate the ET in urban area. The ET in urban area of Beijing estimated by SEBS-Urban showed a good agreement with the ET from water balance method. The findings from this study highlighted that anthropogenic heat should be included in the surface energy budget for a highly urbanized area
Dual Beneficial Effects of (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate on Levodopa Methylation and Hippocampal Neurodegeneration: In Vitro and In Vivo Studies
A combination of levodopa (L-DOPA) and carbidopa is the most commonly-used treatment for symptom management in Parkinson's disease. Studies have shown that concomitant use of a COMT inhibitor is highly beneficial in controlling the wearing-off phenomenon by improving L-DOPA bioavailability as well as brain entry. The present study sought to determine whether (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a common tea polyphenol, can serve as a naturally-occurring COMT inhibitor that also possesses neuroprotective actions.Using both in vitro and in vivo models, we investigated the modulating effects of EGCG on L-DOPA methylation as well as on chemically induced oxidative neuronal damage and degeneration. EGCG strongly inhibited human liver COMT-mediated O-methylation of L-DOPA in a concentration-dependent manner in vitro, with an average IC50 of 0.36 microM. Oral administration of EGCG moderately lowered the accumulation of 3-O-methyldopa in the plasma and striatum of rats treated with L-DOPA+carbidopa. In addition, EGCG also reduced glutamate-induced oxidative cytotoxicity in cultured HT22 mouse hippocampal neuronal cells through inactivation of the nuclear factor kappaB-signaling pathway. Under in vivo conditions, administration of EGCG exerted a strong protective effect against kainic acid-induced oxidative neuronal death in the hippocampus of rats.These observations suggest that oral administration of EGCG may have significant beneficial effects in Parkinson's patients treated with L-DOPA and carbidopa by exerting a modest inhibition of L-DOPA methylation plus a strong neuroprotection against oxidative damage and degeneration
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