Erratum to: Comparative Studies of the Growth and Characterization of Germanium Epitaxial Film on Silicon (001) with 0° and 6° Offcut

In the original article we presented results that show that the strain in germanium (Ge) epitaxial films grown directly on a silicon (Si) (001) with 6° offcut has a tensile strain of 0.6%. This strain value is much higher than the typical tensile strain value of 0.2% reported for Ge/Si. This discrepancy is due unintentional omission of the Si offcut angle and azimuth angle (φ) of the sample during high-resolution x-ray diffraction (HRXRD) measurement, and it has unfortunately resulted in a misleading result

Divergence and Shannon information in genomes

Shannon information (SI) and its special case, divergence, are defined for a DNA sequence in terms of probabilities of chemical words in the sequence and are computed for a set of complete genomes highly diverse in length and composition. We find the following: SI (but not divergence) is inversely proportional to sequence length for a random sequence but is length-independent for genomes; the genomic SI is always greater and, for shorter words and longer sequences, hundreds to thousands times greater than the SI in a random sequence whose length and composition match those of the genome; genomic SIs appear to have word-length dependent universal values. The universality is inferred to be an evolution footprint of a universal mode for genome growth.Comment: 4 pages, 3 tables, 2 figure

Characterization of RNA editome in primary and metastatic lung adenocarcinomas

RNA editing results in post-transcriptional modification and could potentially contribute to carcinogenesis. However, RNA editing in advanced lung adenocarcinomas has not yet been studied. Based on whole genome and transcriptome sequencing data, we identified 1,071,296 RNA editing events from matched normal, primary and metastatic samples contributed by 24 lung adenocarcinoma patients, with 91.3% A-to-G editing on average, and found significantly more RNA editing sites in tumors than in normal samples. To investigate cancer relevant editing events, we detected 67,851 hyper-editing sites in primary and 50,480 hyper-editing sites in metastatic samples. 46 genes with hyper-editing in coding regions were found to result in amino acid alterations, while hundreds of hyper-editing events in non-coding regions could modulate splicing or gene expression, including genes related to tumor stage or clinic prognosis. Comparing RNA editome of primary and metastatic samples, we also discovered hyper-edited genes that may promote metastasis development. These findings showed a landscape of RNA editing in matched normal, primary and metastatic tissues of lung adenocarcinomas for the first time and provided new insights to understand the molecular characterization of this disease

Sentiment analysis of China’s “one-belt one-road” initiative and its effects on China’s soft power

This paper is a multidisciplinary study that incorporates the methods and concepts of computer science and political science in gauging the Malaysian public’s opinions of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative—later rebranded as the Belt Road Initiative [BRI])—and assessing the relations between the BRI and China's soft power. The objective of this study is to develop an algorithm to conduct sentiment analysis on Twitter posts from 2019. This lexicon-based analysis process consists of five main steps: data collection, pre-processing, lexicon analysis, statistical analysis and presenting the analysis results. The study collected 1, 860 tweets related to the OBOR/BRI, of which, after data cleaning was conducted, 874 tweets remained. The sentiment analysis results show that the sentiment regarding the OBOR/BRI was generally positive (49.89%), and neutral sentiments and negatives sentiment were at 36.96% and 13.18%, respectively. The concept of using soft power to evaluate the results of sentiment analysis was incorporated into the study. Such an approach can broaden the scope of research to include discussions on the extent to which the BRI has helped China project its soft power, and how it could potentially be mobilised to enhance its soft power even further. This paper argues that, though the Malaysian public felt generally optimistic about the BRI, more can be done to increase the initiative’s positive image, thus China's soft power, through cultural interaction and exchange

Epilepsy and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes in Children With Etiologically Diagnosed Central Nervous System Infections: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Central nervous system (CNS) infection in childhood can lead to neurological sequelae, including epilepsy, and neurodevelopmental disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study investigated the association of etiologically diagnosed childhood brain infections with the subsequent risks of epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disorders.Objectives: We retrospectively analyzed the data of children aged <18 years who had definite brain infections with positive cerebrospinal fluid cultures from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2017. These patients were followed to evaluate the risks of epilepsy and neurodevelopmental disease (ADHD and ASD) after brain infections (group 1) in comparison with the risks in those without brain infections (group 2).Results: A total of 145 patients with an average age of 41.2 months were included in group 1. Enterovirus accounted for the majority of infections, followed by group B Streptococcus, S. pneumoniae, and herpes simplex virus. A total of 292 patients with an average age of 44.8 months were included in group 2. The 12-year risk of epilepsy in group 1 was 10.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.30–49; p < 0.01). Compared with group 2 (reference), the risk of ASD in the age interval of 2–5 years in group 1 was 21.3 (95% CI, 1.33–341.4; p = 0.03). The incidence of ADHD in group 1 was not significantly higher than that in group 2.Conclusions: This study identified the common etiological causes of brain infections in Taiwanese children. The highest-risk neurodevelopmental sequelae associated with brain infections was epilepsy. Children who had a diagnosis of brain infection (specially Enterovirus) should be followed since they are at greater risk of developing epilepsy and ASD

Preparation of Ag/Cu/Ti Nanofluids by Spark Discharge System and Its Control Parameters Study

This study selected silver, copper, and titanium as the research objects to explore the relationship between nanofluids properties and electrical discharge machining (EDM) processes. Regarding the products, UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) was applied to measure the concentration distribution of nanofluids; zeta-size analysis is applied for measuring nanometal particles’ Zeta-Potential and the size distribution of metallic particles in the fluid. Finally, various instruments, including scanning electron microscope (SEM), were applied to observe the shape, size, and composition ratio of metal particles after processing. According to the experimental results, the control of the discharge pulse time, in addition to affecting the concentration of metallic liquid and temperature in the process, affects the size of the metal particles after the process. As the resistivity of silver and copper is very low, at about 15×10-9 Ω·m, if TON is set to between 10~50 μs, good preparation efficiency can be obtained. The resistivity of titanium is 420×10-9 Ω·m, which is much larger than that of silver or copper. Hence, TON should be set to approximately 100 μs to achieve a good discharge success rate

Application of social vulnerability indicators to climate change for the southwest coastal areas of Taiwan

The impact of climate change on the coastal zones of Taiwan not only affects the marine environment, ecology, and human communities whose economies rely heavily on marine activities, but also the sustainable development of national economics. The southwest coast is known as the area most vulnerable to climate change; therefore, this study aims to develop indicators to assess social vulnerability in this area of Taiwan using the three dimensions of susceptibility, resistance, and resilience. The modified Delphi method was used to develop nine criteria and 26 indexes in the evaluation, and the analytic hierarchy process method was employed to evaluate the weight of each indicator based on the perspectives of experts collected through questionnaire surveys. The results provide important information pertaining to the vulnerability of the most susceptive regions, the lowest-resistance areas, and the least resilient townships on the southwest coast. The most socially vulnerable areas are plotted based on the present analysis. Experts can consider the vulnerability map provided here when developing adaptation policies. It should be kept in mind that improving the capacities of resistance and resilience is more important than reducing susceptibility in Taiwan

Reduced LIMK2 expression in colorectal cancer reflects its role in limiting stem cell proliferation

Objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major contributor to cancer mortality and morbidity. LIM kinase 2 (LIMK2) promotes tumour cell invasion and metastasis. The objectives of this study were to determine how LIMK2 expression is associated with CRC progression and patient outcome, and to use genetically modified Drosophila and mice to determine how LIMK2 deletion affects gastrointestinal stem cell regulation and tumour development.<p></p> Design: LIMK2 expression and activity were measured by immunostaining tumours from CRC-prone mice, human CRC cell lines and 650 human tumours. LIMK knockdown in Drosophila or Limk2 deletion in mice allowed for assessment of their contributions to gastrointestinal stem cell homeostasis and tumour development.<p></p> Results: LIMK2 expression was reduced in intestinal tumours of cancer-prone mice, as well as in human CRC cell lines and tumours. Reduced LIMK2 expression and substrate phosphorylation were associated with shorter patient survival. Genetic analysis in Drosophila midgut and intestinal epithelial cells isolated from genetically modified mice revealed a conserved role for LIMK2 in constraining gastrointestinal stem cell proliferation. Limk2 deletion increased colon tumour size in a colitis-associated colorectal mouse cancer model.<p></p> Conclusions: This study revealed that LIMK2 expression and activity progressively decrease with advancing stage, and supports the hypothesis that there is selective pressure for reduced LIMK2 expression in CRC to relieve negative constraints imposed upon gastrointestinal stem cells.<p></p&gt