A Reconstruction and Representation System for 3D Digital Archaeological Documentation – A Case Study of Dahecun Archaeological Site in China

[EN] In Dahecun, a famous archaeological site in China, the cultural strata have accumulated up to 12.5 meters, including archaeological remains covering 3,300 years. In order to improve the precision and convenience of archaeological work, a digitally aided 3D archaeological reconstruction and representation system is designed for the support of archaeological work and subsequent research and virtual reconstruction and representation of immediate site information and research output. The system shall benefit archaeologists and researchers as well as the general population with easy access to archaeological information.[ES] En Dahecun, un famoso sitio arqueológico en China, los estratos culturales se han acumulado durante 3.300 años hasta alcanzar los 12,5 metros de altura. Con el fin de mejorar la precisión y la comodidad de los trabajos arqueológicos, ha sido diseñado un sistema digital de representación y reconstrucción arqueológica 3D como herramienta de apoyo de los trabajos arqueológicos y la posterior investigación y representación y reconstrucción virtual de la información del sitio y resultados de la investigación. El sistema beneficiará a arqueólogos e investigadores, así como a la población en general, facilitando el acceso a la información arqueológica.Xiao, J.; Shang, J.; Gao, M.; Zhang, J.; Li, J. (2015). A Reconstruction and Representation System for 3D Digital Archaeological Documentation – A Case Study of Dahecun Archaeological Site in China. Virtual Archaeology Review. 4(8):50-54. https://doi.org/10.4995/var.2013.4288OJS505448Zhengzhou Municipal Relics and Archaeology Institute (2001): Zhengzhou Dahecun, Science Press, Beijing. China State Administration of Cultural Heritage (2009): Operationa Specifications for Field Archaeology, Cultural Relics Publishing House, Beijing.BI Shuoben, LV Guonian et al. (2011): "Research Framework and Implementation Procedure of Field Archaeology GIS", in China Association of Science and Technology Annual Youth Sympoisum proceeding.ZHAO Congcang (ed.) (2006): An Introduction to Scientific Archaeology, Higher Education Press, Beijing

Controlling bacteriophage phi29 DNA-packaging motor by addition or discharge of a peptide at N-terminus of connector protein that interacts with pRNA

Bacteriophage phi29 utilizes a motor to translocate genomic DNA into a preformed procapsid. The motor contains six pRNAs, an enzyme and one 12-subunit connector with a central channel for DNA transportation. A 20-residue peptide containing a His-tag was fused to the N-terminus of the connector protein gp10. This fusion neither interfered with procapsid assembly nor affected the morphology of the prolate-shaped procapsid. However, the pRNA binding and virion assembly activity were greatly reduced. Such decreased functions can be switched back on by the removal of the tag via protease cleavage, supporting the previous finding that the N-terminus of gp10 is essential for the pRNA binding. The DNA-packaging efficiency with dimeric pRNA was more seriously affected by the extension than with monomeric pRNA. It is speculated that the fusion of the tag generated physical hindrance to pRNA binding, with greater influence for the dimers than the monomers due to their size. These results reveal a potential to turn off and turn on the motor by attaching or removing, respectively, a component to outer part of the motor, and offers an approach for the inhibition of viral replication by using a drug or a small peptide targeted to motor components

Maximizing the potential of aggressive mouse tumor models in preclinical drug testing.

Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is an aggressive embryonal brain tumor among infants and young children. Two challenges exist for preclinical testing in ATRT. First, genetically quiet, ATRT is a difficult tumor to target molecularly. Tumor cells need to divide to propagate tumor growth-intercepting the common crossroads in cell cycle progression is a feasible strategy. KIF11 is needed for bipolar spindle formation in metaphase. We identified KIF11 as a universal target of all ATRT-molecular-subtypes. Ispinesib, a KIF11-inhibitor, effectively inhibited tumor proliferation in all seven cell lines. A second challenge-a major challenge in preclinical drug testing in-vivo among aggressive tumor models, is the narrow therapeutic window to administer drugs within the limited murine lifespan. Our most aggressive ATRT tumor model was lethal in all mice within ~ 1 month of tumor implantation. Such short-surviving mouse models are difficult to employ for preclinical drug testing due to the narrow time window to administer drugs. To overcome this time restriction, we developed a clinical staging system which allowed physically-fit mice to continue treatment, in contrast to the conventional method of fixed drug-dose-duration regimen in preclinical testing which will not be feasible in such short-surviving mouse models. We validated this approach in a second embryonal brain tumor, medulloblastoma. This is a clinically relevant, cost-efficient approach in preclinical testing for cancer and non-cancer disease phenotypes. Widely used preclinical mouse models are not the most accurate and lack the aggressive tumor spectrum found within a single tumor type. Mice bearing the most aggressive tumor spectrum progress rapidly in the limited murine life-span, resulting in a narrow therapeutic window to administer drugs, and are thus difficult to employ in preclinical testing. Our approach overcomes this challenge. We discovered ispinesib is efficacious against two embryonal brain tumor types

Pseudophakic monovision is an important surgical approach to being spectacle-free

There are few studies on pseudophakic monovision even though it is widely applied. We reviewed the published literature on pseudophakic monovision. Surgeons select patients who not only have a strong desire to be free of glasses after surgery, but also fully understand monovision design and its drawbacks. However, other criteria adopted for pseudophakic monovision are very different. Both traditional monovision and cross monovision are used in pseudophakic monovision, and the target binocular anisometropia ranges from -1.0 D to -2.75 D. Postoperative results were acceptable in every study and most patients were satisfied, with vision being improved and presbyopia corrected. Complications were decreased stereopsis, contrast sensitivity, and visual fields, similar to other types of monovision. The term "pseudophakic monovision" should include more than just monocular intraocular lens implantation in two eyes, and further studies are required

A new classification for epidemiological study of mechanical eye injuries

【Abstract】Objective: Considering the difficulty in classifying some cases with eye trauma by Birmingham Eye Trauma Terminology (BETT) in our epidemiological study, we introduce a new classification for epidemiological study of mechanical eye injuries based on BETT. Methods: A retrospective investigation was carried out in 31 hospitals from January 2005 to December 2010. All medical records of inpatients with eye injuries were reviewed. A total of 10 718 patients (11 227 eyes) were diagnosed as mechanical eye injuries. All mechanical eye injuries were tried to be classified using BETT. While some eye injuries were difficult to categorize. We recorded the injury type and case number. A new classification based on BETT was also used for the same project. Results: Of 10 718 patients (11 227 eyes) with mechanical eye injuries, the following cases cannot be classified by BETT: 1 488 patients (1 559 eyes) with merely orbital or ocular adnexa injury, 1 961 (2 054) globe injuries associated with orbital or ocular adnexa injury, 271 (284) ocular surface foreign body (OSFB) or ocular wall foreign body (OWFB), 77 (89) contusion, 9 (11) lamellar laceration associated with OSFB or OWFB, 29 (30) rupture associated with OSFB, OWFB or intraocular foreign body and 60 (62) laceration associated with OSFB or OWFB. While according to our new classification, all eye injuries can be categorized without any difficulty. Conclusion: Difficulty in classifying some eye injuries in epidemiological study by BETT brings some trouble to our study, which can be solved by our new eye injury classification to some extent. It is hoped that other ophthalmologists present better ones to make the classification more perfect

The Prognostic Significance of the Serum p53 Protein Concentration in Chinese Patients with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prognostic significance of cytogenetic abnormalities, staging, patient factors, and the serum p53 protein concentration in Chinese non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) patients. METHODS: The study included 43 patients with NHL that were identified between August 2003 and December 2008. Patient clinical characteristics patients were determined based on morphological, immunohistochemical, and cytogenetic analysis, and the serum p53 protein concentration was measured quantitatively. RESULTS: Following conventional chemotherapy, the complete/partial remission (CR/PR) rate was significantly higher and overall survival (OS) was significantly longer in the patients with early-stage (stage I-II) lymphoma, normal karyotype, and a low serum p53 protein concentration than in those with advanced-stage (stage III-IV) lymphoma, cytogenetic abnormalities, and a high serum p53 protein concentration (≥0.35 U/mL). Bone marrow infiltration was also a predictor of poor response and OS. There weren’t any significant differences in disease remission between the male and female patients, older and younger patients (aged <70 years vs. ≥70 years), or B-cell lymphoma and T-cell lymphoma patients. CONCLUSION: Staging is an effective means of assessing the severity of NHL. Cytogenetic examination can provide useful information for diagnosis, staging, and prognostication. The serum p53 protein level may be a potential prognostic marker in patients with NHL

A New Decision-Making Optimization Approach for Sustainable Expressway Pavement Maintenance

We use actual pavement disease data, pavement performance data and pavement maintenance data to develop a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to evaluate the effectiveness of repairing each type of pavement disease. Next, an optimization model is proposed to improve the pavement maintenance performance while reducing the pavement maintenance cost. Results indicate that repairing transverse cracking and rutting pavement diseases is more effective in improving the pavement maintenance performance. We also find that the pavement maintenance performance is enhanced prominently if the cost constraint increases from 0.1 to 0.2, while only slight improvements are observed if the maintenance cost keeps increasing. When the cost constraint is set to 0.2, the number of expressway sections with excellent condition increases by 71 and the average pavement condition index (PCI) increases by 0.27, implying that the generated pavement maintenance strategy can achieve a good performance while using much lower maintenance cost