Larval and Post-Larval Stages of Pacific Oyster (Crassostrea gigas) Are Resistant to Elevated CO2

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Immunoglobulin G4–related disease in Hong Kong: clinical features, treatment practices, and its association with multisystem disease

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Continuous entecavir for treatment-naïve Chinese chronic hepatitis B in the real world setting: the six-year results

This journal suppl. entitled: 2014 DDW AbstractBACKGROUND: There is a paucity of data on uninterrupted entecavir for treatment-naive chronic hepatitis B (CHB) beyond 5 years. METHODS: Treatment-naive Chinese CHB patients were treated continuously with entecavir 0.5mg daily in the real world setting for up to 6 years. The cumulative rates of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seroconversion, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) normalization, DNA undetectability, virologic breakthrough (>1 log HBV DNA increase from the nadir) and genotypic resistance to entecavir were determined. HBV DNA levels were measured by Roche Taqman real time PCR assay (lower limit of detection: 20 IU/mL). Resistance profile was determined by line probe assay (LiPA, Innogenetics NV, Gent, Belgium) for patients ...postprin

Single channel wireless EEG device for real-time fatigue level detection

© 2015 IEEE. Driver fatigue problem is one of the important factors of traffic accidents. Recent years, many research had investigated that using EEG signals can effectively detect driver's drowsiness level. However, real-time monitoring system is required to apply these fatigue level detection techniques in the practical application, especially in the real-road driving. Therefore, it required less channels, portable and wireless, real-time monitoring and processing techniques for developing the real-time monitoring system. In this study, we develop a single channel wireless EEG device which can real-time detect driver's fatigue level on the mobile device such as smart phone or tablet. The developed device is investigated to obtain a better and precise understanding of brain activities of mental fatigue under driving, which is of great benefit for devolvement of detection of driving fatigue system. This system consists of a Bluetooth-enabled one channel EEG, a regression model, and smartphone, which was a platform recording and transforming the raw EEG data to useful driving status. In the experiment, this was a sustained-attention driving task to implement in a virtual-reality (VR) driving simulator. To training model and develop the system, we were performed for 15 subjects to study Electroencephalography (EEG) brain dynamics by using a mobile and wireless EEG device. Based on the outstanding training results, the leave-one-subject-out cross validation test obtained 90% fatigue detection accuracy. These results indicate that the combination of a smartphone and wireless EEG device constitutes an effective and easy wearable solution for detecting and preventing driver fatigue in real driving environments

Serum superoxide dismutase levels correlate with disease activity markers in stable bronchiectasis

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Bidirectional signaling of neuregulin-2 mediates formation of GABAergic synapses and maturation of glutamatergic synapses in newborn granule cells of postnatal hippocampus

Expression of neuregulin-2 (NRG2) is intense in a few regions of the adult brain where neurogenesis persists; however, little is understood about its role in developments of newborn neurons. To study the role of NRG2 in synaptogenesis at different developmental stages, newborn granule cells in rat hippocampal slice cultures were labeled with retrovirus encoding tetracycline-inducible microRNA targeting NRG2 and treated with doxycycline (Dox) at the fourth or seventh postinfection day (dpi). The developmental increase of GABAergic postsynaptic currents (GPSCs) was suppressed by the early Dox treatment (4 dpi), but not by late treatment (7 dpi). The late Dox treatment was used to study the effect of NRG2 depletion specific to excitatory synaptogenesis. The Dox effect on EPSCs emerged 4 d after the impairment in dendritic outgrowth became evident (10 dpi). Notably, Dox treatment abolished the developmental increases of AMPA-receptor mediated EPSCs and the AMPA/NMDA ratio, indicating impaired maturation of glutamatergic synapses. In contrast to GPSCs, Dox effects on EPSCs and dendritic growth were independent of ErbB4 and rescued by concurrent overexpression of NRG2 intracellular domain. These results suggest that forward signaling of NRG2 mediates GABAergic synaptogenesis and its reverse signaling contributes to dendritic outgrowth and maturation of glutamatergic synapses.117Ysciescopu

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: time lapse before diagnosis and treatment

This is a descriptive study of 168 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma who were referred to public oncology departments for primary treatment between July and September 1996. The mean duration from the onset of the symptoms to histological diagnosis was 5.0 months; the duration ranged from 6.1 months (for patients presenting with nasal symptoms) to 1.8 months (for those with cranial nerve dysfunction). The mean period between the onset of symptoms and the seeking of medical advice was 2.9months. For 54% of the patients, there was a further delay of up to 2.4 months between the initial medical consultation and referral to the appropriate specialist. The majority (84%) of patients attended public institutions for histological confirmation. The mean total time taken from the onset of symptoms to the commencement of radiotherapy was 6.5 months (range, 1.3-74.0 months)---45% of the delay was attributed to the patient, 20% to initial consultations, 14% to diagnostic arrangement, and 21% to preparation for radiotherapy. Concerted efforts are needed to minimise further the time between the onset of symptoms and treatment. A substantial reduction in this delay can be achieved if both public and primary care doctors were made more aware of the significance of relevant symptoms.published_or_final_versio

Elevated plasma adiponectin levels in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

BACKGROUND: Adiponectin is an anti-inflammatory adipokine that may play a role in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathogenesis. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between adiponectin, interleukin (IL) 6, IL-8 and C-reactive protein (CRP) and COPD by evaluating these biomarkers in ever-smokers with or without the disease. METHOD: Plasma levels of adiponectin, IL-6, IL-8 and CRP were measured using commercially available kits in COPD patients (n = 71), healthy ever-smokers (n = 62) and non-smokers (n = 51). RESULTS: There were significant increases in plasma adiponectin, IL-6 and CRP in COPD patients (median [IQR] 4.39 μg/ml [2.68-6.98], 4.19 pg/ml [<2.40-6.40], 8.75 mg/l [4.26-40.63], respectively) compared to healthy ever-smokers (1.90 μg/ml [0.86-2.86], <2.40 pg/ml [<2.40-2.77], 3.71 mg/l [1.97-10.37 mg/l], respectively, P < 0.001) and non-smokers (1.76 μg/ml [1.34-2.52], <2.40 pg/ml [<2.40-2.78], 3.12 mg/l [2.11-5.71], respectively, P < 0.001). COPD patients had lower plasma IL-8 levels than healthy ever-smokers. Among ever-smokers with or without COPD, plasma adiponectin, IL-6 and CRP levels were inversely correlated with forced expiratory volume in 1 second (% predicted) after adjustment for age, body mass index, smoking status and pack-years. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that in COPD patients, adiponectin might be associated with COPD pathogenesis. © 2010 The Union.postprin