Consumers' decoy effect when purchasing pork with traceability technologies

Despite government investment, policy guidance, and publicity, it has been difficult to establish a traceable food market in China over the past 2 decades. Once a food safety problem occurs, it is difficult to implement effective traceability, recall, and accountability along the food supply chain. How to use the decoy effect to promote the development of China traceable food market? As bounded rationality, a decoy effect exists when adding an alternative to a choice set increases the chance an existing alternative to be chosen. However, few studies have examined the decoy effect in food purchases. Based on consumers in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China, we show the decoy effect in traceable pork hindquarter purchases and that the effects differ across product quality and price attributes. The effects are heterogeneous across consumers and are less likely to occur among those who had a personal annual income of more than 50,000 yuan (USD $7,000), were married, and had minor children in the family. These findings have implications on leveraging the influence of the decoy effect on consumer behavior and facilitating the construction of food traceability systems

Multi-omics analyses of glucose metabolic reprogramming in colorectal cancer

BackgroundGlucose metabolic reprogramming (GMR) is a cardinal feature of carcinogenesis and metastasis. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. The aim of this study was to profile the metabolic signature of primary tumor and circulating tumor cells from metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients using integrated omics analysis.MethodsPET-CT imaging, serum metabolomics, genomics and proteomics data of 325 high 18F-fluorinated deoxyglucose (FDGhigh) mCRC patients were analyzed. The para-tumor, primary tumor and liver metastatic tissues of mCRC patients were used for proteomics analysis.ResultsThe glucose uptake in tumor tissues as per the PET/CT images was correlated to serum levels of glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (ALT), total bilirubin (TBIL), creatinine (CRE). Proteomics analysis indicated that several differentially expressed proteins were enriched in both GMR and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-related pathways. Using a tissue-optimized proteomic workflow, we identified novel proteomic markers (e.g. CCND1, EPCAM, RPS6), a novel PCK1-CDK6-INSR protein axis, and a potential role for FOLR (FR) in GMR/EMT of CRC cells. Finally, CEA/blood glucose (CSR) was defined as a new index, which can be used to jointly diagnose liver metastasis of colorectal cancer.ConclusionsGMR in CRC cells is closely associated with the EMT pathway, and this network is a promising source of potential therapeutic targets

Image_1_Evaluation of colorectal cancer liver metastases based on liquid biopsy combined with folate receptor– Positive circulating tumor cells and HSP90.tif

ObjectiveLiver metastasis of colorectal cancer (LMCRC) is a major cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. We can reduce the mortality rate by discerning the risk of liver metastases in patients with colorectal cancer at an early stage. Hence, we combined the use of folate receptor (FR)–labeled circulating tumor cells (FR+CTCs) and the metastasis-related marker, heat shock protein 90 (HSP90), to screen patients with colorectal cancer and explore the prognostic factors of patients with high expression of FR+CTC and HSP90.Patients and methodsA retrospective study of 356 patients with measurable colorectal cancer was performed. Negative enrichment and FR-targeted fluorescence quantitative PCR was utilized to detect FR+CTC. An ELISA kit was used to detect HSP90 expression. A timely follow-up study of patients with colorectal cancer was made.ResultsColorectal patients with liver metastases showed high expression of FR+CTCs and HSP90. The diagnostic ability of the combined receiver operating characteristic curve of FR+CTC and HSP90 (area under the curve [AUC]=0.79, sensitivity 70.55%, specificity 92.66%) was significantly greater than that of a single index. The results of timely follow-up of patients showed that the high expression of FR+CTC significantly shortened the median disease-free survival (mDFS) of 36.5 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 14.13–58.87, Logrank p ConclusionPatients with colorectal cancer and high expression of FR+CTC and HSP90 are at risk of liver metastasis and this suggests a poor prognosis. Combining the two markers can improve the early screening and diagnosis of LMCRC patients. In addition, combining a multivariate risk model can further assist patients in appropriate stratification and the design of tailored treatment regimens. However, further validation these markers is needed before their routine clinical application.</p

General testing method for refractive surfaces based on reverse Hartmann test

The testing technique with high dynamic range is required to meet the measurement of refractive wavefront with large distortion from test refractive surface. A general deflectometric method based on reverse Hartmann test is proposed to test refractive surfaces. Ray tracing of the modeled testing system is performed to reconstruct the refractive wavefront from test surface, in which computer-aided optimization of system geometry is performed to calibrate the geometrical error. For the refractive wavefront error with RMS 255 mu m, the testing precision better than 0.5 mu m is achieved.National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [51375467, 11404312, 51476154, 51404223]; Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [LY17E050014]; Zhejiang Key Discipline of Instrument Science and Technology [JL150508, JL150502]This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Geometrical error calibration in reflective surface testing based on reverse Hartmann test

In the fringe-illumination deflectometry based on reverse-Hartmann-test configuration, ray tracing of the modeled testing system is performed to reconstruct the test surface error. Careful calibration of system geometry is required to achieve high testing accuracy. To realize the high-precision surface testing with reverse Hartmann test, a computer-aided geometrical error calibration method is proposed. The aberrations corresponding to various geometrical errors are studied. With the aberration weights for various geometrical errors, the computer-aided optimization of system geometry with iterative ray tracing is carried out to calibration the geometrical error, and the accuracy in the order of sub-nanometer is achieved.Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [LY17E050014]; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [51375467, 11404312, 51476154, 51404223]; Zhejiang Key Discipline of Instrument Science and Technology [JL150508]This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Fast searching measurement of absolute displacement based on submicron-aperture fiber point-diffraction interferometer

The submicron-aperture fiber point-diffraction interferometer (SFPDI) can be applied to realize the measurement of three-dimensional absolute displacement within large range, in which the performance of point-diffraction wavefront and numerical iterative algorithm for displacement reconstruction determines the achievable measurement accuracy, reliability and efficiency of the system. A method based on fast searching particle swarm optimization (FS-PSO) algorithm is proposed to realize the rapid measurement of three-dimensional absolute displacement. Based on the SFPDI with two submicron-aperture fiber pairs, FS-PSO method and the corresponding model of the SFPDI, the measurement accuracy, reliability and efficiency of the SFPDI system are significantly improved, making it more feasible for practical application. The effect of point-diffraction wavefront error on the measurement is analyzed. The error of point-diffraction wavefront obtained in the experiment is in the order of 1x10(-4). (the wavelength. is 532 nm), and the corresponding displacement measurement error is smaller than 0.03 mu m. Both the numerical simulation and comparison experiments have been carried out to demonstrate the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed SFPDI system, high measurement accuracy in the order of 0.1 mu m, convergence rate (similar to 90.0%) and efficiency have been realized with the proposed method, providing a feasible way to measure three-dimensional absolute displacement in the case of no guide rail.Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China [LY17E050014, LY13E060006, Q14E060016]; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [11404312, 51476154, 51404223, 51375467]; Zhejiang Key Discipline of Instrument Science and Technology [JL150508, JL150502]; Guangxi Key Laboratory of Automatic Detecting Technology and Instruments [YQ15204]; Guangxi Colleges and Universities Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Processing [KFJJ2014-03]This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]