Strong correlation of the neutron star core-crust transition density with the σ\sigma-meson mass via vacuum polarization

We study the neutron star core-crust transition density $\rho_t$ with the inclusion of the vacuum polarization in the dielectric function in the nonlinear relativistic Hartree approach (RHAn). It is found that the strong correlation between the $\rho_{t}$ and the scalar meson mass $m_{\sigma}$ strikingly overwhelms the uncertainty of the nuclear equation of state in the RHAn models, in contrast to the usual awareness that $\rho_{t}$ is predominantly sensitive to the isovector nuclear potential and symmetry energy. The accurate extraction of $\rho_{t}$ through the future gravitational wave measurements can thus provide a strong constraint on the longstanding uncertainty of $m_{\sigma}$, which is of significance to better infer the vacuum property. As an astrophysical implication, it suggests that the correlation between $\rho_t$ and $m_\sigma$ is very favorable to reconcile the difficulty in reproducing the large crustal moment of inertia for the pulsar glitches with the well constrained symmetry energy.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Synergistic Effects of Serum Uric Acid and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors on Early Stage Atherosclerosis: The Cardiometabolic Risk in Chinese Study

Objective: To comprehensively examine the associations of serum uric acid (SUA) with central and peripheral arterial stiffness in Chinese adults, and particularly assess the interactions between SUA and other cardiometabolic risk factors. Methods: The study included 3,772 Chinese men and women with carotid radial pulse wave velocity (crPWV), carotid femoral PWV (cfPWV), carotid artery dorsalis pedis PWV (cdPWV) and SUA measured. Results: After adjustment for age, sex, and BMI, the levels of SUA were significantly associated with increasing trend of cfPWV, crPWV and cdPWV (P for trend <0.0001). Further adjustment for heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP) and lipids attenuated the associations with crPWV and cdPWV to be non-significant (P = 0.1, P = 0.099 respectively), but the association between SUV and cfPWV remained significant (P = 0.004). We found significant interactions between SUA and HR or BP in relation to cfPWV (P for interaction = 0.03, 0.003 respectively). The associations between SUA and cfPWV were more evident among individuals with higher HR or normal BP than those with lower HR or hypertension. Conclusions: SUA was associated with elevated aortic arterial stiffness in Chinese adults, independent of conventional cardiovascular risk factors. BP and HR might modify the deleterious effects of SUA

CD44ICD promotes breast cancer stemness via PFKFB4-mediated glucose metabolism.

CD44 is a single-pass cell surface glycoprotein that is distinguished as the first molecule used to identify cancer stem cells in solid tumors based on its expression. In this regard, the CD44high cell population demonstrates not only the ability to regenerate a heterogeneous tumor, but also the ability to self-regenerate when transplanted into immune-deficient mice. However, the exact role of CD44 in cancer stem cells remains unclear in part because CD44 exists in various isoforms due to alternative splicing. Methods: Gain- and loss-of-function methods in different models were used to investigate the effects of CD44 on breast cancer stemness. Cancer stemness was analyzed by detecting SOX2, OCT4 and NANOG expression, ALDH activity, side population (SP) and sphere formation. Glucose consumption, lactate secretion and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were detected to assess glycolysis. Western blot, immunohistochemical staining, ELISA and TCGA dataset analysis were performed to determine the association of CD44ICD and PFKFB4 with clinical cases. A PFKFB4 inhibitor, 5MPN, was used in a xenograft model to inhibit breast cancer development. Results: In this report, we found that the shortest CD44 isoform (CD44s) inhibits breast cancer stemness, whereas the cleaved product of CD44 (CD44ICD) promotes breast cancer stemness. Furthermore, CD44ICD interacts with CREB and binds to the promoter region of PFKFB4, thereby regulating PFKFB4 transcription and expression. The resultant PFKFB4 expression facilitates the glycolysis pathway (vis-à-vis oxidative phosphorylation) and promotes stemness of breast cancer. In addition, we found that CD44ICD and PFKFB4 expressions are generally up-regulated in the tumor portion of breast cancer patient samples. Most importantly, we found that 5MPN (a selective inhibitor of PFKFB4) suppresses CD44ICD-induced tumor development. Conclusion: CD44ICD promotes breast cancer stemness via PFKFB4-mediated glycolysis, and therapies that target PFKFB4 (e.g., 5MPN therapy) may lead to improved outcomes for cancer patients

Correlation between diopters and refractive parameters among 5 to 12 years old school-age children of Lanzhou city

AIM: To investigate the epidemiological status of refractive state among school-age children of 5 to 12 years in Chengguan district of Lanzhou city, and to analyze the correlation with axial length(AL), horizontal and vertical corneal refractive power(K1, K2), anterior chamber depth(ACD)and corneal diameter(W-W). <p>METHODS: The value of AL, K1, K2, ACD and W-W of 813 school-age children(1626 eyes)aged 8.46±2.30 years old(5-12 years)were measured by IOL-Master, refractive error was measured by computer refractor. The eyes were divided into 5 groups according to different mean spherical equivalent(SE)diopter: high myopia, moderate myopia, low myopia, emmetropia and hyperopia. The correlation between diopter and different refractive parameters of different ages and different diopter groups were analyzed respectively, the SPSS 19.0 was used for the statistical analysis.<p>RESULTS: There were statistically significant difference(<i>P</i><0.05)in uncorrected visual acuity and refractive state among the different groups of 5-12 years school-age children, the prevalence of myopia tended to increase with the age. There were statistically significant difference in AL and ACD among the different age groups(<i>P</i><0.05), AL and ACD increased with the age. There were statistically significant difference in AL among three myopic groups(<i>P</i><0.05). There were statistically significant difference in ACD between low myopia and moderate myopia, low myopia and high myopia(<i>P</i><0.05). There were statistically significant difference in corneal refractive power and corneal diameter between low myopia and high myopia, moderate myopia and high myopia(<i>P</i><0.05). SE was negatively correlated with AL(<i>r</i>=-0.764, <i>P</i><0.01)and ACD(<i>r</i>=-0.498, <i>P</i><0.01), but had week correlation with corneal refractive power or corneal diameter.<p>CONCLUSION: The increase of AL plays an important role in the changes of refractive among school-age children of 5-12 years, AL is the main morphological variable related to myopia. Meanwhile, refractive changes may be affected by corneal refractive power(K1, K2), ACD and corneal diameter(W-W). 7-8 years old can be regarded as the main phase from emmetropization to myopization of school-age children

Yield enhancement of recombinant α-Amylases in Bacillus amyloliquefaciens by ARTP mutagenesis-screening and medium optimization

α-Amylase is the most extensively applied enzyme in industry. There is an urgent need for improvement on the yield of α-amylases currently. Herein, a strategy which combined Atmospheric and Room Temperature Plasma (ARTP) mutagenesis tool for construction of mutant library of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens with a 24-well plates screening technique was adopted to improve the yield of recombinant Bacillus amyloliquefaciens α-amylases (BAA). A mutant strain named B. amyloliquefaciens ZN mut-7# was obtained, and the activity of BAA produced by this mutant strain was 86.92% higher than that of the original strain. B. amyloliquefaciens ZN mut-7# has an unchanged BAA gene and genetic stability. This successful application proved that ARTP can be applied to the genetically engineering strains that contain recombinant plasmid. Furthermore, response surface methodology offers an achievable and efficient strategy to optimize the composition of medium used to generate BAA in B. amyloliquefaciens ZN mut-7#. A 1.28-fold increase had been obtained compared to the production of non-optimized fermentation medium. This study demonstrates that ARTP mutagenesis and medium optimization are efficient and feasible methods for increasing recombinant enzyme production in the genetically engineering strains

Chemotherapy Alters the Phylogenetic Molecular Ecological Networks of Intestinal Microbial Communities

Intestinal microbiota is now widely known to play key roles in nutritional uptake, metabolism, and regulation of human immune responses. There are multiple studies assessing intestinal microbiota changes in response to chemotherapy. In this study, microbial phylogenetic molecular ecological networks (pMENs) were firstly used to study the effects of chemotherapy on the intestinal microbiota of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Based on the random network model, we demonstrated that overall network structures and properties were significantly changed by chemotherapy, especially in average path length, average clustering coefficient, average harmonic geodesic distance and modularity (P &lt; 0.05). The taxa in the module tended to co-exclude rather than co-occur in CRC patient networks, indicating probably competition relationships. The co-exclude correlations were decreased by 37.3% from T0 to T5 in response to chemotherapy. Significantly negative correlations were observed in positive/negative OTU degree and tumor markers (P &lt; 0.05). Furthermore, the topological roles of the OTUs (module hubs and connectors) were changed with the chemotherapy. For example, the OTU167, OTU8, and OTU9 from the genera Fusobacterium, Bacteroides, and Faecalibacterium, respectively, were identified as keystone taxa, which were defined as either “hubs” or OTUs with highest connectivity in the network. These OTUs were significantly correlated with tumor markers (P &lt; 0.05), suggesting that they probably were influenced by chemotherapy. The pMENs constructed in this study predicted the potential effects of chemotherapy on intestinal microbial community co-occurrence interactions. The changes may have an effect on the therapeutic effects. However, larger clinical samples are required to identify the conclusion