Case study on user knowledge and design knowledge in product form design

2003-2004 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Cordycepin enhances cisplatin apoptotic effect through caspase/MAPK pathways in human head and neck tumor cells

published_or_final_versio

Self-rated health in middle-aged and elderly Chinese : distribution, determinants and associations with cardio-metabolic risk factors

Background: Self-rated health (SRH) has been demonstrated to be an accurate reflection of a person's health and a valid predictor of incident mortality and chronic morbidity. We aimed to evaluate the distribution and factors associated with SRH and its association with biomarkers of cardio-metabolic diseases among middle-aged and elderly Chinese. Methods: Survey of 1,458 men and 1,831 women aged 50 to 70 years, conducted in one urban and two rural areas of Beijing and Shanghai in 2005. SRH status was measured and categorized as good (very good and good) vs. not good (fair, poor and very poor). Determinants of SRH and associations with biomarkers of cardio-metabolic diseases were evaluated using logistic regression. Results: Thirty two percent of participants reported good SRH. Males and rural residents tended to report good SRH. After adjusting for potential confounders, residence, physical activity, employment status, sleep quality and presence of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and depression were the main determinants of SRH. Those free from cardiovascular disease (OR 3.68; 95%CI 2.39; 5.66), rural residents (OR 1.89; 95% CI 1.47; 2.43), non-depressed participants (OR 2.50; 95% CI 1.67; 3.73) and those with good sleep quality (OR 2.95; 95% CI 2.22; 3.91) had almost twice or over the chance of reporting good SRH compared to their counterparts. There were significant associations -and trend- between SRH and levels of inflammatory markers, insulin levels and insulin resistance. Conclusion: Only one third of middle-aged and elderly Chinese assessed their health status as good or very good. Although further longitudinal studies are required to confirm our findings, interventions targeting social inequalities, lifestyle patterns might not only contribute to prevent chronic morbidity but as well to improve populations' perceived health

Radiomics-Based Prediction of Microvascular Invasion Grade in Nodular Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Zhao Zhang, Xiu-Fen Jia, Xiao-Yu Chen, Yong-Hua Chen, Ke-Hua Pan Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Ke-Hua Pan, Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, No. 1 of Xuefu North Road, Wenzhou, Ouhai District, 325000, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-577-8806 9618, Fax +86-577-8806 9655, Email [email protected]: The aim of this study is to develop and verify a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based radiomics model for predicting the microvascular invasion grade (MVI) before surgery in individuals diagnosed with nodular hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods: A total of 198 patients were included in the study and were randomly stratified into two groups: a training group consisting of 139 patients and a test group comprising 59 patients. The tumor lesion was manually segmented on the largest cross-sectional slice using ITK SNAP, with agreement reached between two radiologists. The selection of radiomics features was carried out using the LASSO (Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator) algorithm. Radiomics models were then developed through maximum correlation, minimum redundancy, and logistic regression analyses. The performance of the models in predicting MVI grade was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and metrics derived from the confusion matrix.Results: There were no notable statistical differences in sex, age, BMI (body mass index), tumor size, and location between the training and test groups. The AP and PP radiomic model constructed for predicting MVI grade demonstrated an AUC of 0.83 (0.75– 0.88) and 0.73 (0.64– 0.80) in the training group and an AUC of 0.74 (0.61– 0.85) and 0.62 (0.48– 0.74) in test group, respectively. The combined model consists of imaging data and clinical data (age and AFP), achieved an AUC of 0.85 (0.78– 0.91) and 0.77 (0.64– 0.87) in the training and test groups, respectively.Conclusion: A radiomics model utilizing-contrast-enhanced MRI demonstrates strong predictive capability for differentiating MVI grades in individuals with nodular HCC. This model could potentially function as a dependable and resilient tool to support hepatologists and radiologists in their preoperative decision-making processes.Keywords: hepatocellular carcinoma, magnetic resonance imaging, microvascular invasion, radiomic

De Broglie Wavelength of a Nonlocal Four-Photon

Superposition is one of the most distinct features of quantum theory and has been demonstrated in numerous realizations of Young's classical double-slit interference experiment and its analogues. However, quantum entanglement - a significant coherent superposition in multiparticle systems - yields phenomena that are much richer and more interesting than anything that can be seen in a one-particle system. Among them, one important type of multi-particle experiments uses path-entangled number-states, which exhibit pure higher-order interference and allow novel applications in metrology and imaging such as quantum interferometry and spectroscopy with phase sensitivity at the Heisenberg limit or quantum lithography beyond the classical diffraction limit. Up to now, in optical implementations of such schemes lower-order interference effects would always decrease the overall performance at higher particle numbers. They have thus been limited to two photons. We overcome this limitation and demonstrate a linear-optics-based four-photon interferometer. Observation of a four-particle mode-entangled state is confirmed by interference fringes with a periodicity of one quarter of the single-photon wavelength. This scheme can readily be extended to arbitrary photon numbers and thus represents an important step towards realizable applications with entanglement-enhanced performance.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, submitted on November 18, 200

Clinical, Virological and Immunological Features from Patients Infected with Re-Emergent Avian-Origin Human H7N9 Influenza Disease of Varying Severity in Guangdong Province

The second wave of avian influenza H7N9 virus outbreak in humans spread to the Guangdong province of China by August of 2013 and this virus is now endemic in poultry in this region.Background The second wave of avian influenza H7N9 virus outbreak in humans spread to the Guangdong province of China by August of 2013 and this virus is now endemic in poultry in this region. Methods Five patients with H7N9 virus infection admitted to our hospital during August 2013 to February 2014 were intensively investigated. Viral load in the respiratory tract was determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) and cytokine levels were measured by bead-based flow cytometery. Results Four patients survived and one died. Viral load in different clinical specimens was correlated with cytokine levels in plasma and broncho-alveolar fluid (BALF), therapeutic modalities used and clinical outcome. Intravenous zanamivir appeared to be better than peramivir as salvage therapy in patients who failed to respond to oseltamivir. Higher and more prolonged viral load was found in the sputum or endotracheal aspirates compared to throat swabs. Upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines IP-10, MCP-1, MIG, MIP-1α/β, IL-1β and IL-8 was found in the plasma and BALF samples. The levels of cytokines in the plasma and viral load were correlated with disease severity. Reactivation of herpes simplex virus type 1(HSV-1) was found in three out of five patients (60%). Conclusion Expectorated sputum or endotracheal aspirate specimens are preferable to throat swabs for detecting and monitoring H7N9 virus. Severity of the disease was correlated to the viral load in the respiratory tract as well as the extents of cytokinemia. Reactivation of HSV-1 may contribute to clinical outcome.published_or_final_versio

Stimulated emission of polarization-entangled photons

Entangled photon pairs -- discrete light quanta that exhibit non-classical correlations -- play a crucial role in quantum information science (for example in demonstrations of quantum non-locality and quantum cryptography). At the macroscopic optical field level non-classical correlations can also be important, as in the case of squeezed light, entangled light beams and teleportation of continuous quantum variables. Here we use stimulated parametric down-conversion to study entangled states of light that bridge the gap between discrete and macroscopic optical quantum correlations. We demonstrate experimentally the onset of laser-like action for entangled photons. This entanglement structure holds great promise in quantum information science where there is a strong demand for entangled states of increasing complexity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX

Alisertib, an Aurora kinase A inhibitor, induces apoptosis and autophagy but inhibits epithelial to mesenchymal transition in human epithelial ovarian cancer cells.

Ovarian cancer is a leading killer of women, and no cure for advanced ovarian cancer is available. Alisertib (ALS), a selective Aurora kinase A (AURKA) inhibitor, has shown potent anticancer effects, and is under clinical investigation for the treatment of advanced solid tumor and hematologic malignancies. However, the role of ALS in the treatment of ovarian cancer remains unclear. This study investigated the effects of ALS on cell growth, apoptosis, autophagy, and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), and the underlying mechanisms in human epithelial ovarian cancer SKOV3 and OVCAR4 cells. Our docking study showed that ALS, MLN8054, and VX-680 preferentially bound to AURKA over AURKB via hydrogen bond formation, charge interaction, and π-π stacking. ALS had potent growth-inhibitory, proapoptotic, proautophagic, and EMT-inhibitory effects on SKOV3 and OVCAR4 cells. ALS arrested SKOV3 and OVCAR4 cells in G2/M phase and induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis and autophagy in both SKOV3 and OVCAR4 cell lines in a concentration-dependent manner. ALS suppressed phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B (Akt)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase pathways but activated 5\u27-AMP-dependent kinase, as indicated by their altered phosphorylation, contributing to the proautophagic activity of ALS. Modulation of autophagy altered basal and ALS-induced apoptosis in SKOV3 and OVCAR4 cells. Further, ALS suppressed the EMT-like phenotype in both cell lines by restoring the balance between E-cadherin and N-cadherin. ALS downregulated sirtuin 1 and pre-B cell colony enhancing factor (PBEF/visfatin) expression levels and inhibited phosphorylation of AURKA in both cell lines. These findings indicate that ALS blocks the cell cycle by G2/M phase arrest and promotes cellular apoptosis and autophagy, but inhibits EMT via phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt/mTOR-mediated and sirtuin 1-mediated pathways in human epithelial ovarian cancer cells. Further studies are warranted to validate the efficacy and safety of ALS in the treatment of ovarian cancer

Structural and infrared absorption properties of self-organized InGaAs GaAs quantum dots multilayers

Self-organized InGaAs/GaAs quantum dots (QDs) stacked multilayers have been prepared by solid source molecular beam epitaxy. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy shows that the InGaAs QDs are nearly perfectly vertically aligned in the growth direction [100]. The filtering effect on the QDs distribution is found to be the dominant mechanism leading to vertical alignment and a highly uniform size distribution. Moreover, we observe a distinct infrared absorption from the sample in the range of 8.6-10.7 mu m. This indicates the potential of QDs multilayer structure for use as infrared photodetector

Decreased Serum Free Testosterone in Workers Exposed to High Levels of Di-n-butyl Phthalate (DBP) and Di-2-ethylhexyl Phthalate (DEHP): A Cross-Sectional Study in China

BACKGROUND: Observations of adverse developmental and reproductive effects in laboratory animals and wildlife have fueled increasing public concern regarding the potential for various chemicals to impair human fertility. OBJECTIVE: Our objective in this study was to assess the effect of occupational exposure to high levels of phthalate esters on the balance of gonadotropin and gonadal hormones including luteinizing hormone, follicle-stimulating hormone, free testosterone (fT), and estradiol. METHODS: We examined urine and blood samples of 74 male workers at a factory producing unfoamed polyvinyl chloride flooring exposed to di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) and di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and compared them with samples from 63 male workers from a construction company, group matched for age and smoking status. RESULTS: Compared to the unexposed workers, the exposed workers had substantially and significantly elevated concentrations of mono-n-butyl phthalate (MBP; 644.3 vs. 129.6 μg/g creatinine, p < 0.001) and mono-2-ethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP; 565.7 vs. 5.7 μg/g creatinine, p < 0.001). fT was significantly lower (8.4 vs. 9.7 μg/g creatinine, p = 0.019) in exposed workers than in unexposed workers. fT was negatively correlated to MBP (r = −0.25, p = 0.03) and MEHP (r = −0.19, p = 0.095) in the exposed worker group. Regression analyses revealed that fT decreases significantly with increasing total phthalate ester score (the sum of quartiles of MBP and MEHP; r = −0.26, p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: We observed a modest and significant reduction of serum fT in workers with higher levels of urinary MBP and MEHP compared with unexposed workers