Quantitative detection of cytokeratin 20 mRNA in urine samples as diagnostic tools for bladder cancer by real-time PCR

Aim: To determine and compare cytokeratin 20 (CK20) mRNA expression in urine of patients with transitional cell carcinomas of bladder (TCCB), urological benign diseases, and healthy volunteers. Methods: Taqman probe was designed according to the sequence of CK20 cloned gene. The quantitative PCR reaction system was optimized and evaluated. The CK20 mRNA level was screened by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in 95 urine samples and analyzed according to the following parameters: urinary cytology, nuclear matrix protein 22 (NMP22) expression, tumor stage and grade. Results: For 60 TCCB patients urinary cytology was positive in 28 (46.7%), control group had no false-positive results (specificity 100%). CK20 expression was positive in RT-PCR of 51 cases (85%) of TCCB, but control group was positive in 2 cases (specificity 94.3%) with a cutoff value of crossover point (CT) = 30. Two methods have significant variation in sensitivity (p < 0.001), NMP22 expression was positive in 47 cases (78.3%), but control group was positive in 9 cases (specificity 85%). In the simultaneous evaluation of CK20 and NMP22 mRNA expression, there were 54 positive cases (90%). CK20 mRNA values in TCCB group (mean 27712.57 copies/µl) were significantly higher than in non-cancer disease urological group (mean 74.45 copies/µl) and control group (mean 8.47 copies/µl) (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). CK20 mRNA values increased gradually with higher tumor grade and stage: G1 differs significantly from G2 (p = 0.016); Tis/Ta differs significantly from T1–2 (p = 0.022). Conclusion: Our results indicate that CK20 mRNA expression could be regarded as a potential marker for TCCB. We demonstrated correlation between CK20 expression and the clinicopathologic features of TCCB (tumor stage and grade); simultaneous use of CK20 and NMP22 markers will elevate the sensitivity of the method. CK20 RT-PCR is a sensitive, quantitative, rapid and specific method to detect free cancer cells in the urine, and could be recommended for be wide application in the diagnostics of TCCB and evaluation of therapeutic effect

Latest Cosmological Constraints on Cardassian expansion models including the updated Gamma-ray bursts

In this paper, we constrain the Cardassian expansion models from the latest observations including the updated Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), which calibrated cosmology-independently from the Union2 compilation of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia). By combining the GRB data to the joint observations with the Union2 SNe Ia set, along with the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation observation from the seven-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe result, the baryonic acoustic oscillation observation from the spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release galaxy sample, we find significant constraints on model parameters of the original Cardassian model $\Omega_{{\rm M0}}=0.282_{-0.014}^{+0.015}$, $n= 0.03_{-0.05}^{+0.05}$; and $n= -0.16_{-3.26}^{+0.25}$, $\beta=0.76_{-0.58}^{+0.34}$ of the modified polytropic Cardassian model, which are consistent with the $\Lambda$CDM model in 1-$\sigma$ confidence region. From the reconstruction of the deceleration parameter $q(z)$ in Cardassian models, we obtain the transition redshift $z_{\rm T}=0.73\pm{0.04}$ for the original Cardassian model, and $z_{\rm\rm T}=0.68\pm{0.04}$ for the modified polytropic Cardassian model.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; accepted for publication in Res. Astron. Astrophy

Common Molecular Etiologies Are Rare in Nonsyndromic Tibetan Chinese Patients with Hearing Impairment

Background: Thirty thousand infants are born every year with congenital hearing impairment in mainland China. Racial and regional factors are important in clinical diagnosis of genetic deafness. However, molecular etiology of hearing impairment in the Tibetan Chinese population living in the Tibetan Plateau has not been investigated. To provide appropriate genetic testing and counseling to Tibetan families, we investigated molecular etiology of nonsyndromic deafness in this population. Methods: A total of 114 unrelated deaf Tibetan children from the Tibet Autonomous Region were enrolled. Five prominent deafness-related genes, GJB2, SLC26A4, GJB6, POU3F4, and mtDNA 12S rRNA, were analyzed. Inner ear development was evaluated by temporal CT. A total of 106 Tibetan hearing normal individuals were included as genetic controls. For radiological comparison, 120 patients, mainly of Han ethnicity, with sensorineural hearing loss were analyzed by temporal CT. Results: None of the Tibetan patients carried diallelic GJB2 or SLC26A4 mutations. Two patients with a history of aminoglycoside usage carried homogeneous mtDNA 12S rRNA A1555G mutation. Two controls were homozygous for 12S rRNA A1555G. There were no mutations in GJB6 or POU3F4. A diagnosis of inner ear malformation was made in 20.18 % of the Tibetan patients and 21.67 % of the Han deaf group. Enlarged vestibular aqueduct, the most common inner ear deformity, was not found in theTibetan patients, but was seen in 18.33 % of the Han patients. Common molecular etiologies

Roadmap on energy harvesting materials

Ambient energy harvesting has great potential to contribute to sustainable development and address growing environmental challenges. Converting waste energy from energy-intensive processes and systems (e.g. combustion engines and furnaces) is crucial to reducing their environmental impact and achieving net-zero emissions. Compact energy harvesters will also be key to powering the exponentially growing smart devices ecosystem that is part of the Internet of Things, thus enabling futuristic applications that can improve our quality of life (e.g. smart homes, smart cities, smart manufacturing, and smart healthcare). To achieve these goals, innovative materials are needed to efficiently convert ambient energy into electricity through various physical mechanisms, such as the photovoltaic effect, thermoelectricity, piezoelectricity, triboelectricity, and radiofrequency wireless power transfer. By bringing together the perspectives of experts in various types of energy harvesting materials, this Roadmap provides extensive insights into recent advances and present challenges in the field. Additionally, the Roadmap analyses the key performance metrics of these technologies in relation to their ultimate energy conversion limits. Building on these insights, the Roadmap outlines promising directions for future research to fully harness the potential of energy harvesting materials for green energy anytime, anywhere

Study on the laminar burning velocity of Medium-Btu syngas flame with N2 dilution based on OH-PLIF technology

The laminar burning velocity of syngas/air premixed flames was studied by Bunsen burner and OH-PLIF system. The mole fractions of nitrogen in syngas change from 0 to 50% and the equivalence ratios vary from 0.6 to 1.2 were both considered to investigate those effects on the flame speed. A new method called slope averaging method was proposed to calculate the burning velocity and two classical methods were employed to verify its accuracy. A premixed code with GRI 3.0 mechanism was adopted to predict the burning velocity as well as to expose the dominant reactions on the formation of OH and H radicals. Results show that the slope averaging method represents the equal accuracy as the surface area method and is superior to the cone angle method. In addition, the increase of N2 fractions decreases the flame speed, and the effects of N2 dilution turn weak at fuel-lean conditions. Furthermore, the dominant reactions on the formation and consumption of OH and H radicals are inhibited as XN2 increases

Crystal structure of thermostable alkylsulfatase SdsAP from Pseudomonas sp. S9

Correspondence: Yunkun Wu ([email protected]) A novel alkylsulfatase from bacterium Pseudomonas sp. S9 (SdsAP) was identified as a thermostable alkylsulfatases (type III), which could hydrolyze the primary alkyl sulfate such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). Thus, it has a potential application of SDS biodegradation. The crystal structure of SdsAP has been solved to a resolution of 1.76Å and reveals that SdsAP contains the characteristic metallo-β-lactamase-like fold domain, dimerization domain, and C-terminal sterol carrier protein type 2 (SCP-2)-like fold domain. Kinetic characterization of SdsAP to SDS by isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) and enzymatic activity assays of constructed mutants demonstrate that Y246 and G263 are important residues for its preference for the hydrolysis of &apos;primary alkyl&apos; chains, confirming that SdsAP is a primary alkylsulfatase

Non-Volatile Programmable Ultra-Small Photonic Arbitrary Power Splitters

A series of reconfigurable compact photonic arbitrary power splitters are proposed based on the hybrid structure of silicon and Ge2Sb2Se4Te1 (GSST), which is a new kind of non-volatile optical phase change material (O-PCM) with low absorption. Our pixelated meta-hybrid has an extremely small photonic integrated circuit (PIC) footprint with a size comparable to that of the most advanced electronic integrated circuits (EICs). The power-split ratio can be reconfigured in a completely digital manner through the amorphous and crystalline switching of the GSST material, which only coated less than one-fifth of the pattern allocation area. The target power–split ratio between the output channels can be arbitrarily reconfigured digitally with high precision and in the valuable C-band (1530–1560 nm) based on the analysis of three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain. The 1 × 2, 1 × 3, and 1 × 4 splitting configurations were all investigated with a variety of power–split ratios for each case, and the corresponding true value tables of GSST distribution are given. These non-volatile hybrid photonic splitters offer the advantages of an extremely small footprint and non-volatile digital programmability, which are favorable to the truly optoelectronic fusion chip