Discussion and design of high vocational education

To set up a vocational technical college within a university is in accordance with the tendency of international high education. It is an important and practical move to develop high vocational education based on China\u27s realities. Although there is much controversy on decision-making and difficulties in operation, in a sense and in a particular period of time, promoting the all-round development of vocational education can not be underestimated. To greatly and timely promote this cause is one of the Key points in the developments of China\u27s 21st century vocational education

Many server queueing models with heterogeneous servers and parameter uncertainty with customer contact centre applications

In this thesis, we study the queueing systems with heterogeneous servers and service rate uncertainty under the Halfin-Whitt heavy traffic regime. First, we analyse many server queues with abandonments when service rates are i.i.d. random variables. We derive a diffusion approximation using a novel method. The diffusion has a random drift, and hence depending on the realisations of service rates, the system can be in Quality Driven (QD), Efficiency Driven (ED) or Quality-Efficiency-Driven (QED) regime. When the system is under QD or QED regime, the abandonments are negligible in the fluid limit, but when it is under ED regime, the probability of abandonment will converge to a non-zero value. We then analyse the optimal staffing levels to balance holding costs with staffing costs combining these three regimes. We also analyse how the variance of service rates influence abandonment rate. Next, we focus on the state space collapse (SSC) phenomenon. We prove that under some assumptions, the system process will collapse to a lower dimensional process without losing essential information. We first formulate a general method to prove SSC results inside pools for heavy traffic systems using the hydrodynamic limit idea. Then we work on the SSC in multi-class queueing networks under the Halfin-Whitt heavy traffic when service rates are i.i.d. random variables within pools. For such systems, exact analysis provides limited insight on the general properties. Alternatively, asymptotic analysis by diffusion approximation proves to be effective. Further, limit theorems, which state the diffusively scaled system process weakly converges to a diffusion process, are usually the central part in such asymptotic analysis. The SSC result is key to proving such a limit. We conclude by giving examples on how SSC is applied to the analysis of systems

Protective effects of Zhuifeng tougu on collagen-induced arthritis in DBA/1 mice

Purpose: To investigate the protective effects of Zhuifengtougu (ZFTG) on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse modelMethods: DBA/1 mice were randomly divided into 7 treatment groups (n = 8): normal, positive control (CIA mice), CIA mice + total glucosides of peony (TGP), CIA mice + cyclophosphamide (CPA), CIA mice + 100 mg/kg ZFTG, CIA mice + 200 mg/kg ZFTG, and CIA mice + 400 mg/kg ZFTG. The serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-αwere measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Western blot was used to determine the protein expression of B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2), p53 and first apoptosis signal receptor (Fas).Results: Following drug administration, the arthritic index in CIA mice administered low-dose, mediumdose, or high-dose ZFTG (1.53 – 1.87), TGP (1.75 ± 0.42), or CPA (1.52 ± 0.36) was reduced significantly (p < 0.05), compared with positive control group (5.66 ± 0.73; p < 0.01). Levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17 and TNF-α in serum and expression of Bcl-2, p53, and Fas were also significantly decreased (p < 0.05) in CIA mice administered ZFTG, TGP, or CPA, whereas IL-10 levels increased.Conclusion: These results suggest that ZFTG exhibit anti-rheumatic activity in CIA mice via modulation of inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10, IL-17 and TNF-α) and downregulation of the expressions of Bcl-2, p53, and Fas. Thus, ZFTG is a potential candidate drug for the treatment of RA.Keywords: Zhuifengtougu pill, Rheumatoid arthritis, Cytokines, Bcl-2, Fas, p5

A Novel Joint Gene Set Analysis Framework Improves Identification of Enriched Pathways in Cross Disease Transcriptomic Analysis

Motivation: Gene set enrichment analysis is a widely accepted expression analysis tool which aims at detecting coordinated expression change within a pre-defined gene sets rather than individual genes. The benefit of gene set analysis over individual differentially expressed (DE) gene analysis includes more reproducible and interpretable results and detecting small but consistent change among gene set which could not be detected by DE gene analysis. There have been many successful gene set analysis applications in human diseases. However, when the sample size of a disease study is small and no other public data sets of the same disease are available, it will lead to lack of power to detect pathways of importance to the disease.Results: We have developed a novel joint gene set analysis statistical framework which aims at improving the power of identifying enriched gene sets through integrating multiple similar disease data sets. Through comprehensive simulation studies, we demonstrated that our proposed frameworks obtained much better AUC scores than single data set analysis and another meta-analysis method in identification of enriched pathways. When applied to two real data sets, the proposed framework could retain the enriched gene sets identified by single data set analysis and exclusively obtained up to 200% more disease-related gene sets demonstrating the improved identification power through information shared between similar diseases. We expect that the proposed framework would enable researchers to better explore public data sets when the sample size of their study is limited

Celecoxib concentration predicts decrease in prostaglandin E\u3csub\u3e2\u3c/sub\u3e concentrations in nipple aspirate fluid from high risk women

BACKGROUND: Epidemiologic studies suggest that long term low dose celecoxib use significantly lowers breast cancer risk. We previously demonstrated that 400 mg celecoxib taken twice daily for 2 weeks lowered circulating plasma and breast nipple aspirate fluid (NAF) prostaglandin (PG)E2 concentrations in post- but not premenopausal high risk women. We hypothesized that circulating concentrations of celecoxib influenced PGE2 response, and that plasma levels of the drug are influenced by menopausal status. To address these hypotheses, the aims of the study were to determine: 1) if circulating plasma concentrations of celecoxib correlated with the change in plasma or NAF PGE2 concentrations from baseline to end of treatment, and 2) whether menopausal status influenced circulating levels of celecoxib. METHODS: Matched NAF and plasma were collected from 46 high risk women who were administered celecoxib twice daily for two weeks, 20 subjects receiving 200 mg and 26 subjects 400 mg of the agent. NAF and plasma samples were collected before and 2 weeks after taking celecoxib. RESULTS: In women taking 400 mg bid celecoxib, plasma concentrations of the agent correlated inversely with the change in NAF PGE2 levels from pre- to posttreatment. Nonsignificant trends toward higher celecoxib levels were observed in post- compared to premenopausal women. There was a significant decrease in NAF but not plasma PGE2 concentrations in postmenopausal women who took 400 mg celecoxib (p = 0.03). CONCLUSION: In high risk women taking 400 mg celecoxib twice daily, plasma concentrations of celecoxib correlated with downregulation of PGE2 production by breast tissue. Strategies synergistic with celecoxib to downregulate PGE2 are of interest, in order to minimize the celecoxib dose required to have an effect

BDTS: Blockchain-based Data Trading System

Trading data through blockchain platforms is hard to achieve \textit{fair exchange}. Reasons come from two folds: Firstly, guaranteeing fairness between sellers and consumers is a challenging task as the deception of any participating parties is risk-free. This leads to the second issue where judging the behavior of data executors (such as cloud service providers) among distrustful parties is impractical in the context of traditional trading protocols. To fill the gaps, in this paper, we present a \underline{b}lockchain-based \underline{d}ata \underline{t}rading \underline{s}ystem, named BDTS. BDTS implements a fair-exchange protocol in which benign behaviors can get rewarded while dishonest behaviors will be punished. Our scheme requires the seller to provide consumers with the correct encryption keys for proper execution and encourage a rational data executor to behave faithfully for maximum benefits from rewards. We analyze the strategies of consumers, sellers, and dealers in the trading game and point out that everyone should be honest about their interests so that the game will reach Nash equilibrium. Evaluations prove efficiency and practicability.Comment: ICICS 2023 (Best Paper Award

Soy isoflavones have an antiestrogenic effect and alter mammary promoter hypermethylation in healthy premenopausal women1

We hypothesized that soy isoflavones would have dose related estrogenic and methylation effects. 34 healthy premenopausal women were prospectively enrolled and randomized in double-blind fashion to receive either 40 mg or 140 mg isoflavones daily through one menstrual cycle. Breast specific (NAF) and systemic (serum) estrogenic effects were assessed measuring the estrogenic marker complement (C)3 and changes in cytology, while methylation effects were evaluated in mammary ductoscopy (MD) specimens using methylation specific PCR assessment of five genes (p16, RASSF1A, RARβ2, ER, and CCND2) associated with breast carcinogenesis. Serum genistein significantly increased post treatment in women consuming both isoflavone doses. Neither NAF nor MD cytology significantly changed after either low or high dose isoflavones. Serum C3 levels post treatment were inversely related to change in serum genistein (r= -0.76, p=0.0045) in women consuming low dose isoflavones. RARβ2 hypermethylation increased post treatment correlated with the post treatment level of genistein among all subjects (r=0.67, p=0.0017) and in women receiving high dose isoflavones (r=0.68, p=0.021). At the low dose, CCND2 hypermethylation increase correlated with post treatment genistein levels (r=0.79, p=0.011). The inverse correlation between C3 and genistein suggests an antiestrogenic effect. Isoflavones induced dose specific changes in RARβ2 and CCND2 gene methylation which correlated with genistein levels. This work provides novel insights into estrogenic and methylation effects of dietary isoflavones.

Exposure time relevance of response to nitrite exposure: Insight from transcriptional responses of immune and antioxidant defense in the crayfish, Procambarus clarkii

Abstract(#br)To understand the toxic effects of nitrite exposure on crayfish, expression of genes involved in the immune system, the antioxidant defense, and the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) was measured after 12, 24, and 48 h of different nitrite concentrations exposure in the hepatopancreas and hemocytes of Procambarus clarkii . Nitrite exposure up-regulated mRNA levels of cytoplasmic Mn superoxide dismutase (cMn-SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and glutathione-S-transferase (GST), after 24 h nitrite exposure. At 48 h, nitrite exposure decreased the mRNA levels of mitochondrial MnSOD (mMn-SOD), CAT, and GPx. High concentrations of nitrite at 48 h of exposure decreased expression of β-1,3-glucan-bingding protein in the hepatopancreas, and lysozyme expression in hemocytes. Nitrite exposure caused little effect on the heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) in hemocytes. Through overall clustering analysis, we found that 24 h of nitrite exposure caused stronger transcriptional responses. Our study indicated that the response of P. clarkii to acute nitrite exposure was exposure time-dependent. These results will help to understand the dynamic response pattern of crustaceans to nitrite pollution, and improve our understanding of the toxicological mechanisms of nitrite in crustaceans

TGFβ3-mediated induction of Periostin facilitates head and neck cancer growth and is associated with metastasis

The matrix-specific protein periostin (POSTN) is up-regulated in human cancers and associated with cancer growth, metastasis and angiogenesis. Although the stroma of cancer tissues is the main source of POSTN, it is still unclear how POSTN plays a role to facilitate the interplay between cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) in head and neck cancer (HNC), thereby promoting tumorigenesis via modifying the tumor microenvironment. Herein, we have performed studies to investigate POSTN and its role in HNC microenvironment. Our results indicated that POSTN was significantly up-regulated in HNCs, especially in the tissues with lymph node metastasis. Moreover, POSTN was highly enriched in the stroma of cancer tissues and produced mainly by CAFs. More importantly, we have pinpointed TGF-β3 as the major upstream molecular that triggers the induction of POSTN in CAFs. As such, during the interaction between fibroblasts and cancer cells, the increased stromal POSTN induced by TGF-β3 directly accelerated the growth, migration and invasion of cancer cells. Hence, our study has provided a novel modulative role for POSTN on HNC progression and further reveals POSTN as an effective biomarker to predict metastasis as well as a potential cancer therapeutic target