Hybrid entropy model of spatial data uncertainty in GIS

2006-2007 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

High nuclear expression of STAT3 is associated with unfavorable prognosis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of the study was to investigate the expression and prognostic value of STAT3 in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Seventy-four DLBCL patients from 2001 to 2007 were reviewed in the study. The STAT3 expression in their tumor tissues was examined using the immunohistochemistry (IHC) method, and evaluated for its association with clinicopathological parameters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Strong nuclear staining of STAT3 and phosphorylated-STAT3^tyr705(P-STAT3) were observed in 19 cases (25.7%) and 24 cases (32.4%), respectively, and the expression levels were highly consistent between them (<it>P </it>= 0.001). The high nuclear expression of STAT3 was more frequent in the non-germinal center B cell-like (non-GCB) DLBCL than that in the GCB subtype, but not reaching significance (<it>P </it>< 0.061). The high nuclear expression of STAT3 was found to be correlated with poor overall survival (OS) (<it>P </it>= 0.005). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the STAT3 expression was an independent prognostic factor for DLBCL patients regardless of CHOP or R-CHOP regimen used as the first-line therapy.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>STAT3 is more frequently expressed in non-GCB DLBCL than that in GCB subtype, and its strong nuclear expression is correlated with poor OS in DLBCL.</p

Substrate co-doping modulates electronic metal-support interactions and significantly enhances single-atom catalysis

Transitional metal nanoparticles or atoms deposited on appropriate substrates can lead to highly economical, efficient, and selective catalysis. One of the greatest challenges is to control the electronic metal–support interactions (EMSI) between the supported metal atoms and the substrate so as to optimize their catalytic performance. Here, from first-principles calculations, we show that an otherwise inactive Pd single adatom on TiO2(110) can be tuned into a highly effective catalyst, e.g. for O2 adsorption and CO oxidation, by purposefully selected metal–nonmetal co-dopant pairs in the substrate. Such an effect is proved here to result unambiguously from a significantly enhanced EMSI. A nearly linear correlation is noted between the strength of the EMSI and the activation of the adsorbed O2 molecule, as well as the energy barrier for CO oxidation. Particularly, the enhanced EMSI shifts the frontier orbital of the deposited Pd atom upward and largely enhances the hybridization and charge transfer between the O2 molecule and the Pd atom. Upon co-doping, the activation barrier for CO oxidation on the Pd monomer is also reduced to a level comparable to that on the Pd dimer which was experimentally reported to be highly efficient for CO oxidation. The present findings provide new insights into the understanding of the EMSI in heterogeneous catalysis and can open new avenues to design and fabricate cost-effective single-atom-sized and/or nanometer-sized catalysts

Effect of WeiJia on carbon tetrachloride induced chronic liver injury

Aim: To study the effect of WeiJia on chronic liver injury using carbon tetrachloride (CCl 4) induced liver injury animal model. Methods: Wista r rats weighing 180-220g were randomly divided into three groups: normal control group (Group A), CCl 4 induced liver injury control group (Group B) and CCl 4 induction with WeiJia treatment group (Group C). Each group consisted of 14 rats. Liver damage and fibrosis was induced by subcutaneous injection with 40% CCl 4 in olive oil at 3 mL/kg body weight twice a week for eight weeks for Groups B and C rats whereas olive oil was used for Group A rats. Starting from the third week, Group C rats also received daily intraperitoneal injection of WeiJia at a dose of 1.25 μg/kg body weight. Animals were sacrificed at the fifth week (4 male, 3 female), and eighth week (4 male, 3 female) respectively. Degree of fibrosis were measured and serological markers for liver fibrosis and function including hyaluronic acid (HA), type IV collagen (CIV), γ-glutamyl transferase (γ-GT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) were determined. Alpha smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) immunohistochemistry were also performed. Results: CCl 4 induction led to the damage of liver and development of fibrosis in Group B and Group C rats when compared to Group A rats. The treatment of WeiJia in Group C rats could reduce the fibrosis condition significantly compared to Group B rats. The effect could be observed after three weeks of treatment and was more obvious after eight weeks of treatment. Serum HA, CIV, ALT, AST and γ-GT levels after eight weeks of treatment for Group C rats were 58±22 μg/L (P 0.05) respectively, similar to normal control group (Group A), but significantly different from CCl 4 induced liver injury control group (Group B). An increase in PCNA and decrease in α-SMA expression level was also observed. Conclusion: WeiJia could improve liver function and reduce liver fibrosis which might be through the inhibition of stellate cell activity. © 2006 The WJG Press. All rights reserved.published_or_final_versio

The Association between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Gut Microbiota Composition in Premenopausal Women

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and gut microbiota composition in premenopausal women. The participants consisted of 71 premenopausal Finnish women ( aged 19-49 years). Gut microbiota were analyzed using flow cytometry, 16S rRNA gene hybridization and DNA-staining. Maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) was assessed by respiratory gas analyzer and body composition by Bioimpdance. We found that participants with low VO2max had lower Bacteroides, but higher Eubacterium rectale-Clostridium coccoides than the high VO2max group (p < 0.05 for all). VO2max was inversely associated with EreC (r = 0.309, p = 0.01) but not with other bacteria. VO2max also negatively correlated with fat% (r = 0.755, p < 0.001), triglycerides (r = -0.274, p = 0.021) and leptin (r = -0.574, p < 0.001). By contrast, EreC was positively associated with fat% (r = 0.382, p = 0.002), dietary fat intake (r = 0.258, p = 0.034), triglycerides (r = 0.390, p = 0.002) and leptin (r = 0.424, p = 0.001), but negatively with carbohydrate intake (r = -0.252, p = 0.034) and HDL (r = -0.26, p = 0.028). After adjusting for age and dietary intake, all the significant associations remained. However, after adjusting for fat%, the associations between VO2max and EreC disappeared. Our results suggest that cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with gut microbiota composition, independent of age and carbohydrate or fat intake. The association between VO2max and EreC, however, appears to be mediated by body fatness

Desorption characteristics of H₂O and CO₂ from alumina F200 under different feed/purge pressure ratios and regeneration temperatures

Air pre-purification is an important process for industrial air separation with cryogenic distillation method. This process is typically realized by pressure swing adsorption or temperature swing adsorption. H₂O and CO₂ are the two major components to be removed among the contaminants. In this paper, we establish a mathematical model describing the mass and heat balances in the adsorption bed, and the double-component adsorption/desorption equilibriums of H₂O/CO₂ on alumina F200. To conduct desorption performance analysis, a one-cycle process consisting of feed, blowdown, and purge step under different operating conditions, such as feed/purge pressure ratio and regeneration temperature, is numerically studied. The effect of heat on the desorption performance of H₂O and CO₂ is investigated by changing the purge gas temperature within 30–200 °C under feed/purge pressure ratios of 6:1.1 and 10:1.1, respectively. Detailed results of the H₂O and CO₂ adsorption/desorption behaviors in the bed are demonstrated. The mass and heat transfer characteristics during desorption are also analyzed. Suggestions on the optimization of the heating temperature and duration of purge gas are also proposed

The Temporal Experience of Pleasure Scale (TEPS) : exploration and confirmation of factor structure in a healthy Chinese sample

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An oxidized magnetic Au single atom on doped TiO2(110) becomes a high performance CO oxidation catalyst due to the charge effect

Catalysis using gold nanoparticles supported on oxides has been under extensive investigation for many important application processes. However, how to tune the charge state of a given Au species to perform a specific chemical reaction, e.g. CO oxidation, remains elusive. Here, using first-principles calculations, we show clearly that an intrinsically inert Au anion deposited on oxygen-deficient TiO2(110) (Au@TiO2(110)) can be tuned and optimized into a highly effective single atom catalyst (SAC), due to the depletion of the d-orbital by substrate doping. Particularly, Ni- and Cu-doped Au@TiO2 complexes undergo a reconstruction driven by one of the two dissociated O atoms upon CO oxidation. The remaining O atom heals the surface oxygen vacancy and results in a stable bow-shaped surface “O–Au–O” species; thereby the highly oxidized Au single atom now exhibits magnetism and dramatically enhanced activity and stability for O2 activation and CO oxidation, due to the emergence of high density of states near the Fermi level. Based on further extensive calculations, we establish the “charge selection rule” for O2 activation and CO oxidation on Au: the positively charged Au SAC is more active than its negatively charged counterpart for O2 activation, and the more positively charged the Au, the more active it is

A complex pattern of post‐divergence expansion, contraction, introgression and asynchronous responses to Pleistocene climate changes in two Dipelta sister species from western China

The well-known vicariance and dispersal models dominate in understanding the allopatric pattern for related species and presume the simultaneous occurrence of speciation and biogeographic events. However, the formation of allopatry may postdate the species divergence. We examined this hypothesis using DNA sequence data from 3 chloroplast fragments and 5 nuclear loci of Dipelta floribunda and D. yunnanensis, two shrub species with the circum Sichuan Basin distribution, combining the climatic niche modeling approach. The best-fit model supported by the approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) analysis indicated that, D. floribunda and D. yunnanensis diverged during the mid-Pleistocene period, consistent with the largest glacial period in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). The historically inter-specific gene flow was identified but seemed to have ceased after the last interglacial period (LIG), when the range of D. floribunda moved northward from the south of the Sichuan Basin. Further, populations of D. floribunda had expanded obviously in the north of the Sichuan Basin after the last glacial maximum (LGM). Relatively, the range of D. yunnanensis expanded before the LGM, reduced during the post-LGM especially in the north of the Sichuan Basin, reflecting the asynchronous responses of related species to the contemporary climate changes. Our results suggested that complex topography should be considered in understanding the distributional patterns even for closely related species and their demographic responses