Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: molecular biomarker discovery and progress

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a rare malignancy in most part of the world and it is one of the most confusing, commonly misdiagnosed and poorly understood diseases. The cancer is an Epstein-Barr virus-associated malignancy with a remarkable racial and geographical distribution. It is highly prevalent in southern Asia where the disease occurs at a prevalence about a 100-fold higher compared with other populations not at risk. The etiology of NPC is thought to be associated with a complex interaction of genetic, viral, environmental and dietary factors. Thanks to the advancements in genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics in recent decades, more understanding of the disease etiology, carcinogenesis and progression has been gained. Research into these components may unravel the pathways in NPC development and potentially decipher the molecular characteristics of the malignancy. In the era of molecular medicine, specific treatment to the potential target using technologies such as immunotherapy and RNAi becomes formulating from bench to bedside application and thus makes molecular biomarker discovery more meaningful for NPC management. In this article, the latest molecular biomarker discovery and progress in NPC is reviewed with respect to the diagnosis, monitoring, treatment and prognostication of the disease

Rhynchophylline Protects Cultured Rat Neurons against Methamphetamine Cytotoxicity

Rhynchophylline (Rhy) is an active component isolated from species of the genus Uncaria which has been used for the treatment of ailments to the central nervous system in traditional Chinese medicine. Besides acting as a calcium channel blocker, Rhy was also reported to be able to protect against glutamate-induced neuronal death. We thus hypothesize that Rhy may have neuroprotective activity against methamphetamine (MA). The primary neurons were cultured directly from the cerebral cortex of neonatal rats, acting as in vitro model in the present study. The neurotoxicity of MA and the protective effect of Rhy were evaluated by MTT assay. The effects of MA, Rhy or their combination on intracellular free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) were determined in individual neocortical neurons by the Fluo-3/AM tracing method. The MTT assay demonstrated that MA has a dose-dependent neurotoxicity in neuronal cultures. The addition of Rhy prior to the exposure to MA prevented neuronal death. Time course studies with the Fluo-3/AM probe showed that Rhy significantly decreased neuronal [Ca2+]i which was elevated by the exposure to MA. Our results suggested that Rhy can protect the neuronal cultures against MA exposure and promptly attenuate intracellular calcium overload triggered by MA challenge. This is the first report demonstrating an inhibitory effect of Rhy against MA impairment in cultured neurons in vitro

The highest realm of precision treatment of cancer – Extending from micro-level precision to holistic personalization

BackgroundPrecision medicine opened the era of precision cancer treatment based on genetic variation, abnormal protein and other personalized factors. However, control of cancer cell proliferation and disease diffusion is not all we can do in cancer treatment. The strength of the human immune system, human basic physiological functions and normal metabolic activity, as well as the elimination of disease complications, these are the important aspects closely related to cancer lesions and therapeutic effect. Precision medicine is rapidly starting to build a micro-level personalized human pathological condition description system by the current results of genes, proteins, metabolites, and other genomics research. Chinese medicine (CM), which has a history of more than 2,000 years in China, is a mature medical system which describe and adjust-control the state of the human body from the overall level personally. The future precise treatment of cancer requires micro-level precision, and personalized holistic human status control. Thus, the introduction of the CM's system of syndrome differentiation and treatment, making micro-level precision treatment gradually extended to personalized holistic human status control of the patient, will be the highest attainment of precision medicine in the treatment of cancer.AimsFrom the perspectives of theoretical and clinical practice, in personalised cancer treatment, it’s need target therapy for cancer lesions as well as proliferation control. It’s also requiring symptomatic treatment for different dysfunctions and complications in organs and systems based on holistic status. By achieving an organic integration of the micro-level precision of treating local lesions and the holistic personalised recuperation, the highest realm of precision treatment of cancer can be achieved

DeformerNet: Learning Bimanual Manipulation of 3D Deformable Objects

Applications in fields ranging from home care to warehouse fulfillment to surgical assistance require robots to reliably manipulate the shape of 3D deformable objects. Analytic models of elastic, 3D deformable objects require numerous parameters to describe the potentially infinite degrees of freedom present in determining the object's shape. Previous attempts at performing 3D shape control rely on hand-crafted features to represent the object shape and require training of object-specific control models. We overcome these issues through the use of our novel DeformerNet neural network architecture, which operates on a partial-view point cloud of the manipulated object and a point cloud of the goal shape to learn a low-dimensional representation of the object shape. This shape embedding enables the robot to learn a visual servo controller that computes the desired robot end-effector action to iteratively deform the object toward the target shape. We demonstrate both in simulation and on a physical robot that DeformerNet reliably generalizes to object shapes and material stiffness not seen during training. Crucially, using DeformerNet, the robot successfully accomplishes three surgical sub-tasks: retraction (moving tissue aside to access a site underneath it), tissue wrapping (a sub-task in procedures like aortic stent placements), and connecting two tubular pieces of tissue (a sub-task in anastomosis).Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Robotics (T-RO). 18 pages, 25 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2110.0468

Spatial heterogeneities in structural temperature cause Kovacs’ expansion gap paradox in aging of glasses

Volume and enthalpy relaxation of glasses after a sudden temperature change has been extensively studied since Kovacs’ seminal work. One observes an asymmetric approach to equilibrium upon cooling versus heating and, more counterintuitively, the expansion gap paradox, i.e., a dependence on the initial temperature of the effective relaxation time even close to equilibrium when heating. Here, we show that a distinguishable-particle lattice model can capture both the asymmetry and the paradox. We quantitatively characterize the energetic states of the particle configurations using a physical realization of the fictive temperature called the structural temperature, which, in the heating case, displays a strong spatial heterogeneity. The system relaxes by nucleation and expansion of warmer mobile domains having attained the final temperature, against cooler immobile domains maintained at the initial temperature. A small population of these cooler regions persists close to equilibrium, thus explaining the paradox

Knowledge, practices, compliance and beliefs of university nursing students’ toward hand hygiene: A cross-sectional survey

Nursing students can contribute to healthcareassociated infections if having inadequate knowledge and noncompliance of hand hygiene. Effective hand hygiene is considered the most effective measure for preventing healthcare-associated infections. This study investigated the knowledge, practices, compliance, and beliefs of university nursing students toward hand hygiene. By using a well-validated, self-report hand hygiene questionnaire, a cross-sectional survey was performed. In the convenience sampling, 421 out of 506 questionnaires were returned (83.2%). There were 169 (40.14%), 170 (40.38%) and 82 (19.48%) nursing students from Years 1, 2 and 3, respectively. The respondents’ overall mean score for hand hygiene knowledge was 7.33/10 (SD = 1.52) with an increasing trend of knowledge performance along study year was observed. The hand hygiene practice inventory was 4.76/5 (SD = 0.303). The mean scores for respondents from Years 1, 2 and 3 were 4.75 (SD = 0.367), 4.82 (SD = 0.20) and 4.69 (SD = 0.290), respectively. The self-reported hand hygiene compliance rate was 88.17% (SD = 11.922) and the mean score on the health beliefs scale was 4.03/5 (SD = 0.34). The university nursing students demonstrated moderate knowledge, good practices, a high compliance rate and positive beliefs toward hand hygiene. More effort on educating healthcare professionals about alcohol-based hand rubs and the promotion of hand cream usage to prevent hand-hygiene-induced skin irritations are suggested. Regular training workshops or seminars could be arranged to maintain knowledge levels and cultivate a positive attitude toward hand hygiene

Large heat-capacity jump in cooling-heating of fragile glass from kinetic Monte Carlo simulations based on a two-state picture

The specific-heat capacity c v of glass formers undergoes a hysteresis when subjected to a cooling-heating cycle, with a larger c v and a more pronounced hysteresis for fragile glasses than for strong ones. Here we show that these experimental features, including the unusually large magnitude of c v of fragile glasses, are well reproduced by kinetic Monte Carlo and equilibrium study of a distinguishable particle lattice model incorporating a two-state picture of particle interactions. The large c v in fragile glasses is caused by a dramatic transfer of probabilistic weight from high-energy particle interactions to low-energy ones as temperature decreases

Brief advice and active referral for smoking cessation services among community smokers: a study protocol for randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Most smokers do not use smoking cessation (SC) services although it increases successful quits. Passive referral providing SC information to smokers is commonly used in SC studies. Little was known about active referral in the community setting. This study aims to motivate community smokers to quit by brief SC advice using a validated AWARD model (Ask, Warn, Advise, Refer and Do-it-again) that adjunct with active referral of smokers to various SC services in Hong Kong. Methods/Design This is a single-blinded, parallel three-armed cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) with two treatment groups of (1) brief SC advice using the AWARD model, active referral to SC services plus a referral card and a health warning leaflet (active referral group) and (2) brief SC advice using AWARD model and health warning leaflet (brief advice group) and a control group receives general very brief advice with a self-help booklet. A total of 1291 smokers will be recruited from 66 clusters (recruitment sessions) with 22 will be allocated to each of the two intervention and one control groups. SC ambassadors will be trained for delivering the interventions and conducting telephone follow-up. The primary outcomes are self-reported 7-days point prevalence (PP) abstinence at 3 and 6 months follow-up. Intention-to-treat principle and multi-level regressions will be used for data analysis. Discussion This is the first RCT on assessing a model combining brief advice and active referral to SC services among community smokers. The results will inform the practices of SC services and intervention studies. Trial registration NCT02539875 (ClinicalTrials.gov registry; registered retrospectively on 22 July 2015

Experimental Investigation on Thermoelectric Chiller Driven by Solar Cell

This paper presents experimental explorations on cooling performance of thermoelectric chillers being driven by solar cells, as well as comparison results to the performance being driven by fixed direct current. Solar energy is clear and limitless and can be collected by solar cells. We use solar cells to drive thermoelectric chillers, where the cold side is connected to the water tank. It is found that 250 mL of water can be cooled from 18.5°C to 13°C, where the corresponding coefficient of performance (COP) is changed between 0.55 and 1.05, when solar insolation is changed between 450 W/m2 and 1000 W/m2. The experimental results demonstrate that the thermoelectric chiller driven by solar cell is feasible and effective for energy saving issues