Alpha-1 antitrypsin is a potential biomarker for hepatitis B

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Function exertion of specific proteins are key factors in disease progression, thus the systematical identification of those specific proteins is a prerequisite to understand various diseases. Though many proteins have been verified to impact on hepatitis, no systematical protein screening has been documented to hepatitis B virus (HBV) induced hepatitis, hindering the comprehensive understanding to this severe disease.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To identify the major proteins in the progression of HBV infection from mild stage to severe stage.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed an integrated strategy by combining two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE), peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) analysis, and tissue microarray techniques to screen the functional proteins and detect the localization of those proteins.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Interestingly, MS/MS identification revealed the expression level of alpha-1 antitrypsin (AAT) was significantly elevated in serum samples from patients with severe chronic hepatitis. Immunoblotting with a specific AAT antibody confirmed that AAT is highly expressed in serum samples from patients with hepatic carcinoma and severe chronic hepatitis. Furthermore, we observed that AAT is with highest expression in normal tissue and cells, but lowest in hepatic carcinoma and severe chronic hepatitis tissues and cells, suggesting the specific secretion of AAT from tissues and cells to serum.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results suggest the possibility of AAT as a potential biomarker for hepatitis B in diagnosis.</p

How E-Servqual Affects Customer\u27s Online Purchase Intention?

With the boom of Internet, Internet has become one of the consumers’ online shopping channels. However, there is different in online shopping situation is because of consumers in different cultures and countries have different online shopping behavior is worth to discuss. This study is to explore the Internet users’ online shopping situation in developing country, Malaysia, and 118 questionnaire respondents were collected. Statistical analysis software SPSS 17.0 and AMOS 6.0 were used to analyze the impact on e-service quality, satisfaction, trust, and purchase intention. The model fit of this study was in an acceptable level, and this indicates that the theoretical model of this study supports the description of e-service quality for e-retailers that online shopping situation will be effected by trust and satisfaction. The result of this study will be available for those who interested in developing a transnational e-retailer as a reference, as well as academic research on cross-cultural comparative analysis

Delay QoS and MAC Aware Energy-Efficient Data-Aggregation Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

By eliminating redundant data flows, data aggregation capabilities in wireless sensor networks could transmit less data to reduce the total energy consumption. However, additional data collisions incur extra data retransmissions. These data retransmissions not only increase the system energy consumption, but also increase link transmission delays. The decision of when and where to aggregate data depends on the trade-off between data aggregation and data retransmission. The challenges of this problem need to address the routing (layer 3) and the MAC layer retransmissions (layer 2) at the same time to identify energy-efficient data-aggregation routing assignments, and in the meantime to meet the delay QoS. In this paper, for the first time, we study this cross-layer design problem by using optimization-based heuristics. We first model this problem as a non-convex mathematical programming problem where the objective is to minimize the total energy consumption subject to the data aggregation tree and the delay QoS constraints. The objective function includes the energy in the transmission mode (data transmissions and data retransmissions) and the energy in the idle mode (to wait for data from downstream nodes in the data aggregation tree). The proposed solution approach is based on Lagrangean relaxation in conjunction with a number of optimization-based heuristics. From the computational experiments, it is shown that the proposed algorithm outperforms existing heuristics that do not take MAC layer retransmissions and the energy consumption in the idle mode into account

Working memory dysfunctions predict social problem solving skills in schizophrenia

The current study aimed to examine the contribution of neurocognition and social cognition to components of social problem solving. Sixty-seven inpatients with schizophrenia and 31 healthy controls were administrated batteries of neurocognitive tests, emotion perception tests, and the Chinese Assessment of Interpersonal Problem Solving Skills (CAIPSS). MANOVAs were conducted to investigate the domains in which patients with schizophrenia showed impairments. Correlations were used to determine which impaired domains were associated with social problem solving, and multiple regression analyses were conducted to compare the relative contribution of neurocognitive and social cognitive functioning to components of social problem solving. Compared with healthy controls, patients with schizophrenia performed significantly worse in sustained attention, working memory, negative emotion, intention identification and all components of the CAIPSS. Specifically, sustained attention, working memory and negative emotion identification were found to correlate with social problem solving and 1-back accuracy significantly predicted the poor performance in social problem solving. Among the dysfunctions in schizophrenia, working memory contributed most to deficits in social problem solving in patients with schizophrenia. This finding provides support for targeting working memory in the development of future social problem solving rehabilitation interventions. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Individuals with psychometric schizotypy show similar social but not physical anhedonia to patients with schizophrenia

Very few studies have examined physical and social anhedonia across the spectrum of schizophrenia. In the present study, we recruited three groups of participants (n=84 in each group): patients with schizophrenia, schizotypy and non-schizotypy as assessed by the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). All participants completed the self-reported trait anhedonia scales (the Revised Physical Anhedonia Scale and the Social Anhedonia Scale). The clinical symptoms of schizophrenia patients were assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS). We found that the three groups differed in both physical and social anhedonia. The schizotypy group reported higher levels of physical anhedonia than the non-schizotypy group, and the patient group reported higher levels of physical anhedonia than the schizotypy group. For social anhedonia, the non-schizotypy group differed significantly from both the schizotypy and the patient group, while no significant difference was found between the last two groups. Our findings show that individuals with schizotypy exhibits similar social but not physical anhedonia compared with patients with schizophrenia, which further suggests that decreased pleasure experiences in the social environment may be a valuable target for identification and early intervention in high-risk populations, (C) 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Superconductivity and Charge-density-wave-like Transition in Th2Cu4As5

We report the synthesis, crystal structure, and physical properties of a novel ternary compound, Th$_2$Cu$_4$As$_5$. The material crystallizes in a tetragonal structure with lattice parameters $a=4.0716(1)$ {\AA} and $c=24.8131(4)$ {\AA}. Its structure can be described as an alternating stacking of fluorite-type Th$_2$As$_2$ layers with antifluorite-type double-layered Cu$_4$As$_3$ slabs. The measurement of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility and specific heat reveals that Th$_2$Cu$_4$As$_5$ undergoes bulk superconducting transition at 4.2 K. Moreover, all these physical quantities exhibit anomalies at 48 K, where the Hall coefficient change the sign. These findings suggest a charge-density-wave-like (CDW) transition, making Th$_2$Cu$_4$As$_5$ a rare example for studying the interplay between CDW and superconductivity.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, and 1 tabl

Genome-Wide Association Analyses Identify SPOCK as a Key Novel Gene Underlying Age at Menarche

For females, menarche is a most significant physiological event. Age at menarche (AAM) is a trait with high genetic determination and is associated with major complex diseases in women. However, specific genes for AAM variation are largely unknown. To identify genetic factors underlying AAM variation, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) examining about 380,000 SNPs was conducted in 477 Caucasian women. A follow-up replication study was performed to validate our major GWAS findings using two independent Caucasian cohorts with 854 siblings and 762 unrelated subjects, respectively, and one Chinese cohort of 1,387 unrelated subjects—all females. Our GWAS identified a novel gene, SPOCK (Sparc/Osteonectin, CWCV, and Kazal-like domains proteoglycan), which had seven SNPs associated with AAM with genome-wide false discovery rate (FDR) q<0.05. Six most significant SNPs of the gene were selected for validation in three independent replication cohorts. All of the six SNPs were replicated in at least one cohort. In particular, SNPs rs13357391 and rs1859345 were replicated both within and across different ethnic groups in all three cohorts, with p values of 5.09×10−3 and 4.37×10−3, respectively, in the Chinese cohort and combined p values (obtained by Fisher's method) of 5.19×10−5 and 1.02×10−4, respectively, in all three replication cohorts. Interestingly, SPOCK can inhibit activation of MMP-2 (matrix metalloproteinase-2), a key factor promoting endometrial menstrual breakdown and onset of menstrual bleeding. Our findings, together with the functional relevance, strongly supported that the SPOCK gene underlies variation of AAM