Teaching evaluation: a complicated issue

To justify/quantify/qualify on teaching evaluation may be difficult and not objective as there are so much variables. Comparing teaching evaluations obtained by individual lecturer may not be meaningful, as each staff facing independent course with different students, course and other variables (or statistically, each is an independent event and a single mean value must not be compared directly with another)

Mutation of SLC35D3 causes metabolic syndrome by impairing dopamine signaling in striatal D1 neurons

We thank Dr. Ya-Qin Feng from Shanxi Medical University, Dr. Tian-Yun Gao from Nanjing University and Dr. Yan-Hong Xue from Institute of Biophysics (CAS) for technical assistance in this study. We are very thankful to Drs. Richard T. Swank and Xiao-Jiang Li for their critical reading of this manuscript and invaluable advice. Funding: This work was partially supported by grants from National Basic Research Program of China (2013CB530605; 2014CB942803), from National Natural Science Foundation of China 1230046; 31071252; 81101182) and from Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-EW-R-05, KJZD-EW-L08). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Influences of commuting mode, air conditioning mode and meteorological parameters on fine particle (PM2.5) exposure levels in traffic microenvironments

With the aim of determining the impacts of various factors on commuter exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5), a series of field studies were carried out to measure commuter exposure to PM2.5 on six major commuting modes (in-cabin mode: bus, taxi and metro; on-roadway mode: walking, bicycle and motorcycle) in a highly industrialized city in the Pearl River Delta, China. The results showed that the exposure level was greatly influenced by the commuter mode, with the on-roadway mode showing a higher PM2.5 concentration (76 μg/m3). An experiment with the taxi mode suggested that the use of air-conditioning can effectively reduce exposure levels in most cases (by at least 83%). Apart from traffic-related emissions, ambient PM2.5 concentration also had important impacts on exposure levels in most commuting modes, which was further ascertained by the seasonal variations in exposure levels and their significant correlations (p < 0.05) with meteorological parameters (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction). The results of a General Linear Model analysis show that temperature, traffic mode and wind speed were significant factors that explained 27.3% of variability for the in-cabin mode, while relative humidity and wind speed were the significant determinants for the on-roadway mode, which contributed 14.1% of variability. In addition, wind direction was also an important determinant for both in-cabin and on-roadway modes. This study has some valuable implications that can help commuters to adopt appropriate travel behavior to reduce their personal exposure to such pollutants

Prophylactic Topical Tranexamic Acid Versus Placebo in Surgical Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objectives: Perioperative bleeding remains a major concern to all clinicians caring for perioperative patients. Due to the theoretical risk of thromboembolic events associated with tranexamic acid (TXA) when administered intravenously, topical route of TXA has been extensively studied, but its safety and efficacy profile remain unclear in the literature. The primary aim of this review was to assess the effect of topical TXA on incidence of blood transfusion and mortality in adults undergoing surgery. Data sources: EMBASE, MEDLINE, CENTRAL, and ISI Web of Science were systematically searched from their inception until May 31, 2019. Review methods: Parallel-arm randomized controlled trials were included. Results: Seventy-one trials (7539 participants: orthopedics 5450 vs nonorthopedics 1909) were included for quantitative meta-analysis. In comparison to placebo, topical TXA significantly reduced intraoperative blood loss [mean difference (MD) -36.83 mL, 95% confidence interval (CI) -54.77 to -18.88, P < 0.001], total blood loss (MD -319.55 mL, 95% CI -387.42 to -251.69, P < 0.001), and incidence of blood transfusion [odds ratio (OR) 0.30, 95% CI 0.26-0.34, P < 0.001]. Patients who received topical TXA were associated with a shorter length of hospital stay (MD -0.28 days, 95% CI -0.47 to -0.08, P = 0.006). No adverse events associated with the use of topical TXA were observed, namely mortality (OR 0.78, 95% CI 0.45-1.36, P = 0.39), pulmonary embolism (OR 0.73, 95% CI 0.27-1.93, P = 0.52), deep vein thrombosis (OR 1.07, 95% CI 0.65-1.77, P = 0.79), myocardial infarction (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.21-2.99, P = 0.73), and stroke (OR 0.85, 95% CI 0.28-2.57, P = 0.77). Of all included studies, the risk of bias assessment was "low" for 20 studies, "unclear" for 26 studies and "high" for 25 studies. Conclusions: In the meta-analysis of 71 trials (7539 patients), topical TXA reduced the incidence of blood transfusion without any notable adverse events associated with TXA in adults undergoing surgery

Scientific Publications in Nephrology and Urology Journals from Chinese Authors in East Asia: A 10-Year Survey of the Literature

BACKGROUND: Diseases of the kidneys and genitourinary tract are common health problems that affect people of all ages and demographic backgrounds. In this study, we compared the quantity and quality of nephrological and urological articles published in international journals from the three major regions of China: the mainland (ML), Hong Kong (HK), and Taiwan (TW). METHODS: Nephrological and urological articles originating from ML, TW, and HK that were published in 61 journals from 1999-2008 were retrieved from the PubMed database. We recorded the numbers of total articles, clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, case reports, impact factors (IF), citations, and articles published in the leading general-medicine journals. We used these data to compare the quantity and quality of publication output from the three regions. RESULTS: The total number of articles increased significantly from 1999 to 2008 in the three regions. The number of articles from ML has exceeded that from HK since 2004, and surpassed that from TW in 2008. Publications from TW had the highest accumulated IF, total citations of articles, and the most articles published in leading general-medicine journals. However, HK publications had the highest average IF. Although ML produced the largest quantity of articles, it exhibited the lowest quality among the three regions. CONCLUSION: The number of nephrological and urological publications originating from the three major regions of China increased significantly from 1999 to 2008. The annual number of publications by ML researchers exceeded those from TW and HK. However, the quality of articles from TW and HK was higher than that from ML

Nuclear-Targeted Deleted in Liver Cancer 1 (DLC1) Is Less Efficient in Exerting Its Tumor Suppressive Activity Both In Vitro and In Vivo

BACKGROUND: Deleted in liver cancer 1 (DLC1) serves as an important RhoGTPase activating protein (RhoGAP) protein that terminates active RhoA signaling in human cancers. Increasing evidence has demonstrated that the tumor suppressive activity of DLC1 depends not only on RhoGAP activity, but also relies on proper focal adhesion localization through its interaction with tensin family proteins. Recently, there are reports showing that DLC1 can also be found in the nucleus; however, the existence and the relative tumor suppressive activity of nuclear DLC1 have never been clearly addressed. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We herein provide new evidence that DLC1 protein, which predominantly associated with focal adhesions and localized in cytosol, dynamically shuttled between cytoplasm and nucleus. Treatment of cells with nuclear export blocker, Leptomycin B (LMB), retained DLC1 in the nucleus. To understand the nuclear entry of DLC1, we identified amino acids 600-700 of DLC1 as a novel region that is important for its nuclear localization. The tumor suppressive activity of nuclear DLC1 was directly assessed by employing a nuclear localization signal (NLS) fusion variant of DLC1 (NLS-DLC1) with preferential nuclear localization. In SMMC-7721 HCC cells, expression of NLS-DLC1 failed to suppress colony formation and actin stress fiber formation in vitro. The abrogated tumor suppressive activity of nuclear DLC1 was demonstrated for the first time in vivo by subcutaneously injecting p53(-/-) RasV12 hepatoblasts with stable NLS-DLC1 expression in nude mice. The injected hepatoblasts with NLS-DLC1 expression effectively formed tumors when compared with the non-nuclear targeted DLC1. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study identified a novel region responsible for the nuclear entry of DLC1 and demonstrated the functional difference of DLC1 in different cellular compartments both in vitro and in vivo

Quasinormal modes of black holes absorbing dark energy

We study perturbations of black holes absorbing dark energy. Due to the accretion of dark energy, the black hole mass changes. We observe distinct perturbation behaviors for absorption of different forms of dark energy into the black holes. This provides the possibility of extracting information whether dark energy lies above or below the cosmological constant boundary $w=-1$. In particular, we find in the late time tail analysis that, differently from the other dark energy models, the accretion of phantom energy exhibits a growing mode in the perturbation tail. The instability behavior found in this work is consistent with the Big Rip scenario, in which all of the bound objects are torn apart with the presence of the phantom dark energy.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, revised version, accepted for publication in Phys.Lett.

Evolution of the Reactor Antineutrino Flux and Spectrum at Daya Bay

The Daya Bay experiment has observed correlations between reactor core fuel evolution and changes in the reactor antineutrino flux and energy spectrum. Four antineutrino detectors in two experimental halls were used to identify 2.2 million inverse beta decays (IBDs) over 1230 days spanning multiple fuel cycles for each of six 2.9 GW$_{\textrm{th}}$ reactor cores at the Daya Bay and Ling Ao nuclear power plants. Using detector data spanning effective $^{239}$Pu fission fractions, $F_{239}$, from 0.25 to 0.35, Daya Bay measures an average IBD yield, $\bar{\sigma}_f$, of $(5.90 \pm 0.13) \times 10^{-43}$ cm$^2$/fission and a fuel-dependent variation in the IBD yield, $d\sigma_f/dF_{239}$, of $(-1.86 \pm 0.18) \times 10^{-43}$ cm$^2$/fission. This observation rejects the hypothesis of a constant antineutrino flux as a function of the $^{239}$Pu fission fraction at 10 standard deviations. The variation in IBD yield was found to be energy-dependent, rejecting the hypothesis of a constant antineutrino energy spectrum at 5.1 standard deviations. While measurements of the evolution in the IBD spectrum show general agreement with predictions from recent reactor models, the measured evolution in total IBD yield disagrees with recent predictions at 3.1$\sigma$. This discrepancy indicates that an overall deficit in measured flux with respect to predictions does not result from equal fractional deficits from the primary fission isotopes $^{235}$U, $^{239}$Pu, $^{238}$U, and $^{241}$Pu. Based on measured IBD yield variations, yields of $(6.17 \pm 0.17)$ and $(4.27 \pm 0.26) \times 10^{-43}$ cm$^2$/fission have been determined for the two dominant fission parent isotopes $^{235}$U and $^{239}$Pu. A 7.8% discrepancy between the observed and predicted $^{235}$U yield suggests that this isotope may be the primary contributor to the reactor antineutrino anomaly.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure