IL28B Genetic Variation Is Associated with Spontaneous Clearance of Hepatitis C Virus, Treatment Response, Serum IL-28B Levels in Chinese Population

<p><b>Background:</b> The interleukin-28B gene (IL28B) locus has been associated with host resistance to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and response to PEG-IFN/RBV treatment in western populations. This study was to determine whether this gene variant is also associated with spontaneous clearance of HCV infection, treatment response and IL-28B protein production in Chinese patients.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> We genotyped IL28B genetic variations (rs12980275, rs8103142, rs8099917 and rs12979860) by pyrosequencing DNA samples from cohorts consisting of 529 subjects with persistent HCV infection, 196 subjects who cleared the infection, 171 healthy individuals and 235 chronic HCV patients underwent IFN/RBV treatment. The expression of IL-28B were measured by ELISA and RT-PCR.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> We found that the four IL28B variants were in complete linkage disequilibrium (r2 = 0.97–0.98). The rs12979860 CC genotype was strongly associated with spontaneously HCV clearance and successful IFN/RBV treatment compared to the CT/TT. IL-28B levels in persistent HCV patients were significantly lower than subjects who spontaneously resolved HCV and healthy controls and were also associated with high levels of ALT (alanine aminotransferase) and AST (aspartate aminotransferase). IL-28B levels were also significantly lower in individuals carrying T alleles than CC homozygous.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> Thus, the rs12979860-CC variant upstream of IL28B gene is associated with spontaneous clearance of HCV, susceptible to IFN/RBV treatment and increased IL-28B levels in this Chinese population.</p&gt

The "promenade architecturale" of Le Corbusier : a method for thinking architecture : genesis, implementation and evolution (1907-1939)

La « promenade architecturale », expression inventée par Le Corbusier en 1929, à l’occasion de la publication du premier volume de l’Œuvre Complète, représente un concept clé corbuséen parmi les plus fréquemment évoqués. En suivant les pistes tracées par l’utilisation du terme «promenade architecturale» par l’architecte lui-même, sans s’y limiter toutefois, notre étude vise à clarifier la genèse, l’application et le développement de ce concept. Une méthodologie constituée de trois approches — historique, projectuelle et textuelle — est adoptée afin de mesurer son évolution de 1907 à 1939. La période de formation de l’architecte (1907-1915), constitue le champ d’observation de ses principales sources d’inspiration. Les débuts de la carrière de Charles-Édouard Jeanneret à La Chaux-de-Fonds depuis son retour du Voyage d’Orient en novembre 1911, son installation à Paris en janvier 1917, et la première décennie de la carrière de Le Corbusier (1920-1929), fournissent les pistes utiles à éclairer sa mise en place à l’échelle des maisons individuelles. L’«ère des grands travaux » (1929-1939) témoigne, enfin, de son développement et de sa mutation, particulièrement dans une suite d’études consacrées au musée. Cette dernière phase marque l’apogée de la promenade architecturale et présage de sa disparition textuelle dans la carrière corbuséenne de l’Après-guerre. Loin d’être une simple formule esthétique, la promenade architecturale se développe sur la base d’un croisement de diverses sources d’inspiration — peinture, art de bâtir les villes, littérature, cinéma et architecture — et à partir d’une fusion entre expériences de perception et de conception. Elle constitue ainsi une méthode fondamentale et spécifique de Le Corbusier pour penser l’architecture, qui le distingue des précurseurs et d’autres figures de proue du Mouvement moderne.The promenade architecturale, an expression invented by Le Corbusier in 1929 when the first volume of L’Œuvre complète was published, represents one of the most frequently mentioned key concept of Le Corbusier. By following the paths traced by the uses of the term promenade architecturale by the architect himself, without limiting ourselves to them, our research aims to clarify the genesis, the implementation and the development of this concept. A methodology consisting of three approaches — historical, project-based and textual — has been adopted in order to evaluate how it evolved bet-ween 1907 and 1939. The formative years of the architect (1907-1915) constitutes a field to observe his main sources of inspiration. The early career of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret at La Chaux-de-Fonds, dating from the return of the young architect from the Voyage d’Orient to his departure for Paris in 1917, and the first decade of the career of Le Corbusier (1920-1929), provide helpful indices to understand how this concept was put into practice on private houses. At last, the ère des grands travaux (1929-1939) constitutes a testimony to the development of this concept, and is a witness of its mutation particularly along a series of studies that Le Corbusier devoted to museums. This last phase marks the peak of the promenade architecturale and announces its disappearing from Le Corbusier’s written work in his postwar career. Far from being a simple aesthetic formulation appeared accidentally, the promenade architecturale was developed on the basis of an action of crossing varied sources of inspiration — painting, art of building cities, literature, cinema and architecture —, and was deduced from a fusion of perceptive and conceptual experiences. Thus, it constitutes Le Corbusier’s fundamental and specific method for thinking architecture, which makes him stand out from his precursors and from other prominent characters of the Modern Movement

Weathering Process of In Situ Granite and Particle Breakage Characteristics of Compacted Weathered Granite

Quantificationally describing weathering process and characterizing particle breakage are important in predicting the behavior of coarse-grained soil (e.g., weathered granite). In order to comprehensively understand the mechanical properties of weathered granite and provide references for reasonable evaluation of the engineering properties of subgrade filling in mountains, a series of tests—X-ray diffraction, sieving, heavy compaction, large-scale triaxial, and field compaction tests—were carried out in this research. Based on the weathering process parameters (m and r) of in-situ granite samples at two typical sections of weathered granite mountains obtained by using previous grading equation, the mathematical model of weathering process with depth was proposed and the variation laws of weathering process with depth were described. The results show that, with an increase in burying depth of mountain profile (h) of weathered granite, the geological year’s parameter (m) decrease by power function, but the geometric progression constants (r) increase by power function. Some factors affecting the particle breakage properties of compacted weathered granite were evaluated by using relative breakage (Br). Especially, the effect of field compaction condition (such as thickness of loose paving layer and number of vibratory rolling passes) on particle breakage was analyzed creatively. Through laboratory and field tests, it was found that particle gradation, mineral composition, compaction effect, stress level, and number of rolling passes significantly affected the particle breakage characteristics of weathered granite. Furthermore, it is worthy of attention that the weathered granite in this paper showed obvious particle breakage characteristics under weak compaction effect and at low stress levels and over-compaction could result in a decrease in the degree of compaction of a certain thickness of loose paving layer filled with weathered granite. Findings in this research can provide a theoretical basis for evaluating the physical properties and mechanical behavior of weathered granite as subgrade fillings

Identification of stress-related characteristics of the WRKY gene family: A case study of Dendrobium catenatum

As one of the largest families of transcription factors (TFs) in plants, the WRKY TF family plays a key role in regulating plant responses to various biotic and abiotic stresses. However, there is no confirmed method to quickly identify stress-responsive members from the WRKY gene family. In this study, all reported functional WRKY genes were first analyzed, and the amino acid patterns in response to stress were identified in group II-c (T-R/K-S/T-E/Q/D-V/I/L-E/D-I/V/H/N-L/M-D/E-D-G/E-F/Y-K/R-WRKYG-Q/K-K-A/T-VKN-S/N-P), group II-d (VPA-I/V-S-X-K-M/L/V/I-ADIP-P/A/V-D-D/E-Y/F-S-WRKYGQKPIKGSP-H/Y-PRGYYKCS-S/T-V/M-RGCPARKVER), and group II-e (PSD-S/A/L-WAWRKYGQKPIKGSPYPR-G/S-YYRCSSSKGC). WRKY genes in Dendrobium catenatum were used to validate the accuracy of these patterns. A total of 63 DcaWRKY genes were identified, their gene structures, conserved motifs, and gene expression patterns were analyzed, and a phylogenetic tree was constructed. Gene expression patterns were then analyzed under drought stress, and seven DcaWRKY genes (Dca002550, Dca002715, Dca005648, Dca007842, Dca010430, Dca016437, and Dca006787) were randomly selected to determine their expression levels and verify their expression patterns by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. The identified amino acid patterns were validated by drought-responsive WRKY genes in D. catenatum, confirming the accuracy of these amino acid patterns and providing valuable insights into further research of the WRKY family in D. catenatum

3D Numerical Analysis of Synergetic Interaction between High-Rise Building Basement and CFG Piles Foundation

A strong bearing capacity and the satisfaction of strict settlement requirements are necessary for high-rise buildings. A single-raft foundation cannot meet certain settlement requirements, in which case CFG (cement/fly ash/gravel, an emerging and sustainable construction material) piles can be used in the foundation to set up a cushion between the top of the pile and the raft slab, where the piles act as settlement reducers. The rafts of disconnected piles (DPs) exhibit complex synergetic interactions involving the raft, cushion, pile, and soil under the load of the superstructure. Multiple piles in particular lead to an increase in the number of degrees of freedom of the problem, resulting in difficulty in solving it. However, when the number of piles is very large and the structure is complex—for example, many buildings are placed on the same raft with basement structures—even if the embedded pile element is used during numerical calculations, either the method remains prone to non-convergence or the time needed for numerical calculations is too long. It is, thus, difficult to satisfy the requirement of an efficient scheme of evaluation in practice. To solve this problem, a method that uses a simulation of the integral equivalent of the CFG pile reinforcement zone is proposed in this paper. In the CFG pile reinforcement zone, the effect of the pile is reflected in the enhancement of parameters of the soil in the strengthened zone, and the reinforcement zone (including the soil and the pile) is regarded as an anisotropic elastoplastic material. As the structure of the pile is no longer needed in the model, its elimination significantly reduces the complexity of the model and improves its calculation efficiency. An example of a numerical calculation is provided to verify the viability and accuracy of the integral equivalent simulation method in comparison with the embedded pile element simulation method. Finally, the proposed method is applied to the three-dimensional numerical analysis of a scheme for the treatment of foundations of high- and low-rise buildings with basements, and its effectiveness is further verified through comparison with theoretical results

Early Diagnosis of Brain Injury in Premature Infants Based on Amplitude-Integrated EEG Scoring System

Analyzing and discussing the relationship between brain injury in preterm infants and related risk factors can provide evidence for perinatal prevention and early intervention of brain injury in preterm infants, thereby improving the quality of life of preterm infants. This paper selects term preterm infants diagnosed with preterm infant asphyxia in the NICU of a university’s First Affiliated Hospital from January 2018 to February 2019 as the research object. In addition, healthy term infants born at the same time in the obstetric department of this hospital are selected as the control group. Both groups of premature infants were monitored for brain function within 6 hours after birth. The aEEG results range from background activity (continuous normal voltage, discontinuous normal voltage, burst suppression, continuous low voltage, and plateau) and sleep-wake cycle (no sleep-wake cycle, immature, and mature sleep-wake cycle) to epileptic activity (single seizures, recurrent seizures, and status epilepticus), three aspects to judge. Statistical analysis uses SPSS 17.0 software. Amplitude-integrated EEG is a simplified form of continuous EEG recording. The trace of the trace represents the voltage change signal of the entire EEG background activity, which can reflect the EEG amplitude, frequency, burst-inhibition, and other pieces of information. aEEG can reflect the degree of HIE lesions in premature infants and the long-term prognosis. It is easy to operate and effective in diagnosis and can be continuously monitored. It is worthy of clinical popularization. There is a good correlation between the expression of EEG and biomarkers. Combining multiple methods can diagnose HIE earlier and evaluate the prognosis