The Polymorphisms in Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase, Methionine Synthase, Methionine Synthase Reductase, and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer

Polymorphisms in genes involved in folate metabolism may modulate the risk of colorectal cancer (CRC), but data from published studies are conflicting. The current meta-analysis was performed to address a more accurate estimation. A total of 41 (17,552 cases and 26,238 controls), 24(8,263 cases and 12,033 controls), 12(3,758 cases and 5,646 controls), and 13 (5,511 cases and 7,265 controls) studies were finally included for the association between methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T and A1289C, methione synthase reductase (MTRR) A66G, methionine synthase (MTR) A2756G polymorphisms and the risk of CRC, respectively. The data showed that the MTHFR 677T allele was significantly associated with reduced risk of CRC (OR = 0.93, 95%CI 0.90-0.96), while the MTRR 66G allele was significantly associated with increased risk of CRC (OR = 1.11, 95%CI 1.01-1.18). Sub-group analysis by ethnicity revealed that MTHFR C677T polymorphism was significantly associated with reduced risk of CRC in Asians (OR = 0.80, 95%CI 0.72-0.89) and Caucasians (OR = 0.84, 95%CI 0.76-0.93) in recessive genetic model, while the MTRR 66GG genotype was found to significantly increase the risk of CRC in Caucasians (GG vs. AA: OR = 1.18, 95%CI 1.03-1.36). No significant association was found between MTHFR A1298C and MTR A2756G polymorphisms and the risk of CRC. Cumulative meta-analysis showed no particular time trend existed in the summary estimate. Probability of publication bias was low across all comparisons illustrated by the funnel plots and Egger's test. Collectively, this meta-analysis suggested that MTHFR 677T allele might provide protection against CRC in worldwide populations, while MTRR 66G allele might increase the risk of CRC in Caucasians. Since potential confounders could not be ruled out completely, further studies were needed to confirm these results

A Longitudinal Analysis about the Effect of Air Pollution on Astigmatism for Children and Young Adults

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the correlation between air pollution and astigmatism, considering the detrimental effects of air pollution on respiratory, cardiovascular, and eye health. Methods: A longitudinal study was conducted with 127,709 individuals aged 4-27 years from 9 cities in Guangdong Province, China, spanning from 2019 to 2021. Astigmatism was measured using cylinder values. Multiple measurements were taken at intervals of at least 1 year. Various exposure windows were used to assess the lagged impacts of air pollution on astigmatism. A panel data model with random effects was constructed to analyze the relationship between pollutant exposure and astigmatism. Results: The study revealed significant associations between astigmatism and exposure to carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and particulate matter (PM2.5) over time. A 10 {\mu}g/m3 increase in a 3-year exposure window of NO2 and PM2.5 was associated with a decrease in cylinder value of -0.045 diopters and -0.017 diopters, respectively. A 0.1 mg/m3 increase in CO concentration within a 2-year exposure window correlated with a decrease in cylinder value of -0.009 diopters. No significant relationships were found between PM10 exposure and astigmatism. Conclusion: This study concluded that greater exposure to NO2 and PM2.5 over longer periods aggravates astigmatism. The negative effect of CO on astigmatism peaks in the exposure window of 2 years prior to examination and diminishes afterward. No significant association was found between PM10 exposure and astigmatism, suggesting that gaseous and smaller particulate pollutants have easier access to human eyes, causing heterogeneous morphological changes to the eyeball

An Enhanced Erasure Code-Based Security Mechanism for Cloud Storage

Cloud computing offers a wide range of luxuries, such as high performance, rapid elasticity, on-demand self-service, and low cost. However, data security continues to be a significant impediment in the promotion and popularization of cloud computing. To address the problem of data leakage caused by unreliable service providers and external cyber attacks, an enhanced erasure code-based security mechanism is proposed and elaborated in terms of four aspects: data encoding, data transmission, data placement, and data reconstruction, which ensure data security throughout the whole traversing into cloud storage. Based on the mechanism, we implement a secure cloud storage system (SCSS). The key design issues, including data division, construction of generator matrix, data encoding, fragment naming, and data decoding, are also described in detail. Finally, we conduct an analysis of data availability and security and performance evaluation. Experimental results and analysis demonstrate that SCSS achieves high availability, strong security, and excellent performance

Object Detection for Caries or Pit and Fissure Sealing Requirement in Children's First Permanent Molars

Dental caries is one of the most common oral diseases that, if left untreated, can lead to a variety of oral problems. It mainly occurs inside the pits and fissures on the occlusal/buccal/palatal surfaces of molars and children are a high-risk group for pit and fissure caries in permanent molars. Pit and fissure sealing is one of the most effective methods that is widely used in prevention of pit and fissure caries. However, current detection of pits and fissures or caries depends primarily on the experienced dentists, which ordinary parents do not have, and children may miss the remedial treatment without timely detection. To address this issue, we present a method to autodetect caries and pit and fissure sealing requirements using oral photos taken by smartphones. We use the YOLOv5 and YOLOX models and adopt a tiling strategy to reduce information loss during image pre-processing. The best result for YOLOXs model with tiling strategy is 72.3 mAP.5, while the best result without tiling strategy is 71.2. YOLOv5s6 model with/without tiling attains 70.9/67.9 mAP.5, respectively. We deploy the pre-trained network to mobile devices as a WeChat applet, allowing in-home detection by parents or children guardian

Targeting LIF-mediated paracrine interaction for pancreatic cancer therapy and monitoring.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a dismal prognosis largely owing to inefficient diagnosis and tenacious drug resistance. Activation of pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) and consequent development of dense stroma are prominent features accounting for this aggressive biology1,2. The reciprocal interplay between PSCs and pancreatic cancer cells (PCCs) not only enhances tumour progression and metastasis but also sustains their own activation, facilitating a vicious cycle to exacerbate tumorigenesis and drug resistance3-7. Furthermore, PSC activation occurs very early during PDAC tumorigenesis8-10, and activated PSCs comprise a substantial fraction of the tumour mass, providing a rich source of readily detectable factors. Therefore, we hypothesized that the communication between PSCs and PCCs could be an exploitable target to develop effective strategies for PDAC therapy and diagnosis. Here, starting with a systematic proteomic investigation of secreted disease mediators and underlying molecular mechanisms, we reveal that leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a key paracrine factor from activated PSCs acting on cancer cells. Both pharmacologic LIF blockade and genetic Lifr deletion markedly slow tumour progression and augment the efficacy of chemotherapy to prolong survival of PDAC mouse models, mainly by modulating cancer cell differentiation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition status. Moreover, in both mouse models and human PDAC, aberrant production of LIF in the pancreas is restricted to pathological conditions and correlates with PDAC pathogenesis, and changes in the levels of circulating LIF correlate well with tumour response to therapy. Collectively, these findings reveal a function of LIF in PDAC tumorigenesis, and suggest its translational potential as an attractive therapeutic target and circulating marker. Our studies underscore how a better understanding of cell-cell communication within the tumour microenvironment can suggest novel strategies for cancer therapy

Determination of Aflatoxin B1 and B2 in Vegetable Oils Using Fe3O4/rGO Magnetic Solid Phase Extraction Coupled with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Fluorescence with Post-Column Photochemical Derivatization

In this study, magnetic graphene nanocomposite Fe3O4/rGO was synthesized by facile one-pot solvothermal method. The nanocomposite was successfully used as magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) adsorbents for the determination of aflatoxins in edible vegetable oils through the π–π stacking interactions. MSPE parameters including the amount of adsorbents, extraction and desorption time, washing conditions, and the type and volume of desorption solvent were optimized. Under optimal conditions, good linear relationships were achieved. Limits of detection of this method were as low as 0.02 µg/kg and 0.01 µg/kg for aflatoxin B1 and B2, respectively. Finally, the magnetic graphene nanocomposite was successfully applied to aflatoxin analysis in vegetable oils. The results indicated that the recoveries of the B-group aflatoxins ranged from 80.4% to 106.0%, whereas the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were less than 8.1%. Owing to the simplicity, rapidity and efficiency, Fe3O4/rGO magnetic solid phase extraction coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography fluorescence with post-column photochemical derivatization (Fe3O4/rGO MSPE-HPLC-PCD-FLD) is a promising analytical method for routine and accurate determination of aflatoxins in lipid matrices

Extraction and Quantification of Sulforaphane and Indole-3-Carbinol from Rapeseed Tissues Using QuEChERS Coupled with UHPLC-MS/MS

Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) is rich in phenols, vitamins, carotenoids, and mineral elements, such as selenium. Additionally, it contains the active ingredients sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol, which have been demonstrated to have pharmacological effects. In this study, sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol were extracted and quantified from rapeseeds using quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe (QuEChERS) method coupled with ultra high performance liquid chromarography tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). The major parameters for extraction and purification efficiency were optimized, including the hydrolysis reaction, extraction condition and type and amount of purification adsorbents. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) for sulforaphane were 0.05 μg/kg and 0.15 μg/kg, and for indole-3-carbinol were 5 μg/kg and 15 μg/kg, respectively. The developed method was used to successfully analyze fifty rapeseed samples. The QuEChERS coupled with UHPLC-MS/MS simultaneously detect sulforaphane and indole-3-carbinol in vegetable matrix and evaluate the quality and nutrition of rapeseed samples