Domino Rh-catalyzed hydroformylation–doublecyclization of o-amino cinnamyl derivatives:applications to the formal total syntheses ofphysostigmine and physovenine

A parallel, versatile and efficient route to synthesis of pyrrolidinoindoline and tetrahydrofuranoindoline alkaloids from cinnamyl derivatives has been developed, featuring a domino Rh-catalyzed hydroformylation–double cyclization sequence. This method can be applied to the syntheses of anti-Alzheimer drugs such as physostigmine and physovenine

Treatment of visual axis opacification and secondary membranes with Nd:YAG laser after pediatric cataract surgery under intranasal sedation

PurposeTo describe neodymium-doped yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser treatment of visual axis opacification and secondary membranes in pediatric patients with cataracts under intranasal dexmedetomidine sedation.MethodsTwenty eyes of 17 patients with secondary membrane formation after cataract extraction were enrolled in this study. Intranasal dexmedetomidine sedation (3 ug/kg) was administered, and Nd:YAG laser (Ellex Super Q, Adelaide, Australia) procedures were performed with children in the sitting position with their chin supported on a laser delivery slit lamp. Preoperative and postoperative visual acuities were documented, and medical records were reviewed.ResultsThe age of the patients ranged from 5 to 83 months (31.82 ± 27.73). Nineteen (95.0%) eyes had congenital cataracts and one (5.0%) had a traumatic cataract. Nd:YAG laser treatment of VAO with ten (50.0%) eyes, pupillary membranes with three (15.0%) eyes, pupillary cortical proliferation with six (30.0%) eyes, and anterior capsule contraction with one (5.0%) eye. Five (25.0%) eyes demonstrated visual acuity improvement, whereas six (30.0%) eyes remained unchanged after laser treatment. The recurrence rate was 30.0% and four eyes underwent a second Nd:YAG membranectomy. No side effects or tolerances due to sedative drugs were observed.ConclusionNd:YAG laser membranectomy under intranasal dexmedetomidine sedation was safely performed in children as young as 5 months old in a sitting position. This approach facilitates patient convenience, doctor proficiency, and cost reductions. Patients with recurrence can be treated by repeating the procedure

Variation block-based genomics method for crop plants

BACKGROUND: In contrast with wild species, cultivated crop genomes consist of reshuffled recombination blocks, which occurred by crossing and selection processes. Accordingly, recombination block-based genomics analysis can be an effective approach for the screening of target loci for agricultural traits. RESULTS: We propose the variation block method, which is a three-step process for recombination block detection and comparison. The first step is to detect variations by comparing the short-read DNA sequences of the cultivar to the reference genome of the target crop. Next, sequence blocks with variation patterns are examined and defined. The boundaries between the variation-containing sequence blocks are regarded as recombination sites. All the assumed recombination sites in the cultivar set are used to split the genomes, and the resulting sequence regions are termed variation blocks. Finally, the genomes are compared using the variation blocks. The variation block method identified recurring recombination blocks accurately and successfully represented block-level diversities in the publicly available genomes of 31 soybean and 23 rice accessions. The practicality of this approach was demonstrated by the identification of a putative locus determining soybean hilum color. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that the variation block method is an efficient genomics method for the recombination block-level comparison of crop genomes. We expect that this method will facilitate the development of crop genomics by bringing genomics technologies to the field of crop breeding

Comparison of hospital charge prediction models for gastric cancer patients: neural network vs. decision tree models

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In recent years, artificial neural network is advocated in modeling complex multivariable relationships due to its ability of fault tolerance; while decision tree of data mining technique was recommended because of its richness of classification arithmetic rules and appeal of visibility. The aim of our research was to compare the performance of ANN and decision tree models in predicting hospital charges on gastric cancer patients.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data about hospital charges on 1008 gastric cancer patients and related demographic information were collected from the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University from 2005 to 2007 and preprocessed firstly to select pertinent input variables. Then artificial neural network (ANN) and decision tree models, using same hospital charge output variable and same input variables, were applied to compare the predictive abilities in terms of mean absolute errors and linear correlation coefficients for the training and test datasets. The transfer function in ANN model was sigmoid with 1 hidden layer and three hidden nodes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After preprocess of the data, 12 variables were selected and used as input variables in two types of models. For both the training dataset and the test dataset, mean absolute errors of ANN model were lower than those of decision tree model (1819.197 vs. 2782.423, 1162.279 vs. 3424.608) and linear correlation coefficients of the former model were higher than those of the latter (0.955 vs. 0.866, 0.987 vs. 0.806). The predictive ability and adaptive capacity of ANN model were better than those of decision tree model.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ANN model performed better in predicting hospital charges of gastric cancer patients of China than did decision tree model.</p

Alveolar Macrophages Treated With Bacillus subtilis Spore Protect Mice Infected With Respiratory Syncytial Virus A2

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major pathogen that infects lower respiratory tract and causes a common respiratory disease. Despite serious pathological consequences with this virus, effective treatments for controlling RSV infection remain unsolved, along with poor innate immune responses induced at the initial stage of RSV infection. Such a poor innate defense mechanism against RSV leads us to study the role of alveolar macrophage (AM) that is one of the primary innate immune cell types in the respiratory tract and may contribute to protective responses against RSV infection. As an effective strategy for enhancing anti-viral function of AM, this study suggests the intranasal administration of Bacillus subtilis spore which induces expansion of AM in the lung with activation and enhanced production of inflammatory cytokines along with several genes associated with M1 macrophage differentiation. Such effect by spore on AM was largely dependent on TLR-MyD88 signaling and, most importantly, resulted in a profound reduction of viral titers and pathological lung injury upon RSV infection. Taken together, our results suggest a protective role of AM in RSV infection and its functional modulation by B. subtilis spore, which may be a useful and potential therapeutic approach against RSV

B5, a thioredoxin reductase inhibitor, induces apoptosis in human cervical cancer cells by suppressing the thioredoxin system, disrupting mitochondrion-dependent pathways and triggering autophagy

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