Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy under Local Infiltration Anesthesia in Kneeling Prone Position for a Patient with Spinal Deformity

Urolithiasis, a common condition in patients with spinal deformity, poses a challenge to surgical procedures and anesthetic management. A 51-year-old Chinese male presented with bilateral complex renal calculi. He was also affected by severe kyphosis deformity and spinal stiffness due to ankylosing spondylitis. Dr. Li performed the percutaneous nephrolithotomy under local infiltration anesthesia with the patient in a kneeling prone position, achieving satisfactory stone clearance with no severe complications. We found this protocol safe and effective to manage kidney stones in patients with spinal deformity. Local infiltration anesthesia may benefit patients for whom epidural anesthesia and intubation anesthesia are difficult

Antisense oligonucleotide targeting Livin induces apoptosis of human bladder cancer cell via a mechanism involving caspase 3

BACKGROUND AND AIM: in recent years, Livin, a new member of IAPs family, is found to be a key molecule in cancers. Researchers consider Livin may become a new target for tumor therapy; however, the role of it in bladder cancer is still unclear. The purpose of this article is to investigate Antisense Oligonucleotide (ASODN) of Livin on treating bladder cancer cell and underlying mechanisms. METHODS: Phosphorathioate modifying was used to synthesize antisense oligonucleotides targeting Livin, followed by transfection into human bladder cancer cell 5637. After transfection, Livin mRNA and protein level, cell proliferation and apoptosis changes, caspase3 level and its effect on human bladder cancer transplantable tumor in nude mice were measured. RESULT: results showed Livin ASODN effectively inhibited Livin expression and tumor cell proliferation, and these effects probably through enhanced caspase3 activity and apoptosis of tumor cells. In nude mice transplantable tumor model, Livin expressions were inhibited meanwhile caspase3 expression was increased. Tumor growth slowed down and apoptosis was enhanced. CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that Livin plays an important role in inhibiting apoptosis of bladder cancer cells. Livin ASODN may promote cell apoptosis, inhibit bladder cancer growth, and become one of the methods of gene therapy for bladder cancer

Retirement : should you be worried?

The Central Provident Fund (CPF) is Singapore’s national saving system and contributions to CPF accounts are as high as 36% of a person’s wage. Previous studies on adequacy of CPF for retirement spending focused on the Income Replacement Rate (IRR) as the metric for measuring adequacy, but among them there is little agreement on the final IRR achievable by CPF. Furthermore, the inception of the new CPF Life scheme has rendered previous studies outdated. In this report, we propose a different quantitative approach to the question of adequacy, which is to model an individual’s savings and retirement expenditure using publicly available data, and determine if the accumulated wealth is sufficient to cover retirement spending. We find out that the CPF Life income can adequately cover retirement expenses for the 30th percentile of income earners. Therefore, CPF Life serves its purpose as a source of post-retirement funds for the lower-income group. However, adverse changes in wage growth rate or inflation rate can lead to the 30th percentile not being able to cover their retirement expenses even with personal savings. Meanwhile, the statutory Minimum Sum level may need to be reviewed as it is more than enough to sustain basic expenses after retirement.BUSINES

Snow Depth Detection and Error Analysis Derived from SNR of GPS and BDS

There are several significant advantages in snow depth inversion with GNSS reflected signals,such as all-time,all-weather,large amount of data and low cost.An experiment of GNSS-reflectometry was designed at Arctic Yellow River Station and dual-frequency signal to noise ratio (SNR) observations of GPS and BDS were collected.The effects on snow depth inversion,including satellite elevation,arc length,number of satellites,azimuth,time scale,constellation structure,signal frequency and SNR intensity,were discussed comprehensively.And then the inversion accuracy and reliability were improved by large sample statistics,quality control and error analysis.According to the error analysis,we recommend the following inversion strategy:to use L1 and B1I observations,with 5 to 25 degrees satellite elevation,from multi-satellites and four azimuths.In this way,we can finally achieve the accuracy of 5 cm in one day.In addition,arc length,constellation structure and signal frequency have small effects on the accuracy of the results

Identification of Six Diagnostic Biomarkers for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Based on Machine Learning Algorithms

Background. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common type of leukemia in adults. Thus, novel reliable biomarkers need to be further explored to increase diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic effectiveness. Methods. Six datasets containing CLL and control samples were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. Differential gene expression analysis, weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA), and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression were applied to identify potential diagnostic biomarkers for CLL using R software. The diagnostic performance of the hub genes was then measured by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Functional analysis was implemented to uncover the underlying mechanisms. Additionally, correlation analysis was performed to assess the relationship between the hub genes and immunity characteristics. Results. A total number of 47 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) and 25 candidate hub genes were extracted through differential gene expression analysis and WGCNA, respectively. Based on the 14 overlapped genes between the DEGs and the candidate hub genes, LASSO regression analysis was used, which identified a final number of six hub genes as potential biomarkers for CLL: ABCA6, CCDC88A, PMEPA1, EBF1, FILIP1L, and TEAD2. The ROC curves of the six genes showed reliable predictive ability in the training and validation cohorts, with all area under the curve (AUC) values over 0.80. Functional analysis revealed an abnormal immune status in the CLL patients. A significant correlation was found between the hub genes and the immune-related pathways, indicating a possible tight connection between the hub genes and tumor immunity in CLL. Conclusion. This study was based on machine learning algorithms, and we identified six genes that could be possible CLL markers, which may be involved in CLL pathogenesis and progression through immune-related signal pathways

Simultaneous Improvement and Genetic Dissection of Drought Tolerance Using Selected Breeding Populations of Rice

Drought is the most important factor limiting rice yield in most rainfed areas of Asia and Africa. Four large BC2F2 populations consisted of 3,200 individuals, which were derived from crosses between an elite Geng variety, Jigeng88, and four donors from three different countries, were screened and progeny tested under severe drought stress, resulting in the development of 72 introgression lines (ILs) with significantly improved yield compared to the recurrent parent Jigeng88. These DT ILs plus four random populations (without drought selection population) from the same crosses were evaluated in replicated trials under both drought stress and non-stress conditions in two environments, and characterized with simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers to understand how directional selection was operating on the genetic variation of DT of rice. Thirteen DT QTLs of large effect were identified based on the significant allelic and genotypic frequency shits in the DT ILs by using the joint segregation distortion method. The 13 QTLs were validated by the genotypic differences at individual QTL in the random populations. Putative genetic networks consisting of 30 loci in 29 functional genetic units underlying DT were detected by X2 tests and non-random associations between or among DT loci in DT ILs from the four populations. Most large-effect DT QTLs were previously reported and located in the upstream of the genetic networks as putative regulators, and were either mapped to important regulatory genes for DT or drought responsiveness reported previously. In our study, five promising ILs with significantly improved yield were selected under both drought and normal irrigated conditions. The QTLs and their genetic networks underlying DT detected provided useful genetic information for further improving DT and yield using designed QTL pyramiding

Unsupervised SAR Image Change Type Recognition Using Regionally Restricted PCA-Kmean and Lightweight MobileNet

Change detection using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) multi-temporal images only detects the change area and generates no information such as change type, which limits its development. This study proposed a new unsupervised application of SAR images that can recognize the change type of the area. First, a regionally restricted principal component analysis k-mean (RRPCA-Kmean) clustering algorithm, combining principal component analysis, k-mean clustering, and mathematical morphology composition, was designed to obtain pre-classification results in combination with change type vectors. Second, a lightweight MobileNet was designed based on the results of the first stage to perform the reclassification of the pre-classification results and obtain the change recognition results of the changed regions. The experimental results using SAR datasets with different resolutions show that the method can guarantee change recognition results with good change detection correctness