Epigenetics in ovarian cancer: premise, properties, and perspectives.

Malignant ovarian tumors bear the highest mortality rate among all gynecological cancers. Both late tumor diagnosis and tolerance to available chemical therapy increase patient mortality. Therefore, it is both urgent and important to identify biomarkers facilitating early identification and novel agents preventing recurrence. Accumulating evidence demonstrates that epigenetic aberrations (particularly histone modifications) are crucial in tumor initiation and development. Histone acetylation and methylation are respectively regulated by acetyltransferases-deacetylases and methyltransferases-demethylases, both of which are implicated in ovarian cancer pathogenesis. In this review, we summarize the most recent discoveries pertaining to ovarian cancer development arising from the imbalance of histone acetylation and methylation, and provide insight into novel therapeutic interventions for the treatment of ovarian carcinoma

Comparison of energy efficiency between E and MPS type vertical spindle pulverizer based on the experimental and industrial sampling tests

0.5%–2% gross power generation of coal power plant is consumed by vertical spindle pulverizer (VSP), and it is essential to select a VSP with better operational performance. Simulated studies of lab-scale mills, which show the similar breakage mechanism with VSP, and industrial sampling on VSPs are conducted to compare energy efficiencies of E and MPS type VSPs (with the grinding media of balls and tread rollers, respectively). The classical energy-size reduction model is modified with the addition of particle size in the exponential form to compare the grinding energy efficiency (product fineness for the certain specific energy) of two lab-scale mills. Also, differences in structure and operational parameters of lab-scale mills are considered. For the industrial sampling tests of two VSPs, recorded data and size distribution of sampled materials are preliminarily compared. Product t10 is selected as the bridge to connect the specific grinding energy and size distribution of products. The modified breakage model is combined with the King's equation to compare the energy efficiency on the premise of feed in the same fineness. Comprehensive comparison of the results obtained from both lab-scale and industrial-scale VSPs suggests that the MPS type VSP shows the higher grinding energy efficiency and lower total energy consumption

Proposed clinical phases for the improvement of personalized treatment of checkpoint inhibitor–related pneumonitis

BackgroundCheckpoint inhibitor–related pneumonitis (CIP) is a lethal immune-related adverse event. However, the development process of CIP, which may provide insight into more effective management, has not been extensively examined.MethodsWe conducted a multicenter retrospective analysis of 56 patients who developed CIP. Clinical characteristics, radiological features, histologic features, and laboratory tests were analyzed. After a comprehensive analysis, we proposed acute, subacute, and chronic phases of CIP and summarized each phase’s characteristics.ResultsThere were 51 patients in the acute phase, 22 in the subacute phase, and 11 in the chronic phase. The median interval time from the beginning of CIP to the different phases was calculated (acute phase: ≤4.9 weeks; subacute phase: 4.9~13.1 weeks; and chronic phase: ≥13.1 weeks). The symptoms relieved from the acute phase to the chronic phase, and the CIP grade and Performance Status score decreased (P<0.05). The main change in radiologic features was the absorption of the lesions, and 3 (3/11) patients in the chronic phase had persistent traction bronchiectasis. For histologic features, most patients had acute fibrinous pneumonitis in the acute phase (5/8), and most had organizing pneumonia in the subacute phase (5/6). Other histologic changes advanced over time, with the lesions entering a state of fibrosis. Moreover, the levels of interleukin-6, interleukin-10 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) increased in the acute phase and decreased as CIP progressed (IL-6: 17.9 vs. 9.8 vs. 5.7, P=0.018; IL-10: 4.6 vs 3.0 vs. 2.0, P=0.041; hsCRP: 88.2 vs. 19.4 vs. 14.4, P=0.005).ConclusionsThe general development process of CIP can be divided into acute, subacute, and chronic phases, upon which a better management strategy might be based devised

Effect of scraper movement on the separation performance of air dense medium fluidized bed

Experimental studies on the influence of scraper movement on the fluidization of air dense-medium fluidized bed (ADMFB) have been conducted. The maximum bed pressure drop is about 3% when the scraper speed changes from 0 to 0.5\ua0m/s. The minimum fluidized velocity U decreases as the scraper speed increases. At the same time, the bed density only declines by 3.7%, and the density standard deviation decreases significantly which is mainly caused by the horizontal motion of the medium. The separation tests indicated that the most appropriate scraper speed is between 0.1\ua0m/s and 0.3\ua0m/s and it was reasonable to move the scraper at the appropriate rate to get the better separation performance

A Comprehensive Study of the Wave Impact Loads on an Inclined Plate

Water wave impact on a wet deck is an important issue in ocean engineering, and the plate-shaped structure in the splash zone tends to suffer tremendous impact loads. This work presents a method for predicting the wave slamming uplift force on a fixed plate with different inclined angles. Both numerical simulation and the scale model test of the wave impact loads on an inclined plate were performed, and a good agreement was obtained. In addition, the influence of three important wave parameters on the slamming uplift force was systematically investigated: relative deck width B/LS, relative wave height Δh/H1/3, and the plate’s inclined angle α. The results indicate that the three parameters can significantly influence the wave slamming uplift force. Finally, a developed empirical equation is proposed for estimating the wave slamming uplift force on the inclined plate

Study on multi form coal impact breakage using SHI's breakage model

The Shi's breakage model was introduced to describe the relationship of breakage index, t, to the particle size and impact energy. To validate the application of this model in coal impact breakage, three types of impact breakage tests including drop weight test, rotary breakage test and bed breakage were conducted, which represent single particle binary side impact breakage, single particle single side impact breakage and particle batch impact breakage respectively. The results show that Shi's breakage model fits the coal impact breakage well with the average R of above 0.95. For single particle, one side impact was found to be more efficient than binary side impact. For batch breakage, the sample with higher ash content was more liable to be broken due to ash grinding aid effect. The maximum t10 of coal impact breakage was subject to the breakage pattern in a large degree. In this paper, the mean maximum t10 of above three kinds of tests are 67.6%, 76.1% and, 43.7% respectively

Root morphological and physiological characteristics in maize seedlings adapted to low iron stress.

Iron (Fe) deficiency is a common challenge in crop production. Screening and research of Fe-efficient cultivars could alleviate plant stress and increase crop yields in Fe-deficient soils. In the present study, we conducted two hydroponic culture experiments with a control (100 μmol/L Fe3+-EDTA) and low Fe treatment (10 μmol/L Fe3+-EDTA) to study the morphological and physiological mechanisms of response to low Fe stress in maize hybrids seedlings. In the first experiment, we investigated 32 major maize hybrids in Southwest China. We found that six of them, including Zhenghong 2 (ZH 2), were Fe-efficient. Fifteen other cultivars, such as Chuandan 418 (CD 418), were Fe-inefficient. In the second experiment, we investigated the Fe-efficient ZH 2 and Fe-inefficient CD 418 cultivars and found that low Fe stress resulted in significant decreases in root volume, root length, number of root tips, root surface area, and root dry weight, and increased root to shoot ratio, average root diameter, and Fe-dissolution ability per mass of roots in both maize cultivars. However, the increase in Fe-dissolution ability per mass of roots in ZH 2 was higher than that in CD 418, whereas for the other measurements, the low Fe stress-induced changes in ZH 2 were less pronounced than in CD 418. Therefore, under low Fe stress, the above-mentioned growth factors in ZH 2 were higher by 54.84%, 121.46%, 107.67%, 83.96%, 140.00%, and 18.16%, respectively, than those in CD 418. In addition, leaf area, chlorophyll content, net photosynthetic rate, soluble protein content, and Catalase (CAT) and Peroxidase (POD) activities in ZH 2 were higher by 274.95%, 113.95%, 223.60%, 56.04%, 17.01% and 21.13% than those in CD 418. Therefore, compared with the Fe-inefficient cultivar (CD 418), the Fe-efficient cultivar (ZH 2) had a more developed root system and greater Fe absorption capacity per mass of roots under low iron stress, promoted the efficient absorption of Fe, maintained a higher photosynthetic area and photosynthetic rate, thereby facilitating the accumulation of photosynthetic products. Moreover, higher soluble protein content and activities of CAT and POD permitted high osmotic regulation and scavenging ability, which is an important physiological mechanism for ZH 2 adaptation to low Fe stress

Performance of the static air classifier in a Verticle Spindle Mill

In order to investigate the classification performance of static air classifier in an industrial Vertical Spindle Mill (VSM), sampling ports were drilled on the mill shell and new on-line sampling methods were designed. Size and density compositions of classifier feed, classifier reject and Pulverized Fuel (PF) were analyzed. Calculation was done about the circulating ratio within the VSM and classification efficiency of the classifier with several surveys. Influences of three operation variables, namely coal type, air rate and roller load pressure on the classifier performance were investigated. Result shows that circulating ratio is around 7 and 10. Yield of particles with -90 μm decreases from 32% in classifier feed to 24% in classifier reject after classification, which indicates the poor classification of classifier. Density composition of samples in classifier feed, classifier reject and pulverized fuel are quite different. Dominant density levels are -1.4 g/cm and +1.8 g/cm in pulverized fuel due to size reduction and liberation. Results of classification efficiency show that the variation of the air rate in a range between 62.8 t/h and 53.2 t/h has limited influence on the efficiency, however, classification efficiency decreases significantly when air rate is smaller than 44 t/h. In addition, both the coal type and the roller load pressure have indirectly influence on the classification efficiency by affecting the flow rate of the classifier feed