The association of chromosome 8p deletion and tumor metastasis in human hepatocellular carcinoma

Program no. 686postprin

Blending using ODE swept surfaces with shape control and C1 continuity

Surface blending with tangential continuity is most widely applied in computer aided design, manufacturing systems, and geometric modeling. In this paper, we propose a new blending method to effectively control the shape of blending surfaces, which can also satisfy the blending constraints of tangent continuity exactly. This new blending method is based on the concept of swept surfaces controlled by a vector-valued fourth order ordinary differential equation (ODE). It creates blending surfaces by sweeping a generator along two trimlines and making the generator exactly satisfy the tangential constraints at the trimlines. The shape of blending surfaces is controlled by manipulating the generator with the solution to a vector-valued fourth order ODE. This new blending methods have the following advantages: 1). exact satisfaction of 1C continuous blending boundary constraints, 2). effective shape control of blending surfaces, 3). high computing efficiency due to explicit mathematical representation of blending surfaces, and 4). ability to blend multiple (more than two) primary surfaces

Determining the role of external beam radiotherapy in unresectable intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a retrospective analysis of 84 patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) is the second most common type of primary liver cancer. Only few studies have focused on palliative radiotherapy used for patients who weren't suitable for resection by surgery. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) for patients with unresectable ICC.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We identified 84 patients with ICC from December 1998 through December 2008 for retrospective analysis. Thirty-five of 84 patients received EBRT therapy five times a week (median dose, 50 Gy; dose range, 30-60 Gy, in fractions of 1.8-2.0 Gy daily; EBRT group); the remaining 49 patients comprised the non-EBRT group. Tumor response, jaundice relief, and survival rates were compared by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Patient records were reviewed and compared using Cox proportional hazard analysis to determine factors that affect survival time in ICC.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After EBRT, complete response (CR) and partial response (PR) of primary tumors were observed in 8.6% and 28.5% of patients, respectively, and CR and PR of lymph node metastases were observed in 20% and 40% of patients. In 19 patients with jaundice, complete and partial relief was observed in 36.8% and 31.6% of patients, respectively. Median survival times were 5.1 months for the non-EBRT group and 9.5 months for the EBRT group (<it>P </it>= 0.003). One-and two-year survival rates for EBRT versus non-EBRT group were 38.5% versus 16.4%, and 9.6% versus 4.9%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that clinical symptoms, larger tumor size, no EBRT, multiple nodules and synchronous lymph node metastases were associated with poorer prognosis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>EBRT as palliative care appears to improve prognosis and relieve the symptom of jaundice in patients with unresectable ICC.</p

Searching for plasticity in dissociated cortical cultures on multi-electrode arrays

We attempted to induce functional plasticity in dense cultures of cortical cells using stimulation through extracellular electrodes embedded in the culture dish substrate (multi-electrode arrays, or MEAs). We looked for plasticity expressed in changes in spontaneous burst patterns, and in array-wide response patterns to electrical stimuli, following several induction protocols related to those used in the literature, as well as some novel ones. Experiments were performed with spontaneous culture-wide bursting suppressed by either distributed electrical stimulation or by elevated extracellular magnesium concentrations as well as with spontaneous bursting untreated. Changes concomitant with induction were no larger in magnitude than changes that occurred spontaneously, except in one novel protocol in which spontaneous bursts were quieted using distributed electrical stimulation

Assessing the Quality of Reports about Randomized Controlled Trials of Acupuncture Treatment on Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the reports' qualities which are about randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture treatment on Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy (DPN). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Eight databases including The Cochrane Library(1993-Sept.,2011), PubMed (1980-Sept., 2011), EMbase (1980-Sept.,2011), SCI Expanded (1998-Sept.,2011), China Biomedicine Database Disc (CBMdisc, 1978-Sept., 2011), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI, 1979-Sept., 2011 ), VIP (a full text issues database of China, 1989-Sept., 2011), Wan Fang (another full text issues database of China 1998-Sept., 2011) were searched systematically. Hand search for further references was conducted. Language was limited to Chinese and English. We identified 75 RCTs that used acupuncture as an intervention and assessed the quality of these reports with the Consolidated Standards for Reporting of Trials statement 2010 (CONSORT2010) and Standards for Reporting Interventions Controlled Trials of Acupuncture 2010(STRICTA2010). 24 articles (32%) applied the method of random allocation of sequences. No article gave the description of the mechanism of allocation concealment, no experiment applied the method of blinding. Only one article (1.47%) could be identified directly from its title as about the Randomized Controlled Trials, and only 4 articles gave description of the experimental design. No article mentioned the number of cases lost or eliminated. During one experiment, acupuncture syncope led to temporal interruption of the therapy. Two articles (2.94%) recorded the number of needles, and 8 articles (11.76%) mentioned the depth of needle insertion. None of articles reported the base of calculation of sample size, or has any analysis about the metaphase of an experiment or an explanation of its interruption. One (1.47%) mentioned intentional analysis (ITT). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The quality of the reports on RCTs of acupuncture for Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy is moderate to low. The CONSORT2010 and STRICTA2010 should be used to standardize the reporting of RCTs of acupuncture in future

Predicting Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) Classification of Drugs by Integrating Chemical-Chemical Interactions and Similarities

The Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system, recommended by the World Health Organization, categories drugs into different classes according to their therapeutic and chemical characteristics. For a set of query compounds, how can we identify which ATC-class (or classes) they belong to? It is an important and challenging problem because the information thus obtained would be quite useful for drug development and utilization. By hybridizing the informations of chemical-chemical interactions and chemical-chemical similarities, a novel method was developed for such purpose. It was observed by the jackknife test on a benchmark dataset of 3,883 drug compounds that the overall success rate achieved by the prediction method was about 73% in identifying the drugs among the following 14 main ATC-classes: (1) alimentary tract and metabolism; (2) blood and blood forming organs; (3) cardiovascular system; (4) dermatologicals; (5) genitourinary system and sex hormones; (6) systemic hormonal preparations, excluding sex hormones and insulins; (7) anti-infectives for systemic use; (8) antineoplastic and immunomodulating agents; (9) musculoskeletal system; (10) nervous system; (11) antiparasitic products, insecticides and repellents; (12) respiratory system; (13) sensory organs; (14) various. Such a success rate is substantially higher than 7% by the random guess. It has not escaped our notice that the current method can be straightforwardly extended to identify the drugs for their 2nd-level, 3rd-level, 4th-level, and 5th-level ATC-classifications once the statistically significant benchmark data are available for these lower levels

Schistosomiasis Research in the Dongting Lake Region and Its Impact on Local and National Treatment and Control in China

Schistosomiasis is a chronic and debilitating parasitic disease that has often been neglected because it is a disease of poverty, affecting poor rural communities in the developing world. This is not the case in the People's Republic of China (PRC), where the disease, caused by Schistosoma japonicum, has long captured the attention of the Chinese authorities who have, over the past 50–60 years, undertaken remarkably successful control programs that have substantially reduced the schistosomiasis disease burden. The Dongting Lake region in Hunan province is one of the major schistosome-endemic areas in the PRC due to its vast marshland habitats for the Oncomelania snail intermediate hosts of S. japonicum. Along with social, demographic, and other environmental factors, the recent completion and closure of the Three Gorges dam will most likely increase the range of these snail habitats, with the potential for re-emergence of schistosomiasis and increased transmission in Hunan and other schistosome-endemic provinces being a particular concern. In this paper, we review the history and the current status of schistosomiasis control in the Dongting Lake region. We explore the epidemiological factors contributing to S. japonicum transmission there, and summarise some of the key research findings from studies undertaken on schistosomiasis in Hunan province over the past 10 years. The impact of this research on current and future approaches for sustainable integrated control of schistosomiasis in this and other endemic areas in the PRC is emphasised

MARS an improved de novo peptide candidate selection method for non-canonical antigen target discovery in cancer

Understanding the nature and extent of non-canonical human leukocyte antigen (HLA) presentation in tumour cells is a priority for target antigen discovery for the development of next generation immunotherapies in cancer. We here employ a de novo mass spectrometric sequencing approach with a refined, MHC-centric analysis strategy to detect non-canonical MHC-associated peptides specific to cancer without any prior knowledge of the target sequence from genomic or RNA sequencing data. Our strategy integrates MHC binding rank, Average local confidence scores, and peptide Retention time prediction for improved de novo candidate Selection; culminating in the machine learning model MARS. We benchmark our model on a large synthetic peptide library dataset and reanalysis of a published dataset of high-quality non-canonical MHC-associated peptide identifications in human cancer. We achieve almost 2-fold improvement for high quality spectral assignments in comparison to de novo sequencing alone with an estimated accuracy of above 85.7% when integrated with a stepwise peptide sequence mapping strategy. Finally, we utilize MARS to detect and validate lncRNA-derived peptides in human cervical tumour resections, demonstrating its suitability to discover novel, immunogenic, non-canonical peptide sequences in primary tumour tissue

Retrospective analysis of nosocomial infections in the intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital in China during 2003 and 2007

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nosocomial infections are a major threat to patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). Limited data exist on the epidemiology of ICU-acquired infections in China. This retrospective study was carried out to determine the current status of nosocomial infection in China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A retrospective review of nococomial infections in the ICU of a tertiary hospital in East China between 2003 and 2007 was performed. Nosocomial infections were defined according to the definitions of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The overall patient nosocomial infection rate, the incidence density rate of nosocomial infections, the excess length of stay, and distribution of nosocomial infection sites were determined. Then, pathogen and antimicrobial susceptibility profiles were further investigated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 1980 patients admitted over the period of time, the overall patient nosocomial infection rate was 26.8% or 51.0 per 1000 patient days., Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) accounted for most of the infections (68.4%), followed by urinary tract infections (UTI, 15.9%), bloodstream (BSI, 5.9%), and gastrointestinal tract (GI, 2.5%) infections. There was no significant change in LRTI, UTI and BSI infection rates during the 5 years. However, GI rate was significantly decreased from 5.5% in 2003 to 0.4% in 2007. In addition, <it>A. baumannii, C. albicans </it>and <it>S. epidermidis </it>were the most frequent pathogens isolated in patients with LRTIs, UTIs and BSIs, respectively. The rates of isolates resistant to commonly used antibiotics ranged from 24.0% to 93.1%.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There was a high and relatively stable rate of nosocomial infections in the ICU of a tertiary hospital in China through year 2003–2007, with some differences in the distribution of the infection sites, and pathogen and antibiotic susceptibility profiles from those reported from the Western countries. Guidelines for surveillance and prevention of nosocomial infections must be implemented in order to reduce the rate.</p