Is ultrasound combined with computed tomography useful for distinguishing between primary thyroid lymphoma and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis?

Introduction: The aim of the study is to investigate the usefulness of ultrasound combined with computed tomography (CT) for distinguishing between primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL) and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). Material and methods: The investigation was conducted retrospectively in 80 patients from January 2000 to July 2018. All patients underwent pathological tests to be classified into one of two groups: PTL group and HT group. The cut-off value of CT density was determined using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of diagnosis for thyroid by CT alone, ultrasound alone, and the combination of CT plus ultrasound were calculated. Results: Of the 80 study patients, 27 patients were PTL and 53 patients were HT. Mean CT density had a sensitivity of 90.6% and a specificity of 88.9% at a cut-off value of 53.5 HU, with area under the curve (AUC) 0.88. Ultrasound combined with CT had the highest specificity, accuracy, and PPV compared with CT alone and ultrasound alone (p value < 0.05). Conclusions: Features such as extremely hypoechogenicity, enhanced posterior echo, cervical lymphadenopathy in ultrasound image, and linear high-density strand signs, and very low density in CT imaging have high sensitivity and specificity in thyroid lymphoma. Therefore, ultrasound combined with CT may be useful for distinguishing between PTL and HT.

Specific, simple and rapid detection of porcine circovirus type 2 using the loop-mediated isothermal amplification method

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) is the causative agent of postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), and porcine dermatitis and nephropathy syndrome (PDNS). It has caused heavy losses in global agriculture in recent decades. Rapid detection of PCV2 is very important for the effective prophylaxis and treatment of PMWS.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay was used to detect PCV2 in this study. Three pairs of primers were specially designed for recognizing eight distinct sequences of the ORF2 gene. This gene lies in the PCV2 virus genome sequence, and encodes the Rep protein that is involved in virus replication. Time and temperature conditions for amplification of PCV2 genes were optimized to be 55 min at 59°C. The analysis of clinical samples indicated that the LAMP method was highly sensitive. The detection limit for PCV2 by the LAMP assay was 10 copies, whereas the limit by conventional PCR was 1000 copies. The assay did not cross-react with PCV1, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, porcine epidemic diarrhea virus, transmissible gastroenteritis of pigs virus or rotavirus. When 110 samples were tested using the established LAMP system, 95 were detected as positive.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The newly developed LAMP detection method for PCV2 was more specific, sensitive, rapid and simple than before. It complements and extends previous methods for PCV2 detection and provides an alternative approach for detection of PCV2.</p

The Galactic extinction and reddening from the South Galactic Cap U-band Sky Survey: u band galaxy number counts and u−ru-r color distribution

We study the integral Galactic extinction and reddening based on the galaxy catalog of the South Galactic Cap U-band Sky Survey (SCUSS), where $u$ band galaxy number counts and $u-r$ color distribution are used to derive the Galactic extinction and reddening respectively. We compare these independent statistical measurements with the reddening map of \citet{Schlegel1998}(SFD) and find that both the extinction and reddening from the number counts and color distribution are in good agreement with the SFD results at low extinction regions ($E(B-V)^{SFD}<0.12$ mag). However, for high extinction regions ($E(B-V)^{SFD}>0.12$ mag), the SFD map overestimates the Galactic reddening systematically, which can be approximated by a linear relation $\Delta E(B-V)= 0.43[E(B-V)^{SFD}-0.12$]. By combing the results of galaxy number counts and color distribution together, we find that the shape of the Galactic extinction curve is in good agreement with the standard $R_V=3.1$ extinction law of \cite{ODonnell1994}

What has affected the governance effect of the whole population coverage of medical insurance in China in the past decade? Lessons for other countries

ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the current state of governance of full population coverage of health insurance in China and its influencing factors to provide empirical references for countries with similar social backgrounds as China.MethodsA cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted nationwide between 22 January 2020 and 26 January 2020, with descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and logistic regression models via SPSS 25.0 to analyze the effectiveness and influencing factors of the governance of full population coverage of health insurance in China.ResultsThe effectiveness of the governance relating to the total population coverage of health insurance was rated as good by 59% of the survey respondents. According to the statistical results, the governance of the public's ability to participate in insurance (OR = 1.516), the degree of information construction in the medical insurance sector (OR = 2.345), the government's governance capacity (OR = 4.284), and completeness of the government's governance tools (OR = 1.370) were all positively correlated (p &lt; 0.05) on the governance effect of the whole population coverage of health insurance.ConclusionsThe governance of Chinese health insurance relating to the total population coverage is effective. To effectively improve the effectiveness of the governance relating to the total population coverage of health insurance, health insurance information construction, governance capacity, and governance tools should be the focus of governance to further improve the accurate expansion of and increase the coverage of health insurance

The Role Of Ubc9 In Drug Resistance And Its Expression Regulation In Cancer Cells

As a posttranslational modification, the sumoylation pathway plays a key role in a wide variety of cellular events such as cell proliferation, differentiation, stress response, DNA repair and apoptosis. Given the important role of protein sumoylation, it is not surprising that alternation of sumoylation will ultimately affect cell growth as well as cancer development. As an essential E2 conjugating enzyme for sumoylation, Ubc9 plays a central role in sumoylation-mediated cellular pathways. In this study, we investigate the role of Ubc9 in drug resistance as well as its regulation in cancer cells. An early gene product, Gam1, encoded by the avian adenovirus CELO, is an inhibitory protein for the sumoylation machinery by degrading E1 and E2 enzymes. Given the suppressive effect of Gam1 on Ubc9, in this study, we use this protein to study the role of Ubc9 in drug resistance as well as its underlying mechanism. Besides showing suppression of Ubc9 expression and sumoylation by Gam1, we found that Gam1 caused significant cell growth inhibition. Of interest, like the Ubc9 dominant negative mutant, Gam1 also sensitized cells to DNA damaging agents such as topotecan and doxorubicin as well as non-DNA-damaging agents such as paclitaxel and vincristine. Furthermore, we elucidated that Gam1-mediated cell growth inhibition was associated with induction of apoptosis. In particular, Gam1 induced caspase-3 activity as detected by immunostaining and Western blot. Taken together, our findings suggest that activation of the caspase pathways is at least in part responsible for the increased apoptosis in Gam1-expressing cells and, thus, contributes to the growth inhibition and enhanced chemosensitivity. Available evidence suggests that Ubc9 is a tumor promoting factor. However, little is known about the regulation of Ubc9. In this study, we first show that Ubc9 is overexpressed in several types of cancers, highlighting its clinical significance. We then investigate the underlying mechanism of Ubc9 upregulation. Of interest, we present evidence that Ubc9 is subjected to the post-transcriptional regulation by microRNAs and the miR-30 family, such as miR-30e, negatively regulate Ubc9 expression. In contrast to Ubc9, miR-30e is underexpressed in tumors. Moreover, ectopic expression of miR-30e suppresses cell growth which can be partially reversed by Ubc9. Finally, using luciferase-Ubc9-3\u27-UTR reporters, we show that Ubc9 is a direct target for miR-30e by interactions with the putative miR-30e binding sites. Therefore, our study suggests that Gam1 and miR-30e may serve as therapeutic agents for cancer treatment by targeting Ubc9

Biosynthesis of Poly-(3-hydroxybutyrate) under the Control of an Anaerobically Induced Promoter by Recombinant Escherichia coli from Sucrose

Poly-(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) is a polyester with biodegradable and biocompatible characteristics and has many potential applications. To reduce the raw material costs and microbial energy consumption during PHB production, cheaper carbon sources such as sucrose were evaluated for the synthesis of PHB under anaerobic conditions. In this study, metabolic network analysis was conducted to construct an optimized pathway for PHB production using sucrose as the sole carbon source and to guide the gene knockout to reduce the generation of mixed acid byproducts. The plasmid pMCS-sacC was constructed to utilize sucrose as a sole carbon source, and the cascaded promoter P3nirB was used to enhance PHB synthesis under anaerobic conditions. The mixed acid fermentation pathway was knocked out in Escherichia coli S17-1 to reduce the synthesis of byproducts. As a result, PHB yield was improved to 80% in 6.21 g/L cell dry weight by the resulted recombinant Escherichia coli in a 5 L bed fermentation, using sucrose as the sole carbon source under anaerobic conditions. As a result, the production costs of PHB will be significantly reduced

Collaborative electric vehicle routing with meet points

In this paper, we develop a profit-sharing-based optimal routing mechanism to incentivize horizontal collaboration among urban goods distributors. This paper investigates a collaborative routing problem for urban logistics, in which the exchange of goods at meet points is optimally planned en route. We show that collaboration does not only reduce the total cost but also increases the profit of each company by sharing some customers and the related profit. Hence, we focus on solving a collaborative electric vehicle routing problem under constraints such as customer-specific time windows, opportunity charging, vehicle capacity, and meet-point synchronization. The proposed Collaborative Electric Vehicle Routing Problem with Meet Point (CoEVRPMP) is modeled as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming problem. We first present an exact method for optimal benchmarks via decomposition. To handle real-world problems, we suggest using a metaheuristic method: adaptive large neighborhood search with linear programming. The viability and scalability of the collaborative method are demonstrated via numerical case studies: (i) a real-world case of two grocery stores in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, and (ii) a large-scale experiment with 500 customers. The results underline the importance of horizontal collaboration among delivery companies. Collaboration helps to reduce the environmental footprint (total energy consumed) and to increase the individual company\u27s profit at the same time