Evaluation of the performance of a qPCR-based assay for HIV-1 viral load determination.

Objective: According to the YY/T 1182-2010 standard of the People's Republic of China on nucleic acid amplification test reagents (kits) for medical industry, the accuracy, precision, linear range, and analytic sensitivity of HIV-1 standardized quality control products should be assessed. The Geneway HIV-1 Nucleic Acid Detection Kit from China has been successfully registered with the National Medical Products Administration. Here, we aimed to assess for the first time its detection performance.

Transarterial Chemoembolization Plus Lenvatinib and PD-1 Inhibitors for Hepatocellular Carcinoma with Main Trunk Portal Vein Tumor Thrombus: A Multicenter Retrospective Study.

Purpose: In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors have been used in combination with tyrosine kinase inhibitors and local therapies, creating a new era in treating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT). However, the benefits of this triple therapy remain unclear. Thus, this study evaluated whether the combination of transarterial chemoembolization (TACE), lenvatinib, and programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors (triple therapy) was effective and safe for unresectable HCC with main trunk portal vein tumor thrombus (Vp4).

Robust electrical impedance tomography for biological application: A mini review.

Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) has been used by researchers across several areas because of its low-cost and no-radiation properties. Researchers use complex conductivity in bioimpedance experiments to evaluate changes in various indicators within the image target. The diverse volumes and edges of biological tissues and the large impedance range impose dedicated demands on hardware design.

All-solid-state potentiometric salicylic acid sensor for in-situ measurement of plant.

Using PEDOT as the conductive polymer, an innovative small-scale sensor for directly measuring salicylate ions in plants was developed, which avoided the complicated sample pretreatment of traditional analytical methods and realized the rapid detection of salicylic acid. The results demonstrate that this all-solid-state potentiometric salicylic acid sensor is easy to miniaturize, has a longer lifetime (≥1 month), is more robust, and can be directly used for the detection of salicylate ions in real samples without any additional pretreatment. The developed sensor has a good Nernst slope (63.

Prediction of Re-positivity for Coronavirus Nucleic Acid Among COVID-19 Patients in the Recovery Phase.

Although the pathogenesis and treatment of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been gradually revealed, the risk for re-emergence of coronavirus nucleic acids in recovered patients remains poorly understood. Hence, this study evaluated the risk predictors associated with re-positivity for virus nucleic acid. Between February 1 and March 20, 2020, we retrospectively reviewed the clinical epidemiological data of 129 COVID-19 patients who were treated at Zhongxiang People's Hospital of Hubei Province in China.

Plant electrical signals: A multidisciplinary challenge.

Plant electrical signals, an early event in the plant-stimulus interaction, rapidly transmit information generated by the stimulus to other organs, and even the whole plant, to promote the corresponding response and trigger a regulatory cascade. In recent years, many promising state-of-the-art technologies applicable to study plant electrophysiology have emerged. Research focused on expression of genes associated with electrical signals has also proliferated.

Serum Cytokines and FeNO in School-Aged Children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae Pneumonia.

BACKGROUND Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a major cause of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) that is particularly prevalent in school-aged children. This study explored the potential involvement of cytokines in children with Mycoplasma pneumoniae pneumonia (MPP) infection. MATERIAL AND METHODS Children aged 3-7 years who were hospitalized due to CAP infection were enrolled and divided into 2 groups: an MPP group (n=33) and a NMPP group (n=38), along with 21 age-matched healthy controls.

Composition and Genetic Diversity of the Microbiome in Different Topographic Areas and Growth Periods.

Fungal endophytes are the most ubiquitous plant symbionts on earth and are phylogenetically diverse. Studies on the fungal endophytes in tobacco have shown that they are widely distributed in the leaves, stems, and roots, and play important roles in the composition of the microbial ecosystem of tobacco. Herein, we analyzed and quantified the endophytic fungi of healthy tobacco leaves at the seedling stage (SS), resettling growth stage (RGS), fast-growing stage (FGS), and maturing stage (MS) at three altitudes (600, 1000, and 1300 m).

Decreased expression of long noncoding RNA GAS5 indicates a poor prognosis and promotes cell proliferation in gastric cancer.

Background: Gastric cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death and remains a major clinical challenge due to poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have emerged recently as major players in tumor biology and may be used for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, and potential therapeutic targets. Although downregulation of lncRNA GAS5 (Growth Arrest-Specific Transcript) in several cancers has been studied, its role in gastric cancer remains unknown.

Lnc RNA HOTAIR functions as a competing endogenous RNA to regulate HER2 expression by sponging miR-331-3p in gastric cancer.

Background: Accumulating evidence indicates that the long non-coding RNA HOTAIR plays a critical role in cancer progression and metastasis. However, the overall biological role and clinical significance of HOTAIR in gastric carcinogenesis remains largely unknown.

Methods: HOTAIR expression was measured in 78 paired cancerous and noncancerous tissue samples by real-time PCR.

MiR-196a is upregulated in gastric cancer and promotes cell proliferation by downregulating p27(kip1).

Aberrant expression of miR-196a has been frequently reported in cancer studies. However, the expression and mechanism of its function in gastric cancer remains unclear. Quantitative real-time PCR was carried out to detect the relative expression of miR-196a in gastric cancer cell lines and tissues.

[Design of dynamic simulation system for carbon cycle in forest ecosystem].

Modeling techniques are indispensable for the researches on the carbon cycle of forest ecosystem. In this paper, a new general simulation system FORCASS (FORest CArbon Simulation System) was designed and developed under Simulink environment, with the objectives of modeling the carbon cycle dynamics of forest ecosystems. A comprehensive analysis on the framework, design solution, and development process showed that the FORCASS was feasible.