Primary Extradural Melanoma Arising in Cervical Spinal Nerve Root.

Background: Primary cervical melanoma is rare; this is especially true of extradural melanoma arising in the nerve root. Characterizing these cases can provide a basis for improved melanoma management.

Case Description: A 42-year-old female patient with numbness and pain in the right shoulder and arm persisting for 5 years was admitted.

Two mulberry phytochelatin synthase genes confer zinc/cadmium tolerance and accumulation in transgenic Arabidopsis and tobacco.

Phytochelatin synthase (PCS) is an enzyme involved in the synthesis of phytochelatins, cysteine-rich peptides which play a key role in heavy metal (HM) detoxification of plants. Mulberry (Morus L.), one of the most ecologically and economically important tree genera, has the potential to remediate HM-contaminated soils.

Complete synchronization of the global coupled dynamical network induced by Poisson noises.

The different Poisson noise-induced complete synchronization of the global coupled dynamical network is investigated. Based on the stability theory of stochastic differential equations driven by Poisson process, we can prove that Poisson noises can induce synchronization and sufficient conditions are established to achieve complete synchronization with probability 1. Furthermore, numerical examples are provided to show the agreement between theoretical and numerical analysis.

Graphene Oxide Thin Film with Dual Function Integrated into a Nanosandwich Device for in Vivo Monitoring of Interleukin-6.

Graphene oxide (GO), with its exceptional physical and chemical properties and biocompatibility, holds a tremendous potential for sensing applications. In this study, GO, acting both as the electron-transfer bridge and the signal reporter, was attached on the interface to develop a label-free electrochemical nanosandwich device for detection of interleukin-6 (IL-6). First, a single layer of GO was covalently modified on gold electrodes, followed by attachment of anti-IL-6 capture antibody to form the sensing interface.

[Knockout of LSD1 Gene by CRISPR/Cas9 System Significantly Inhibited Proliferation and Expression of CD235a in K562 Cells].

Objective: To study the effect of LSD1 knock-out on human chronic myeloid leukemia cells(K562 cells).

Methods: The LSD1 gene in K562 cells was knocked-out specifically by using CRISPR/Cas9 system, the single cells were gained by flow cytometric sorting technique, the LSD1 and LSD1 cell lines were gained after amplificantion and culture, identification of Western blot and sequencing. The MTS assay was used to detect the effect of LSD1 knockout on the proliferation of K562 cells, the flow cytometry was used to examine the expression of K562 cell surface marker after LSD1 knockout.

Carbon nanotubes-based drug delivery to cancer and brain.

Current treatments for cancer and the central nervous system diseases are limited, partly due to the difficulties posed by the insolubility, poor distribution of drugs among cells and lack of selectivity of drugs, the inability of drugs to cross cellular barriers and blood brain barrier (BBB). Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) possess many distinct properties including good electronic properties, remarkably penetrating capability on the cell membrane, high drug-loading and pH-dependent therapeutic unloading capacities, thermal properties, large surface area and easy modification with molecules, which render them as a suitable candidate to deliver drugs to cancer and brain. CNTs as a drug delivery could achieve a high efficacy, enhance specificity and diminish side effects.

Stability and electronic properties of hybrid SnO bilayers: SnO/graphene and SnO/BN.

Van der Waals structures based on two-dimensional materials have been considered as promising structures for novel nanoscale electronic devices. Two-dimensional SnO films which display intrinsic p-type semiconducting properties were fabricated recently. In this paper, we consider vertically stacked heterostructures consisting of a SnO monolayer with graphene or a BN monolayer to investigate their stability, electronic and transport properties using density functional theory.

Modulating fat digestion through food structure design.

Dietary fats and oils are an important component of our diet and a significant contributor to total energy and intake of lipophilic nutrients and bioactives. We discuss their fate in a wide variety of engineered, processed and naturally-occurring foods as they pass through the gastrointestinal tract and the implicit role of the food matrix within which they reside. Important factors that control fat and oil digestion include: 1) Their physical state (liquid or solid); 2) Dispersion of oil as emulsion droplets and control of the interfacial structure of emulsified oils; 3) The structure and rheology of the food matrix surrounding dispersed oil droplets; and 4) Alteration of emulsified oil droplet size and concentration.

Tumor-infiltrating immune cells and prognosis in gastric cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Tumor-infiltrating immune cells are a pivotal component of the tumor microenvironment (TME), but their indicative role remains poorly defined. A meta-analysis was performed to reveal the prognostic efficiency of tumor-infiltrating immune cells in gastric cancer (GC). By searching PubMed and Embase, we identified a total of 35 eligible articles that involved 4888 patients.

The Physical State of Emulsified Edible Oil Modulates Its in Vitro Digestion.

Emulsified lipid digestion was tailored by manipulating the physical state of dispersed oil droplets in whey protein stabilized oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions, where the oil phase consisted of one of five ratios of soybean oil (SO) and fully hydrogenated soybean oil (FHSO). The evolution in particle size distribution, structural changes during oral, gastric, and intestinal digestion, and free fatty acid release during intestinal digestion were all investigated. Irrespective of the physical state and structure of the dispersed oil/fat, all emulsions were stable against droplet size increases during oral digestion.

Fiber-type distribution and expression of myosin heavy chain isoforms in newborn heterozygous myostatin-knockout pigs.

Objectives: To explore the effects of heterozygous myostatin-knockout (MSNT) on muscle characteristics, specifically fiber-type distribution and expression of myosin heavy chain isoforms in pigs.

Results: The fiber cross-sectional area of the semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles were much larger in MSTN pigs at birth than in wild-type (WT) pigs. MSTN pigs had a higher proportion of fast-type fibers and lower succinate dehydrogenase activity in muscles than WT pigs.

Structure-Regularized Compressive Tracking With Online Data-Driven Sampling.

Being a powerful appearance model, compressive random projection derives effective Haar-like features from non-rotated 4-D-parameterized rectangles, thus supporting fast and reliable object tracking. In this paper, we show that such successful fast compressive tracking scheme can be further significantly improved by structural regularization and online data-driven sampling. Our major contribution is threefold.

Liver metabolomics study reveals protective function of Phyllanthus urinaria against CCl-induced liver injury.

Phyllanthus Urinaria L. (PUL) is a traditional Chinese medicine used to treat hepatic and renal disorders. However, the mechanism of its hepatoprotective action is not fully understood.

Serum Eosinophil Cationic Protein Is a Useful Marker for Assessing the Efficacy of Inhaled Corticosteroid Therapy in Children with Bronchial Asthma.

Bronchial asthma (BA) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of airways for which the effective therapies include inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) and short-acting β2-adrenoreceptor agonist (SABA). Serum eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) has been reported to reflect the degree of airway inflammation. We, therefore, explored the implication of serum ECP in assessing the efficacy of ICS therapy in BA children.

Functional single-walled carbon nanotubes 'CAR' for targeting dopamine delivery into the brain of parkinsonian mice.

Current treatments for Parkinson's disease (PD) are limited, partly due to the difficulties posed by the blood brain barrier (BBB) when delivering drugs to the brain. Herein, we explore the feasibility and efficacy of functional single-walled carbon nanotubes 'CAR' (SWCNT-PEGs-Lf) which carry and target-deliver dopamine (DA) to the brain in PD mice for treatment. SWCNTs can penetrate the cell-membrane remarkably, with the characteristics including high drug-loading and pH-dependent therapeutic unloading capacities.

Magnetite hollow microspheres with a broad absorption bandwidth of 11.9 GHz: toward promising lightweight electromagnetic microwave absorption.

High-performance magnetite-based hollow spheres with the advantages of low density and low loading content are promising as an ideal lightweight electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption candidate. However, the effective preparation methods for these hollow spheres are still limited, and as a result, materials design and practical applications based on their size-dependent EM microwave attenuation properties are poorly accessible. In this study, high quality magnetite hollow spheres were successfully prepared by a simple, fast, one-step, and scalable plasma dynamic method with sole use of inexpensive precursors (oxygen and mild steel).

Parthenogenetic activation and somatic cell nuclear transfer of porcine oocytes activated by an electric pulse and AZD5438 treatment.

We examined the in vitro developmental competence of parthenogenetic activation (PA) oocytes activated by an electric pulse (EP) and treated with various concentrations of AZD5438 for 4 h. Treatment with 10 µM AZD5438 for 4 h significantly improved the blastocyst formation rate of PA oocytes in comparison with 0, 20, or 50 µM AZD5438 treatment (46.4% vs.

Charged amino acid variability related to N-glyco -sylation and epitopes in A/H3N2 influenza: Hem -agglutinin and neuraminidase.

Background: The A/H3N2 influenza viruses circulated in humans have been shown to undergo antigenic drift, a process in which amino acid mutations result from nucleotide substitutions. There are few reports regarding the charged amino acid mutations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations between charged amino acids, N-glycosylation and epitopes in hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA).

Perceived impacts of the national essential medicines system: a cross-sectional survey of health workers in urban community health services in China.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of primary care workers about the impacts of the national essential medicines policy (NEMP).

Setting: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was undertaken in 42 urban community health centres randomly selected from four provinces in China.

Participants: 791 primary care workers rated the impacts of the NEMP on a 5-point Likert scale.

Extracting time-frequency feature of single-channel vastus medialis EMG signals for knee exercise pattern recognition.

The EMG signal indicates the electrophysiological response to daily living of activities, particularly to lower-limb knee exercises. Literature reports have shown numerous benefits of the Wavelet analysis in EMG feature extraction for pattern recognition. However, its application to typical knee exercises when using only a single EMG channel is limited.

Thymidine kinase 1 expression in ovarian serous adenocarcinoma is superior to Ki-67: A new prognostic biomarker.

Cancer is a disease with abnormally proliferating cells and therefore proliferation rate is an important index for assessing tumour growth. Ki-67 is a commonly used proliferation marker considered to be an unfavourable prognostic marker in some tumors, while Thymidine kinase 1 (TK1) is an interesting proliferation marker because its levels are highly dependent on the growth stage of cells. To define the immunohistochemistry (IHC) expression of the TK1 in patients with ovarian serous adenocarcinoma and establish its potential role as a new biomarker for progressive disease, we analyzed the expression patterns of TK1 and Ki-67 in 109 patients with ovarian serous adenocarcinoma.

Pre-vaccination evolution of antibodies among infants 0, 3 and 6months of age: A longitudinal analysis of measles, enterovirus 71 and coxsackievirus 16.

Background: Due to waning levels of maternal antibodies (measles; enterovirus 71, EV71; and coxsackievirus A16, CoxA16), some infants may lose protection against infection prior to vaccination. Using a longitudinal design, we examine how maternal antibody levels evolve over time in infants prior to vaccination.

Methods: In 2013-2014, we collected sera at ages 0, 3 and 6months from infants.

Anti-inflammatory properties of expressing human manganese superoxide dismutase using the TNBS-induced rats model of colitis.

The chronic enteritis disease ulcerative colitis (UC) is a formidable opponent, and its etiology remains unclear. Current studies have shown that oxidative stress is closely related to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease. Antioxidant enzymes, such as manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD)，have been deemed to exert an anti-inflammatory function.

Overexpression of apolipoprotein A-I alleviates endoplasmic reticulum stress in hepatocytes.

Background: Abnormal lipid metabolism may contribute to an increase in endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, resulting in the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) accepts cellular free cholesterol and phospholipids transported by ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 to generate nascent high density lipoprotein particles. Previous studies have revealed that the overexpression of apoA-I alleviated hepatic lipid levels by modifying lipid transport.