A Novel Pseudo-Protein-Based Biodegradable Nanomicellar Platform for the Delivery of Anticancer Drugs.

Amino acid-based poly(ester amide)s are a new family of biodegradable polymers that exhibit "pseudo-protein" characteristics and the structural varieties of poly(ester amide)s make them hold great potential in multiple biomedical applications. In this study, a lysine-phenylalanine-based pseudo-protein is developed as the self-assembled nanomicellar carrier for efficient delivery of doxorubicin. The lysine moieties from the pseudo-protein provide available sites for further functionalization, and methylcoumarin is introduced for easy and photocontrollable crosslinking, to effectively improve the micellar stability in serum containing environment and against dilution.

triggers the expression of inflammatory genes in human umbilical vein endothelial cells.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the pathogenesis of in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and to screen for aberrantly expressed genes during the process of infection. GSE7355 (accession no.) was downloaded from the National Center of Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus database and used to identify the differentially-expressed genes (DEGs) between the two groups, which included 4 samples from an untreated HUVEC control group, and 4 samples from HUVECs exposed to .

Gender differences in the pathways of family factors influencing children's oral health behaviours: a cross-sectional study of primary school students in Beijing, China.

Objective: Research on what family factors influence children's oral health behaviours (COHB) in developing countries is limited, and there have been no path analyses accounting for gender differences in these factors. Thus, our study evaluated gender differences in COHB including the influencing pathways of family factors in China.

Materials And Methods: Through multistage cluster sampling, 915 pairs of mothers and children from six public elementary schools in Beijing completed self-administered questionnaires regarding COHB, parents' modelling behaviours (PMB), parents' controlling behaviours (PCB), parents' oral health knowledge and attitudes (PKA), and children's oral health knowledge and attitudes (CKA).

The Migrant Paradox in Children and the Role of Schools in Reducing Health Disparities: A Cross-Sectional Study of Migrant and Native Children in Beijing, China.

Migrants usually exhibit similar or better health outcomes than native-born populations despite facing socioeconomic disadvantages and barriers to healthcare use; this is known as the "migrant paradox." The migrant paradox among children is highly complex. This study explores whether the migrant paradox exists in the health of internal migrant children in China and the role of schools in reducing children's health disparities, using a multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method.

Impact of dry heating on physicochemical properties of corn starch and lysine mixture.

Corn starch was modified with lysine by dry heat treatment and to investigate how they can affect the pasting and structural properties of the treated starches. Dry heating with lysine reduced the pasting temperature and resulting in viscosity increase. The particle size of heated starch-lysine mixture increased, suggesting that starch granules were cross-linked to lysine.

Synthesis, crystal structure, and luminescence properties of a new europium silicate.

A new europium silicate, NaEuSi3O7(OH)2 (denoted as 1), was synthesized under high-temperature and high-pressure conditions, and structurally characterized by single-crystal and powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The single-crystal XRD analysis of 1 revealed that its structure was based on SiO4 tetrahedron single chains, which were connected together by the EuO6 polyhedron via vertex oxygen atoms forming a three-dimensional framework of 1. It contained 4, 6-ring channels along the [010] direction, which were delimited by the SiO4 tetrahedron and EuO6 polyhedron.

The Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen in a Chinese Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Population.

Objective: The existing screening batteries assessing multiple neuropsychological functions are not specific to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients and are limited to their physical dysfunctions, whereas category cognitive tests are too time-consuming to assess all the domains. The Edinburgh Cognitive and Behavioural ALS Screen (ECAS) was recently developed as a fast and easy cognitive screening tool specifically designed for patients. The purpose of the study was to validate the effectiveness of the Chinese version in Chinese ALS populations.

HPV E6/p53 mediated down-regulation of miR-34a inhibits Warburg effect through targeting LDHA in cervical cancer.

MicroRNAs (miRNA) play crucial roles in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and developmental timing. Aberrantly expressed miRNAs have recently emerged as key regulators of metabolism. However, little is known about its role in tumor metabolism of cervical cancer.

Smoking and Its Determinants in Chinese Internal Migrants: Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Data Analyses.

Introduction: Migrants often face multiple risk factors for smoking initiation. Former studies that have explored the smoking habits of Chinese migrants have provided inconsistent findings and lacked nationally representative samples.

Methods: Using data from the 2012 Migrant Dynamics Monitoring Survey in China published by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, this study explored current smoking rates and its determinants among migrants in China.

Social determinants of health behaviors in primary school children: A cross-sectional study of both migrant and resident children in Beijing, China.

Childhood risky behaviors always result in adverse health outcomes. These behaviors are greatly affected by social environment and individual factors. However, few studies explored the social determinants of schoolchildren's health behaviors.

Safety and efficacy of mizoribine treatment in nephrotic syndrome complicated with hepatitis B virus infection: a clinical study.

Objective The objective of this study is to explore the efficacy and safety of mizoribine (MZR) in treating nephrotic syndrome patients afflicted with hepatitis B virus (HBV). Methods The present study included 36 nephrotic syndrome patients accompanied with HBV infection. A draft of MZR (150-200 mg/d), methylprednisolone (0.

[Effects of Different Altitudes and Sowing Dates on Direct Sowing Angelica sinensis Yield and Quality].

Objective: To study the effects of different altitudes and sowing dates on direct sowing Angelica sinensis biomass, yield and quality, and to provide a theoretical basis for Angelica sinensis direct sowing cultivation techniques.

Methods: Two factors trials were used to research the influence of altitude and sowing dates on yield and quality of direct sowing Angelica sinensis. The altitudes were located at 2500, 2000 and 1500 m, and the sowing dates were set up at autumn August 29, and Spring April 3 and April 24.

Efficacy and safety of cyclophosphamide combined with mycophenolate mofetil for induction treatment of class IV lupus nephritis.

The present study aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of combination of cyclophosphamide (CTX) and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) as induction treatment in Chinese patients with class IV lupus nephritis (LN). 82 patients were randomly divided into control (CTX, n=40) and test (CTX+MMF, n=42) groups, and they received monthly dose of 0.75 g/m(2) of body surface area of CTX and monthly dose of 0.

Crystal structure and functional implications of the tandem-type universal stress protein UspE from Escherichia coli.

Background: The universal stress proteins (USP) family member UspE is a tandem-type USP that consists of two Usp domains. The UspE expression levels of the Escherichia coli (E. coli) become elevated in response to oxidative stress and DNA damaging agents, including exposure to mitomycin C, cadmium, and hydrogen peroxide.

The Worst-Case Weighted Multi-Objective Game with an Application to Supply Chain Competitions.

In this paper, we propose a worst-case weighted approach to the multi-objective n-person non-zero sum game model where each player has more than one competing objective. Our "worst-case weighted multi-objective game" model supposes that each player has a set of weights to its objectives and wishes to minimize its maximum weighted sum objectives where the maximization is with respect to the set of weights. This new model gives rise to a new Pareto Nash equilibrium concept, which we call "robust-weighted Nash equilibrium".

Histone deacetylase inhibitors attenuate P-aIgA1-induced cell proliferation and extracellular matrix synthesis in human renal mesangial cells in vitro.

Aim: Aberrantly glycosylated IgA1 is a key factor in the pathogenesis of IgA nephropathy (IgAN). In this study we investigated the effects of aggregated IgA1 derived from IgAN patients (P-aIgA1) on human renal mesangial cells (HMCs) and the anti-proliferative and antifibrotic effects of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in vitro.

Methods: Three types of IgA1 were prepared, ie, N-IgA1 (IgA1 from healthy volunteers), P-IgA1 (IgA1 from IgAN patients), and P-aIgA1 (aggregated IgA1 from IgAN patients).

Comparative efficacy and cost effectiveness of splenectomy and thrombopoietin prior to peginterferon and ribavirin therapy with compensatory cirrhosis associated with hepatitis C and thrombocytopenia.

The aim of the present study was to evaluate and compare the treatment efficacy and cost of two therapies, splenectomy and thrombopoietin, in order to optimize the treatment plans for patients with HCV-associated cirrhosis. A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted on 69 patients with a platelet count <60,000/mm that were enrolled between 2009 and 2013, including 38 cases as the research group and 31 cases as the observed group. The study included two stages: A 4-week initial treatment and a 48-week antiviral treatment, during which a number of parameters were evaluated, including platelet count, liver stiffness measure, albumin, total bilirubin, alanine aminotranferase and treatment cost-effectiveness.

REDV/Rapamycin-loaded polymer combinations as a coordinated strategy to enhance endothelial cells selectivity for a stent system.

A major challenge in the development of drug eluting stent platform is the sustained inhibition of smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation while endothelial cell (EC) coverage is promoted. We demonstrated in this study that the combination of rapamycin-loaded polymer base layer and Arg-Glu-Asp-Val (REDV) peptide tethered top layer is a coordinated strategy to enhance EC-specific selectivity. A 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine(MPC)-co-n-stearyl methacrylate (SMA) [PMS] film was prepared as a base coating to load rapamycin.

[Social determinants of chronic diseases related behaviors in primary school students in Beijing City].

Objective: To identify social determinants of chronic diseases related behaviors in primary school students in Beijing, China.

Methods: Cross-sectional study was designed and a two-stage (districts and schools) stratified (school type) cluster (classes) sampling method was adopted. Haidian and Fengtai districts were chosen firstly.

Dynamical analysis of periodic bursting in piece-wise linear planar neuron model.

A piece-wise linear planar neuron model, namely, two-dimensional McKean model with periodic drive is investigated in this paper. Periodical bursting phenomenon can be observed in the numerical simulations. By assuming the formal solutions associated with different intervals of this non-autonomous system and introducing the generalized Jacobian matrix at the non-smooth boundaries, the bifurcation mechanism for the bursting solution induced by the slowly varying periodic drive is presented.

Optineurin mutations in patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in China.

The purpose of this study was to assess the frequency of optineurin (OPTN) mutation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients from mainland China, as well as to characterize the relationship between OPTN mutation and clinical phenotypes. We examined the coding region of OPTN in 511 unrelated Chinese sporadic ALS (SALS) subjects and 204 healthy controls using a PCR direct sequencing strategy. Nine OPTN variants were identified, of which four were novel missense mutations: c.

The Robust Weighted Multi-Objective Game.

This paper studies a class of multi-objective n-person non-zero sum games through a robust weighted approach where each player has more than one competing objective. This robust weighted multi-objective game model assumes that each player attaches a set of weights to its objectives instead of accessing accurate weights. Each player wishes to minimize its maximum weighted sum objective where the maximization is pointing to the set of weights.

Characterization Method for 3D Substructure of Nuclear Cell Based on Orthogonal Phase Images.

A set of optical models associated with blood cells are introduced in this paper. All of these models are made up of different parts possessing symmetries. The wrapped phase images as well as the unwrapped ones from two orthogonal directions related to some of these models are obtained by simulation technique.