[Cytotoxicity and antibacterial effect of silicone-based soft liner varnish containing Ag/TiO2: an in vitro study].

Objective: We aim to evaluate the cytotoxicity and antibacterial effects of Silagum-Comfort (SLC) silicone-based soft liner varnish containing Ag/TiO2 in vitro.

Methods: Silicone-based liner circular specimens, with a diameter of 10 mm and a thickness of 2 mm, were created and divided into six groups randomly. Ag/TiO2 was incorporated into the SLC varnish based on the agent/material weight rate of 0, 0.

Long non‑coding RNAs: novel links in respiratory diseases (review).

Long non‑coding RNAs (lncRNAs) represent a surprisingly novel field in mammalian transcriptome research. With the development of RNA sequencing technology and computational methods, lncRNAs have been demonstrated to have important roles in biological processes at the epigenetic, transcription and post‑transcriptional levels. In addition, the dysregulation of lncRNAs contributes to numerous diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

Inverse relationship of bleeding risk with clot burden during pulmonary embolism treatment with LMW heparin.

Introduction: Clinically relevant bleeding occurs three times as frequently as recurrent venous thromboembolism in the modern early treatment of pulmonary embolism (PE) with fixed-dose, unmonitored anticoagulants. Unfractionated heparin (UFH) is monitored and adjusted to assure efficacy and minimize bleeding risk, but low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is not. PE requires more anticoagulant than isolated deep venous thrombosis.

Tacrolimus versus mycophenolate mofetil for induction therapy of lupus nephritis: a randomised controlled trial and long-term follow-up.

Objective: To compare the efficacy of tacrolimus (TAC) and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) for the initial therapy of lupus nephritis (LN).

Study Design: This is an open randomised controlled parallel group study.

Methods: Adult patients with biopsy-confirmed active LN (class III/IV/V) were randomised to receive prednisolone (0.

Accelerated model-based proton resonance frequency shift temperature mapping using echo-based GRAPPA reconstruction.

Purpose: To develop an acceleration method for MR temperature estimation using model-based proton resonance frequency (PRF) shift method.

Materials And Methods: Images of 16 different echo times (TE) were acquired in one RF excitation using a multi-echo gradient-recalled echo (GRE) sequence. Fully sampled k-space data were retrospectively under-sampled at a net reduction factor between two and three using the proposed under-sampling strategy.

[Roles of long noncoding RNA in lung cancer].

Long noncoding RNAs are a group of noncoding RNAs with a length more than 200 nucleotides. Recent studies have revealed that long noncoding RNAs play an important role in the development and progression of cancer. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death all over the world.

Minimizing the total service time of discrete dynamic berth allocation problem by an iterated greedy heuristic.

Berth allocation is the forefront operation performed when ships arrive at a port and is a critical task in container port optimization. Minimizing the time ships spend at berths constitutes an important objective of berth allocation problems. This study focuses on the discrete dynamic berth allocation problem (discrete DBAP), which aims to minimize total service time, and proposes an iterated greedy (IG) algorithm to solve it.

A single-arm, multicenter, safety-monitoring, phase IV study of icotinib in treating advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Background: The phase 3 ICOGEN trial established the non-inferiority of icotinib to gefitinib in terms of progression-free survival (PFS) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, and this led to the approval of icotinib for NSCLC by the China Food and Drug Administration. A phase 4 study was conducted to assess the safety and efficacy of icotinib in a broad range of patients with advanced NSCLC across China.

Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed data from unresectable, recurrent, and/or advanced NSCLC patients who received oral icotinib 125 mg three times per day.

Optimization of volatile markers of lung cancer to exclude interferences of non-malignant disease.

Background: Breath analysis became promising for noninvasive diagnosis of cancer with sophisticated spectrometry technology introduced.

Objective: This study aimed to select volatile markers for lung cancer detection, which exclude the influences from non-malignant lung diseases.

Methods: 171 subjects who were divided into three groups: patients with LC, patients with PNMD and healthy controls were enrolled in our studies as training cohort.

A point-of-care testing system with Love-wave sensor and immunogold staining enhancement for early detection of lung cancer.

It has been reported that detection of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) is available for studies of pulmonary diseases, especially lung disease. In order to detect lung cancer (LC) at early stage, a point-of-care testing system suitable for measurement of tumor markers in EBC is developed. The assay, based on gold nanoparticle sandwich immunoassay and subsequent gold staining, was performed on a Love-wave sensor packaged inside a chip cartridge.

Gender susceptibility for cigarette smoking-attributable lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: As the primary cause of lung cancer, whether smoking confers the same risk of lung cancer for women as men is unclear. Therefore, we aimed to compare male and female susceptibility for cigarette smoking-attributable lung cancer.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted by searching articles published up to July 2013 in three online databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane Database).

Power control for direct-driven permanent magnet wind generator system with battery storage.

The objective of this paper is to construct a wind generator system (WGS) loss model that addresses the loss of the wind turbine and the generator. It aims to optimize the maximum effective output power and turbine speed. Given that the wind generator system has inertia and is nonlinear, the dynamic model of the wind generator system takes the advantage of the duty of the Buck converter and employs feedback linearization to design the optimized turbine speed tracking controller and the load power controller.

Transgelin overexpression in lung adenocarcinoma is associated with tumor progression.

Hypoxia is a common feature of solid tumors and is associated with an increased likelihood of local recurrence and distant metastasis. Transgelin (TAGLN) is an actin cross-linking/polymerization protein that belongs to the family of actin-associated proteins, and there is evidence that TAGLN may be involved in the migration of epithelial cells by interacting with actin or promoting podosome formation. Cell migration is a key step of cancer metastatis.

Methylation-capture and Next-Generation Sequencing of free circulating DNA from human plasma.

Background: Free circulating DNA (fcDNA) has many potential clinical applications, due to the non-invasive way in which it is collected. However, because of the low concentration of fcDNA in blood, genome-wide analysis carries many technical challenges that must be overcome before fcDNA studies can reach their full potential. There are currently no definitive standards for fcDNA collection, processing and whole-genome sequencing.

Laser frequency offset locking via tripod-type electromagnetically induced transparency.

We have demonstrated laser frequency offset locking via the Rb87 tripod-type double-dark resonances electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system. The influence of coupling fields' power and detuning on the tripod-type EIT profile is studied in detail. In a wide coupling field's detuning range, the narrower EIT dip has an ultranarrow linewidth of ∼590  kHz, which is about one order narrower than the natural linewidth of Rb87.

Copy number variation detection using next generation sequencing read counts.

Background: A copy number variation (CNV) is a difference between genotypes in the number of copies of a genomic region. Next generation sequencing (NGS) technologies provide sensitive and accurate tools for detecting genomic variations that include CNVs. However, statistical approaches for CNV identification using NGS are limited.

Diagnostic value of the soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 in lower respiratory tract infections: a meta-analysis.

The soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1) is a promising diagnostic marker for many types of infections. A bivariate meta-analysis was performed to evaluate its diagnostic value for lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI). We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library and Web of Science (from January 1966 to August 2013) for all trials assessing diagnostic value of sTREM-1 for LRTI.

PROMISE: parallel-imaging and compressed-sensing reconstruction of multicontrast imaging using SharablE information.

Purpose: A typical clinical MR examination includes multiple scans to acquire images with different contrasts for complementary diagnostic information. The multicontrast scheme requires long scanning time. The combination of partially parallel imaging and compressed sensing (CS-PPI) has been used to reconstruct accelerated scans.

Transgelin as a therapeutic target to prevent hypoxic pulmonary hypertension.

We previously observed that transgelin was preferentially expressed in human pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells (PAMSCs) under hypoxia and that the upregulation of transgelin was independent of hypoxia-inducible factor 1α (HIF-1α). Reduced transgelin expression was accompanied by significantly impaired migration ability in vitro. However, the regulation mechanism of transgelin and its function in preventing hypoxic pulmonary hypertension (HPH) was unclear.

Efficacy of intrapleural instillation of fibrinolytics for treating pleural empyema and parapneumonic effusion: a meta-analysis of randomized control trials.

Introduction: The effects of intrapleural fibrinolysis for treating pleural empyema and parapneumonic effusion remain uncertain.

Objectives: We conducted a meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the efficacy of intrapleural instillation of fibrinolytics for treating pleural empyema and parapneumonic effusion.

Methods: Medline, Web of Science, Ovid and regulatory documents up to June 10, 2012 were searched.

Differences in functional activity between boys with pure oppositional defiant disorder and controls during a response inhibition task: a preliminary study.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) of inhibitory control has only been investigated in patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and conduct disorder (CD). The objective of this study was to investigate the differences of functional areas associated with inhibitory control between boys with pure oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and controls during a response inhibition task using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Eleven boys with pure ODD and ten control boys, aged 10 to 12, performed a GoStop response inhibition task in this study.

Rivaroxaban for the treatment of symptomatic deep-vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism in Chinese patients: a subgroup analysis of the EINSTEIN DVT and PE studies.

Background: The worldwide EINSTEIN DVT and EINSTEIN PE studies randomized 8282 patients with acute symptomatic deep-vein thrombosis (DVT) and/or pulmonary embolism (PE) and, for the first time in trials in this setting, included patients in China. This analysis evaluates the results of these studies in this subgroup of patients.

Methods: A total of 439 Chinese patients who had acute symptomatic DVT (n=211), or PE with or without DVT (n=228), were randomized to receive rivaroxaban (15 mg twice daily for 21 days, followed by 20 mg once daily) or standard therapy of enoxaparin overlapping with and followed by an adjusted-dose vitamin K antagonist, for 3, 6, or 12 months.

CEA, SCC and NSE levels in exhaled breath condensate--possible markers for early detection of lung cancer.

Lung cancer (LC) is the leading cause of cancer-related death. The sensitive and non-invasive diagnostic tools in the early stage are still poor. We present a pilot study on the early diagnosis of LC by detecting markers in exhaled breath condensate (EBC).

A comparative study of computed radiography-based mammography using digital phosphor storage plate and full field digital mammography.

Background: Two digital mammography systems, based on different physical concepts, have been introduced in the last few years namely the full-field digital mammography (FFDM) system and computed radiography-based mammography using digital storage phosphor plate (DSPM).

Aims: The objective of this study was to compare the image quality for DSPM and FFDM using a grading scale based on previously published articles.

Materials And Methods: This comparative diagnostic study was done for 5-month duration at the Breast Clinic.