Potential role of prokineticin 2 in experimental varicocele-induced rat testes.

Objective: To determine the possible role of prokineticin 2 in varicocele by inducing varicoceles in adult rats.

Methods: Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were used for sham operation (n = 10) and varicocele (n = 30) groups. Experimental varicocele was induced by partial ligation of the left renal vein in the varicocele, whereas the sham operation group only received a sham induction of varicocele.

Triterpenoid saponins from Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge and their inhibitory activity on human cancer cell lines.

Xanthoceras sorbifolia Bunge is widely used as healthy food material and folk medicine in China. Phytochemical investigation on its seeds oil leavings has led to the isolation and identification of seven new oleanane-type triterpenoid saponins named sorbifoliasides A-F (1-6) and bunkankasaponin F (7), along with five known ones (8-12). The structures of the new compounds were elucidated through spectroscopic analysis and chemical derivatization.

Chemometric resolution of coeluting peaks of eleven antihypertensives from multiple classes in high performance liquid chromatography: a comprehensive research in human serum, health product and Chinese patent medicine samples.

A novel chemometric-assisted high performance liquid chromatography method coupled with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was presented for the simultaneous determination of eleven antihypertensives from multiple classes in most concerned matrix systems. With the aid of second-order calibration which enables specific information of analytes to be well extracted, the heavily overlapping profiles between analytes and the coeluting interferences can be successfully separated and thus accurately quantified. A great advantage of the novel strategy lies in the fact that the analysis could be carried out with the same isocratic mobile phase (methanol/KH(2)PO(4): 58:42, v/v, pH 2.

Association of angiotensin-converting enzyme gene insertion/deletion polymorphism with polycystic ovary syndrome: a meta-analysis.

Introduction: Epidemiological studies investigating the association of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) gene insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) produced inconsistent results. To derive a more precise estimation of the relationship between I/D polymorphism and PCOS, we conducted the current meta-analysis.

Materials And Methods: PubMed, Web of Science and CNKI were searched for eligible publications up to 1 February 2012.

F-spondin/spon1b expression patterns in developing and adult zebrafish.

F-spondin, an extracellular matrix protein, is an important player in embryonic morphogenesis and CNS development, but its presence and role later in life remains largely unknown. We generated a transgenic zebrafish in which GFP is expressed under the control of the F-spondin (spon1b) promoter, and used it in combination with complementary techniques to undertake a detailed characterization of the expression patterns of F-spondin in developing and adult brain and periphery. We found that F-spondin is often associated with structures forming long neuronal tracts, including retinal ganglion cells, the olfactory bulb, the habenula, and the nucleus of the medial longitudinal fasciculus (nMLF).

Does risk for ovarian malignancy algorithm excel human epididymis protein 4 and CA125 in predicting epithelial ovarian cancer: a meta-analysis.

Backgrounds: Risk for Ovarian Malignancy Algorithm (ROMA) and Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) appear to be promising predictors for epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), however, conflicting results exist in the diagnostic performance comparison among ROMA, HE4 and CA125.

Methods: Remote databases (MEDLINE/PUBMED, EMBASE, Web of Science, Google Scholar, the Cochrane Library and ClinicalTrials.gov) and full texts bibliography were searched for relevant abstracts.

Extended quasi-likelihood with fractional polynomials in the frame of the accelerated failure time model.

The accelerated failure time model is frequently used in survival analysis because of its direct physical interpretation. Semiparametric inference methods have been extensively investigated for this model. However, the accelerated failure time model and the existing inference methods assume homogeneity of the survival data after taking log-transformation.

Associations of adiponectin gene polymorphisms with polycystic ovary syndrome: a meta-analysis.

Adiponectin gene polymorphisms have been implicated in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) development. However, results from previous studies were inconsistent and inconclusive. To shed some light on the relationship of two adiponectin gene polymorphisms, T45G and G276T, with PCOS, we conducted the current meta-analysis.

A Bayesian model for gene family evolution.

Background: A birth and death process is frequently used for modeling the size of a gene family that may vary along the branches of a phylogenetic tree. Under the birth and death model, maximum likelihood methods have been developed to estimate the birth and death rate and the sizes of ancient gene families (numbers of gene copies at the internodes of the phylogenetic tree). This paper aims to provide a Bayesian approach for estimating parameters in the birth and death model.

Association between IGF2BP2 rs4402960 polymorphism and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a meta-analysis.

Background And Aims: Genome-wide association studies recently found IGF2BP2 rs4402960 polymorphism associated with enhanced risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Numerous studies have been published to replicate the association. However, results were inconsistent and inconclusive.

Low cholesterol is associated with depression among US household population.

Objective: Serum cholesterol was reported to be associated with depressed mood, but the studies conducted among household population are rare.

Methods: We used the data of 4115 men and 4275 women aged 18 or older, who completed a depression screening interview and had blood collected as a part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2005-2008. The serum concentrations of total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were gender-specifically categorized into lower, intermediate, and upper quartiles.

Nonparametric quasi-likelihood for right censored data.

Quasi-likelihood was extended to right censored data to handle heteroscedasticity in the frame of the accelerated failure time (AFT) model. However, the assumption of known variance function in the quasi-likelihood for right censored data is usually unrealistic. In this paper, we propose a nonparametric quasi-likelihood by replacing the specified variance function with a nonparametric variance function estimator.

[Short-term effects of fire disturbance on greenhouse gases emission from Betula platyphylla-forested wetland in Xiaoxing'an Mountains, Northeast China].

By the methods of static chamber and gas chromatography, this paper studied the effects of fire disturbance on the seasonal dynamics and source/sink functions of CH4, CO2 and N2O emissions from Betula platyphylla-forested wetland as well as their relations with environmental factors in Xiaoxing' an Mountains of China. In growth season, slight fire disturbance on the wetland induced an increase of air temperature and ground surface temperature by 1.8-3.

Association between the T869C polymorphism of transforming growth factor-beta 1 and diabetic nephropathy: a meta-analysis.

Accumulating evidence has suggested that transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-β1) is a functional candidate for diabetic nephropathy (DN). However, association studies investigating the relationship of TGF-β1 gene T869C polymorphism and DN generate inconsistent results. To comprehensively clarify this issue, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the impact of the polymorphism on DN.

Morphology of rat testis preserved in three different fixatives.

Histopathological examination of testes is important in assessing spermatogenesis and testicular function. Modified Davidson's fluid (mDF) has been proposed as a superior substitute for Bouin's fluid (BF) for fixation of adult animal testes. Besides, 4% paraformaldehyde (PFA) has been commonly used to fix testes with convenience.

Evaluation of phase, microstructure and composition of human dentine after Er,Cr:YSGG laser irradiation.

This study aims to evaluate the composition, micro-structure and inorganic phase alternations of human dentine irradiated by Er,Cr:YSGG laser with water cooling spray system. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated that the main inorganic phase of dentine before and after laser irradiation were all Hydroxyapatite (HA) structure, approximately 30 nm in size. No significant changes occurred in the average particle size after irradiation in four energy densities (6.

Structural, electronic and magnetic properties of ultra-narrow NbSe2 nanoribbons.

Structural, electronic and magnetic properties of ultra-narrow NbSe2 nanoribbons with different chirality and edge structures are studied by using density functional theory calculations. Armchair-like NbSe2 nanoribbons exhibit nonmagnetic and metal behavior. Zigzag-like NbSe2 nanoribbons always have ferromagnetic ground states with electronic types ranging from semiconductor, metal, even to half-metal.

Estimating species trees from unrooted gene trees.

In this study, we develop a distance method for inferring unrooted species trees from a collection of unrooted gene trees. The species tree is estimated by the neighbor joining (NJ) tree built from a distance matrix in which the distance between two species is defined as the average number of internodes between two species across gene trees, that is, average gene-tree internode distance. The distance method is named NJ(st) to distinguish it from the original NJ method.

In vitro differentiation of rat embryonic stem cells into functional cardiomyocytes.

The recent breakthrough in the generation of rat embryonic stem cells (rESCs) opens the door to application of gene targeting to create models for the study of human diseases. In addition, the in vitro differentiation system from rESCs into derivatives of three germ layers will serve as a powerful tool and resource for the investigation of mammalian development, cell function, tissue repair, and drug discovery. However, these uses have been limited by the difficulty of in vitro differentiation.

Functionalized graphene for high-performance two-dimensional spintronics devices.

Using first-principles calculations, we explore the possibility of functionalized graphene as a high-performance two-dimensional spintronics device. Graphene functionalized with O on one side and H on the other side in the chair conformation is found to be a ferromagnetic metal with a spin-filter efficiency up to 54% at finite bias. The ground state of graphene semifunctionalized with F in the chair conformation is an antiferromagnetic semiconductor, and we construct a spin-valve device from it by introducing a magnetic field to stabilize its metallic ferromagnetic state.

Expression and clinical implications of homeobox gene Six1 in cervical cancer cell lines and cervical epithelial tissues.

Introduction: The homeobox gene Six1 is overexpressed in multiple human tumors, playing a role in promoting tumorigenesis and metastasis. The present study was aimed to investigate the clinical implications of Six1 expression in cervical cancer.

Methods: Six1 messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein expression was detected by reverse transcription (RT) polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting, respectively, in human cervical cancer cell lines CaSki, HeLa, C33A and 20 normal cervical specimens, 21 specimens of cervical intraepithelial neoplasias (CINs), and 54 specimens of cervical cancer tissue, and the clinical implications of Six1 gene expression was analyzed.

Photosensitive cross-linked block copolymers with controllable release.

We intend to form photosensitive block copolymer micelles for controllable release of encapsulated substances. Here, we designed and synthesized a new photocleavable cross-linker (2-nitrophenyl ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) for methyl methacrylate (MMA) atom transfer radical polymerization. Four different ratios (0:1, 1:26, 1:16, 1:8.

EZH2 regulates expression of p57 and contributes to progression of ovarian cancer in vitro and in vivo.

In order to determine the expression pattern of EZH2 in ovarian neoplasms and assess the functions and mechanism of EZH2 in tumorigenesis in vitro and in vivo, we detected the protein and mRNA expression of EZH2 and p57 in normal, benign and malignant ovarian tissues, used shRNA to knock down EZH2 expression in ovarian cancer cells and established a nude mouse xenograft model. We found EZH2 was overexpressed in ovarian tumor with the highest level expression in malignant ovarian tissues, and the variation of EZH2 expression at different pathological type/grade and International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stages was statistically significant. Furthermore, the EZH2 expression was inversely correlated with the p57 mRNA level in ovarian tissues.

Expression and biological function of N-myc down-regulated gene 1 in human cervical cancer.

The expression of N-myc down-regulated gene 1 (NDRG1) has previously been reported to be involved in the proliferation, differentiation, invasion and metastasis of cancer cells, but its role in cervical cancer is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the expression of NDRG1gene in human cervical cancer and its effect on aggressive tumor behaviors. The NDRG1 expression in cervical tissues and cells was detected by RT-PCR.

[Common syndrome factors of traditional Chinese medicine in chronic renal failure based on the questionnaire investigation among experts].

Objective: To screen common traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) syndrome factors of chronic renal failure (CRF) via questionnaire investigation among experts.

Methods: A questionnaire was developed based on the results of our previous researches. The investigation was carried out with the questionnaire among experts who are engaged in clinical research and treatment of nephrosis with the title of chief or associate chief physician from 15 hospitals in China.