Cell type-specific DNA methylome signatures reveal epigenetic mechanisms for neuronal diversity and neurodevelopmental disorder

DNA methylation plays a critical function in establishing and maintaining cell identity in brain. Disruption of DNA methylation-related processes leads to diverse neurological disorders. However, the role of DNA methylation characteristics in neuronal diversity remains underexplored. Here, we report detailed context-specific DNA methylation maps for GABAergic, glutamatergic (Glu) and Purkinje neurons, together with matched transcriptome profiles. Genome-wide mCH levels are distinguishable, while the mCG levels are similar among the three cell types. Substantial CG-differentially methylated regions (DMRs) are also seen, with Glu neurons experiencing substantial hypomethylation events. The relationship between mCG levels and gene expression displays cell type-specific patterns, while genic CH methylation exhibits a negative effect on transcriptional abundance. We found that cell type-specific CG-DMRs are informative in terms of represented neuronal function. Furthermore, we observed that the identified Glu-specific hypo-DMRs have a high level of consistency with the chromatin accessibility of excitatory neurons and the regions enriched for histone modifications (H3K27ac and H3K4me1) of active enhancers, suggesting their regulatory potential. Hypomethylation regions specific to each cell type are predicted to bind neuron type-specific transcription factors. Finally, we show that the DNA methylation changes in a mouse model of Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by the de novo mutations in MECP2, are cell type- and brain region-specific. Our results suggest that cell type-specific DNA methylation signatures are associated with the functional characteristics of the neuronal subtypes. The presented results emphasize the importance of DNA methylation-mediated epigenetic regulation in neuronal diversity and disease.

A multi-use deep learning method for CITE-seq and single-cell RNA-seq data integration with cell surface protein prediction and imputation

CITE-seq, a single-cell multi-omics technology that measures RNA and protein expression simultaneously in single cells, has been widely applied in biomedical research, especially in immune related disorders and other diseases such as influenza and COVID-19. Despite the proliferation of CITE-seq, it is still costly to generate such data. Although data integration can increase information content, this raises computational challenges. First, combining multiple datasets is prone to batch effects that need to be addressed. Secondly, it is difficult to combine multiple CITE-seq datasets because the protein panels in different datasets may only partially overlap. Integrating multiple CITE-seq and single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) datasets is important because this allows the utilization of as many data as possible to uncover cell population heterogeneity. To overcome these challenges, we present sciPENN, a multi-use deep learning approach that supports CITE-seq and scRNA-seq data integration, protein expression prediction for scRNA-seq, protein expression imputation for CITE-seq, quantification of prediction and imputation uncertainty, and cell type label transfer from CITE-seq to scRNA-seq. Comprehensive evaluations spanning multiple datasets demonstrate that sciPENN outperforms other current state-of-the-art methods.

Abstract 1218: HOPE2Net: Integrating histological features and position embeddings in spatially resolved transcriptomics to predict gene expression and pathway activities from histology images in tumors

Recent developments in spatially resolved transcriptomics (SRT) technologies have enabled the profiling of transcriptome-wide gene expression while retaining spatial location information of each measured spot within a tissue. Meanwhile, the corresponding histopathology images of tissue sections are readily available and can be aligned to the measured spots. Given that the histology images are practically more convenient and affordable to obtain, we designed HOPE2Net, a multi-layer perceptron architecture, that leverages information provided by SRT data to predict gene expression and pathway activities from histology images. Through systematic evaluations of different approaches for extracting deep image features and cellular morphology features, HOPE2Net performs feature selections from a pre-trained Vision Transformer, which is the state-of-art deep learning model for image recognition. After extracting histological image features, HOPE2Net further integrates with position embeddings, to optimize the gene expression and pathway activity prediction tasks. Through analyzing breast cancer and prostate cancer SRT datasets obtained from numerous tissue sections in multiple patients, we demonstrate that HOPE2Net can accurately predict the gene expression patterns for highly variable genes and the activities for significantly enriched domain-specific pathways. We further show that the predicted gene expression and pathway activities can help detect cancer subtypes and aid in treatment decision-makings. Given the growing interest in applying SRT in cancer genomics, we believe HOPE2Net holds the potential in identifying biomarkers from direct screenings of tissue histology images, which may be implemented in clinical studies for cancer diagnoses and decision-making processes.

Citation Format: Kenong Su, Minxing Pang, Mingyao Li. HOPE2Net: Integrating histological features and position embeddings in spatially resolved transcriptomics to predict gene expression and pathway activities from histology images in tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 1218.

[The clinical effect of ultrasonic bone curette-assisted "zoning" style laminectomy for the treatment of severe ossification of thoracic ligamentum flavum]

Objective: To investigate the safety and clinical efficacy of "zoning" style laminectomy by ultrasonic bone curette in patients with severe thoracic ossification of the ligamentum flavum(TOLF). Methods: The clinical data of 36 patients with severe TOLF treated by "zoning" style laminectomy at Department of Spinal Surgery,Zhengzhou Orthopaedic Hospital from October 2015 to October 2018 were respectively analyzed.There were 17 males and 19 females,aged(57.3±10.2)years(range:43 to 80 years).According to the anatomical characteristics of the thoracic ligamentum flavum and the pathological process of ossionization,each decompression segment was divided into the upper 1/3 area of the lamina,the bilateral area of the ossionum flavum,the transitional area,and the area of close contact between the ossionum flavum and the spinal cord.Different surgical strategies were used for decompression in turn.The modified Japanese Orthopedic Association (mJOA) was used to evaluate the neurological function status before and after surgery,to evaluate the surgical effect of patients,and to observe the surgical complications.Paired sample T test was used for data analysis. Results: All 36 patients successfully completed the operation,the operation time was (88.6±24.6) minutes(range:60 to 150 minutes).The intraoperative blood loss was (426.7±167.4) ml(range:250 to 800 ml).Follow-up time was (27.2±7.7) months(range:12 to 48 months).The mJOA score at the last follow-up was 9.0±1.5,which was statistically significant compared with the preoperative score 5.4±1.8 (t=13.59,P<0.01).The improvement rate of mJOA score was (65.7±22.1) %,of which 17 cases were excellent (47.2%),13 cases were good (36.1%),4 cases were normal (11.1%),2 cases were ineffective (5.6%).Ten patients had cerebrospinal fluid leakage during the separation or removal of dural ossification and were cured after a series of comprehensive conservative treatment.Two patients showed transient neurological deterioration,and the neurological function gradually recovered to the preoperative state after comprehensive treatment such as increasing the mean arterial pressure and using neurotrophic drugs.During the follow-up,no aggravation of neurological dysfunction and segmental kyphosis were found. Conclusions: The ultrasonic bone curette-assisted "zoning" style laminectomy for the treatment of severe TOLF can directly observed the position relationship between ossification of the ligamentum flavum and the spinal canal structure during the operation,and accurately guide the surgical decompression.It has the advantages of safe operation and complete decompression,which provides an important reference for the selection of clinical surgery.

Evaluation of some aspects in supervised cell type identification for single-cell RNA-seq: classifier, feature selection, and reference construction

BACKGROUND

Cell type identification is one of the most important questions in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data analysis. With the accumulation of public scRNA-seq data, supervised cell type identification methods have gained increasing popularity due to better accuracy, robustness, and computational performance. Despite all the advantages, the performance of the supervised methods relies heavily on several key factors: feature selection, prediction method, and, most importantly, choice of the reference dataset.

RESULTS

In this work, we perform extensive real data analyses to systematically evaluate these strategies in supervised cell identification. We first benchmark nine classifiers along with six feature selection strategies and investigate the impact of reference data size and number of cell types in cell type prediction. Next, we focus on how discrepancies between reference and target datasets and how data preprocessing such as imputation and batch effect correction affect prediction performance. We also investigate the strategies of pooling and purifying reference data.

CONCLUSIONS

Based on our analysis results, we provide guidelines for using supervised cell typing methods. We suggest combining all individuals from available datasets to construct the reference dataset and use multi-layer perceptron (MLP) as the classifier, along with F-test as the feature selection method. All the code used for our analysis is available on GitHub ( https://github.com/marvinquiet/RefConstruction_supervisedCelltyping ).

Pan-cancer analysis of pathway-based gene expression pattern at the individual level reveals biomarkers of clinical prognosis

Identifying biomarkers to predict the clinical outcomes of individual patients is a fundamental problem in clinical oncology. Multiple single-gene biomarkers have already been identified and used in clinics. However, multiple oncogenes or tumor-suppressor genes are involved during the process of tumorigenesis. Additionally, the efficacy of single-gene biomarkers is limited by the extensively variable expression levels measured by high-throughput assays. In this study, we hypothesize that in individual tumor samples, the disruption of transcription homeostasis in key pathways or gene sets plays an important role in tumorigenesis and has profound implications for the patient's clinical outcome. We devised a computational method named iPath to identify, at the individual-sample level, which pathways or gene sets significantly deviate from their norms. We conducted a pan-cancer analysis and demonstrated that iPath is capable of identifying highly predictive biomarkers for clinical outcomes, including overall survival, tumor subtypes, and tumor-stage classifications.

OP0081 A CASE OF ATYPICAL MYCOBACTERIUM INFECTION COMPLICATING EXTRA-NODAL ROSAI-DORFMAN DISEASE IN A PATIENT WITH SYSTEMIC LUPUS ERYTHEMATOSUS (SLE)

Background:

We present the case of a 28 year old Black-British female with severe SLE requiring treatment with rituximab in 2012 due to persistent low-grade activity and severe episodes of pleuro-pericardial effusions, pancytopaenia, fever and weight loss

Her other background includes beta-thalassaemia trait and excision of calcific fibrotic tissue on bilateral anterolateral orbits in 2015.

In 2018 she reported an 18-month history of non-tender, non-fluctuant, slow growing left thigh mass with USS revealing a well demarcated subcutaneous complex cystic lesion of ~2x4x7cm. There was no preceding trauma or skin infection. Histology from a needle biopsy revealed diffuse histiocytosis with positive immunohistochemistry (ICH) for S100, CD68 and CD31, it was negative for CD1a, consistent with Extra-nodal Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD).

She developed constitutional symptoms after reporting months of gradual weight loss with gradual ESR, CRP rise and leucocytosis. Her SLE symptoms were stable and given lack of SLE-specific symptoms; PET-CT was used to identify systemic RDD; the thigh mass showed strong FDG avidity along with a small focus of uptake in the small bowel, thought to be RDD related with no other areas of uptake.

She had ongoing ooze from the enlarging thigh lesion (5 x 26 x 15 cm), this was sent for MCS and AAFB; which isolated Mycobacterium avium. She was treated with rifampicin, ethambutol and clarithromycin resulting in improved thigh lesion, constitutional symptoms and inflammatory markers.

Objectives:

[1]To describe a rare associated complication of severe SLE and to educate and inform clinicians regarding possible masquerades of disease

[2]To education and inform about the approach to diagnosis of mycobacterium infection.

Methods:

Case report and literature review.

Results:

Mycobacterium infections rarely complicate RDD; to date, only one case report is published involving an HIV infected patient with RDD confirmed on LN biopsy presenting with splenomegaly and treated with oral corticosteroids (OCS) complicated by Mycobacterium avium complex and Salmonella enterica confirmed on bone marrow biopsy/culture, similar to our patient, he presented with constitutional symptoms and weight loss(2).

Mycobacterium can also mimic RDD, a case report has described a 74 year old with tender lymphadenopathy diagnosed with RDD on LN biopsy. She was treated with IV and OCS, but was unresponsive. A repeat LN biopsy and CT imaging revealed the presence of mycobacterium kansasii; her biopsy was positive for CD68/S100 throughout. Of note, she had high levels of anti-interferon autoantibodies and was diagnosed with adult-onset immunodeficiency syndrome(3).

Conclusion:

This case illustrates the need for a MDT approach for multi-system diseases such as SLE and RDD, and the need to consider atypical infections when blood tests are incongruent with clinical state.

References:

[1]Bruce-Brand C, Schneider JW, Schubert P. Rosai-Dorfman disease: an overview. J Clin Pathol. 2020 Nov;73(11):697-705. doi: 10.1136/jclinpath-2020-206733.

[2]Olmedo-Reneaum A, Molina-Jaimes A, Conde-Vazquez E, Montero-Vazquez S. Rosai-Dorfman disease and superinfection due to Salmonella enterica and Mycobacterium avium complex in a patient living with HIV. IDCases. 2020 Jan 14;19:e00698.

[3]King YA, Hu CH, Lee YJ, Lin CF, Liu D, Wang KH. Disseminated cutaneous Mycobacterium kansasii infection presenting with Rosai-Dorfman disease-like histological features in a patient carrying anti-interferon-γ autoantibodies. J Dermatol. 2017 Dec;44(12):1396-1400.

Image 1.Table 1.SLE Clinical HistoryDiagnosed 2006 (‘97 ACR Classification Criteria)Clinical -Polyarthritis -Glandular (lacrimal swelling) -Pericardial effusion/Pleural Effusion -MyositisSerological -Anti-nuclear antibody (ANA) -Anti-dsDNA -Anti-U1-RNP -Anti- SS-A/Ro -Lupus AnticoagulantPrevious SLE Treatment -Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) -Methotrexate (MTX) -Azathioprine (AZA) -Rituximab (RTX)

Disclosure of Interests:

None declared

Non-linear Normalization for Non-UMI Single Cell RNA-Seq

Single cell RNA-seq data, like data from other sequencing technology, contain systematic technical noise. Such noise results from a combined effect of unequal efficiencies in the capturing and counting of mRNA molecules, such as extraction/amplification efficiency and sequencing depth. We show that such technical effects are not only cell-specific, but also affect genes differently, thus a simple cell-wise size factor adjustment may not be sufficient. We present a non-linear normalization approach that provides a cell- and gene-specific normalization factor for each gene in each cell. We show that the proposed normalization method (implemented in “SC2P" package) reduces more technical variation than competing methods, without reducing biological variation. When technical effects such as sequencing depths are not balanced between cell populations, SC2P normalization also removes the bias due to uneven technical noise. This method is applicable to scRNA-seq experiments that do not use unique molecular identifier (UMI) thus retain amplification biases.

Simulation, power evaluation and sample size recommendation for single-cell RNA-seq

MOTIVATION

Determining the sample size for adequate power to detect statistical significance is a crucial step at the design stage for high-throughput experiments. Even though a number of methods and tools are available for sample size calculation for microarray and RNA-seq in the context of differential expression (DE), this topic in the field of single-cell RNA sequencing is understudied. Moreover, the unique data characteristics present in scRNA-seq such as sparsity and heterogeneity increase the challenge.

RESULTS

We propose POWSC, a simulation-based method, to provide power evaluation and sample size recommendation for single-cell RNA-sequencing DE analysis. POWSC consists of a data simulator that creates realistic expression data, and a power assessor that provides a comprehensive evaluation and visualization of the power and sample size relationship. The data simulator in POWSC outperforms two other state-of-art simulators in capturing key characteristics of real datasets. The power assessor in POWSC provides a variety of power evaluations including stratified and marginal power analyses for DEs characterized by two forms (phase transition or magnitude tuning), under different comparison scenarios. In addition, POWSC offers information for optimizing the tradeoffs between sample size and sequencing depth with the same total reads.

AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION

POWSC is an open-source R package available online at https://github.com/suke18/POWSC.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Accurate feature selection improves single-cell RNA-seq cell clustering

Cell clustering is one of the most important and commonly performed tasks in single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data analysis. An important step in cell clustering is to select a subset of genes (referred to as 'features'), whose expression patterns will then be used for downstream clustering. A good set of features should include the ones that distinguish different cell types, and the quality of such set could have a significant impact on the clustering accuracy. All existing scRNA-seq clustering tools include a feature selection step relying on some simple unsupervised feature selection methods, mostly based on the statistical moments of gene-wise expression distributions. In this work, we carefully evaluate the impact of feature selection on cell clustering accuracy. In addition, we develop a feature selection algorithm named FEAture SelecTion (FEAST), which provides more representative features. We apply the method on 12 public scRNA-seq datasets and demonstrate that using features selected by FEAST with existing clustering tools significantly improve the clustering accuracy.

MIR22HG inhibits cell growth, migration and invasion through regulating the miR-24-3p/p27kip1 axis in thyroid papillary carcinomas

OBJECTIVE

To explore the underlying mechanism of ncRNA (MIR22HG) in thyroid papillary carcinomas.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

40 pairs of thyroid papillary carcinomas tissues and adjacent normal tissues were collected from patients of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, who underwent oral surgery. qRT-PCR was applied to detect the expression of MIR22HG, miR-24-3p and p27kip1 in tissues and cells. Western blot was used to measure the protein level of p27kip1 in tissues and cells. Kaplan-Meier plot was used to analyze the overall survival rates in thyroid papillary carcinomas. Pearson's correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlation relationship among MIR22HG, miR-24-3p and p27kip1 expression. Flow cytometric assay was applied to measure cell apoptosis. Transwell assay was used to assess cell migration and invasion abilities. Luciferase reporter assay was applied to verify the molecular relationships among MIR22HG, miR-24-3p and p27kip1 in thyroid papillary carcinomas.

RESULTS

LncRNA MIR22HG and p27kip expressed low while miR-24-3p expressed high in thyroid papillary carcinomas and cells. Overexpression of MIR22HG inhibited cell proliferation, migration and invasion, whereas promoted cell apoptosis in thyroid papillary carcinomas cells. However, these effects were reversed by upregulation of miR-24-3p. Further exploration showed that the promoted effects of miR-24-3p mimics on thyroid papillary carcinomas cells were suppressed by enhancing p27kip1 expression. Meanwhile, MIR22HG induced p27kip1 expression by binding miR-24-3p in thyroid papillary carcinomas.

CONCLUSIONS

MIR22HG inhibited cell growth through modulating p27kip1 by decreasing miR-24-3p expression in thyroid papillary carcinomas, providing a new modulate mechanism and therapeutic targets in thyroid papillary carcinomas.

Sliced Human Cortical Organoids for Modeling Distinct Cortical Layer Formation

Human brain organoids provide unique platforms for modeling development and diseases by recapitulating the architecture of the embryonic brain. However, current organoid methods are limited by interior hypoxia and cell death due to insufficient surface diffusion, preventing generation of architecture resembling late developmental stages. Here, we report the sliced neocortical organoid (SNO) system, which bypasses the diffusion limit to prevent cell death over long-term cultures. This method leads to sustained neurogenesis and formation of an expanded cortical plate that establishes distinct upper and deep cortical layers for neurons and astrocytes, resembling the third trimester embryonic human neocortex. Using the SNO system, we further identify a critical role of WNT/β-catenin signaling in regulating human cortical neuron subtype fate specification, which is disrupted by a psychiatric-disorder-associated genetic mutation in patient induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived SNOs. These results demonstrate the utility of SNOs for investigating previously inaccessible human-specific, late-stage cortical development and disease-relevant mechanisms.

Comparison of influenza hospitalization outcomes among adults, older adults, and octogenarians: a US national population-based study

OBJECTIVES

This study sought to more fully elucidate the age-related trends in influenza mortality with a secondary goal of uncovering implications for treatment and prevention.

METHODS

In this retrospective cohort analysis of data from the Nationwide Readmission Database, patients with influenza as a primary or secondary discharge diagnosis were separated into three age groups: 55 638 adults aged 20-64 years, 36 862 adults aged 65-79 years and 41 806 octogenarians aged ≥80 years. Propensity score (PS) weighting was performed to isolate age from other baseline differences. Crude and PS-weighted hazard ratios (HR) were calculated from the in-hospital all-cause 30-day mortality rate. Admission threshold bias was minimized by comparison of influenza with bacterial pneumonia mortality.

RESULTS

Adults aged 20-64 years experienced higher in-hospital 30-day mortality compared with older adults aged 65-79 years (HR 0.66; 95% CI 0.55-0.79). Octogenarians had the highest mortality rate, but this was statistically insignificant compared with the adult cohort (HR 1.09; 95% CI 0.94-1.27). This trend was not explained by admission threshold bias: the 30-day mortality rate due to in-hospital bacterial pneumonia increased consistently with age (older adult HR 1.45; 95% CI 1.32-1.59; octogenarian HR 1.99; 95% CI 1.82-2.18).

CONCLUSIONS

Adults aged 20-64 years and octogenarians were more likely to experience all-cause 30-day mortality during influenza hospitalization compared with older adults aged 65-79 years. These data emphasize the importance of prevention and suggest the need for more tailored treatment interventions based on risk stratification that includes age.

[The relationship between inflammatory markers and the risk of lung cancer: a prospective cohort study]

Objective: To investigate whether elevated levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) and neutrophil (NE) in the blood is associated with an increased risk of lung cancer incidence. Methods: From 2006 to 2007, all employees and retirees from Kailuan (Group) Limited liability Corporation were included in this Kailuan Cohort study. The last follow-up date was December 2015. Data on new cases of lung cancer were collected, and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to the relationship between baseline CRP and NE at baseline and risk of lung cancer. Results: A total of 92 735 participants were enrolled in this study. During the follow-up, 850 new cases of lung cancer were identified. All subjects were divided into four groups according to the combination level of CRP and NE at baseline: CRP≤3 mg/L and NE≤4×10(9)/L(Group A), CRP≤3 mg/L and NE>4×10(9)/L(Group B), CRP>3 mg/L and NE≤4×10(9)/L(Group C), CRP>3 mg/L and NE>4×10(9)/L(Group D). The cumulative incidence of lung cancer were 950/100 000, 1 030/100 000, 1 081/100 000 and 1 596/100 000 in these four groups, respectively (P<0.001). Multivariate Cox proportional risk model showed that participants from Group D had an significantly increased 72% risks of lung cancer when compared to Group A (95% CI: 1.40~2.12, P<0.001). Stratified analyses gender showed that males in Group D had higher risk of lung cancer when compared with participants in Group A (HR=1.73, 95% CI: 1.40~2.15, P<0.001). Conclusion: Elevated levels of CRP and NE might increase the risk of lung cancer.

[Association between total cholesterol and risk of lung cancer incidence in men: a prospective cohort study]

Objective: To assess the association and intensity of baseline TC level with the incidence of lung cancer in men in China. Methods: Since May 2006, all the male workers, including the employees and the retirees in Kailuan Group were recruited in the Kailuan male dynamic cohort study. Information about demographics, medical history, anthropometry and TC level were collected at the baseline interview, as well as the information of newly-diagnosed lung cancer cases during the follow-up period. According to guidelines for blood lipids in Chinese adults and the distribution in the population, TC level was classified into five groups as followed: <160, 160-, 180-, 200- and ≥240 mg/dl, with the second quintile group (160- mg/dl) serving as the referent category. Cox proportional hazards regression model and restricted cubic spline (RCS) model were used to evaluate the association and the nonlinear association between baseline TC level and the risk of lung cancer in the men. Results: By December 31, 2014, for the 109 884 men, a follow up of 763 819.25 person-years was made with a median follow-up period of 7.88 years. During the follow up, 808 lung cancer cases were identified. After adjustment for age, education level, income level, smoking status, alcohol consumption level, history of dust exposure, FPG level and BMI, HR (95%CI) of lung cancer for men with lower TC level (<160 mg/dl) and higher TC level (≥240 mg/dl) were 1.34 (1.04- 1.72) and 1.45 (1.09-1.92), respectively, compared with men with normal TC level (160- mg/dl). The results didn't change significantly after exclusion of newly diagnosed cancer cases within 2 years of follow up and subjects with the history of hyperlipidemia. Conclusion: Our results showed that TC might be associated with higher risk of lung cancer. Men with lower TC level or higher TC level had higher risk for lung cancer. Keep moderate TC level might be one of the effective precaution for the prevention of lung cancer.

[Alcohol consumption and the risk of lung cancer in males: a prospective cohort study]

Objective: To investigate the association between alcohol consumption and lung cancer risk in Chinese males. Methods: Information on alcohol consumption and outcomes were collected on a biennial basis among males in Kailuan Cohort (2006-2015). In addition, electronic databases of hospitals affiliated to Kailuan Community, Insurance Systems of Kailuan Community and Tangshan were also used for supplementary information retrieval. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to evaluate the hazard ratio (HR) and 95%CI of baseline frequency and type of alcohol consumption associated with lung cancer risk in males. Non-drinkers were used as control group. Results: A total of 101 751 males were included and 913 new lung cancer cases were identified in the Kailuan male cohort study, with a total follow-up time of 808 146.56 person-years and a median follow-up time of 8.88 years by 31 December 2015. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the HR of former drinkers, occasional drinkers (<1/day) and drinkers (≥1/day) were 1.30 (95%CI: 0.90-1.88), 0.80 (95%CI: 0.64-1.01) and 1.04 (95%CI: 0.85-1.27), respectively, compared with non-drinkers. In addition, drinking beer/red wine (HR=0.91, 95%CI: 0.69-1.20) and white wine (HR=0.99, 95%CI: 0.83-1.19) showed no significant association with lung cancer. The results were similar when stratified analysis were conducted. Conclusion: Our study results don't support the hypothesis that alcohol consumption is significantly associated with the risk of lung cancer in males.

[Relationship between inflammatory markers and the risk of colorectal cancer in Kailuan male cohort]

Objective: To investigate whether elevated levels of high sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hsCRP) and neutrophil (NE) at baseline are associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer in Kailuan male cohort. Methods: Since May 2006, males from Kailuan cohort were included in this study. Information on demographics, medical history, anthropometry, hsCRP and NE were collectedat baseline for all subjects. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) of association between baseline hsCRP and NE and colorectal cancer risk. Results: By December 31, 2015, a total of 73 869 participants were enrolled in this study. During the follow-up, 336 incident colorectal cancer cases were identified. All participants were divided into three groups according to the level of hsCRP (<1 mg/L, 1-3 mg/L and >3 mg/L). The cumulative incidence of colorectal cancer were 456/10(5,) 510/10(5) and 746/10(5) in these 3 groups, respectively (χ(2)=10.79, P=0.005). Compared with participants with lower hsCRP levels (<1 mg/L), individuals with the highest hsCRP (>3 mg/L) levels had significant increased risks of colorectal cancer (HR=1.38, 95%CI: 1.05-1.81, P=0.020)after adjusting for age, gender, smoking, drinking, BMI, diabetes and income. Furthermore, subjects were divided into two groups according to the level of NE (≤ 4.08×10(9)/L and > 4.08×10(9)/L). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models indicated that there is no statistical significance of association between NE and colorectal cancer. Conclusions: Elevated levels of hsCRP at baseline might increase the risk of colorectal cancer in males.

[Analysis of related factors between portable monitoring and polysomnography]

Objective:To analyze the related factors of portable monitoring and polysomnography in simultaneous monitoring of suspected OSAHS cases. To evaluate the application of portable monitoring in the diagnosis of OSAHS.Method:All patients underwent a simultaneous monitoring of both portable monitoring and polysomnography. Both the parameters of apnea hypopnea index (AHI), lowest oxygen saturation (LSaO₂), mean oxygen saturation (MSaO₂), percentage of time with an oxygen saturation below 90%(CT90%), oxygen desaturation index (ODI), the number of apnea and hypopnea were collected and analyzed.Result:Both the portable monitoring and polysomnography showed 39 cases met the diagnostic criteria for OSAHS. Polysomnography showed 26 severe cases, 8 moderate cases and 5 mild case. Portable monitoring showed 30 severe cases, 5 moderate cases and 4 mild cases. Comparing portable monitoring with polysomnography, the parameter of AHI had a significant difference. MSaO₂, LSaO₂, CT90%, ODI, the number of apnea and hypopnea had no significant difference.Conclusion:Compared portable monitoring's indicators with polysomnography's indicators, both correlated well. Portable monitoring has a high diagnostic value. But the diagnostic accuracy in the severity of the disease should be improved.

[Economic burden of esophageal cancer in China from 1996 to 2015: a systematic review]

Objective: To explore existing evidence of economic burden of esophageal cancer in China over the past 20 years. Methods: Based on PubMed, CNKI and Wanfang, literatures published from 1996 to 2015 were retrieved with the key words such as " economic burden" , "cost of illness" and so on. Then the information excerpted from those literatures were analyzed after several exclusionary procedures for non-esophageal cancer related literatures. The information about subjects and data source, methodology, main results were structurally abstracted and then analyzed. Quality assessments were conducted independently by two investigators using an 11-item instrument recommended by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for cross-sectional studies. All the expenditure data were calculated according to year-specific personal health care consumer price index (CPI) of China, the annual growth rate was calculated according to the average speed of growth. Results: A total of 23 studies (21 individual surveys and 2 population-based surveys) were included in the analysis, in which 12 were published over the past 5 years. Among the 21 individual surveys, 17 were hospital-based and the data were obtained through medical record review, and most of which only considered the direct medical economic burden (including the average overall expenditure per patient, per time and per diem). The median expenditure per patient during 1996-2011 ranged from 7 463 to 37 647 yuan (RMB) and the average growth rate was 7.68%. The median medical expenditure per clinical visit during 1996-2013 ranged from 6 851 to 57 554 yuan (RMB) and the average growth rate was 11.89%. The median medical expenditure per diem during 1996-2010 ranged from 225 to 1 319 yuan (RMB) and the average growth rate was 12.53%. The direct medical expenditure per clinical visit varied greatly with area, which were much higher in Beijing, Shanxi and Hubei. In both individual survey and population-based survey, less data about the direct non-medical expenditure and the influence of indirect expenditure on the economic burden were reported. Conclusion: Less data are available on economic burden of esophageal cancer in China over the past 20 years and the data's comparability are poor, especially in terms of population level or indirect burden. Direct medical expenditure is on the rise, and regional differences.

[Relation between waist circumference and risk of male lung cancer incidence: a prospective cohort study]

Objective: To investigate the association between waist circumference and risk of male lung cancer incidence. Methods: Since May 1, 2006, all the male employees including the retirees in Kailuan Group had been recruited into a Chinese Kailuan Male Cohort study. Information on anthropometries including body weight, height and waist circumference were collected at the baseline investigation, as well as information on newly-diagnosed lung cancer cases during the follow-up period. Waist circumference was grouped by quintiles of the population waist circumference distribution and categorized into the following five groups: <80, 80-, 85-, 90- and ≥95 cm, with the relevant normal group, the second quintile group (80-cm), serving as the referent category. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to evaluate the association between levels of waist circumference and risk of lung cancer. Results: A total of 105 386 males were recruited in the study, with 739 651.13 person-years of follow-up and an average follow-up period of 7.00 years. By the end of 2014, a total of 707 lung cancer cases were identified in the cohort study. Compared with males having the 80-cm of waist circumference, the hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) of lung cancer were 1.17(0.90-1.52), 0.96(0.74-1.23), 0.94(0.72-1.21) and 0.80(0.63-1.03) for the <80, 85-, 90- and ≥95 cm of waist circumference, after adjustment for potential confounding factors including age, education level, smoking status and pack-year amount, alcohol consumption, physical activities, environment for working place and the prevalence on diabetes. The inverse association existed in smokers (≥95 cm compared to 80-cm of waist circumference: HR=0.69, 95%CI: 0.48-0.99) and alcohol drinkers (≥95 cm compared to 80-cm of waist circumference: HR=0.65, 95%CI: 0.45-0.94) when analysis was conducted in subgroups stratified by smoking or alcohol drinking status. Conclusion: Waist circumference might be inversely associated with male lung cancer risk.

Metabolic changes in rat serum after administration of suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid and discriminated by SVM

Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) exerts marked anticancer effects via promotion of apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and prevention of oncogene expression. In this study, serum metabolomics and artificial intelligence recognition were used to investigate SAHA toxicity. Forty rats (220 ± 20 g) were randomly divided into control and three SAHA groups (low, medium, and high); the experimental groups were treated with 12.3, 24.5, or 49.0 mg kg^-1 SAHA once a day via intragastric administration. After 7 days, blood samples from the four groups were collected and analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and pathological changes in the liver were examined using microscopy. The results showed that increased levels of urea, oleic acid, and glutaconic acid were the most significant indicators of toxicity. Octadecanoic acid, pentadecanoic acid, glycerol, propanoic acid, and uric acid levels were lower in the high SAHA group. Microscopic observation revealed no obvious damage to the liver. Based on these data, a support vector machine (SVM) discrimination model was established that recognized the metabolic changes in the three SAHA groups and the control group with 100% accuracy. In conclusion, the main toxicity caused by SAHA was due to excessive metabolism of saturated fatty acids, which could be recognized by an SVM model.

Difficult tracheal tube passage and subglottic airway injury during intubation with the GlideScope® videolaryngoscope: a randomised, controlled comparison of three tracheal tubes

Difficulty during placement of the tracheal tube is a known problem when intubating with the GlideScope^® , which may lead to subglottic airway injury. This randomised, controlled clinical trial was designed to compare the resistance to passage of PVC (polyvinyl chloride), reinforced or BlockBuster tracheal tubes during intubation with the GlideScope. Secondary outcomes included the time taken to intubate and assessment of subglottic airway injury. One-hundred and seventy-seven patients were included in the data analysis. There was difficult tracheal tube passage (moderate or severe resistance) in 15 (21.4%) patients using the PVC tube compared with 4 (7.4%) and 1 (1.9%) using the reinforced and BlockBuster tubes, respectively (p = 0.003 for PVC vs. BlockBuster). The median (IQR [range]) time taken to intubate was 35 (27-45 [15-115]) s, 25 (20-27 [15-110]) s and 25 (22-30 [16-90]) s, respectively, (p < 0.001 for PVC vs. reinforced as well as PVC vs. BlockBuster). Subglottic airway injury, assessed using a fibreoptic bronchoscope after extubation, was higher with the PVC tube (p < 0.001) and the reinforced tube (p = 0.012) compared with the BlockBuster tube. We conclude that the BlockBuster tracheal tube is a better choice for orotracheal intubation with the GlideScope than PVC or reinforced tubes.

[A prospective follow-up study on the association between serum level of C-reactive protein and risk of digestive system cancers in Chinese women]

Objective: It has been reported by some prospective studies that C-reactive protein (CRP) is associated with cancer risk. However, the correlation between CRP and digestive system cancers has not been evaluated in Chinese females. We conducted a large population-based cohort study to investigate whether elevated level of CRP in serum is associated with an increased risk of digestive system cancers in Chinese women. Methods: From the Chinese Kailuan Female Cohort, 19, 437 women were enrolled in this study in July 2006, and all of the subjects were followed up through 2014. At the baseline investigation, the serum levels of high-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) were tested for all subjects, and demographic information and risk factor data were collected. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to calculate the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) for the baseline levels of hsCRP after adjusting for age, marital status, smoking, drinking, body mass index (BMI), diabetes and physical activity, and risk of digestive system tumors (including colorectal cancer, stomach cancer, pancreas cancer, liver and gallbladder cancer, and other cancers). Results: By Dec 31, 2014, a total of 100 incident cancer cases were observed, including 47 colorectal cancers, 17 stomach cancers, and altogether 29 pancreas, liver and gallbladder cancers. All the subjects investigated were divided into three groups according to the level of hsCRP (<1 mg/L, 1-3 mg/L and >3 mg/L). The 8-year cumulative incidence of digestive system cancers were 405/100 000, 520/100 000 and 787/100 000 in these 3 groups, respectively (Log rank test χ² = 8.37, P=0.015). Compared to those with lower hsCRP levels (<1 mg/L), the women with higher hsCRP (>3 mg/L) had a significantly increased risk of pancreas, liver and gallbladder cancers (HR = 2.70, 95% CI = 1.06-6.91; P_trend = 0.036). Conclusions: Elevated levels of hsCRP at baseline may be associated with increased risk of certain digestive system cancers.

[Association between body mass index and risk of lung cancer in non-smoking males: a prospective cohort study]

Objective: To assess the association between baseline body mass index (BMI) and risk of lung cancer in non-smoking males. Methods: A dynamic non-smoking male cohort was established on May, 2006. Baseline information on demography, lifestyle, such as smoking status and alcohol consumption, anthropometry, such as body height and weight, were collected during the baseline interview, and the information of newly-diagnosed lung cancer cases were also collected during the follow-up period. Multivariable Cox proportional-hazards regression model was used to analyze the association between baseline BMI and lung cancer in non-smoking males. Results: By December 31, 2011, a total of 48 799 male non-smokers had been assessed in the study and there were 214 620.18 person-years of follow-up and 4.40 years of average follow-up period. During follow-up, 198 lung cancer cases were identified among the 48 799 non-smoking males. Compared with those with normal BMI (kg/m²) (18.5≤BMI<24.0), the hazard ratio (95%CI) of lung cancer were 1.14(0.53-2.45), 0.57(0.41-0.78) and 0.61(0.38-0.97) for underweight (BMI<18.5), overweight (24.0≤BMI<28.0) and obese males (≥28.0), respectively, after adjustment for potential confounding factors, including age, education level, alcohol consumption, physical activity, history of diabetes and work environment. Baseline BMI was negatively associated with the risk of lung cancer in non-smoking males and the risk would be reduced by 22% (HR=0.78, 95% CI: 0.64-0.95) for per 5 kg/m² BMI increase. The negative association between BMI and risk of lung cancer was significant among non-smoking males who aged ≥50 years, and in those who had physical exercise <4 times/week, never drunk and worked above the coal mine, and for per 5 kg/m² BMI increase, the risk of lung cancer would be reduced by 26%(HR=0.74, 95%CI: 0.60-0.92), 24%(HR=0.76, 95%CI: 0.62-0.95), 20% (HR=0.80, 95%CI: 0.65-1.00) and 23% (HR=0.77, 95%CI: 0.61-0.97), respectively. The result was similar after excluding the cancer patients newly diagnose within 1-year and their contribution person years. Conclusion: Baseline BMI might be negatively associated with risk of lung cancer in non-smoking males.

Computational hemodynamics of portal vein hypertension in hepatic cirrhosis patients

Portal vein hypertension generally occurs in liver diseases like hepatic cirrhosis. It causes hemodynamic changes that are closely related to liver disease. At advanced stages of hepatic cirrhosis, portal vein hypertension leads to the atrophy of the right lobe of the liver and the hypertrophy of the left lobe through a process that has not yet been fully explained. Based on the hemodynamic changes that are known to occur, we hypothesize that liver volume is related to the distribution of blood flowing from the splenic vein (SV) that carries hepatotrophic factors from the spleen and pancreas. We studied blood flow in the portal vein system to validate this hypothesis through in vitro experimentation and a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis involving both simplified and patient-specific models based on four healthy subjects and two patients with liver cirrhosis. The results confirmed the hypothesis that right-lobe atrophy is significantly influenced by the distribution of blood from the SV. Moreover, the patients with liver cirrhosis had a significantly larger mass fraction of spleen-derived blood in the left portal vein branch (LPV) than healthy subjects, a result consistent with right-lobe atrophy and left-lobe hypertrophy.

Molecular genetic map construction and QTL analysis of fruit maturation period in grapevine

In this study, we aimed at finding the genetic regularity of grape maturation period. Early-maturing grapevine, "87-1", was used as the female parent and late-maturing, "9-22", as the male parent, to create an F1 hybrid population. A total of 149 individual plants and their parents were selected as the mapping population. Sequence-related amplified polymorphism and simple-sequence repeat analyses were performed. We performed a linkage analysis and constructed a molecular genetic map. In the obtained map, the female and male parents each covered 19 linkage groups containing 188 and 175 maker loci, respectively. The total map distances for the female and male parents were 1074.5 and 1100.2 cM, respectively, whereas the average genetic distances between each two loci were 5.7 and 7.8 cM, respectively. The interval-mapping method was used in a quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis for fruit maturation period. A total of 12 QTLs associated with fruit maturation period were detected. These included four QTLs in the male parent genetic map that were located in linkage groups M5, M11, M14-1, and M16, with a 62.6-75.7% rate of contribution of each QTL. Another three QTLs were found in the female parent genetic map, located in linkage groups F6, F14-1, and F18, with a 72.7-77.7% rate of contribution of each QTL. Five more QTLs were detected in the consensus map, located in linkage groups LG11, LG14-1, LG16, LG17, and LG18, with 8.9-75.7% phenotypic variance explained by each QTL.

[Body mass index and the risk of lung cancer incidence in smokers: a prospective cohort study]

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the effect of baseline body mass index (BMI) on the risk of lung cancer incidence in male smokers.

METHODS

All the male employees and retirees of the Kailuan Group were recruited in the Chinese Kailuan Male Cohort Study, and they had been experienced routine physical examinations every two years since May, 2006. Up to 31st December 2011, a total of 3 rounds physical examinations had been completed. A total of 42 718 male smokers candidates from the Chinese Kailuan Male Cohort Study were enrolled in the present study. The date of entering this study was defined as that of taking first check-up, and the date of end-of-observation was defined as that of cancer diagnosis, death or end of follow-up (31 December 2011). Information on demographics, lifestyle such as smoking, alcohol consumption, anthropometries such as height and weight, as well as the information of newly-diagnosed cancer cases, were collected at the baseline investigation. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to investigate the association between levels of the baseline BMI and risk of lung cancer.

RESULTS

Of the 42 718 male smokers, there were 181 998.09 person-years of follow-up, taking 4.26 years of average follow-up period. During follow-up, 234 new lung cancer cases were identified among the 42 718 male smokers and the crude incidence density was 128.57/100 000. After the factors adjustment for age, education level, alcohol consumption, physical activity, work environment and cumulative smoking levels (pack-years), compared with subjects of normal BMI group, hazard ratio and 95% confidence intervals of lung cancer for subjects of underweight, overweight, and obesity were 1.63 (0.79-3.37), 0.79 (0.57-1.09) and 0.50 (0.27-0.91), respectively. After the facotors adjustment for age, education level, alcohol consumption, physical activity, work environment and cumulative smoking levels (pack-years), compared with subjects of normal BMI, hazard ratio and 95% confidence intervals of lung cancer for subjects of obesity among subjects who aged 50 years or above, smoked more than 20 pack-years, and exercised less than 4 times per week were 0.33 (0.15-0.71), 0.27 (0.10-0.75), and 0.44 (0.20-0.96), respectively. Obesity subjects who worked above the well had decreased risk of lung cancer (HR=0.38, 95% CI: 0.15-0.96) compared with normal BMI ones who worked above the well.

CONCLUSION

BMI was negatively correlated with the risk of lung cancer in male smokers. As for male smokers, one of the most effective approaches to prevent and control the lung cancer has been shown to quit smoking and keep fit.

Celastrol inhibits inflammatory stimuli-induced neutrophil extracellular trap formation

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are web-like structures released by activated neutrophils. Recent studies suggest that NETs play an active role in driving autoimmunity and tissue injury in diseases including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). The purpose of this study was to investigate if celastrol, a triterpenoid compound, can inhibit NET formation induced by inflammatory stimuli associated with RA and SLE. We found that celastrol can completely inhibit neutrophil oxidative burst and NET formation induced by tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) with an IC50 of 0.34 µM and by ovalbumin:anti-ovalbumin immune complexes (Ova IC) with an IC50 of 1.53 µM. Celastrol also completely inhibited neutrophil oxidative burst and NET formation induced by immunoglobulin G (IgG) purified from RA and SLE patient sera. Further investigating into the mechanisms, we found that celastrol treatment downregulated the activation of spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) and the concomitant phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK/MEK), extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK), and NFκB inhibitor alpha (IκBα), as well as citrullination of histones. Our data reveals that celastrol potently inhibits neutrophil oxidative burst and NET formation induced by different inflammatory stimuli, possibly through downregulating the SYK-MEK-ERK-NFκB signaling cascade. These results suggest that celastrol may have therapeutic potentials for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases involving neutrophils and NETs.

Genetic diversity analysis of fruit characteristics of hawthorn germplasm

One hundred and six accessions of hawthorn intraspecific resources, from the National Germplasm Repository at Shenyang, were subjected to genetic diversity and principal component analysis based on evaluation data of 15 fruit traits. Results showed that the genetic diversity of hawthorn fruit traits varied. Among the 15 traits, the fruit shape variable coefficient had the most obvious evaluation, followed by fruit surface state, dot color, taste, weight of single fruit, sepal posture, peduncle form, and metula traits. These are the primary traits by which hawthorn could be classified in the future. The principal component demonstrated that these traits are the most influential factors of hawthorn fruit characteristics.

The significant association of Taq1A genotypes in DRD2/ANKK1 with smoking cessation in a large-scale meta-analysis of Caucasian populations

Although a number of studies have analyzed the relation between the DRD2/ANKK1 gene Taq1A polymorphism and smoking cessation, the results remain controversial. The primary objective of the present study was to determine whether this variant indeed has any effect on smoking cessation. The A1-dominant model that considers A1/* (*=A1 or A2) and A2/A2 as two genotypes and compares their frequencies in current and former smokers was applied. A total of 22 studies with 11,075 subjects were included in the meta-analyses. Considering the potential influence of between-study heterogeneity, we conducted stratified meta-analyses with the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis statistical software (version 2.0). Results based on either cross-sectional or longitudinal studies consistently showed a statistically significant association between Taq1A A1/* genotypes and smoking cessation. Further, a more significant association of the variant with smoking cessation was detected when both types of studies were combined. However, there was marginal evidence of heterogeneity among studies (I(2)=33.9%; P=0.06). By excluding other ethnicities and subjects with cancer, the meta-analysis on the basis of 9487 Caucasians demonstrated that Taq1A A1/* genotypes indeed were significantly associated with smoking cessation under both the fixed- and random-effects models (pooled OR 1.22; 95% CI 1.11-1.34; P=3.9 × 10(-5) for both models). No evidence of between-study heterogeneity or publication bias was observed. Thus, we conclude that the polymorphism of Taq1A has an important role in the process of abstaining from smoking, and smokers carrying A2/A2 genotype have a higher likelihood of smoking cessation than those who carry A1/A1 or A1/A2.

Temporal changes in the biomechanical properties of endometrial mesenchymal stem cell seeded scaffolds in a rat model

Use of synthetic clinical meshes in pelvic organ prolapse (POP) repair can lead to poor mechanical compliance in vivo, as a result of a foreign body reaction leading to excessive scar tissue formation. Seeding mesh with mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) prior to implantation may reduce the foreign body reaction and lead to improved biomechanical properties of the mesh-tissue complex. This study investigates the influence of seeding human endometrial mesenchymal stem cells (eMSCs) on novel gelatin-coated polyamide scaffolds, to identify differences in scaffold/tissue biomechanical properties and new tissue growth following up to 90 days' implantation, in a subcutaneous rat model of wound repair. Scaffolds were subcutaneously implanted, either with or without eMSCs, in immunocompromised rats and following 7, 30, 60 and 90 days were removed and assessed for their biomechanical properties using uniaxial tensile testing. Following 7, 30 and 90 days' implantation scaffolds were assessed for tissue ingrowth and organization using histological staining and scanning electron microscopy. The eMSCs were associated with altered collagen growth and organization around the mesh filaments of the scaffold, affecting the physiologically relevant tensile properties of the scaffold-tissue complex, in the toe region of the load-elongation curve. Scaffolds seeded with eMSCs were significantly less stiff on initial stretching than scaffolds implanted without eMSCs. Collagen growth and organization were enhanced in the long-term in eMSC-seeded scaffolds, with improved fascicle formation and crimp configuration. Results suggest that neo-tissue formation and remodelling may be enhanced through seeding scaffolds with eMSCs.

Scoring Functions Based on Second Level Score for k-SAT with Long Clauses

It is widely acknowledged that stochastic local search (SLS) algorithms can efficiently find models for satisfiable instances of the satisfiability (SAT) problem, especially for random k-SAT instances. However, compared to random 3-SAT instances where SLS algorithms have shown great success, random k-SAT instances with long clauses remain very difficult. Recently, the notion of second level score, denoted as "score_2", was proposed for improving SLS algorithms on long-clause SAT instances, and was first used in the powerful CCASat solver as a tie breaker. In this paper, we propose three new scoring functions based on score_2. Despite their simplicity, these functions are very effective for solving random k-SAT with long clauses. The first function combines score and score_2, and the second one additionally integrates the diversification property "age". These two functions are used in developing a new SLS algorithm called CScoreSAT. Experimental results on large random 5-SAT and 7-SAT instances near phase transition show that CScoreSAT significantly outperforms previous SLS solvers. However, CScoreSAT cannot rival its competitors on random k-SAT instances at phase transition. We improve CScoreSAT for such instances by another scoring function which combines score_2 with age. The resulting algorithm HScoreSAT exhibits state-of-the-art performance on random k-SAT (k>3) instances at phase transition. We also study the computation of score_2, including its implementation and computational complexity.

Expression of budding uninhibited by benzimidazoles-1 and mitotic arrest deficient-2 in endometrial carcinoma and its significance

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to explore the expression of budding uninhibited by benzimidazoles-1 (Bub1) and mitotic arrest deficient-2 (Mad2) in endometrial carcinoma and its significance.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The expression of Bub 1 and Mad2 in 30 human normal endometrial tissues (group A), 30 complexly-hyperplastic endometrial tissues (group B), and 63 endometrial carcinoma tissues (group C) was observed using immunohistochemistry (the streptavidin-peroxidase method).

RESULTS

The positive expression rates of Bub1 in groups A, B, and C were 86.67%, 56.67%, and 28.57%, respectively. The positive rate of Bub1 protein was correlated with the differentiation degree and clinical stage of endometrial carcinoma (p < 0.05) other than lymph node metastasis (p > 0.05): A higher differentiation degree and a more advanced stage of endometrial carcinoma indicated a higher positive rate of Bub1 protein. The positive rates of Mad2 protein in groups A, B, and C were 23.33%, 56.67%, and 85.71%, respectively. The positive rate of Mad2 protein was correlated with the differentiation degree of endometrial carcinoma (p < 0.05) other than its clinical stage and lymph node metastasis (p > 0.05): A lower differentiation degree indicated a higher positive rate of Mad2 protein. Bub1 and Mad2 proteins were negatively correlated in the endometrial carcinoma tissues (r = - 0.719, p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Bub1 and Mad2 proteins interact with each other. They may play an important role in the initiation and development of endometrial carcinoma.