Expression of Embryonic Stem Cell Marker Oct-4 and Its Prognostic Significance in Rectal Adenocarcinoma

Objective： Recent evidence suggests that Oct-4 is highly expressed in several cancers, and its expression contributes to tumor growth. In this study, we investigated the level of Oct-4 expression in rectal adenocarcinoma, and evaluated the prognostic significance of Oct-4 expression in these cases. Methods： The immunohistochemical expression of Oct-4 was evaluated in 52 formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded postoperative rectal adenocarcinoma tissue samples. The impact of the immunoreactivity of Oct-4 in regard to clinical outcome was determined by Kaplan-Meier and log-rank. Results： The expression level of Oct-4 ranged from 0 to 18.5%. There was no significant association between Oct-4 expression and gender （P=0.772）, age （P=0.123）, clinical stage （P=0.391）, and histological grade （P=0.056）. The 3-year local recurrence-free rates with negative and positive expression of Oct-4 were 83.5% and 75.0%, respectively （P=0.583）. The 3-year metastasis-free rates with negative and positive expression of Oct-4 were 88.6% and 61.9%, respectively （P=0.035）. The 3-year overall survival rates with negative and positive expression of Oct-4 were 77.9% and 49.0%, respectively （P=0.037）. Conclusion： The results suggest that embryonic stem cell marker Oct-4 expression may have prognostic significance in patients with rectal adenocarcinoma. However, to confirm this more and larger studies are required.

Progress in the investigation of potash resources in western China

Through the study of the geological conditions of potash deposits in China from recent years,a new understanding of potash theories has arisen that appropriate Chinese geological features.Important progress and substantial breakthroughs have been gained in the direction and management of potash prospecting: (1) Important breakthroughs in continental potassium prospecting:The "Quaternary gravel type deep potassium rich brine metallogenic model in western Qaidam" ensures Quaternary deep potassium rich brine prospecting will grow new KCl resources by 350 Mt,providing a resource guarantee for meeting the Chinese demand for sylvite.(2) The Marine facies potash prospecting shows good prospects: the determination of the new type of Triassic polyhalite potash ore deposits in Sichuan provide an important scientific basis for the establishment of exploration planning and the selection of exploration target areas for polyhalite minerals in the Sichuan Basin;The "two-storey potash deposits model" in southwestern Yunnan has been confirmed,which indicates prospects for the exploration of potash in the deeper Marine facies in southwestern Yunnan are likely to be successful.The discovery of a high concentration of rich bromite salt and potash salt in the Paleogene of the Kuqa depression and the southwestern Tarim region provides strong support for the likelihood large-scale potash deposits exist in these regions.

基于UG的离心通风机机翼型叶片展开与CAXA的跨平台应用

利用UG软件对通风机机翼型叶片进行建模,展开放样,并将展开曲线导入CAXA,进行编辑,转换生成最终可识别的线型路径,指导下料及样板制作。通过生产实践证明,该方法可有效提高工作效率和下料准确率。

Two-Dimensional Quantum Walk with Non-Hermitian Skin Effects

We construct a two-dimensional, discrete-time quantum walk, exhibiting non-Hermitian skin effects under openboundary conditions. As a confirmation of the non-Hermitian bulk-boundary correspondence, we show that the emergence of topological edge states is consistent with the Floquet winding number, calculated using a non-Bloch band theory, invoking time-dependent generalized Brillouin zones. Further, the non-Bloch topological invariants associated with quasienergy bands are captured by a non-Hermitian local Chern marker in real space, defined via the local biorthogonal eigenwave functions of a non-unitary Floquet operator. Our work aims to stimulate further studies of non-Hermitian Floquet topological phases where skin effects play a key role.

New zircon U-Pb geochronological and geochemical data reveals the earliest Cretaceous tectonic shift event in the Lanqi Basin, Inner Mongolia, northern China

1.Objective The Lanqi Basin about 790 km2 in size is located in the Zhenglan Banner area,to the south of the Erlian Basin,and it is not only the tectonic transition region between the North China Craton and the Xingmeng orogenic belt,but also the area between the Great Khingan Mountains volcanic belt and the northern Hebei-western Liaoning volcanic belt.Its key tectonic location involves the Paleo-Asian Ocean,the Mongol-Okhotsk suture zone and the transition of the Paleo-Pacific tectonic domain,which should be paid more attention to.What's more,the Lanqi Basin is controlled by two groups of faults in the NE and NW directions,respectively.Among them,the NW faults are mainly small in scale,while the NE faults are basement faults those are the main controlling fault for volcanic eruption.

Oncogenic osteomalacia caused by a phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor of the femur: A case report

BACKGROUND Oncogenic osteomalacia caused by phosphaturic mesenchymal tumors is very difficult to detect.We report a case of tumor-induced osteomalacia caused by a phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor of the left femur in a middle-aged woman after medical imaging and biopsy.CASE SUMMARY A 57-year-old woman presented with progressive bone pain for five years.She was diagnosed with hypophosphatemic osteomalacia,as her laboratory data showed low serum phosphorus and low serum calcium.Her knee joint radiography revealed an osteolytic lesion of the left femur.A computed tomography scan showed mixed density shadows in the left femur.Magnetic resonance imaging of the left femur showed the presence of an oval area with a hypointense signal in T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)and highlow mixed signal in T2-weighted MRI.Biopsy samples revealed the presence of short spindle cells,vascularization,and characteristics of phosphaturic mesenchymal tumors.Tumor resection was performed,and the clinical presentations and laboratory abnormalities were reversed.CONCLUSION Diagnosis of oncogenic osteomalacia is difficult due to the varieties and localization of source tumors and absence of pathognomonic biomedical signs.Our case highlights the importance of a combination of medical imaging and biopsy in the diagnosis of oncogenic osteomalacia caused by a phosphaturic mesenchymal tumor.

Estimation of photon counting statistics with imperfect detectors

The study on photon counting statistics is of fundamental importance in quantum optics. We theoretically analyzed the imperfect detection of an arbitrary quantum state. We derived photon counting formulae for six typical quantum states （i.e., Fock, coherent, squeeze-vacuum, thermal, odd and even coherent states） with finite quantum efficiencies and dark counts based on multiple on/off detector arrays. We applied the formulae to the simulation of multiphoton number detections and obtained both the simulated and ideal photon number distributions of each state. A comparison between the results by using the fidelity and relative entropy was carried out to evaluate the detection scheme and help select detectors for different quantum states.

Direct Strong Measurement of a High-Dimensional Quantum State

It is of great importance to determine an unknown quantum state for fundamental studies of quantum mechanics,yet it is still difficult to characterize systems of large dimensions in practice.Although the scan-free direct measurement approach based on a weak measurement scheme was proposed to measure a high-dimensional photonic state,how weak the interaction should be to give a correct estimation remains unclear.Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a technique that measures a high-dimensional quantum state with the combination of scan-free measurement and direct strong measurement.The procedure involves sequential strong measurement,in which case no approximation is made similarly to the conventional direct weak measurement.We use this method to measure a transverse state of a photon with effective dimensionality of 65000 without the time-consumed scanning process.Furthermore,the high fidelity of the result and the simplicity of the experimental apparatus show that our approach can be readily used to measure the complex field of a beam in diverse applications such as wavefront sensing and quantitative phase imaging.

Effect of Glutamine Enriched Nutrition Support on Surgical Patients with Gastrointestinal Tumor： A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background：Associations between glutamine （Gln） enriched nutrition support and surgical patients with gastrointestinal （GI） tumor remain controversy.The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the effect of Gln enriched nutrition support on surgical patients with GI tumor in term of relevant biochemical indices,immune indices,and clinical outcomes.Methods：Six databases were systematically searched to find eligible randomized controlled trials （RCTs） from 1966 to May 2014.When estimated the analysis indexes,the relative risk （RR） was used as the effect size of the categorical variable,while the weighted mean difference （MD） was used as the effect size of a continuous variable.Meta-analysis was conducted with Rev Man 5.2.Results：Thirteen RCTs,involving 1034 patients,were included in the meta-analysis.The analysis showed that Gln enriched nutrition support was more effective in increasing serum albumin （MD：0.10; 95% confidence interval [CI]：0.02-0.18; P 〈 0.05）,serum prealbumin （MD：1.98; 95% CI：1.40-2.55; P 〈 0.05） and serum transferring （MD：0.35; 95% CI：0.12-0.57; P 〈 0.05）,concentration of IgG （MD：1.26; 95% CI：0.90-1.63; P 〈 0.05）,IgM （MD：0.18; 95% CI：0.11-0.25; P 〈 0.05）,IgA （MD：0.22; 95% CI：0.10-0.33; P 〈 0.05）,CD3＋ （MD：3.71; 95% CI：2.57-4.85; P 〈 0.05） and CD4/CD8 ratio （MD：0.27; 95% CI：0.12-0.42; P 〈 0.05）.Meanwhile,it was more significant in decreasing the incidence of infectious complications （RR：0.67; 95% CI：0.50-0.90; P 〈 0.05） and shortening the length of hospital stay （MD：-1.72; 95% CI：-3.31--0.13; P 〈 0.05）.Conclusions：Glutamine enriched nutrition support was superior in improving immune function,reducing the incidence of infectious complications and shortening the length of hospital stay,playing an important role in the rehabilitation of surgical GI cancer patients.

TGF-β1-regulated miR-3691-3p targets E2F3 and PRDM1 to inhibit prostate cancer progression

Transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)acts as a tumor promoter in advanced prostate cancer(PCa).We speculated that microRNAs(miRNAs)that are inhibited by TGF-β1 might exert anti-tumor effects.To assess this,we identified several miRNAs downregulated by TGF-β1 in PCa cell lines and selected miR-3691-3p for detailed analysis as a candidate anti-oncogene miRNA.miR-3691-3p was expressed at significantly lower levels in human PCa tissue compared with paired benign prostatic hyperplasia tissue,and its expression level correlated inversely with aggressive clinical pathological features.Overexpression of miR-3691-3p in PCa cell lines inhibited proliferation,migration,and invasion,and promoted apoptosis.The miR-3691-3p target genes E2F transcription factor 3(E2F3)and PR domain containing 1,with ZNF domain(PRDM1)were upregulated in miR-3691-3p-overexpressing PCa cells,and silencing of E2F3 or PRDM1 suppressed PCa cell proliferation,migration,and invasion.Treatment of mice bearing PCa xenografts with a miR-3691-3p agomir inhibited tumor growth and promoted tumor cell apoptosis.Consistent with the negative regulation of E2F3 and PRDM1 by miR-3691-3p,both proteins were overexpressed in clinical PCa specimens compared with noncancerous prostate tissue.Our results indicate that TGF-β1-regulated miR-3691-3p acts as an anti-oncogene in PCa by downregulating E2F3 and PRDM1.These results provide novel insights into the mechanisms by which TGF-β1 contributes to the progression of PCa.

Characteristics and origin of a new type of polyhalite potassium ore in the Lower Triassic Jialingjiang Formation, Puguang area, northeastern Sichuan Basin, SW China

A new type of polyhalite potassium ore(NTPPO) was found in the Lower Triassic Jialingjiang Formation, NE Sichuan Basin, SW China. It is water soluble, therefore can be exploited using the water-solution method, and is of great potential of economic value and research significance. Based on cores, thin sections, energy spectrum and SEM analyses, its microfeatures, macrofeatures and origin are discussed, and a genetic model is established to provide a scientific basis for future evaluation, prediction and exploration of potassium ore in the Sichuan Basin. It is proposed that the NTPPO was caused by storm activities:(1) the storm broke the original sedimentary polyhalite–gypsum beds, whose fragments were transported into the salt basin with high content of K+ and Mg2+;(2) in the basin, the polyhalite continued to be formed from gypsum by metasomatism with K-and Mg-rich brine;(3) during diagenesis, under high temperature and high pressure, K–Mg-rich brine from halite continued to replace anhydrite(or gypsum) to form polyhalite.

Quantitative lithofacies palaeogeography

Quantitative lithofacies palaeogeography is an important discipline of palaeogeography.It is developed on the foundation of traditional lithofacies palaeogeography and palaeogeography,the core of which is the quantitative lithofacies palaeogeographic map.Quantity means that in the palaeogeographic map,the division and identification of each palaeogeographic unit are supported by quantitative data and quantitative fundamental maps.Our lithofacies palaeogeographic maps are quantitative or mainly quantitative.A great number of quantitative lithofacies palaeogeographic maps have been published,and articles and monographs of quantitative lithofacies palaeogeography have been published successively,thus the quantitative lithofacies palaeogeography was formed and established.It is an important development in lithofacies palaeogeography.In composing quantitative lithofacies palaeogeographic maps,the key measure is the single factor analysis and multifactor comprehensive mapping method—methodology of quantitative lithofacies palaeogeography.In this paper,the authors utilize two case studies,one from the Early Ordovician of South China and the other from the Early Ordovician of Ordos,North China,to explain how to use this methodology to compose the quantitative lithofacies palaeogeographic maps,and to discuss the palaeogeographic units in these maps.Finally,three characteristics,i.e.,quantification,multiple orders and multiple types,of quantitative lithofacies palaeogeographic maps are conclusively discussed.

Retraction note:TGF-β1-regulated miR-3691-3p targets E2F3 and PRDM1 to inhibit prostate cancer progression

We are retracting this article due to certain errors in two figures in the article"TGF-β1-regulated miR-3691-3p targets E2F3 and PRDM1 to inhibit prostate cancer progression"which has been published.An image layout error occurred while processing Figure 3e,and some of the images in Figure 3f,4d,and 4e have errors due to incorrect image grouping.We carried out a detailed investigation and rechecked the original data of these figures.Unfortunately,the original pathological data have not been properly archived;thus,we are unable to investigate this issue.

Interference of quantum beats in Hong–Ou–Mandel interferometry

Quantum beats can be produced in fourth-order interference such as in a Hong–Ou–Mandel(HOM) interferometer by using photons with different frequencies.Here we present theoretically the appearance of interference of quantum beats when the HOM interferometer is combined with a Franson-type interferometer.This combination can make the interference effect of photons with different colors take place not only within the coherence time of downconverted fields but also in the region beyond that.We expect that it can provide a new method in quantum metrology,as it can realize the measurement of time intervals in three scales.