Studies on the relationship between the point mutation of ras oncogenes and the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer

AIM To study the relationship between the point mutation of ras oncogenes and the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer.

Experimental Research on Erbium-doped Superfluorescent Fiber Source

The effects of the variations in fiber length,fiber mirror reflectance on efficiency and output power are experimentally investigated for erbium-doped double pass backward superfluorescent fiber sources (SFSs).The influence of fiber length on mean wavelength stability (MWS) has also been demonstrated.By incorporating a short section of un-pumped erbium-doped fiber (EDF) at the output port,the pump power dependent on MWS becomes independent of pumped EDF length.This is a novel phenomenon that hasn’t been reported up to now,and should be helpful to SFS fabrication and theory analysis.By using a fiber Michelson interferometer as spectrum slicing component,a multi-wavelength fiber source (MWFS) with ～20 channels (from 1 542 nm to 1 559 nm) is got.The MWFS has a channel spacing of ～0.8 nm which satisfies ITU-standard.The intensity fluctuation among channels is less than 0.5 dB,and the extinction ratio of all channels is above 14 dB.This kind of MWFS should be useful to wavelength division multiplexing systems.

CDH1 promoter polymorphism(-347G→GA) is a possible prognostic factor in sporadic colorectal cancer

AIM:To investigate the role of the-347G→GA polymorphism in the progression of colorectal cancer(CRC) .METHODS:We designed a case-control study based on a population of CRC patients in China and normal healthy controls with no history of tumors or inherited diseases.Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism(PCR-RFLP) analyses were used to genotype the variants,and immunohistochemical staining was performed to measure the expression of E-cadherin in different allele cases among the CRC patients and normal controls.RESULTS:The GA-allele(G/GA heterozygous and GA/GA homozygous) did not increase the risk of CRC compared with the G-allele(OR = 1.232,95% CI = 0.898-1.691) .However,the frequencies of the GAallele were higher in poorly differentiated(P = 0.002) and proximal(P = 0.019) CRC patients than in normal controls.We also observed that E-cadherin expression was lower in poorly differentiated CRC patients than in well differentiated CRC patients(P = 0.001) .Furthermore,E-cadherin expression was lower for the GA-allele than for the G-allele(G/G heterozygous) in CRC patients(P = 0.018) .In contrast,there was no significant difference in E-cadherin expression for the G-allele and GA-allele in normal controls(P = 0.292) .CONCLUSION:The-347G→GA promoter polymorphism in E-cadherin gene is associated with specific CRC features,and may be a prognostic factor rather than a susceptibility factor during the progression of CRC.

On-Demand Post-Disaster Emergency Shelters

In post-disaster emergency shelter aid, various relief agencies and other actors with different backgrounds need to cooperate in a tremendously short amount of time and under very different circumstances. In this article, we describe a research project that develops and tests a new approach in which the demands for shelters in a specific situation are methodically connected with available, innovative and sustainable shelter solutions, a DSS （decision support system）. The DSS is a digital tool that translates the gathered evidence on needs, solutions and location including long-term effects of shelter provision into advice for the provision of sustainable, integral broader shelter solutions and designs. The outcome is a set of characteristics for a DSS for the provision of on-demand emergency shelters. A DSS that meets these characteristics leads to the provision of sustainable shelters that meet the needs of the users and, therefore, have higher performance in long term.