Increased expression of cyclooxygenase-2 in first-degree relatives of gastric cancer patients

AIM: To study the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2)in human gastric cancer tissues and their paired adjacent mucosa, as well as mucosa from gastric antrum and corpus of the first-degree relatives of the recruited cancer patients.METHODS: The expression of COX-2 mRNA in 38 patients with gastric cancer and their 29 first-degree relatives and 18 healthy controls was assessed by the real time RT-PCR.The expression of COX-2 protein was determined by Western blot.RESULTS: A marked increase in COX-2 mRNA expression was found in 20 of 37 (54%) cancerous tissues compared to their respective paired normal mucosa (P＜0.001).Interestingly, increased COX-2 mRNA expression was also found in mucosa of the corpus (6/29) and antrum (13/29)of their first-degree relatives. Increased COX-2 mRNA expression was more frequently observed in the antrum biopsies from cancer patients than in the antrum biopsies from healthy controls (P＜0.05). In addition, 3 of 23 (13%)patients with atrophic mucosa and 6 of 35 (17%) patients with intestinal metaplasia showed increased COX-2 mRNA expression. Furthermore, COX-2 expression increased in H pylori-positive tissues, especially in antrum mucosa.CONCLUSION: Increased COX-2 expression is involved in gastric carcinogenesis, and may be necessary for maintenance of the malignant phenotype and contribute to Helicobacterpylori-associated malignant transformation.

Depressed-type (0-IIc) colorectal neoplasm in patients with family history of first-degree relatives with colorectal cancer:A cross-sectional study

AIM： TO investigate the correlation of depressed-type （0-IIc） colorectal neoplasm and family history of firstdegree relatives （FDR） with colorectal cancer （CRC）. METHODS： This cross-sectional study was conducted from June 2000 to October 2002 at National Cancer Center Hospital East. Eligible patients undergoing initial total colonoscopy were surveyed regarding family history of CRC among FDR by a questionnaire prior to colonoscopic examinations. All endoscopic findings during colonoscopy were recorded and the macroscopic classification of the early stage neoplasm/cancer was classified into two types （0-IIc vs non 0-IIc）. Odds ratios （OR） and 95% confidence intervals （CI） were calculated by univariate and multivariate logistic regression to estimate the association between macroscopic features and clinicopathological data including gender, age, and family history of FDR with CRC. RESULTS： The OR of an association between family history of FDR with CRC and overall early stage neoplasm adjusted by gender and age was 1.85 （95% CI： 1.31-2.61, P = 0.0004）, that for non 0-IIc neoplasm was 1.71 （95% CI： 1.22-2.41, P = 0.0017） and for 0-IIc colorectal neoplasm was 2.78 （95% CI： 1.49-5.16, P = 0.0031）. CONCLUSION： Our study shows a significant association between a family history of FDR with CRC and 0-IIc colorectal neoplasm. When patients with a family history of FDR with CRC undergo colonoscopy, colonoscopists should check carefully for not only polypoid, but also depressed-type （0-IIc） lesions.

What is the quantitative risk of gastric cancer in the first-degree relatives of patients? A meta-analysis

AIMTo quantify the risk of gastric cancer in first-degree relatives of patients with the cancer.METHODSA comprehensive literature search was performed. Case-control trials comparing the frequency of a positive family history of gastric cancer in patients with gastric cancer, vs non-gastric cancer controls were retrieved. Studies with missed or non-extractable data, studies in children, abstracts, and duplicate publications were excluded. A meta-analysis of pooled odd ratios was performed using Review Manager 5.0.25. We performed subgroup analysis on Asian studies and a sensitivity analysis based on the quality of the studies, type of the outcome, sample size, and whether studies considered only first-degree relatives.RESULTSThirty-two relevant studies out of 612 potential abstracts (n = 80690 individuals) were included. 19.0% of the patients and 10.9% of the controls had at least one relative with gastric cancer (P < 0.00001). The pooled relative risk for the development of gastric cancer in association with a positive family history was 2.35 (95%CI: 1.96-2.81). The Cochran Q test for heterogeneity was positive (P < 0.00001, I² = 92%). After excluding the three outlier studies with the highest relative risks, heterogeneity remained significant (P < 0.00001, I² = 90%). The result was not different among Asian studies as compared to others and remained robust in several sensitivity analyses. In the 26 studies which exclusively analysed the history of gastric cancer in first-degree relatives, the relative risk was 2.71 (95%CI: 2.08-3.53; P < 0.00001).CONCLUSIONIndividuals with a first-degree relative affected with gastric cancer have a risk of about 2.5-fold for the development of gastric cancer. This could be due to genetic or environmental factors. Screening and preventive strategies should be developed for this high-risk population.

AN INVESTIGATION OF PEDIGREES OF 110 PATIENTS WITH GRAVES' DISEASE AND THE CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF DETERMINATIONS OF ANTITHYROID ANTIBODIES OF THEIR FIRST-DEGREE RELATIVES

Eight hundred and ten pedigree members of 110 patients with Graves' disease were studied. In 700 first-egree relatives, inquiry of medical history, physical examination (including eyes, thyroid, heart rate, etc), thyroid function tests (serum T3, T4 and TSH levels), determinations of thyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) and thyroid microsomal antibodies (TmAb) were performed. For male (female) probands, the incidence of Graves' disease in male (female) first-degree relatives were investigated and their serum TgAb and TmAb were analysed. The incidence of these two kinds of autoantibodies in the male (female) first-egree relatives of familial and nonfamilial Graves' disease were analysed. Eighteen persons with positive TgAb and TmAb from 5 pedigrees had been followed up one year after initial determinations. Our results suggest that the positive rates of TgAb and TmAb in the first-egree relatives of Graves' disease were coincident with the incidence of Graves' disease, and the positive results of TgAb and TmAb in the first-egree relatives of Graves' disease may be an indicator of pre-raves' disease or pre-utoimmune thyroid diseases.

A prospective comparison cohort study between baseline serum uric acid level and coronary artery disease in first-degree relatives and non-first-degree relatives of type 2 diabetes males

Objective To investigate the relationship between baseline serum uric acid and the severity of coronary artery disease(CAD)in the first-degree relatives or nonfirst-degree relatives of men with type 2 diabetes.Methods Three hundred and eighty-one men with negative coronary angiography for the first time were divided into diabetes and non-diabetes groups and followed-up for

Neurocognitive functions in obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and their unaffected first-degree relatives

Objective To find the common neurocognitive deficits in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and their unaffected first-degree relatives (UFDR) and to identify neurocognitive endophenotypes for OCD. Methods Forty patients with OCD,forty UFDR of OCD probands and forty

A study of the risk for Alzheimer's disease in first-degree relatives of patients with affective disorders

Objective To investigate the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in first-degree relatives of patients with affective disorders,and to evaluate the risk of AD in firstdegree relatives of the patients with affective disorders.Methods Patients with affective disorders meeting"DSM-Ⅳ-TR"criteria (affective disorders group) and their healthy spouses (conrol group) were recruited in this study (n=109 each) .The first-degree relatives in-

Cancer risk in relatives of BRCA1/2 pathogenic variant carriers in a large series of unselected patients with breast cancer

Objective:The spectrum and risk of cancer in relatives of BRCA1/2 pathogenic variant carriers in the Chinese population have not been established.Methods:A family history of cancer in 9903 unselected breast cancer patients was retrospectively analyzed.BRCA1/2 status was determined for all patients and relative risks(RRs)were calculated to evaluate cancer risk in relatives of the patients.Results:The incidences of breast cancer in female relatives of BRCA1 carriers,BRCA2 carriers,and non-carriers were 33.0%,32.2%,and 7.7%,respectively.The corresponding incidences of ovarian cancer were 11.5%,2.4%,and 0.5%,respectively.The incidences of pancreatic cancer in male relatives of BRCA1 carriers,BRCA2 carriers,and non-carriers were 1.4%,2.7%,and 0.6%,respectively.The corresponding incidences of prostate cancer were 1.0%,2.1%,and 0.4%,respectively.The risks of breast and ovarian cancers in female relatives of BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers were significantly higher than female relatives of non-carriers(BRCA1:RR=4.29,P<0.001 and RR=21.95,P<0.001;BRCA2:RR=4.19,P<0.001 and RR=4.65,P<0.001,respectively).Additionally,higher risks of pancreatic and prostate cancers were noted in male relatives of BRCA2 carriers than non-carriers(RR=4.34,P=0.001 and RR=4.86,P=0.001,respectively).Conclusions:Female relatives of BRCA1 and BRCA2 carriers are at increased risk for breast and ovarian cancers,and male relatives of BRCA2 carriers are at increased risk for pancreatic and prostate cancers.

Tunable dispersion relations manipulated by strain in skyrmion-based magnonic crystals

We theoretically investigate the propagation characteristics of spin waves in skyrmion-based magnonic crystals. It is found that the dispersion relation can be manipulated by strains through magneto-elastic coupling. Especially, the allowed bands and forbidden bands in dispersion relations shift to higher frequency with strain changing from compressive to tensile,while shifting to lower frequency with strain changing from tensile to compressive. We also confirm that the spin wave with specific frequency can pass the magnonic crystal or be blocked by tuning the strains. The result provides an advanced platform for studying the tunable skyrmion-based spin wave devices.

Understanding the Relationship Between Shrinking Cities and Land Prices:Spatial Pattern,Effectiveness,and Policy Implications

Urban shrinkage has emerged as a widespread phenomenon globally and has a significant impact on land,particularly in terms of land use and price.This study focuses on 2851 county-level cities in China in 2005–2018(excluding Hong Kong,Macao,Taiwan,and‘no data’areas in Qinhai-Tibet Plateau)as the fundamental units of analysis.By employing nighttime light(NTL)data to identify shrinking cities,the propensity score matching(PSM)model was used to quantitatively examine the impact of shrinking cities on land prices,and evaluate the magnitude of this influence.The findings demonstrate the following:1)there were 613 shrinking cities in China,with moderate shrinkage being the most prevalent and severe shrinkage being the least.2)Regional disparities are evident in the spatial distribution of shrinking cities,especially in areas with diverse terrain.3)The spatial pattern of land price exhibits a significant correlated to the economic and administrative levels.4)Shrinking cities significantly negatively impact on the overall land price(ATT=–0.1241,P<0.05).However,the extent of the effect varies significantly among different spatial regions.This study contributes novel insights into the investigation of land prices and shrinking cities,ultimately serving as a foundation for government efforts to promote the sustainable development of urban areas.

Attention-relation network for mobile phone screen defect classification via a few samples

How to use a few defect samples to complete the defect classification is a key challenge in the production of mobile phone screens.An attention-relation network for the mobile phone screen defect classification is proposed in this paper.The architecture of the attention-relation network contains two modules:a feature extract module and a feature metric module.Different from other few-shot models,an attention mechanism is applied to metric learning in our model to measure the distance between features,so as to pay attention to the correlation between features and suppress unwanted information.Besides,we combine dilated convolution and skip connection to extract more feature information for follow-up processing.We validate attention-relation network on the mobile phone screen defect dataset.The experimental results show that the classification accuracy of the attentionrelation network is 0.9486 under the 5-way 1-shot training strategy and 0.9039 under the 5-way 5-shot setting.It achieves the excellent effect of classification for mobile phone screen defects and outperforms with dominant advantages.

Serum proteins differentially expressed in gestational diabetes mellitus assessed using isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation proteomics

BACKGROUND As a well-known fact to the public,gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM)could bring serious risks for both pregnant women and infants.During this important investigation into the linkage between GDM patients and their altered expression in the serum,proteomics techniques were deployed to detect the differentially expressed proteins(DEPs)of in the serum of GDM patients to further explore its pathogenesis,and find out possible biomarkers to forecast GDM occurrence.METHODS Subjects were divided into GDM and normal control groups according to the IADPSG diagnostic criteria.Serum samples were randomly selected from four cases in each group at 24-28 wk of gestation,and the blood samples were identified by applying iTRAQ technology combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.Key proteins and signaling pathways associated with GDM were identified by bioinformatics analysis,and the expression of key proteins in serum from 12 wk to 16 wk of gestation was further verified using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).RESULTS Forty-seven proteins were significantly differentially expressed by analyzing the serum samples between the GDMgravidas as well as the healthy ones. Among them, 31 proteins were found to be upregulated notably and the rest16 proteins were downregulated remarkably. Bioinformatic data report revealed abnormal expression of proteinsassociated with lipid metabolism, coagulation cascade activation, complement system and inflammatory responsein the GDM group. ELISA results showed that the contents of RBP4, as well as ANGPTL8, increased in the serumof GDM gravidas compared with the healthy ones, and this change was found to initiate from 12 wk to 16 wk ofgestation.CONCLUSION GDM symptoms may involve abnormalities in lipid metabolism, coagulation cascade activation, complementsystem and inflammatory response. RBP4 and ANGPTL8 are expected to be early predictors of GDM.

A Joint Entity Relation Extraction Model Based on Relation Semantic Template Automatically Constructed

The joint entity relation extraction model which integrates the semantic information of relation is favored by relevant researchers because of its effectiveness in solving the overlapping of entities,and the method of defining the semantic template of relation manually is particularly prominent in the extraction effect because it can obtain the deep semantic information of relation.However,this method has some problems,such as relying on expert experience and poor portability.Inspired by the rule-based entity relation extraction method,this paper proposes a joint entity relation extraction model based on a relation semantic template automatically constructed,which is abbreviated as RSTAC.This model refines the extraction rules of relation semantic templates from relation corpus through dependency parsing and realizes the automatic construction of relation semantic templates.Based on the relation semantic template,the process of relation classification and triplet extraction is constrained,and finally,the entity relation triplet is obtained.The experimental results on the three major Chinese datasets of DuIE,SanWen,and FinRE showthat the RSTAC model successfully obtains rich deep semantics of relation,improves the extraction effect of entity relation triples,and the F1 scores are increased by an average of 0.96% compared with classical joint extraction models such as CasRel,TPLinker,and RFBFN.

Generating Sets of the Complete Semigroup of Binary Relations Defined by Semilattices of the Class Σ8(X, 5)

In this article, we study generating sets of the complete semigroups of binary relations defined by X-semilattices of unions of the class Σ8(X, 5). Found uniquely irreducible generating set for the given semigroups and when X is finite set formulas for calculating the number of elements in generating sets are derived.

The Prevalence of Overweight/Obesity and Related Comorbidities among HIV-Positive and HIV-Negative Patients Attending the Same Clinics in Gaborone, Botswana

Context: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) helps restore the health status of people living with HIV (PLHIV). Likewise, it increases the risk of overweight/obesity and related comorbidities among the recipients. In countries like Botswana where ±84% of PLHIV is on ART, the paucity of data comparing overweight/obesity between HIV-positive on ART and HIV-negative patients may impede clinical and policy decision-making. This study sought to estimate and compare: i) the prevalence of overweight/obesity between HIV-positive on ART and HIV-negative patients;ii) the prevalence of hypertension (HTN), diabetes mellitus (DM)/coronary heart disease (CHD) between HIV-positive patients on ART and HIV-negative patients attending same outpatient departments of general clinics in Gaborone, Botswana. Patients and Methods: Five hundred eighty-one (581) outpatients were recruited in four major clinics of Gaborone, Botswana, between June and July 2019;294 or 51% of them were HIV-negative and 287 or 49% were HIV-positive on ART. The prevalence of overweight/obesity and of HTN and DM/CHD were calculated and examined using stratified analysis. Subgroups were compared using Chi-square analysis with Yates correction or Fisher exact test and t-student test for continuous data. Results: Major findings after stratification of the study population by HIV status were: i) the prevalence of all categories of (BMI), including overweight/obesity, were comparable between HIV-negative-patients and HIV-positive. In fact, there were 24 (8.0%) cases of underweight among HIV-negative-Patients and 15(5%) cases among HIV-positive patients, p = 0.2;145 (49%) HIV-negative-patients and 128 (45%) HIV-positive, p = 0.07 cases of normal weight;72 (25%) HIV-negative-patients and 87 (30%) HIV-positive, p = 0.08, were overweight;53 (18%) HIV-negative-patients and 57 (20%) HIV-positive, p = 0.12, were obese;125 (43%) HIV-negative patients and 144 (50%) HIV-positive, p=0.06 were overweight/obese;ii) the prevalence of HTN and DM/CHD among HIV-positive-patients were significantly lower (p < 0.05) compared to HIV-negative patients: There were 32 (10.9%) cases of HTN among HIV-negative patients compared to 18 (6.3%) cases of HTN among HIV-positive patients, p = 0.001;32 (11%) cases of DM/CHD HIV-negative patients compared to 4 (1.4%) cases of DM/CHD among HIV-positive patients, p = 0.001. Conclusion: the prevalence of overweight/obesity observed between HIV-negative and HIV-positive patients may suggest that the two groups shared the same exposure factors. That HTN and DM/CHD prevalence was lower among HIV-positive compared to HIV-negative patients, is possibly due to interplay factors of ART, HIV or the host population. Further studies are, however, recommended for clarifications.

Dispersion Relations in Diffraction in Time

In agreement with Titchmarsh’s theorem, we prove that dispersion relations are just the Fourier-transform of the identity, g(x′)=±Sgn(x′)g(x′), which defines the property of being a truncated functions at the origin. On the other hand, we prove that the wave-function of a generalized diffraction in time problem is just the Fourier-transform of a truncated function. Consequently, the existence of dispersion relations for the diffraction in time wave-function follows. We derive these explicit dispersion relations.

Intensive care environment: Perspective of relatives of critically ill patient sustained by health technology

The intensive care unit(ICU)is a complex setting by nature,and some have described it as bizarre due to its numerous sirens that sound when anything is dangerous,constant activity,equipment,bright lights,and high fatality rate.The demands placed on nurses to care for critically ill patients in this environment frequently prevent nurses and other health‑care professionals from acknowledging the feelings of patient’s relatives or family caregivers,resulting in a hostile environment from the patient’s relative’s perspective.When a patient’s family enters the ICU,they feel that hospital administrators do little to nothing to alleviate their discomfort and fear.Despite research demonstrating the importance of providing a homely environment for patients’families,In Nigeria ICU is still far behind how a conventional ICU environment should be structured to accommodate patient’s relations in the unit.The goal of this study was to look at the patient’s relative’s perspective on providing care for a critically ill patient in an ICU,with a focus on the unit’s complexity and overall experience.Based on the findings of this study,we recommend that hospital administrators ensure that the environment of the upcoming ICU is designed to meet the needs of patient’s relatives by addressing identified environmental concerns,like caring neglect,by providing a friendly and stress‑free environment.

The chemical characteristics of different sodium iron ethylenediaminetetraacetate sources and their relative bioavailabilities for broilers fed with a conventional corn‑soybean meal diet

Background Our previous studies demonstrated that divalent organic iron(Fe)proteinate sources with higher complexation or chelation strengths as expressed by the greater quotient of formation(Qf)values displayed higher Fe bioavailabilities for broilers.Sodium iron ethylenediaminetetraacetate(NaFeEDTA)is a trivalent organic Fe source with the strongest chelating ligand EDTA.However,the bioavailability of Fe when administered as NaFeEDTA in broilers and other agricultural animals remains untested.Herein,the chemical characteristics of 12 NaFeEDTA products were determined.Of these,one feed grade NaFeEDTA(Qf=2.07×10^(8)),one food grade NaFeEDTA(Qf=3.31×10^(8)),and one Fe proteinate with an extremely strong chelation strength(Fe-Prot ES,Qf value=8,590)were selected.Their bioavailabilities relative to Fe sulfate(FeSO_(4)·7H_(2)O)for broilers fed with a conventional corn-soybean meal diet were evaluated during d 1 to 21 by investigating the effects of the above Fe sources and added Fe levels on the growth performance,hematological indices,Fe contents,activities and gene expressions of Fe-containing enzymes in various tissues of broilers.Results NaFeEDTA sources varied greatly in their chemical characteristics.Plasma Fe concentration(PI),transferrin saturation(TS),liver Fe content,succinate dehydrogenase(SDH)activities in liver,heart,and kidney,catalase(CAT)activity in liver,and SDH mRNA expressions in liver and kidney increased linearly(P<0.05)with increasing levels of Fe supplementation.However,differences among Fe sources were detected(P<0.05)only for PI,liver Fe content,CAT activity in liver,SDH activities in heart and kidney,and SDH mRNA expressions in liver and kidney.Based on slope ratios from multiple linear regressions of the above indices on daily dietary analyzed Fe intake,the average bioavailabilities of Fe-Prot ES,feed grade NaFeEDTA,and food grade NaFeEDTA relative to the inorganic FeSO_(4)·7H_(2)O(100%)for broilers were 139%,155%,and 166%,respectively.Conclusions The bioavailabilities of organic Fe sources relative to FeSO_(4)·7H_(2)O were closely related to their Qf values,and NaFeEDTA sources with higher Qf values showed higher Fe bioavailabilities for broilers fed with a conventional corn-soybean meal diet.

Optimal investment based on relative performance and weighted utility

This paper studies the optimal portfolio allocation of a fund manager when he bases decisions on both the absolute level of terminal relative performance and the change value of terminal relative performance comparison to a predefined reference point. We find the optimal investment strategy by maximizing a weighted average utility of a concave utility and an Sshaped utility via a concavification technique and the martingale method. Numerical results are carried out to show the impact of the extent to which the manager pays attention to the change of relative performance related to the reference point on the optimal terminal relative performance.

Case Retrieval Strategy of Turning Process Based on Grey Relational Analysis

To solve the problem of long response time when users obtain suitable cutting parameters through the Internet based platform,a case-based reasoning framework is proposed.Specifically,a Hamming distance and Euclidean distance combined method is designed to measure the similarity of case features which have both numeric and category properties.In addition,AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Process)and entropy weight method are integrated to provide features weight,where both user preferences and comprehensive impact of the index have been concerned.Grey relation analysis is used to obtain the similarity of a new problem and alternative cases.Finally,a platform is also developed on Visual Studio 2015,and a case study is demonstrated to verify the practicality and efficiency of the proposed method.This method can obtain cutting parameters which is suitable without iterative calculation.Compared with the traditional PSO(Particle swarm optimization algorithm)and GA(Genetic algorithm),it can obtain faster response speed.This method can provide ideas for selecting processing parameters in industrial production.While guaranteeing the characteristic information is similar,this approach can select processing parameters which is the most appropriate for the production process and a lot of time can be saved.