Quantitative Analysis of Thyroid Blood Flow and Static Imaging in the Differential Diagnosis of Thyroid Nodules

Song, Li-Ping,Zhang, Wen-Hong,Xiang, Yang,Zhao, Na Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.11

Objective:To evaluate the performance of combined quantitative analysis of thyroid blood flow and static imaging data in the differential diagnosis of thyroid nodules. Method: Thyroid blood flow and static imaging were performed in 165 patients with thyroid nodules. Patients were divided into a benign thyroid nodule group (BTN, n=135) and a malignant thyroid nodule group (MTN, n=30) based on the results of post-surgical pathologic examination. Carotid artery thyroid transit times (CTTT), perfusion ratio of thyroid nodule blood/thyroid blood (TNB/TB), and perfusion ratio of thyroid nodule blood/carotid artery blood (TNB/CAB) were measured using thyroid blood flow imaging. The ratios between thyroid nodule and ipsilateral submandibular gland (TN/SG) and thyroid nodule and normal thyroid tissue (TN/T) were measured from thyroid static imaging. The differences between the BTN and MTN groups were compared. Results: 1) CTTT was markedly lower in the MTN group than the BTN group, the difference being statistically significant. 2) TNB/TB and TNB/CAB were both significantly higher in MTN than BTN groups. 3) TN/T was significantly lower in MTN group than BTN group. 4) TN/SG was lower in MTN group than BTN group, but the difference was not statistically significant. 5) Using the combination of CTTT and TN/T, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 93.1%, 95.3% and 94.9% respectively for the diagnosis of MTN. Using the combination of CTTT, TNB/TB and TN/T, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy changed to 89.7%, 100%, and 98.1% respectively. 6) Correlation analysis demonstrated a significant correlation between TN/T and TNB/TB (r=-0.384, P=0.036) and TNB/CAB (r=-0.466, P=0.009) in the MTN group. Conclusion: The combination of quantitative markers from thyroid blood flow and thyroid static imaging had high specificity and accuracy in differential diagnosis of benign and malignant thyroid nodules, thus providing an important imaging diagnostic approach.

Determination of equivalent blasting load considering millisecond delay effect

Song, Zhan-Ping,Li, Shi-Hao,Wang, Jun-Bao,Sun, Zhi-Yuan,Liu, Jing,Chang, Yu-Zhen Techno-Press 2018 Geomechanics & engineering Vol.15 No.2

In the analysis of the effects of rock tunnel blasting vibration on adjacent existing buildings, the model of simplified equivalent load produces higher calculation result of vibration, due to the lack of consideration of the millisecond delay effect. This paper, based on the static force equivalence principle of blasting load, proposes a new determination method of equivalent load of blasting vibration. The proposed method, based on the elastic-static force equivalence principle of stress wave, equals the blasting loads of several single blastholes in the same section of millisecond blasting to the triangle blasting load curve of the exploded equivalent elastic boundary surface. According to the attenuation law of stress wave, the attenuated equivalent triangle blasting load curve of the equivalent elastic boundary is applied on the tunnel excavation contour surface, obtaining the final applied equivalent load. Taking the millisecond delay time of different sections into account, the time-history curve of equivalent load of the whole section applied on the tunnel excavation contour surface can be obtained. Based on Sailing Tunnel with small spacing on Sanmenxia-Xichuan Expressway, an analysis on the blasting vibration response of the later and early stages of the tunnel construction is carried out through numerical simulation using the proposed equivalent load model considering millisecond delay effect and the simplified equivalent triangle load curve model respectively. The analysis of the numerical results comparing with the field monitoring ones shows that the calculation results obtained from the proposed equivalent load model are closer to the measured ones and more feasible.

QTL Analysis of Floral Traits of Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) under Well-Watered and Drought Stress Conditions

Song Ping Hu,Ying Zhou,Lin Zhang,Xu Dong Zhu,Zheng Gong Wang,Lin Li,Li Jun Luo,Qing Ming Zhou 한국유전학회 2009 Genes & Genomics Vol.31 No.2

Three floral traits, spikelet number per panicle (SNP), percentage of single exserted stigma (PSES) and dual exserted stigma (PDES) of a RI population with 185 lines under water stress and non-stress conditions for two years were investigated in a drought tolerance screening facility. ANOVA results showed high significance between years, lines, and water stress treatments, together with interactions among them in pairs. High phenotypic correlation was found between PSES and PDES (r=0.5424***). Based on a linkage map of 203 SSR markers, when under well-watered condition, six QTLs (qSNP-3b, qSNP-4, qSNP-11 qSNP-2, qSNP-5 and qSNP-9) were detected for SNP. Half of them had significant Q×E interactions. Three QTLs (qPSES-1, qPSES-2, qPSES-5) were found to influence PSES, including one locus (qPSES-2) having Q×E interaction. And three QTLs (qPDES-2, qPDES-5 and qPDES-8) were also detected to influence PDES. qPDES-5 was found to have Q×E interaction. The contribution rate of a single QTL varied from 0.80% to 8.83% for additive effect, and 1.86% to 15.25% for Q×E interactions. Under drought stress, six QTLs (qSNP-3a, qSNP-4, qSNP-7a, qSNP-7b, qSNP-8 and qSNP-9) were associated with SNP, including qSNP-3a and qSNP-4 with Q×E interaction. Three QTLs (qPSES-1, qPSES-10 and qPSES-12) were located on rice chromosome 1, 10 and 12 for PSES. Four QTLs (qPDES-1a, qPDES-1b, qPDES-4 and qPDES-9) were detected for PDES, including qPDES-9 with Q×E interaction. The additive effect of single QTL can only explain 1.16% to 5.84% of total variance while Q×E interaction of four loci can explain 4.25% to 11.54% of total variance for each locus. There were one to nine pairs of epistatic QTLs influencing SNP and stigma exsertion. The contribution rates of additive and epistatic effects seemed to be in a low magnitude for most cases (0.76%~9.92%) while a few QTLs or QTL pairs explained more than 10% of total variance. Some main effect QTL and epistasis were commonly detected among PSES and PDES, explaining the high positive correlation between them. Few QTLs were detected under both water stress and non-stress conditions, indicating that drought had severe impact on the genetic behaviors of both spikelet number and stigma exsertion.

Could Clinical Pathways Improve the Quality of Care in Patients with Gastrointestinal Cancer? A Meta-analysis

Song, Xu-Ping,Tian, Jin-Hui,Cui, Qi,Zhang, Ting-Ting,Yang, Ke-Hu,Ding, Guo-Wu Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.19

This meta-analysis was performed to assess the implementation effects of clinical pathways in patients with gastrointestinal cancer. A comprehensive search was conducted in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (from inception to May 2014). Selection of studies, assessing risk of bias and extracting data were performed by two reviewers independently. Outcomes were analyzed by fixed-effects and random-effects model meta-analysis and reported as mean difference (MD), standardized mean difference (SMD) and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). The Jadad methodological approach was used to assess the quality of included studies and the meta-analysis was conducted with RevMan 5.1 software. Nine citations (eight trials) involving 642 patients were included. The aggregate results showed that a shorter average length of stay [MD = -4.0; 95% CI (-5.1, -2.8); P < 0.00001] was observed with the clinical pathways as compared with the usual care. A reduction in inpatient expenditure [SMD = -1.5; 95% CI (-2.3, -0.7); P = 0.0001] was also associated with clinical pathways, along with higher patient satisfaction [OR = 4.9; 95% CI (2.2, 10.6); P < 0.0001]. Clinical pathways could improve the quality of care in patients with gastrointestinal cancer, as evidenced by a significant reduction in average length of stay, a decrease in inpatient expenditure and an improvement in patient satisfaction. Therefore, indicators and mechanisms within clinical pathways should be a focus in the future.

Expression of Cytoplasmic 8-oxo-Gsn and MTH1 Correlates with Pathological Grading in Human Gastric Cancer

Song, Wen-Jie,Jiang, Ping,Cai, Jian-Ping,Zheng, Zhi-Qiang Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2015 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.16 No.15

Background: Cancers have dysfunctional redox regulation resulting in production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), damaging DNA, RNA and free NTPs, and causing the accumulation of oxidative nucleic acids in cytoplasm. The major types are 8-oxo-7,8-dihydroguanine(8-oxoGsn) in RNA and 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2' deoxyguanosine(8-oxodGsn) in Mt-DNA. The MTH1 protein sanitizes oxidized nucleotide pools from NTPs to monophosphates, preventing the occurrence of transversion mutations. This study concerned cytoplasmic 8-oxodGsn/Gsn and MTH1 expression in gastric cancer and para-cancer tissues and elucidated roles of nucleic-acid oxidation and anti-oxidation. Materials and Methods: A polymer HRP detection system was used to detect 8-oxo-Gsn/dGsn and MTH1 expression in 51 gastric cancer and para-cancer tissue samples. Analyses of patient clinical and pathological data were also performed. Results: The expression of MTH1 and the 8-oxo-dGsn/Gsn ratio were significantly higher in cancer tissues than para-cancer tissues (P<0.05). Cytoplasmic 8-oxo-Gsn and MTH1 were both found to positively correlate (P<0.05) with tumor differentiation, while no significant associations were found with gender, age, invasion depth, lymph node metastasis and clinical stage (P>0.05). Conclusions: We found 8-oxo-dGsn/Gsn and MTH1 are both highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues, especially in well differentiated lesions. In addition, oxidated mtDNA is prevalently expressed in gastric cancers, while 8-oxo-Gsn expression in cytoplasmic RNA is a bit lower, but more selectively.

Bioinformatic Prediction of SNPs within miRNA Binding Sites of Inflammatory Genes Associated with Gastric Cancer

Song, Chuan-Qing,Zhang, Jun-Hui,Shi, Jia-Chen,Cao, Xiao-Qin,Song, Chun-Hua,Hassan, Adil,Wang, Peng,Dai, Li-Ping,Zhang, Jian-Ying,Wang, Kai-Juan Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2014 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.15 No.2

Polymorphisms in miRNA binding sites have been shown to affect miRNA binding to target genes, resulting in differential mRNA and protein expression and susceptibility to common diseases. Our purpose was to predict SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) within miRNA binding sites of inflammatory genes in relation to gastric cancer. A complete list of SNPs in the 3'UTR regions of all inflammatory genes associated with gastric cancer was obtained from Pubmed. miRNA target prediction databases (MirSNP, Targetscan Human 6.2, PolymiRTS 3.0, miRNASNP 2.0, and Patrocles) were used to predict miRNA target sites. There were 99 SNPs with MAF>0.05 within the miRNA binding sites of 41 genes among 72 inflammation-related genes associated with gastric cancer. NF-${\kappa}B$ and JAK-STAT are the two most important signaling pathways. 47 SNPs of 25 genes with 95 miRNAs were predicted. CCL2 and IL1F5 were found to be the shared target genes of hsa-miRNA-624-3p. Bioinformatic methods could identify a set of SNPs within miRNA binding sites of inflammatory genes, and provide data and direction for subsequent functional verification research.

Effect of cation ratio and order on magnetic circular dichroism in the double perovskite Sr₂Fe₁₊ <i> _x </i>Re_1- <i> _x </i>O₆

Ho, Ping-Luen,Yu, Chu-Ping,Zhang, Qiqi,Song, Kyung,Buban, James P.,Choi, Si-Young,Dunin-Borkowski, Rafal E.,Mayer, Joachim,Tai, Nyan-Hwa,Zhu, Jing,Jin, Lei,Zhong, Xiaoyan Elsevier 2018 Ultramicroscopy Vol.193 No.-

<P><B>Abstract</B></P> <P>Superexchange-based magnetic coupling of the two <I>B</I>-site cations in rock-salt-ordered double perovskite oxides is extremely sensitive to the cation ratio and degree of order. However, as a result of the limited spatial resolution of most magnetic characterization techniques, it is challenging to establish a direct relationship between magnetic properties and structure in these materials, including the effects of elemental segregation and cation disorder. Here, we use electron energy-loss magnetic chiral dichroism together with aberration-corrected electron microscopy and spectroscopy to record magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) spectra at the nm scale, in combination with structural and chemical information at the atomic scale from the very same region. We study nanoscale phases in ordered Sr<SUB>2</SUB>[Fe][Re]O<SUB>6</SUB>, ordered Sr<SUB>2</SUB>[Fe][Fe<SUB>1/5</SUB>Re<SUB>4/5</SUB>]O<SUB>6</SUB> and disordered Sr[Fe<SUB>4/5</SUB>Re<SUB>1/5</SUB>]O<SUB>3</SUB> individually, in order to understand the role of cation ratio and order on local magnetic coupling. When compared with ordered Sr<SUB>2</SUB>[Fe][Re]O<SUB>6</SUB>, we find that antiferromagnetic Fe<SUP>3+</SUP>-O<SUP>2−</SUP>-Fe<SUP>3+</SUP>superexchange interactions arising from an excess of Fe suppress the MCD signal from Fe cations in ordered Sr<SUB>2</SUB>[Fe][Fe<SUB>1/5</SUB>Re<SUB>4/5</SUB>]O<SUB>6</SUB>, while dominant Fe<SUP>3+</SUP>-O<SUP>2−</SUP>-Fe<SUP>3+</SUP>antiferromagnetic coupling in disordered Sr[Fe<SUB>4/5</SUB>Re<SUB>1/5</SUB>]O<SUB>3</SUB> leads to a decrease in MCD signal down to the noise level. Our work demonstrates a protocol that can be used to correlate crystallographic, electronic and magnetic information in materials such as Sr<SUB>2</SUB>Fe<SUB>1+</SUB> <I> <SUB>x</SUB> </I>Re<SUB>1-</SUB> <I> <SUB>x</SUB> </I>O<SUB>6</SUB>, in order to provide insight into structure-property relationships in double perovskite oxides at the atomic scale.</P> <P><B>Highlights</B></P> <P> <UL> <LI> Local measurements of magnetic circular dichroism, atomic arrangement, cation order, chemical state and elemental distribution from the very same region provide an improved understanding of structure-property relationships at the nm scale in double perovskites with different structural complexities. </LI> <LI> Antiferromagnetic Fe<SUP>3+</SUP>-O<SUP>2−</SUP>-Fe<SUP>3+</SUP>superexchange interactions arising from an excess of Fe suppress the magnetic circular dichroism signal from Fe cations in ordered Sr<SUB>2</SUB>[Fe][Fe<SUB>1/5</SUB>Re<SUB>4/5</SUB>]O<SUB>6</SUB>, when compared with ordered Sr<SUB>2</SUB>[Fe][Re]O<SUB>6</SUB>. </LI> <LI> Dominant Fe<SUP>3+</SUP>-O<SUP>2−</SUP>-Fe<SUP>3+</SUP>antiferromagnetic coupling in disordered Sr[Fe<SUB>4/5</SUB>Re<SUB>1/5</SUB>]O<SUB>3</SUB> leads to a decrease in magnetic circular dichroism signal down to the noise level. </LI> </UL> </P>

Design for Ontology Knowledge Base Based on Structural Members

Qian Li-Ping,Yang Xiao-Ping,Song Yu 보안공학연구지원센터 2015 International Journal of Database Theory and Appli Vol.8 No.5

By studying the existing ontology design method and integrating the feature of domain knowledge which has significant component characteristics, this paper propose a method to build ontology knowledge base basing on structural member. The process includes the following six steps: requirement analysis, framework designing, coding, ontology evaluation, ontology evolution, document filing. Each step of the task is further decomposed into several detailed operation. An ontology evaluation method is also proposed. Through applying the domain ontology into the practices and evaluating the result before and after, the rationality of relationship is reversely inferred out. Ontology language is used to describe the concepts and the relation among them. It is also an ideal selection to describe the ancient buildings knowledge. The result of instant study confirms the approach is feasible and effective.

Improving thermal shock and ablation resistance of high thermal conductivity carbon/carbon composites by introducing carbon nanotubes

Liu Xue-Song,Fu Qian-Gang,Wang Han-Hui,Tong Ming-De,Zhang Jia-Ping,Song Qiang 한국탄소학회 2020 Carbon Letters Vol.30 No.6

In order to improve the thermal shock and ablation resistance of high thermal conductivity carbon/carbon composites, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were introduced by electrophoretic deposition. After modifcation, the fexural strength of the composites increases by 53.0% due to the greatly strengthened interfaces. During thermal shock between 1100 °C and room temperature for 30 times, the strength continues to increase, attributed to the weakened interfaces in favor of fber and CNT pull-out. By introducing CNTs at interfaces, thermal conductivity of the composites along the fber axial direction decreases and that along the fber radial direction increases. As the thermal shock process prolongs, since the carbon structure integrity of CNT and matrix in the modifed composites is improved, the conductivity increases whatever the orientation is, until the thermal stress causes too many defects. As for the anti-ablation performance, the mass ablation rates of the CNT-modifed composites with fbers parallel to and vertical to the fame decrease by 69.6% and 43.9% respectively, and the diference in the mass ablation rate related with fber orientations becomes much less. Such performance improvement could be ascribed to the reduced oxidative damage and the enhanced interfaces.

Adverse Effects of Preserved Vegetables on Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Esophagus and Precancer Lesions in a High Risk Area

Song, Qing-Kun,Zhao, Lin,Li, Jun,He, Yu-Ming,Jiang, Cui-Ping,Jiang, Hai-Dong,Qu, Chen-Xu Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.2

Introduction: Squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus (ESCC) is one of the most common cancers in China. Preserved vegetables are processed foods and consumed in high amounts in the high risk areas for ESCC. This study aimed to investigate the relationships of preserved vegetable consumption with ESCC and precancer lesions. Methods: Cases from Yanting cancer hospital with pathological diagnosis of primary cancer, along with controls and individuals diagnosed with precancer lesions by endoscopy with iodine staining were interviewed. Trained staff collected data on dietary habits 1 year before the interview. An unconditional logistic regression model was used to estimate odds ratios of preserved vegetable consumption for precancer lesions and cancer. Results: Adjusting for potential confounders, intake of preserved vegetables (OR=2.92, 95%CI 1.32~6.47) and longer intake period (OR=5.78, 95%CI 2.26~14.80) were associated with higher risk of ESCC. Compared with lowest intake frequency, the highest was associated with a 3.0-fold risk for precancer lesions and 3.59-fold risk for ESCC (both p<0.05). Conclusion: Consumption of preserved vegetables is a risk factor for esophageal lesions in high risk areas. The carcinogenicity of preserved vegetables needs investigation in further studies and the public health strategies for reducing the consumption might be initiated in high risk areas.