205 research outputs found
Effects of chinaberry fruit extract on feeding, growth and fecundity of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella L. (Lep., Yponomeutidae)
No full textEffects of chinaberry fruit extracts on larval mortality, feeding inhibition and reproduction of the diamondback moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella L., were investigated by feeding DBM larvae on treated leaves or seedlings. These extracts were found to be toxic to DBM larvae. The larvae usually died from failure in molting. The developmental growth rates and the food consumption were also reduced at concentrations of 2.0 and 4.0%. Chinaberry extracts reduced pupal weight, adult emergence and longevity in a dose-dependent manner when newly hatched larvae were continuously reared on treated rape seedlings at concentrations of 0.05% or above. Fecundity of the resulting females from the larvae treated with 0.5% extract was also reduced, while the egg hatch was not affected. However, the extracts significantly decreased egg hatch when the eggs were dipped directly into test solutions at 1.0% or above
Prognostic ability of cystatin C and homocysteine plasma levels for long-term outcomes in very old acute myocardial infarction patients
No full textZhenhong Fu,1,* Xia Yang,1,* Mingzhi Shen,2,* Hao Xue,1,* Geng Qian,1 Feng Cao,1 Jun Guo,1 Wei Dong,1 Yundai Chen1 1Department of Cardiology, Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, China; 2Department of Cardiology, Hainan Branch of Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Sanya, Hainan, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background and aims: This study sought to evaluate the prognostic powers of combined use of cystatin C (Cys C) and homocysteine (Hcy) at predicting adverse events of patients >80 years old with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).Patients and methods: The analysis involved 753 patients >80 years old undergoing coronary angiography for chest pain in China from January 2006 to December 2012. Kaplan–Meier method was used for survival and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) rates. Multivariate Cox regression was performed to identify mortality predictors. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to predict the cutoff values of Cys C and Hcy for all-cause mortality.Results: The duration of follow-up was 40–116 months (median, 63 months; interquartile range, 51–74 months). The long-term survival and event-free survival rates of AMI patients were significantly lower than those of unstable angina pectoris patients (P<0.05), and were significantly different according to the tertile concentration of Cys C of AMI patients (P<0.01). Cys C and Hcy were independent risk factors for long-term all-cause mortality (odds ratio [OR] =3.72 [2.27–6.09]; OR =1.59 [1.04–2.61]) and MACE (OR =2.83 [1.82–4.40]; OR =1.09 [1.04–1.21]) of AMI patients. The predictive cutoff value of Cys C was 1.815 mg/L (82.8%, 86.4%) and that of Hcy was 15.06 µmol/L (84.4%, 83.1%) in AMI patients. Combined use of both biomarker’s cutoff values further increased the sensitivity and specificity of all-cause mortality.Conclusion: Cys C is a strong independent predictor of long-term all-cause death and MACE in very old AMI patients. The combined use of Cys C and Hcy further improves the predictive accuracy. Keywords: cystatin C, homocysteine, very old, acute myocardial infarction, prognosi
High C-reactive protein/albumin ratio predicts unfavorable distant metastasis-free survival in nasopharyngeal carcinoma: a propensity score-matched analysis
No full textYan Wang,1–3,* Lin Yang,1–3,* Liangping Xia,1–3 Yong Chen1–3 1Department of VIP, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2State Key Laboratory of Oncology in Southern China, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, People’s Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Recent studies have indicated that the C-reactive protein/albumin (CRP/ALB) ratio (CAR) may represent a simple inflammation-based index for assessing the host inflammatory response. In this study, the prognostic value of the CAR for distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) was assessed.Methods: A total of 1,168 non-metastatic NPC patients from Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center were retrospectively included. The optimal cutoff value for CAR was defined by the Cutoff Finder online tool. Propensity case-matched analysis was performed to adjust for potential differences in baseline characteristics. Subsequently, the prognostic value of the CAR for DMFS was validated in a 756 validation cohort with NPC.Results: The optimal CAR cutoff value was 0.081. Patients with high CAR values had significantly poorer DMFS than those with low CAR in univariate and multivariate analyses before propensity score matching. The CAR could also significantly stratify patients into different risks of developing distant metastasis in subgroup analysis. Propensity score analyses showed that CAR remained a prognostic factor for DMFS, thus excluding other interpretations and selection bias. Moreover, the prognostic value of the CAR was robustly confirmed in the external validation cohort.Conclusion: CAR is an inexpensive and easy-to-measure inflammatory index that may aid clinicians in the development of individualized treatment and follow-up strategies for patients with non-metastatic NPC. Keywords: nasopharyngeal carcinoma, metastasis, prognosis, propensity score, C-reactive protein, albumi
Accumulation of lipid droplets under the nitrogen-depleted condition (pH 3.0, 25°C).
No full text<p>(A) Growth curves of YKT1 under nitrogen-replete (+N) or nitrogen-depleted (–N) conditions. (B) Photographs of the cultures under +N or –N conditions at 0 and 7 days after the onset of cultivation. (C) Time course of storage lipid accumulation under +N or –N conditions. Lipid droplets were stained with BODIPY (green fluorescence) and cells were observed under fluorescence microscopy. (D) Micrographs of cells that were cultured under the +N or –N conditions for 7 days. Images were obtained by differential interference contrast microscopy (DIC), BODIPY staining (BODIPY), chlorophyll autofluorescence (Chl), and merged images of BODIPY and Chl (Merged) are shown. (E) Storage lipid content (% of dry weight) in YKT1 cultured under +N or –N conditions for 7 days was determined by the Nile Red method <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0107702#pone.0107702-Chen1" target="_blank">[27]</a>. The bars indicate the standard deviation of three individual experiments. Scale bars: 5 µm (C); 2 µm (D).</p
Rapid and quantitative detection of C-reactive protein using quantum dots and immunochromatographic test strips
Full text linkXianglin Cheng,1,* Xu Pu,2,* Pen Jun,3 XiaoBo Zhu,3 Di Zhu,4 Ming Chen1 1Department of Laboratory Medicine, First Affiliated Hospital of Yangtze University, Jingzhou, 2Department of Laboratory Medicine, RenMin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, 3Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Biology and Medicine (Ministry of Education), College of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA *These authors contributed equally to this study and share first authorship Background: Rapid immunochromatographic tests can detect disease markers in 10–15 minutes, which facilitates clinical diagnosis and treatment programs. However, most immunochromatographic tests employ gold nanoparticles as reporters, and these have only moderate sensitivity and act as qualitative methods for analyzing high biomarker concentrations. Methods: In this study, we introduce quantum dots (QDs) as fluorescent probes and immunochromatographic strips to develop quantitative fluorescence point-of-care tests (QF-POCT) to analyze C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Goat anti-rabbit IgG and rabbit IgG were used as control antibodies, and mouse monoclonal CRP antibody pairs were used for disease marker detection. One monoclonal CRP antibody was conjugated with QDs and served as a signal antibody, and the other monoclonal CRP antibody was dispensed onto the nitrocellulose membrane and served as a capturing antibody. In the presence of CRP, the fluorescence intensity of the monoclonal antibody-CRP-monoclonal antibody sandwich complex captured on the nitrocellulose membrane was determined using the fluorescence strip reader. Results: QF-POCT assays could quantitatively analyze the concentration of CRP in 15 minutes had a detection limit of 0.25 mg/L, and had a wide detection linearity range (0.5–300 mg/L). The intra-assay and interassay coefficients of variation were 8.95% and 9.86% at 0.5 mg/L, 6.47% and 8.66% at 10 mg/L, and 6.81% and 9.10% at 60 mg/L, respectively. In a comparison between clinical samples, the results of this QD-based assay of CRP levels were significantly correlated with those of an Immulite 2000 assay (R=0.993, P<0.001). Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that the QD-based immunochromatographic test is a rapid, sensitive, accurate, and quantitative method for the detection of disease biomarkers. Keywords: C-reactive protein, immunochromatographic test, quantum dots, fluorescence point-of-care tes
Association Between High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein Trajectories and the Incidence of Metabolic Syndrome:A Retrospective Cohort Study
Full text linkJianJiang Pan,1,* XiXuan Cai,1,* JieRu Chen,1 MingYing Xu,1 JingYu Hu,1 YueChun Mao,1 Tao Chen,2 LuSha Li,1 MengQi Jin,1 LiYing Chen1 1Department of General Practice, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310020, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of General Practice, Jianqiao Community Health Service Center, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, 310021, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: LiYing Chen, Department of General Practice, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: Understanding the role of systemic inflammation in the development of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) is crucial for identifying individuals at a higher risk of this cluster of conditions that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.Patients and Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted with 4,312 participants who were free from MetS at the study’s onset and had high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels measured. Latent class trajectory modeling was utilized to identify distinct hsCRP trajectory patterns. Multivariable regression and proportional hazards analyses were employed to evaluate the predictive value of hsCRP trajectories for the development of MetS.Results: During the 1.63-year follow-up period, 1,308 participants developed metabolic syndrome (MetS). Individuals with high hsCRP levels exhibited a significantly increased risk of developing MetS compared to those with low hsCRP levels (HR = 1.062, 95% CI 1.103– 1.113). The hsCRP trajectory analysis identified three distinct groups: low-stable, increasing, and decreasing. The decreasing and increasing hsCRP trajectory groups demonstrated a 1.408-fold (95% CI 1.115– 1.779) and a 1.618-fold (95% CI 1.288– 2.033) increased risk of MetS, respectively.Conclusion: This study suggests that participants with higher baseline hsCRP levels and increasing hsCRP trajectories are associated with a progression toward MetS. Long-term hsCRP trajectories may serve as useful tools for identifying individuals at higher risk of MetS who could benefit from targeted preventive and therapeutic interventions.Keywords: high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, metabolic syndrome, trajectory analysis, retrospective cohort study, risk predictio
The <i>c</i>-index assessments of the four methods under varying number of top genes (<i>p</i> = 16 ∼ 124 ) in the lung cancer data of Chen et al. [6], where “top genes” refer to most strongly associated genes passing a univariate pre-filter for inclusion in the linear predictor (PI).
No full text<p>The <i>c</i>-index assessments of the four methods under varying number of top genes (<i>p</i> = 16 ∼ 124 ) in the lung cancer data of Chen et al. <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0047627#pone.0047627-Chen1" target="_blank">[6]</a>, where “top genes” refer to most strongly associated genes passing a univariate pre-filter for inclusion in the linear predictor (PI).</p
Application of spatial data mining in accident analysis system
No full textTraffic accidents cause enormous losses for our country and plenty of national assets drain away every year, and therefore the task of traffic management is weightier than Mount Tai, but the complexity of traffic accident analysis has brought many difficulties to traffic management and decisionmaking. A three-layer analysis system based on spatial data mining of GIS is proposed in this paper, this three-layer architecture displays the whole process of accident data extracting, preprocessing and mining and it applies spatial data mining to GIS, which will certainly further expand the width and depth of GIS application field. Finally, this paper introduces the method of developing traffic accident analysis system by using ArcGIS Engine and C#.NET and gives the class realization of system main functions © 2008 IEEE. (6 refs.
Effects of sucrose exposure on stomatal lineage cell markers.
No full text<p>(A and B) Mature guard cell marker E1728-labeled <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072456#pone.0072456-Chen1" target="_blank">[15]</a> and FM4-64-stained cotyledon epidermis from sugar-free control (A) and 1% sucrose (B) treatments. (C and D) Stomatal cell lineage marker E1627-labeled <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072456#pone.0072456-Chen1" target="_blank">[15]</a> and FM4-64-stained cotyledon epidermis from sugar-free control (C) and 3% sucrose (D) treatments. Representative images from 10–15 independent seedlings were shown. Note that the jigsaw puzzle-shaped epidermal cells were labeled with E1627 in the sucrose treatment but not in the sugar-free control. Scale bars = 20 μm.</p
Expression of virulence-related genes at different temperatures.
No full text<p>The relative expression of genes known to be related to virulence (downloaded from the Virulence Factors Database <a href="http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.ppat.1002945#ppat.1002945-Chen1" target="_blank">[89]</a>) was measured and compared at 28°C and 37°C by RNA-seq. Expression is represented as sequencing read count normalized by gene length and library size for our duplicate samples. Each dot represents a single gene, which is color-coded according to its virulence-related function. The dashed gray lines represent a 2-fold overexpression in 37°C (upper line) and 28°C (lower line) conditions.</p
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