Kinetic study of goethite dehydration and the effect of aluminium substitution on the dehydrate

Goethite and Al-substituted goethite were synthesized and were characterized using XRD and XRF. The kinetic study of goethite dehydrate was investigated by TG and DTG at different heating rates (2, 5, 10, 15, 20 ◦C/min) and the effect of Al substitution for Fe on dehydrate was studied. The results showed that two types of absorbed water with the same Ed values of 3.4, 6.2 kJ/mol were confirmed on goethite and Alsubstituted goethite. Three types of hydroxyl units were proved, one being on the surface and the other two being in the structure of goethite. The substitution of Al for Fe in the structure of goethite decreases the desorption rate of hydroxyl, increases the dehydroxylation temperature, broadens the desorption peaks in DTG curves, and improves the Ed values from 19.4, 20.4, 26.1 kJ/mol to 21.6, 30, 33.6 kJ/mol when Al substitution comes to 9.1%

A Prospective Randomized Study of Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Resected Stage IIIA-N2 Non-small Cell Lung Cancer

Background and objective Lung cancer is one of the leading cause of cancer-related death around the world. Surgery is the primary treatment for patients with stage I, II, or IIIA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, longterm survival of NSCLC patients after surgery alone is largely unsatisfactory. We undertook to determine whether adjuvant vinorelbine/paclitaxel plus carboplatin prolong overall survival among patients with completely resected stage IIIA-N2 nonsmall cell lung cancer. Methods We randomly assigned patients with completely resected stage IIIA-N2 non-small cell lung cancer to vinorelbine/paclitaxel plus carboplatin or to observation. Results A total of 150 patients (1999-2003) underwent randomization to vinorelbine/paclitaxel plus carboplatin (79 patients) or observation. In both groups, the median age was 57 years, 73 percent were male, and 28 percents had squamous carcinoma. Chemotherapy caused neutropenia in 82 percents of patients (including grade 3 and 4 neutropenia in 42 percent) and there was no treatment-related death observed in this trial. After median follow-up of 39 months (range 1-110), overall survival was significantly prolonged in the chemotherapy group as compared with the observation group (33 months versus 24 months, χ2=4.363, P=0.037), as was disease-free survival (32 months versus 20 months, χ2=5.413, P=0.020). Five-year overall survival rates were 31.1 percent and 19.1 percent, respectively. Conclusion Adjuvant vinorelbine/paclitaxel plus carboplatin have an acceptable level of toxicity and prolongs disease-free and overall survival among patients with completely resected stage IIIA-N2 non-small cell lung cancer

Investigation of Tumor Suppressing Function of CACNA2D3 in Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Background: Deletion of 3p is one of the most frequent genetic alterations in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC), suggesting the existence of one or more tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) within these regions. In this study, one TSG, CACNA2D3 at 3p21.1, was characterized. Methods: Expression of CACNA2D3 in ESCCs was tested by quantitative real-time PCR and tissue microarray. The mechanism of CACNA2D3 downregulation was investigated by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MS-PCR). The tumor suppressive function of CACNA2D3 was characterized by both in vitro and in vivo tumorigenic assays, cell migration and invasion assays. Results: CACNA2D3 was frequently downregulated in ESCCs (24/48, 50%), which was significantly associated with promoter methylation and allele loss (P<0.05). Tissue microarray result showed that downregulation of CACNA2D3 was detected in (127/224, 56.7%) ESCCs, which was significantly associated with lymph node metastasis (P = 0.01), TNM staging (P = 0.003) and poor outcome of ESCC patients (P<0.05). Functional studies demonstrated that CACNA2D3 could inhibit tumorigenicity, cell motility and induce apoptosis. Mechanism study found that CACNA2D3 could arrest cell cycle at G1/S checkpoint by increasing expressions of p21 and p53 and decreasing expression of CDK2. In addition, CACNA2D3 could upregulate intracellular free cytosolic Ca2+ and subsequently induce apoptosis. Conclusion: CACNA2D3 is a novel TSG responsible to the 3p21 deletion event and plays a critical suppressing role in the development and progression of ESCC. © 2013 Li et al.link_to_OA_fulltex

Estimation of a partially linear additive model for data from an outcome-dependent sampling design with a continuous outcome

Outcome-dependent sampling (ODS) designs have been well recognized as a cost-effective way to enhance study efficiency in both statistical literature and biomedical and epidemiologic studies. A partially linear additive model (PLAM) is widely applied in real problems because it allows for a flexible specification of the dependence of the response on some covariates in a linear fashion and other covariates in a nonlinear non-parametric fashion. Motivated by an epidemiological study investigating the effect of prenatal polychlorinated biphenyls exposure on children's intelligence quotient (IQ) at age 7 years, we propose a PLAM in this article to investigate a more flexible non-parametric inference on the relationships among the response and covariates under the ODS scheme. We propose the estimation method and establish the asymptotic properties of the proposed estimator. Simulation studies are conducted to show the improved efficiency of the proposed ODS estimator for PLAM compared with that from a traditional simple random sampling design with the same sample size. The data of the above-mentioned study is analyzed to illustrate the proposed method

CERKL regulates autophagy via the NAD-dependent deacetylase SIRT1

<p>Macroautophagy/autophagy is an important intracellular mechanism for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. Here we show that the <i>CERKL</i> (ceramide kinase like) gene, a retinal degeneration (RD) pathogenic gene, plays a critical role in regulating autophagy by stabilizing SIRT1. <i>In vitro</i> and <i>in vivo</i>, suppressing CERKL results in impaired autophagy. SIRT1 is one of the main regulators of acetylation/deacetylation in autophagy. In CERKL-depleted retinas and cells, SIRT1 is downregulated. ATG5 and ATG7, 2 essential components of autophagy, show a higher degree of acetylation in CERKL-depleted cells. Overexpression of SIRT1 rescues autophagy in CERKL-depleted cells, whereas CERKL loses its function of regulating autophagy in SIRT1-depleted cells, and overexpression of CERKL upregulates SIRT1. Finally, we show that CERKL directly interacts with SIRT1, and may regulate its phosphorylation at Ser27 to stabilize SIRT1. These results show that CERKL is an important regulator of autophagy and it plays this role by stabilizing the deacetylase SIRT1.</p

Partial linear inference for a 2-stage outcome-dependent sampling design with a continuous outcome

The outcome-dependent sampling (ODS) design, which allows observation of exposure variable to depend on the outcome, has been shown to be cost efficient. In this article, we propose a new statistical inference method, an estimated penalized likelihood method, for a partial linear model in the setting of a 2-stage ODS with a continuous outcome. We develop the asymptotic properties and conduct simulation studies to demonstrate the performance of the proposed estimator. A real environmental study data set is used to illustrate the proposed method

Development Of Structural-functional Integrated Energy Storage Concrete With Innovative Macro-encapsulated PCM By Hollow Steel Ball

Phase change materials (PCMs) have great potential for applications in energy efficient buildings. In this study, an innovative method of macro-encapsulation of PCM using hollow steel balls (HSB) was developed and the thermal and mechanical performance of PCM-HSB concrete was examined. The macro-encapsulation system (PCM-HSB) was attached with a metal clamp (c) for better mechanical interlocking with the mortar matrix. The latent heat of PCM-HSB-c that can be acquired is approximately 153.1 J/g, which can be considered to rank highly among PCM composites. According to the self-designed thermal performance evaluation, the PCM–HSB-c concrete panel is capable of reducing and deferring the peak indoor temperature. The indoor temperature of the room model using PCM-HSB-c panels was significantly lower than the ones with normal concrete panels by a range of 3–6%. Furthermore, the test room using a higher PCM-HSB-c content demonstrated a greater ability to maintain a lower indoor room temperature for a longer period of time during heating cycles. In consideration of the mechanical properties, thermal performance and other aspects of cost factors, 50% and 75% PCM-HSB-c replacement levels are recommended in producing concrete

A Partial Linear Model in the Outcome-Dependent Sampling Setting to Evaluate the Effect of Prenatal PCB Exposure on Cognitive Function in Children

Outcome-dependent sampling (ODS) has been widely used in biomedical studies because it is a cost effective way to improve study efficiency. However, in the setting of a continuous outcome, the representation of the exposure variable has been limited to the framework of linear models, due to the challenge in terms of both theory and computation. Partial linear models (PLM) are a powerful inference tool to nonparametrically model the relation between an outcome and the exposure variable. In this article, we consider a case study of a partial linear model for data from an ODS design. We propose a semiparametric maximum likelihood method to make inferences with a PLM. We develop the asymptotic properties and conduct simulation studies to show that the proposed ODS estimator can produce a more efficient estimate than that from a traditional simple random sampling design with the same sample size. Using this newly developed method, we were able to explore an open question in epidemiology: whether in utero exposure to background levels of PCBs is associated with children’s intellectual impairment. Our model provides further insights into the relation between low-level PCB exposure and children’s cognitive function. The results shed new light on a body of inconsistent epidemiologic findings

A Review of Surface Treatments for Sliding Bearings Used at Different Temperature

The boundary lubrication and dry friction of plain bearings at different work temperature are unable to be avoided under the start and stop condition. The poor lubrication is one reason of bearing broken. In order to improve the tribological properties and select the best treatment for different bearings used at different temperature, the studies of different treatment technologies are reviewed in this paper. The review shows that the shortages of bonding fiber woven materials, inlaying solid lubricating materials, electro plating and magnetron sputtering are poor temperature resistance, low load capacity, environment pollution and low production efficiencies respectively. Based on the analyses and summaries, the liquid dope spraying and thermal powder spraying are suggested to deposit coating on the surface of bearing which working temperature is lower than 200 and above 800°C respectively. However, the technology processes, the mechanisms of spraying and self-lubrication materials should be studied further and deeply