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AbstractBackground: A previously developed monoclonal/polyclonal ELISA (Mono/Poly) to detect plasma concentrations of osteopontin (OPN) was shown to provide prognostic information in breast, prostate, and other cancers. Here we describe the clinical validation of a new dual monoclonal (Dual Mono) assay. We compared both assays with 4 assays that recognize defined regions of OPN protein (dual polyclonal systems 5-1, 4-1, 4-3 and polyclonal-monoclonal system 1-3).Methods: OPN sequences recognized by the monoclonal antibodies that make up the Dual Mono ELISA were identified by Pepscan CLIPS™ analysis. Using the 6 ELISAs, we measured OPN in plasma from 66 patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer, and we assessed the ability of each assay to predict patient survival.Results: The assays varied in measured plasma OPN concentrations, with median values ranging from 112 to 1740 μg/L, and ability to predict patient survival. By Cox univariable regression of survival by tertiles of OPN, the Mono/Poly and Dual Mono ELISAs had the highest log-rank χ2 values. After adjustment for risk factors independently associated with survival in our samples, OPN remained associated with survival only for the Mono/Poly and Dual Mono systems.Conclusions: OPN plasma values varied significantly depending on the assay used. Only the Mono/Poly and Dual Mono systems were independently associated with survival in a population of men with castration-resistant prostate cancer. The availability of a clinically validated, dual monoclonal–based ELISA will provide consistent reagents for studies of OPN plasma concentrations in cancer and other pathologies.

Substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) can be used to implement high Q waveguide components with the same easy and low-cost fabrication process as planar circuits. In this paper two inline three-pole dual-mode filters with asymmetric transmission response based on SIW are presented. These two filters, consisting of a TE102-TE301 dual-mode SIW cavity and a TE101 mode SIW cavity, are centred at around 10 GHz with a transmission zero on the left of the passband and the right of the passband, respectively. Based on the two kinds of three-pole deal-mode filters, a diplexer with isolation better than 35 dB is developed. A linear microstrip taper is used to implement the transition between microstrip and SIW. The measured results agree with simulated results.

There is an ongoing debate on the importance of genetic factors in cancer development, where gene-centered cancer predisposition seems to show that only 5 to 10% of the cancer cases are inheritable. By conducting a systematic analysis of germline genomes of 9712 cancer patients representing 22 common cancer types along with 16,670 noncancer individuals, we identified seven cancer-associated germline genomic patterns (CGGPs), which summarized trinucleotide mutational spectra of germline genomes. A few CGGPs were consistently enriched in the germline genomes of patients whose tumors had smoking signatures or correlated with oncogenesis- and genome instability–related mutations. Furthermore, subgroups defined by the CGGPs were significantly associated with distinct oncogenic pathways, tumor histological subtypes, and prognosis in 13 common cancer types, suggesting that germline genomic patterns enable to inform treatment and clinical outcomes. These results provided evidence that cancer risk and clinical outcomes could be encoded in germline genomes. Germline variants when organized as genomic patterns are associated with cancer risk, oncogenic pathways, and clinical outcomes.

It is a golden age for animal movement studies and so an opportune time to assess priorities for future work. We assembled 40 experts to identify key questions in this field, focussing on marine megafauna, which include a broad range of birds, mammals, reptiles, and fish. Research on these taxa has both underpinned many of the recent technical developments and led to fundamental discoveries in the field. We show that the questions have broad applicability to other taxa, including terrestrial animals, flying insects, and swimming invertebrates, and, as such, this exercise provides a useful roadmap for targeted deployments and data syntheses that should advance the field of movement ecology. Workshop funding was granted to M.T., A.M.M.S., and C.M.D. by the UWA Oceans Institute, the Australian Institute of Marine Science, and the Office of Sponsored Research at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Hays, Graeme C. et al. Peer reviewed

Abstract In this paper, we consider a discrete logistic equation x ( n +1)= x ( n ) exp r ( n ) 1 − x ( n ) K ( n ) where {r(n)} and {K(n)} are positive ω-periodic sequences. Sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of a positive and globally asymptotically stable ω-periodic solution. Counterexamples are given to illustrate that the conclusions in [1] are incorrect.

Gene array studies indicated that osteopontin (OPN) mRNA is highly expressed in adrenocortical carcinomas (ACCs). OPN enhances invasiveness, proliferation, and metastasis formation, and is associated with poor survival in some malignant diseases. Integrin alphavbeta3 has been shown to mediate OPN effects on invasion. In this study, we demonstrated OPN and integrin alphavbeta3 expression in normal adrenal glands and benign adenomas, with staining seen exclusively in adrenocortical cells as well as even stronger staining in ACC. Western blot analysis confirmed overexpression of OPN in ACC (p0.01). With Matrigel invasion assays, we have shown that OPN greatly stimulates the invasiveness of NCI-h295 cells (six-fold increase, p0.001). Transfection with integrin alphavbeta3 further increased invasiveness after OPN stimulation (p0.001). This increase was reversed by the addition of an anti-integrin beta3 antibody, indicating a functional relationship of OPN and integrin alphavbeta3 in ACC. With tissue arrays, we confirmed high OPN expression in 147 ACC samples. However, no association with survival was seen in Kaplan-Meier analysis including 111 patients with primary tumours graded for OPN staining and follow-up data available. In conclusion, our in vitro data indicate that OPN and integrin alphavbeta3 may act as a functional complex facilitating the invasiveness of adrenocortical tumours. This relationship remains of relevance to our understanding of carcinogenesis, but further studies are needed to address the physiological and pathological function of OPN in adrenal tissue.

International audience; The effects of dispatch strategy on electrical performance of amorphous silicon-based solar photovoltaic-thermal systems, Renewable Energy 68, pp. 459-465 (2014). http://dx. Abstract: Previous work has shown that high-temperature short-term spike thermal annealing of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems results in higher electrical energy output. The relationship between temperature and performance of a-Si:H PVT is not simple as high temperatures during thermal annealing improves the immediate electrical performance following an anneal, but during the anneal it creates a marked drop in electrical performance. In addition, the power generation of a-Si:H PVT depends on both the environmental conditions and the Staebler-Wronski Effect kinetics. In order to improve the performance of a-Si:H PVT systems further, this paper reports on the effect of various dispatch strategies on system electrical performance. Utilizing experimental results from thermal annealing, an annealing model simulation for a-Si:H-based PVT was developed and applied to different cities in the U. S. to investigate potential geographic effects on the dispatch optimization of the overall electrical PVT systems performance and annual electrical yield. The results showed that spike thermal annealing once per day maximized the improved electrical energy generation.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has been proposed as a promising technology that is capable of improving the spectral efficiency of fifth-generation wireless networks and beyond. However, in practical communication scenarios, transceiver architectures inevitably suffer from radio frequency (RF) front-end related impairments that cause non-negligible performance degradation. This issue can be addressed by analog and digital signal processing algorithms, but factors such as time-varying hardware characteristics and imperfect compensation schemes result to detrimental residual distortions. In the present contribution we investigate the physical layer security of NOMA-based amplify-and-forward relay systems under such realistically incurred residual hardware impairment (RHI) effects. Exact and asymptotic analytic expressions for the corresponding outage probability (OP) and intercept probability (IP) of the considered set up over multipath fading channels are derived and corroborated by respective simulation results. Based on this, it is shown that RHI affects both the legitimate users and eavesdroppers by increasing the OP and decreasing the IP. For a fixed OP, RHI generally increases the corresponding IP, thereby reducing the secure performance of the system. Further interesting insights are also provided, verifying the importance of the offered results for the effective design and deployment of secure cooperative communication systems. acceptedVersion Peer reviewed

Abstract For the first time, a one-step synthetic strategy has been developed towards the preparation of Ti3+ self-doped TiO2 with internal-pores and highly exposed {001} facets using ethylene glycol (EG) and HF as control agents. The obtained samples were characterized by XRD, XPS, SEM, TEM, HAADF-STEM, photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), and UV–vis reflectance spectroscopy. The synergistic effect of EG and HF plays a vital role in the formation of synthesized TiO2 with Ti3+ self-doping, internal-pores and highly exposed {001} facets. As-synthesized TiO2 exhibit much higher activity than commercial P25 on photocatalytic degradation of phenol and the outstanding performance is attributed to the synergistic effect of Ti3+ doping, internal-pores, and facets heterojunction.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative brain diseases; it is accompanied by extensive loss of dopamine (DA) neurons of the substantia nigra that project to the putamen, leading to impaired motor functions. Several genes have been associated with hereditary forms of the disease and transgenic mice have been developed by a number of groups to produce animal models of PD and to explore the basic functions of these genes. Surprisingly, most of the various mouse lines generated such as Parkin KO, Pink1 KO, DJ-1 KO and LRRK2 transgenic have been reported to lack degeneration of nigral DA neuron, one of the hallmarks of PD. However, modest impairments of motor behavior have been reported, suggesting the possibility that the models recapitulate at least some of the early stages of PD, including early dysfunction of DA axon terminals. To further evaluate this possibility, here we provide for the first time a systematic comparison of DA release in four different mouse lines, examined at a young age range, prior to potential age-dependent compensations. Using fast scan cyclic voltammetry in striatal sections prepared from young, 6-8 weeks old mice, we examined sub-second DA overflow evoked by single pulses and action potential trains. Unexpectedly, none of the models displayed any dysfunction of DA overflow or reuptake. These results, compatible with the lack of DA neuron loss in these models, suggest that molecular dysfunctions caused by the absence or mutation of these individual genes are not sufficient to perturb the function and survival of mouse DA neurons.