Early Diagnostic Value of Circulating MiRNA-21 in Lung Cancer： A Meta-Analysis

To evaluate the early diagnostic value of circulating miRNA-21 in diagnosis of lung cancer, databases such as Wan Fang, VIP, PubMed, and Elsevier were systematically searched from 2005 to 2013 to collect relevant references in which the diagnostic value had been evaluated. The statistics were consolidated and the qualities of the studies were classified. The data were analyzed using Meta Disc1.4 software. The diagnostic value of circulating miRNA-21 in lung cancer was assessed by pooling sensitivity, specificity, the likelihood ratio, and the Summary Receiver Operating Characteristic(SROC) curve. Publication biases of the studies involved were analyzed using Stata 11.0 software. A total of 143 papers were collected of which 8 were included, which contained 600 cases and440 controls. A heterogeneity test proved the existence of homogeneity in this study. Upon analysis using random effects models, the weighted sensitivity was 0.68, the specificity 0.77, the positive likelihood ratio 2.84, the negative likelihood ratio 0.40, and the SROC Area Under the Curve(AUC) was 0.8133. Further analysis by subgroup showed that the 5 indicators mentioned above were 0.72, 0.84, 4.50, 0.27, and 0.8987, respectively, for the serum group and 0.63, 0.70, 1.95, 0.53, and 0.7318, respectively, for the plasma group. We conclude that circulating miRNA-21can be regarded a valuable reference in diagnosis of lung cancer. This research showed that in lung cancer the early diagnostic value of miRNA-21 in serum was better than that in plasma.     

First-principles study of the interactions of hydrogen with low-index surfaces of PdCu ordered alloy

PdCu catalysts play a key role in several hydrogen-involved processes. Among these reactions, the interaction of hydrogen with PdCu essentially determines the catalytic performance. However, the response of PdCu to surrounding hydrogen has been poorly investigated, especially for specific facets of PdCu at different environment. In this work, taking temperature and hydrogen pressure into account, we studied the hydrogen-surface interactions for four low-index surfaces of PdCu through first-principles calculations. It was found that H-PdCu adsorption strong relies on the facets, hydrogen coverage, and reaction environment (temperature and H-pressure). Our work highlights the importance of the environment on the nature of catalyst surfaces and reactions and offers a plausible way to investigate the interactions between gas and the surfaces of nanocatalysts in real reactions.     

Reaction mechanism for in-situ β-SiAlON formation in Fe3Si-Si3N4-Al2O3 composites

In this work, Fe₃Si-Si₃N₄-Al₂O₃ composites were prepared at 1300℃ in an N₂ atmosphere using fused corundum and tabular alumina particles, Al₂O₃ fine powder, and ferrosilicon nitride (Fe₃Si-Si₃N₄) as raw materials and thermosetting phenolic resin as a binder. The effect of ferrosilicon nitride with different concentrations (0wt%, 5wt%, 10wt%, 15wt%, 20wt%, and 25wt%) on the properties of Fe₃Si-Si₃N₄-Al₂O₃ composites was investigated. The results show that the apparent porosity varies between 10.3% and 17.3%, the bulk density varies from 2.94 g/cm3 and 3.30 g/cm3, and the cold crushing strength ranges from 67 MPa to 93 MPa. Under the experimental conditions, ferrosilicon nitride, whose content decreases substantially, is unstable; part of the ferrosilicon nitride is converted into Fe₂C, whereas the remainder is retained, eventually forming the ferrosilicon alloy. Thermodynamic assessment of the Si₅AlON₇ indicated that the ferrosilicon alloy accelerated the reactions between Si₃N₄ and α-Al₂O₃ fine powder and that Si in the ferrosilicon alloy was nitrided directly, forming β-SiAlON simultaneously. In addition, fused corundum did not react directly with Si₃N₄ because of its low reactivity.     

A new synthetic route to MgO-MgAl2O4-ZrO2 highly dispersed composite material through formation of Mg5Al2.4Zr1.7O12 metastable phase:synthesis and physical properties

Mg₅Al_2.4Zr_1.7O₁₂ metastable phase was successfully synthesized from analytical-grade MgO, α-Al₂O₃, MgAl₂O₄, and ZrO₂ under an N₂ atmosphere. The sintering temperature was varied from 1650 to 1780℃, and the highest amount of Mg₅Al_2.4Zr_1.7O₁₂ appeared in the composite material when the sintering temperature was 1760℃. According to our research of the formation mechanism of Mg₅Al_2.4Zr_1.7O₁₂, the formation and growth of MgAl₂O₄ dominated when the temperature was not higher than 1650℃. When the temperature was higher than 1650℃, MgO and ZrO₂ tended to diffuse into MgAl₂O₄ and the Mg₅Al_2.4Zr_1.7O₁₂ solid solution was formed. When the temperature reached 1760℃, the formation of Mg₅Al_2.4Zr_1.7O₁₂ was completed. The effect of MgAl₂O₄ spinel crystals was also studied, and their introduction into the composite material promoted the formation and growth of Mg₅Al_2.4Zr_1.7O₁₂. A highly dispersed MgO-MgAl₂O₄-ZrO₂ composite material was prepared through the decomposition of the Mg₅Al_2.4Zr_1.7O₁₂ metastable phase. The as-prepared composite material showed improved overall physical properties because of the good dispersion of MgO, MgAl₂O₄, and ZrO₂ phases.     

The review and prospect of neutron radiography in China

Neutron radiography is one of radiography non-destructive testing. It is a valuable complementary of X and γ rays radiography. The present status and history of neutron radiography in China was described briefly, facilities of neutron radiography and their development were introduced in this paper.     

Quality control for bloom casting of YQ450NQR1 steel

To reduce surface depression of a bloom, the primary cooling intensity was decreased, and the water distribution of mold wide and narrow faces was optimized. The length of secondary cooling zones and the specific water flow were increased, and the water flow distribution among the secondary cooling zones was adjusted to eliminate central defects, such as center looseness, central segregation, and center line cracks. The operation showed that the proportion of surface depression decreased from 37.22% to 2.87%, whereas the proportion of center looseness for 〈1.0 increased from 79.71% to 90.70%, the proportion of central segregation for 〈0.5 increased from 1.45% to 44.19%, and the proportion of center line cracks that are free increased from 39.13% to 62.79%. The qualified blooms are delivered to produce 310 Z-beam, whose yield strength is greater than 450 MPa.     

SMART/ASTC dynamic soft reduction technology and its application on the bloom continuous caster at Pangang

The SMART/ASTC dynamic soft reduction technology of VAI and its application on the 6-strand bloom continuous caster at Pangang, China are presented. The operation results show that soft reduction technology is effective to improve the inner quality of continuously cast blooms. At Pangang, both the central porosity and the central segregation ratings are no more than 1.0, the central shrinkage cavity rating is no more than 0.5, and the central segregation index of carbon is no more than 1.05. Rails made from the blooms have excellent quality and are used for high-speed tracks.     

3-D distribution of tensile stress in rock specimens for the Brazilian test

It is claimed that the formula used for calculating the tensile strength of a disk-shaped rock specimen in the Brazilian test is not accurate, because the formula is based on the 2-dimensional elastic theory and only suitable for very long or very short cylinders. The Matlab software was used to obtain the 2-dimensional distribution of stress in the rock specimen for Brazilian test. Then the 2-dimensional stress distribution in Brazilian disk was analyzed by the Marc FEM software. It can be found that the results obtained by the two software packages can verify each other. Finally, the 3-dimensional elastic stress in the specimen was calculated. The results demonstrate that the distribution of stress on the cross section of the specimen is similar to that in 2-dimension. However, the value of the stress on the cross section varies along the thickness of the specimen and the stress is bigger when getting closer to the end of the specimen. For the specimen with a height-to-diameter ratio of 1 and a Poisson’s ratio of 0.25, the tensile strength calculated with the classical 2-D formula is 23.3% smaller than the real strength. Therefore, the classical 2-D formula is too conservative.     

Single-cell discrimination based on optical tweezers Raman spectroscopy

The ability to discriminate between single cells in a label-free and noninvasive fashion is important for the classification of cells, and for the identification of similar cells from different origins. In this paper, we present the Raman spectroscopy-based identifi- cation of different types of single cells in aqueous media, and discrimination between the same types of cells from different donors using a novel Laser Tweezers Raman Spectroscopy (LTRS) technique, which combines laser trapping and micro-Raman spectroscopy. First, we measured the spectra of individual living human erythrocytes, i.e. red blood cells, and leucocytes (U937 cancer cells). High-quality Raman spectra with low fluorescence were obtained using a home-LTRS apparatus and 20 cells were measured for each cell type. The smoothing, baseline subtraction, and normalization of the data were followed by a principal components analysis (PCA). The PCA loading plots showed that the two different types of cells could be completely separated based only on the first component (PC1) (i.e. the peaks at 1300 cm1 ); the discrimination accuracy could therefore reach 100%. More than 50 spectra were taken for each erythrocyte obtained from the four healthy volunteers. The average discrimination accuracy was 84.5% for two random individuals taken from the four volunteers, according to the first and second PCs. This work demonstrates that LTRS is a powerful tool for the accurate identification and discrimination of single cells, and it has the potential to be applied for the highly sensitive identification of cells in clinical diagnosis and medical jurisprudence.     

关于不定方程x2-3y4=22

利用一种初等的证明方法,即递推序列,同余式和平方剩余的方法,对一个不定方程x2-3y4=22的正整数解进行了研究,证明了不定方程x2-3y4=22仅有正整数解(x,y)=(5,1),(85,7)。