Pure voltage-driven spintronic neuron based on stochastic magnetization switching behaviour.

Voltage-driven stochastic magnetization switching in a nanomagnet has attracted more attention recently with its superiority in achieving energy-efficient artificial neuron. Here, a novel pure voltage-driven scheme with ∼27.66 aJ energy dissipation is proposed, which could rotate magnetization vector randomly using only a pair of electrodes covered on the multiferroic nanomagnet. Results show that the probability of 180° magnetization switching is examined as a sigmoid-like function of the voltage pulse width and magnitude, which can be utilized as the activation function of designed neuron. Considering the size errors of designed neuron in fabrication, it's found that reasonable thickness and width variations cause little effect on recognition accuracy for MNIST hand-written dataset. In other words, the designed pure voltage-driven spintronic neuron could tolerate size errors. These results open a new way toward the realization of artificial neural network with low power consumption and high reliability.

Quantitative analysis of multiple methylated genes in plasma for the diagnosis and prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma.

This study was aimed to evaluate the clinical value of plasma methylation analysis of a panel of four genes (APC, GSTP1, RASSF1A, and SFRP1), which was identified by our previous work, for the noninvasive diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The methylation status of these four genes in 150 plasma samples from 72 patients with HCC, 37 benign live diseases and 41 normal controls was detected with methylation-sensitive restriction enzymes-based quantitative PCR (MSRE-qPCR) method. The plasma methylation levels of APC, GSTP1, RASSF1A, and SFRP1 were significantly higher in HCCs than those in normal or benign controls (P<0.05). Although the area under the receiver-operation characteristic curve (AUC-ROC) for individual gene was moderate (range, from 0.800 to 0.881), the combination analysis of these four genes resulted in an increased AUC of 0.933 with 92.7% sensitivity, 81.9% specificity, 90.5% positive predictive value (PPV), and 87.2% negative predictive value (NPV) in discriminating HCC from normal control. The combination analysis also indicated an increased AUC of 0.877 when compared with individual gene (from 0.666 to 0.850) in discriminating HCC from benign control, and the consultant sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV was 84.7%, 81.1%, 89.7%, and 73.2%, respectively. Patients with elevated plasma methylation levels of APC or RASSF1A showed poorer overall survival than those with low levels (P<0.05). Cox multivariate analysis demonstrated methylated RASSF1A in plasma to be an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (hazard ratio=3.262, 95% CI: 1.476-7.209, P=0.003). These data showed that quantitative analysis of multiple methylated genes in plasma may be a promising tool for noninvasive diagnosis of HCC; and methylated plasma RASSF1A appears to be a prognostic marker of HCC.

[Construction and immunogenicity evaluation of chimerical DNA vaccine of human papillomavirus type 11].

OBJECTIVE: To construct chimerical DNA vaccine plasmid of human papillomavirus type 11 (HPV11) L1-E7, and to evaluate its immunogenicity. METHODS: Molecular cloning techniques were used to construct recombinant plasmid pcDNA3 L1-E7 as a DNA vaccine. BALB/c mice were vaccinated with DNA recombinants through muscle injection.IL-2 and gamma-INF secreted by immunized spleens lymphocyte and HPV 11 L1 or E7 specific antibodies were assayed by ELISA method. Spleens lymphocyte proliferation was measured by MTT assay. RESULTS: The chimerical DNA plasmid of pcDNA3 L1-E7 was constructed correctly. Specific anti-HPV11 E7 and L1 antibodies, specific lymphocyte proliferation and secretions of IL-2 and gamma-INF were detected in vaccinated mice. CONCLUSION: Specific immune response, including cellular immunity and humoral immunity, could been detected in mice vaccinated with chimerical DNA vaccine of pcDNA3 L1-E7.

ERCC1 polymorphism, expression and clinical outcome of oxaliplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy in gastric cancer.

AIM: To determine the influence of excision repair cross complementing group 1 (ERCC1) codon 118 polymorphism and mRNA level on the clinical outcome of gastric cancer patients treated with oxaliplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy. METHODS: Eighty-nine gastric cancer patients treated with oxalipatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy were included in this study. ERCC1 codon 118 C/T polymorphism was tested by polymerase chain reaction-ligation detection reaction (PCR-LDR) method in peripheral blood lymphocytes of those patients; and the intratumoral ERCC1 mRNA expression was measured using reverse transcription PCR in 62 patients whose tumor tissue specimens were available. RESULTS: No significant relationship was found between ERCC1 codon 118 polymorphism and ERCC1 mRNA level. The median relapse-free and overall survival period was 20.1 mo and 28.4 mo, respectively. The relapse-free and overall survivals in patients with low levels of ERCC1 mRNA were significantly longer than those in patients with high levels (P<0.05), while there was no significant association found between ERCC1 118 genotypes and the disease prognosis. Multivariate analysis also showed that ERCC1 mRNA level was a potential predictor for relapse and survival in gastric cancer patients treated with oxaliplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: ERCC1 codon 118 polymorphism has no significant impact on ERCC1 mRNA expression, and the intratumoral ERCC1 mRNA level but not codon 118 polymorphism may be a useful predictive parameter for the relapse and survival of gastric cancer patients receiving oxaliplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy.