Responsiveness of three measurements in cone-beam computed tomography transverse analyses during both tooth-supported and mini-screw-assisted rapid maxillary expansion.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the responsiveness of three cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) transverse analyses (University of the Pennsylvania [UPenn] analysis, Boston University analysis and Yonsei University [YU] analysis). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A consecutive cohort sample of patients was retrospectively reviewed for eligibility. CBCT records before treatment (T0) and immediately after maxillary expansion (T1) of 71 patients receiving tooth-supported rapid maxillary expansion (RME) and 57 patients receiving mini-screw-assisted RME (MARME) were finally analyzed. Responsiveness was assessed by comparing changes of measures (T1-T0) to mid-palatal suture opening distance (MSOD) at T1. Correlational responsiveness was assessed by Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Absolute agreement responsiveness was assessed by Bland-Altman analysis. A specialized intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was selected to assess responsiveness combining correlation and absolute agreement. RESULTS: Changes of all three measures were moderately to strongly correlated to MSOD (r > 0.5). The highest correlation coefficient (0.79) was found between the YU analysis and MSOD. When exploring absolute agreement responsiveness, the smallest deviation (0.14 mm) was observed in the UPenn analysis. For ICC, the highest ICC value (0.63) was observed when the YU analysis was used. In addition, all three measurements were more responsive to MSOD in the MARME group than to those in RME group. CONCLUSIONS: All three transverse measurements responded well to true changes of maxillary transverse deficiency during both tooth-supported and mini-screw-assisted RME. Deviations of responsive properties of these measurements from true skeletal changes were below a clinically meaningful level (1 mm).

High-Accuracy Maize Disease Detection Based on Attention Generative Adversarial Network and Few-Shot Learning.

This study addresses the problem of maize disease detection in agricultural production, proposing a high-accuracy detection method based on Attention Generative Adversarial Network (Attention-GAN) and few-shot learning. The method introduces an attention mechanism, enabling the model to focus more on the significant parts of the image, thereby enhancing model performance. Concurrently, data augmentation is performed through Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) to generate more training samples, overcoming the difficulties of few-shot learning. Experimental results demonstrate that this method surpasses other baseline models in accuracy, recall, and mean average precision (mAP), achieving 0.97, 0.92, and 0.95, respectively. These results validate the high accuracy and stability of the method in handling maize disease detection tasks. This research provides a new approach to solving the problem of few samples in practical applications and offers valuable references for subsequent research, contributing to the advancement of agricultural informatization and intelligence.

Siah1 promotes the proliferation of NSCLC cells through ubiquitinating and stabilizing Notch1.

Seven in absentia homolog 1 (Siah1) has been shown plays important roles in the pathogenesis and development of multiple cancers. However, the functions and mechanisms of Siah1 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remain unclear. In our study, we found that knock down of Siah1 could inhibit the proliferation of NSCLC cells, while over-expression of Siah1 had the opposite effects. Molecularly, the bioinformatics analysis determined that notch receptor 1 (Notch1) might be the potential target of Siah1. Subsequently, we identified that Siah1 acted as an E3 ligase to promote the ubiquitination and stabilization of Notch1 through the proteasome pathway. Furthermore, the results showed that the Siah1 expression was directly correlated with CTR9 in human NSCLC tissues. Finally, Siah1 could promote Akt phosphorylation through regulating Notch1, thus promoting the proliferation of NSCLC cells. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that Siah1 acts as an oncogene, can ubiquitinate and stabilize Notch1 by proteasome pathway, which promotes Akt phosphorylation and ultimately leads to NSCLC cell proliferation.

Application Value of Blood Heparin-Binding Protein in the Diagnosis of Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Objective: To investigate the expression and clinical significance of serum heparin-binding protein (HBP), C-reactive protein (CRP), and white blood cell count (WBC) in an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: A prospective research model was used to select 63 patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who were hospitalized in Xuzhou First People's Hospital from January 2020 to June 2020, and among the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients who were followed up in our hospital during the same period, 18 patients were in the stable phase, and 43 healthy patients in our hospital during the same period were selected as the healthy control group. 18 patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were selected as the observation group, and 43 healthy people who underwent examination at the same time as the control group. For patients with acute COPD recombination, 5 ml of venous blood was collected according to whether the condition of COPD patients with acute exacerbation was stable or not. 5 ml of venous blood was collected for acute exacerbation. According to their clinical symptoms (such as cough, sputum, and asthma), dyspnea score (MRC score), and pulmonary function (FEV1 and FEV1/FVC), it is determined whether the patient's condition is stable. Patients in the stable COPD group will collect 5 ml of venous blood during the outpatient follow-up, and those in the healthy physical examination group will collect veins on the day of the physical examination. In 5 ml of blood, the levels of HBP and CRP in the blood were measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent method and the immunoturbidimetric method, respectively, and the peripheral blood WBC was measured by a blood cell analyzer and its supporting reagents. The differences of the three indicators in each group were statistically analyzed. Normally distributed measurement data were compared using t-test, homogeneity of variance of nonnormally distributed measurement data were compared using one-way analysis of variance, uneven variance of nonnormally distributed measurement data were compared using a rank-sum test, and Pearson linear analysis was used for correlation test. Subject working characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn, P < 0.05 means the difference is statistically significant, the receiver working characteristic curve was established, and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to analyze blood HBP. The value of blood CRP and peripheral blood WBC counts alone or in combination in the diagnosis of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Results: The level of blood heparin-binding protein in the acute exacerbation phase was significantly higher than that in the stable phase and healthy controls (P < 0.05). In the acute exacerbation stage and stable stage group, the blood heparin binding protein, the percentage of leukocytes, neutrophils, and CRP were detected. There is a correlation between (P < 0.05) and a correlation with lung function (FEV1) (P < 0.05). The predictive value of heparin-binding protein, white blood cells, neutrophil percentage, CRP, etc. for the acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with the area under the heparin-binding protein curve, is the largest, and compared with the stable phase, the comparison of heparin-binding protein, white blood cells, and CRP is statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Heparin-binding protein increases in the stable phase and acute exacerbation phase and is related to other inflammatory factors. It is one of the important inflammatory factors in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Heparin-binding protein, white blood cells, CRP, etc. have diagnostic and predictive value for acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Heparin-binding protein has the best predictive result, and the combined index test has a better diagnostic predictive value, which is better than single index detection.

Downregulation of miR­98 contributes to hypoxic pulmonary hypertension by targeting ALK1.

Chronic hypoxia is one of the most common causes of secondary pulmonary hypertension, the mechanisms of which remain unclear. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNAs that inhibit the translation or accelerate the degradation of mRNA. Previous studies have demonstrated that deregulated miRNA expression contributes to various cellular processes including cell apoptosis and proliferation, which are mediated by hypoxia. In the present study, the expression of miR­98 was identified to be decreased in the lung tissue of a hypoxic pulmonary hypertension (HPH) rat model and pulmonary artery (PA) smooth muscle cells (PASMCs), which was induced by hypoxia. By transfecting miR­98 mimics into PASMCs, the high expression of miR­98 inhibited cell proliferation, but upregulated hypoxia­induced PASMCs apoptosis. However, these effects of miR­98 mimics on PASMCs were reversed by ALK1 (activin receptor­like kinase­1) overexpression. ALK1 was identified as a candidate target of miR­98. In addition, overexpressing miR­98 markedly decreased the pulmonary artery wall thickness and the right ventricular systolic pressure in rats induced by hypoxia. These results provided clear evidence that miR­98 was a direct regulator of ALK1, and that the downregulation of miR­98 contributed to the pathogenesis of HPH. These results provide a novel potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of HPH.

Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease with high prevalence and substantial associated economical burden. A significant determinant of quality of life, long-term survival, and health care costs is an acute exacerbation of COPD. Acute exacerbations are provoked by respiratory viruses, altered airway microbiome, and environmental factors. The current treatment options are limited. In order to develop specific therapeutic measures, it is important to understand how acute exacerbations evolve. This review focuses on pathophysiology of stable and exacerbated COPD.