Autophagy is activated early after human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection but, later on, the virus blocks autophagy. Here we characterized 2 HCMV proteins, TRS1 and IRS1, which inhibit autophagy during infection. Expression of either TRS1 or IRS1 was able to block autophagy in different cell lines, independently of the EIF2S1 kinase, EIF2AK2/PKR. Instead, TRS1 and IRS1 interacted with the autop...

As a potential intermediary feedstock, succinic acid takes an important place in bulk chemical productions. For the first time, a method combining Plackett-Burman design (PBD), steepest ascent method (SA), and Box-Behnken design (BBD) was developed to optimize Actinobacillus succinogenes ATCC 55618 fermentation medium. First, glucose, yeast extract, and MgCO(3) were identified to be key medium ...

PURPOSE To determine if women exposed in utero to diethylstilbestrol (DES) are more likely than unexposed women to receive recommended or additional breast cancer screening examinations. METHODS 1994 Diethylstilbestrol-Adenosis (DESAD) cohort data are used to assess the degree of recommended compliance of breast cancer screenings found in 3140 DES-exposed and 826 unexposed women. Participants...

We present an efficient block preconditioner for the two-dimensional biharmonic Dirichlet problem discretized by C1 bicubic Hermite finite elements. In this formulation each node in the mesh has four different degrees of freedom (DOFs). Grouping DOFs of the same type together leads to a natural blocking of the Galerkin coefficient matrix. Based on this block structure, we develop two preconditi...

BACKGROUND The periplasmic overexpression of recombinant human interferon beta (rhIFN-β)-1b using a synthetic gene in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) was optimized in shake flasks using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) based on the Box-Behnken Design (BBD). OBJECTIVES This study aimed to predict and develop the optimal fermentation conditions for periplasmic expression of rhIFN-β-1b in shake fl...

The clinical relevance of aberrant DNA methylation is being increasingly recognized in breast cancer. The present study aimed to evaluate the promoter methylation status of seven candidate genes and to explore their potential use as a biomarker for the diagnosis of breast cancer. A total of 70 Chinese patients with breast cancer were recruited, and matched with 20 patients with benign breast di...

ZnSe-based heterostructures grown on GaAs substrates have been investigated for use in pindiode LED applications. ZnSe has a large band gap, 2.76 eV, as well as a near lattice match to GaAs, 5.6688 Å vs. 5.6538 Å, respectively. In this study a metallorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) deposition technique is used to produce doped and undoped thin films of ZnSe on (100) GaAs. Understanding the e...

PURPOSE Sodium iodide symporter (NIS) expression in breast cancer (BC) tissues suggests the possibility of using radioiodine for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. This study evaluated NIS protein expression in primary BC samples and its association with BC prognostic markers and thyroid functional parameters. METHODS Fifty-six breast tissue samples from 52 operated women (41 BC, 11 benign ...

Ultrasonic nanocrystal surface modification (UNSM) technology was applied to the surfaces of specimens additively manufactured by powder bed fusion (PBF). The changes in roughness and hardness due UNSM were set as objective functions, optimal conditions for main parameters derived through response method (RSM) Box–Behnken design (BBD). Regression analysis-based mathematical models predicting ar...