Morphologic reproducibility in 6 regions of the 3-dimensional facial models acquired by a standardized procedure: An in vivo study.

INTRODUCTION: A standardized procedure was proposed to control involuntary motion and other factors during the capture of structural light scanning that could influence the morphology of 3-dimensional facial models; interoperator reproducibility was evaluated. METHODS: Twenty subjects volunteered for facial scanning. Three researchers scanned each volunteer 3 times on the same day using the FaceScan structural light scanning system (Isravision, Darmstadt, Germany) and after the proposed procedure. Captures were done at 5-minute intervals. The 3 facial scans acquired by the same researcher were compared by reverse engineering software (Geomagic; 3D Systems, Rock Hill, SC). Six facial regions, including forehead, nose, paranasal, upper lip, lower lip and chin, and cheek, were divided. With the first scan as a reference, the other 2 scans were registered, and surface-to-surface distance maps were acquired to calculate the mean, standard deviation, and root mean squares (RMS) between 2 surfaces. The reproducibility between 3 researchers was then evaluated by a 1-way analysis of variance. RESULTS: The mean of 6 facial regions was close to 0. The RMS of lip regions were largest (0.48-0.53 mm), the forehead was smallest (0.21 mm), and the others ranged 0.37 mm to 0.42 mm. The standard deviation was slightly smaller than RMS and had the same trend of change. There was no significant difference in RMS among the 3 researchers (P >0.05). CONCLUSIONS: With the constraint of the standardized procedure, the morphologic reproducibility of facial models in 6 regions was satisfying.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus increases liver transplant-free mortality in patients with cirrhosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The impact of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on the prognosis and complications of liver cirrhosis is not fully clarified. AIM: To clarify the mortality and related risk factors as well as complications in cirrhotic patients with T2DM. METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library from their inception to December 1, 2020 for cohort studies comparing liver transplant-free mortality, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP), variceal bleeding, and hepatic encephalopathy (HE) in cirrhotic patients with vs without T2DM. Odds ratios (ORs) were combined by using fixed-effects or random-effects models with RevMan software. RESULTS: The database search generated a total of 17 cohort studies that met the inclusion criteria. Among these studies, eight reported the risk of mortality, and eight reported the risk of HCC. Three studies provided SBP rates, and two documented ascites rates. Four articles focused on HE rates, and three focused on variceal bleeding rates. Meta-analysis indicated that T2DM was significantly associated with an increased risk of liver transplant-free mortality [OR: 1.28, 95% confidence intervals (CI): 1.16-1.41, P < 0.0001] and HCC incidence (OR: 1.82, 95%CI: 1.32-2.51, P = 0.003). The risk of SBP was not significantly increased (OR: 1.16 95%CI: 0.86-1.57, P = 0.34). Additionally, T2DM did not significantly increase HE (OR: 1.31 95%CI: 0.97-1.77, P = 0.08), ascites (OR: 1.11 95%CI: 0.84-1.46, P = 0.46), and variceal bleeding (OR: 1.34, 95%CI: 0.99-1.82, P = 0.06). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that cirrhotic patients with T2DM have a poor prognosis and high risk of HCC. T2DM may not be associated with an increased risk of SBP, variceal bleeding, ascites, or HE in cirrhotic patients with T2DM.

Biological functions of Arabidopsis thaliana MBP-1-like protein encoded by ENO2 in the response to drought and salt stresses.

Arabidopsis thaliana ENO2 (AtENO2) plays an important role in plant growth and development. It encodes two proteins, a full-length AtENO2 and a truncated version, AtMBP-1, alternatively translated from the second start codon of the mRNA. The AtENO2 mutant (eno2- ) exhibited reduced leaf size, shortened siliques, a dwarf phenotype and higher sensitivity to abiotic stress. The objectives of this study were to analyze the regulatory network of the ENO2 gene in plant growth development and understand the function of AtENO2/AtMBP-1 to abiotic stresses. An eno2- /35S:AtENO2-GFP line and an eno2- /35S:AtMBP-1-GFP line of Arabidopsis were obtained. Results of sequencing by 454 GS FLX identified 578 upregulated and 720 downregulated differential expressed genes (DEGs) in a pairwise comparison (WT-VS-eno2- ). All the high-quality reads were annotated using the Gene Ontology (GO) terms. The DEGs with KEGG pathway annotations occurred in 110 pathways. The metabolic pathways and biosynthesis of secondary metabolites contained more DEGs. Moreover, the eno2- /35S:AtENO2-GFP line returned to the wild-type (WT) phenotype and was tolerant to drought and salt stresses. However, the eno2- /35S:AtMBP-1-GFP line was not able to recover the WT phenotype but it has a higher tolerance to drought and salt stresses. Results from this study demonstrate that AtENO2 is critical for the growth and development, and the AtMBP-1 coded by AtENO2 is important in tolerance of Arabidopsis to abiotic stresses.

Cordycepin induces apoptosis in human bladder cancer cells via activation of A3 adenosine receptors.

Bladder cancer is a neoplasm originated from bladder epithelial cells. The therapy for bladder cancer is so far not satisfactory. In this study, we examined the effects of Cordyceps militaris hot water extracts containing cordycepin on human bladder cells. Cordyceps militaris hot water extracts containing cordycepin was used to treat human T24 bladder carcinoma cells, and we found that Cordyceps militaris hot water extracts containing cordycepin decreased T24 cell survival in a dose-dependent manner, which was seemingly mediated by activation of A3 adenosine receptor and the subsequent inactivation of Akt pathways, resulting in increases in cleaved Caspase-3 and apoptosis. Overexpression of A3 adenosine receptor in T24 cells mimicked the effects of Cordyceps militaris hot water extracts, while A3 adenosine receptor depletion abolished the effects of Cordyceps militaris hot water extracts containing cordycepin. Together, these data suggest that Cordyceps militaris hot water extracts containing cordycepin may be a promising treatment for bladder cancer via A3 adenosine receptor activation.