Tsallis q-Statistics in Seismology.

Non-extensive statistical mechanics (or q-statistics) is based on the so-called non-additive Tsallis entropy. Since its introduction by Tsallis, in 1988, as a generalization of the Boltzmann-Gibbs equilibrium statistical mechanics, it has steadily gained ground as a suitable theory for the description of the statistical properties of non-equilibrium complex systems. Therefore, it has been applied to numerous phenomena, including real seismicity. In particular, Tsallis entropy is expected to provide a guiding principle to reveal novel aspects of complex dynamical systems with catastrophes, such as seismic events. The exploration of the existing connections between Tsallis formalism and real seismicity has been the focus of extensive research activity in the last two decades. In particular, Tsallis q-statistics has provided a unified framework for the description of the collective properties of earthquakes and faults. Despite this progress, our present knowledge of the physical processes leading to the initiation of a rupture, and its subsequent growth through a fault system, remains quite limited. The aim of this paper was to provide an overview of the non-extensive interpretation of seismicity, along with the contributions of the Tsallis formalism to the statistical description of seismic events.

Influence of environmental static electric field on antioxidant enzymes activities in hepatocytes of mice.

With the increasing voltage of direct current transmission line, the intensity of the environmental static electric field has also increased. Thus, whether static electric fields cause biological injury is an important question. In this study, the effects of chronic exposure to environmental static electric fields on some antioxidant enzymes activities in the hepatocytes of mice were investigated. Male Institute of Cancer Research mice were exposed for 35 days to environmental static electric fields of different electric field intensities of 9.2-21.85 kV/m (experiment group I, EG-I), 2.3-15.4 kV/m (experiment group II, EG-II), and 0 kV/m (control group, CG). On days 7, 14, 21, and 35 of the exposure cycle, liver homogenates were obtained and the activities of antioxidant enzymes like superoxide dismutase, glutathione S-transferase, and glutathione peroxidase were determined, as well as the concentration of malonaldehyde. The results revealed a significant increase in superoxide dismutase activity in both EG-I and EG-II on the 7th (P < 0.05) and 35th days (P < 0.01) of the exposure cycle compared to that in the control group. However, the other test indices such as glutathione S-transferase, glutathione peroxidase, and malonaldehyde showed only minimal changes during the exposure cycle. These results revealed a weak relationship between the exposure to environmental static electric fields and hepatic oxidative stress in living organisms.

Proteomic analysis of muscle between hybrid abalone and parental lines Haliotis gigantea Reeve and Haliotis discus hannai Ino.

To understand the potential molecular mechanism of heterosis, protein expression patterns were compared from hybrids of Haliotis gigantea (G) and Haliotis discus hannai (D) using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight/time-of-flight analyses. Expression differences were observed in muscle samples from the four groups with 673±21.0 stained spots for H. discus hannai ♀ × H. discus hannai ♂ (DD), 692±25.6 for H. gigantea ♀ × H. gigantea ♂ (GG), 679±16.2 for H. discus hannai ♀ × H. gigantea ♂ (DG) (F1 hybrid) and 700±19 for H. gigantea ♀ × H. discus hannai ♂ (GD) (F1 hybrid). Different 2-DE image muscle protein spots had a mirrored relationship between purebreds and the F1 hybrid, suggesting that all stained spots in F1 hybrid muscle were on 2-DEs from parents. DD and DG clustered together first, and then clustered with GD, whereas the distance of DD and GG was maximal according to hierarchical cluster analysis. We identified 136 differentially expressed protein spots involved in major biological processes, including energy metabolism and stress response. Most energy metabolism proteins were additive, and stress-induced proteins displayed additivity or over-dominance. In these 136 identified protein spots, hybrid offspring with additivity or over-dominance accounted for 68.38%. Data show that a proteomic approach can provide functional prediction of abalone interspecific hybridization.

SPH simulations and experimental investigation of water flow through a Venturi meter of rectangular cross-section.

The flow of water through a horizontal small-scale Venturi tube of rectangular cross-section is simulated using a modified version of the open-source code DualSPHysics, which is based on Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) methods. Water is simulated using the Murnaghan-Tait equation of state so that weak compressibility is allowed. The hydrodynamics is coupled to a Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) turbulence model. The convergence properties of SPH are improved by adopting a C[Formula: see text] Wendland function as the interpolation kernel, increased number of neighboring particles and non-reflective open boundary conditions at the outlet of the Venturi tube. The flow structure and differential pressure as well as the mainstream velocity profiles at different stations are compared with calibrated experimental data. A resolution independence test shows that good convergence to the experimental measurements is achieved using four million particles. At this resolution the simulations predict the experimental centerline velocity profile along the Venturi meter for a volumetric flow rate of ten liters per minutes (lpm) with a root-mean-square error of 4.3%. This error grows to 7.1% when the volumetric flow rate increases to 25 lpm. The predicted differential pressure matches the experimental data with errors varying from 1.4% (for 10 lpm) to 6.8% (for 25 lpm). Cross-sectional velocity profiles within the throat and divergent sections differ from the experimental measurements in less than 5.5%. In general, it is shown that the SPH model can provide an efficient and accurate method for recalibrating flow meters at moderately high Reynolds numbers instead of using costly experimental tests.

Simulated global climate change benefits the nutritive value of oat grass.

Numerous data demonstrate that global climate change affects crop yield and quality. However, the effect of climate change on the nutritive value of forage crops remains unclear. Oat grass (Avena sativa L.) was used as a representative forage crop to understand changes in yield and chemical composition. The growth of oat grass under elevated temperature and CO2 conditions was simulated in a 51-day growth experiment inside OTCs. The oat grass was harvested during the heading period and yield, nutrient content, macro- and micro-mineral content and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) determined. The fresh and dry yield, mineral P and Fe content and IVDMD of oat grass increased under increased CO2 concentrations (P < 0.05). As temperature increased, dry matter yield and soluble sugar content decreased and the content of Na, Mg, P, S, Ca, Mn, Fe, Cu and Zn increased (P < 0.05), while IVDMD was not significantly affected. Under the interaction of increasing CO2 and temperature, the content of Mg, P, S, Ca, Mn and IVDMD of oat grass increased (P < 0.05); however, there was no significant effect on yield. Climate change may result in oat grass containing more digestible nutrients and minerals for ruminants.

Genetic polymorphisms in the DNA repair enzyme ERCC2 and breast tumour risk in a Chinese population.

DNA repair systems enable our cells to respond to carcinogens and mutagens. The ERCC2 gene encodes a DNA repair protein that has multiple regulatory cellular functions including nucleotide excision repair, basal transcription, cell cycle control, and apoptosis. The ERCC2 polymorphism Lys751Gln may alter the capacity for DNA repair, which could affect the risk of certain cancers. We examined whether the Lys751Gln polymorphism was associated with the risk of breast cancer in Chinese women by analysing the genotype frequencies in 486 patients with breast cancer and 479 cancer-free control subjects. At least one variant allele (Lys/Gln or Gln/Gln) was associated with a 44% decreased risk of breast cancer. Patients with breast cancer with the 751Lys/Gln or 751Gln/Gln genotypes were less likely to be hormone receptor positive. In conclusion, our results demonstrated that ERCC2 polymorphisms might be potential risk markers for breast cancer in the Chinese population.

Oscillation of viscous drops with smoothed particle hydrodynamics.

We investigate the nonlinear oscillations of heat-conductive, viscous, liquid drops in vacuum with zero gravity, using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). The liquid drops are modeled as a van der Waals fluid in two dimensions so that the models apply to flat, disklike drops. Attention is focused on small- to large-amplitude oscillations of drops that are released from a static elliptic shape. We find that for small-amplitude motions the combined dissipative effects of finite viscosity and heat conduction induce rapid decay of the oscillations after a few periods, while for large-amplitude motions wave damping is governed by the action of both viscous dissipation and surface tension forces. The transition from periodic to aperiodic decay at Re approximately 1 as well as the quadratic decrease of the frequency with the initial aspect ratio at large Re are reproduced in good agreement with previous theoretical predictions and experimental results.

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics: Applications to migration of radionuclides in confined aqueous systems.

A smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) model is presented for simulating the decay chain transport of radionuclides in confined aqueous solutions. The SPH formulation is based on the open-source parallel code DualSPHysics extended to solve the advective-diffusion equation for the evolution of the concentration field coupled to the fluid-dynamic equations, including the effects of radioactive decay of the tracer contaminants. The performance of the method is demonstrated for environmental engineering problems dealing with the transport of contaminants in still and flowing water. The results from a series of benchmark test calculations are described in two- and three-space dimensions, where the advection, diffusion, and radioactive decay modes are tested separately and in combined form. The accuracy of the present SPH transport model is shown by direct comparison with the analytical solutions and results from other SPH approaches. For a given problem, convergence of the SPH solution is seen to increase with decreasing particle size and spacing.

Over expression of aromatase protein is highly related to MMPs levels in human breast carcinomas.

Estrogens can play a critical role in the development of breast cancer. Aromatase which catalyzes the formation of aromatic C18 estrogens from C19 androgens is regarded to be responsible for the cancer local production of estrogen. Studies not only from aromatase transfected breast cancer cells, but also transgenic mouse, which overexpressed aromatase, demonstrated that in situ produced estrogen plays more important roles than circulating estrogens in breast tumor promotion and progression. Matrix-metalloproteinases (MMPs) have been implicated in the proeolytic process, which play important roles in the aggressiveness of cancer cells including invasion of adjacent tissue and metastasis to distant sites. Expression of MMP2 and 9 may be stimulated by estrogens in hormonal dependent breast cancers, since tumor aromatase can stimulate breast cancer growth and progression in both an autocrine and a paracrine manner. Theoretically aromatase overexpression, that causes relatively high estrogen concentration in situ, may be positively related to MMP2 and 9 expression, indicate worse prognosis in breast cancers, and maybe insensitive to tamoxifen therapy. In the present study, we studied the expression of aromatase activity and MMPs in human breast carcinoma both in vitro and in vivo. In human breast carcinoma cell lines including MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-435, the expression of aromatase levels both in mRNA and protein activity was related to MMP2 and MMP9. In humam breast cancer samples, we demonstrated that aromatase expressions were strongly associated with MMP2 and MMP9 levels. It was interesting to observe that the positive relationship was only present in the ER and/or PR positive patients. This may indicate that both MMP2 and MMP9 were up regulated by estrogen produced by aromatase through ER. So in endocrine therapy, either blocking the ER by tamoxifen or inhibiting the aromatase by aromatase inhibitors for example letrozole, may both inhibit tumor growth and lower the metastatic potential especially in ER positive breast cancer patients by means of down-regulation of MMP2/9.

Smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations of evaporation and explosive boiling of liquid drops in microgravity.

The rapid evaporation and explosive boiling of a van der Waals (vdW) liquid drop in microgravity is simulated numerically in two-space dimensions using the method of smoothed particle hydrodynamics. The numerical approach is fully adaptive and incorporates the effects of surface tension, latent heat, mass transfer across the interface, and liquid-vapor interface dynamics. Thermocapillary forces are modeled by coupling the hydrodynamics to a diffuse-interface description of the liquid-vapor interface. The models start from a nonequilibrium square-shaped liquid of varying density and temperature. For a fixed density, the drop temperature is increased gradually to predict the point separating normal boiling at subcritical heating from explosive boiling at the superheat limit for this vdW fluid. At subcritical heating, spontaneous evaporation produces stable drops floating in a vapor atmosphere, while at near-critical heating, a bubble is nucleated inside the drop, which then collapses upon itself, leaving a smaller equilibrated drop embedded in its own vapor. At the superheat limit, unstable bubble growth leads to either fragmentation or violent disruption of the liquid layer into small secondary drops, depending on the liquid density. At higher superheats, explosive boiling occurs for all densities. The experimentally observed wrinkling of the bubble surface driven by rapid evaporation followed by a Rayleigh-Taylor instability of the thin liquid layer and the linear growth of the bubble radius with time are reproduced by the simulations. The predicted superheat limit (T(s)≈0.96) is close to the theoretically derived value of T(s)=1 at zero ambient pressure for this vdW fluid.

Exercise therapy of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus a report of 10 year studies. The efficacy of exercise therapy.

The effect of a physical training course of 1-2 month duration using cycloergometer with the intensity of VO2 max 60%, 30 min per day was observed in non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients. The results showed a decrease of plasma glucose and insulin levels, sigma PG and sigma IRI and an improvement of blood lipid constitution. These were accompanied by a decreased erythrocyte insulin receptor binding rate and a reduction of receptor binding sites of both high and low affinity receptors.

Exercise therapy of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. Effects of acute exercise loading.

The dynamic changes of 15 parameters (divided into 6 sections in this study) relating to metabolism, platelet function, blood coagulation and hemorrheologic situation under acute exercise loading with the intensity of VO2 max 60% were observed in noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) patients. The advantage, safety and feasibility of exercise therapy were discussed.

[Effect of Astragalus saponin on vascular endothelial cell and its function in burn patients].

OBJECTIVE: To study the protective effect of Astragalus saponin (AS) on vascular endothelial cell (VEC) in burn patients. METHODS: Eighty burn patients were divided randomly into 2 groups, the AS group and the burn control group. Blood level of circulatory endothelial cell (CEC), endothelin (ET), nitric oxide (NO), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and alanine transaminase (ALT) were determined before treatment and 1 day, 5, 10 and 21 days after treatment, and compared with those in 10 healthy persons as a normal control group. RESULTS: All the parameters determined in the AS group were significantly higher than those in the normal control group. But as compared with the burn control group, the parameters in the AS group after treatment were all lower significantly. CONCLUSION: AS has definite protective effect on VEC from injury by burn, it could also improve the function of myocardial and liver cell, alleviate the general inflammatory response simultaneously.

Diffuse-interface modeling of liquid-vapor coexistence in equilibrium drops using smoothed particle hydrodynamics.

We study numerically liquid-vapor phase separation in two-dimensional, nonisothermal, van der Waals (vdW) liquid drops using the method of smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). In contrast to previous SPH simulations of drop formation, our approach is fully adaptive and follows the diffuse-interface model for a single-component fluid, where a reversible, capillary (Korteweg) force is added to the equations of motion to model the rapid but smooth transition of physical quantities through the interface separating the bulk phases. Surface tension arises naturally from the cohesive part of the vdW equation of state and the capillary forces. The drop models all start from a square-shaped liquid and spinodal decomposition is investigated for a range of initial densities and temperatures. The simulations predict the formation of stable, subcritical liquid drops with a vapor atmosphere, with the densities and temperatures of coexisting liquid and vapor in the vdW phase diagram closely matching the binodal curve. We find that the values of surface tension, as determined from the Young-Laplace equation, are in good agreement with the results of independent numerical simulations and experimental data. The models also predict the increase of the vapor pressure with temperature and the fitting to the numerical data reproduces very well the Clausius-Clapeyron relation, thus allowing for the calculation of the vaporization pressure for this vdW fluid.

Treatment outcomes and unfavorable prognostic factors in patients with occult breast cancer.

AIMS: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the treatment outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with occult breast cancer (OBC). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 95 patients with OBC who were treated at our facility between January 1998 and June 2010. Of the 95 patients, 64 underwent mastectomy plus axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) with or without post-mastectomy radiation (Mast + ALND group), 13 underwent ALND followed by ipsilateral breast radiotherapy (BR + ALND group) and the remaining 18 were treated with ALND (ALND group). RESULTS: Patients who underwent Mast + ALND or BR + ALND had significantly improved rates of locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS) and recurrence/metastasis-free survival (RFS) than patients who only underwent ALND (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in the LRFS (p = 0.718), RFS (p = 0.935) and breast cancer-specific survival (BCSS) (p = 0.991) rates between the patients who underwent Mast + ALND compared with those who received BR + ALND. Multivariate analysis revealed that patients with four or more involved lymph nodes had significantly worse outcomes (p = 0.042, HR = 4.63, 95% CI = 1.66-32.47 for BCSS and p = 0.038, HR = 3.62, 95% CI = 1.08-20.77 for RFS). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with OBC who received ALND and subsequent breast radiotherapy had similar outcomes to patients who underwent mastectomy. The presence of four or more involved lymph nodes may independently predict poor outcomes of OBC.

A computer-controlled apparatus for micrometric drop deposition at liquid surfaces.

A low-cost, automated apparatus has been used to perform micrometric deposition of small pendant drops onto a quiet liquid surface. The approach of the drop to the surface is obtained by means of discrete, micron-scale translations in order to achieve deposition at adiabatically zero velocity. This process is not only widely used in scientific investigations in fluid mechanics and thermal sciences but also in engineering and biomedical applications. The apparatus has been designed to produce accurate deposition onto the surface and minimize the vibrations induced in the drop by the movement of the capillary tip. Calibration tests of the apparatus have shown that a descent of the drop by discrete translational steps of approximately 5.6 microm and duration of 150-200 ms is sufficient to minimize its penetration depth into the liquid when it touches the surface layer and reduce to a level of noise the vibrations transmitted to it by the translation of the dispenser. Different settings of the experimental setup can be easily implemented for use in a variety of other applications, including deposition onto solid surfaces, surface tension measurements of pendant drops, and wire bonding in microelectronics.

Inhibition of EGFR pathway signaling and the metastatic potential of breast cancer cells by PA-MSHA mediated by type 1 fimbriae via a mannose-dependent manner.

To identify more therapeutic targets and clarify the detailed mechanisms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa-mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin (PA-MSHA) on breast cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. PA-MSHA was administered to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-positive human breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231HM and MDA-MB-468 in vitro and to mice bearing tumor xenografts. The mannose cocultured test was used to detect the effect of mannose on PA-MSHA-induced cell proliferation, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis, and EGFR pathway signaling. We found that cells stimulated with PA-MSHA exhibited a downregulation of EGFR signaling. The addition of mannose partially inhibited the PA-MSHA-stimulated cell anti-proliferative effect, cell apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, activation of apoptosis-associated caspases, and even downregulation of the EGFR signaling pathway. In vivo, PA-MSHA treatment significantly suppressed mammary tumorigenesis in xenografts in mice and decreased lung metastasis in MDA-MB-231HM cell-transplanted mice. Tumor sample analyses confirmed inhibition of the EGFR pathway in the PA-MSHA-treated mice. In conclusion, this study showed that the involvement of the mannose-mediated EGFR pathway has a critical function in the preclinical rationale for the development of PA-MSHA for the treatment of human breast cancer. It also suggests the potentially beneficial use of PA-MSHA in adjuvant therapy for breast tumors with EGFR overexpression.

Mechanisms of pain in distal symmetric polyneuropathy: a combined clinical and neurophysiological study.

In patients with distal symmetric polyneuropathy we assessed non-nociceptive Abeta- and nociceptive Adelta-afferents to investigate their role in the development of neuropathic pain. We screened 2240 consecutive patients with sensory disturbances and collected 150 patients with distal symmetric polyneuropathy (68 with pain and 82 without). All patients underwent the Neuropathic Pain Symptom Inventory to rate ongoing, paroxysmal and provoked pains, a standard nerve conduction study (NCS) to assess Abeta-fibre function, and laser-evoked potentials (LEPs) to assess Adelta-fibre function. Patients with pain had the same age (P>0.50), but a longer delay since symptom onset than those without (P<0.01). Whereas the LEP amplitude was significantly lower in patients with pain than in those without (P<0.0001), NCS data did not differ between groups (P>0.50). LEPs were more severely affected in patients with ongoing pain than in those with provoked pain (P<0.0001). Our findings indicate that the impairment of Abeta-fibres has no role in the development of ongoing or provoked pain. In patients with ongoing pain the severe LEP suppression and the correlation between pain intensity and LEP attenuation may indicate that this type of pain reflects damage to nociceptive axons. The partially preserved LEPs in patients with provoked pain suggest that this type of pain is related to the abnormal activity arising from partially spared and sensitised nociceptive terminals. Because clinical and neurophysiological abnormalities followed similar patterns regardless of aetiology, pain should be classified and treated on mechanism-based grounds.