We developed a novel immunomagnetic bead ELISA based on IgY (egg yolk immunoglobulin) for detection of circulating antigen (CA) in sera of mice infected with Schistosoma japonicum. The assay involved the use of chicken polyclonal antibodies IgY against soluble egg antigens (SEA) of S. japonicum as a capture antibody and anti-SEA mouse monoclonal antibody NP28-5B labeled horseradish peroxidase (HRP) as a detecting antibody. Two groups of BALB/c mice infected with S. japonicum cercariae ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to discuss the effect of pelvic floor muscle training on fecal incontinence.

METHODS: A retrospective study was performed on patients who received pelvic floor muscle training from March 2002 to April 2007. There were 55 patients with fecal incontinence (male, 32 cases; female, 23 cases; mean age, 9.4 years old from 6 to 14), including 39 cases of anorectal malformation and 16 cases of Hirschsprung's disease. Pelvic floor muscle training was ...

BACKGROUND: Aberrant hypermethylation of gene promoter regions is a primary mechanism by which tumor suppressor genes become inactivated in breast cancer. Epigenetic inactivation of the protein tyrosine phosphatase receptor-type O gene (PTPRO) has been described in several types of cancer.

RESULTS: We screened primary breast cancer tissues for PTPRO promoter hypermethylation and assessed potential associations with pathological features and patient outcome. We also evaluated its ...

Boron is an essential mineral nutrient for higher plant growth and development. However, excessive amounts of boron can be toxic. Here, we report on the characterization of an Arabidopsis mutant, shb1 (sensitive to high-level of boron 1), which exhibits hypersensitivity to excessive boron in roots. Positional cloning demonstrated that the shb1 mutant bears a point mutation in a gene encoding a heme oxygenase 1 (HO1) corresponding to the HY1 gene involved in photomorphogenesis. The ...

Five new cembrane-type diterpenoids with a trans-fused alpha-methylene-gamma-lactone (1-5), a new flavonoid glucoside (6), and 17 known compounds were isolated from a methanol extract of Anisomeles indica. The structures of 1-6 were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis, and the absolute configuration of compound 1 was determined using the modified Mosher's method. Compound 8 (4,5-epoxovatodiolide) exhibited cytotoxicity against a small panel of human cancer cell lines. Additionally, ...

Radiation is an integral part of cancer therapy. With the emergence of oncolytic vaccinia virus immunotherapy, it is important to study the combination of radiation and vaccinia virus in cancer therapy. In this study, we investigated the anti-tumor effect of and immune mechanisms underlying the combination of high-dose hypofractionated stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) and oncolytic vaccinia virus in preclinical murine models. The combination enhanced the in vivo anti-tumor effect ...

The issues of carrier frequency offset (CFO) and channel estimation are very important for multi-input multi-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) wireless communication systems. In this paper, the problems of CFO and channel estimation are considered. An adaptive estimation algorithm is proposed. It can estimate CFO and channel parameters at the same time. Since the estimation method is real-time, it can work at a fast time-varying environment. However, the model ...

Oral rotavirus vaccine (RV) administration in conjunction with other injectable vaccines has been used worldwide. However, whether the sequence of RV administration is associated with the reduction of injection-induced pain remains unclear. In this randomized controlled trial, we enrolled 6-12-wk-old healthy infants. The pain response of the infants was scored on the basis of their crying, irritability, facial expression, gagging and distress. A multivariate logistic regression model was ...

As the rapid advance of communication and network technologies, many new applications have been created and the bandwidth needed for these Internet applications are more increasing than ever. Due to the limitations of traditional communication protocols with single-path transmission, its bandwidth is not enough for bandwidth-hungry applications such as real-time multimedia streaming. However, most of today's computers or mobile devices have at least two or more wired or wireless network ...

This paper describes an investigation of the axial behaviour of rectangular masonry-filled steel tubular (MFT) stub columns with binding bolts and epoxy adhesive. This type of column is used primarily in masonry buildings where load-carrying masonry walls are removed to provide a larger space. A total of six MFT stub columns were tested. This testing included examination of the effects of the spacing of binding bolts and the thickness of steel plates. The results of this study show that ...

Much attention should be paid to developing new materials for energy saving and environmentally benign catalysis. Herein we report the broad-band direct white-light emission originating from a single-phased and single-doped phosphor,i.e., a luminescent mesoporous zirconium oxy-hydroxy acetate–persulfate complex and the complex doped by Eu3+. The amorphous complexes exhibit the photoluminescence and color properties comparable to or better than those of the crystalline MOFs. The ...