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"Wu, M-F"
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Texas hold'em
\"San Antonio, home of the Alamo, is also host to the nation's top high school jazz competition, and the musicians at Xavier Desmond High are excited to outplay their rivals. They are also jokers, kids with strange abilities and even stranger looks. On top of that, well, they are teenagers, apt for mischief, mishaps, and romantic misunderstandings. Michelle Pond, aka The Amazing Bubbles, thinks that her superhero (and supermom) know-how has prepared her to chaperone the event. But when her students start going wayward, she'll soon discover the true meaning of 'Don't mess with Texas'\"--Dust jacket flap.
BOOK
The TGF-β/SMAD pathway is an important mechanism for NK cell immune evasion in childhood B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Natural killer (NK) cells are key components of the innate immune system, providing potent antitumor immunity. Here, we show that the tumor growth factor-β (TGF-β)/SMAD signaling pathway is an important mechanism for NK cell immune evasion in childhood B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We characterized NK cells in 50 consecutive children with B-ALL at diagnosis, end induction and during maintenance therapy compared with age-matched controls. ALL-NK cells at diagnosis had an inhibitory phenotype associated with impaired function, most notably interferon-γ production and cytotoxicity. By maintenance therapy, these phenotypic and functional abnormalities partially normalized; however, cytotoxicity against autologous blasts remained impaired. We identified ALL-derived TGF-β1 to be an important mediator of leukemia-induced NK cell dysfunction. The TGF-β/SMAD signaling pathway was constitutively activated in ALL-NK cells at diagnosis and end induction when compared with healthy controls and patients during maintenance therapy. Culture of ALL blasts with healthy NK cells induced NK dysfunction and an inhibitory phenotype, mediated by activation of the TGF-β/SMAD signaling pathway, and abrogated by blocking TGF-β. These data indicate that by regulating the TGF-β/SMAD pathway, ALL blasts induce changes in NK cells to evade innate immune surveillance, thus highlighting the importance of developing novel therapies to target this inhibitory pathway and restore antileukemic cytotoxicity.
Journal Article
The Impact of Frailty Status on Pulmonary Function and Mortality in Older Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
We aimed to evaluate the effect of frailty on lung function and disease outcomes in older adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Retrospective observational cohort.
At baseline, comprehensive geriatric assessment and pulmonary function tests were extracted from the case management care system of the geriatric department of a tertiary medical center.
Frailty was assessed by the modified Rockwood frailty index. Kaplan-Meier survival and Cox proportional hazard analyses were used to analyze the primary outcome. Both the Friedman test and generalized estimating equations were used to evaluate the rate of decline in lung function.
Among 151 enrolled older patients, comprising 69 non-COPD and 82 COPD subjects, the mean age was 80.9±8.3 years. After a median follow-up of 2.87 years, the serial forced expiratory volume in 1 s/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC), and forced expiratory flow at 25–75% of FVC (FEF25–75%) showed significantly different slope changes between older COPD patients with and without frailty. The mortality hazard ratio (HR) was 2.53 for COPD without frailty and 3.62 for COPD with frailty, versus those without COPD. Among COPD patients, the factors most strongly associated with mortality were timed up-and-go, activities of daily living (ADLs), instrumental ADLs, FEV1/FVC, and serum HCO3-. After adjustment for potential confounders, ADLs and FEV1/FVC remained independent mortality predictors.
Among older patients with COPD, frailty was common and associated with pulmonary function decline, and mortality risk was higher in frail than in non-frail subjects.
Journal Article
Lipoprotein(a) and Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease: Current Understanding and Future Perspectives
PurposeTo review current knowledge of elevated lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] levels in relation to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and discuss their potential use as biomarkers and therapeutic approaches in clinical practice.MethodsWe summarized the current understanding and recent advances in the structure, metabolism, atherogenic mechanisms, standardized laboratory measurement, recommended screening populations, and prognostic value of Lp(a), with a special focus on the current potential treatment approaches for hyperlipoprotein(a)emia in patients with ASCVD.ResultsLp(a) is composed of LDL-like particle and characteristic apolipoprotein(a) [apo(a)] connected by a disulfide bond. Substantial evidence shows that elevated plasma Lp(a) level is a heritable, independent, and possibly causal risk factor for ASCVD through its proatherogenic, proinflammatory, and potentially prothrombotic properties. Current guidelines recommend Lp(a) measurement for patients with an intermediate-high risk of ASCVD, familial hypercholesterolemia, a family history of early ASCVD or elevated Lp(a), and progressive ASCVD despite receiving optimal therapy. Traditional Lp(a)-lowering approaches such as niacin, PCSK9 inhibitors, mipomersen, lomitapide, and lipoprotein apheresis were associated with a non-specific and limited reduction of Lp(a), intolerable side effects, invasive procedure, and high expense. The phase 2 randomized controlled trial of antisense oligonucleotide against the apo(a) encoding gene LPA mRNA showed that IONIS-APO(a)-LRX could specifically reduce the level of Lp(a) by 90% with good tolerance, which may become a promising candidate for the prevention and treatment of ASCVD in the future.ConclusionsIt is reasonable to measure Lp(a) levels to reclassify ASCVD risk and manage individuals with elevated Lp(a) to further reduce the residual risk of ASCVD, especially with IONIS-APO(a)-LRX.
Journal Article
Evaluation of Hybrid Learning and Teaching Practices: The Perspective of Academics
This paper presents a study on the evaluation of hybrid learning and teaching practices by academics. A mixed research method involving a questionnaire survey and a focus group interview was employed to gather academics’ feedback on their experience in delivering hybrid instruction in a synchronous manner in which on-site and remote students attended classes simultaneously, their students’ hybrid learning effectiveness, and their suggestions for improvement. The questionnaire was administered to 76 academics from a university in Hong Kong where hybrid learning and teaching were implemented, and the focus group interview involved 10 academics. The findings reveal that the participating academics perceived themselves as having an overall high degree of readiness to handle technical issues. They expressed that the students from their hybrid classes had lower levels of interaction, engagement, and motivation than those from traditional face-to-face classes. The participants also reported their challenges regarding hybrid learning and teaching, including heavy workload for lesson preparation and face-to-face and online classroom management, unfamiliarity with interactive teaching design suitable for hybrid classes, and difficulties in monitoring students’ learning process. They provided suggestions for the improvement of hybrid classes, ranging from the provision of technological support to professional development for enhancing students’ online interaction and engagement. These findings contribute to revealing academics’ experience in practising hybrid learning and teaching and identifying ways to address their challenges.
Journal Article
A Survey of Knowledge Graph Approaches and Applications in Education
This paper presents a comprehensive survey of knowledge graphs in education. It covers the patterns and prospects of research in this area. A total of 48 relevant publications between 2011 and 2023 were collected from the Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest for review. The findings reveal a sharp increase in recent years in the body of research into educational knowledge graphs which was mainly conducted from institutions in China. Most of the relevant research work adopted a quantitative method, such as performance evaluation, user surveys, and controlled experiments, to assess the effectiveness of knowledge graph approaches. The findings also suggest that knowledge graph approaches were primarily researched and implemented in higher education institutions, with a focus on computer science, mathematics, and engineering. The most frequently addressed objectives included enhancing knowledge representation and providing personal learning recommendations, and the most common applications were concept instruction and educational recommendations. Diverse data resources, such as course materials, student learning behaviours, and online encyclopaedia, were processed to implement knowledge graph approaches in different scenarios. Relevant technical means employed for the implementation of knowledge graphs dealt with the purposes of building knowledge ontology, achieving recommendations, and creating knowledge graphs. Various pedagogies such as personalised learning and collaborative learning are supported by the knowledge graph approaches. The findings also identified key limitations in the relevant work, including insufficient information for knowledge graph construction, difficulty in extending applications across subject areas, the restricted scale and scope of data resources, and the lack of comprehensive user feedback and evaluation processes.
Journal Article
Cardiovascular prognosis: a new role for ceramides and other cardiometabolites
Ceramide levels are elevated in the heart failure patients, suggesting a connection between ceramide metabolism and progression of cardiovascular diseases. 1 In this issue of the journal, Targher et al. conducted a study analysing 400 chronic heart failure (HF) patients to examine the link between ceramide levels and cardiovascular mortality. 2 The study is based on a comparative analysis, which was conducted between survivors and non‐survivors with pre‐existing HF over a median follow‐up period of 3.9 years. Increased cellular ceramides have been linked to enhanced apoptosis, insulin resistance, and oxidative stress. 3–8 Ceramides are synthesized through three major pathways: first, de novo condensation of palmitoyl CoA with serine catalyzed by serine palmitoyltransferase (SPT), 9 second, by sphingomyelinase‐dependent hydrolysis of sphingomyelin, 10 and third, from sphingosine through ceramide synthases (Figure 1). Specificity of these pathways for ceramide subspecies is unclear; formation of long‐chain ceramides (C22–C26) has been linked to ceramide synthase 2 (CerS2), 14,15 and long‐chain ceramides and very‐long‐chain ceramides are believed to have the greatest impact on cardiac dysfunction. 1,16 Our previous studies demonstrated that ceramide accumulation causes cardiac remodelling and ultimately failure. 1,16 Saturated fat increases ceramides, 17,18 and genetic and pharmacological inhibition of ceramide synthesis ameliorates insulin resistance, 5 a hallmark of HF.
Journal Article
Prostaglandin E2 promotes post‐infarction cardiomyocyte replenishment by endogenous stem cells
Although self‐renewal ability of adult mammalian heart has been reported, few pharmacological treatments are known to promote cardiomyocyte regeneration after injury. In this study, we demonstrate that the critical period of stem/progenitor cell‐mediated cardiomyocyte replenishment is initiated within 7 days and saturates on day 10 post‐infarction. Moreover, blocking the inflammatory reaction with COX‐2 inhibitors may also reduce the capability of endogenous stem/progenitor cells to repopulate lost cells. Injection of the COX‐2 product PGE
2
enhances cardiomyocyte replenishment in young mice and recovers cell renewal through attenuating TGF‐β1 signaling in aged mice. Further analyses suggest that cardiac stem cells are PGE
2
‐responsive and that PGE
2
may regulate stem cell activity directly through the EP2 receptor or indirectly by modulating its micro‐environment
in vivo
. Our findings provide evidence that PGE
2
holds great potential for cardiac regeneration.
Synopsis
Although lost cardiomyocytes could be replenished after injury, the efficiency is extremely low. Here, the authors show that PGE2 treatment at a critical time period improves stem cell‐mediated cardiac repair in young mice and restores it in aged animals.
Stem cell‐derived cardiomyocyte replenishment occurs within 7 days of injury.
An early inflammatory signal regulates cardiac regeneration after infarction.
PGE2 stimulates cardiomyocyte replenishment mediated by cardiac stem cells.
PGE2 rescues the cardiomyocyte replenishment capacity that is lost in aged mice.
Graphical Abstract
Although lost cardiomyocytes could be replenished after injury, the efficiency is extremely low. Here, the authors show that PGE2 treatment at a critical time period improves stem cell‐mediated cardiac repair in young mice and restores it in aged animals.
Journal Article
Corrosion and wear resistance of AZ91D magnesium alloy with and without microarc oxidation coating in Hank’s solution
Immersion test, electrochemistry test and block-on-cylinder type wear test have been applied to study the corrosion and wear resistance of AZ91D Mg alloy with and without microarc oxidation (MAO) treatment in Hank’s solution. Through MAO, a ceramic coating is directly formed on the surface of AZ91D Mg alloy, by which its corrosion and wear resistances are greatly improved. The immersion test results show the mass loss of untreated AZ91D Mg is 15 times of that of MAO ones after 21 days immersion test. The electrochemical corrosion experiments show that the corrosion potential of Mg alloy is improved from −1.5786 V to −0.43019 V through MAO surface treatment, the corrosion current is reduced from 0.028703 A/cm2 to 2.0456 × 10−7 A/cm2, and the polarization resistance is improved from 1.2753 × 10−5 Ω/cm2 to 0.90886 Ω/cm2. The lubricate sliding wear test results show the mass loss of untreated AZ91D Mg is 1.5 times of that of MAO ones.
Journal Article
DNA repair signature is associated with anthracycline response in triple negative breast cancer patients
We hypothesized that a subset of sporadic triple negative (TN) breast cancer patients whose tumors have defective DNA repair similar to BRCA1-associated tumors are more likely to exhibit up-regulation of DNA repair-related genes, anthracycline-sensitivity, and taxane-resistance. We derived a defective DNA repair gene expression signature of 334 genes by applying a previously published BRCA1-associated expression pattern to three datasets of sporadic TN breast cancers. We confirmed a subset of 69 of the most differentially expressed genes by quantitative RT-PCR, using a low density custom array (LDA). Next, we tested the association of this DNA repair microarray signature expression with pathologic response in neoadjuvant anthracycline trials of FEC (n = 50) and AC (n = 16), or taxane-based TET chemotherapy (n = 39). Finally, we collected paraffin-fixed, formalin-embedded biopsies from TN patients who had received neoadjuvant AC (n = 28), and tested the utility of the LDA to discriminate response. Correlation between RNA expression measured by the microarrays and 69-gene LDA was ascertained. This defective DNA repair microarray gene expression pattern was significantly associated with anthracycline response and taxane resistance, with the area under the ordinary receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.61 (95% CI = 0.45-0.77), and 0.65 (95% CI = 0.46-0.85), respectively. From the FFPE samples, the 69-gene LDA could discriminate AC responders, with AUC of 0.79 (95% CI = 0.59-0.98). In conclusion, a promising defective DNA repair gene expression signature appears to differentiate TN breast cancers that are sensitive to anthracyclines and resistant to taxane-based chemotherapy, and should be tested in clinical trials with other DNA-damaging agents and PARP-1 inhibitors.
Journal Article