Programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) and T-cell immunoglobulin domain and mucin domain containing molecule 3 (TIM-3) are involved in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). This study examined the associations of PD1 and TIM3 polymorphisms with the overall survival (OS) of a prospective cohort of 258 HBV-related HCC patients. Results showed that PD1 +8669 G allel...

The current meta-analysis incorporating 15 case-control studies involving 4,138 cases and 4,269 controls was performed on the basis of a systematical search in electronic databases for a more precise estimation on the associations of three common polymorphisms -765 G>C (rs20417), -1195G>A (rs689466) and +8473 C>T (rs5275) in Cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2) gene with the susceptibility to bladder cance...

Associations between interleukin 6 (IL-6) polymorphisms and Alzheimer's disease (AD) remain controversial and ambiguous. The aim of this meta-analysis is to explore more precise estimations for the relationship between IL-6-174 G/C and -572 C/G polymorphisms and risk for AD. Electronic searches for all publications in databases PubMed and EMBASE were conducted on the associations between IL-6 p...

BACKGROUND The association between Aurora-A V57I (rs1047972, G>A) polymorphism and cancer susceptibility has been widely studied. However, the results are inconsistent. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To obtain a more precise evaluation of the relationship, we performed a meta-analysis of 14 case-control studies involving a total of 11,245 cancer cases and 16,024 controls. Our results demonstr...

Silicone rubber is a frequently employed biomaterial that is prone to bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation. In this study, the surface of silicone rubber was solvent-free functionalized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of poly(o-amino-p-xylylene-co-p-xylylene (amino-PPX). Subsequently, the amino groups of the amino-PPX layer were used to introduce the initiator from a vapor phase for atom...

The discovery of tough hydrogels of many chemical compositions, and their emerging applications in medicine, clothing, and engineering, has raised a fundamental question: How do hydrogels behave under many cycles of stretch? This paper initiates the study of the fatigue behavior of the classic PAMPS/PAAM double network hydrogels discovered by Gong and her co-workers (Advanced Materials 15, 1155...

In this study, poly(N-Isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM), poly(acrylamide) (PAAM), poly(acrylic acid) (PAAc), and poly(methacrylic (PMAc) polymers are synthesized by radical polymerization method. The chemical composition surface morphology of the PMAc polymer examined micro-Raman spectroscopy scanning electron microscopy (SEM). electrochemical measurements cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometry...

Sixty-two patients aged 19-64 years with primary hypercholesterolemia (mean level of total cholesterol, 10.8 mmol/l) were treated with 80 mg/day lovastatin (L) alone for 18 weeks and, after randomization to either L + 20 g/day guar gum (L + GG) or L + 16 g/day cholestyramine (L + C) treatments, for an additional 18 weeks. The total cholesterol level declined from baseline by 34% during L and by...

1. Let G be a finite group. Let VecG be the category whose objects are C-vector bundles on G which are G-equivariant for the conjugation action of G on G. For U ∈ VecG let Ug denote the fibre of U at g ∈ G; the G-equivariant structure on U is given by isomorphisms ψ x : Uy −→ Uxyx−1 for any x, y ∈ G. For U,U ′ ∈ VecG we define U ∗ U ′ ∈ VecG as follows: for y ∈ G, we have (U ∗ U )y = ⊕(g,g′)∈G×...