Genetic variants of PNPLA3 have been implicated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) susceptibility; however, published findings have been both conflicting and inconclusive. To obtain a more precise estimate of the association of the PNPLA3 rs738409 (C > G) polymorphism with the overall risk of HCC and in patients with cirrhosis, we performed a meta-analysis of nine eligible studies identified thr...

For a nonnegative integer k, a connected graph G of order at least 2k+2 is k-extendable if G has a perfect matching and every set of k independent edges extends to a perfect matching in G. The largest integer k such that G is k-extendable is called the extendability of G. The complementary prism GG of G is the graph constructed from G and its complement G defined on a set of vertices disjoint f...

Growth differentiation factor 9 (GDF9) plays a critical role in ovarian follicular development and ovulation rate. The present study aimed to investigate the correlation between the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the GDF9 gene and reproductive performance variables, such as fertility and sterility in Awassi sheep. Forty pairs of ovaries from a total of 40 slaughtered Iraqi Awa...

Most existing magnetic hydrogels are weak and brittle. The development of strong and tough magnetic hydrogels would extend their applications into uncultivated areas, such as in actuators for soft machines and guided catheters for magnetic navigation systems, which is still a big challenge. Here a facile and versatile approach to fabricating highly stretchable, exceptionally tough and notch-ins...

Hexagonal boron nitride nanosheets (BNNSs) possess ultimate thermal and chemical stabilities and mechanical strengths. However, the unmodified BNNSs are hydrophobic and insoluble in water, which hinders their use in many technological areas requiring aqueous compatibility. In this work, h-BN was treated with molten citric acid to produce aqueous dispersible boron nitride sheets (ca-BNNSs). The ...

LetG(V,E) simple connected graph, with |E| = . In this paper, we define an edge-set graph GG constructed from the graphG such that any vertex vs,i of GG corresponds to the i-th s-element subset ofE(G) and any two vertices vs,i, vk,m of GG are adjacent if and only if there is at least one edge in the edge-subset corresponding to vs,i which is adjacent to at least one edge in the edge-subset corr...

BACKGROUND Many studies have investigated the association between the MDM2 promoter SNP309 T/G polymorphism and liver cancer risk, but inconsistencies make drawwing definitive conclusions difficult. METHODS We therefore searched main databases for articles relating MDM2 SNP309 T/G polymorphism to risk of liver cancer in humans and estimated summary odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval...

OBJECTIVE MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression during the peri-implantation period. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether genetic polymorphisms in the four miRNAs associated with fetal or placental development play roles in the development of idiopathic recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) in Korean females. STUDY DESIGN A case-control study involving 225 controls and 387 wome...

Such a rotation g can be described by three parameters. For instance, if you know the axis of rotation (specified by a direction or a point on S or two angles) and the angle of rotation (one parameter), g is determined uniquely. Alternatively, a matrix g ∈ R3×3 has 9 entries, but the requirement that gg = 1 gives 6 conditions on these entries, and again 9− 6 = 3. (The condition that det g = 1 s...

We have identified a synthetic peptide derived from the secreted portion of HSV type 2 glycoprotein G, denoted gG-2p20, which has proinflammatory properties in vitro. The gG-2p20 peptide, corresponding to aa 190-205 of glycoprotein G-2, was a chemoattractant for both monocytes and neutrophils in a dose-dependent fashion, and also induced the release of reactive oxygen from these cells. The rece...