LncRNA Neu Mediates Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells (BMSCs) Growth and Promotes Cervical Cancer Progression Through Suppression of MicroRNA-625

The tumorigenesis mechanism of cervical cancer (CC) is complicated as several pathways deserve exploration. LncRNAs are recently highlighted to be involved in various biological processes. The role of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in tumor regulation is recently investigated. Herein, we aimed to explore the interaction between lncRNA Neu and microRNA (miR)-625 and BMSCs in CC. Expression levels of lncRNA Neu and miR-625 in CC cells and BMSCs were determined by RT-qPCR. The relationship between lncRNA Neu and miR-625 was analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis. After cancer cells were transfected with siRNA-Neu, CCK-8 assay and clone formation assay were conducted to determine cell proliferation and viability. LncRNA Neu was highly expressed in CC cells and poorly expressed in BMSCs. Knockdown of lncRNA Neu attenuated cell viability and proliferation while increased miR-625 expression. MiR-625 expression was negatively correlated with expression of lncRNA Neu in CC cells. Overexpression of miR-625 resulted in weakened CC cell viability. Collectively, lncRNA Neu was highly expressed in CC and promoted the development of CC through stimulating the growth of BMSCs and suppressing miR-625 expression. These findings provide a novel insight into targeted therapy for CC.

Prevalence and association of mycoplasma infection in the development of coronary artery disease

Coronary heart disease (CHD) has been associated with significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although remain controversial, several studies have demonstrated the association of M. pneumoniae infections with atherosclerosis. We evaluated the possible association of mycoplasma infections in patients diagnosed with atherosclerosis by ELISA and PCR methods. Atherosclerotic tissue samples and blood samples were collected for the detection of mycoplasma antibodies (IgA) by ELISA from the 97 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). M. pneumoniae specific IgA, IgG and IgM were measured by using the Anti-M. pneumoniae IgA/IgG/IgM ELISA. Detection of M. pneumoniae targeting the P1 adhesion gene was performed by PCR Acute infection of M. pneumoniae was diagnosed in 43.3% (42) of patients by PCR. The M. pneumoniae specific antibodies were detected in 36.1% (35) of patients. Twenty-five (25.8%) cases had IgG antibodies, 15 (15.5%) cases had IgM antibodies, 3 (3.1%) cases had IgA antibodies, 10 (10.3%) cases had both IgM + IgG antibodies and 1 (1%) case of each had IgM + IgA and IgG + IgA antibodies. None of the cases was positive for all three antibodies. A Pearson correlation coefficient analysis revealed an excellent correlation between the PCR and the serological results (r=0.921, p<0.001). A majority (17, 40.5%) of the M. pneumoniae positive patients are within the 41-50 years of age group, followed by 10 (23.8%) patients in the age group of 61-70 years and 2 (4.8%) patients were >70 years of age. Our study reported an unusually higher prevalence of M. pneumoniae by serological tests (36.1%) and PCR (43.3%). Although the hypothesis of the association of M. pneumoniae and CAD is yet to be proven, the unusually high prevalence of M. pneumoniae in CAD patients indicates an association, if not, in the development of atherosclerosis.

A comparative assessment of air pollutants of smog in wagah border and other sites in Lahore, Pakistan

Smog has become the fifth season of Pakistan especially in Lahore city. Increased level of air pollutants (primary and secondary) are thought to be responsible for the formation of smog in Lahore. Therefore, the current study was carried out for the evaluation of air pollutants (primary and secondary) of smog in Wagah border particularly and other sites (Jail road, Gulburg) Lahore. For this purpose, baseline data on winter smog from March to December on primary and secondary air pollutants and meteorological parameters was collected from Environmental Protection Department and Pakistan Meteorological Department respectively. Devices being used in both departments for analysis of parameters were also studied. Collected data was further statistically analyzed to determine the correlation of parameters with meteorological conditions and was subjected to air quality index. According to results, PM 10 and PM 2.5 were found very high above the NEQS. NOx concentrations were also high above the permissible limits whereas SO2 and O3 were found below the NEQS thus have no roles in smog formation. Air Quality Index (AQI) of pollutants was PM 2.5(86-227), PM 10 (46-332), NOx (26-110), O3 (19-84) and SO2 (10-95). AQI of PM 2.5 remained between moderate to very unhealthy levels. AQI of PM 10 remained between good to hazardous levels. AQI of NOx remained between good to unhealthy for sensitive groups’ levels. AQI of O3 and SO2 remained between good to moderate levels. Pearson correlation showed that every pollutant has a different relation with different or same parameters in different areas. It is concluded from the present study that particulate matter was much more responsible for smog formation. Although NOx also played role in smog formation. So there is need to reduce sources of particulate matter and NOx specifically in order to reduce smog formation in Lahore.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and its relation to aggressive behavior among primary school students of both genders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

The current study aimed to examine the correlation type between attention deficit hyperactivity disorders among primary school students of both genders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It also sought to make comparisons between the male and female primary school students regarding attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and aggressive behavior. Further, the present study examined ADHD in children and its relationship to a number of other potentially related variables. The sample of the study consisted of 200 primary school students of both genders whose ages ranged between 9 to 13 years. To achieve the objectives of the study, it relied on the descriptive (correlative/comparative) method, especially the Pearson correlation coefficient and the T-test. The findings of the study show that there were more male children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and aggressive behavior than female students. The results of the study confirm the results of other studies. The study recommends that there is a need for early detection of children with developmental and emotional disorders (like children with ADHD). The results of the present study are also consistent with the findings of previous studies that indicated that attention disorder associated with hyperactivity is positively associated with aggressive behavior in children of both sexes. It also proposes to prepare and arrange guidance programs for them and their parents and strive towards achieving optimal treatment of such children in the school environment.

COWO: towards real-time spatiotemporal action localization in videos

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a fast and accurate network for spatiotemporal action localization in videos. It detects human actions both in time and space simultaneously in real-time, which is applicable in real-world scenarios such as safety monitoring and collaborative assembly. Design/methodology/approach This paper design an end-to-end deep learning network called collaborator only watch once (COWO). COWO recognizes the ongoing human activities in real-time with enhanced accuracy. COWO inherits from the architecture of you only watch once (YOWO), known to be the best performing network for online action localization to date, but with three major structural modifications: COWO enhances the intraclass compactness and enlarges the interclass separability in the feature level. A new correlation channel fusion and attention mechanism are designed based on the Pearson correlation coefficient. Accordingly, a correction loss function is designed. This function minimizes the same class distance and enhances the intraclass compactness. Use a probabilistic K-means clustering technique for selecting the initial seed points. The idea behind this is that the initial distance between cluster centers should be as considerable as possible. CIOU regression loss function is applied instead of the Smooth L1 loss function to help the model converge stably. Findings COWO outperforms the original YOWO with improvements of frame mAP 3% and 2.1% at a speed of 35.12 fps. Compared with the two-stream, T-CNN, C3D, the improvement is about 5% and 14.5% when applied to J-HMDB-21, UCF101-24 and AGOT data sets. Originality/value COWO extends more flexibility for assembly scenarios as it perceives spatiotemporal human actions in real-time. It contributes to many real-world scenarios such as safety monitoring and collaborative assembly.

Aspects of writing knowledge and EFL students' writing quality

Writing knowledge pertaining to process, system, content, and genre plays an essential role to produce an intelligible composition. The purpose of the present study is twofold – to investigate the correlation between aspects of writing knowledge and quality of writing, and to investigate the contribution of the overall and individual aspects of writing knowledge to writing quality. The participants were 54 second-year ELT undergraduate students of a university in Indonesia. A writing test and multiple-choice test on writing knowledge were used as the instruments of data collection. The analysis employed Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regressions. The result revealed a significant positive correlation between writing knowledge and writing quality. As a unit, the knowledge of process, system, content, and genre, indicates a significant contribution to the writing quality. Individually, however, only process knowledge significantly contributes to the writing quality. It provides additional pieces of evidence that process knowledge be given special attention, thus writing instruction should allow students to learn writing knowledge explicitly and implicitly.

Progression-Free Survival as Early Efficacy Endpoint in Resectable Esophageal Cancer Treated With Neoadjuvant Therapy: A Systematic Review

To investigate literature-based evidence regarding progression-free survival (PFS) as an early efficacy endpoint in patients with resectable esophageal or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer receiving neoadjuvant therapy, this study identified large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with strict quality control. Twenty-four RCTs involving 7,514 patients were included. Trial-level correlation analysis was conducted to analyze the relationship between PFS hazard ratio (HR) and overall survival (OS) HR, Δ median PFS and Δ median OS. Correlation analysis at the neoadjuvant treatment arm level was performed between 1- to 5-year PFS and 5-year OS, median PFS and median OS. Subgroup analysis was performed in patients treated with standard neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (NCRT). The correlation was evaluated using the Pearson correlation coefficient r in weighted linear regression, with weight equal to patient size. In trial-level correlation, PFS were strongly associated with OS HR (r, 0.82 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.42-0.97]) and Δ median survival (r, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.54-0.96]). In neoadjuvant treatment arms, there was a strong correlation between 1 to 5-year PFS rates and 5-year OS (r, 0.83-0.95), and median PFS and median OS (r, 0.97 [95% CI, 0.85-0.99]). NCRT subgroup analysis demonstrated acceptable consistency. In conclusion, we recommend PFS as an early efficacy endpoint in resected esophageal or GEJ cancer treated with neoadjuvant therapy.

A Survey of Shift Work and Work Ability Index among Nurses: A Case Study in Educational Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran

Shift work is a social phenomenon with adverse effects on the lives and health of people in various aspects. This adverse effect decreases shift workers’ ability over a time period. The aim of the present study was to survey disturbances due to shift work and some disorders associated with work ability index among nurses in educational hospitals, Ahvaz, Iran. This cross-sectional survey was conducted among 33 nurses at the Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz, Iran. The survey of shift workers questionnaire (SOS) and the Work Ability Index (WAI) questionnaire was used as data collection tools. The related data was analyzed based on the descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation test, and Spearman correlation test using IBM SPSS software version 19. The results showed that 97% of problems related to the effects of shift work on the individuals’ lives, families, and musculoskeletal disorders, 87.9% related to insomnia and social problems, and 75.8% related to mental disorders. Although it showed a significant relationship between the workability index with the variable of experience and mental disorders, it showed no significant relationship between the prevalence of insomnia and musculoskeletal disorders variables. The results of this study showed that shift working disrupts mental, social, and physical health that ultimately adversely affect the ability of shift workers. Therefore, it was recommended to adjust working hours and allocate the appropriate shifts to improve the workability of individuals.

Correlation between α-SMA and ß-catenin levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and severity of pneumonia

Objectives: To assess the association of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) α-SMA and ß-catenin levels and the severity of pneumonia. Methods: The records of patients with severe pneumonia treated in our hospital from June 2019 to June 2020 were selected. The clinical outcome was observed within 10 days. For the purpose of analysis, patients were divided into two groups according to the outcome, 47 cases in the improvement group and 39 cases in the deterioration group. The intubation time, mechanical ventilation time and APACHE II score 10 days after admission were compared between the two groups; We assessed pulmonary infections using the clinical pulmonary infection score(CPIS). The levels of α-SMA and ß-catenin in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid at different time points were compared and analyzed, to analyze the association between the levels and the CPIS. Results: The APACHE II score in the improvement group were lower than those in the deterioration group (P<0.05). The expressions of α-SMA and ß-catenin in the BALF of patients in the improvement group were significantly lower than those of patients in the deterioration group on day 1, 3, and 7 (P<0.05); and the expressions of α-SMA and ß-catenin in the BALF of patients in the improvement group decreased with time, while those of patients in the deterioration group increased gradually with time(P<0.05). The expressions of α-SMA and ß-catenin in patients with CPIS>6 was significantly higher than those in patients with CPI≤6(P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that the levels of α-SMA and ß-catenin in BALF were positively correlated with the CPIS. Conclusion: The levels of α-SMA and ß-catenin in BALF are closely associated with the clinical condition of patients with severe pneumonia; the levels are positively associated with the severity of the disease and they increase with symptomatic worsening. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.3.5329 How to cite this:Li X, Jiang Z. Correlation between α-SMA and ß-catenin levels in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and severity of pneumonia. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(3):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.3.5329 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.