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The expression measurements of thousands of genes are correlated with the proportions of tumor epithelial cell (PTEC) in clinical samples. Thus, for a tumor diagnostic or prognostic signature based on a summarization of expression levels of the signature genes, the risk score for a patient may dependent on the tumor tissues sampled from different tumor sites with diverse PTEC for the same patient. Here, we proposed that the within-samples relative expression orderings (REOs) based gene pairs signatures should be insensitive to PTEC variations. Firstly, by analysis of paired tumor epithelial cell and stromal cell microdissected samples from 27 cancer patients, we showed that above 80% of gene pairs had consistent REOs between the two cells, indicating these REOs would be independent of PTEC in cancer tissues. Then, by simulating tumor tissues with different PTEC using each of the 27 paired samples, we showed that about 90% REOs of gene pairs in tumor epithelial cells were maintained in tumor samples even when PTEC decreased to 30%. Especially, the REOs of gene pairs with larger expression differences in tumor epithelial cells tend to be more robust against PTEC variations. Finally, as a case study, we developed a gene pair signature which could robustly distinguish colorectal cancer tissues with various PTEC from normal tissues. We concluded that the REOs-based signatures were robust against PTEC variations.

A new Pd-catalyzed reaction of thiophenes with alkynes via C-H and C-S bond activation has been developed. This provides a new approach to prepare sulfur-containing compounds. An interesting salt effect was observed, and the reaction's efficiency and selectivity depend not only on the type but also on the amount of the salt used.

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With the increasing ratio of waste tire powder (WTP) to low-density polyethylene (LDPE), the hardness and tensile strength of the WTP/LDPE blends decreased while the elongation at break increased. Five kinds of compatibilizers, such as maleic anhydride-grafted polyethylene (PE-g-MA), maleic anhydride-grafted ethylene-octene copolymer (POE-g-MA), maleic anhydridegrafted linear LDPE, maleic anhydride-grafted ethylene vinyl-acetate copolymer, and maleic anhydride-grafted styrene-ethylene-butylene-styrene, were incorporated to prepare WTP/LDPE blends, respectively. PE-g-MA and POE-g-MA reinforced the tensile stress and toughness of the blends. The toughness value of POE-g-MA incorporating blends was the highest, reached to 2032.3 MJ/m 3 , while that of the control was only 1402.9 MJ/m 3 . Therefore, POE-g-MA was selected as asphalt modifier. The toughness value reached to the highest level when the content of POE-g-MA was about 8%. Besides that the softening point of the modified asphalt would be higher than 60 C, whereas the content of WTP/LDPE blend was more than 5%, and the blends were mixed by stirring under the shearing speed of 3000 rpm for 20 min. Especially, when the blend content was 8.5%, the softening point arrived at 82 C, contributing to asphalt strength and elastic properties in a wide range of temperature. In addition, the swelling property of POE-g-MA/WTP/LDPE blend was better than that of the other compalibitizers, which indicated that POE-g-MA /WTP/ LDPE blend was much compatible with asphalt. Also, the excellent compatibility would result in the good mechanical and processing properties of the modified asphalt.

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Potatoes held in cold storage were periodically sampled over a period of 7 weeks. At each sampling, tissue specimens were soaked in mannitol solutions (0‐0.6 M) or statically preloaded (0‐1.20 MPa) and then loaded to failure at constant strain rate. Tissue stiffness, cell turgor pressure, and cell‐wall stress‐strain relation were affected by storage time. Cell turgor pressure decreased during the first 14 days of testing and then increased. Cell wall stiffness increased with time. Statically preloaded tissue did not undergo structural failure during preloading, but exhibited large unrecovered strain, loss of water, a reduction in tissue stiffness, and an increase in failure stress. The effects of preloading were not significantly different at different storage times. Failure strain varied nonmonotonically with preload level, possibly as a result of interactions between loss of turgor, cell wall plasticity, and cell reorientation during preloading.