Previous researchers have shown that individual acts of self-regulation deplete individual psychological resources, resulting in poor subsequent self-regulation and ego depletion. It has also been shown that to counteract ego depletion, besides getting enough sleep or rest, positive emotions are important. In this study we aimed to establish whether or not implicit positive emotion is important in countering ego depletion. In 2 experiments measuring the duration of self-regulation after implicit positive emotion it was found that self-regulation counteracts ego depletion. Participants in an ego-depleted condition were exposed to subliminal positive stimuli and they persisted in subsequent self-regulation longer than another group of participants who were exposed to subliminal neutral stimuli.Psychological resources play important roles in individuals carrying out conscious activities. In previous studies it has been shown that an individual consumes a large amount of psychological resources to perform some acts of selfregulation. As a result, at that time, the individual lacks necessary psychological resources, that is, the individual experiences a state of ego depletion, which may lead to inappropriate subsequent self-regulation or out-of-control behavior by that individual (Baumeister, Bratslavsky, Muraven, & Tice, 1998; Muraven, SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY, 2010, 38 (7), [919][920][921][922][923][924][925][926][927][928]

Background. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths worldwide and in China. Early CRC screening is the best approach to reduce its incidence and mortality rates. The ColoDefense test, a multiplex qPCR assay simultaneously detecting both methylated SEPT9 and SDC2 genes, has demonstrated improved clinical performance on either methylation biomarker alone for CRC screening with both blood and stool samples. Method. Leftover blood chemistry test samples from 125 CRC, 35 advanced adenoma, and 35 small polyp patients and 92 healthy control subjects were examined by the ColoDefense test. Among these samples, the levels of three circulating tumor markers, CEA, AFP, and CA19-9, were also measured for 106 CRC, 28 advanced adenoma, and 20 small polyp patients and all control subjects. Results. Due to the smaller volume and extended storage in nonfrozen state, the ColoDefense test with these samples exhibited reduced performance for all stages of CRC and advanced adenomas. The performance of CEA, AFP, and CA19-9 and their various combinations was also evaluated for CRC screening to identify the tumor marker combinations with the best performance. When combined with the ColoDefense test, the identified combinations did improve the clinical performance. Conclusion. These results suggested a rational path towards developing a CRC screening method that takes advantage of leftover blood chemistry test samples. The successful development of such a method will undoubtedly help promote early CRC screening by increasing its accessibility for the general public.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has had severe consequences for health and the global economy. To control the transmission, there is an urgent demand for early diagnosis and treatment in the general population. In the present study, an automatic system for SARS-CoV-2 diagnosis is designed and built to deliver high specification, high sensitivity, and high throughput with minimal workforce involvement. The system, set up with cross-priming amplification (CPA) rather than conventional reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), was evaluated using more than 1000 real-world samples for direct comparison. This fully automated robotic system performed SARS‐CoV‐2 nucleic acid-based diagnosis with 192 samples in under 180 min at 100 copies per reaction in a “specimen in data out” manner. This throughput translates to a daily screening capacity of 800–1000 in an assembly-line manner with limited workforce involvement. The sensitivity of this device could be further improved using a CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats)-based assay, which opens the door to mixed samples, potentially include SARS-CoV-2 variants screening in extensively scaled testing for fighting COVID-19. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00449-021-02674-9.

Objective To investigate the clinical value of ultrasound plus magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the diagnosis of breast masses and fibroids. Methods Clinical data for 357 patients with breast masses diagnosed at our hospital were analyzed retrospectively. The diagnostic performances were compared between 243 patients who underwent routine ultrasound examinations (control group) and 114 patients who underwent routine ultrasound plus MRI (test group). Results The overall accordance rates of routine ultrasound and routine ultrasound plus MRI for the diagnosis of breast masses, based on postoperative pathological diagnoses, were 70.78% (172/243) and 90.35% (103/114). The addition of MRI significantly improved the overall diagnostic performance of routine ultrasound for breast masses. The diagnostic accordance rate of routine ultrasound for the diagnosis of breast fibroids (fibroadenomas) was 74.12% (63/85 cases) compared with 93.94% (31/33 cases) for routine ultrasound plus MRI. The diagnostic performance of routine ultrasound plus MRI was therefore also significantly higher than routine ultrasound alone for diagnosing breast fibroids. Conclusions Routine ultrasound plus MRI can greatly improve the diagnostic accordance rates for breast masses and fibroadenomas.

Background: Triptonide (TN) was recently proved to have anti-tumor effects. The current study explored whether TN inhibited thyroid cancer and the possible underlying mechanism.Methods: MDA-T68 and BCPAP cells were treated by TN. Cell viability, migration and invasion rate were detected by MTT and Transwell. Protein expressions were determined by Western blot and mRNA expressions were detected by Real-time Quantitative PCR (qPCR).Results: TN at the concentration higher than 50 nmol/L inhibited cell viability, migration and invasion of MDA-T68 and BCPAP cells, and astrocyte elevated gene (AEG-1) expression, was decreased by TN at the concentration higher than 50 nmol/L. Furthermore, AEG-1 overexpression inhibited cell viability, migration and invasion capacity of MDA-T68 and BCPAP cells, while TN reduced AEG-1 expression, and weaken the effect of AEG-1 overexpression on cell viability, migration and invasion capacities. Moreover, TN depressed the increase of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 2, MMP9 and N-cadherin expressions caused by AEG-1 overexpression. Meanwhile, E-cadherin expression reduced by AEG-1 overexpression was increased by TN.Conclusions: TN could inhibit the metastasis potential of thyroid cancer cells through inhibiting the expression of AEG-1. Our findings reveal the mechanism of TN in the treatment of thyroid cancer, which should be further explored in the study of thyroid cancer.