roaching skeletal maturity.
 
  Level IV.
 Level IV.
  Our previous studies have reported the down-regulation of EGFL8 correlates to the development and prognosis of colorectal and gastric cancer. The present study is carried out to explore the expression pattern and role of EGFL8 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
 
  EGFL8 expression in 102 cases of HCC tissues matched with adjacent non-tumorous liver tissues, a normal liver cell line and three liver cancer cell lines with different metastatic capacity was detected by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and Western blot. Moreover, the clinicopathological features and prognosis of HCC patients were correlated with expression of EGFL8. Subsequently, the gain-and loss-of-function experiments were carried out to investigate the biological function of EGFL8 in HCC. We also used N-[N-(3,5-Difluorophenacetyl-L-alanyl)]-(S)- phenylglycine t-butyl ester (DAPT), an inhibitor for Notch signaling pathway, in these experiments to verify the involvement of Notch signaling pathway in the effpathway and effects induced by EGFL8 knockdown in Hep3B cells could be counteracted by DAPT treatment.
 
  The down-regulation of EGFL8 was correlated to progression and poor prognosis of HCC and regulates HCC cell migration, invasion and apoptosis through activating the Notch signaling pathway, suggesting EGFL8 as a novel therapeutic target and a potential prognostic marker for HCC.
 The down-regulation of EGFL8 was correlated to progression and poor prognosis of HCC and regulates HCC cell migration, invasion and apoptosis through activating the Notch signaling pathway, suggesting EGFL8 as a novel therapeutic target and a potential prognostic marker for HCC.
  Due to clinical and methodological diversity, clinical studies included in meta-analyses often differ in ways that lead to differences in treatment effects across studies. Meta-regression analysis is generally recommended to explore associations between study-level characteristics and treatment effect, however, three key pitfalls of meta-regression may lead to invalid conclusions. Our aims were to determine the frequency of these three pitfalls of meta-regression analyses, examine characteristics associated with the occurrence of these pitfalls, and explore changes between 2002 and 2012.
 
  A meta-epidemiological study of studies including aggregate data meta-regression analysis in the years 2002 and 2012. We assessed the prevalence of meta-regression analyses with at least 1 of 3 pitfalls ecological fallacy, overfitting, and inappropriate methods to regress treatment effects against the risk of the analysed outcome. We used logistic regression to investigate study characteristics associated with pitfalls and examined differences between 2002 and 2012.
 
  Our search yielded 580 studies with meta-analyses, of which 81 included meta-regression analyses with aggregated data. 57 meta-regression analyses were found to contain at least one pitfall (70%) 53 were susceptible to ecological fallacy (65%), 14 had a risk of overfitting (17%), and 5 inappropriately regressed treatment effects against the risk of the analysed outcome (6%).  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/sr59230a.html  We found no difference in the prevalence of meta-regression analyses with methodological pitfalls between 2002 and 2012, nor any study-level characteristic that was clearly associated with the occurrence of any of the pitfalls.
 
  The majority of meta-regression analyses based on aggregate data contain methodological pitfalls that may result in misleading findings.
 The majority of meta-regression analyses based on aggregate data contain methodological pitfalls that may result in misleading findings.
  Subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) has recently been acknowledged as an independent risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the characteristics of CAD in patients with SCH are not fully understood. This study aims to evaluate the features of CAD in patients with SCH using coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA).
 
  From 1 April, 2018 to 30 June, 2020, 234 consecutive SCH patients with coronary plaques identified on CCTA were included retrospectively. They were further subdivided into different degree of SCH groups (mild SCH vs. moderate SCH vs. severe SCH 143 vs 62 vs 28) and different gender groups (men with SCH vs. women with SCH116 vs 118). The distributions and types of plaques, luminal narrowing, segment involvement scores (SIS) and segment stenosis scores (SSS) were evaluated and compared among the different groups.
 
  Patients with severe SCH had fewer calcified plaques (0.7 ± 0.9 vs. 2.0 ± 1.9, p < 0.001) and more non-calcified plaques (0.9 ± 1.0 vs. 0.3 ± 0.5, p < 0.001) SCH is associated with non-calcified plaques, and men with SCH have higher total plaque burden than women. We suggest that it is important to evaluate for coronary plaque in SCH patients, especially those with severe SCH and men with SCH.
  Understanding the genetic mechanisms of local adaptation is an important emerging topic in molecular ecology and evolutionary biology.
 
  Here, we identify the physiological changes and differential expression of genes among different weeping forsythia populations under drought stress in common garden experiments. Physiological results showed that HBWZ might have higher drought tolerance among four populations. RNA-seq results showed that significant differential expression in the genes responding to the synthesis of flavonoids, aromatic substances, aromatic amino acids, oxidation-reduction process, and transmembrane transport occured among four populations. By further reanalysis of results of previous studies, sequence differentiation was found in the genes related to the synthesis of aromatic substances among different weeping forsythia populations.
 
  Overall, our study supports the hypothesis that the dual differentiation in gene efficiency and expression increases among populations in response to heterogeneous environments and is an important evolutionary process of local adaptation. Here, we proposed a new working model of local adaptation of weeping forsythia populations under different intensities of drought stress, which provides new insights for understanding the genetic mechanisms of local adaptation for non-model species.
 Overall, our study supports the hypothesis that the dual differentiation in gene efficiency and expression increases among populations in response to heterogeneous environments and is an important evolutionary process of local adaptation. Here, we proposed a new working model of local adaptation of weeping forsythia populations under different intensities of drought stress, which provides new insights for understanding the genetic mechanisms of local adaptation for non-model species.