Objective This work aimed to evaluate the effect of speed sintering and low-temperature degradation on the translucency of high-translucent zirconia.Methods The ST and TT specimens were randomly divided into two groups depending on the sintering process:conventional sintering and speed sintering.The sintered specimens were divided into three subgroups according to the aging time:aged for 0,5,and 20 h.Chromatic parameters(L*,a*,and b*values)were measured by Shade Eye NCC computer colorimeter in a dark environment under black and white back-ground,and the translucency parameter(TP)was used to evaluate the translucency of zirconia.Results Speed sintering may decrease the TP of ST and increase the TP of TT.As for the effect of low-temperature degradation on the translucen-cy of zirconia,the TP of ST decreased with the extension of aging time,and no significant difference was found in rapid sintering ST.Although the TP of TT decreased,no statistical difference was observed.Conclusion Speed sintering may decrease the translucency of high-strength zirconia and increase the translucency of high-translucent zirconia.Low-tem-perature degradation had no effect on the translucency of high-translucent zirconia.Speed sintering can be recommended for high-translucent zirconia in terms of translucency.

Due to the limited number of cases, conducting large-scale clinical trials for rare diseases is challenging. This review introduces several small sample statistical designs tailored for rare diseases, including crossover design, n-of-1 design, randomized placebo-phase design, randomized withdrawal design, group sequential design, and adaptive design. It discusses the advantages, disadvantages, and application scenarios of these designs. Additionally, it explores the benefits of Bayes decision-making in clinical trials for rare diseases. The aim is to provide a reference for designing and implementing small sample clinical trials for rare diseases.

Transposable elements (TEs) have no longer been totally considered as "junk DNA" for quite a time since the continual discoveries of their multifunctional roles in eukaryote genomes. As one of the most important and abundant TEs that still active in human genome, Alu, a SINE family, has demonstrated its indispensable regulatory functions at sequence level, but its spatial roles are still unclear. Technologies based on 3C (chromosome conformation capture) have revealed the mysterious three-dimensional structure of chromatin, and make it possible to study the distal chromatin interaction in the genome. To find the role TE playing in distal regulation in human genome, we compiled the new released Hi-C data, TE annotation, histone marker annotations, and the genome-wide methylation data to operate correlation analysis, and found that the density of Alu elements showed a strong positive correlation with the level of chromatin interactions (hESC: r = 0.9, P < 2.2 × 10(16); IMR90 fibroblasts: r = 0.94, P < 2.2 × 10(16)) and also have a significant positive correlation with some remote functional DNA elements like enhancers and promoters (Enhancer: hESC: r = 0.997, P = 2.3 × 10(-4); IMR90: r = 0.934, P = 2 × 10(-2); Promoter: hESC: r = 0.995, P = 3.8 × 10(-4); IMR90: r = 0.996, P = 3.2 × 10(-4)). Further investigation involving GC content and methylation status showed the GC content of Alu covered sequences shared a similar pattern with that of the overall sequence, suggesting that Alu elements also function as the GC nucleotide and CpG site provider. In all, our results suggest that the Alu elements may act as an alternative parameter to evaluate the Hi-C data, which is confirmed by the correlation analysis of Alu elements and histone markers. Moreover, the GC-rich Alu sequence can bring high GC content and methylation flexibility to the regions with more distal chromatin contact, regulating the transcription of tissue-specific genes.
Alu Elements ; genetics ; Base Composition ; Binding Sites ; Cell Line ; Chromatin ; chemistry ; genetics ; metabolism ; CpG Islands ; DNA ; metabolism ; Databases, Genetic ; Enhancer Elements, Genetic ; genetics ; Genome, Human ; Histones ; metabolism ; Humans ; Methylation