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The southeastern Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB) records the assembly process between several micro-continental blocks and the North China Craton (NCC), with the consumption of the Paleo-Asian Ocean (PAO), but whether the S-wards subduction of the PAO beneath the northern NCC was ongoing during Carboniferous–Permian time is still being debated. A key issue to resolve this controversy is whether the Carboniferous magmatism in the northern NCC was continental arc magmatism. The Alxa Block is the western segment of the northern NCC and contiguous to the southeastern CAOB, and their Carboniferous–Permian magmatism could have occurred in similar tectonic settings. In this contribution, new zircon U–Pb ages, elemental geochemistry and Sr–Nd isotopic analyses are presented for three early Carboniferous granitic plutons in the southwestern Alxa Block. Two newly identified aluminous A-type granites, an alkali-feldspar granite (331.6 ± 1.6 Ma) and a monzogranite (331.8 ± 1.7 Ma), exhibit juvenile and radiogenic Sr–Nd isotopic features, respectively. Although a granodiorite (326.2 ± 6.6 Ma) is characterized by high Sr/Y ratios (97.4–139.9), which is generally treated as an adikitic feature, this sample has highly radiogenic Sr–Nd isotopes and displays significantly higher K2O/Na2O ratios than typical adakites. These three granites were probably derived from the partial melting of Precambrian continental crustal sources heated by upwelling asthenosphere in lithospheric extensional setting. Regionally, both the Alxa Block and the southeastern CAOB are characterized by the formation of early Carboniferous extension-related magmatic rocks but lack coeval sedimentary deposits, suggesting a uniform lithospheric extensional setting rather than a simple continental arc.
Echinococcus shiquicus is currently limited to the Qinghai–Tibet plateau, a large mountainous region in China. Although the zoonotic potential remains unknown, progress is being made on the distribution and intermediate host range. In this study, we report E. shiquicus within Gansu and Qinghai provinces in regions located not only around the central areas but also the southeast edge of the plateau and describe their genetic relationship with previous isolates from the plateau. From 1879 plateau pikas examined, 2.39% (95% CI 1.79–3.18) were infected with E. shiquicus. The highest prevalence of 10.26% (4.06–23.58) was recorded in Makehe town, Qinghai province. Overall the prevalence was marginally higher in Qinghai (2.5%, CI 1.82–3.43) than in Gansu (2%, CI 1.02–3.89). The cox1 and nad1 genes demonstrated high and low haplotype and nucleotide diversities, respectively. The median-joining network constructed by the cox1–nad1 gene sequences demonstrated a star-like configuration with a median vector (unsampled haplotype) occupying the centre of the network. No peculiar distinction or common haplotype was observed in isolates originating from the different provinces. The presence of E. shiquicus in regions of the southeast and northeast edges of the Qinghai–Tibet plateau and high genetic variation warrants more investigation into the haplotype distribution and genetic polymorphism by exploring more informative DNA regions of the mitochondrial genome to provide epidemiologically useful insight into the population structure of E. shiquicus across the plateau and its axis.
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterized by extreme fatigue and disabling symptoms. Women with CFS often have a high risk of gynaecological problems such as irregular menstruation, endometriosis and pelvic pain and sexual dysfunction. Our previous results have shown that, in pregnant mice, CFS significantly decreased the progestational hormone level in serum, as well as learning and memory, and the function of the hypothalamus–pituitary–gonadal axis. In addition, the F1 generation also suffered from congenital hypothyroidism. At present, there has been no report about placenta formation and embryonic development in pregnant mice with CFS. The aim of the present study was to investigate the influence of CFS on the morphology, oxidative stress and Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway during placenta formation. In this study, we found that CFS decreased the number of implantation sites for blastocysts, and increased the number of absorbed, stillborn and malformed fetuses. The morphology and structure of the placenta were abnormal in pregnant mice with CFS. Further study found that the oxidative stress in serum, uterus and placenta was increased in pregnant mice with CFS, while the levels of antioxidase were decreased. CFS also inhibited the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway in the placenta. These results suggested that inhibition of the Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway and enhanced oxidative stress play an important role in abnormal placentation in pregnant mice with CFS.
Underground Nuclear Astrophysics in China (JUNA) will take the advantage of the ultra-low background in Jinping underground lab. High current accelerator with an ECR source and detectors were commissioned. JUNA plans to study directly a number of nuclear reactions important to hydrostatic stellar evolution at their relevant stellar energies. At the first period, JUNA aims at the direct measurements of 25Mg(p,γ)26 Al, 19F(p,α) 16 O, 13C(α, n) 16O and 12C(α,γ) 16O near the Gamow window. The current progress of JUNA will be given.
A kind of novel Ni–P gradient coating/stannate conversion film was deposited on AZ91D magnesium alloy (AZ91D alloy) by an integrative method involved stannate conversion and electroless plating. The results indicated that using sodium hypophosphite concentrations varied as 5, 10, 22, 46, and 60 g/L in the bath, the electroless Ni–P gradient coating with typical cell morphologies was successfully prepared, and the structures transited from crystalline → microcrystalline → amorphous were obtained as increasing P content from 3.31 to 12.58 wt%. Furthermore, the corrosion morphologies, polarization curves, and the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy result indicated that the corrosion resistance of AZ91D alloy substrate was significantly improved and the corrosion resistance of Ni–P gradient coating was superior than that of stannate conversion film, which might be attributed to the gradient structure and rising P content with unique function.
Identifying the relative importance of urban and non-urban land-use types for potential denitrification derived N2O at a regional scale is critical for quantifying the impacts of human activities on nitrous oxide (N2O) emission under changing environments. In this study we used a regional dataset from China including 197 soil samples and six land-use types to evaluate the main predictors (land use, heavy metals, soil pH, soil moisture, substrate availability, functional and broad microbial abundances) of potential denitrification using multivariate and pathway analysis. Our results provide empirical evidence that soils on farms have the greatest potential denitrifying ability (PDA) (10.92±6.08ng N2O-N·g–1 dry soil·min–1) followed by urban soil (6.80±5.35ng N2O-N·g–1 dry soil·min–1). Our models indicate that land use (low vs. high human activity), followed by total nitrogen (TN) and heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd) was the most important driver of PDA. In addition, our path analysis suggests that at least part of the impacts of land use on potential denitrification were mediated via microbial abundance, soil pH and substrates including TN, dissolved organic carbon and nitrate. This study identifies the main predictors of denitrification at a regional scale which is needed to quantify the impact of human activities on ecosystem functionality under changing conditions.
Ti–Al alloys are established as promising candidates for aerospace applications due to their lightweight, good elevated temperature strength, and decent corrosion resistance. In this study, a Ti–51Al (at.%) alloy is fabricated by spray deposition. The effects of temperature and strain rate on the deformation behavior of the spray-deposited Ti–Al alloy are investigated. The microstructural evolution of the Ti–Al alloy with different deformation temperatures is discussed in detail. A strain-dependent constitutive equation was proposed to predict the flow stresses at the elevated temperatures for the spray-deposited Ti–Al alloy. The microstructure of the as-deposited Ti–51Al alloy exhibits a α2/γ lamellar-structure with average size 25 ± 2 μm, due to the high cooling rate observed during solidification. The lamellar structure is embedded on a γ matrix. The amount of the α2/γ lamellar-structure reduces gradually with increasing the hot deformation temperature. After hot isostatic pressing at 1523 K, the microstructure is mainly comprised of the γ matrix.
The pathophysiology of cognitive impairment in patients with the major depressive disorder (MDD) may involve neuroinflammation mediated by cytokines.
Objective
The aim of this study was to examine the serum interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels, sustained attention, and their association in patients with MDD.
Methods
Thirty patients with MDD and 30 healthy controls were enrolled in this case-control study. Sustained attention was measured using the Rapid Visual Information Processing (RVP) task in the Cambridge Neuropsychological Tests Automated Battery. The serum IL-6 levels of all subjects were assessed by sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.
Results
There were significant differences in the log10RVP total hits, log10RVP total misses, and log10RVP mean latency between patients with MDD and healthy controls (F = 6.04, p = 0.017; F = 19.77, p < 0.0001; F = 14.42, p < 0.0001, respectively). The serum levels of Log10IL-6 were significantly higher in patients with MDD than in healthy controls (F = 192.27, p < 0.0001). The log10IL-6 levels were also positively correlated with the log10RVP mean latency in patients with MDD (r = 0.45, p = 0.013). A further stepwise multivariate regression analysis indicated that the log10IL-6 levels were significantly associated with the log10RVP mean latency in patients with MDD (β = 0.31, t = 2.41, p = 0.025).
Conclusions
Our data suggested that increased IL-6 levels were associated with the psychopathology of MDD, and that abnormal IL-6 levels were implicated in the impairment of sustained attention in patients with MDD.
The numerical simulations for the blood flow in arteries by high order accurate schemes have a wide range of applications in medical engineering. The blood flow model admits the steady state solutions, in which the flux gradient is non-zero and is exactly balanced by the source term. In this paper, we present a high order finite volume weighted essentially non-oscillatory (WENO) scheme, which preserves the steady state solutions and maintains genuine high order accuracy for general solutions. The well-balanced property is obtained by a novel source term reformulation and discretisation, combined with well-balanced numerical fluxes. Extensive numerical experiments are carried out to verify well-balanced property, high order accuracy, as well as good resolution for smooth and discontinuous solutions.
Accumulating evidence suggests that altered immunity contributes to the
development of major depressive disorder (MDD).
Aims
To examine whether complement factor H (CFH), a regulator of activation
of the alternative pathway of the complement cascade, confers
susceptibility to MDD.
Method
Expression analyses were tested in 53 unmedicated people with MDD and 55
healthy controls. A two-stage genetic association analysis was performed
in 3323 Han Chinese with or without MDD. Potential associations between
CFH single nucleotide polymorphisms and age at MDD
onset were evaluated.
Results
CFH levels were significantly lower in the MDD group at
both protein and mRNA levels (P = 0.009 and
P = 0.014 respectively). A regulatory variant in the
CFH gene, rs1061170, showed statistically significant
genotypic and allelic differences between the MDD and control groups
(genotypic P = 0.0005, allelic P =
0.0001). Kaplan–Meier survival analysis showed that age at onset of MDD
was significantly associated with the C allele of
rs1061170 (log rank statistic χ2 = 6.82, P =
0.009). The C-allele carriers had a younger age at onset
of MDD (22.2 years, s.d. = 4.0) than those without the C
allele (23.6 years, s.d. = 4.3).
Conclusions
CFH is likely to play an important role in the
development of MDD. rs1061170 has an important effect on age at onset of
MDD in Han Chinese and may therefore be related to early pathogenesis of
MDD, although further study is needed.
Bipolar disorder is a highly heritable polygenic disorder. Recent
enrichment analyses suggest that there may be true risk variants for
bipolar disorder in the expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) in the
brain.
Aims
We sought to assess the impact of eQTL variants on bipolar disorder risk
by combining data from both bipolar disorder genome-wide association
studies (GWAS) and brain eQTL.
Method
To detect single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that influence
expression levels of genes associated with bipolar disorder, we jointly
analysed data from a bipolar disorder GWAS (7481 cases and 9250 controls)
and a genome-wide brain (cortical) eQTL (193 healthy controls) using a
Bayesian statistical method, with independent follow-up replications. The
identified risk SNP was then further tested for association with
hippocampal volume (n = 5775) and cognitive performance
(n = 342) among healthy individuals.
Results
Integrative analysis revealed a significant association between a brain
eQTL rs6088662 on chromosome 20q11.22 and bipolar disorder (log Bayes
factor = 5.48; bipolar disorder P =
5.85×10–5). Follow-up studies across multiple independent
samples confirmed the association of the risk SNP (rs6088662) with gene
expression and bipolar disorder susceptibility (P =
3.54×10–8). Further exploratory analysis revealed that
rs6088662 is also associated with hippocampal volume and cognitive
performance in healthy individuals.
Conclusions
Our findings suggest that 20q11.22 is likely a risk region for bipolar
disorder; they also highlight the informative value of integrating
functional annotation of genetic variants for gene expression in
advancing our understanding of the biological basis underlying complex
disorders, such as bipolar disorder.
A rapid real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for detecting West Nile virus (WNV) was established. Primers were designed according to the sequence of the capsid protein gene of WNV by Primer Premier 5.0. In this way, an inexpensive assay using the intercalating dye SYBR Green I was developed and validated. The amplifying curve showed that this method could successfully amplify 102 copies/μl of the WNV gene, while reference to Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) and blank control were all negative. Tenfold successive dilutions of positive WNV DNA were used to measure the sensitivity of RT-PCR. The assay system showed high reproducibility with coefficient of variation (CV) <2%. Thus the newly established RT-PCR assay was shown to be a rapid, sensitive and specific test for detecting WNV.
An optically polished x-cut KTiOPO4 crystal of size 22×6×1.5mm3 was implanted with 2.8-MeV He ions to a dose of 1.5 × 1016 ions/cm2 at room temperature to form a waveguide. The prism coupling method was used to measure the modes and the fiber probe technique was used to measure the attenuation in the KTiOPO4 waveguide. The refractive index profile, nz, in the KTiOPO4 waveguide was given based on the procedure by Chandler and Lama [P.J. Chandler and F.L. Lama, Optica Acta 33, 123 (1986)]. The waveguide attenuation measured was 2.57 dB/cm for m = 1 mode. After annealing at 260 °C for 30 min, there was no obvious change in the KTiOPO4 waveguide attenuation.
The Laplacians form a class of the most important differential operators in white noise analysis. The goal of this paper is to give their characterizations. Our main tools are the Fock expansions of operators in terms of integral kernel operators and rotation-invariance. In Section 1, the fundamental setting of white noise analysis is introduced briefly. In Section 2, integral kernel operators and the Fock expansions of operators are given. The characterization theorems for number operator, Gross-Laplacian and Euler operator are given in Sections 3, 4 and 5 respectively.
X-cut potassium titanyl phosphate (KTiOPO4 or KTP) was implanted by multienergy MeV He+ implantation with a total dose of 2 × 1016 ions/cm2 at liquid nitrogen temperature. The energy and dose used are as follows: 3.3 MeV and 2 × 1015 ions/cm2, 3.2 MeV and 4 × 1015 ions/cm2, 3.1 MeV and 4 × 1015 ions/cm2, and 3.0 MeV and 1.0 × 1016 ions/cm2 to reduce tunneling effect. The 22 dark modes were measured by the isosceles prism coupling method. The 15 bright modes were observed after 250 °C, 60 min annealing. The result shows that the waveguide formation of KTiOPO4 implanted by MeV He+ is not strongly dependent on the cut direction, which is different from the waveguide formation of KTiOPO4 by ion exchange process.
We will define local times of self-intersection for multidimensional Brownian motion as generalized Wiener functionals under the framework of white noise analysis as in H. Watanabe ([6]). By making use of the chaotic representation of -function and precise computation we get a deep insight into the problem. In the section 1 multiple Wiener integrals with respect to multidimensional Brownian motion and chaotic representations for square-integrable Wiener functionals are given. They are indispensable, but seem not to be formulated clearly and correctly before. The useful concepts and results of white noise analysis are illustrated in the section 2. Section 3 is the main part of the paper. The applications to local times are introduced in the section 4 briefly.
In this paper, a novel system of electrical current induced liquid phase epitaxial apparatus is presented. Electroepitaxial growths of Ga,-xAlxAs on thin GaAs substrate were carried out at constant temperature with a dc current as the sole driving force. Constant composition Ga1−xAlxAs electroepilayers with mirror-smooth surfaces were obtained. The average rate of epitaxial growth in the system is linearly proportional to the current level passed through the substrate-melt interface. In particular, a new technique of obtaining Ga1−xAlxAs:Si p-n junctions at constant temperatures is presented for the first time: the “step-current” technique.
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