336 research outputs found
New plants from the Lower Devonian Pingyipu Group, Jiangyou County, Sichuan Province, China
Descriptions of Lower Devonian plants from Yunnan, South China, have revolutionized concepts of diversity and disparity in tracheophytes soon after they became established on land. Sichuan assemblages have received little attention since their discovery almost 25 years ago and require revision. With this objective, fieldwork involving detailed logging and collection of fossils was undertaken in the Longmenshan Mountain Region, Jiangyou County and yielded the two new taxa described here. They are preserved as coalified compressions and impressions that allowed morphological but not anatomical analyses. Yanmenia (Zosterophyllum) longa comb nov is based on numerous rarely branching shoots with enations resembling lycophyte microphylls, without evidence for vasculature. The presence of sporangia is equivocal making assignation to the Lycopsida conjectural. The plant was recently described as a zosterophyll, but lacks strobili. These are present in the second plant and comprise bivalved sporangia. The strobili terminate aerial stems which arise from a basal axial complex displaying diversity in branching including H- and K- forms. These features characterise the Zosterophyllopsida, although the plant differs from Zosterophyllum in valve shape. Comparisons indicate greatest similarities to the Lower Devonian Guangnania cuneata, from Yunnan, but differences, particularly in the nature of the sporangium border, require the erection of a new species, G. minor. Superficial examination of specimens already published indicate a high degree of endemism at both species and generic level, while this study shows that Yanmenia is confined to Sichuan and Guangnania is one of the very few genera shared with Yunnan, where assemblages also show a high proportion of further endemic genera. Such provincialism noted in the Chinese Lower Devonian is explained by the palaeogeographic isolation of the South China plate, but this cannot account for differences/endemism between the Sichuan and Yunnan floras. Such an enigma demands further integrated geological, palaeobotanical and palynological studies
2,2′-Dihydroxy-3,3′-[(1E,1′E)-hydrazine-1,2-diylidenedimethylidyne]dibenzoic acid N,N-dimethylformamide disolvate
The title compound, C16H12N2O6·2C3H7NO, lies across a crystallographic inversion centre which is situated at the midpoint of the central N—N bond. The substitution at the C=N bond adopts a trans configuration and it is essentially coplanar with the benzene ring [N—C—C—C torsion angles = −173.9 (4) and 6.4 (6)°]. All torsion angles involving non-H atoms are close to 180°. Intramolecular O—H⋯O and weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds form S(6) and S(5) ring motifs, respectively, while intermolecular O—H⋯O and weak C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds connect the Schiff base molecule to solvent dimethylformamide molecules
The Genomes of Oryza sativa: A History of Duplications
We report improved whole-genome shotgun sequences for the genomes of indica and japonica rice, both with multimegabase contiguity, or almost 1,000-fold improvement over the drafts of 2002. Tested against a nonredundant collection of 19,079 full-length cDNAs, 97.7% of the genes are aligned, without fragmentation, to the mapped super-scaffolds of one or the other genome. We introduce a gene identification procedure for plants that does not rely on similarity to known genes to remove erroneous predictions resulting from transposable elements. Using the available EST data to adjust for residual errors in the predictions, the estimated gene count is at least 38,000–40,000. Only 2%–3% of the genes are unique to any one subspecies, comparable to the amount of sequence that might still be missing. Despite this lack of variation in gene content, there is enormous variation in the intergenic regions. At least a quarter of the two sequences could not be aligned, and where they could be aligned, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rates varied from as little as 3.0 SNP/kb in the coding regions to 27.6 SNP/kb in the transposable elements. A more inclusive new approach for analyzing duplication history is introduced here. It reveals an ancient whole-genome duplication, a recent segmental duplication on Chromosomes 11 and 12, and massive ongoing individual gene duplications. We find 18 distinct pairs of duplicated segments that cover 65.7% of the genome; 17 of these pairs date back to a common time before the divergence of the grasses. More important, ongoing individual gene duplications provide a never-ending source of raw material for gene genesis and are major contributors to the differences between members of the grass family
Prevalence and trend of hepatitis C virus infection among blood donors in Chinese mainland: a systematic review and meta-analysis
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Blood transfusion is one of the most common transmission pathways of hepatitis C virus (HCV). This paper aims to provide a comprehensive and reliable tabulation of available data on the epidemiological characteristics and risk factors for HCV infection among blood donors in Chinese mainland, so as to help make prevention strategies and guide further research.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A systematic review was constructed based on the computerized literature database. Infection rates and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were calculated using the approximate normal distribution model. Odds ratios and 95% CI were calculated by fixed or random effects models. Data manipulation and statistical analyses were performed using STATA 10.0 and ArcGIS 9.3 was used for map construction.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Two hundred and sixty-five studies met our inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of HCV infection among blood donors in Chinese mainland was 8.68% (95% CI: 8.01%-9.39%), and the epidemic was severer in North and Central China, especially in Henan and Hebei. While a significant lower rate was found in Yunnan. Notably, before 1998 the pooled prevalence of HCV infection was 12.87% (95%CI: 11.25%-14.56%) among blood donors, but decreased to 1.71% (95%CI: 1.43%-1.99%) after 1998. No significant difference was found in HCV infection rates between male and female blood donors, or among different blood type donors. The prevalence of HCV infection was found to increase with age. During 1994-1995, the prevalence rate reached the highest with a percentage of 15.78% (95%CI: 12.21%-19.75%), and showed a decreasing trend in the following years. A significant difference was found among groups with different blood donation types, Plasma donors had a relatively higher prevalence than whole blood donors of HCV infection (33.95% <it>vs </it>7.9%).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The prevalence of HCV infection has rapidly decreased since 1998 and kept a low level in recent years, but some provinces showed relatively higher prevalence than the general population. It is urgent to make efficient measures to prevent HCV secondary transmission and control chronic progress, and the key to reduce the HCV incidence among blood donors is to encourage true voluntary blood donors, strictly implement blood donation law, and avoid cross-infection.</p
Construction and On-site Performance of the LHAASO WFCTA Camera
The focal plane camera is the core component of the Wide Field-of-view
Cherenkov/fluorescence Telescope Array (WFCTA) of the Large High-Altitude Air
Shower Observatory (LHAASO). Because of the capability of working under
moonlight without aging, silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) have been proven to be
not only an alternative but also an improvement to conventional photomultiplier
tubes (PMT) in this application. Eighteen SiPM-based cameras with square light
funnels have been built for WFCTA. The telescopes have collected more than 100
million cosmic ray events and preliminary results indicate that these cameras
are capable of working under moonlight. The characteristics of the light
funnels and SiPMs pose challenges (e.g. dynamic range, dark count rate,
assembly techniques). In this paper, we present the design features,
manufacturing techniques and performances of these cameras. Finally, the test
facilities, the test methods and results of SiPMs in the cameras are reported
here.Comment: 45 pages, 21 figures, articl
Does or did the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A operate as a PeVatron?
For decades, supernova remnants (SNRs) have been considered the prime sources
of Galactic Cosmic rays (CRs). But whether SNRs can accelerate CR protons to
PeV energies and thus dominate CR flux up to the knee is currently under
intensive theoretical and phenomenological debate. The direct test of the
ability of SNRs to operate as CR PeVatrons can be provided by ultrahigh-energy
(UHE; ~TeV) -rays. In this context, the historical
SNR Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is considered one of the most promising target for UHE
observations. This paper presents the observation of Cas A and its vicinity by
the LHAASO KM2A detector. The exceptional sensitivity of LHAASO KM2A in the UHE
band, combined with the young age of Cas A, enabled us to derive stringent
model-independent limits on the energy budget of UHE protons and nuclei
accelerated by Cas A at any epoch after the explosion. The results challenge
the prevailing paradigm that Cas A-type SNRs are major suppliers of PeV CRs in
the Milky Way.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, Accepted by the APJ
Measurement of ultra-high-energy diffuse gamma-ray emission of the Galactic plane from 10 TeV to 1 PeV with LHAASO-KM2A
The diffuse Galactic -ray emission, mainly produced via interactions
between cosmic rays and the interstellar medium and/or radiation field, is a
very important probe of the distribution, propagation, and interaction of
cosmic rays in the Milky Way. In this work we report the measurements of
diffuse -rays from the Galactic plane between 10 TeV and 1 PeV
energies, with the square kilometer array of the Large High Altitude Air Shower
Observatory (LHAASO). Diffuse emissions from the inner
(, ) and outer
(, ) Galactic plane are detected with
and significance, respectively. The outer Galactic
plane diffuse emission is detected for the first time in the very- to
ultra-high-energy domain (~TeV). The energy spectrum in the inner Galaxy
regions can be described by a power-law function with an index of
, which is different from the curved spectrum as expected from
hadronic interactions between locally measured cosmic rays and the
line-of-sight integrated gas content. Furthermore, the measured flux is higher
by a factor of than the prediction. A similar spectrum with an index of
is found in the outer Galaxy region, and the absolute flux for
TeV is again higher than the prediction for hadronic
cosmic ray interactions. The latitude distributions of the diffuse emission are
consistent with the gas distribution, while the longitude distributions show
clear deviation from the gas distribution. The LHAASO measurements imply that
either additional emission sources exist or cosmic ray intensities have spatial
variations.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables; accepted for publication in Physical
Review Letters; source mask file provided as ancillary fil
Patriotic Fun: Toys and Mobilization in China from the Republican to the Communist Era
This chapter explores the use of leisure to mobilize children in China from the 1910s to the early 1950s, in times of both war and peace. Drawing on normative advice, and commenting on youngsters’ reactions, it describes how ostensibly different regimes similarly deployed toys and play in order to foster children’s engagement in struggles of a political, commercial or military nature. It outlines how a variety of items - from so-called “educational” war toys to figurines and lanterns - could serve to rally children for the nation and familiarize war. The chapter argues that, although mobilization was construed as defensive, patriotic activism and acquaintance with the metaphorical or real battlefield were significant components of Chinese children’s upbringing from the beginning of the twentieth century
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