Interference of Homologous Sequences on the SNP Study of CYP2A13 Gene

Background and objective It has been proven that cytochrome P450 enzyme 2A13 (CYP2A13) played an important role in the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and human diseases. Cytochrome P450 enzymes are a group of isoenzymes, whose sequence homology may interfere with the study for SNP. The aim of this study is to explore the interference on the SNP study of CYP2A13 caused by homologous sequences. Methods Taqman probe was applied to detect distribution of rs8192789 sites in 573 subjects, and BLAST method was used to analyze the amplified sequences. Partial sequences of CYP2A13 were emplified by PCR from 60 cases. The emplified sequences were TA cloned and sequenced. Results For rs8192789 loci in 573 cases, only 3 cases were TT, while the rest were CT heterozygotes, which was caused by homologous sequences. There are a large number of overlapping peaks in identical sequences of 60 cases, and the SNP of 101 amino acid site reported in the SNP database is not found. The cloned sequences are 247 bp, 235 bp fragments. Conclusion The homologous sequences may interfere the study for SNP of CYP2A13, and some SNP may not exist

Structural and functional changes of the cerebellum in temporal lobe epilepsy

AimsThis study aimed to comprehensively explore the cerebellar structural and functional changes in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and its association with clinical information.MethodsThe SUIT toolbox was utilized to perform cerebellar volume and diffusion analysis. In addition, we extracted the average diffusion values of cerebellar peduncle tracts to investigate microstructure alterations. Seed-based whole-brain analysis was used to investigate cerebellar–cerebral functional connectivity (FC). Subgroup analyses were performed to identify the cerebellar participation in TLE with/without hippocampal sclerosis (HS)/focal-to-bilateral tonic–clonic seizure (FBTCS) and TLE with different lateralization.ResultsTLE showed widespread gray matter atrophy in bilateral crusII, VIIb, VIIIb, left crusI, and left VIIIa. Both voxel and tract analysis observed diffusion abnormalities in cerebellar afferent peduncles. Reduced FC between the right crus II and the left parahippocampal cortex was found in TLE. Additionally, TLE showed increased FCs between left lobules VI–VIII and cortical nodes of the dorsal attention and visual networks. Across all patients, decreased FC was associated with poorer cognitive function, while increased FCs appeared to reflect compensatory effects. The cerebellar structural changes were mainly observed in HS and FBTCS subgroups and were regardless of seizure lateralization, while cerebellar–cerebral FC alterations were similar in all subgroups.ConclusionTLE exhibited microstructural changes in the cerebellum, mainly related to HS and FBTCS. In addition, altered cerebellar–cerebral functional connectivity is associated with common cognitive alterations in TLE

Thermodynamics of the hydrothermal synthesis of xonotlite

Xonotlite, as a multifunctional inorganic material, has been widely used in the fields of building insulation, friction braking, and bionic composite materials. However, the main method of producing xonotlite, the dynamic hydrothermal method, is regarded as a black box process. Optimization of synthesis conditions can only be achieved through trial-and-error experimentations, and there are inconsistencies in the experimental results reported in the literature. In this work, we established a thermodynamic model of the Ca(OH) _2 -SiO _2 -H _2 O system under hydrothermal conditions, and investigated influencing factors of the xonotlite synthesis. The results show that, the predicted lowest temperature of xonotlite synthesis is approximately 170 °C. Furthermore, an optimum condition to synthesis xonotlite with a purity of 99% is proposed as follows: reaction temperature, 200 °C; Ca/Si ratio, 0.9–1.0; water-solid ratio, no more than 20; pH, 7–8. This new synthesis process has been confirmed by experiments

Optimizing degradation conditions on treatment of TATB explosive wastewater by γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles/ UV synergistic degradation

In this work, the effect of superparamagnetic γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles/ ultraviolet light (UV) synergistic degradation on the treatment of 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene (TATB) explosive wastewater was studied. γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were prepared by hydrolysis method and its degradation performance of TATB explosive wastewater was systematically studied with UV light assisted. The results showed that γ-Fe2O3 magnetic nanoparticles have low a size distribution ranged from 5 nm to 10 nm and possesses superparamagnetic properties. The optimized degradation condition was investigated and best degradation performance was obtained with the optimized conditions: the initial of pH=3, UV illumination intensity (5 w/cm2), reaction temperature (25 C), initial TOC concentration (4.025 mg/L) as well as reaction time (60 min). This work can offer a new idea to degrade the explosive wastewater.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Abnormal Identification of Swine Flu Clinical Characteristics Based on Body Temperature and Behavior

International audienceThe pathology and virus isolation are the mainly diagnostic approaches for swine flu currently. Although the diagnosis rate is high, it is not conducive to detecting and intervening the infected pigs timely because of the serious time delay. Therefore, this paper proposed a novel framework method for the early detection and warned of swine influenza. The Jilin landrace are as the subjects of the experiment in this paper. Firstly, the body temperature changes were monitored compared between healthy and infected pigs respectively. And then the machine vision method was used to identify the basic pre-defined behavior of the landrace. Afterward, the behavior of the healthy and infected pigs were determined the abnormality or not. In the experiments, the results showed that the temperature of the infected pigs increased from 1–2 h to 40.3–41.5 ℃ and the lying status of the sick pigs was significantly increased compared to other activities such as feeding and drinking water. The experimental results showed that this method was effective for early detection of swine flu

Effects of Wind Shields on Pedestrian-Level Wind Environment around Outdoor Platforms of a Megatall Building

A thousand-meter-high megatall building, which consists of three tear-drop-shaped towers arranged in an equilateral triangle and a central circular tower, has ten outdoor platforms along the height at an interval of 100 m to connect the four towers. As the pedestrian-level wind environment around the outdoor platforms of high-rise buildings has been less studied for higher incoming wind speeds than those of the ground wind, it is necessary to conduct the related research and evaluations of the pedestrian-level wind environment around outdoor platforms to ensure pedestrian comfort and safety. First, based on the flow field analysis of the megatall building model, potential aerodynamic measures are proposed to improve the pedestrian-level wind environment of outdoor platforms. Then, the wind tunnel test and CFD simulation of outdoor platforms are conducted with five aerodynamic measures, and an averaged adjustment coefficient is put forward to establish the link between the full model and the sub-configuration model for the wind speed amplification factor, Ri, greater than 1.0, so the data obtained from the wind tunnel test can be transformed for further assessment of the pedestrian-level wind environment. Finally, the Lawson criterion was used to quantitatively analyze and compare the effects of five aerodynamic measures to improve the wind environment, thus providing a design that satisfies the requirements of “wind comfort” and “wind safety” for the thousand-meter-high megatall pedestrian platform. This study contributes to the further understanding of pedestrian-level wind environment characteristics of outdoor platforms and the potential aerodynamic measures to improve wind comfort and wind danger

Overexpression of <i>HbGRF4</i> or <i>HbGRF4-HbGIF1</i> Chimera Improves the Efficiency of Somatic Embryogenesis in <i>Hevea brasiliensis</i>

Transgenic technology is a crucial tool for gene functional analysis and targeted genetic modification in the para rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis). However, low efficiency of plant regeneration via somatic embryogenesis remains a bottleneck of successful genetic transformation in H. brasiliensis. Enhancing expression of GROWTH-REGULATING FACTOR 4 (GRF4)-GRF-INTERACTING FACTOR 1 (GIF1) has been reported to significantly improve shoot and embryo regeneration in multiple crops. Here, we identified endogenous HbGRF4 and HbGIF1 from the rubber clone Reyan7-33-97, the expressions of which dramatically increased along with somatic embryo (SE) production. Intriguingly, overexpression of HbGRF4 or HbGRF4-HbGIF1 markedly enhanced the efficiency of embryogenesis in two H. brasiliensis callus lines with contrasting rates of SE production. Transcriptional profiling revealed that the genes involved in jasmonic acid response were up-regulated, whereas those in ethylene biosynthesis and response as well as the S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferase activity were down-regulated in HbGRF4- and HbGRF4-HbGIF1-overexpressing H. brasiliensis embryos. These findings open up a new avenue for improving SE production in rubber tree, and help to unravel the underlying mechanisms of HbGRF4-enhanced somatic embryogenesis

Improved charge injection of edge aligned MoS2/MoO2 hybrid nanosheets for highly robust and efficient electrocatalysis of H2 production

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2020. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) can be an efficient electro-catalyst for the hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) as an alternative to precious metals, but significant efforts are still needed to further improve its efficiency. Among various approaches, the formation of edge aligned MoS2 on an electrically conductive support is highly promising for cost-effective H2 production. Nevertheless, catalysis is highly impeded by the poor charge transport between the electrode materials and also between the multilayers of MoS2. This research presents a strategy to improve the HER catalysis by binding layers of metallic molybdenum dioxide (MoO2) and MoS2 to form hybrid MoS2/MoO2 nanosheets (attached and cross-linked to each other). Taking advantage of the hybrid structure and the mechanical strength of the carbon cloth, a catalyst with outstanding catalytic performance in the HER is demonstrated. This work shows not only a strategy to efficiently improve the electrochemical process, but also the preparation of a highly efficient catalyst for constant and robust H2 production