97 research outputs found
The complete chloroplast genome sequence of Hyssopus cuspidatus Boriss. and analysis of phylogenetic relationships
Hyssopus cuspidatus is a member of the Lamiaceae family, members of which are often used to treat cough and asthma by the Uigurs. However, the Hyssopus genus has a limited number of known chloroplast genomes, making it difficult to compare species within the genus and to classify species within and outside the genus accurately. The introduction of the chloroplast genome method would therefore help improve the classification of the Hyssopus genus. This report presents the complete chloroplast sequences of Hyssopus cuspidatus. The chloroplast genome of H. cuspidatus is 149,678 bp long and contains 129 genes, including 85 protein-coding genes, 36 tRNA genes, and 8 rRNA genes. We identified 46 single sequence repeats (SSRs), most of which were mononucleotide adenineâthymine. The analysis of the repeat sequences, codon usage, and comparison of chloroplast genomes showed a high degree of conservation. The plastid genomes exhibited a typical quartile structure. Four hypervariable regions were identified: accDâpsal, psbZâtrnGâGCC, trnHâGUGâpsbA, and atpHâatpI. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the Hyssopus genus was closely related to the adjacent genus Dracocephalum. Our research conducted a comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of the Hyssopus genus and provided a detailed comparison of the differences between species within and outside of this genus. Through IR comparison, phylogenetic analysis, and variation region analysis, we discovered a close relationship between the genera Hyssopus and Dracocephalum and propose a new perspective on the phylogenetic classification of H. cuspidatus. These findings will support the continued identification, classification, and evolutionary analysis of this genus
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Increased extreme precipitation in Chinese deserts from 1960 to 2018
Extreme precipitation over drylands, especially deserts, has been often observed. The precipitation changes in Chinese deserts have been rarely studied. Here, we use a daily grid precipitation dataset generated via weather station data (0.25° horizontal grid spacing) to investigate the spatial and temporal changes in extreme precipitation in Chinese deserts. The extreme precipitation based on the changes in the total precipitation (PRCPTOT) and the annualâmaximum daily precipitation (Rx1day) in the Chinese desert exhibits markedly increasing trends and presents a spatial distribution of wetting in the western deserts and drying in the eastern deserts. The increase in extreme precipitation could minimize wind erosion and intensify dune stabilization in the western Chinese deserts
Experimental observation of highly anisotropic elastic properties of two-dimensional black arsenic
Anisotropic two-dimensional layered materials with low-symmetric lattices
have attracted increasing attention due to their unique orientation-dependent
mechanical properties. Black arsenic (b-As), with the puckered structure,
exhibits extreme in-plane anisotropy in optical, electrical and thermal
properties. However, experimental research on mechanical properties of b-As is
very rare, although theoretical calculations predicted the exotic elastic
properties of b-As, such as anisotropic Young's modulus and negative Poisson's
ratio. Herein, experimental observations on highly anisotropic elastic
properties of b-As were demonstrated using our developed in situ tensile
straining setup based on the effective microelectromechanical system. The
cyclic and repeatable load-displacement curves proved that Young's modulus
along zigzag direction was ~1.6 times greater than that along armchair
direction, while the anisotropic ratio of ultimate strain reached ~2.5,
attributed to hinge structure in armchair direction. This study could provide
significant insights to design novel anisotropic materials and explore their
potential applications in nanomechanics and nanodevices.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure
Highly Anisotropic Elastic Properties of Suspended Black Arsenic Nanoribbons
Anisotropy, as an exotic degree of freedom, enables us to discover the
emergent two-dimensional (2D) layered nanomaterials with low in-plane symmetry
and to explore their outstanding properties and promising applications. 2D
black arsenic (b-As) with puckered structure has garnered increasing attention
these years owing to its extreme anisotropy with respect to the electrical,
thermal, and optical properties. However, the investigation on mechanical
properties of 2D b-As is still lacking, despite much effort on theoretical
simulations. Herein, we report the highly anisotropic elastic properties of
suspended b-As nanoribbons via atomic force microscope-based nanoindentation.
It was found that the extracted Young's modulus of b-As nanoribbons exhibits
remarkable anisotropy, which approximates to 72.2 +- 5.4 and 44.3 +- 1.4 GPa
along zigzag and armchair directions, respectively. The anisotropic ratio
reaches up to ~ 1.6. We expect that these results could lay a solid foundation
for the potential applications of 2D anisotropic nanomaterials in the
next-generation nanomechanics and optoelectronics.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figure
Long Non Coding RNA MALAT1 Promotes Tumor Growth and Metastasis by Inducing Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma
The prognosis of advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients remains dismal, and a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms is critical for identifying effective targets with therapeutic potential to improve the survival of patients with OSCC. This study aims to clarify the clinical and biological significance of metastasis-associated long non-coding RNA, metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) in OSCC. We found that MALAT1 is overexpressed in OSCC tissues compared to normal oral mucosa by real-time PCR. MALAT1 served as a new prognostic factor in OSCC patients. When knockdown by small interfering RNA (siRNA) in OSCC cell lines TSCCA and Tca8113, MALAT1 was shown to be required for maintaining epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) mediated cell migration and invasion. Western blot and immunofluorescence staining showed that MALAT1 knockdown significantly suppressed N-cadherin and Vimentin expression but induced E-cadherin expression in vitro. Meanwhile, both nucleus and cytoplasm levels of ÎČ-catenin and NF-ÎșB were attenuated, while elevated MALAT1 level triggered the expression of ÎČ-catenin and NF-ÎșB. More importantly, targeting MALAT1 inhibited TSCCA cell-induced xenograft tumor growth in vivo. Therefore, these findings provide mechanistic insight into the role of MALAT1 in regulating OSCC metastasis, suggesting that MALAT1 is an important prognostic factor and therapeutic target for OSCC
Intralayer Negative Poisson's Ratio in Two-Dimensional Black Arsenic by Strain Engineering
Negative Poisson's ratio as the anomalous characteristic generally exists in
artificial architectures, such as re-entrant and honeycomb structures. The
structures with negative Poisson's ratio have attracted intensive attention due
to their unique auxetic effect and many promising applications in shear
resistant and energy absorption fields. However, experimental observation of
negative Poisson's ratio in natural materials barely happened, although various
two-dimensional layered materials are predicted in theory. Herein, we report
the anisotropic Raman response and the intrinsic intralayer negative Poisson's
ratio of two-dimensional natural black arsenic (b-As) via strain engineering
strategy. The results were evident by the detailed Raman spectrum of b-As under
uniaxial strain together with density functional theory calculations. It is
found that b-As was softer along the armchair than zigzag direction. The
anisotropic mechanical features and van der Waals interactions play essential
roles in strain-dependent Raman shifts and negative Poisson's ratio in the
natural b-As along zigzag direction. This work may shed a light on the
mechanical properties and potential applications of two-dimensional puckered
materials.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figure
ISA-Net: Improved spatial attention network for PET-CT tumor segmentation
Achieving accurate and automated tumor segmentation plays an important role
in both clinical practice and radiomics research. Segmentation in medicine is
now often performed manually by experts, which is a laborious, expensive and
error-prone task. Manual annotation relies heavily on the experience and
knowledge of these experts. In addition, there is much intra- and interobserver
variation. Therefore, it is of great significance to develop a method that can
automatically segment tumor target regions. In this paper, we propose a deep
learning segmentation method based on multimodal positron emission
tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT), which combines the high sensitivity of
PET and the precise anatomical information of CT. We design an improved spatial
attention network(ISA-Net) to increase the accuracy of PET or CT in detecting
tumors, which uses multi-scale convolution operation to extract feature
information and can highlight the tumor region location information and
suppress the non-tumor region location information. In addition, our network
uses dual-channel inputs in the coding stage and fuses them in the decoding
stage, which can take advantage of the differences and complementarities
between PET and CT. We validated the proposed ISA-Net method on two clinical
datasets, a soft tissue sarcoma(STS) and a head and neck tumor(HECKTOR)
dataset, and compared with other attention methods for tumor segmentation. The
DSC score of 0.8378 on STS dataset and 0.8076 on HECKTOR dataset show that
ISA-Net method achieves better segmentation performance and has better
generalization. Conclusions: The method proposed in this paper is based on
multi-modal medical image tumor segmentation, which can effectively utilize the
difference and complementarity of different modes. The method can also be
applied to other multi-modal data or single-modal data by proper adjustment
Pressure-Modulated Structural and Magnetic Phase Transitions in Two-Dimensional FeTe: Tetragonal and Hexagonal Polymorphs
Two-dimensional (2D) Fe-chalcogenides with rich structures, magnetisms and
superconductivities are highly desirable to reveal the torturous transition
mechanism and explore their potential applications in spintronics and
nanoelectronics. Hydrostatic pressure can effectively stimulate novel phase
transitions between various ordered states and to plot the seductive phase
diagram. Herein, the structural evolution and transport characteristics of 2D
FeTe were systematically investigated under extreme conditions through
comparing two distinct symmetries, i.e., tetragonal (t-) and hexagonal (h-)
FeTe. We found that 2D t-FeTe presented the pressure-induced transition from
antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic states at ~ 3 GPa, corresponding to the
tetragonal collapse of layered structure. Contrarily, ferromagnetic order of 2D
h-FeTe was retained up to 15 GPa, evidently confirmed by electrical transport
and Raman measurements. Furthermore, the detailed P-T phase diagrams of both 2D
t-FeTe and h-FeTe were mapped out with the delicate critical conditions. We
believe our results can provide a unique platform to elaborate the
extraordinary physical properties of Fe-chalcogenides and further to develop
their practical applications.Comment: 22 Pages, 5 Figure
Is Increasing Diet Diversity of Animal-Source Foods Related to Better Health-Related Quality of Life among Chinese Men and Women?
Diet plays a crucial role in regulating individualsâ lifestyles and is closely related to health. The intake of animal-sourced foods (ASF) provides the human body with high-quality protein and various micronutrients. This study aimed to investigate whether the diversity of animal foods has a positive impact on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among residents. The data came from the Shaanxi baseline survey of the Northwest Chinese Regional Ethnic Cohort Study, which recruited more than 100 thousand participants aged 35 to 74 from five provinces between June 2018 and May 2019. A total of 39,997 participants in Shaanxi (mean age: 50 years; 64% women) were finally included in this current study. The animal source food diet diversity score (ASFDDS) was established based on the frequency of consuming pork, mutton, beef, poultry, seafood, eggs, pure milk, and yogurt. The physical component score (PCS) and mental component score (MCS), ranging from 0 to 100 on the 12-Item Short Form Survey (SF-12), were used to assess participantsâ HRQoL. Better PCS/MCS was defined as scores higher than the 90th percentile. The results showed that men had a higher intake of ASF and ASFDDS than women. After adjusting for potential confounders, compared with those who never or rarely consumed animal foods, the likelihood of having better PCS and MCS increased by 16% (OR = 1.16, 95%CI: 1.01â1.34) and 24% (OR = 1.24, 95%CI: 1.03â1.448), respectively, in men with an ASFDDS â„ 2. In women, a 34% increase (OR = l.34, 95%CI: 116âl.54) likelihood for better PCS was observed for an ASFDDS â„ 2, but no association was observed for MCS. Increasing each specific animal sourceâs food intake was associated with better PCS after adjusting for all covariates. However, for MCS, positive associations were only observed in seafood consumption among men and eggs among women. Restricted cubic splines showed a substantial dose-response association between intake frequency of animal-source foods and PCS, both in men and women. The study suggests that a diverse intake of animal-sourced foods can potentially improve the HRQoL of Chinese adults
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