Dimensionally Stable Anion Exchange Membranes Based on Macromolecular-Cross-Linked Poly(arylene piperidinium) for Water Electrolysis

The advancement of anion exchange membranes (AEMs) with superior ionic conductivity has been greatly hindered due to the inherent “trade-off” between membrane swelling and ionic conductivity. To resolve this dilemma, macromolecular covalently cross-linked C-FPVBC-x AEMs were fabricated by combining partially functionalized ether-bond-free polystyrene (FPVBC) with poly(arylene piperidinium). The results from atomic force microscopy reveal that an increase in the ratio of FPVBC promotes the fabrication of microphase separation morphology, resulting in a high ionic conductivity of 40.15 mS cm–1 (30 °C) for the C-FPVBC-1.7 membrane. Molecular dynamics simulations further examine the ionic conduction effect of cross-linked AEMs. Besides, the unique cross-linking structure significantly improves mechanical and alkaline stability. After treatment in 1 M KOH at 50 °C for 1200 h, the C-FPVBC-1.7 membrane shows only a 6.9% decrease in conductivity. The C-FPVBC-1.7 AEM-based water electrolyzer achieves a high current density of 890 mA cm–2 at 2.4 V (80 °C) and maintains good stability, enduring over 100 h at 100 mA cm–2 (50 °C). These results demonstrate the significant potential of macromolecularly cross-linked AEMs for practical applications in water electrolysis

Autonomous growth potential of leukemia blast cells is associated with poor prognosis in human acute leukemias

We have described a severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) mouse model that permits the subcutaneous growth of primary human acute leukemia blast cells into a measurable subcutaneous nodule which may be followed by the development of disseminated disease. Utilizing the SCID mouse model, we examined the growth potential of leukemic blasts from 133 patients with acute leukemia, (67 acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 66 acute myeloid leukemia (AML)) in the animals after subcutaneous inoculation without conditioning treatment. The blasts displayed three distinct growth patterns: "aggressive", "indolent", or "no tumor growth". Out of 133 leukemias, 45 (33.8%) displayed an aggressive growth pattern, 14 (10.5%) displayed an indolent growth pattern and 74 (55.6%) did not grow in SCID mice. The growth probability of leukemias from relapsed and/or refractory disease was nearly 3 fold higher than that from patients with newly diagnosed disease. Serial observations found that leukemic blasts from the same individual, which did not initiate tumor growth at initial presentation and/or at early relapse, may engraft and grow in the later stages of disease, suggesting that the ability of leukemia cells for engraftment and proliferation was gradually acquired following the process of leukemia progression. Nine autonomous growing leukemia cell lines were established in vitro. These displayed an aggressive proliferation pattern, suggesting a possible correlation between the capacity of human leukemia cells for autonomous proliferation in vitro and an aggressive growth potential in SCID mice. In addition, we demonstrated that patients whose leukemic blasts displayed an aggressive growth and dissemination pattern in SClD mice had a poor clinical outcome in patients with ALL as well as AML. Patients whose leukemic blasts grew indolently or whose leukemia cells failed to induce growth had a significantly longer DFS and more favorable clinical course

Genetic Diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Isolates from Tibetans in Tibet, China

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious health problem in Tibet where Tibetans are the major ethnic group. Although genotyping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) isolates is a valuable tool for TB control, our knowledge of population structure of M. tuberculosis circulating in Tibet is limited. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In our study, a total of 576 M. tuberculosis isolates from Tibetans in Tibet, China, were analyzed via spoligotyping and 24-locus MIRU-VNTR. The Beijing genotype was the most prevalent family (90.63%, n = 522). Shared-type (ST) 1 was the most dominant genotype (88.89%, n = 512). We found that there was no association between the Beijing genotype and sex, age and treatment status. In this sample collection, 7 of the 24 MIRU-VNTR loci were highly or moderately discriminative according to their Hunter-Gaston discriminatory index. An informative set of 12 loci had similar discriminatory power with 24 loci set. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The population structure of M. tuberculosis isolates in Tibetans is homogeneous and dominated by Beijing genotype. The analysis of 24-locus MIRU-VNTR data might be useful to select appropriate VNTR loci for the genotyping of M. tuberculosis

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

A Comparative Study of Systolic and Diastolic Mechanical Synchrony in Canine, Primate, and Healthy and Failing Human Hearts.

Aim: Mechanical dyssynchrony (MD) is associated with heart failure (HF) and may be prognostically important in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Yet, little is known about its patterns in healthy or diseased hearts. We here investigate and compare systolic and diastolic MD in both right (RV) and left ventricles (LV) of canine, primate and healthy and failing human hearts. Methods and Results: RV and LV mechanical function were examined by pulse-wave Doppler in 15 beagle dogs, 59 rhesus monkeys, 100 healthy human subjects and 39 heart failure (HF) patients. This measured RV and LV pre-ejection periods (RVPEP and LVPEP) and diastolic opening times (Q-TVE and Q-MVE). The occurrence of right (RVMDs) and left ventricular systolic mechanical delay (LVMDs) was assessed by comparing RVPEP and LVPEP values. That of right (RVMDd) and left ventricular diastolic mechanical delay (LVMDd) was assessed from the corresponding diastolic opening times (Q-TVE and Q-MVE). These situations were quantified by values of interventricular systolic (IVMDs) and diastolic mechanical delays (IVMDd), represented as positive if the relevant RV mechanical events preceded those in the LV. Healthy hearts in all species examined showed greater LV than RV delay times and therefore positive IVMDs and IVMDd. In contrast a greater proportion of the HF patients showed both markedly increased IVMDs and negative IVMDd, with diastolic mechanical asynchrony negatively correlated with LVEF. Conclusion: The present IVMDs and IVMDd findings have potential clinical implications particularly for personalized setting of parameter values in CRT in individual patients to achieve effective treatment of HF

Detecting One-Hundred-Year Environmental Changes in Western China Using Seven-Year Repeat Photography

Due to its diverse, wondrous plants and unique topography, Western China has drawn great attention from explorers and naturalists from the Western World. Among them, Ernest Henry Wilson (1876 –1930), known as ‘Chinese’ Wilson, travelled to Western China five times from 1899 to 1918. He took more than 1,000 photos during his travels. These valuable photos illustrated the natural and social environment of Western China a century ago. Since 1997, we had collected E.H. Wilson's old pictures, and then since 2004, along the expedition route of E.H. Wilson, we took 7 years to repeat photographing 250 of these old pictures. Comparing Wilson's photos with ours, we found an obvious warming trend over the 100 years, not only in specific areas but throughout the entire Western China. Such warming trend manifested in phenology changes, community shifts and melting snow in alpine mountains. In this study, we also noted remarkable vegetation changes. Out of 62 picture pairs were related to vegetation change, 39 indicated vegetation has changed to the better condition, 17 for degraded vegetation and six for no obvious change. Also in these photos at a century interval, we found not only rapid urbanization in Western China, but also the disappearance of traditional cultures. Through such comparisons, we should not only be amazed about the significant environmental changes through time in Western China, but also consider its implications for protecting environment while meeting the economic development beyond such changes

Genome-wide temporal-spatial gene expression profiling of drought responsiveness in rice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Rice is highly sensitive to drought, and the effect of drought may vary with the different genotypes and development stages. Genome-wide gene expression profiling was used as the initial point to dissect molecular genetic mechanism of this complex trait and provide valuable information for the improvement of drought tolerance in rice. Affymetrix rice genome array containing 48,564 <it>japonica </it>and 1,260 <it>indica </it>sequences was used to analyze the gene expression pattern of rice exposed to drought stress. The transcriptome from leaf, root, and young panicle at three developmental stages was comparatively analyzed combined with bioinformatics exploring drought stress related <it>cis</it>-elements.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 5,284 genes detected to be differentially expressed under drought stress. Most of these genes were tissue- or stage-specific regulated by drought. The tissue-specific down-regulated genes showed distinct function categories as photosynthesis-related genes prevalent in leaf, and the genes involved in cell membrane biogenesis and cell wall modification over-presented in root and young panicle. In a drought environment, several genes, such as <it>GA2ox, SAP15</it>, and <it>Chitinase III</it>, were regulated in a reciprocal way in two tissues at the same development stage. A total of 261 transcription factor genes were detected to be differentially regulated by drought stress. Most of them were also regulated in a tissue- or stage-specific manner. A <it>cis</it>-element containing special CGCG box was identified to over-present in the upstream of 55 common induced genes, and it may be very important for rice plants responding to drought environment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Genome-wide gene expression profiling revealed that most of the drought differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were under temporal and spatial regulation, suggesting a crosstalk between various development cues and environmental stimuli. The identification of the differentially regulated DEGs, including TF genes and unique candidate <it>cis</it>-element for drought responsiveness, is a very useful resource for the functional dissection of the molecular mechanism in rice responding to environment stress.</p

Functional Disconnection and Compensation in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Evidence from DLPFC Connectivity Using Resting-State fMRI

The known regional abnormality of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and its role in various neural circuits in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has given prominence to its importance in studies on the disconnection associated with MCI. The purpose of the current study was to examine the DLPFC functional connectivity patterns during rest in MCI patients and the impact of regional grey matter (GM) atrophy on the functional results. Structural and functional MRI data were collected from 14 MCI patients and 14 age, gender-matched healthy controls. We found that both the bilateral DLPFC showed reduced functional connectivity with the inferior parietal lobule (IPL), superior/medial frontal gyrus and sub-cortical regions (e.g., thalamus, putamen) in MCI patients when compared with healthy controls. Moreover, the DLPFC connectivity with the IPL and thalamus significantly correlated with the cognitive performance of patients as measured by mini-mental state examination (MMSE), clock drawing test (CDT), and California verbal learning test (CVLT) scores. When taking GM atrophy as covariates, these results were approximately consistent with those without correction, although there may be a decrease in the statistical power. These results suggest that the DLPFC disconnections may be the substrates of cognitive impairments in MCI patients. In addition, we also found enhanced functional connectivity between the left DLPFC and the right prefrontal cortex in MCI patients. This is consistent with previous findings of MCI-related increased activation during cognitive tasks, and may represent a compensatory mechanism in MCI patients. Together, the present study demonstrated the coexistence of functional disconnection and compensation in MCI patients using DLPFC functional connectivity analysis, and thus might provide insights into biological mechanism of the disease

Investigation on Mycobacterium tuberculosis Diversity in China and the Origin of the Beijing Clade

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