Recent increases in terrestrial carbon uptake at little cost to the water cycle

Quantifying the responses of the coupled carbon and water cycles to current global warming and rising atmospheric CO2 concentration is crucial for predicting and adapting to climate changes. Here we show that terrestrial carbon uptake (i.e. gross primary production) increased significantly from 1982 to 2011 using a combination of ground-based and remotely sensed land and atmospheric observations. Importantly, we find that the terrestrial carbon uptake increase is not accompanied by a proportional increase in water use (i.e. evapotranspiration) but is largely (about 90%) driven by increased carbon uptake per unit of water use, i.e. water use efficiency. The increased water use efficiency is positively related to rising CO2 concentration and increased canopy leaf area index, and negatively influenced by increased vapour pressure deficits. Our findings suggest that rising atmospheric CO2 concentration has caused a shift in terrestrial water economics of carbon uptake

Site-specific incorporation of phosphotyrosine using an expanded genetic code.

Access to phosphoproteins with stoichiometric and site-specific phosphorylation status is key to understanding the role of protein phosphorylation. Here we report an efficient method to generate pure, active phosphotyrosine-containing proteins by genetically encoding a stable phosphotyrosine analog that is convertible to native phosphotyrosine. We demonstrate its general compatibility with proteins of various sizes, phosphotyrosine sites and functions, and reveal a possible role of tyrosine phosphorylation in negative regulation of ubiquitination

Facile Synthesis of Amine-Functionalized Eu3+-Doped La(OH)3 Nanophosphors for Bioimaging

Here, we report a straightforward synthesis process to produce colloidal Eu3+-activated nanophosphors (NPs) for use as bioimaging probes. In this procedure, poly(ethylene glycol) serves as a high-boiling point solvent allowing for nanoscale particle formation as well as a convenient medium for solvent exchange and subsequent surface modification. The La(OH)3:Eu3+ NPs produced by this process were ~3.5 nm in diameter as determined by transmission electron microscopy. The NP surface was coated with aminopropyltriethoxysilane to provide chemical functionality for attachment of biological ligands, improve chemical stability and prevent surface quenching of luminescent centers. Photoluminescence spectroscopy of the NPs displayed emission peaks at 597 and 615 nm (λex = 280 nm). The red emission, due to 5D0 → 7F1 and 5D0 → 7F2 transitions, was linear with concentration as observed by imaging with a conventional bioimaging system. To demonstrate the feasibility of these NPs to serve as optical probes in biological applications, an in vitro experiment was performed with HeLa cells. NP emission was observed in the cells by fluorescence microscopy. In addition, the NPs displayed no cytotoxicity over the course of a 48-h MTT cell viability assay. These results suggest that La(OH)3:Eu3+ NPs possess the potential to serve as a luminescent bioimaging probe

Identification of mutations in the PYRIN-containing NLR genes (NLRP) in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) encompasses malignancies that arise in the mucosa of the upper aerodigestive tract. Recent high throughput DNA sequencing revealed HNSCC genes mutations that contribute to several cancer cell characteristics, including dysregulation of cell proliferation and death, intracellular proinflammatory signaling, and autophagy. The PYRIN-domain containing NLR (Nucleotide-binding domain, Leucine rich Repeats - containing) proteins have recently emerged as pivotal modulators of cell death, autophagy, inflammation, and metabolism. Their close physiologic association with cancer development prompted us to determine whether mutations within the NLRP (PYRIN-containing NLR ) gene family were associated with HNSCC genome instability and their clinicopathologic correlations. Catastrophic mutational events underlie cancer cell genome instability and mark a point-of-no-return in cancer cell development and generation of heterogeneity. The mutation profiles of 62 patients with primary conventional type HNSCC excluding other histologic variants were analyzed. Associations were tested using Fisher's Exact test or Mann-Whitney U test. Mutations in NLRP were associated with elevated genome instability as characterized by higher mutation rates. Clinically, NLRP mutations were more frequently found in HNSCC arising in the floor of mouth (50.0%) in comparison with HNSCC at other head and neck locations (14.8%). These mutations were clustered at the leucine rich repeats region of NLRP proteins, and affected NLRP genes were mostly localized at chromosomes 11p15.4 and 19q13.42-19q13.43. Twenty novel NLRP mutations were identified in HNSCC, and mutations in this group of genes were correlated with increased cancer cell genome mutation rates, and such features could be a potential molecular biomarker of HNSCC genome instability. © 2014 Lei et al

Structure of hadron resonances with a nearby zero of the amplitude

We discuss the relation between the analytic structure of the scattering amplitude and the origin of an eigenstate represented by a pole of the amplitude.If the eigenstate is not dynamically generated by the interaction in the channel of interest, the residue of the pole vanishes in the zero coupling limit. Based on the topological nature of the phase of the scattering amplitude, we show that the pole must encounter with the Castillejo-Dalitz-Dyson (CDD) zero in this limit. It is concluded that the dynamical component of the eigenstate is small if a CDD zero exists near the eigenstate pole. We show that the line shape of the resonance is distorted from the Breit-Wigner form as an observable consequence of the nearby CDD zero. Finally, studying the positions of poles and CDD zeros of the KbarN-piSigma amplitude, we discuss the origin of the eigenstates in the Lambda(1405) region.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, v2: published versio

Improved Constraints on Sterile Neutrino Mixing from Disappearance Searches in the MINOS, MINOS+, Daya Bay, and Bugey-3 Experiments.

Searches for electron antineutrino, muon neutrino, and muon antineutrino disappearance driven by sterile neutrino mixing have been carried out by the Daya Bay and MINOS+ collaborations. This Letter presents the combined results of these searches, along with exclusion results from the Bugey-3 reactor experiment, framed in a minimally extended four-neutrino scenario. Significantly improved constraints on the θ_{μe} mixing angle are derived that constitute the most constraining limits to date over five orders of magnitude in the mass-squared splitting Δm_{41}^{2}, excluding the 90% C.L. sterile-neutrino parameter space allowed by the LSND and MiniBooNE observations at 90% CL_{s} for Δm_{41}^{2}<13  eV^{2}. Furthermore, the LSND and MiniBooNE 99% C.L. allowed regions are excluded at 99% CL_{s} for Δm_{41}^{2}<1.6 eV^{2}

Interference management for moving networks in ultra-dense urban scenarios

The number of users relying on broadband wireless connectivity while riding public transportation vehicles is increasing significantly. One of the promising solutions is to deploy moving base stations on public transportation vehicles to form moving networks (MNs) that serve these vehicular users inside the vehicles. In this study, we investigated the benefits and challenges in deploying MNs in ultra-dense urban scenarios. We identified that the key challenge limiting the performance of MNs in ultra-dense urban scenarios is inter-cell interference, which is exacerbated by the urban canyon effects. To address this challenge, we evaluated different inter-cell interference coordination and multi-antenna interference suppression techniques for MNs. We showed that in using MNs together with effective interference management approaches, the quality of service for users in vehicles can be significantly improved, with negligible impacts on the performance of regular outdoor users

Computational model of blood flow in the aorto-coronary bypass graft

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery bypass grafting surgery is an effective treatment modality for patients with severe coronary artery disease. The conduits used during the surgery include both the arterial and venous conduits. Long- term graft patency rate for the internal mammary arterial graft is superior, but the same is not true for the saphenous vein grafts. At 10 years, more than 50% of the vein grafts would have occluded and many of them are diseased. Why do the saphenous vein grafts fail the test of time? Many causes have been proposed for saphenous graft failure. Some are non-modifiable and the rest are modifiable. Non-modifiable causes include different histological structure of the vein compared to artery, size disparity between coronary artery and saphenous vein. However, researches are more interested in the modifiable causes, such as graft flow dynamics and wall shear stress distribution at the anastomotic sites. Formation of intimal hyperplasia at the anastomotic junction has been implicated as the root cause of long- term graft failure. Many researchers have analyzed the complex flow patterns in the distal sapheno-coronary anastomotic region, using various simulated model in an attempt to explain the site of preferential intimal hyperplasia based on the flow disturbances and differential wall stress distribution. In this paper, the geometrical bypass models (aorto-left coronary bypass graft model and aorto-right coronary bypass graft model) are based on real-life situations. In our models, the dimensions of the aorta, saphenous vein and the coronary artery simulate the actual dimensions at surgery. Both the proximal and distal anastomoses are considered at the same time, and we also take into the consideration the cross-sectional shape change of the venous conduit from circular to elliptical. Contrary to previous works, we have carried out computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study in the entire aorta-graft-perfused artery domain. The results reported here focus on (i) the complex flow patterns both at the proximal and distal anastomotic sites, and (ii) the wall shear stress distribution, which is an important factor that contributes to graft patency. METHODS: The three-dimensional coronary bypass models of the aorto-right coronary bypass and the aorto-left coronary bypass systems are constructed using computational fluid-dynamics software (Fluent 6.0.1). To have a better understanding of the flow dynamics at specific time instants of the cardiac cycle, quasi-steady flow simulations are performed, using a finite-volume approach. The data input to the models are the physiological measurements of flow-rates at (i) the aortic entrance, (ii) the ascending aorta, (iii) the left coronary artery, and (iv) the right coronary artery. RESULTS: The flow field and the wall shear stress are calculated throughout the cycle, but reported in this paper at two different instants of the cardiac cycle, one at the onset of ejection and the other during mid-diastole for both the right and left aorto-coronary bypass graft models. Plots of velocity-vector and the wall shear stress distributions are displayed in the aorto-graft-coronary arterial flow-field domain. We have shown (i) how the blocked coronary artery is being perfused in systole and diastole, (ii) the flow patterns at the two anastomotic junctions, proximal and distal anastomotic sites, and (iii) the shear stress distributions and their associations with arterial disease. CONCLUSION: The computed results have revealed that (i) maximum perfusion of the occluded artery occurs during mid-diastole, and (ii) the maximum wall shear-stress variation is observed around the distal anastomotic region. These results can enable the clinicians to have a better understanding of vein graft disease, and hopefully we can offer a solution to alleviate or delay the occurrence of vein graft disease

The prognostic association of SPAG5 gene expression in breast cancer patients with systematic therapy

Background: Despite much effort on the treatment of breast cancer over the decades, a great uncertainty regarding the appropriate molecular biomarkers and optimal therapeutic strategy still exists. This research was performed to analyze the association of SPAG5 gene expression with clinicopathological factors and survival outcomes. Methods: We used a breast cancer database including 5667 patients with a mean follow-up of 69 months. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses for relapse free survival (RFS), overall survival (OS), and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were performed. In addition, ROC analysis was performed to validate SPAG5 as a prognostic candidate gene. Results: Mean SPAG5 expression value was significantly higher with some clinicopathological factors that resulted in tumor promotion and progression, including poor differentiated type, HER2 positive or TP53 mutated breast cancer. Based on ROC-analysis SPAG 5 is a suitable prognostic marker of poor survival. In patients who received chemotherapy alone, SPAG5 had only a moderate and not significant predictive impact on survival outcomes. However, in hormonal therapy, high SPAG5 expression could strongly predict prognosis with detrimental RFS (HR = 1.57, 95% CI 1.2-2.06, p = 0.001), OS (HR = 2, 95% CI 1.05-3.8, p = 0.03) and DMFS (HR = 2.36, 95% CI 1.57-3.54, p < 0.001), respectively. In addition, SPAG5 could only serve as a survival predictor in ER+, but not ER- breast cancer patients. Patients might also be at an increased risk of relapse despite being diagnosed with a lower grade cancer (well differentiated type). Conclusions: SPAG5 could be used as an independent prognostic and predictive biomarker that might have clinical utility, especially in ER+ breast cancer patients who received hormonal therapy. © 2019 The Author(s)