Electron and phonon band-structure calculations for the antipolar SrPt3_{3}P antiperovskite superconductor: Evidence of low-energy two-dimensional phonons

SrPt3P has recently been reported to exhibit superconductivity with Tc = 8.4 K. To explore its superconducting mechanism, we have performed electron and phonon band calculations based on the density functional theory, and found that the superconductivity in SrPt3P is well described by the strong coupling phonon-mediated mechanism. We have demonstrated that superconducting charge carriers come from pd\pi-hybridized bands between Pt and P ions, which couple to low energy (~ 5 meV) phonon modes confined on the ab in-plane. These in-plane phonon modes, which do not break antipolar nature of SrPt3P, enhance both the electron-phonon coupling constant \lambda and the critical temperature Tc. There is no hint of a specific phonon softening feature in the phonon dispersion, and the effect of the spin-orbit coupling on the superconductivity is found to be negligible.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Evaluation of reference genes in mouse preimplantation embryos for gene expression studies using real-time quantitative RT-PCR (RT-qPCR)

BACKGROUND: Real-time quantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) is the most sensitive, and valuable technique for rare mRNA detection. However, the expression profiles of reference genes under different experimental conditions, such as different mouse strains, developmental stage, and culture conditions have been poorly studied. RESULTS: mRNA stability of the actb, gapdh, sdha, ablim, ywhaz, sptbn, h2afz, tgfb1, 18 s and wrnip genes was analyzed. Using the NormFinder program, the most stable genes are as follows: h2afz for the B6D2F-1 and C57BL/6 strains; sptbn for ICR; h2afz for KOSOM and CZB cultures of B6D2F-1 and C57BL/6 strain-derived embryos; wrnip for M16 culture of B6D2F-1 and C57BL/6 strain-derived embryos; ywhaz, tgfb1, 18 s, 18 s, ywhaz, and h2afz for zygote, 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, molular, and blastocyst embryonic stages cultured in KSOM medium, respectively; h2afz, wrnip, wrnip, h2afz, ywhaz, and ablim for zygote, 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, molular, and blastocyst stage embryos cultured in CZB medium, respectively; 18 s, h2afz, h2afz, actb, h2afz, and wrnip for zygote, 2-cell, 4-cell, 8-cell, molular, and blastocyst stage embryos cultured in M16 medium, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrated that candidate reference genes for normalization of target gene expression using RT-qPCR should be selected according to mouse strains, developmental stage, and culture conditions. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1756-0500-7-675) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Vagus Nerve Stimulation in Intractable Childhood Epilepsy: a Korean Multicenter Experience

We evaluated the long-term outcome of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in 28 children with refractory epilepsy. Of these 28 children, 15 (53.6%) showed a >50% reduction in seizure frequency and 9 (32.1%) had a >75% reduction. When we compared seizure reduction rates according to seizure types (generalized vs. partial) and etiologies (symptomatic vs. cryptogenic), we found no significant differences. In addition, there was no correlation between the length of the stimulation period and treatment effect. The seizure reduction rate, however, tended to be inversely related to the seizure duration before VNS implantation and age at the time of VNS therapy. VNS also improved quality of life in this group of patients, including improved memory in 9 (32.1%), improved mood in 12 (42.9%), improved behavior in 11 (39.3%), improved altertness in 12 (42.9%), improved achievement in 6 (21.4%), and improved verbal skills in 8 (28.6%). Adverse events included hoarseness in 7 patients, dyspnea at sleep in 2 patients, and wound infection in 1 patient, but all were transient and successfully managed by careful follow-up and adjustment of parameters. These results indicate that VNS is a safe and effective alternative therapy for pediatric refractory epilepsy, without significant adverse events

Genome-wide Association Study of Integrated Meat Quality-related Traits of the Duroc Pig Breed

The increasing importance of meat quality has implications for animal breeding programs. Research has revealed much about the genetic background of pigs, and many studies have revealed the importance of various genetic factors. Since meat quality is a complex trait which is affected by many factors, consideration of the overall phenotype is very useful to study meat quality. For integrating the phenotypes, we used principle component analysis (PCA). The significant SNPs refer to results of the GRAMMAR method against PC1, PC2 and PC3 of 14 meat quality traits of 181 Duroc pigs. The Genome-wide association study (GWAS) found 26 potential SNPs affecting various meat quality traits. The loci identified are located in or near 23 genes. The SNPs associated with meat quality are in or near five genes (ANK1, BMP6, SHH, PIP4K2A, and FOXN2) and have been reported previously. Twenty-five of the significant SNPs also located in meat quality-related QTL regions, these result supported the QTL effect indirectly. Each single gene typically affects multiple traits. Therefore, it is a useful approach to use integrated traits for the various traits at the same time. This innovative approach using integrated traits could be applied on other GWAS of complex-traits including meat-quality, and the results will contribute to improving meat-quality of pork

Honeycomb oxide heterostructure: a new platform for Kitaev quantum spin liquid

Kitaev quantum spin liquid, massively quantum entangled states, is so scarce in nature that searching for new candidate systems remains a great challenge. Honeycomb heterostructure could be a promising route to realize and utilize such an exotic quantum phase by providing additional controllability of Hamiltonian and device compatibility, respectively. Here, we provide epitaxial honeycomb oxide thin film Na3Co2SbO6, a candidate of Kitaev quantum spin liquid proposed recently. We found a spin glass and antiferromagnetic ground states depending on Na stoichiometry, signifying not only the importance of Na vacancy control but also strong frustration in Na3Co2SbO6. Despite its classical ground state, the field-dependent magnetic susceptibility shows remarkable scaling collapse with a single critical exponent, which can be interpreted as evidence of quantum criticality. Its electronic ground state and derived spin Hamiltonian from spectroscopies are consistent with the predicted Kitaev model. Our work provides a unique route to the realization and utilization of Kitaev quantum spin liquid

Emphysematous Gastritis Associated with Invasive Gastric Mucormycosis: A Case Report

Emphysematous gastritis is a rare form of phlegmonous gastritis, characterized by air in the wall of the stomach due to invasion by gas-forming microorganisms. The most commonly involved microorganisms are streptococci, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Clostrodium perfrigens and Staphylococcus aureus. Gastrointestinal mucormycosis is another rare condition, which is most frequently occurs in the stomach. Because emphysematous gastritis associated with invasive gastric mucormycosis is an extremely rare clinical condition and both are life-threatening diseases, early precise diagnosis and early treatment should be done to avoid mortality. Herein we present an extremely rare case of emphysematous gastritis associated with invasive gastric mucormycosis. A 43-yr-old man, suffering from alcoholism and diabetes, has experienced diffuse abdominal pain for 4 days. Abdominal computed tomography scan demonstrated gas within the stomach wall. A histologic examination of the total gastrectomy specimen showed several gas-filled bubbles in the wall, along with numerous fungal hyphae throughout the necrotic stomach wall. He died of multiorgan failure secondary to disseminated mucormycosis, despite the intensive medical therapy

Advances in decomposing complex metabolite mixtures using substructure- and network-based computational metabolomics approaches

Covering: up to the end of 2020 Recently introduced computational metabolome mining tools have started to positively impact the chemical and biological interpretation of untargeted metabolomics analyses. We believe that these current advances make it possible to start decomposing complex metabolite mixtures into substructure and chemical class information, thereby supporting pivotal tasks in metabolomics analysis including metabolite annotation, the comparison of metabolic profiles, and network analyses. In this review, we highlight and explain key tools and emerging strategies covering 2015 up to the end of 2020. The majority of these tools aim at processing and analyzing liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry fragmentation data. We start with defining what substructures are, how they relate to molecular fingerprints, and how recognizing them helps to decompose complex mixtures. We continue with chemical classes that are based on the presence or absence of particular molecular scaffolds and/or functional groups and are thus intrinsically related to substructures. We discuss novel tools to mine substructures, annotate chemical compound classes, and create mass spectral networks from metabolomics data and demonstrate them using two case studies. We also review and speculate about the opportunities that NMR spectroscopy-based metabolome mining of complex metabolite mixtures offers to discover substructures and chemical classes. Finally, we will describe the main benefits and limitations of the current tools and strategies that rely on them, and our vision on how this exciting field can develop toward repository-scale-sized metabolomics analyses. Complementary sources of structural information from genomics analyses and well-curated taxonomic records are also discussed. Many research fields such as natural products discovery, pharmacokinetic and drug metabolism studies, and environmental metabolomics increasingly rely on untargeted metabolomics to gain biochemical and biological insights. The here described technical advances will benefit all those metabolomics disciplines by transforming spectral data into knowledge that can answer biological questions

Fabrication of a Multi-Walled Nanotube (MWNT) Ionic Liquid Electrode and Its Application for Sensing Phenolics in Red Wines

A multi-walled nanotube (MWNT) ionic liquid was prepared by the immobilization of 1-butylimidazole bromide onto an epoxy group on a poly(glycidyl methacrylate)-grafted MWNT, which was synthesized by radiation-induced graft polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate onto MWNT in an aqueous solution. Subsequently, a MWNT ionic liquid electrode was fabricated by hand-casting MWNT ionic liquid, tyrosinase, and chitosan solution as a binder on indium tin oxide (ITO) glass. The sensing ranges of the MWNT ionic liquid electrode with immobilized tyrosinase was in the range of 0.01-0.08 mM in a phosphate buffer solution. The optimal conditions such as pH, temperature, and effects of different phenolic compounds were determined. The total phenolic compounds of three commercial red wines were also determined on the tyrosinase-immobilized biosensor