Does a low solar cycle minimum hint at a weak upcoming cycle?

The maximum amplitude (Rm) of a solar cycle, in the term of mean sunspot numbers, is well-known to be positively correlated with the preceding minimum (Rmin). So far as the long term trend is concerned, a low level of Rmin tends to be followed by a weak Rm, and vice versa. In this paper, we found that the evidence is insufficient to infer a very weak Cycle 24 from the very low Rmin in the preceding cycle. This is concluded by analyzing the correlation in the temporal variations of parameters for two successive cycles.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Accepted by RA

A Case Study on Idiopathic Orbital Pseudotumor: Surgery and Steroid Treatment

This is a case study of five isolated orbital nerve inflammatory pseudotumor cases presenting with protrusion and visual acuity of the right eye. Optic disk edema was observed by ophthalmoscopy. Plain and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were used to examine the orbital fat and enlargement of the right optic nerve sheath along with orbital magnetic resonance imaging diagnostic test. The visual acuity (VA) of all the admitted patients was 1.5/20. All the patients reported attacks of retrobulbar pain and severe headache at fairly regular intervals. The patients on clinical examination were found to have protrusion, reduced visual acuity of the right eye with an ipsilateral afferent pupillary defect. There was no motility of the right eye and the exophthalmos of the right part was 27 mm. On examination, patients were diagnosed to have idiopathic orbital inflammation and received steroid therapy for 6 months. Thereafter, patients received surgical treatment to remove the superior wall of the orbit followed by cortisone therapy for a further 6 months. The follow-up examination of the patients for one year revealed a gradual improvement in the vision of all the patients. The VA of the right eye for all the patients was 6/20, and the exophthalmos was now around 19 mm. Thus, a dramatic response to surgery and steroid treatment was observed in all the patients.Keywords: Orbital fat, Visual acuity, Optic disk edema, Optic nerve, Cortisone therap

Accumulation of phenanthrene by roots of intact wheat (Triticum acstivnm L.) seedlings: passive or active uptake?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are of particular concern due to their hydrophobic, recalcitrant, persistent, potentially carcinogenic, mutagenic and toxic properties, and their ubiquitous occurrence in the environment. Most of the PAHs in the environment are present in surface soil. Plants grown in PAH-contaminated soils or water can become contaminated with PAHs because of their uptake. Therefore, they may threaten human and animal health. However, the mechanism for PAHs uptake by crop roots is little understood. It is important to understand exactly how PAHs are transported into the plant root system and into the human food chain, since it is beneficial in governing crop contamination by PAHs, remedying soils or waters polluted by PAHs with plants, and modeling potential uptake for risk assessment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The possibility that plant roots may take up phenanthrene (PHE), a representative of PAHs, via active process was investigated using intact wheat (<it>Triticum acstivnm L</it>.) seedlings in a series of hydroponic experiments. The time course for PHE uptake into wheat roots grown in Hoagland solution containing 5.62 μM PHE for 36 h could be separated into two periods: a fast uptake process during the initial 2 h and a slow uptake component thereafter. Concentration-dependent PHE uptake was characterized by a smooth, saturable curve with an apparent <it>K</it>_mof 23.7 μM and a <it>V</it>_maxof 208 nmol g^-1fresh weight h^-1, suggesting a carrier-mediated uptake system. Competition between PHE and naphthalene for their uptake by the roots further supported the carrier-mediated uptake system. Low temperature and 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) could inhibit PHE uptake equally, indicating that metabolism plays a role in PHE uptake. The inhibitions by low temperature and DNP were strengthened with increasing concentration of PHE in external solution within PHE water solubility (7.3 μM). The contribution of active uptake to total absorption was almost 40% within PHE water solubility. PHE uptake by wheat roots caused an increase in external solution pH, implying that wheat roots take up PHE via a PHE/nH⁺symport system.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is concluded that an active, carrier-mediated and energy-consuming influx process is involved in the uptake of PHE by plant roots.</p

Polyketides from the Halotolerant Fungus Myrothecium sp. GS-17

Two new polyketides, myrothecol (1) and 5-hydroxy-3-methyl-4-(1- hydroxylethyl)-furan-2(5H)-one (2), were isolated from the fermentation broth of the halotolerant fungus Myrothecium sp. GS-17 along with three known compounds, 5-hydroxyl-3-[(1S)-1-hydroxyethyl]-4-methylfuran-2(5H)-one (3), 3,5-dimethyl-4- hydroxylmethyl-5-methoxyfuran-2(5H)-one (4), and 3,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxymethyl-5- hydroxyfuran-2(5H)-one (5). Compound 1 is the first natural occurring polyketide with a unique furylisobenzofuran skeleton. The structures of these compounds were established via extensive spectroscopic analyses including 1D-, 2D-NMR, HRESI-MS, and crystal X-ray diffraction analysis

Treatment of osteonecrosis of femoral head with BMSCs-seeded bio-derived bone materials combined with rhBMP-2 in rabbits

ObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) seeded bio-derived bone materials (BBM) combined with recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) in repairing defect of osteonecrosis of femoral head (ONFH).MethodsEarly-stage osteonecrosis in the left hip was induced in 36 adult New Zealand white rabbits (provided by the Animal Center of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China) after core decompression and delivery of liquid nitrogen into the femoral head. Then the animals were divided into three groups according to the type of implants for bone repair: 12 rabbits with nothing (Group I, the blank control group), 12 with BBM combined with rhBMP-2 (Group II), and 12 with BMSCs-seeded BBM combined with rhBMP-2 (Group III). At 4, 8, and 12 weeks after surgery, X-ray of the femoral head of every 4 rabbits in each group was taken, and then they were killed and the femoral heads were collected at each time point, respectively. Gross observation was made on the femoral heads. After hematoxylin and eosin staining, Lane-sandhu scores of X-ray and bone densitometry were calculated and the histomorphometric measurements were made for the new bone trabeculae.ResultsAt 12 weeks after surgery, two femoral heads collapsed in Group I, but none in Group II or Group III. X-ray examination showed that the femoral heads in Group I had defect shadow or collapsed while those in Group II had a low density and those in Group III presented with a normal density. Histologically, the defects of femoral heads were primarily filled with no new bone but fibrous tissues in Group I. In contrast, new bone regeneration and fibrous tissues occurred in Group II and only new bone regeneration occurrd in Group III. Lane-sandhu scores of X-ray, bone mineral density and rate of new bone in trabecular area in Group III were higher significantly than those of the other two groups.ConclusionsOur findings indicate a superior choice of repairing the experimental defect of ONFH with BMSCs-seeded BBM combined with rhBMP-2

Synthesis and Evaluation of Novel Organogermanium Sesquioxides As Antitumor Agents

Five new organogermanium sesquioxides have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis and IR spectra. All the compounds were tested for antitumor activities against KB, HCT, and Bel cells in vitro. Compound 5 (γ-thiocarbamido propyl germanium sesquioxide) showed excellent antitumor activity, and its inhibition yield to KB, HCT, and Bel cells was 92.9%, 84.9%, and 70.9%, respectively. A rapid method was described for the labeling compound 5 with 99mTc, and the optimum labeling conditions were investigated. The labeling yield is above 90% in pH 7.0, 20°C, reaction time greater than 10 minutes, 1 mg of compound 5, and 0.075∼0.1 mg of SnCl2. The biodistribution of 99mTc labeled compound 5 in nude mice bearing human colonic xenografts was studied. The result showed that the tumor uptakes were 0.73, 0.97, 0.87, and 0.62 ID%/g at 1-hour, 3-hour, 6-hour, and 20-hour postinjection, respectively. T/NT (the uptake ratio for per gram of tumor over normal tissues) was 18.3 for tumor versus brain and 5.81 for tumor versus muscle at 20-hour postinjection. The tumor clearance was slow. The results showed that compound 5 may be developed to be a suitable cancer therapeutic agent

Signature of same-sign top pair production mediated by a nonuniversal Z′Z^\prime with QCD next-to-leading accuracy at the LHC

We present a detailed study of the same-sign top pair production mediated by a non-universal $Z^\prime$ including production and decay at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the QCD next-to-leading order (NLO) level, using the narrow width approximation and helicity amplitudes method. We find that the QCD NLO corrections can loose the constraint on the model parameters and reduce the dependence of the total cross sections on the factorization scale significantly. We also study the signature and backgrounds of the process at the NLO level. In order to suppress the backgrounds, we further investigate the difference between the production rates of the positively and negatively charged dilepton at the LHC, and find that the same-sign dilepton signal of the new physics could be discovered more easily.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, 2 table. final version in PRD. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1103.512

Quality test of clamping connection of transmission lines across tensile line

This paper develops a new technology for the quality inspection of the transmission line that is important across the tensile clamp. The new technology mainly based on the ultrasonic pulse echo thickness measurement mechanism tests the thickness of the aluminum sleeve after crimping the tensile clamp to reflect the relative position of the aluminum sleeve and the steel anchor after the crimping, thereby judging whether there is a crimping positioning defect. At the same time, it is supplemented by steel anchor model comparison, crimping position length comparison, and crimping to margin detection to determine whether the transmission line crimping quality is qualified