FAST–ASKAP Synergy: Quantifying Coexistent Tidal and Ram Pressure Strippings in the NGC 4636 Group

Combining new HI data from a synergetic survey of ASKAP WALLABY and FAST with the ALFALFA data, we study the effect of ram pressure and tidal interactions in the NGC 4636 group. We develop two parameters to quantify and disentangle these two effects on gas stripping in HI-bearing galaxies: the strength of external forces at the optical-disk edge, and the outside-in extents of HI-disk stripping. We find that gas stripping is widespread in this group, affecting 80% of HI-detected non-merging galaxies, and that 41% are experiencing both types of stripping. Among the galaxies experiencing both effects, the two types of strengths are independent, while two HI-stripping extents moderately anticorrelate with each other. Both strengths are correlated with HI-disk shrinkage. The tidal strength is related to a rather uniform reddening of low-mass galaxies (M

Responsiveness of voltage-gated calcium channels in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells on quasi-three-dimensional micropatterns formed with poly (l-lactic acid)

Introduction: In this study, quasi-three-dimensional (3D) microwell patterns were fabricated with poly (l-lactic acid) for the development of cell-based assays, targeting voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs). Methods and materials: SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells were interfaced with the microwell patterns and found to grow as two dimensional (2D), 3D, and near two dimensional (N2D), categorized on the basis of the cells’ location in the pattern. The capability of the microwell patterns to support 3D cell growth was evaluated in terms of the percentage of the cells in each growth category. Cell spreading was analyzed in terms of projection areas under light microscopy. SH-SY5Y cells’ VGCC responsiveness was evaluated with confocal microscopy and a calcium fluorescent indicator, Calcium GreenTM-1. The expression of L-type calcium channels was evaluated using immunofluorescence staining with DM-BODIPY. Results: It was found that cells within the microwells, either N2D or 3D, showed more rounded shapes and less projection areas than 2D cells on flat poly (l-lactic acid) substrates. Also, cells in microwells showed a significantly lower VGCC responsiveness than cells on flat substrates, in terms of both response magnitudes and percentages of responsive cells, upon depolarization with 50 mM K+. This lower VGCC responsiveness could not be explained by the difference in L-type calcium channel expression. For the two patterns addressed in this study, N2D cells consistently exhibited an intermediate value of either projection areas or VGCC responsiveness between those for 2D and 3D cells, suggesting a correlative relation between cell morphology and VGCC responsiveness. Conclusion: These results suggest that the pattern structure and therefore the cell growth characteristics were critical factors in determining cell VGCC responsiveness and thus provide an approach for engineering cell functionality in cell-based assay systems and tissue engineering scaffolds

Relationship and prognostic significance of SPARC and VEGF protein expression in colon cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>SPARC (secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine) is closely related with the progress, invasion and metastasis of malignant tumor and angiogenesis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using human colon adenocarcinoma tissues (hereinafter referred to as colon cancer) and their corresponding non-diseased colon from 114 patients' biopsies, the expression of SPARC and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were investigated by immunohistochemistry staining to assessment the relationship between SPARC and VEGF, as well as their prognostic significance in patients. Evaluation of VEGF expression level with the same tissues was used to establish the antigenic profiles, and the marker of CD34 staining was used as an indicator of microvessel density (MVD).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>SPARC expression was mainly in the stromal cells surrounding the colon cancer, and was significant difference in those tissues with the lymph node metastasis and differentiation degree of tumor. Expression of SPARC was significantly correlated with the expression of VEGF and MVD in colon cancer tissues. Patients with low or absence expressing SPARC had significantly worse overall survival and disease-free survival in a Single Factor Analysis; Cox Regression Analysis, SPARC emerged as an overall survival and disease-free survival independent prognostic factor for colon cancer.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The low expression or absence of stromal SPARC was an independent prognostic factor for poor prognosis of colon cancer. SPARC maybe involved in the regulation of anti-angiogenesis by which it may serve as a novel target for colon cancer treatment as well as a novel distinctive marker.</p

Dissociative adsorption of pyrrole on Si(111)-(7×7)

Pyrrole adsorption on Si(111)-(7×7) has been investigated using high-resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS), thermal desorption spectroscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and theoretical calculations. Compared to physisorbed pyrrole, chemisorption leads to the appearance of N–Si and Si–H vibrational features, together with the absence of N–H stretching mode. This clearly demonstrates the dissociative nature of pyrrole chemically binding on Si(111)-(7×7) through the breakage of N–H bond. Based on STM results, the resulting fragments of pyrrolyl and H atom are proposed to bind with an adatom and an adjacent rest atom, respectively. The STM images further reveal that the adsorption is site selective. The faulted center adatoms are most favored, followed by unfaulted center adatoms, faulted corner adatoms, and unfaulted corner adatoms. In addition, the chainlike pattern of reacted adatoms was observed, implying the possible existence of attractive interaction between adsorbed pyrrolyl and the precursor state. Theoretical calculation confirms that the dissociative adsorption with pyrrolyl bonded to an adatom and H atom to an adjacent rest atom is energetically favored compared to the associative cycloaddition involving the two alpha-carbon atoms of pyrrole and an adatom–rest atom pair. ©2003 American Institute of Physics

Genetic map of Triticum turgidum based on a hexaploid wheat population without genetic recombination for D genome

BACKGROUND: A synthetic doubled-haploid hexaploid wheat population, SynDH1, derived from the spontaneous chromosome doubling of triploid F(1) hybrid plants obtained from the cross of hybrids Triticum turgidum ssp. durum line Langdon (LDN) and ssp. turgidum line AS313, with Aegilops tauschii ssp. tauschii accession AS60, was previously constructed. SynDH1 is a tetraploidization-hexaploid doubled haploid (DH) population because it contains recombinant A and B chromosomes from two different T. turgidum genotypes, while all the D chromosomes from Ae. tauschii are homogenous across the whole population. This paper reports the construction of a genetic map using this population. RESULTS: Of the 606 markers used to assemble the genetic map, 588 (97%) were assigned to linkage groups. These included 513 Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) markers, 72 simple sequence repeat (SSR), one insertion site-based polymorphism (ISBP), and two high-molecular-weight glutenin subunit (HMW-GS) markers. These markers were assigned to the 14 chromosomes, covering 2048.79 cM, with a mean distance of 3.48 cM between adjacent markers. This map showed good coverage of the A and B genome chromosomes, apart from 3A, 5A, 6A, and 4B. Compared with previously reported maps, most shared markers showed highly consistent orders. This map was successfully used to identify five quantitative trait loci (QTL), including two for spikelet number on chromosomes 7A and 5B, two for spike length on 7A and 3B, and one for 1000-grain weight on 4B. However, differences in crossability QTL between the two T. turgidum parents may explain the segregation distortion regions on chromosomes 1A, 3B, and 6B. CONCLUSIONS: A genetic map of T. turgidum including 588 markers was constructed using a synthetic doubled haploid (SynDH) hexaploid wheat population. Five QTLs for three agronomic traits were identified from this population. However, more markers are needed to increase the density and resolution of this map in the future study

Liquefaction structures induced by the M5.7 earthquake on May 28, 2018 in Songyuan, Jilin Province, NE China and research implication

Acknowledgements Many thanks to Yang Wang, Wei Chen and Dong-Hao Peng from Jilin Oilfield for their help in the field investigation. We thank Dr. Lv Wang from Monash University and Dr. Gail Maxwell from the University of Aberdeen for their valuable advice on sedimentology, and we also thank Dr. Gui-Dong Ping and Dr. Zhao-Han Xie for the discussion we had about the regional tectonic stress field. We are grateful to Professor Zeng-Zhao Feng, editors and two anonymous reviewers for their editorial work and many constructive comments and suggestions that greatly improved this manuscript. Funding This study is supported by the “Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province (No. JJ2016ZR0573)”, “Youth Foundation of Northeast Petroleum University (No. NEPUBS201503)”, “Northeast Petroleum University Scientific Research Start-up Fund”, “Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Depositional Mineralization and Mineral Foundation (No. DMSMZO17009)”, and “Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (No. ZR2016DB15)”. Authors’ contributions ZFS applied for the funding, performed the research, analyzed the data, compiled a few figures and wrote the manuscript. JHZ designed the work, took part in the field trip and interpreted the data. JH interpreted part of the data and revised the manuscript. BH took part in the field trip, collected data and compiled Fig. 5. XWL interpreted part of the data and revised the manuscript. ZXL collected papers and completed some figures. WMR collected some data and compiled Fig. 2. YFZ, HQY, and JLL interpreted some of the data. LTN and GXS took part in fieldwork and collected data. JJL, WXZ and BZ interpreted some data and compiled some figures. All authors approved the final manuscript. Availability of data and materials All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article. Additional data related to this paper can be requested from the corresponding author.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Reversible and time-dependent inhibition of CYP3A4-mediated nifedipine oxidation by noscapine

Substrate-dependent inhibition of CYP3A4 might influence the extrapolation of drug interactions from the in vitro to in vivo situation. The aim of the present study is to investigate reversible and time-dependent inhibition of CYP3A4-mediated nifedipine oxidation by noscapine. Furthermore, in vitroin vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) was performed using in vitro parameters. The results showed that CYP3A4- mediated nifedipine oxidation activity was strongly inhibited with an IC50 of 25.7 ± 5.4 μM. Kinetic analysis showed that inhibition of CYP3A4-mediated nifedipine oxidation by noscapine was best fit to a noncompetitive manner with Ki value of 10.9 μM. IC50 shift experiment showed that IC50 was significantly decreased from 25.7 ± 5.4 μM to 0.34 ± 0.07 μM after pre-incubation with noscapine for 30 min, which indicated that time-dependent inhibition existed for inhibition of CYP3A4 by noscapine. The AUC of (R)- warfarin was predicted to increase by 0.5 % using Cmax or 0.2 % using unbound Cmax with reversible inhibition prediction equation, while the AUC of (R)-warfarin was estimated to increase by 23.1 % using Cmax or 10.4 % using unbound Cmax with TDI prediction equation. Inhibition of CYP3A4 by noscapine showed substrate-dependent inhibition behaviour. However, the results obtained from IVIVE are very similar using testosterone or nifedipine as probe substrates.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire

A universal programmable Gaussian Boson Sampler for drug discovery

Gaussian Boson Sampling (GBS) exhibits a unique ability to solve graph problems, such as finding cliques in complex graphs. It is noteworthy that many drug discovery tasks can be viewed as the clique-finding process, making them potentially suitable for quantum computation. However, to perform these tasks in their quantum-enhanced form, a large-scale quantum hardware with universal programmability is essential, which is yet to be achieved even with the most advanced GBS devices. Here, we construct a time-bin encoded GBS photonic quantum processor that is universal, programmable, and software-scalable. Our processor features freely adjustable squeezing parameters and can implement arbitrary unitary operations with a programmable interferometer. Using our processor, we have demonstrated the clique-finding task in a 32-node graph, where we found the maximum weighted clique with approximately twice the probability of success compared to classical sampling. Furthermore, a multifunctional quantum pharmaceutical platform is developed. This GBS processor is successfully used to execute two different drug discovery methods, namely molecular docking and RNA folding prediction. Our work achieves the state-of-the-art in GBS circuitry with its distinctive universal and programmable architecture which advances GBS towards real-world applications.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure