The Flare and Warp of the Young Stellar Disk traced with LAMOST DR5 OB-type stars

We present analysis of the spatial density structure for the outer disk from 8$-$14 \,kpc with the LAMOST DR5 13534 OB-type stars and observe similar flaring on north and south sides of the disk implying that the flaring structure is symmetrical about the Galactic plane, for which the scale height at different Galactocentric distance is from 0.14 to 0.5 \,kpc. By using the average slope to characterize the flaring strength we find that the thickness of the OB stellar disk is similar but flaring is slightly stronger compared to the thin disk as traced by red giant branch stars, possibly implying that secular evolution is not the main contributor to the flaring but perturbation scenarios such as interactions with passing dwarf galaxies should be more possible. When comparing the scale height of OB stellar disk of the north and south sides with the gas disk, the former one is slightly thicker than the later one by $\approx$ 33 and 9 \,pc, meaning that one could tentatively use young OB-type stars to trace the gas properties. Meanwhile, we unravel that the radial scale length of the young OB stellar disk is 1.17 $\pm$ 0.05 \,kpc, which is shorter than that of the gas disk, confirming that the gas disk is more extended than stellar disk. What is more, by considering the mid-plane displacements ($Z_{0}$) in our density model we find that almost all of $Z_{0}$ are within 100 \,pc with the increasing trend as Galactocentric distance increases.Comment: 14 pages and 8 figures, Accepted by APJ for publicatio

Whole exome sequencing identifies frequent somatic mutations in cell-cell adhesion genes in chinese patients with lung squamous cell carcinoma

Lung squamous cell carcinoma (SQCC) accounts for about 30% of all lung cancer cases. Understanding of mutational landscape for this subtype of lung cancer in Chinese patients is currently limited. We performed whole exome sequencing in samples from 100 patients with lung SQCCs to search for somatic mutations and the subsequent target capture sequencing in another 98 samples for validation. We identified 20 significantly mutated genes, including TP53, CDH10, NFE2L2 and PTEN. Pathways with frequently mutated genes included those of cell-cell adhesion/Wnt/Hippo in 76%, oxidative stress response in 21%, and phosphatidylinositol-3-OH kinase in 36% of the tested tumor samples. Mutations of Chromatin regulatory factor genes were identified at a lower frequency. In functional assays, we observed that knockdown of CDH10 promoted cell proliferation, soft-agar colony formation, cell migration and cell invasion, and overexpression of CDH10 inhibited cell proliferation. This mutational landscape of lung SQCC in Chinese patients improves our current understanding of lung carcinogenesis, early diagnosis and personalized therapy

Вихретоковый анизотропный термоэлектрический первичный преобразователь лучистого потока

Представлена оригинальная конструкция первичного преобразователя лучистого потока, который может служить основой для создания приемника неселективного излучения с повышенной чувствительностью

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

台灣香蕉市場結構之分析

本文之研究目的有下列四點： 一、瞭解台灣香蕉市場結構之特性。 二、分析影響台灣香蕉市場結構之因素。 三、研究台灣香蕉市場結構、市場行為與市場業績間之關係。 四、探討台灣香蕉市場結構合理化之途徑。 本文之研究結果為： 一、台灣香蕉之產地市場為買方有較大議價能力之市場，零批及零售市場賣方有較大 之議價能力，日本市場為雙方寡占市場，雙方議價能力相當。 二、日本之香蕉進口政策，台灣之香蕉出口政策及國際性大企業之合作可影響日本之 香蕉市場結構。公共設施，如農產品行情報導站的成立，產地及批發市場的設立等， 皆能使台灣香蕉市場結構更富競爭性。 三、在日本市場台蕉由獨占日本市場演變成目前的雙方寡占，其市場之業績是由有利 於我方蕉農演變到有利日本之消費者。在國內市場方面由於公共設施之增強使得市場 更富競爭性，其市場業績也較理想。也即是農民所占的消費者元的比例提高或消費者 的效用提高。 四、由於香蕉之零批階段少有經由批發市場批發，故鼓勵香蕉進入批發市場交易為解 決香蕉批發商壟斷市場之最有效的方法。而由制定農產品之交易法，正可解決此一問 題

TFIIB-related factor 2 over expression is a prognosis marker for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer correlated with tumor angiogenesis.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine BRF2 expression in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and explore the relationship of BRF2 protein with clinicopathologic factors, tumor angiogenesis and prognosis. METHODS: Both BRF2 protein and intratumoral microvessels were examined by immunohistochemical staining in 107 non-small cell lung cancer patients. Intratumoral microvessel density (MVD) was measured by counting CD-34 positive immunostained endothelial cells. Western blot and RT-PCR analyses were utilized to investigate the BRF2 expression status in tissues. RESULTS: A notably higher level of BRF2 expression was found in NSCLC tissues at protein levels. In addition, univariate and multivariate analysis demonstrated that BRF2 protein over-expression and high MVD were significantly associated with tumor relapse. Although BRF2 overexpression and high MVD indicated poor 5-year overall survival (p = 0.004 and p = 0.019, respectively), multivariate analysis demonstrated that only BRF2 overexpression was an independent prognostic factor for unfavorable overall survival (P = 0.021). CONCLUSIONS: BRF2 is a promising biomarker to identify individuals with poor prognostic potential and a possible target for anti-angiogenic therapy for patients with early-stage NSCLC

Expression of MiR-608 in Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer and Molecular Mechanism of Apoptosis and Migration of A549 Cells

Objective. This Work is aimed at exploring the effect of microRNA (MiR)-608 on the function of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) A549 cells and related mechanisms. Methods. Blood samples of 106 NSCLC patients (experimental group) as well as 124 normal people (control group) were selected for relevant investigation. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as well as DNA sequencing was used to determine the genotyping of the MiR-608 rs4919510 polymorphism. MiR-608 expression in cells was detected by real-time PCR technology. Western blotting was used to detect changes in protein levels. NSCLC tissues as well as adjacent tissues were explored in 33 patients undergoing surgery. Results. MiR-608 rs4919510 does not influence the incidence of NSCLC patients. In addition, MiR-608 expression was downregulated in the tumor tissue of NSCLC patients, while the transcription factor activating enhancer-binding protein 4 (TFAP4) expression was upregulated. MiR-608 promotes DOX- (Doxorubicin-) induced apoptosis by negatively regulating TFAP4 expression in NSCLC tissue. TFAP4 can significantly inhibit the migration of A549 cells. Conclusion. The findings in this investigation can contribute to the effective treatment of NSCLC patients. Also, the investigation can provide some theoretical support for the application of new targets for NSCLC treatment

Investigating the effects of food available and climatic variables on the animal host density of hemorrhagic Fever with renal syndrome in changsha, china.

BACKGROUND: The transmission of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is influenced by population dynamics of its main host, rodents. It is therefore important to better understand rodents' characteristic in epidemic areas. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We examined the potential impact of food available and climatic variability on HFRS rodent host and developed forecasting models. Monthly rodent density of HFRS host and climate data in Changsha from January 2004 to December 2011 were obtained. Monthly normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and temperature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) for rice paddies were extracted from MODIS data. Cross-correlation analysis were carried out to explore correlation between climatic variables and food available with monthly rodent data. We used auto-regressive integrated moving average model with explanatory variables to examine the independent contribution of climatic variables and food supply to rodent density. The results indicated that relative rodent density of HFRS host was significantly correlated with monthly mean temperatures, monthly accumulative precipitation, TVDI and NDVI with lags of 1-6 months. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Food available plays a significant role in population fluctuations of HFRS host in Changsha. The model developed in this study has implications for HFRS control and prevention