No thick carbon dioxide atmosphere on the rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 c

Seven rocky planets orbit the nearby dwarf star TRAPPIST-1, providing a unique opportunity to search for atmospheres on small planets outside the Solar System (Gillon et al., 2017). Thanks to the recent launch of JWST, possible atmospheric constituents such as carbon dioxide (CO2) are now detectable (Morley et al., 2017, Lincowski et al., 2018}. Recent JWST observations of the innermost planet TRAPPIST-1 b showed that it is most probably a bare rock without any CO2 in its atmosphere (Greene et al., 2023). Here we report the detection of thermal emission from the dayside of TRAPPIST-1 c with the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) on JWST at 15 micron. We measure a planet-to-star flux ratio of fp/fs = 421 +/- 94 parts per million (ppm) which corresponds to an inferred dayside brightness temperature of 380 +/- 31 K. This high dayside temperature disfavours a thick, CO2-rich atmosphere on the planet. The data rule out cloud-free O2/CO2 mixtures with surface pressures ranging from 10 bar (with 10 ppm CO2) to 0.1 bar (pure CO2). A Venus-analogue atmosphere with sulfuric acid clouds is also disfavoured at 2.6 sigma confidence. Thinner atmospheres or bare-rock surfaces are consistent with our measured planet-to-star flux ratio. The absence of a thick, CO2-rich atmosphere on TRAPPIST-1 c suggests a relatively volatile-poor formation history, with less than 9.5 +7.5 -2.3 Earth oceans of water. If all planets in the system formed in the same way, this would indicate a limited reservoir of volatiles for the potentially habitable planets in the system.Comment: Published in Nature on June 19th. 2023, 10 figures, 4 table

ACT001 improved cardiovascular function in septic mice by inhibiting the production of proinflammatory cytokines and the expression of JAK-STAT signaling pathway

Sepsis is a life-threatening multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) caused by a microbial infection that leads to high morbidity and mortality worldwide. Sepsis-induced cardiomyopathy (SIC) and coagulopathy promote the progression of adverse outcomes in sepsis. Here, we reported that ACT001, a modified compound of parthenolide, improved the survival of sepsis mice. In this work, we used cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) model to induce SIC. Transthoracic echocardiography and HE staining assays were adopted to evaluate the influence of ACT001 on sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction. Our results showed that ACT001 significantly improved heart function and reduced SIC. Coagulation accelerates organ damage in sepsis. We found that ACT001 decreased blood clotting in the FeCl3-induced carotid artery thrombosis experiment. ACT001 also reduced the production of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs). RNA-sequencing of heart tissues revealed that ACT001 significantly downregulated the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the JAK-STAT signaling pathway. These results were confirmed with real-time PCR and ELISA. In summary, we found ACT001 rescued mice from septic shock by protecting the cardiovascular system. This was partially mediated by inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokine production and down-regulating the JAK-STAT signaling

Deep learning approaches to predict drug responses in cancer using a multi-omics approach

Cancers are genetically heterogeneous, and therefore the same anti-cancer drug may have varying degrees of effectiveness on patients due to their different genetic profiles. Oftentimes, it is a trial and error process and patients have to try many different anti-cancers drugs that not are only ineffective, but also have significant side effects before finding one that is effective. The mechanisms of cancers are also an extremely complex, with many biological factors all contributing to their development, so we decided to take a multi-omics approach where we integrated multiple types of omics data in order to provide a more holistic molecular perspective on pharmacogenetics cancer research. With the development of deep learning, we have been able tackle the large amounts of complex omics data that is extremely challenging to process with conventional analytical methods, and the main objective of this project is to use deep learning to predict the response of tumours to different anticancer drugs using a multi-omics approach. So that doctors will be able to take a more customized approach to prescribe anti-cancer drugs that are likely to be more effective.Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Science

Treatment and follow-up of children with common chronic liver diseases in children

Chronic liver diseases in children greatly affect their growth and development and quality of life in future. There are many causes of chronic liver diseases in children, and such causes, diet, and treatment guidance are closely associated with prognosis. This article discusses the guidance and follow-up of common chronic liver diseases in children, such as infantile cholestatic liver disease, chronic hepatitis B, hepatolenticular degeneration, and nonalcoholic fatter liver disease, in order to deepen the understanding of these diseases among patients, raise the awareness of follow-up in medical staff, and improve the cure rate of liver diseases with different causes and children’s quality of life

Potential Atmospheric Compositions of TRAPPIST-1 c Constrained by JWST/MIRI Observations at 15 μm

The first James Webb Space Telescope observations of TRAPPIST-1 c showed a secondary eclipse depth of 421 ± 94 ppm at 15 μ m, which is consistent with a bare rock surface or a thin, O _2 -dominated, low-CO _2 atmosphere. Here we further explore potential atmospheres for TRAPPIST-1 c by comparing the observed secondary eclipse depth to synthetic spectra of a broader range of plausible environments. To self-consistently incorporate the impact of photochemistry and atmospheric composition on atmospheric thermal structure and predicted eclipse depth, we use a two-column climate model coupled to a photochemical model and simulate O _2 -dominated, Venus-like, and steam atmospheres. We find that a broader suite of plausible atmospheric compositions are also consistent with the data. For lower-pressure atmospheres (0.1 bar), our O _2 –CO _2 atmospheres produce eclipse depths within 1 σ of the data, consistent with the modeling results of Zieba et al. However, for higher-pressure atmospheres, our models produce different temperature–pressure profiles and are less pessimistic, with 1–10 bar O _2 , 100 ppm CO _2 models within 2.0 σ –2.2 σ of the measured secondary eclipse depth and up to 0.5% CO _2 within 2.9 σ . Venus-like atmospheres are still unlikely. For thin O _2 atmospheres of 0.1 bar with a low abundance of CO _2 (∼100 ppm), up to 10% water vapor can be present and still provide an eclipse depth within 1 σ of the data. We compared the TRAPPIST-1 c data to modeled steam atmospheres of ≤3 bars, which are 1.7 σ –1.8 σ from the data and not conclusively ruled out. More data will be required to discriminate between possible atmospheres or more definitively support the bare rock hypothesis

Shuxuening injection facilitates neurofunctional recovery via down-regulation of G-CSF-mediated granulocyte adhesion and diapedesis pathway in a subacute stroke mouse model

Post-stroke neural damage is a serious health concern which does not yet have an effective treatment. We have shown previously that Shuxuening injection (SXNI), a Ginkgo biloba extract-based natural medicine, protects brain after an acute ischemic stroke, but its efficacy for post-stroke recovery is not known. This study was to investigate whether SXNI can improve the prognosis of stroke at a subacute phase. Mice with cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury (CIRI) were established by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO), and drugs or saline were injected by the tail vein every 12 h after reperfusion. The therapeutic effect of SXNI was evaluated by survival rate, modified neurologic severity scores (mNSS), open-field test, locomotive gait patterns, cerebral infarction volume, brain edema and histopathological changes. Subsequently, a combined method of RNA-seq and Ingenuity® Pathway Analysis (IPA) was performed to identify key targets and pathways of SXNI facilitating the prognosis of stroke in mouse brain. The results of the transcriptome analysis were verified by real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), western blot (WB) and immunohistochemistry (IHC). The experimental results showed that in the new subacute stroke model, SXNI markedly improves the survival rate, neurological and motor functions and histopathological changes, and significantly reduces cerebral infarction and edema volume. RNA-seq analysis of subacute stroke mice with or without SXNI (3 mL/kg) indicated 963 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with a fold change ≥ 1.5 and a P-value ≤ 0.01. IPA analysis of DEGs showed that granulocyte adhesion and diapedesis ranked first in the pathway ranking, and the most critical gene regulated by SXNI was G-csf. Simultaneously, RT-PCR, ELISA, WB and IHC results demonstrated that SXNI not only obviously reduced the mRNA expression levels of key genes G-csf, Sele and Mac-1 in this pathway, but also significantly decreased the protein expression levels of G-CSF in serum and E-selectin and MAC-1 in brain tissues. In summary, our research suggested that SXNI can exert a remarkable neurofunctional therapeutic effect on stroke mice via down-regulating G-CSF to inhibit granulocyte adhesion and diapedesis. This study provides experimental evidence that SXNI may fulfill the need for stroke medicine targeting specifically at the recovery stage