Density functional theory for freezing transition of vortex-line liquid with periodic layer pinning

By the density functional theory for crystallization, it is shown that for vortex lines in an underlying layered structure a smectic phase with period m=2 can be stabilized by strong layer pinning. The freezing of vortex liquid is then two-step, a second-order liquid-smectic transition and a first-order smectic-lattice transition. DFT also indicates that a direct, first-order liquid-lattice transition preempts the smectic order with m>2 irrespectively of the pinning strength. Possible H-T phase diagrams are mapped out. Implications of the DFT results to the interlayer Josephson vortex system in high-Tc cuprates are given.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, references adde

Maternal High-Fat Diet Promotes the Development and Progression of Prostate Cancer in Transgenic Adenocarcinoma Mouse Prostate Offspring

Background/Aims: We aim to investigate the impact of maternal high fat diet (HFD) on the development and progression of prostate cancer (PCa) in transgenic adenocarcinoma mouse prostate (TRAMP) offspring. Methods: The TRAMP model was used, and divided into maternal HFD group and normal diet (ND) group in the present study. Each group contained 36 TRAMP mice. Serum levels of leptin, adiponectin, interleukin (IL) -1α, IL-1β, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-α and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 were measured by the 20th, 24th and 28th week old through ProcartaPlex Multiplex Immunoassay. Body fat ratio was measured by MiniQMR. Tumor formation rate was measured through hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining, and mortality rate was measured meantime. Western blot was applied to determine the levels of Protein Kinase B (Akt) and Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN). Results: The mortality rate of maternal HFD group was significantly higher than that of ND group (P = 0.046). The tumor formation rate was significantly higher in maternal HFD group than in ND group only in 20th week subgroup (P = 0.040). A significant increase of leptin was seen in maternal HFD 20th and 24th week subgroups (P = 0.001 and < 0.001, respectively) and a decrease of adiponectin was seen in maternal HFD 20th and 28th week subgroups (P =0.006 and < 0.001, respectively). Besides, an activated phos-Akt (P-Akt) and deactivated PTEN were observed in maternal HFD group. Conclusions: Maternal HFD could increase the standard serum leptin level, inhibit the expression of PTEN protein, promote P-Akt protein expression, activate the PI3K/Akt pathway, and ultimately promote the development and progression of PCa in TRAMP offspring

Auxin response factor 6A regulates photosynthesis, sugar accumulation, and fruit development in tomato.

Auxin response factors (ARFs) are involved in auxin-mediated transcriptional regulation in plants. In this study, we performed functional characterization of SlARF6A in tomato. SlARF6A is located in the nucleus and exhibits transcriptional activator activity. Overexpression of SlARF6A increased chlorophyll contents in the fruits and leaves of tomato plants, whereas downregulation of SlARF6A decreased chlorophyll contents compared with those of wild-type (WT) plants. Analysis of chloroplasts using transmission electron microscopy indicated increased sizes of chloroplasts in SlARF6A-overexpressing plants and decreased numbers of chloroplasts in SlARF6A-downregulated plants. Overexpression of SlARF6A increased the photosynthesis rate and accumulation of starch and soluble sugars, whereas knockdown of SlARF6A resulted in opposite phenotypes in tomato leaves and fruits. RNA-sequence analysis showed that regulation of SlARF6A expression altered the expression of genes involved in chlorophyll metabolism, photosynthesis and sugar metabolism. SlARF6A directly bound to the promoters of SlGLK1, CAB, and RbcS genes and positively regulated the expression of these genes. Overexpression of SlARF6A also inhibited fruit ripening and ethylene production, whereas downregulation of SlARF6A increased fruit ripening and ethylene production. SlARF6A directly bound to the SAMS1 promoter and negatively regulated SAMS1 expression. Taken together, these results expand our understanding of ARFs with regard to photosynthesis, sugar accumulation and fruit development and provide a potential target for genetic engineering to improve fruit nutrition in horticulture crops

Development of HKUST-1 composites for methane storage by adsorption through incorporation and carbonization

Measures: beneficial to enhancing the hydro-stability of the HKUST-1 and improving its adsorptive performance for methane are crucial to the further application. In this research, incorporation of graphene oxide (GO) and carbonization were employed to achieve these objectives. Incorporation of the HKUST-1 was solvothermally prepared by mixing the GO with different mass ratios, and carbonization of the HKUST-1 sample was conducted at different temperatures. Structural characterization, structural morphology observation and adsorption equilibrium measurement of methane were then performed on the samples. Analysis of adsorption equilibrium of methane on the composite was finally carried out within temperature-pressure range respectively about 303.15 K–323.15 K and 0–3.6 MPa. It shows that the sample incorporated by 5 wt% GO has the largest increment about 11.7% and 13.3% in specific surface area and specific micropore volume, and the carbonization conducted at a temperature higher than 300 °C had negative effect on the structure stability of the sample. Results also reveal that the mean relative error between the experimental data and those predicted by Toth equation is about 0.54%. It suggests that the temperature for carbonizing should be carefully selected to avoid the collapse of the structure, and the balance measures should be taken to safeguard the benefit from incorporating

Remote Sensing Image Reconstruction Method Based on Parameter Adaptive Dual-Channel Pulse-Coupled Neural Network to Optimize Multiscale Decomposition

Existing image processing methods usually divide image denoising and image fusion into two directions for research, and even the best current image denoising methods such as DnCNN can cause information loss during image processing, and the image fusion method mainly considers the fusion between multiple source images to complement the image information, but does not take into account the degradation of the fusion quality due to the noise in the source images. Therefore, aiming at the problem that various existing image denoising methods cannot reduce noise efficiently in complex noise situations while performing multi-source image fusion, preserving texture details, highlighting edge contour structures, and enriching image energy, a method of reconstructing remote sensing images by simplified adaptive dual-channel PCNN (Dual-PCNN) fusion in the NSCT transform domain is proposed to unify image noise reduction and image fusion under the same framework to obtain a noisy image information reconstruction method, which completes the complementary advantages between two image processing methods. Firstly, the impulse noise in the image is removed using IMFLED filtering, and then the Gaussian noise is processed by DnCNN and FFDNet respectively, and the results are imported into simplified parametric adaptive dual-channel PCNN to fuse the preprocessed images respectively. Then the DnCNN image and the preprocessed image are decomposed by NSCT to obtain each low-frequency sub-band and high-frequency sub-band. The low-frequency sub-band is stimulated with detail using the guided filter, and the high-frequency sub-band is enhanced by separating the detail layer through the guided filter to obtain the energy-detail-enhanced high-frequency sub-band. Finally, the corresponding sub-bands are fused into the simplified parametric adaptive dual-channel PCNN respectively, and the fused sub-band coefficients are reconstructed by NSCT inversion to obtain the final reconstructed remote sensing image. The experiments on grayscale images and remote sensing images show that this method achieves excellent results in both visual subjective and quantitative index evaluation, and the reconstructed images perform well in texture details, contour structure, and energy enrichment. After the information reconstruction of remote sensing images, the quality and resolution of remote sensing images are effectively improved, so that terrain information, landform features, and structural features can be extracted more accurately, which are widely used in remote sensing and geographic information fields such as landform analysis, agricultural monitoring, building inspection and environmental protection

Depositional environment of the Late Santonian lacustrine source rocks in the Songliao Basin (NE China): Implications from organic geochemical analyses

The Songliao Basin (SLB) located in northeastern China is one of the largest Cretaceous continental sedimentary basins in the world. The SLB is filled with sediments deposited in the Upper Jurassic, the Lower Cretaceous and the Upper Cretaceous epochs. The Nenjiang Formation (K(2)n) is subdivided into five members, where Member 2 (K(2)n(2)) was deposited in the late Santonian in the lower part of the Nenjiang Formation. This member is characterized by a thick succession of organic-rich source rocks. However, the complexity of the depositional environment raises questions about the specific factors that drove this accumulation of organic material. Here, we present data on the total organic carbon (TOC) contents and their stable carbon isotope values (delta C-13(org)), as well as biomarker data from 50 outcrop samples collected from the Yuewangcheng (YWC) section, in the southeastern SLB. According to the variations of the bulk organic parameters (TOC and delta C-13(org)) and biomarker indices, the profile could be divided into three stages (stages I-III). The distribution of biomarkers (n-alkanes, steranes and hopanes) and delta C-13(org) values indicate that the organic matter (OM) in the Lower K(2)n(2) is derived largely from algae and macrophytes, with a minor input from bacteria and land plants. The water column was stratified, as indicated by the presence of gammacerane. Variations in the pristane/phytane (Pr/Ph) and aryl isoprenoids relative to phenanthrene ratio (A-i/P) suggest that bottom waters were anoxic during Stage I (31.5-26.0 m) and Stage II (26.0-16.3 m), with the anoxic layer impinging on the euphotic zone and a relative oxic environment at Stage III (16.3-0 m). This brackish environment persisted in the water over the interval represented by the section, as reflected by methytrimethyltridecyl chromans (MTTCs) Index (MTTCI) and alpha-MTTC/gamma-MTTC ratios. Marine transgressions, with subsequent seawater incursions, can be detected with the presence of 24-n-propyl-cholestanes and 24-isopropyl-cholestanes in the Lower K(2)n(2) sediments, especially during Stage I. These seawater incursions are closely correlated with anoxic conditions and the deposition of organic-rich source rocks. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Evaluation of a dichromate oxidation method for the isolation and quantification of black carbon in ancient geological samples

The dichromate oxidation method is widely used in measurements of black carbon (BC) in geological sediments. The separation of organic carbon (OC) and BC is a critical step in the procedure. A comprehensive evaluation of the dichromate oxidation method was conducted using three types of kerogen with different maturities and two charcoal samples. The residues of each kerogen/BC oxidized under different conditions were quantified to determine the remaining C content. The results showed that the traditional dichromate oxidation method (0.1 M K2Cr2O7/2 M H2SO4) was reliable when the geological sediments contained a Type I kerogen with low maturity (Ro <= 0.50%). We compared the dichromate oxidation method under different oxidation times and oxidant concentrations for the separation of OC and BC. The extension of oxidation time improved the removal of all three types of kerogen, but Type I kerogen with high maturity and Types II and III kerogen, still significantly interfered with the isolation of BC in geological sediments. The concentrations of oxidant necessary were tested and indicated that an increase in oxidant concentration significantly improved the separation of BC and OC, and a high concentration of 0.5 M K2Cr2O7/2 M H2SO4 and 300 h oxidation time at 55 degrees C was effective for the isolation of BC in geological samples. The results of this study also indicated that the stable C isotope values of the remaining C were not affected by the isolation of BC with the dichromate method and that the method can therefore be used for the stable C isotope measurements of BC in geological sediments. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The Evaluation of the Risk Factors for Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC) Recurrence after Transurethral Resection (TURBt) in Chinese Population

<div><p>Objective</p><p>The risk factors of bladder cancer recurrence after transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBt) were poorly understood, especially in Chinese population. This study evaluated the potential risk factors of recurrence based on a Chinese population.</p><p>Materials and Methods</p><p>A total of 698 patients that received TURBt procedure in our institute from 2000 to 2012 were recruited in this study. Clinical information was collected. The patients were followed up according to the schedule recommended by Chinese guideline.</p><p>Results</p><p>A total of 583 males (83.5%) and 115 females (16.5%) were enrolled in our study. The median follow-up duration was 51.5 months. Gender, chief complain, tumor size, number of lesions, histological grade and chemotherapeutic agents were found significantly associated with patients’ short-term recurrence (less than 1 year) (All p<0.05). In the multivariate analysis, tumor size, number of lesions, histological grade and chemotherapeutic agents were significantly related to patients’ short-term recurrence (less than 1 year) (All p<0.05). A multivariate model based on tumor size, number of lesions, histological grade and chemotherapeutic agents had an AUC of 0.697, which significantly improved the prediction utility for bladder cancer short-term recurrence (less than 1 year) than any single factor In the multivariate Cox regression, tumor size greater than 3 cm, multifocal lesions, worsen histological grade and non-urothelial carcinoma was related to time to recurrence (TR).</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>Patients with larger tumor size, multifocal number of lesions, higher tumor grade and who received chemotherapeutic agents other than Epirubicin and Pirarubicin might have higher risks of recurrence less than 1 year. Tumor size, number of lesions, pathology and histological grade might be associated with TR. As Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is currently not approved for bladder cancer in China, Epirubicin and Pirarubicin might be considered prior to other chemotherapy medications when providing post-operative instillation of chemotherapy.</p></div

Lamina feedback neurons regulate the bandpass property of the flicker-induced orientation response in Drosophila

Natural scenes contain complex visual cues with specific features, including color, motion, flicker, and position. It is critical to understand how different visual features are processed at the early stages of visual perception to elicit appropriate cellular responses, and even behavioral output. Here, we studied the visual orientation response induced by flickering stripes in a novel behavioral paradigm in Drosophila melanogaster. We found that free walking flies exhibited bandpass orientation response to flickering stripes of different frequencies. The most sensitive frequency spectrum was confined to low frequencies of 2-4 Hz. Through genetic silencing, we showed that lamina L1 and L2 neurons, which receive visual inputs from R1 to R6 neurons, were the main components in mediating flicker-induced orientation behavior. Moreover, specific blocking of different types of lamina feedback neurons Lawf1, Lawf2, C2, C3, and T1 modulated orientation responses to flickering stripes of particular frequencies, suggesting that bandpass orientation response was generated through cooperative modulation of lamina feedback neurons. Furthermore, we found that lamina feedback neurons Lawf1 were glutamatergic. Thermal activation of Lawf1 neurons could suppress neural activities in L1 and L2 neurons, which could be blocked by the glutamate-gated chloride channel inhibitor picrotoxin (PTX). In summary, lamina monopolar neurons L1 and L2 are the primary components in mediating flicker-induced orientation response. Meanwhile, lamina feedback neurons cooperatively modulate the orientation response in a frequency-dependent way, which might be achieved through modulating neural activities of L1 and L2 neurons.</p