Cationic nickel metal-organic frameworks for adsorption of negatively charged dye molecules

Industrial dye effluents with low biodegradability are highly toxic and carcinogenic on both human and aquatic lives, thus they are detrimental to the biodiversity of environment. Herein, this data set presents the potential of cationic Nickel based MOFs in the adsorption of charged and neutral dye molecules. Data set include a concise description of experimental conditions for the synthesis of imidazolium ligands, 1,3-bis(4-carboxyphenyl)imidazolium chloride (H2L+Cl-) and 1,3-bis(3,5-dicarboxyphenyl)imidazolium chloride (H4L+Cl-), and MOFs. The data show that the two Nickel MOFs, 1 and 2, synthesized from imidazolium ligands are cationic frameworks. The adsorption and analysis data show that the cationic MOFs exhibit efficient adsorptive removal capacity for positively charged dyes, adsorbing up to 81.08% and 98.65% of Methyl orange and Congo red, respectively

Association and Interaction Analyses of GABBR1 and GABBR2 with Nicotine Dependence in European- and African-American Populations

Previous studies have demonstrated that the γ-aminobutyric acid type B (GABAB) receptor plays an essential role in modulating neurotransmitter release and regulating the activity of ion channels and adenyl cyclase. However, whether the naturally occurring polymorphisms in the two GABAB receptor subunit genes interact with each other to alter susceptibility to nicotine dependence (ND) remains largely unknown. In this study, we genotyped 5 and 33 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for GABAB receptor subunit 1 and 2 genes (GABBR1, GABBR2), respectively, in a sample of 2037 individuals from 602 nuclear families of African- American (AA) or European-American (EA) origin. We conducted association analyses to determine (1) the association of each subunit gene with ND at both the individual SNP and haplotype levels and (2) the collective effect(s) of SNPs in both GABAB subunits on the development of ND. Several individual SNPs and haplotypes in GABBR2 were significantly associated with ND in both ethnic samples. Two haplotypes in AAs and one haplotype in EAs showed a protective effect against ND, whilst two other haplotypes in AAs and three haplotypes in EAs showed a risk effect for developing ND. Interestingly, these significant haplotypes were confined to two regions of GABBR2 in the AA and EA samples. Additionally, we found two minor haplotypes in GABBR1 to be positively associated with Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI) in the EA sample. Finally, we demonstrated the presence of epistasis between GABBR1 and GABBR2 for developing ND. The variants of GABBR1 and GABBR2 are significantly associated with ND, and the involvement of GABBR1 is most likely through its interaction with GABBR2, whereas GABBR2 polymorphisms directly alter susceptibility to ND. Future studies are needed with more dense SNP coverage of GABBR1 and GABBR2 to verify the epistatic effects of the two subunit genes

Associations of Variants in CHRNA5/A3/B4 Gene Cluster with Smoking Behaviors in a Korean Population

Multiple genome-wide and targeted association studies reveal a significant association of variants in the CHRNA5-CHRNA3-CHRNB4 (CHRNA5/A3/B4) gene cluster on chromosome 15 with nicotine dependence. The subjects examined in most of these studies had a European origin. However, considering the distinct linkage disequilibrium patterns in European and other ethnic populations, it would be of tremendous interest to determine whether such associations could be replicated in populations of other ethnicities, such as Asians. In this study, we performed comprehensive association and interaction analyses for 32 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CHRNA5/A3/B4 with smoking initiation (SI), smoking quantity (SQ), and smoking cessation (SC) in a Korean sample (N = 8,842). We found nominally significant associations of 7 SNPs with at least one smoking-related phenotype in the total sample (SI: P = 0.015∼0.023; SQ: P = 0.008∼0.028; SC: P = 0.018∼0.047) and the male sample (SI: P = 0.001∼0.023; SQ: P = 0.001∼0.046; SC: P = 0.01). A spectrum of haplotypes formed by three consecutive SNPs located between rs16969948 in CHRNA5 and rs6495316 in the intergenic region downstream from the 5′ end of CHRNB4 was associated with these three smoking-related phenotypes in both the total and the male sample. Notably, associations of these variants and haplotypes with SC appear to be much weaker than those with SI and SQ. In addition, we performed an interaction analysis of SNPs within the cluster using the generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction method and found a significant interaction of SNPs rs7163730 in LOC123688, rs6495308 in CHRNA3, and rs7166158, rs8043123, and rs11072793 in the intergenic region downstream from the 5′ end of CHRNB4 to be influencing SI in the male sample. Considering that fewer than 5% of the female participants were smokers, we did not perform any analysis on female subjects specifically. Together, our detected associations of variants in the CHRNA5/A3/B4 cluster with SI, SQ, and SC in the Korean smoker samples provide strong evidence for the contribution of this cluster to the etiology of SI, ND, and SC in this Asian population

Performance evaluation of discrete Raman amplifiers in coherent transmission systems

We evaluate the performance penalty due to discrete Raman amplifier (DRA) in a long haul WDM transmission system. The investigation was primarily performed to study the impact of the accumulated nonlinear noise due to fibre chromatic dispersion and nonlinear coefficient(γ). Nonlinear fibres such as inverse dispersion fibre (IDF), dispersion compensation fibre (DCF) and a development fibre known as the Corning Raman fibre (CRF) with the opposite sign of CD to the other two, were taken as the gain fibre in the DRA stage of the long-haul transmission setup. To study the performance penalty with these Raman gain fibres a 30 GBaud 120 Gb/s DP-QPSK channel @1550 nm was combined with 9 spectrally shaped 50 GHz amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) channels for transmission over a recirculation loop with a per loop length of 63 km single mode fibre (SMF). Our modelling and experimental results show that a fibre with positive dispersion >10ps/nm/km and a nonlinear coefficient of ∼ 4W−1km−1 is a good choice of gain fibre for DRA-assisted coherent transmission system

Practical and Theoretical Considerations in Study Design for Detecting Gene-Gene Interactions Using MDR and GMDR Approaches

Detection of interacting risk factors for complex traits is challenging. The choice of an appropriate method, sample size, and allocation of cases and controls are serious concerns. To provide empirical guidelines for planning such studies and data analyses, we investigated the performance of the multifactor dimensionality reduction (MDR) and generalized MDR (GMDR) methods under various experimental scenarios. We developed the mathematical expectation of accuracy and used it as an indicator parameter to perform a gene-gene interaction study. We then examined the statistical power of GMDR and MDR within the plausible range of accuracy (0.50∼0.65) reported in the literature. The GMDR with covariate adjustment had a power of>80% in a case-control design with a sample size of≥2000, with theoretical accuracy ranging from 0.56 to 0.62. However, when the accuracy was<0.56, a sample size of≥4000 was required to have sufficient power. In our simulations, the GMDR outperformed the MDR under all models with accuracy ranging from 0.56∼0.62 for a sample size of 1000–2000. However, the two methods performed similarly when the accuracy was outside this range or the sample was significantly larger. We conclude that with adjustment of a covariate, GMDR performs better than MDR and a sample size of 1000∼2000 is reasonably large for detecting gene-gene interactions in the range of effect size reported by the current literature; whereas larger sample size is required for more subtle interactions with accuracy<0.56

I4U Submission to NIST SRE 2018: Leveraging from a Decade of Shared Experiences

The I4U consortium was established to facilitate a joint entry to NIST speaker recognition evaluations (SRE). The latest edition of such joint submission was in SRE 2018, in which the I4U submission was among the best-performing systems. SRE'18 also marks the 10-year anniversary of I4U consortium into NIST SRE series of evaluation. The primary objective of the current paper is to summarize the results and lessons learned based on the twelve sub-systems and their fusion submitted to SRE'18. It is also our intention to present a shared view on the advancements, progresses, and major paradigm shifts that we have witnessed as an SRE participant in the past decade from SRE'08 to SRE'18. In this regard, we have seen, among others, a paradigm shift from supervector representation to deep speaker embedding, and a switch of research challenge from channel compensation to domain adaptation.Comment: 5 page

Coherent spinor dynamics in a spin-1 Bose condensate

Collisions in a thermal gas are perceived as random or incoherent as a consequence of the large numbers of initial and final quantum states accessible to the system. In a quantum gas, e.g. a Bose-Einstein condensate or a degenerate Fermi gas, the phase space accessible to low energy collisions is so restricted that collisions be-come coherent and reversible. Here, we report the observation of coherent spin-changing collisions in a gas of spin-1 bosons. Starting with condensates occupying two spin states, a condensate in the third spin state is coherently and reversibly created by atomic collisions. The observed dynamics are analogous to Josephson oscillations in weakly connected superconductors and represent a type of matter-wave four-wave mixing. The spin-dependent scattering length is determined from these oscillations to be -1.45(18) Bohr. Finally, we demonstrate coherent control of the evolution of the system by applying differential phase shifts to the spin states using magnetic fields.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figure

Molecular Phylogenetic Analysis of the Stegana ornatipes Species Group (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in China, with Description of a New Species

A new species of the Stegana (Steganina) ornatipes species group (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is described from Hainan, China, S. (S.) xipengi sp. nov. Based on the mitochondrial ND2 and COI gene sequences, the relationships among eight species from mainland China of the ornatipes group, and their relationships to the undulata, nigrolimbata and shirozui species groups of the same subgenus, are investigated, using two species of the subgenus Stegana, S. emeiensis and S. quadrata, as outgroups. The result shows that S. (S.) mengla is debarred from the ornatipes group

Histological Observation of Islet Hemorrhage Induced by Diagnostic Ultrasound with Contrast Agent in Rat Pancreas

Contrast enhanced diagnostic ultrasound CEDUS has been shown to induce capillary hemorrhage in heart and kidney. This study characterized the capillary hemorrhage induced in rat pancreas. The pancreata of anesthetized hairless rats were accessed by laparotomy. A 1.5 MHz diagnostic ultrasound probe with 2.3 MPa peak rarefactional pressure amplitude and 1 s intermittent trigger was used to scan the pancreas, located at the focus (3.8 cm), through saline coupling. The probe was swept to expose the entire organ in 5 min during infusion of Definity® contrast agent at 10 µL/kg/min, and this was repeated in a reverse sweep. The entire pancreas was removed, spread flat for fixation and histological slides were prepared from the mid-plane. Slides were scored blind for islet hemorrhage over the entire area of the organ. Intra-islet microlesions were evident and hemorrhage surrounded many islets. The hemorrhage often impacted nearby acini, and expanded into inter-lobular septa. In CEDUS pancreata removed soon after scanning, 76.2±11.8% (n = 6) of islets had evidence of hemorrhage and/or islet microlesions compared to 1.1±2.5% (n = 5) for sham CEDUS (P<0.001). In pancreata removed after 4 hr, fibrin formation was detected by immunohistology in the hemorrhage and intra-islet microlesions. Diagnostic ultrasound with contrast agent induced substantial capillary hemorrhage in rat pancreas, concentrated particularly in the islets

A haplotype variation affecting the mitochondrial transportation of hMYH protein could be a risk factor for colorectal cancer in Chinese

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The human MutY homolog (<it>hMYH</it>), a DNA glycolsylase involved in the excision repair of oxidative DNA damage, is currently studied in colorectal cancer (CRC). We previously demonstrated a haplotype variant c.53C>T/c.74G>A of <it>hMYH </it>(T/A) increasing the risk for gastric cancer in Chinese. However, most investigations on correlation between <it>hMYH </it>and CRC are conducted in Western countries and the underlying mechanism has been poorly understood.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To determine whether the haplotype T/A variant of <it>hMYH </it>was related to colorectal carcinogenesis, we performed a case-control study in 138 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and 343 healthy controls in a Chinese population. Furthermore, the C/G for wild-type, C/A or T/G for single base variant and T/A for haplotype variant <it>hMYH </it>cDNAs with a flag epitope tag were cloned into pcDNA3.1+ vector and transfected into cos-7 cell line. Their subcellular localizations were determined by immunofluorescence assay.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>It was found that the frequency of haplotype variant allele was statistically higher in CRC patients than that in controls (<it>P </it>= 0.02, odds ratio = 5.06, 95% confidence interval = 1.26 – 20.4). Similarly, significant difference of heterozygote frequency was indicated between the two groups (<it>P </it>= 0.019), while no homozygote was found. In addition, immunofluorescence analysis showed that hMYH protein with haplotype T/A variation presented in both nucleus and mitochondria, in contrast to the wild-type protein only converging in mitochondria. However, neither of the single missense mutations alone changed the protein subcelluar localization.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although preliminarily, these results suggest that: the haplotype variant allele of <it>hMYH </it>leads to a missense protein, which partly affects the protein mitochondrial transportation and results as nuclear localization. This observation might be responsible for the increased susceptibility to cancers, including CRC, in Chinese.</p