Biology of a leaf miner (Coleoptera) on Liaoningocladus boii (Coniferales) from the Early Cretaceous of northeastern China and the leaf-mining biology of possible insect culprit clades

Specimens of the broad-leaved conifer, Liaoningocladus boii Sun, Zheng & Mei 2000 were evaluated from the mid Early Cretaceous Yixian Formation occurring overwhelmingly at Dawangzhangzi, Liaoning Province, NE China. Arthropod-mediated plant damage types (DTs) were categorized for 343 specimens of this host; one of these DTs represented a distinctive leaf-mine, DT280, established as Fossafolia offae Ding, Labandeira & Ren, ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov. A comparison of DT280 to analogous modern leaf mines was based on: (1) leaf-mine features observed in modern leaf mines; (2) likelihood of a particular leaf-mine culprit lineage being present, given phylogenetic evidence; and (3) body fossils of the candidate culprit occurring in the same or a spatiotemporally proximal deposit. Evidence from these three and other sources of information indicate the most likely miner of F. offae was an extinct species of Buprestidae (Coleoptera), perhaps similar to modern leaf-mining tribe Trachyini. Much less likely affiliations were Mordellidae, Chrysomelidae and Curculionoidea. Fossafolia offae leaf mines were produced by a larva that consisted of four instars, engaged in full-depth tissue feeding, partitioned into a linear, earlier-phase mine with a distinctive frass trail and a more blotch-like, later-phase mine. Adults of this leaf miner likely fed on L. boii, producing linear patches of intercostal window feeding, assigned to DT103, or less likely, may have been a pollinator. The adult female likely laid eggs singly into leaf tissues between adjacent major veins, resulting in DT101 ovipositional damage. This study provides for the use of multiple damage-types to document life-history feeding traits for a single herbivore species. Consequently, we introduce the damage-type suite concept to refer to two or more different damage types genetically linked to the same culprit herbivore that issue from different developmental stages (larvae, adult), or are produced by different tissue-penetrating insect organs (ovipositors, mouthparts). In addition, we provide a basis for using three types of general evidence necessary to elucidate identification of the culprit

Experimental evaluation of miniature plate DMAs (mini-plate DMAs) for future ultrafine particle (UFP) sensor network

<p>Two iPhone-sized differential mobility analyzers (DMAs) in the parallel-plate configuration (i.e., mini-plate DMAs) were designed and their performance was calibrated in this study in order to gain the instructive knowledge for the future mini-plate DMA design and to have a well-calibrated mini-plate DMA for the ultrafine particle (UFP) sensor network. The performance of mini-plate DMAs was calibrated using the tandem DMA (TDMA) technique. The experimental transfer functions of prototypes at different particle sizes and under various combinational conditions of aerosol and sheath flow rates were derived from the TDMA data. It is concluded that mini-plate DMAs performed reasonably well for UFP sizing. It was also found that the sizing resolution of mini-plate DMAs is closer to the aerosol-to-sheath flow rate ratio when the percentage of aerosol slit opening in length was increased (relative to the width of aerosol classification zone). A new concept of “effective sheath flow rate” was introduced to better interpret the experimental observation on the area and FWHM (full width at half maximum) data of measured DMA transfer functions. Based on the experimental data, we proposed a modified equation for mini-plate DMAs to better calculate the voltage required to size particles of a given electrical mobility.</p> <p>Copyright © 2016 American Association for Aerosol Research</p

First-Principles Investigations of the Structural, Anisotropic Mechanical, Thermodynamic and Electronic Properties of the AlNi2Ti Compound

In this paper, the electronic, mechanical and thermodynamic properties of AlNi2Ti are studied by first-principles calculations in order to reveal the influence of AlNi2Ti as an interfacial phase on ZTA (zirconia toughened alumina)/Fe. The results show that AlNi2Ti has relatively high mechanical properties, which will benefit the impact or wear resistance of the ZTA/Fe composite. The values of bulk, shear and Young’s modulus are 164.2, 63.2 and 168.1 GPa respectively, and the hardness of AlNi2Ti (4.4 GPa) is comparable to common ferrous materials. The intrinsic ductile nature and strong metallic bonding character of AlNi2Ti are confirmed by B/G and Poisson’s ratio. AlNi2Ti shows isotropy bulk modulus and anisotropic elasticity in different crystallographic directions. At room temperature, the linear thermal expansion coefficient (LTEC) of AlNi2Ti estimated by quasi-harmonic approximation (QHA) based on Debye model is 10.6 × 10−6 K−1, close to LTECs of zirconia toughened alumina and iron. Therefore, the thermal matching of ZTA/Fe composite with AlNi2Ti interfacial phase can be improved. Other thermodynamic properties including Debye temperature, sound velocity, thermal conductivity and heat capacity, as well as electronic properties, are also calculated

The Research on a Driving Device for Natural Gas Hydrate Pressure Core

Precise pressure core motion, including translation and rotation, is the basis and core part of the Analysis and Transfer System of Natural Gas Hydrate Pressure Core, which is crucial to nondestructive analyses, core cutting, and transfer. This paper mainly proposes a driving device, whereby a pressure core, up to 3 m long, can be transferred from pressure core drilling tools to proceed to nondestructive analyses and transferring the cores into other chambers. The lead screw is one of the most important components of this driving device. Therefore, the modal analyses of the lead screw are performed, which can help researchers to analyze the stability of this device. The analyzed data shows that the different positions of the slider have a great impact on the natural frequency of the lead screw. Furthermore, the lead screw with a support slider has a larger natural frequency than that without a support slider. According to data analysis, we can derive that the device with the support slider has a much larger rigidity, which can contribute to the stability of the device. To verify the feasibility of this device, the deformation of the lead screw was tested by the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometer array. Experimental results show that the deformation of the lead screw with the support slider is much less than that without the support slider

Seasonal effects of the Tibetan plateau on the cyclonic transient eddies: a system-centered view

Using the objective feature tracking algorithm and hourly reanalysis data, seasonal behaviors of the cyclonic transient eddies (cyclones) at different levels around the Tibetan Plateau (TP) have been examined to reveal the effects of the TP on cyclones. Results show that TP tend to change moving directions of the remote cyclones when they are close to the TP, only some 250-hPa cyclones can directly pass the TP from west to east. Their moving speeds and relative vorticities suddenly weaken around the TP, suggesting the suppression effect of the TP. Over 70% of these cyclones die out over the TP regardless of the altitude, which slightly decreases to around 65% during summer, exhibiting a weak summertime suppression effect. On the other hand, TP has a strong excitation effect on local cyclones through dynamic forcing in winter, thermodynamic forcing in summer, and both in transitional seasons. Numbers of these local cyclones, especially at 500hPa that is almost the surface height of the TP, are greatly larger than that of the remote cyclones during all seasons. About half of these local cyclones dissipate over the TP. Nonetheless, cyclones moving off the TP are more than the cyclones entering the TP, with the differences ranging from 0 to 6 cyclones per month. Only the 250-hPa wintertime moving-off cyclones are less than the cyclones entering the TP, which may be caused by the relatively weak excitation and strong suppression effects of the TP on the wintertime upper-level cyclones

Downregulation of miR-192 Alleviates Oxidative Stress-Induced Porcine Granulosa Cell Injury by Directly Targeting Acvr2a

Follicular atresia is primarily caused by breakdown to granulosa cells (GCs) due to oxidative stress (OS). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) elicit a defense response against environmental stresses, such as OS, by acting as gene-expression regulators. However, the association between miRNA expression and OS in porcine GCs (PGCs) is unclear. Here, we examined the impact of H2O2-mediated OS in PGCs through miRNA-Seq. We identified 22 (14 upregulated and 8 downregulated) and 33 (19 upregulated and 14 downregulated) differentially expressed miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) at 100 &mu;M and 300 &mu;M H2O2, respectively, compared with the control group. Among the DEmiRNAs, mi-192 was most induced by H2O2-mediated OS, and the downregulation of miR-192 alleviated PGC oxidative injury. The dual-luciferase reporter assay results revealed that miR-192 directly targeted Acvr2a. The Acvr2a level was found to be remarkably decreased after OS. Furthermore, grape seed procyanidin B2 (GSPB2) treatment significantly reduced the H2O2-induced upregulation of miR-192, and decreased PGC apoptosis and oxidative damage. Meanwhile, GSPB2 prevented an H2O2-induced increase in caspase-3 activity, which was enhanced by the application of the miR-192 inhibitor. These results indicate that GSPB2 protects against PGC oxidative injury via the downregulation of miR-192, the upregulation of Acvr2a expression, and the suppression of the caspase-3 apoptotic signaling pathway

Advanced surface engineering of titanium materials for biomedical applications: From static modification to dynamic responsive regulation

Titanium (Ti) and its alloys have been widely used as orthopedic implants, because of their favorable mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. Despite their significant success in various clinical applications, the probability of failure, degradation and revision is undesirably high, especially for the patients with low bone density, insufficient quantity of bone or osteoporosis, which renders the studies on surface modification of Ti still active to further improve clinical results. It is discerned that surface physicochemical properties directly influence and even control the dynamic interaction that subsequently determines the success or rejection of orthopedic implants. Therefore, it is crucial to endow bulk materials with specific surface properties of high bioactivity that can be performed by surface modification to realize the osseointegration. This article first reviews surface characteristics of Ti materials and various conventional surface modification techniques involving mechanical, physical and chemical treatments based on the formation mechanism of the modified coatings. Such conventional methods are able to improve bioactivity of Ti implants, but the surfaces with static state cannot respond to the dynamic biological cascades from the living cells and tissues. Hence, beyond traditional static design, dynamic responsive avenues are then emerging. The dynamic stimuli sources for surface functionalization can originate from environmental triggers or physiological triggers. In short, this review surveys recent developments in the surface engineering of Ti materials, with a specific emphasis on advances in static to dynamic functionality, which provides perspectives for improving bioactivity and biocompatibility of Ti implants

Cytoplasmic Expression of TP53INP2 Modulated by Demethylase FTO and Mutant NPM1 Promotes Autophagy in Leukemia Cells

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with a nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) mutation is a unique subtype of adult leukemia. Recent studies show that NPM1-mutated AML has high autophagy activity. However, the mechanism for upholding the high autophagic level is still not fully elucidated. In this study, we first identified that tumor protein p53 inducible nuclear protein 2 (TP53INP2) was highly expressed and cytoplasmically localized in NPM1-mutated AML cells. Subsequent data showed that the expression of TP53INP2 was upregulated by fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO)-mediated m6A modification. Meanwhile, TP53INP2 was delocalized to the cytoplasm by interacting with NPM1 mutants. Functionally, cytoplasmic TP53INP2 enhanced autophagy activity by promoting the interaction of microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3 (LC3) - autophagy-related 7 (ATG7) and further facilitated the survival of leukemia cells. Taken together, our study indicates that TP53INP2 plays an oncogenic role in maintaining the high autophagy activity of NPM1-mutated AML and provides further insight into autophagy-targeted therapy of this leukemia subtype

Comprehensive Analysis of Differentially Expressed mRNA, lncRNA and circRNA and Their ceRNA Networks in the Longissimus Dorsi Muscle of Two Different Pig Breeds

Circular RNA (circRNA) and long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) are known to participate in adipogenesis and myogenic differentiation, but their impact on porcine muscle traits is not well understood. We compared their expressional profiles in the longissimus dorsi muscle of Chinese Huainan pigs (HN, the fat type) and Western commercial Duroc×(Landrace×Yorkshire) (DLY, the thin type) pigs, and 854 mRNAs, 233 lncRNAs, and 66 circRNAs (p &lt; 0.05 and ｜log2FoldChange｜&gt;1) were found to be differentially expressed. The differentially expressed mRNA and circRNA parental genes were enriched in the Wnt signaling pathway (adipogenesis), the transition between fast and slow fibers (myogenic differentiation), and alanine, aspartate and glutamate metabolism (pork flavor). The potential lncRNAs/circRNAs-miRNAs-mRNAs regulatory networks shared MYOD1, PPARD, miR-423-5p and miR-874, which were associated with skeletal muscle muscular proliferation, differentiation/regeneration and adipogenesis. Taken together, these differentially expressed non-coding RNAs may be involved in the molecular basis of muscle traits, acting as the competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miRNAs