Extraction of Plumes in Turbulent Thermal Convection

We present a scheme to extract information about plumes, a prominent coherent structure in turbulent thermal convection, from simultaneous local velocity and temperature measurements. Using this scheme, we study the temperature dependence of the plume velocity and understand the results using the equations of motion. We further obtain the average local heat flux in the vertical direction at the cell center. Our result shows that heat is not mainly transported through the central region but instead through the regions near the sidewalls of the convection cell.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Clinical Features and Genetic Analysis of 20 Chinese Patients with X-Linked Hyper-IgM Syndrome

X-linked hyper-IgM syndrome (XHIGM) is one type of primary immunodeficiency diseases, resulting from defects in the CD40 ligand/CD40 signaling pathways. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical and molecular features of 20 Chinese patients diagnosed and followed up in hospitals affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from 1999 to 2013. The median onset age of these patients was 8.5 months (range: 20 days–21 months). Half of them had positive family histories, with a shorter diagnosis lag. The most common symptoms were recurrent sinopulmonary infections (18 patients, 90%), neutropenia (14 patients, 70%), oral ulcer (13 patients, 65%), and protracted diarrhea (13 patients, 65%). Six patients had BCGitis. Six patients received hematopoietic stem cell transplantations and four of them had immune reconstructions and clinical remissions. Eighteen unique mutations in CD40L gene were identified in these 20 patients from 19 unrelated families, with 12 novel mutations. We compared with reported mutation results and used bioinformatics software to predict the effects of mutations on the target protein. These mutations reflected the heterogeneity of CD40L gene and expanded our understanding of XHIGM

Bright 22 μ\mum Excess Candidates from WISE All-Sky Catalog and Hipparcos Main Catalog

In this paper we present a catalog which includes 141 bright candidates ($\leq10.27$ mag, V band) showing the infrared (IR) excess at 22 $\mu$m. Of which, 38 stars are known IR excess stars or disk, 23 stars are double or multiple stars and 4 are Be stars. While the remaining more than 70 stars are identified as the 22 $\mu$m excess candidates in our work. The criterion of selecting candidates is $K_s-[22]_{\mu m}$. All these candidates are selected from \emph{WISE} All-sky data cross-correlated with \emph{Hipparcos} Main Catalog and the likelihood-ratio technique is employed. Considering the effect of background, we introduce the \emph{IRAS} 100 $\mu$m level to exclude the high background. We also estimated the coincidence probability of these sources. In addition, we presented the optical to mid-infrared SEDs and optical images of all the candidates, and gave the observed optical spectra of 6 stars with NAOC's 2.16-m telescope. To measure for the dust amount around each star, the fractional luminosity is also provided. We also test whether our method of selecting IR excess stars can be used to search for extra-solar planets, we cross-matched our catalog with known IR-excess stars having planets but none is matched. Finally, we give the fraction of stars showing IR-excess for different spectral type of main-sequence stars.Comment: 45 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in ApJ

Characteristics and a comparison of the gut microbiota in two frog species at the beginning and end of hibernation

Season has been suggested to contribute to variation in the gut microbiota of animals. The complicated relationships between amphibians and their gut microbiota and how they change throughout the year require more research. Short-term and long-term hypothermic fasting of amphibians may affect gut microbiota differently; however, these changes have not been explored. In this study, the composition and characteristics of the gut microbiota of Rana amurensis and Rana dybowskii during summer, autumn (short-term fasting) and winter (long-term fasting) were studied by high-throughput Illumina sequencing. Both frog species had higher gut microbiota alpha diversity in summer than autumn and winter, but no significant variations between autumn and spring. The summer, autumn, and spring gut microbiotas of both species differed, as did the autumn and winter microbiomes. In summer, autumn and winter, the dominant phyla in the gut microbiota of both species were Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria. All animals have 10 OTUs (>90% of all 52 frogs). Both species had 23 OTUs (>90% of all 28 frogs) in winter, accounting for 47.49 ± 3.84% and 63.17 ± 3.69% of their relative abundance, respectively. PICRUSt2 analysis showed that the predominant functions of the gut microbiota in these two Rana were focused on carbohydrate metabolism, Global and overview maps, Glycan biosynthesis metabolism, membrane transport, and replication and repair, translation. The BugBase analysis estimated that among the seasons in the R. amurensis group, Facultatively_Anaerobic, Forms_Biofilms, Gram_Negative, Gram_Positive, Potentially_Pathogenic were significantly different. However, there was no difference for R. dybowskii. The research will reveal how the gut microbiota of amphibians adapts to environmental changes during hibernation, aid in the conservation of endangered amphibians, particularly those that hibernate, and advance microbiota research by elucidating the role of microbiota under various physiological states and environmental conditions

The Effect of Cluster Position Determined by Vineyard Row Orientation on Grape Flavonoids and Aroma Profiles of Vitis vinifera L. cv. Cabernet Sauvignon and Italian Riesling in the North Foot of Tianshan Mountains

Vineyard row orientation plays a critical role in determining cluster microclimate. This study aimed tofigure out how cluster positions determined by vineyard row orientation affect grape flavonoids and aromaprofiles of Cabernet Sauvignon and Italian Riesling grapes. Three cluster positions (two canopy sidesand the inner canopy) of NS and EW oriented row Cabernet Sauvignon and NS oriented row ItalianRiesling were selected for the experiment. Microclimate data was monitored around clusters from bothcanopy sides of different row orientations. The south canopy side had higher daytime temperaturesand PAR than the north canopy side in EW row orientation. Flavonoids of grape skins and seeds wereseparated and determined by LC-MS, and aroma compounds of grape must were determined by GC-MS.Results showed that flavanols were affected by orientations, and EW orientation had higher berries skinflavanol concentration than NS orientation. EW-IN berries had fewer glucuronide form flavonols and3’-hydroxylated flavonols than the other two positions in EW orientation. Inner canopy berries had lowerflavonol concentration than other positions in EW orientation of CS and NS orientation of IR. To aromas,C6/C9 were the main compounds significantly affected by row orientations. EW orientation berries hadhigher C6 alcohols concentration such as (E)-3-Hexen-1-ol, (E)-2-Hexen-1-ol and (Z)-3-Hexen-1-ol thanNS orientation, while NS orientation berries had higher C6 aldehyde concentrations such as Hexanal and(E)-2-hexenal than EW orientation. EW-IN berries had more abundant C6/C9 compounds than the othertwo positions. The study provided preliminary scientific evidence for vineyard viticulture practice andharvest strategy

External Application of Traditional Chinese Medicine for Venous Ulcers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective. To evaluate the effectiveness of external application of traditional Chinese medicine (EA-TCM) on venous ulcers. Methods. Seven databases were searched until April 2015 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of EA-TCM for venous ulcers. Risk of bias was assessed using Cochrane Handbook guidelines. Study outcomes were presented as risk ratios (RRs) for dichotomous data or mean differences (MDs) for continuous data. Results. Sixteen of 193 potentially relevant trials met the inclusion criteria; however, their methodological qualities were low. Comparison of the same intervention strategies revealed significant differences in total effectiveness rates between EA-TCM and conventional therapy groups (RR = 1.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16–1.29, and P<0.00001). Compared to conventional therapy, EA-TCM combined with conventional therapy had a superior total effectiveness rate (RR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.04–1.19, and P=0.003). There were no significant differences in recurrence rates during followup and final pain measurements between the experimental and those in the control groups (RR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.31–2.39, and P=0.85; MD −0.75, 95% CI = −2.15–0.65, and P=0.29). Conclusion. The evidence that EA-TCM is an effective treatment for venous ulcers is encouraging, but not conclusive due to the low methodological quality of the RCTs. Therefore, more high-quality RCTs with larger sample sizes are required

The Study of Microwave and Electric Hybrid Sintering Process of AZO Target

We simulated the microwave sintering of ZnO by 3D modelling. A large-size Al-doped ZnO (AZO) green ceramic compact was prepared by slurry casting. Through studying the microwave and electric hybrid sintering of the green compact, a relative density of up to 98.1% could be obtained by starting microwave heating at 1200°C and increasing the power 20 min later to 4 kW for an AZO ceramic target measuring 120 × 240 × 12 mm. The resistivity of AZO targets sintered with microwave assistance was investigated. The energy consumption of sintering could be greatly reduced by this heating method. Until now, few studies have been reported on the microwave and electric hybrid sintering of large-size AZO ceramic targets. This research can aid in developing sintering technology for large-size high-quality oxide ceramic targets