2,319 research outputs found

    Basal paravian functional anatomy illuminated by high-detail body outline

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    Body shape is a fundamental expression of organismal biology, but its quantitative reconstruction in fossil vertebrates is rare. Due to the absence of fossilized soft tissue evidence, the functional consequences of basal paravian body shape and its implications for the origins of avians and flight are not yet fully understood. Here we reconstruct the quantitative body outline of a fossil paravian Anchiornis based on high-definition images of soft tissues revealed by laser-stimulated fluorescence. This body outline confirms patagia-bearing arms, drumstick-shaped legs and a slender tail, features that were probably widespread among paravians. Finely preserved details also reveal similarities in propatagial and footpad form between basal paravians and modern birds, extending their record to the Late Jurassic. The body outline and soft tissue details suggest significant functional decoupling between the legs and tail in at least some basal paravians. The number of seemingly modern propatagial traits hint that feathering was a significant factor in how basal paravians utilized arm, leg and tail function for aerodynamic benefit.published_or_final_versio

    Alternative antibody for the detection of CA19-9 antigen: a European multicenter study for the evaluation of the analytical and clinical performance of the Access (R) GI Monitor assay on the UniCel (R) Dxl 800 Immunoassay System

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    Background: Gastrointestinal cancer antigen CA19-9 is known as a valuable marker for the management of patients with pancreatic cancer. Methods: The analytical and clinical performance of the Access(R) GI Monitor assay (Beckman Coulter) was evaluated on the UniCel(R) Dxl 800 Immunoassay System at five different European sites and compared with a reference method, defined as CA19-9 on the Elecsys System (Roche Diagnostics). Results: Total imprecision (%CV) of the GI Monitor ranged between 3.4% and 7.7%, and inter-laboratory reproducibility between 3.6% and 4.0%. Linearity upon dilution showed a mean recovery of 97.4% (SD+7.2%). Endogenous interferents had no influence on GI Monitor levels (mean recoveries: hemoglobin 103%, bilirubin 106%, triglycerides 106%). There was no high-dose hook effect up to 115,000 kU/L. Clinical performance investigated in sera from 1811 individuals showed a good correlation between the Access' GI Monitor and Elecsys CA19-9 (R = 0.959, slope = 1.004, intercept +0.17). GI Monitor serum levels were low in healthy individuals (n = 267, median = 6.0 kU/L, 95th percentile = 23.1 kU/L), higher in individuals with various benign diseases (n = 550, medians = 5.8-13.4 kU/L, 95th percentiles = 30.1-195.5 kU/L) and even higher in individuals suffering from various cancers (n = 995, medians = 8.4-233.8 kU/L, 95th percentiles = 53.7-13,902 kU/L). Optimal diagnostic accuracy for cancer detection against the relevant benign control group by the GI Monitor was found for pancreatic cancer {[}area under the curve (AUC) 0.83]. Results for the reference CA19-9 assay were comparable (AUC 0.85). Conclusions: The Access(R) GI Monitor provides very good methodological characteristics and demonstrates an excellent analytical and clinical correlation with the Elecsys CA19-9. The GI Monitor shows the best diagnostic accuracy in pancreatic cancer. Our results also suggest a clinical value of the GI Monitor in other cancers

    The radial dimension of a supersonic jet expansion from conical nozzle

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    In a laser-cluster interaction experiment, the radial dimension of a supersonic gas jet is an important parameter for the characterization of interaction volume. It is noted that due to the lateral gas expansion, the diameter of a supersonic gas jet is larger than the idealized diameter of a gas jet from a conical nozzle. In this work the effect of the lateral expansion on the radial dimension of gas jet was investigated by simulations. Based on the simulation results, the diameter of gas jet l was compared in detail with the corresponding diameter l(T) in the idealized straight streamline model and the diameter l(H) at a half of maximum atom density of gas jet. The results reveal how the deviation of l from l(T) (l(H)) changes with respect to the opening angles of conical nozzles, the heights above the nozzle, the nozzle lengths and the gas backing pressures. It is found that the diameter of gas jet l is close to the idealized diameter l(T) and l(H) in the case where a long conical nozzle with a large opening angle is used under a low gas backing pressure. In this case, the effect of the lateral expansion is so weak that the edge of gas jet becomes sharp and the radial distribution of atom density in gas jet tends to be uniform. The results could be useful for the characterization of a supersonic gas jet. (C) 2016 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).110Ysciescopu

    Permian (Artinskian to Wuchapingian) conodont biostratigraphy in the Tieqiao section, Laibin area, South China

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    Permian strata from the Tieqiao section (Jiangnan Basin, South China) contain several distinctive conodont assemblages. Early Permian (Cisuralian) assemblages are dominated by the genera Sweetognathus, Pseudosweetognathus and Hindeodus with rare Neostreptognathodus and Gullodus. Gondolellids are absent until the end of the Kungurian stage—in contrast to many parts of the world where gondolellids and Neostreptognathodus are the dominant Kungurian conodonts. A conodont changeover is seen at Tieqiao and coincided with a rise of sea level in the late Kungurian to the early Roadian: the previously dominant sweetognathids were replaced by mesogondolellids. The Middle and Late Permian (Guadalupian and Lopingian Series) witnessed dominance of gondolellids (Jinogondolella and Clarkina), the common presence of Hindeodus and decimation of Sweetognathus. Twenty main and seven subordinate conodont zones are recognised at Tieqiao, spanning the lower Artinskian to the middle Wuchiapingian Stage. The main (first appearance datum) zones are, in ascending order by stage: the Sweetognathus (Sw.) whitei, Sw. toriyamai, and Sw. asymmetrica n. sp. Zones for the Artinskian; the Neostreptognathodus prayi, Sw. guizhouensis, Sw. iranicus, Sw. adjunctus, Sw. subsymmeticus and Sw. hanzhongensis Zones for the Kungurian; the Jinogondolella (J.) nankingensis Zone for the Roadian; the J. aserrata Zone for the Wordian; the J. postserrata, J. shannoni, J. altudaensis, J. prexuanhanensis, J. xuanhanensis, J. granti and Clarkina (C.) hongshuiensis Zones for the Capitanian and the C. postbitteri Zone and C. transcaucasica Zone for the base and middle of the Wuchiapingian. The subordinate (interval) zones are the Pseudosweetognathus (Ps.) costatus, Ps. monocornus, Hindeodus (H.) gulloides, Pseudohindeodus ramovsi, Gullodus (G.) sicilianus, G. duani and H. excavates Zones. In addition, three new species, Gullodus tieqiaoensis n. sp., Pseudohindeodus elliptica n. sp. and Sweetognathus asymmetrica n. sp. are described. Age assignments for less common species (e.g., G. duani, H. catalanoi and Pseudosweetognathus monocornus etc.) are reassessed based on a rich conodont collection

    Corrigendum: The P4 Study: Postpartum Maternal and Infant Faecal Microbiome 6 Months After Hypertensive Versus Normotensive Pregnancy(Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol., (2022), 12, (646165), 10.3389/fcimb.2022.646165)

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    In the original article within Discussion, paragraph 6, sentence 4, the incorrect citation of “Getahun et al., 2017” was used instead of the correct citation “Maher et al., 2018” and the word “preeclampsia” was used instead of “hypertensive disorder”. The corrected sentence reads: “Wang et al. found increased Sutterella species in children who went on to develop autism spectrum disorder (Wang et al., 2013) and a meta-analysis performed by Maher et al. showed a 35% increase in the odds of having a child with autism in hypertensive disorder exposed pregnancies (Maher et al., 2018)”. The full reference for “Getahun et al., 2017” has been removed from the reference list andreplaced with “Maher, G. M., O’Keeffe, G. W., Kearney, P. M., Kenny, L. C., Dinan, T. G., Mattsson, M., et al. (2018). Association of Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy With Risk ofNeurodevelopmental Disorders in Offspring: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. JAMA psychiatry, 75(8), 809–819. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2018.0854”.The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusionsof the article in any way. The original article has been updated. In the original article, there was an error in the spelling of several bacterial names which mayimpair the clear interpretation of findings A correction to the spelling of Barnesiella and Bifidobacterium sp. has beenmadeto Abstract, sub-sectionResults, sentence 8.Theupdated sentence reads: “It was also found that at a genus and species level, the gut microbiota of HP women was enriched with Bifidobacterium and Bifidobacterium sp. and depleted in Barnesiella and Barnesiella intestinihominis when compared to NP women (P > 0.05)”. A correction to the spelling of Bifidobacterium sp. has been made to Results, sub-section Changes in Gut Microbiota Composition Between Women After HP and NP, sentence 3. The updated sentence reads: “The gut microbiota of HP women was enriched in phylum Actinobacteria, order Bifidobacteriales, family Bifidobacteriaceae, genus Bifidobacterium and species Bifidobacterium sp. compared to NP women (LDA > 2, P > 0.05)”. A correction to the spelling of Streptococcus infantis has been made to Discussion, paragraph 6, sentence 1. The updated sentence reads: “In this study, one enriched species of bacteria from the Firmicutes phylum, Streptococcus infantis was found in the infants born from HP mothers”.The authors apologize for this error and state that this does not change the scientific conclusions of the article in any way. The original article has been updated

    The P4 Study: Postpartum Maternal and Infant Faecal Microbiome 6 Months After Hypertensive Versus Normotensive Pregnancy

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    Objective/Hypothesis: To explore potential differences in faecal microbiome between women, and their infants, who had normotensive pregnancies (NP) and those who had a hypertensive pregnancy (HP), either gestational hypertension (GH) or preeclampsia (PE). Methods: This is a sub study of P4 (Postpartum Physiology, Psychology, and Paediatrics Study) and includes 18 mother-infant pairs: 10 NP and 8 HP (HP as defined by blood pressure > 140/90mmHg; of which 6 had PE, and 2 GH), six months postpartum. The participating mothers collected stool samples from themselves and their infants. 16S rRNA V3-V4 amplicons were used to study the faecal microbiome. Results: The sample of women and their infants were mostly primiparous (n =16) with vaginal birth (n = 14). At the time of faecal sampling 8 women were using hormonal contraception, and one HP woman remained on an antihypertensive. All women had blood pressure 30). All infants had started solids, 8 were exclusively breastfed, 1 exclusively formula fed and 9 both. Three infants had been exposed to a course of antibiotics. Six months postpartum, there were no significant differences in alpha or beta diversity between the gut microbiota of HP and NP women (P > 0.05). However, a statistically significant difference was detected in alpha diversity between infants following HP and NP, with lower diversity levels in HP infants (P < 0.05). It was also found that at a genus and species level, the gut microbiota of HP women was enriched with Bifidobacterium and Bifididobacterium sp. and depleted in Barnisiella and Barnesiella intestinihominis when compared to NP women (P < 0.05). Similarly, the gut microbiota of infants born from HP was enriched in Streptococcus infantis and depleted in Sutterella, Sutterella sp., Bacteroides sp. and Clostridium aldenense compared to infants born from NP (P < 0.05). Discussion: While our findings are at best preliminary, due to the very small sample size, they do suggest that the presence of hypertension in pregnancy may adversely affect the maternal microbiota postpartum, and that of their infants. Further analysis of postpartum microbiome data from future studies will be important to validate these early findings and provide further evidence about the changes in the microbiota in the offspring of women following hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP), including possible links to the causes of long-term cardiovascular disease, the prevalence of which is increased in women who have experienced HDP

    Growth of catalyst-free high-quality ZnO nanowires by thermal evaporation under air ambient

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    ZnO nanowires have been successfully fabricated on Si substrate by simple thermal evaporation of Zn powder under air ambient without any catalyst. Morphology and structure analyses indicated that ZnO nanowires had high purity and perfect crystallinity. The diameter of ZnO nanowires was 40 to 100 nm, and the length was about several tens of micrometers. The prepared ZnO nanowires exhibited a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. The growth of the ZnO nanostructure was explained by the vapor-solid mechanism. The simplicity, low cost and fewer necessary apparatuses of the process would suit the high-throughput fabrication of ZnO nanowires. The ZnO nanowires fabricated on Si substrate are compatible with state-of-the-art semiconductor industry. They are expected to have potential applications in functional nanodevices

    Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

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    The decay channel ψπ+πJ/ψ(J/ψγppˉ)\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) is studied using a sample of 1.06×1081.06\times 10^8 ψ\psi^\prime events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the ppˉp\bar{p} invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an SS-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of M=186113+6(stat)26+7(syst)MeV/c2M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2 and a narrow width that is Γ<38MeV/c2\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2 at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

    Properties of Light Flavour Baryons in Hypercentral quark model

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    The light flavour baryons are studied within the quark model using the hyper central description of the three-body system. The confinement potential is assumed as hypercentral coulomb plus power potential (hCPPνhCPP_\nu) with power index ν\nu. The masses and magnetic moments of light flavour baryons are computed for different power index, ν\nu starting from 0.5 to 1.5. The predicted masses and magnetic moments are found to attain a saturated value with respect to variation in ν\nu beyond the power index ν>\nu> 1.0. Further we computed transition magnetic moments and radiative decay width of light flavour baryons. The results are in good agreement with known experimental as well as other theoretical models.Comment: Accepted in Pramana J. of Physic
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