Modeling sampling strategies for determination of zooplankton abundance in ballast water

Ballast water has been a major source of non-indigenous species introductions. The International Maritime Organization has proposed performance standard that will establish an upper limit for viable organisms in discharged ballast. Here we test different sampling efforts for zooplankton in ballast water on a commercial vessel. We fit different probability density functions to find the most representative and evaluated sampling efforts necessary to achieve error rates (α, β) of \u3c 0.05. Our tests encompassed four seasonal trials and five sample volumes. To estimate error rates, we performed simulations which drew from 1 to 30 replicates of each volume (0.10–3.00m3) for mean densities ranging between 1 and 20 organisms m− 3. Fieldwork and simulations suggested that \u3e 0.5 m3samples had the best accuracy and precision, and that the Poisson distribution fit these communities best. This study provides the first field test of a sampling strategy to assess compliance with the future IMO standard for large vessels. © 2016 Elsevier Lt

Scintillation efficiency measurement of Na recoils in NaI(Tl) below the DAMA/LIBRA energy threshold

The dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal depends on the NaI(Tl) scintillation efficiency of nuclear recoils. Previous measurements for Na recoils have large discrepancies, especially in the DAMA/LIBRA modulation energy region. We report a quenching effect measurement of Na recoils in NaI(Tl) from 3keV$_{\text{nr}}$ to 52keV$_{\text{nr}}$, covering the whole DAMA/LIBRA energy region for light WIMP interpretations. By using a low-energy, pulsed neutron beam, a double time-of-flight technique, and pulse-shape discrimination methods, we obtained the most accurate measurement of this kind for NaI(Tl) to date. The results differ significantly from the DAMA reported values at low energies, but fall between the other previous measurements. We present the implications of the new quenching results for the dark matter interpretation of the DAMA modulation signal

Projected Rotational Velocities for LAMOST Stars with Effective Temperatures Lower than 9000 K

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/In Data Release 9 of LAMOST, we present measurements of v sin i for a total of 121,698 stars measured using the Medium Resolution Spectrograph (MRS) and 80,108 stars using the Low Resolution Spectrograph (LRS). These values were obtained through a χ 2 minimization process, comparing LAMOST spectra with corresponding grids of synthetically broadened spectra. Due to the resolution and the spectral range of LAMOST, v sin i measurements are limited to stars with an effective temperature (T eff) ranging from 5000 to 8500 K for MRS and 7000 to 9000 K for LRS. The detectable v sin i for MRS is set between 27 and 350 km s−1, and for LRS between 110 and 350 km s−1. This limitation is because the convolved reference spectra become less informative beyond 350 km s−1. The intrinsic precision of v sin i, determined from multiepoch observations, is approximately ∼4.0 km s−1 for MRS and ∼10.0 km s−1 for LRS at a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 50. Our v sin i values show consistency with those from APOGEE17, displaying a scatter of 8.79 km s−1. They are also in agreement with measurements from the Gaia DR3 and Sun et al. catalogs. An observed trend in LAMOST MRS data is the decrease in v sin i with a drop in T eff, particularly transiting around 7000 K for dwarfs and 6500 K for giants, primarily observed in stars with near-solar abundances.Peer reviewe

The metagenomics of soil bacteria and fungi and the release of mechanical dormancy in hard seeds

Persistence in the soil is a function of seed physiology, particularly non-germination and inherent lifespan. However, for seeds with mechanical dormancy, non-germination is also a function of the composition and activity of the soil microbiota. We attempted to screen out microorganisms in the soil that can specifically and rapidly decompose the hard fruit pericarps of Tilia miqueliana Maxim., a unique native tree species in China. Using the classical replica plating method, more than 100 different culturable microorganisms that could rapidly erode the pericarp were collected from the surface of pericarps under different culture conditions. At the same time, we successfully extended the concept of metagenomics and applied it to the identification of mixed artificial cultures. The decomposition process of the pericarps in soil was also simulated artificially. The physical and chemical data suggested a potential mechanism of microbial scarification and cracking in pericarp, whilst the embryos inside the eroded fruits retained good viability. Our discoveries could pave the way for the removal of physical and mechanical obstacles that prevent hard coat seeds from germinating. We anticipate that the use of this technology will improve the germination of other hard coat seeds. More research is needed to investigate the impacts on other seeds. The findings of this research can inform the design of experiments on the seed ecology of persistence

Constitutive expression of the anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member A1 in murine endothelial cells leads to transplant tolerance

Anti-apoptotic genes including those of the Bcl-2 family have been shown to have dual functionality in as much as they inhibit cell death but also regulate inflammation. Several anti-apoptotic molecules have been associated with endothelial cell (EC) survival following transplantation however their exact role has yet to be elucidated in respect to controlling inflammation. In this study we created mice expressing murine A1 (Bfl-1), a Bcl-2 family member, under the control of the human ICAM-2 promoter. Constitutive expression of A1 in murine vascular ECs conferred protection from cell death induced by the pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α. Importantly, in a mouse model of heart allograft transplantation, expression of A1 in vascular endothelium increased survival in the absence of CD8+ T cells. Better graft outcome in mice receiving an A1 transgenic heart correlated with a reduced immune infiltration, which maybe related to increased EC survival and reduced expression of adhesion molecules on ECs. In conclusion, constitutive expression of the anti-apoptotic molecule Bfl1 (A1) in murine vascular ECs leads to prolonged allograft survival due to modifying inflammation

Ultracool dwarfs identified using spectra in LAMOST DR7

In this work, we identify 734 ultracool dwarfs with a spectral type of M6 or later, including one L0. Of this sample, 625 were studied spectroscopically for the first time. All of these ultracool dwarfs are within 360~pc, with a \textit{Gaia} G magnitude brighter than ~19.2 mag. By studying the spectra and checking their stellar parameters (Teff, logg, and [FeH] derived with the LAMOST pipeline, we found their cool red nature and their metallicity to be consistent with the nature of Galactic thin-disk objects. Furthermore, 77 of them show lithium absorption lines at 6708A, further indicating their young ages and substellar nature. Kinematics obtained through LAMOST radial velocities, along with the proper motion and parallax data from Gaia EDR3, also suggest that the majority of our targets are thin-disk objects. Kinematic ages were estimated through the relationship between the velocity dispersion and the average age for a certain population. Moreover, we identified 35 binaries, with 6 of them reported as binaries for the first time.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, published in A&A, Volume 660. A38 (2022

Tag SNP Polymorphism of CCL2 and Its Role in Clinical Tuberculosis in Han Chinese Pediatric Population

BACKGROUND: Chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 CCL2/MCP-1 is among the key signaling molecules of innate immunity; in particular, it is involved in recruitment of mononuclear and other cells in response to infection, including tuberculosis (TB) and is essential for granuloma formation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We identified a tag SNP for the CCL2/MCP-1 gene (rs4586 C/T). In order to understand whether this SNP may serve to evaluate the contribution of the CCL2 gene to the expression of TB disease, we further analysed distribution of its alleles and genotypes in 301 TB cases versus 338 non-infected controls (all BCG vaccinated) representing a high-risk pediatric population of North China. In the male TB subgroup, the C allele was identified in a higher rate (P = 0.045), and, acting dominantly, was found to be a risk factor for clinical TB (P = 0.029). Homozygous TT genotype was significantly associated with lower CSF mononuclear leukocyte (ML) counts in patients with tuberculous meningitis (TBM) (P = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present study found an association of the CCL2 tag SNP rs4586 C allele and pediatric TB disease in males, suggesting that gender may affect the susceptibility to TB even in children. The association of homozygous TT genotype with decreased CSF mononuclear leukocyte (ML) count not only suggests a clinical significance of this SNP, but indicates its potential to assist in the clinical assessment of suspected TBM, where delay is critical and diagnosis is difficult

Stellar Atmospheric Parameters of M-type Stars from LAMOST DR8

© 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, to view a copy of the license, see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/The Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) Low Resolution Spectroscopic Survey (LRS) provides massive spectroscopic data of M-type stars, and the derived stellar parameters could bring vital help to various studies. We adopt the ULySS package to perform $\chi^2$ minimization with model spectra generated from the MILES interpolator, and determine the stellar atmospheric parameters for the M-type stars from LAMOST LRS Data Release (DR) 8. Comparison with the stellar parameters from APOGEE Stellar Parameter and Chemical Abundance Pipeline (ASPCAP) suggests that most of our results have good consistency. For M dwarfs, we achieve dispersions better than 74 K, 0.19 dex and 0.16 dex for $T_{\rm eff}$, $\log{g}$ and [Fe/H], while for M giants, the internal uncertainties are 58 K, 0.32 dex and 0.26 dex, respectively. Compared to ASPCAP we also find a systematic underestimation of $\Delta {T_{\rm eff}} =$ $-$176 K for M dwarfs, and a systematic overestimation of $\Delta {\log{g}} =$ 0.30 dex for M giants. However, such differences are less significant when we make comparison with common stars from other literature, which indicates that systematic biases exist in the difference of ASPCAP and other measurements. A catalog of 763,136 spectra corresponding to 616,314 M-type stars with derived stellar parameters is presented. We determine the stellar parameters for stars with $T_{\rm eff}$ higher than 2,900 K, with $\log{g}$ from -0.24 dex to 5.9 dex. The typical precisions are 45 K, 0.25 dex and 0.22 dex, for $T_{\rm eff}$, $\log{g}$ and [Fe/H], respectively, which are estimated from the duplicate observations of the same stars.Peer reviewe

The H19/let-7 double-negative feedback loop contributes to glucose metabolism in muscle cells

The H19 lncRNA has been implicated in development and growth control and is associated with human genetic disorders and cancer. Acting as a molecular sponge, H19 inhibits microRNA (miRNA) let-7. Here we report that H19 is significantly decreased in muscle of human subjects with type-2 diabetes and insulin resistant rodents. This decrease leads to increased bioavailability of let-7, causing diminished expression of let-7 targets, which is recapitulated in vitro where H19 depletion results in impaired insulin signaling and decreased glucose uptake. Furthermore, acute hyperinsulinemia downregulates H19, a phenomenon that occurs through PI3K/AKT-dependent phosphorylation of the miRNA processing factor KSRP, which promotes biogenesis of let-7 and its mediated H19 destabilization. Our results reveal a previously undescribed double-negative feedback loop between sponge lncRNA and target miRNA that contributes to glucose regulation in muscle cell