Epitaxial antiperovskite/perovskite heterostructures for materials design

We demonstrate fabrication of atomically sharp interfaces between nitride antiperovskite Mn$_{3}$GaN and oxide perovskites (La$_{0.3}$Sr$_{0.7}$)(Al$_{0.65}$Ta$_{0.35}$)O$_{3}$ (LSAT) and SrTiO$_{3}$ as paradigms of nitride-antiperovskite/oxide-perovskite heterostructures. Using a combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), atomic-resolution spectroscopic techniques, and first-principle calculations, we investigated the atomic-scale structure, composition, and boding at the interface. We show that the epitaxial growth between the antiperovskite and perovskite compounds is mediated by a coherent interfacial monolayer that connects the two anti-structures. We anticipate our results to be a major step for the development of functional antiperovskite/perovskite heterostructures opening to harness a combination of their functional properties including topological properties for ultra low power applications

Identification of genes related to high royal jelly production in the honey bee (Apis mellifera) using microarray analysis

China is the largest royal jelly producer and exporter in the world, and high royal jelly-yielding strains have been bred in the country for approximately three decades. However, information on the molecular mechanism underlying high royal jelly production is scarce. Here, a cDNA microarray was used to screen and identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to obtain an overview on the changes in gene expression levels between high and low royal jelly producing bees. We developed a honey bee gene chip that covered 11,689 genes, and this chip was hybridised with cDNA generated from RNA isolated from heads of nursing bees. A total of 369 DEGs were identified between high and low royal jelly producing bees. Amongst these DEGs, 201 (54.47%) genes were up-regulated, whereas 168 (45.53%) were down-regulated in high royal jelly-yielding bees. Gene ontology (GO) analyses showed that they are mainly involved in four key biological processes, and pathway analyses revealed that they belong to a total of 46 biological pathways. These results provide a genetic basis for further studies on the molecular mechanisms involved in high royal jelly production.This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.30571409), Educational and scientific research program for young and middle-aged instructor of Fujian province (No.JAT160161) and the earmarked fund for Modern Agro-industry Technology Research System (No.CARS-45-KXJ3

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte responses in Chinese infected with HIV-1 B'/C Recombinant (CRF07_BC)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The characterization of HIV-1-specific T cell responses in people infected with locally circulating HIV-1 strain will facilitate the development of HIV-1 vaccine. Sixty intravenous drug users infected with HIV-1 circulating recombinant form 07_BC (CRF07_BC), which has been spreading rapidly in western China from north to south, were recruited from Xinjiang, China to assess the HIV-1-specific T cell responses at single peptide level with overlapping peptides (OLP) covering the whole concensus clades B and C proteome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The median of the total magnitude and total number of OLPs recognized by CTL responses were 10925 SFC/million PBMC and 25 OLPs, respectively, when tested by clade C peptides, which was significantly higher than when tested by clade B peptides. The immunodominant regions, which cover 14% (58/413) of the HIV-1 proteome, are widely distributed throughout the HIV-1 proteome except in Tat, Vpu and Pol-PR, with Gag, Pol-RT, Pol-Int and Nef being most frequently targeted. The subdominant epitopes are mostly located in p24, Nef, integrase, Vpr and Vif. Of the responses directed to clade C OLPs, 61.75% (972/1574) can be observed when tested with corresponding clade B OLPs. However, Pol-PR and Vpu tend to be targeted in the clade B sequence rather than the clade C sequence, which is in line with the recombinant pattern of CRF07_BC. Stronger and broader CTL responses in subjects with CD4 cell counts ranging from 200 to 400/mm³were observed when compared to those with less than 200/mm³or more than 400/mm³, though there have been no significant correlations identified between the accumulative CTL responses or overall breadth and CD4 cell count or plasma viral load.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first study conducted to comprehensively address T cell responses in Chinese subjects infected with HIV-1 CRF07_BC in which subtle differences in cross-reactivity were observed, though similar patterns of overall immune responses were demonstrated with clade B infected populations. The immunodominant regions identified in this population can facilitate future HIV-1 vaccine development in China.</p

Maternal exposure to ambient air pollution and congenital heart defects in China

Background: Evidence of maternal exposure to ambient air pollution on congenital heart defects (CHD) has been mixed and are still relatively limited in developing countries. We aimed to investigate the association between maternal exposure to air pollution and CHD in China.Method: This longitudinal, population-based, case-control study consecutively recruited fetuses with CHD and healthy volunteers from 21 cities, Southern China, between January 2006 and December 2016. Residential address at delivery was linked to random forests models to estimate maternal exposure to particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of ≤1 µm (PM1), ≤2.5 µm, and ≤10 µm as well as nitrogen dioxides, in three trimesters. The CHD cases were evaluated by obstetrician, pediatrician, or cardiologist, and confirmed by cardia ultrasound. The CHD subtypes were coded using the International Classification Diseases. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between air pollutants and CHD and its subtypes.Results: A total of 7055 isolated CHD and 6423 controls were included in the current analysis. Maternal air pollution exposures were consistently higher among cases than those among controls. Logistic regression analyses showed that maternal exposure to all air pollutants during the first trimester was associated with an increased odds of CHD (e.g., an interquartile range [13.3 µg/m3] increase in PM1 was associated with 1.09-fold ([95% confidence interval, 1.01-1.18]) greater odds of CHD). No significant associations were observed for maternal air pollution exposures during the second trimester and the third trimester. The pattern of the associations between air pollutants and different CHD subtypes was mixed.Conclusions: Maternal exposure to greater levels of air pollutants during the pregnancy, especially the first trimester, is associated with higher odds of CHD in offspring. Further longitudinal well-designed studies are warranted to confirm our findings

The cognitive and neural oscillatory mechanisms underlying the facilitating effect of rhythm regularity on speech comprehension

Although a larger number of studies with Indo-European languages as materials have demonstrated the facilitating effect of rhythm regularity on speech comprehension, the internal mechanisms underlying this facilitating effect is still not completely clear. The present electroencephalograph study examined whether and how a rhythmical sentence context affects Mandarin Chinese speech comprehension, and the cognitive and neural oscillatory mechanisms underlying this rhythm regularity effect. Participants listened to Mandarin Chinese sentences that had a regular or irregular rhythm context and that contained critical nouns that were semantically congruent or incongruent given the preceding sentence contexts. The results revealed that, relative to congruent nouns, incongruent nouns elicited a larger N1 and a larger N400 when they were embedded in a regular-rhythm context, but elicited only a larger P600 when they were embedded in an irregular-rhythm context. This difference in the timing of neural responses to incongruent nouns suggests that a temporal rhythmical context speeds up speech comprehension. Moreover, as compared to the irregular-rhythm contexts, regular-rhythm contexts induced neural oscillatory power increases in the beta band immediately preceding the critical nouns and power increases in the alpha band immediately following these nouns. The beta-power enhancement effect induced by the preceding rhythmic context was negatively correlated with the N400/P600 enhancement effect evoked by the subsequent incongruent nouns. The above results suggest that the facilitating effect of rhythm regularity on speech comprehension relies at least in part on alpha-beta band neural oscillations, especially on beta activity; a temporal rhythmical context facilitates speech comprehension both by enhancing neural excitability associated with early acoustic-phonological processing and by reducing cognitive costs associated with later semantic resolution. The present results were also discussed with regard to the dynamic attending theory.</p