Association study of dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) variable tandem repeat sequence (VNTR) with obsessive-compulsive disorder in Chinese Han Population

Abstract: Objective: Multiple evidence suggests an involvement of the dopamine neurotransmitter system in Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Therefore, we explore the association of 3'UTR region of 40 bp variable tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism in Dopamine Transporter Gene (DAT1) in Chinese Han population. Methods: A total of 305 OCD patients and 435 healthy individuals were recruited for the study. OCD was diagnosed with the Forth Edition (DSM-IV) diagnostic criteria. After polymerase chain reaction of VNTR was used to evaluate the 40 bp VNTR polymorphism in DAT1, a case-control association analysis was performed by the χ 2 test. Results: The results showed that no association was found between OCD patients and controls for the genotype distribution (X 2 =0.743, P=0.690, df=2) as well as allelic (X 2 =0.172, P=0.678, OR=0.928, 95% Cl=0.885-1.224) distribution. Conclusions: Our data suggest that the 40 bp VNTR polymorphism in DAT1 may not be associated with susceptibility to OCD in the Chinese Han population studied. However, this result needed to be replicated from different populations

De Novo Transcriptome of Safflower and the Identification of Putative Genes for Oleosin and the Biosynthesis of Flavonoids

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is one of the most extensively used oil crops in the world. However, little is known about how its compounds are synthesized at the genetic level. In this study, Solexa-based deep sequencing on seed, leaf and petal of safflower produced a de novo transcriptome consisting of 153,769 unigenes. We annotated 82,916 of the unigenes with gene annotation and assigned functional terms and specific pathways to a subset of them. Metabolic pathway analysis revealed that 23 unigenes were predicted to be responsible for the biosynthesis of flavonoids and 8 were characterized as seed-specific oleosins. In addition, a large number of differentially expressed unigenes, for example, those annotated as participating in anthocyanin and chalcone synthesis, were predicted to be involved in flavonoid biosynthesis pathways. In conclusion, the de novo transcriptome investigation of the unique transcripts provided candidate gene resources for studying oleosin-coding genes and for investigating genes related to flavonoid biosynthesis and metabolism in safflower

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): From basic to advanced approaches

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), through their complex cargo, can reflect the state of their cell of origin and change the functions and phenotypes of other cells. These features indicate strong biomarker and therapeutic potential and have generated broad interest, as evidenced by the steady year-on-year increase in the numbers of scientific publications about EVs. Important advances have been made in EV metrology and in understanding and applying EV biology. However, hurdles remain to realising the potential of EVs in domains ranging from basic biology to clinical applications due to challenges in EV nomenclature, separation from non-vesicular extracellular particles, characterisation and functional studies. To address the challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving field, the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) updates its 'Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles', which was first published in 2014 and then in 2018 as MISEV2014 and MISEV2018, respectively. The goal of the current document, MISEV2023, is to provide researchers with an updated snapshot of available approaches and their advantages and limitations for production, separation and characterisation of EVs from multiple sources, including cell culture, body fluids and solid tissues. In addition to presenting the latest state of the art in basic principles of EV research, this document also covers advanced techniques and approaches that are currently expanding the boundaries of the field. MISEV2023 also includes new sections on EV release and uptake and a brief discussion of in vivo approaches to study EVs. Compiling feedback from ISEV expert task forces and more than 1000 researchers, this document conveys the current state of EV research to facilitate robust scientific discoveries and move the field forward even more rapidly

Measuring Human-Scale Living Convenience through Multi-Sourced Urban Data and a Geodesign Approach: Buildings as Analytical Units

Living convenience, as a perceptual quality of life, is gradually playing an increasingly important role in the context of seeking livable cities. A high degree of living convenience positively affects urban vitality, livability, and daily physical activities. However, it is hard to achieve a quantitative measurement of this intangible, subjective issue. This study presents a data-informed analytical approach to measuring the human-scale living convenience using multi-sourced urban data and geodesign techniques. Firstly, according to classical theories, living convenience is translated as the co-presentation of accessed number and diversity of urban facilities. Based on that, this study applies multi-sourced urban data, including points of interest (PoIs), buildings, and street networks, to compute the living convenience of each building in the 15 min community–life circle. Through the geoprocessing tools developed by ArcGIS API for Python (ArcPy), the living convenience of millions of buildings in an entire city can be computed efficiently. Kaifeng City from Henan Province, China, is selected as the case study, and the verification from local experts in urbanism shows high accuracy. The capacity to measure intangible perception exhibits the potential for this analytical approach in urban planning practices. Several explorations have been conducted in this direction, including analyzing the spatial heterogeneity in Kaifeng City and planning decision support for bus station arrangement. In short, this study contributes to the development of human-centered planning by providing continuous measurements of an ‘unmeasurable’ quality across large-scale areas. Insights into the perceptual-based quality and detailed mapping of living conveniences in buildings can assist in efficient planning strategies toward more livable and sustainable urbanism

THREE NEW SPECIES AND ONE NEW GENUS OF TREMATODES BELONGING TO THE FAMILY HAPLOSPLANCHNIDAE POCHE,1925

唐仲璋、林秀敏，厦门大学生物系寄生动物研究室【中文摘要】Eysenhardt在1829年描述了Distomum pachysomum。Looss 1902年为它创立新属单脏属Haplosplanchnus Looss,1902。本类吸虫具有异常发达的腹吸盘 ,使它前部显出突出或分叉的状态。同时内部只具有一个肠管, 一个辜丸和一边卵黄腺。这类吸虫是以赋有特异的体形而见称的。顾昌栋和申纪伟(1964)在我国海南岛发现尖希氏单脏吸虫Schikhobalotrema acuta(Linton,1910)寄生在大圆额针鱼肠内, 这是东半球该亚科吸虫最早的记录1961年我们在福州闽江河口检验鳍鱼内脏,在其肠内采集到单脏属吸虫三种, 经过详细的形态研究之后,确定了它们均属新种, 其中还有一新属。 【Abstract】Trematodes of the family, Haplosplanehnidae, are unique in having only one intestinal caecum and an acetabulum which grows to enormous size. Members of the subfamily, Haplosplanclminae, were fomery recorded from the Mediterranean, Japan and India, while those of the subfamily Schikhobalotrematinae were at one time only found in North America and Mexico. The finding of Schikhobalotrnm acuta (Linton, 1910) by Ku and Shen (1964) from Hainan Island represents the first record of the latter subfamily in the eastern hemisphere. The present communication reports three new species of the members belong to Haplosplanchninae, all from fishes of the family Mugilidae collected from Min River in coastal Fujian. Of the three species, two belong to the genus Haplosplanchnus Srivastava, 1039 and one to a new genus

Policies and Problems of Modernizing Ethnomedicine in China: A Focus on the Yi and Dai Traditional Medicines of Yunnan Province

Yunnan is a multiethnic province in southwest China, rich in Materia medica resources, and is popularly known as the kingdom of plants. Biomedicine and public health industry have been the industrial pillars of Yunnan since 2016, which is the important pharmaceutical industrial base for Dai and Yi medicine in China. This review of the Yunnan ethnic medicine industry describes some of the problems to be solved in the development of sustainable ethnomedicine in China. We investigated Chinese patent medicines (CPMs) declared as ethnomedicine on the drug instructions and identified 28 Dai patent medicines (DPMs) and 73 Yi patent medicines (YPMs) that were approved for clinical use in China. In further research, the clinical indications of these CPMs were determined, and the quality standard of medicinal materials and their usage frequencies in DPMs and YPMs were investigated. We also collected and analyzed the data on use of botanical and animal sources of medicines, the rare and endangered medicinal materials, and toxic medicines in DPMs and YPMs. The application of zootherapy in Yi traditional medicine was introduced from its abundant ancient documents and records; based on the “YaGei” theory in Dai traditional medicine, toxic medicines can be relatively safe in DPMs. However, for promoting the Yunnan traditional medicine industry, it is necessary to strengthen medical research to expand evidence-based clinical practice and balance ethnomedicine production and sustainable utilization of Materia medica resources, especially the animal sources of medicines, toxic medicines, and the protected wild resources reported in this survey. Only in this way can industrialization of ethnomedicine promote the improvement of human health

Magnetic properties of loess deposits in Australia and its environmental significances

There are vast and dry areas of deserts in the interior of Australia,but none of loess section has been reported until 2003,Mackenzie's Waterholes Creek(MWC)profile in New South Wales was first studied as loess.In this paper,various measurements of magnetic parameters from MWC were carried out,comparison was made with those of Luochuan profile,which lies in the Central Chinese Loess Plateau(CLP).The types of magnetic minerals are similar to the CLP: magnetite,maghemite,limonite and hematite.However,the magnetic properties of Australian aeolian sediment show quite different.Frequency-dependent magnetic susceptibility (χfd ％ )is rather high,while values of magnetic susceptibility is low.The relative content of hard(paramagnetic)-magnetic components is much higher than CLP,whereas the content of maghemite and hematite is obviously much less.Furthermore this proportion increases along with the depth.Maghemite is more sensitive than magnetite under pedogenic condition of experiencing humid and stagnant watered environment.Maghemite increases along with enhancement of magnetic susceptibility in Luochuan section; however,decreases with that in MWC profile.This very likely indicate that the pedogenic process in MWC took place under environment that maghemite/magnetite are unstable.The modern annual precipitation is 924.2mm in MWC area,which is about 300mm higher than that in Luochuan.That extra moisture may lead MWC exceeding stable range for maghemite/magnetite.Those minerals therefore gradually converted to more stable goethite under the condition,causing magnetic susceptibility to decrease.Fe and Mn nodules are commonly observed in the lower part of section,implying pedogenic chemical weathering happened that Fe was dissolved and migrated downward and enriched in certain position,indicating that wind-blown maghemite/magnetite under such moisture condition were transformed to iron hydroxides,such as goethite/limonite,or paramagnetic minerals,resulting in magnetic susceptibility reduced.Although the susceptibility from the most of section shows a general positive relation to the particle size,it seems fit well to the 'wind vigor’ Alaskan mode.However,Fe chemical weathering and moved downward happened in MWC suggest that the precondition for 'wind vigor’ mode cannot be satisfied,the susceptibility variation can only find a solution from pedogenesis.12 page(s

Methylation and Expression of Retinoblastoma and Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Genes in Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated and -Negative Gastric Carcinomas

Background. Retinoblastoma (RB) and transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) are important tumor-related factors. Methods. A series of 30 EBV-associated gastric carcinoma (EBVaGC) and 38 matched EBV-negative gastric carcinoma (EBVnGC) tissues were examined for the promoter methylation of RB by methylation-specific PCR (MSP) method. The expression of RB and TGF-β1 in gastric carcinoma tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. Results. The methylation rate of RB gene in EBVaGC and EBVnGC was 80.0% (24/30) and 50.0% (19/38), respectively. The difference of RB methylation rate between EBVaGC and EBVnGC was significant (χ2=6.490,  P=0.011). There was no significant difference for RB expression between EBVaGC (43.3%, 13/30) and EBVnGC (63.2%, 24/38), and also for TGF-β1 between EBVaGC (56.7%, 17/30) and EBVnGC (63.2%, 24/38). RB methylation was not reversely correlated with RB expression in gastric carcinoma tissues (χ2=2.943,  P=0.086,  r=0.208). RB methylation, loss expression of RB, and TGF-β1 expression were significantly associated with tumor invasion and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05), but was not associated with sex, age, histological subtype (differentiation status) and tumor location. Conclusions. Methylation of RB is a common event in gastric carcinomas and EBV induces methylation of RB in EBVaGC, which may contribute to the development of gastric carcinomas. EBV has no significant effect on induction of TGF-β1 expression. Detection of RB methylation, RB expression, and TGF-β1 expression may be helpful to judge the status of tumor invasion and lymph node metastasis in gastric carcinomas

Reconciling Dimensional and Categorical Models of Autism Heterogeneity: A Brain Connectomics and Behavioral Study

Contains fulltext : 220258.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access

Experimental Realization of 16-Pixel Terahertz Receiver Front-End Based on Bulk Silicon MEMS Power Divider and AlGaN/GaN HEMT Linear Detector Array

A 16-pixel terahertz (THz) receiver front-end working at room temperature was designed, built, and measured in this paper. The designed receiver front-end is based on the antenna-coupled AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT) THz linear detector array (TeraLDA) and a 16-way THz power divider. The local oscillator (LO) signal is divided by the power divider into 16 ways and transmits to the TeraLDA. Each detector contains a planar unified antenna printed on a 150 &mu;m-thick sapphire substrate and a transistor fabricated on AlGaN/GaN heterostructure. There are 16 silicon hemispheric lenses located on the TeraLDA to increase the responsivity of the TeraLDA. The focus of each lens is aligned in the center of the TeraLDA pixels. Depending on different read out circuits, the receiver front-end could work in homodyne and heterodyne modes. The 16-way power divider is a four-stage power divider that consists of fifteen same 2-way dividers, and was fabricated by bulk silicon microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology to achieve low insertion loss (IL). This designed receiver front-end could be a key component of a THz coherent focal plane imaging radar system, that may play a crucial role in nondestructive 3D imaging application