Effects of Clinostat Culture on Morphology and Gene Expression of MLO-Y4 Osteocyte-Like Cells

Abstract The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of 2D clinostat-simulated weightlessness on biological characteristics of MLO-Y4 osteocyte-like cells. MLO-Y4 cells were incubated for 24 h and rotated using a 2D clinostat for 2 h. The bioeffects of clinostat culture on cellular morphology, cytoskeleton, and gene expression were investigated. The results show that 2D clinostat-simulated weightlessness induce actin cytoskeleton rearrangement, but unaffected the cellular morphology and number of processes/cell. Also, after 2 h of clinostat culture, expression of RANKL and IL-6 decreased by 19%±5% and 20%±4%, respectively, while cox-2 level increased by 65%±8%. These results provide some clue to explore the cellular mechanism of bone loss caused by weightlessness

Anomalous impact of thermal fluctuations on spintransfer torque induced ferrimagnetic switching

The dynamics of a spin torque driven ferrimagnetic (FiM) system is investigated using the two-sublattice macrospin model. We demonstrate an ultrafast switching in the picosecond range. However, we find that the excessive current leads to the magnetic oscillation. Therefore, faster switching cannot be achieved by unlimitedly increasing the current. By systematically studying the impact of thermal fluctuations, we find the dynamics of FiMs can also be distinguished into the precessional region, the thermally activated region, and the cross-over region. However, in the precessional region, there is a significant deviation between FiM and ferromagnet (FM), i.e., the FM is insensitive to thermal fluctuations since its switching is only determined by the amount of net charge. In contrast, we find that the thermal effect is pronounced even a very short current pulse is applied to the FiM. We attribute this anomalous effect to the complex relation between the anisotropy and overdrive current. By controlling the magnetic anisotropy, we demonstrate that the FiM can also be configured to be insensitive to thermal fluctuations. This controllable thermal property makes the FiM promising in many emerging applications such as the implementation of tunable activation functions in the neuromorphic computing.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure

PACIAE 2.0: An updated parton and hadron cascade model (program) for the relativistic nuclear collisions

We have updated the parton and hadron cascade model PACIAE for the relativistic nuclear collisions, from based on JETSET 6.4 and PYTHIA 5.7 to based on PYTHIA 6.4, and renamed as PACIAE 2.0. The main physics concerning the stages of the parton initiation, parton rescattering, hadronization, and hadron rescattering were discussed. The structures of the programs were briefly explained. In addition, some calculated examples were compared with the experimental data. It turns out that this model (program) works well.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure

The diagnostic value of elastography and ultrasound contrast in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma

目的 评估弹性成像与超声造影（CEUS）两种检查技术对鉴别诊断甲状腺微小乳头状癌（TMC）的价值。方法  对常规超声检测出且定性困难的73例80个甲状腺微小结节进行弹性成像及CEUS检查，所有结节均经手术病理证实。比较两种检查方法的准确性。结果 80个结节中CEUS诊断正确率为85.0%（68/80）,其中6例TMC误诊为良性病变，6例良性结节误诊为TMC；弹性成像5分法诊断正确率为92.5%（74/80）,其中3例TMC误诊为良性结节，3例良性结节误诊为TMC。性成像诊断甲状腺微小癌的敏感性94.0%，特异性90.0%，准确性92.5%；CEUS诊断甲状腺微小癌的敏感性88.0%，特异性80.0%，准确性85.0%。结论 CEUS和弹性成像对于诊断TMC方面均有价值，但弹性评分≥3作为诊断TMC的敏感性、特异性及准确性均高于CEUS。Objective: To assess the value of elastic imaging and CEUS two inspection techniques for differential diagnosis of thyroid papillary carcinoma (TMC). Method: To do elastic imaging and CEUS checks to 73 cases of 80 thyroid nodules which was tested by conventional ultrasonic and difficult to quantify. All nodules were confirmed by surgery and pathologic examination. Comparing the accuracy of both detection methods. Result: Of the 80 nodules, the accuracy of CEUS diagnosis was 85.0%（68/80）,  of which 6 cases were misdiagnosed as benign lesions, and 6cases of benign nodules were misdiagnosed as TMC: the accuracy of 5-point scale criteria of elastography was 92.5%（74/80）, of which 3 TMC were misdiagnosed as benign nodules: and 3 benign nodules were misdiagnosed as TMC. The application of elastography in the diagnosis of thyroid microcarcinoma displayed a sensitivity of 94.0%, a specificity of 90.0% and an accuracy of 92.5%. Elastography detection was more advantagerous than CEUS in the diagnosis of thyroid microcarcinoma, and compared to CEUS , the differences were statistically significant（P <0.05）.Conclusion: Elastography and Ultrasound Contrast have highly practical value to diagnosis of TMC.  The sensitivity specificity and accuracy of using elastic score ≥3 as criteria of diagnosis of TMC was higher than that of CEUS

A Review of the Engineering Role of Burrowing Animals: Implication of Chinese Pangolin as an Ecosystem Engineer

Ecosystem engineers are organisms that alter the distribution of resources in the environment by creating, modifying, maintaining and/or destroying the habitat. They can affect the structure and function of the whole ecosystem furthermore. Burrowing engineers are an important group in ecosystem engineers as they play a critical role in soil translocation and habitat creation in various types of environment.However, few researchers have systematically summarized and analyzed the studies of burrowing engineers. We reviewing the existing ecological studies of burrowing engineer about their interaction with habitat through five directions: (1) soil turnover; (2)changing soil physicochemical properties; (3) changing plant community structure; (4) providing limited resources for commensal animals;and/or (5) affecting animal communities. The Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is a typical example of burrowing mammals, in part (5), we focus on the interspecific relationships among burrow commensal species of Chinese pangolin. The engineering effects vary with environmental gradient, literature indicates that burrowing engineer play a stronger role in habitat transformation in the tropical and subtropical areas.The most common experiment method is comparative measurements (include different spatial and temporal scale),manipulative experiment is relatively few. We found that most of the engineering effects had positive feedback to the local ecosystem, increased plant abundance and resilience, increased biodiversity and consequently improved ecosystem functioning. With the global background of dramatic climate change and biodiversity loss in recent decades, we recommend future studies should improving knowledge of long-term engineering effects on population scale and landscape scale, exploring ecological cascades through trophic and engineering pathways, to better understand the attribute of the burrowing behavior of engineers to restore ecosystems and habitat creation. The review is presented as an aid to systematically expound the engineering effect of burrowing animals in the ecosystem, and provided new ideas and advice for planning and implementing conservation management