Selective flotation of witherite from calcite using potassium chromate as a depressant

Witherite has been widely used as an industrial and environmental source of barium, with calcite being the primary associated carbonate mineral. However, few studies have been conducted to effectively concentrate witherite from barium ores. In this work, with the treatment of potassium chromate (K2CrO4) and sodium oleate (NaOL), witherite was selectively separated from calcite through selective flotation at different pH conditions. In addition, contact angle, Zeta potential, adsorption and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements were performed to characterize the separation mechanisms. The results demonstrated that NaOL had a strong collecting ability for both witherite and calcite; nevertheless, witherite could be effectively selected from calcite with the highest recovery at pH 9 in the presence of K2CrO4. From the XPS measurements, NaOL and K2CrO4 were found to be primarily attached to the surfaces of witherite and calcite through chemisorption. The presence of K2CrO4 on the surface of calcite adversely influenced the NaOL adsorption, which could make the flotation separation efficient and successful

Genetic differences and variation in polysaccharide antioxidant activity found in germplasm resources for Job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi L.)

Job’s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi L.) is an ancient plant with high nutritional and medicinal value. In this study, using 11 Chinese germplasm resources for Job’s tears, we examined genetic differences among the germplasms and differences in the in vitro antioxidant activities of coixan, and sought to identify inter-relationships between these two variables. We found that the intraspecific conservation of DNA sequences was high, with ITS regions and cpDNA trnL-F and trnH-psbA non-coding sequences showing no sequence variation, whereas the GBSSI gene showed a certain degree of variation among the different germplasms. EST-SSR analysis also revealed a relatively low level of genetic diversity among the germplasms. Coixan was shown to be an efficient antioxidant, and among the germplasms examined, the LNYX, FJPC, and AHBZ had the highest antioxidant activities. However, none of the four in vitro antioxidant activity indices we assessed were significantly correlated with the geographical origin of the germplasm (latitude and longitude); however, one of them was significantly associated with genetic diversity. Although the factors affecting the antioxidant activity of coixan are complex, the role of heredity should not be ignored. Our findings have implications for the scientific evaluation, identification, and sustainable utilization of the germplasm resources for Job’s tears.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Delimiting Urban Growth Boundary through Combining Land Suitability Evaluation and Cellular Automata

China’s domestic urban planning only worked on researches of urban space control, the scope definition of urban development is not clear enough. The purpose of this study is to present a new urban growth boundary (UGB) delimitation method which combined land suitability evaluation (LSE) and cellular automata (CA). This method gave credence to LSE’s advantage in sustainable land use, and CA’s advantage in objective dynamic simulation. The ecological limitation areas were defined by LSE, which were regarded as the restricted areas of urban growth; meanwhile, it was taken as an important model input to guide intensive land allocation in urban growth model (CA model). The future urban growth scenarios were predicted by CA model and the corresponding UGB lines were delineated by ArcGIS 10.1. The results indicated that this method had good performance in Ningbo’s urban growth simulation. When compared to the planned UGB in urban master planning, the simulated UGBs under port development and regulated scenarios showed more intensive and suitable spatial layout of land. Besides, the simulated UGB under regulated scenario had the most reasonable space structure and the largest ecological protection effect among the UGBs. Hence, the simulated UGBs were superior to the planned UGB. The study recommends that this UGB delimitation method can promote sustainability of land development and ecological environment in Chinese cities

Genetic Mapping of Behavioral Traits Using the Collaborative Cross Resource

The complicated interactions between genetic background, environment and lifestyle factors make it difficult to study the genetic basis of complex phenotypes, such as cognition and anxiety levels, in humans. However, environmental and other factors can be tightly controlled in mouse studies. The Collaborative Cross (CC) is a mouse genetic reference population whose common genetic and phenotypic diversity is on par with that of humans. Therefore, we leveraged the power of the CC to assess 52 behavioral measures associated with locomotor activity, anxiety level, learning and memory. This is the first application of the CC in novel object recognition tests, Morris water maze tasks, and fear conditioning tests. We found substantial continuous behavioral variations across the CC strains tested, and mapped six quantitative trait loci (QTLs) which influenced these traits, defining candidate genetic variants underlying these QTLs. Overall, our findings highlight the potential of the CC population in behavioral genetic research, while the identified genomic loci and genes driving the variation of relevant behavioral traits provide a foundation for further studies

EP300 single nucleotide polymorphism rs20551 correlates with prolonged overall survival in diffuse large B cell lymphoma patients treated with R-CHOP

Abstract Background Rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (CHOP) is used as standard frontline regimen for diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The landscape of somatic mutations in DLBCL revealed that inactivation of EP300 plays an important role in lymphomagenesis. A common EP300 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs20551 results in the substitution of valine for isoleucine at codon 997 close to the Bromodomain. However, the association between SNP rs20551 and clinical prognosis in DLBCL patients treated with R-CHOP is unknown. Methods In this study we analyzed the EP300 SNP rs20551 and prognosis of 226 DLBCL patients who treated with R-CHOP or R-CHOP-like regimes from 2002 to 2013. Determination of the EP300 SNP rs20551 from genomic DNA was obtained by Sanger chain termination sequencing. Result In this study, the frequency of the A and G allele of the EP300 SNP rs20551 in 226 patients were 92.5 and 7.5%, respectively. We did not observe obvious correlation between patients’ disease features and the EP300 SNP rs20551. But the patients with genotype AA had a higher 5-year overall survival rate than those with genotype GA (77.0% vs. 64.7%, p = 0.045). Furthermore, multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the GA genotype of EP300 SNP rs20551 was an independent poor prognostic factor for DLBCL patients treated with Rituximab-chemotherapy (p = 0.009, HR 2.956, 95% CI 1.315–6.645). Conclusion This study suggests that EP300 SNP rs20551 might be a useful biomarker to predict the long-term outcome of R-CHOP in DLBCL patients

TP53 Arg72 as a favorable prognostic factor for Chinese diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients treated with CHOP

Abstract Background TP53 Arg72Pro (SNP rs1042522) is associated with risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of NHL. However, the relationship between this SNP and prognosis of DLBCL in Asians is unknown. Methods Genotyping of TP53 Arg72Pro was done in 425 Chinese DLBCL patients. Two hundred and eighty-nine patients were treated with R-CHOP, and 136 patients received CHOP or CHOP-like as frontline regimen. Three hundred and ninety-six patients were assessable for the efficacy. Results Patients with Arg/Arg and Arg/Pro at codon 72 of TP53 had a higher complete response rate (61% vs. 44%, P = 0.007) than those with Pro/Pro. In the subgroup treated with CHOP or CHOP-like therapy, patients with Arg/Arg and Arg/Pro showed a higher 5-year overall survival (OS) rate than those with Pro/Pro (68.8% vs. 23.2%, P = 0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed TP53 Arg72 as a favorable prognostic factor in this group. However, the combination of rituximab with CHOP significantly increased the 5-year OS rate of patients with Pro/Pro to 63%. Conclusion This study revealed TP53 Arg72 as a favorable prognostic factor for Chinese DLBCL patients treated with CHOP or CHOP-like as frontline therapy