Microstructure and electric properties of lead lanthanum titanate thin film under transverse electric fields

Author name used in this publication: N. Chong2001-2002 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Lower hybrid current drive and ion cyclotron range of frequencies heating experiments in H-mode plasmas in experimental advanced superconducting Tokomak

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High fidelity copy number analysis of formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded tissues using affymetrix cytoscan HD chip

Detection of human genome copy number variation (CNV) is one of the most important analyses in diagnosing human malignancies. Genome CNV detection in formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues remains challenging due to suboptimal DNA quality and failure to use appropriate baseline controls for such tissues. Here, we report a modified method in analyzing CNV in FFPE tissues using microarray with Affymetrix Cytoscan HD chips. Gel purification was applied to select DNA with good quality and data of fresh frozen and FFPE tissues from healthy individuals were included as baseline controls in our data analysis. Our analysis showed a 91% overlap between CNV detection by microarray with FFPE tissues and chromosomal abnormality detection by karyotyping with fresh tissues on 8 cases of lymphoma samples. The CNV overlap between matched frozen and FFPE tissues reached 93.8%. When the analyses were restricted to regions containing genes, 87.1% concordance between FFPE and fresh frozen tissues was found. The analysis was further validated by Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization on these samples using probes specific for BRAF and CITED2. The results suggested that the modified method using Affymetrix Cytoscan HD chip gave rise to a significant improvement over most of the previous methods in terms of accuracy in detecting CNV in FFPE tissues. This FFPE microarray methodology may hold promise for broad application of CNV analysis on clinical samples. © 2014 Yu et al

Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of Global Warming in the Tibetan Plateau during the Last 50 Years Based on a Generalised Temperature Zone - Elevation Model

Temperature is one of the primary factors influencing the climate and ecosystem, and examining its change and fluctuation could elucidate the formation of novel climate patterns and trends. In this study, we constructed a generalised temperature zone elevation model (GTEM) to assess the trends of climate change and temporal-spatial differences in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) using the annual and monthly mean temperatures from 1961-2010 at 144 meteorological stations in and near the TP. The results showed the following: (1) The TP has undergone robust warming over the study period, and the warming rate was 0.318°C/decade. The warming has accelerated during recent decades, especially in the last 20 years, and the warming has been most significant in the winter months, followed by the spring, autumn and summer seasons. (2) Spatially, the zones that became significantly smaller were the temperature zones of -6°C and -4°C, and these have decreased 499.44 and 454.26 thousand sq km from 1961 to 2010 at average rates of 25.1% and 11.7%, respectively, over every 5-year interval. These quickly shrinking zones were located in the northwestern and central TP. (3) The elevation dependency of climate warming existed in the TP during 1961-2010, but this tendency has gradually been weakening due to more rapid warming at lower elevations than in the middle and upper elevations of the TP during 1991-2010. The higher regions and some low altitude valleys of the TP were the most significantly warming regions under the same categorizing criteria. Experimental evidence shows that the GTEM is an effective method to analyse climate changes in high altitude mountainous regions

Clinical, Virological and Immunological Features from Patients Infected with Re-Emergent Avian-Origin Human H7N9 Influenza Disease of Varying Severity in Guangdong Province

The second wave of avian influenza H7N9 virus outbreak in humans spread to the Guangdong province of China by August of 2013 and this virus is now endemic in poultry in this region.Background The second wave of avian influenza H7N9 virus outbreak in humans spread to the Guangdong province of China by August of 2013 and this virus is now endemic in poultry in this region. Methods Five patients with H7N9 virus infection admitted to our hospital during August 2013 to February 2014 were intensively investigated. Viral load in the respiratory tract was determined by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR) and cytokine levels were measured by bead-based flow cytometery. Results Four patients survived and one died. Viral load in different clinical specimens was correlated with cytokine levels in plasma and broncho-alveolar fluid (BALF), therapeutic modalities used and clinical outcome. Intravenous zanamivir appeared to be better than peramivir as salvage therapy in patients who failed to respond to oseltamivir. Higher and more prolonged viral load was found in the sputum or endotracheal aspirates compared to throat swabs. Upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines IP-10, MCP-1, MIG, MIP-1α/β, IL-1β and IL-8 was found in the plasma and BALF samples. The levels of cytokines in the plasma and viral load were correlated with disease severity. Reactivation of herpes simplex virus type 1(HSV-1) was found in three out of five patients (60%). Conclusion Expectorated sputum or endotracheal aspirate specimens are preferable to throat swabs for detecting and monitoring H7N9 virus. Severity of the disease was correlated to the viral load in the respiratory tract as well as the extents of cytokinemia. Reactivation of HSV-1 may contribute to clinical outcome.published_or_final_versio

Disparities and risks of sexually transmissible infections among men who have sex with men in China: a meta-analysis and data synthesis.

BACKGROUND: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including Hepatitis B and C virus, are emerging public health risks in China, especially among men who have sex with men (MSM). This study aims to assess the magnitude and risks of STIs among Chinese MSM. METHODS: Chinese and English peer-reviewed articles were searched in five electronic databases from January 2000 to February 2013. Pooled prevalence estimates for each STI infection were calculated using meta-analysis. Infection risks of STIs in MSM, HIV-positive MSM and male sex workers (MSW) were obtained. This review followed the PRISMA guidelines and was registered in PROSPERO. RESULTS: Eighty-eight articles (11 in English and 77 in Chinese) investigating 35,203 MSM in 28 provinces were included in this review. The prevalence levels of STIs among MSM were 6.3% (95% CI: 3.5-11.0%) for chlamydia, 1.5% (0.7-2.9%) for genital wart, 1.9% (1.3-2.7%) for gonorrhoea, 8.9% (7.8-10.2%) for hepatitis B (HBV), 1.2% (1.0-1.6%) for hepatitis C (HCV), 66.3% (57.4-74.1%) for human papillomavirus (HPV), 10.6% (6.2-17.6%) for herpes simplex virus (HSV-2) and 4.3% (3.2-5.8%) for Ureaplasma urealyticum. HIV-positive MSM have consistently higher odds of all these infections than the broader MSM population. As a subgroup of MSM, MSW were 2.5 (1.4-4.7), 5.7 (2.7-12.3), and 2.2 (1.4-3.7) times more likely to be infected with chlamydia, gonorrhoea and HCV than the broader MSM population, respectively. CONCLUSION: Prevalence levels of STIs among MSW were significantly higher than the broader MSM population. Co-infection of HIV and STIs were prevalent among Chinese MSM. Integration of HIV and STIs healthcare and surveillance systems is essential in providing effective HIV/STIs preventive measures and treatments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO NO: CRD42013003721

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics

Search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum in pp collisions at √ s = 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Results of a search for new phenomena in final states with an energetic jet and large missing transverse momentum are reported. The search uses 20.3 fb−1 of √ s = 8 TeV data collected in 2012 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. Events are required to have at least one jet with pT > 120 GeV and no leptons. Nine signal regions are considered with increasing missing transverse momentum requirements between Emiss T > 150 GeV and Emiss T > 700 GeV. Good agreement is observed between the number of events in data and Standard Model expectations. The results are translated into exclusion limits on models with either large extra spatial dimensions, pair production of weakly interacting dark matter candidates, or production of very light gravitinos in a gauge-mediated supersymmetric model. In addition, limits on the production of an invisibly decaying Higgs-like boson leading to similar topologies in the final state are presente

The Aminopeptidase CD13 Induces Homotypic Aggregation in Neutrophils and Impairs Collagen Invasion.

Aminopeptidase N (CD13) is a widely expressed cell surface metallopeptidase involved in the migration of cancer and endothelial cells. Apart from our demonstration that CD13 modulates the efficacy of tumor necrosis factor-α-induced apoptosis in neutrophils, no other function for CD13 has been ascribed in this cell. We hypothesized that CD13 may be involved in neutrophil migration and/or homotypic aggregation. Using purified human blood neutrophils we confirmed the expression of CD13 on neutrophils and its up-regulation by pro-inflammatory agonists. However, using the anti-CD13 monoclonal antibody WM-15 and the aminopeptidase enzymatic inhibitor bestatin we were unable to demonstrate any direct involvement of CD13 in neutrophil polarisation or chemotaxis. In contrast, IL-8-mediated neutrophil migration in type I collagen gels was significantly impaired by the anti-CD13 monoclonal antibodies WM-15 and MY7. Notably, these antibodies also induced significant homotypic aggregation of neutrophils, which was dependent on CD13 cross-linking and was attenuated by phosphoinositide 3-kinase and extracellular signal-related kinase 1/2 inhibition. Live imaging demonstrated that in WM-15-treated neutrophils, where homotypic aggregation was evident, the number of cells entering IL-8 impregnated collagen I gels was significantly reduced. These data reveal a novel role for CD13 in inducing homotypic aggregation in neutrophils, which results in a transmigration deficiency; this mechanism may be relevant to neutrophil micro-aggregation in vivo.This work was funded by a Medical Research Council Research Training Fellowship to CAF (G0900329), Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT), CUHNHSFT, Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre. CAF received a Raymond and Beverly Sackler Studentship.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the Public Library of Science via http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.016010

Evidence for the direct two-photon transition from ψ(3686) to J/ψ

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