Comparison of photon volumetric modulated arc therapy, intensity-modulated proton therapy, and intensity-modulated carbon ion therapy for delivery of hypo-fractionated thoracic radiotherapy

Purpose The aim of the present study was to compare the dose distribution generated from photon volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT), and intensity modulated carbon ion therapy (IMCIT) in the delivery of hypo-fractionated thoracic radiotherapy. Methods and materials Ten selected patients who underwent thoracic particle therapy between 2015 and 2016 were re-planned to receive a relative biological effectiveness (RBE) weighted dose of 60 Gy (i.e., GyE) in 15 fractions delivered with VMAT, IMPT, or IMCIT with the same optimization criteria. Treatment plans were then compared. Results There were no significant differences in target volume dose coverage or dose conformity, except improved D95 was found with IMCIT compared with VMAT (p = 0.01), and IMCIT was significantly better than IMPT in all target volume dose parameters. Particle therapy led to more prominent lung sparing at low doses, and this result was most prominent with IMCIT (p \u3c 0.05). Improved sparing of other thoracic organs at risk (OARs) was observed with particle therapy, and IMCIT further lowered the D1cc and D5cc for major blood vessels, as compared with IMPT (p = 0.01). Conclusion Although it was comparable to VMAT, IMCIT led to significantly better tumor target dose coverage and conformity than did IMPT. Particle therapy, compared with VMAT, improved thoracic OAR sparing. IMCIT, compared with IMPT, may further improve normal lung and major blood vessel sparing under limited respiratory motion

Strain-induced high ferromagnetic transition temperature of MnAs epilayer grown on GaAs (110)

MnAs films are grown on GaAs surfaces by molecular beam epitaxy. Specular and grazing incidence X-ray diffractions are used to study the influence of different strain states of MnAs/GaAs (110) and MnAs/GaAs (001) on the first-order magnetostructural phase transition. It comes out that the first-order magnetostructural phase transition temperature Tt, at which the remnant magnetization becomes zero, is strongly affected by the strain constraint from different oriented GaAs substrates. Our results show an elevated Tt of 350 K for MnAs films grown on GaAs (110) surface, which is attributed to the effect of strain constraint from different directions

Hypermethylated gene ANKDD1A is a candidate tumor suppressor that interacts with FIH1 and decreases HIF1α stability to inhibit cell autophagy in the glioblastoma multiforme hypoxia microenvironment.

Ectopic epigenetic mechanisms play important roles in facilitating tumorigenesis. Here, we first demonstrated that ANKDD1A is a functional tumor suppressor gene, especially in the hypoxia microenvironment. ANKDD1A directly interacts with FIH1 and inhibits the transcriptional activity of HIF1α by upregulating FIH1. In addition, ANKDD1A decreases the half-life of HIF1α by upregulating FIH1, decreases glucose uptake and lactate production, inhibits glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) autophagy, and induces apoptosis in GBM cells under hypoxia. Moreover, ANKDD1A is highly frequently methylated in GBM. The tumor-specific methylation of ANKDD1A indicates that it could be used as a potential epigenetic biomarker as well as a possible therapeutic target

Loss-of-function mutations with circadian rhythm regulator Per1/Per2 lead to premature ovarian insufficiency

The mechanism underlying premature ovarian insufficiency remains incompletely understood. Here we report that mice with Per1m/m; Per2m/m double mutations display a decrease in female fertility starting approximately at 20 weeks old, with significantly less pups born from 32 weeks old onwards. Histological analysis revealed that a significant reduction of ovarian follicles was observed in the Per1/Per2 mutants compared with the littermate controls examined at 26 and 52 weeks old, while the difference was not statistically significant between the two groups at 3 and 8 weeks old. We further showed that vascular development including the ovarian follicle associated vascular growth appeared normal in the Per1/Per2 mutant mice, although clock genes were reported to regulate angiogenesis in zebrafish. The findings imply that loss-of-function mutations with Per1/Per2 result in a premature depletion of ovarian follicle reserve leading to the decline of reproductive capacity.Peer reviewe

Book Review: The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition and Pragmatics

Naoko Taguchi (Ed.)Routledge, New York, 2019. xiii+ 522 pages. $220. Hardcover. ISBN:978-0-8153-4976-

Thalassaphorura

Key to the Chinese species of the genus <i>Thalassaphorura</i> <p> 1 Antennal base with 4 pseudocelli <i>....................................................................... tamurai</i></p> <p>­ Antennal base with 3 pseudocelli.................................................................................. 2</p> <p> 2 Th. III with 1+1 pseudocelli <i>......................................................................... dinghuensis</i></p> <p>­ Th. III with 3+3 pseudocelli.......................................................................................... 3</p> <p> 3 Ant. IV with sensory setae <i>..................................................................................... yodai</i></p> <p>­ Ant. IV without sensory setae....................................................................................... 4</p> <p> 4 Abd. V with 2+2 dorsal pseudocelli; ventral tube with 9+9 or 10+10 setae <i>... orientalis</i></p> <p> ­ Abd. V with 3+3 dorsal pseudocelli; ventral tube with 6+6 setae <i>.... qixiaensis</i> <b>sp. nov.</b></p>Published as part of <i>Yan, Haijuan, Shi, Shidi & Chen, Jianxiu, 2006, A new species of the genus Thalassaphorura from East China (Collembola: Onychiuridae), pp. 35-41 in Zootaxa 1369</i> on page 36, DOI: <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/174863">10.5281/zenodo.174863</a&gt

Thalassaphorura qixiaensis Yan, Shi & Chen, 2006, sp. nov.

Thalassaphorura qixiaensis sp. nov. (Figures 1–16) Type material HOLOTYPE: male (mounted on slide), China: Jiangsu Province: Nanjing: Qixiashan Park, alt. 440m, 14 ­X­ 1994, collection number C 8420, collected by CHEN Jian­xiu. PARATYPES: 12 males and 78 females, C 8419; all data as the holotype. All deposited in the Department of Biology, Nanjing University. Description Maximum body length: male 1.25 mm, female 1.72 mm. Body shape: cylindrical, Abd III and IV slightly swollen. Body color: pale yellow in alcohol. Integumental granulation fine and almost uniform. Dorsal granules 1.5 –2.0 µm in diameter, ventral ones slightly smaller than those on dorsal side. Pseudocelli (pso) arranged dorsally as 32 / 233 / 33343 (Fig. 1 a), ventrally as 2 /000/ 0 112. Cephalic dorsal chaetotaxy with seta d0 present and 3 + 3 setae between posterior inner pso. Post antennal organ (PAO) consisting of 21–30 simple, separate vesicles arranged vertically to long axis of organ, around narrow central granule­free groove (Fig. 6). Antennal base not clearly demarcated, with 3 pseudocelli. Labral setae 4 /1, 4, 2 (Fig. 7). Labial palp with 5 papillate terminal sensilla, setae A & C thick and blunt (AC type after Fjellberg, 1999). Labial proximal setae 7. Labial triangular setae as 4 (E, F, G, and f) and 5 (b, c, d, e, e’) respectively in basomedian and basolateral fields (D’ Haese, 2003) (Fig. 3). 4 + 4 setae present along ventral groove on mentum (Figs. 2). Antennae cylindrical, 0.7–0.9 times length of cephalic diagonal. Length ratio of antennal segments as I: II: III: IV = 1: 1.3–2.5: 1.3–2.5: 3.6–5.2. Ant. III organ with 5 guard setae, 5 papillae, 2 subequal sensory rods and 2 straight, smooth, paddle­like clubs (Fig. 5). Microsensillum (ms) of Ant. III present on lateral side and slightly behind sense organ (Figs. 4 & 5). Ant. IV without visible blunt sensory setae; subapical sense peg small, slightly expanded, beset in a shallow pit; ms on lateral side, at about 2 / 5 length from base. Body chaetotaxy usually symmetrical. All setae smooth and in different sizes. Dorsal setae arranged roughly in 1 row on Th. I and 3 rows on Th. II­Abd. V. Sensilla not distinctly differentiated and invisible. Th. II–III respectively with 1 + 1 ms dorso­laterally. Abd. IV with median seta m0. Abd. V with a0. Abd. VI with 2 median setae (a0 and p0), a0 longer than a 1 and about 1 / 2 length of a 2 (Fig. 1 a). Each thoracic segment ventrally with 1 + 1 setae between legs. Subcoxal pso as 2, 2, 2 (Fig. 1 a). Tibiotarsus with 9 setae in whorl 1 (distal whorl), 8 in whorl 2 (upper whorl) and 1 long anterior seta at base (Fig. 9). Unguis without teeth. Unguiculus narrow and pointed, without basal inner lamella, and 0.7–0.9 times as long as inner edge of unguis (Fig. 8). Ventral tube with 6 + 6 or 7 + 7 setae (7 + 7 in 5 of 37 specimens) (Fig. 10). Remnant of furca bearing 4 setulae arranged nearly in square and surrounded by 4 larger setae (Fig. 11). Male ventral organ with 6–12 setae on Abd. II and 7–10 on Abd. III, usually arranged asymmetrically; setae short, broad and thin with apex pointed, (Figs. 12 & 13). Genital plate with 42–55 small setae in male and 20–23 in female (Figs. 14 & 15). Setae on anal valves as in Fig. 16; upper valve with 3, 2, 5 setae, 2 of 5 in posterior row very long. Anal spines strong, set on distinct papillae, about 4 / 5 times as long as inner edge of hind unguis (Figs. 1 a & 1 b). Ecology Under leaf litter, stones and bricks in deciduous forest. Etymology The new species is named after the type locality: Qixiashan Park. Discussion Morphologically, the new species is most similar to Th. encarpata, a species widely spread in North America, Europe and Hawaii. However, it differs from the latter in labial palp which is of AC type rather than A type and 7 labial proximal setae rather than 6 (after Fjellberg, 1999). The new species is gamogenetic since 13 males among 91 specimens were found in the present study while Th. encarpata is definitely parthenogenetic (Christiansen & Bellinger 1998). The new species has the same dorsal and ventral pso formulae with the following 5 species: Th. franzi (Stach, 1946), Th. lifouensis (Thibaud & Weiner, 1997), Th. kwona (Thibaud & Lee, 1994), Th. tovtrensis (Kaprus’ & Weiner, 1994), and Th. zschokkei (Handschin, 1920). However, it differs from the latter species by the characters in table 1. The new species is also similar to the four known Chinese species, however, it is readily distinguished from them by the characters shown in table 2. We are very grateful to Dr. R. J. Pomorski from Wrocaw University in Poland for his helpful comments on the manuscript and supply of literature. The present study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30370175).Published as part of Yan, Haijuan, Shi, Shidi & Chen, Jianxiu, 2006, A new species of the genus Thalassaphorura from East China (Collembola: Onychiuridae), pp. 35-41 in Zootaxa 1369 on pages 36-40, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.17486