Dephosphorylated NSSR1 Is Induced by Androgen in Mouse Epididymis and Phosphorylated NSSR1 Is Increased during Sperm Maturation

NSSR1 (Neural salient serine/arginine rich protein 1, alternatively SRp38) is a newly identified RNA splicing factor and predominantly expressed in neural tissues. Here, by Western blot analysis and immunofluorescent staining, we showed that the expression of dephosphorylated NSSR1 increased significantly during development of the caput epididymis. In adult mice, phosphorylated NSSR1 was mainly expressed in the apical side of epithelial cells, and dephosphorylated NSSR1 in caput epididymis was upregulated in a testosterone dependent manner. In addition, subcellular immunoreactive distribution of NSSR1 varied in different regions of the epididymis. With respect to the sperm, phosphorylated NSSR1 was detected in the mid-piece of the tail as well as the acrosome. Furthermore, NSSR1 was released from the sperm head during the capacitation and acrosome reaction. These findings for the first time provide the evidence for the potential roles of NSSR1 in sperm maturation and fertilization

Evidence for solar cycles in a late Holocene speleothem record from Dongge Cave, China

The association between solar activity and Asian monsoon (AM) remains unclear. Here we evaluate the possible connection between them based on a precisely-dated, high-resolution speleothem oxygen isotope record from Dongge Cave, southwest China during the past 4.2 thousand years (ka). Without being adjusted chronologically to the solar signal, our record shows a distinct peak-to-peak correlation with cosmogenic nuclide 14C, total solar irradiance (TSI) and sunspot number (SN) at multi-decadal to centennial timescales. Further cross-wavelet analyses between our calcite δ18O and atmospheric 14C show statistically strong coherence at three typical periodicities of ~80, 200 and 340 years, suggesting important roles of solar activities in modulating AM changes at those timescales. Our result has further indicated a better correlation between our calcite δ18O record and atmospheric 14C than between our record and TSI. This better correlation may imply that the Sun–monsoon connection is dominated most likely by cosmic rays and oceanic circulation (both associated to atmospheric 14C), instead of the direct solar heating (TSI)

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

Minicircle-oriP-IFNγ: A Novel Targeted Gene Therapeutic System for EBV Positive Human Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

) in which the transgene expression was under the transcriptional regulation of oriP promoter.. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression and the activity of the IFNγ in tumor sections. Our results demonstrated that mc-oriP vectors mediated comparable gene expression and anti-proliferative effect in the EBV-positive NPC cell line C666-1 compared to mc-CMV vectors. Furthermore, mc-oriP vectors exhibited much lower killing effects on EBV-negative cell lines compared to mc-CMV vectors. The targeted expression of mc-oriP vectors was inhibited by EBNA1-siRNA in C666-1. This selective expression was corroborated in EBV-positive and -negative tumor models. as a safe and highly effective targeted gene therapeutic system for the treatment of EBV positive NPC

Narrowband Biphotons: Generation, Manipulation, and Applications

In this chapter, we review recent advances in generating narrowband biphotons with long coherence time using spontaneous parametric interaction in monolithic cavity with cluster effect as well as in cold atoms with electromagnetically induced transparency. Engineering and manipulating the temporal waveforms of these long biphotons provide efficient means for controlling light-matter quantum interaction at the single-photon level. We also review recent experiments using temporally long biphotons and single photons.Comment: to appear as a book chapter in a compilation "Engineering the Atom-Photon Interaction" published by Springer in 2015, edited by A. Predojevic and M. W. Mitchel

COMRADES determines in vivo RNA structures and interactions.

The structural flexibility of RNA underlies fundamental biological processes, but there are no methods for exploring the multiple conformations adopted by RNAs in vivo. We developed cross-linking of matched RNAs and deep sequencing (COMRADES) for in-depth RNA conformation capture, and a pipeline for the retrieval of RNA structural ensembles. Using COMRADES, we determined the architecture of the Zika virus RNA genome inside cells, and identified multiple site-specific interactions with human noncoding RNAs.This work was supported by Cancer Research UK (C13474/A18583, C6946/A14492) and the Wellcome Trust (104640/Z/14/Z, 092096/Z/10/Z) to E.A.M. O.Z. was supported by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP, LT000558/2015), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO, ALTF1622-2014), and the Blavatnik Family Foundation postdoctoral fellowship. G.K. and M.G. were supported by Wellcome Trust grant 207507 and UK Medical Research Council. A.T.L.L. and J.C.M. were supported by core funding from Cancer Research UK (award no. 17197 to JCM). J.C.M was also supported by core funding from EMBL. I.G. and L.W.M. were supported by the Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship in Basic Biomedical Science to I.G. (207498/Z/17/Z). I.J.M., L.F.G. and J.S.-G. were supported by grants R01GM104475 and R01GM115649 from NIGMS. C.K.K was supported by City University of Hong Kong Projects 9610363 and 7200520, Croucher Foundation Project 9500030 and Hong Kong RGC Projects 9048103 and 9054020. C.-F.Q. was supported by the NSFC Excellent Young Scientist Fund 81522025 and the Newton Advanced Fellowship from the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK

On the Morphology, Structure and Field Emission Properties of Silver-Tetracyanoquinodimethane Nanostructures

Silver-tetracyanoquinodimethane(Ag-TCNQ) nanostructured arrays with different morphologies were grown by an organic vapor-transport reaction under different conditions. The field emission properties of nanostructured arrays were studied systematically. Their morphology and crystal structure were characterized by SEM and XRD, respectively. It was found that the field emission properties were strongly dependent on the reaction temperature and the initial Ag film thickness. The lowest turn-on field with 10-nm-thick silver film is about 2.0 V/μm, comparable to that of carbon nanotubes. The film crystal structure and the morphology are contributed to the final emission performance

Past Achievements and Future Challenges in 3D Photonic Metamaterials

Photonic metamaterials are man-made structures composed of tailored micro- or nanostructured metallo-dielectric sub-wavelength building blocks that are densely packed into an effective material. This deceptively simple, yet powerful, truly revolutionary concept allows for achieving novel, unusual, and sometimes even unheard-of optical properties, such as magnetism at optical frequencies, negative refractive indices, large positive refractive indices, zero reflection via impedance matching, perfect absorption, giant circular dichroism, or enhanced nonlinear optical properties. Possible applications of metamaterials comprise ultrahigh-resolution imaging systems, compact polarization optics, and cloaking devices. This review describes the experimental progress recently made fabricating three-dimensional metamaterial structures and discusses some remaining future challenges

Selective Synthesis of Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 Nanowires Via a Single Precursor: A General Method for Metal Oxide Nanowires

Hematite (α-Fe2O3) and magnetite (Fe3O4) nanowires with the diameter of about 100 nm and the length of tens of micrometers have been selectively synthesized by a microemulsion-based method in combination of the calcinations under different atmosphere. The effects of the precursors, annealing temperature, and atmosphere on the morphology and the structure of the products have been investigated. Moreover, Co3O4 nanowires have been fabricated to confirm the versatility of the method for metal oxide nanowires

Template Route to Chemically Engineering Cavities at Nanoscale: A Case Study of Zn(OH)2 Template

A size-controlled Zn(OH)2 template is used as a case study to explain the chemical strategy that can be executed to chemically engineering various nanoscale cavities. Zn(OH)2 octahedron with 8 vertices and 14 edges is fabricated via a low temperature solution route. The size can be tuned from 1 to 30 μm by changing the reaction conditions. Two methods can be selected for the hollow process without loss of the original shape of Zn(OH)2 template. Ion-replacement reaction is suitable for fabrication of hollow sulfides based on the solubility difference between Zn(OH)2 and products. Controlled chemical deposition is utilized to coat an oxide layer on the surface of Zn(OH)2 template. The abundant hydroxyl groups on Zn(OH)2 afford strong coordination ability with cations and help to the coating of a shell layer. The rudimental Zn(OH)2 core is eliminated with ammonia solution. In addition, ZnO-based heterostructures possessing better chemical or physical properties can also be prepared via this unique templating process. Room-temperature photoluminescence spectra of the heterostructures and hollow structures are also shown to study their optical properties