352 research outputs found
LOPINGIAN (LATE PERMIAN) BRACHIOPOD FAUNAS FROM THE QUBUERGA FORMATION AT TULONG AND KUJIANLA IN THE MT. EVEREST AREA OF SOUTHERN TIBET, CHINA
Permian strata containing abundant brachiopods are well developed in the Himalaya Tethys Zone. However, relatively few has been systematically described due to the difficult working condition for collecting. In this paper, we describe the brachiopods from the Qubuerga Formation at the Tulong and Kujianla sections in southern Tibet. The brachiopod faunas consist of 15 species belonging to 11 genera. Among the identified 15 species, Retimarginfera xizangensis, Costiferina indica, Fusispirifer semiplicatus, Spiriferella sinica, Biplatyconcha grandis and Neospirifer (Quadrospina) tibetensis are very common in the equivalents of the Himalaya Tethys Zone including the Selong Group at the Selong Xishan and Qubu sections in southern Tibet, the Senja Formation in northwest Nepal, the Zewan Formation in Kashmir, and the upper part of the Wargal Formation and the Chhidru Formation in the Salt Range, Pakistan. They are all comparable and can be assigned to the Wuchiapingian- early Changhsingian. Since the brachiopods from the Qubuerga Formation at Tulong and Kujianla are all composed of typical Gondwanan, bipolar or cosmopolitan elements, it is conclusive that the Himalaya Tethys Zone in the northern margin of the Indian Plate was still situated at southern high-latitudes under cold palaeoclimatic conditions during most of the Lopingian. The faunal succession at Tulong also recorded a rapid warming at the very end of the Changhsingian in view of the fact that the typical cold-water Lopingian brachiopod, gastropod and bivalve faunas were dramatically replaced by extremely abundant conodonts Clarkina in the basal part of the dolostone unit of the Tulong Formation. This end-Changhsingian warming is comparable with that recorded throughout the Permian-Triassic boundary interval at Selong, Qubu in southern Tibet, the Salt Range, Pakistan and the sections in Kashmir as well as South China
PinX1 regulation of telomerase activity and apoptosis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human interacting protein X1 (PinX1) has been identified as a critical telomerase inhibitor and proposed to be a putative tumor suppressor gene. Loss of PinX1 has been found in a large variety of malignancies, however, its function in inhibiting telomerase activity of tumor cells is not well documented. Here we show that PinX1 is essential for down-regulation telomerase activity of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Expression vectors of human PinX1 (pEGFP-C3-PinX1) and its small interfering RNA (PinX1-FAM-siRNA) were constructed and transfected into NPC. Their effects on mRNA of telomerase catalytic subunit (hTERT), telomerase activity, cell proliferation, cell migration, wound healing, cell cycles and apoptosis were examined using semi-quantitative RT-PCR, stretch PCR, MTT assay, Transwell, scratch assay and flow cytometry, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Transfection of pEGFP-C3-PinX1 and PinX1-FAM-siRNA increased and reduced PinX1 mRNA by 1.6-fold and 70%, respectively. Over-expression of PinX1 decreased hTERT mRNA by 21%, reduced telomerase activity, inhibited cell growth, migration and wound healing ability, arrested cells in G0/G1 phase, and increased apoptotic index. In contrast, down-regulation of PinX1 did not alter the above characteristics.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>PinX1 may play important roles in NPC proliferation, migration and apoptosis and has application potential in tumor-targeted gene therapy.</p
Comparison of Endocrine Profile and In Vitro Fertilization Outcome in Patients with PCOS, Ovulatory PCO, or Normal Ovaries
Aim. To compare the basic endocrine profile and outcomes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), ovulatory polycystic ovaries (PCO), or normal ovaries (NO). Methods. The basic clinical features and in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer outcome in patients receiving IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) were retrospectively analyzed. Results. The body mass index, basal luteinizing hormone, and testosterone levels were significantly lower in patients with ovulatory PCO compared to those in patients with PCOS. The PCOS patients exhibited the shortest duration of ovarian stimulation and lowest dose of gonadotropin, followed by the ovulatory PCO and NO patients. The ovulatory PCO and PCOS patients showed similar levels of E2 on the human chorionic gonadotropin treatment day and numbers of oocytes, which were both significantly higher than those of the NO patients. The fertilization rate of the PCOS patients was significantly lower than the other two groups. Compared to NO patients, the cleavage rate was lower in both PCOS and ovulatory PCO patients, however, the number of available embryos was significantly more in these two groups. The incidence of the moderate to severe ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) was markedly higher in the PCOS and ovulatory PCO patients. Conclusion. Ovulatory PCO patients do not express similar endocrine abnormalities as PCOS patients. Although the fertilization rate and cleavage rate were relatively low in PCOS patients, ultimately, all the three groups showed similar transferred embryo numbers, clinical pregnancy rates, and implantation rates. Since the incidence of OHSS was much higher in the PCOS and ovulatory PCO patients, we should take more care of these patients and try to prevent severe OHSS
Relationship between Antithyroid Antibody and Pregnancy Outcome following in Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer
Objective: To investigate the impact of antithyroid antibody on pregnancy outcome following the in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET)
An adolescent with primary cutaneous follicle center lymphoma: a case report and literature review
Primary cutaneous follicle center lymphoma (PCFCL) differs from follicular lymphoma in biological behavior and molecular profile and is treated as a distinct entity, according to the 5th edition of the World Health Organization classification of hematolymphoid tumors. It is an uncommon cutaneous B-cell lymphoma that is considerably rare in children and adolescents. To date, only 13 cases of individuals younger than 20 years of age have been reported in the literature. The lack of relevant clinical epidemiological data in this population has hampered the investigation of its clinical and diagnostic aspects. Here we report the case of a 17-year-old male with PCFCL, who may be the first PCFCL patient under 20 years of age reported in China. He was admitted to the hospital with a solitary nodule on his face. After complete surgical excision, the patient’s facial mass was histologically identified as PCFCL. The patient’s prognosis was favorable, with no recurrence at 17 months of follow-up after the surgical resection. We present a case of an adolescent PCFCL patient and systematically review the literature with a view to increase the awareness of the disease and inform the diagnosis and treatment of this age group
The LAMOST Complete Spectroscopic Survey of Pointing Area (LaCoSSPAr) in the Southern Galactic Cap I. The Spectroscopic Redshift Catalog
We present a spectroscopic redshift catalog from the LAMOST Complete
Spectroscopic Survey of Pointing Area (LaCoSSPAr) in the Southern Galactic Cap
(SGC), which is designed to observe all sources (Galactic and extra-galactic)
by using repeating observations with a limiting magnitude of in
two fields. The project is mainly focusing on the completeness of
LAMOST ExtraGAlactic Surveys (LEGAS) in the SGC, the deficiencies of source
selection methods and the basic performance parameters of LAMOST telescope. In
both fields, more than 95% of galaxies have been observed. A post-processing
has been applied to LAMOST 1D spectrum to remove the majority of remaining sky
background residuals. More than 10,000 spectra have been visually inspected to
measure the redshift by using combinations of different emission/absorption
features with uncertainty of . In total, there are 1528
redshifts (623 absorption and 905 emission line galaxies) in Field A and 1570
redshifts (569 absorption and 1001 emission line galaxies) in Field B have been
measured. The results show that it is possible to derive redshift from low SNR
galaxies with our post-processing and visual inspection. Our analysis also
indicates that up to 1/4 of the input targets for a typical extra-galactic
spectroscopic survey might be unreliable. The multi-wavelength data analysis
shows that the majority of mid-infrared-detected absorption (91.3%) and
emission line galaxies (93.3%) can be well separated by an empirical criterion
of . Meanwhile, a fainter sequence paralleled to the main population
of galaxies has been witnessed both in / and /
diagrams, which could be the population of luminous dwarf galaxies but
contaminated by the edge-on/highly inclined galaxies ().Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, 2 MRT, accepted by ApJ
Dual-comb spectroscopy over 100km open-air path
Satellite-based greenhouse gases (GHG) sensing technologies play a critical
role in the study of global carbon emissions and climate change. However, none
of the existing satellite-based GHG sensing technologies can achieve the
measurement of broad bandwidth, high temporal-spatial resolution, and high
sensitivity at the same time. Recently, dual-comb spectroscopy (DCS) has been
proposed as a superior candidate technology for GHG sensing because it can
measure broadband spectra with high temporal-spatial resolution and high
sensitivity. The main barrier to DCS's display on satellites is its short
measurement distance in open air achieved thus far. Prior research has not been
able to implement DCS over 20 km of open-air path. Here, by developing a
bistatic setup using time-frequency dissemination and high-power optical
frequency combs, we have implemented DCS over a 113 km turbulent horizontal
open-air path. Our experiment successfully measured GHG with 7 nm spectral
bandwidth and a 10 kHz frequency and achieved a CO2 sensing precision of <2 ppm
in 5 minutes and <0.6 ppm in 36 minutes. Our results represent a significant
step towards advancing the implementation of DCS as a satellite-based
technology and improving technologies for GHG monitoringComment: 24 pages, 6 figure
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