Use of moxibustion to treat primary dysmenorrhea at two interventional times: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

published_or_final_versio

Artificial Topological Superconductor by the Proximity Effect

published_or_final_versio

New ruthenium complexes of fullerene C-60&C-70

The new complexes [Ru(NO)(PPh3)](2)(eta(2)-C-m)(m=60 1 or 70 2) have been prepared by heating a solution of C-60(or C-70) with [Ru(NO)(2)(PPh3)(2)] in toluene. They have been characterized by elemental analysis, IR, UV/VIS, XPS, C-13 and P-31 NMR spectroscopy. The photovaltaic effect for the new compounds has been studied

Fast set-based association analysis using summary data from GWAS identifies novel gene loci for human complex traits

We propose a method (fastBAT) that performs a fast set-based association analysis for human complex traits using summary-level data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and linkage disequilibrium (LD) data from a reference sample with individual-level genotypes. We demonstrate using simulations and analyses of real datasets that fastBAT is more accurate and orders of magnitude faster than the prevailing methods. Using fastBAT, we analyze summary data from the latest meta-analyses of GWAS on 150,064-339,224 individuals for height, body mass index (BMI), and schizophrenia. We identify 6 novel gene loci for height, 2 for BMI, and 3 for schizophrenia at P-fastBAT < 5 x 10(-8). The gain of power is due to multiple small independent association signals at these loci (e.g. the THRB and FOXP1 loci for schizophrenia). The method is general and can be applied to GWAS data for all complex traits and diseases in humans and to such data in other species

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

Perceptions of malaria control and prevention in an era of climate change: a cross-sectional survey among CDC staff in China

Published online: 31 March 2017Background: Though there was the significant decrease in the incidence of malaria in central and southwest China during the 1980s and 1990s, there has been a re-emergence of malaria since 2000. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted amongst the staff of eleven Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in China to gauge their perceptions regarding the impacts of climate change on malaria transmission and its control and prevention. Descriptive analysis was performed to study CDC staff’s knowledge, attitudes, perceptions and suggestions for malaria control in the face of climate change. Results: A majority (79.8%) of CDC staff were concerned about climate change and 79.7% believed the weather was becoming warmer. Most participants (90.3%) indicated climate change had a negative effect on population health, 92.6 and 86.8% considered that increasing temperatures and precipitation would influence the transmission of vector-borne diseases including malaria. About half (50.9%) of the surveyed staff indicated malaria had re-emerged in recent years, and some outbreaks were occurring in new geographic areas. The main reasons for such re-emergence were perceived to be: mosquitoes in high-density, numerous imported cases, climate change, poor environmental conditions, internal migrant populations, and lack of health awareness. Conclusions: This study found most CDC staff endorsed the statement that climate change had a negative impact on infectious disease transmission. Malaria had re-emerged in some areas of China, and most of the staff believed that this can be managed. However, high densities of mosquitoes and the continuous increase in imported cases of malaria in local areas, together with environmental changes are bringing about critical challenges to malaria control in China. This study contributes to an understanding of climate change related perceptions of malaria control and prevention amongst CDC staff. It may help to formulate in-house training guidelines, community health promotion programmes and policies to improve the capacity of malaria control and prevention in the face of climate change in China.Michael Xiaoliang Tong, Alana Hansen, Scott Hanson, Easey, Scott Cameron, Jianjun Xiang, Qiyong Liu, Xiaobo Liu, Yehuan Sun, Philip Weinstein, Gil, Soo Han, Craig Williams and Peng B

TP73 allelic expression in human brain and allele frequencies in Alzheimer's disease

BACKGROUND: The p73 protein, a paralogue of the p53 tumor suppressor, is essential for normal development and survival of neurons. TP73 is therefore of interest as a candidate gene for Alzheimer's disease (AD) susceptibility. TP73 mRNA is transcribed from three promoters, termed P1 – P3, and there is evidence for an additional complexity in its regulation, namely, a variable allelic expression bias in some human tissues. METHODS: We utilized RT-PCR/RFLP and direct cDNA sequencing to measure allele-specific expression of TP73 mRNA, SNP genotyping to assess genetic associations with AD, and promoter-reporter assays to assess allele-specific TP73 promoter activity. RESULTS: Using a coding-neutral BanI polymorphism in TP73 exon 5 as an allelic marker, we found a pronounced allelic expression bias in one adult brain hippocampus, while 3 other brains (two adult; one fetal) showed approximately equal expression from both alleles. In a tri-ethnic elderly population of African-Americans, Caribbean Hispanics and Caucasians, a G/A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at -386 in the TP73 P3 promoter was weakly but significantly associated with AD (crude O.R. for AD given any -386G allele 1.7; C.I. 1.2–2.5; after adjusting for age and education O.R. 1.5; C.I. 1.1–2.3, N= 1191). The frequency of the -386G allele varied by ethnicity and was highest in African-Americans and lowest in Caucasians. No significant differences in basal P3 promoter activity were detected comparing -386G vs. -386A promoter-luciferase constructs in human SK-NSH-N neuroblastoma cells. CONCLUSIONS: There is a reproducible allelic expression bias in mRNA expression from the TP73 gene in some, though not all, adult human brains, and inter-individual variation in regulatory sequences of the TP73 locus may affect susceptibility to AD. However, additional studies will be necessary to exclude genetic admixture as an alternative explanation for the observed associations

The "Ram Effect": A "Non-Classical" Mechanism for Inducing LH Surges in Sheep

During spring sheep do not normally ovulate but exposure to a ram can induce ovulation. In some ewes an LH surge is induced immediately after exposure to a ram thus raising questions about the control of this precocious LH surge. Our first aim was to determine the plasma concentrations of oestradiol (E2) E2 in anoestrous ewes before and after the "ram effect" in ewes that had a "precocious" LH surge (starting within 6 hours), a "normal" surge (between 6 and 28h) and "late» surge (not detected by 56h). In another experiment we tested if a small increase in circulating E2 could induce an LH surge in anoestrus ewes. The concentration of E2 significantly was not different at the time of ram introduction among ewes with the three types of LH surge. "Precocious" LH surges were not preceded by a large increase in E2 unlike "normal" surges and small elevations of circulating E2 alone were unable to induce LH surges. These results show that the "precocious" LH surge was not the result of E2 positive feedback. Our second aim was to test if noradrenaline (NA) is involved in the LH response to the "ram effect". Using double labelling for Fos and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) we showed that exposure of anoestrous ewes to a ram induced a higher density of cells positive for both in the A1 nucleus and the Locus Coeruleus complex compared to unstimulated controls. Finally, the administration by retrodialysis into the preoptic area, of NA increased the proportion of ewes with an LH response to ram odor whereas treatment with the α1 antagonist Prazosin decreased the LH pulse frequency and amplitude induced by a sexually active ram. Collectively these results suggest that in anoestrous ewes NA is involved in ram-induced LH secretion as observed in other induced ovulators

China’s urban methane emissions from municipal wastewater treatment plant

The increased number and capacity of municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in China has driven the emission of methane (CH4). Few studies have focused on quantification of CH4 emissions from municipal WWTPs of different cities and analysis of socioeconomic factors influencing the quantity of emissions. Here we estimated CH4 emissions from WWTPs in China for 229 prefectural‐level cities, based on data from 2,019 working municipal WWTPs. The results show the total CH4 emissions to be 1,169.8 thousand tons (29.2 MtCO2e) in 2014, which is over three times that of the municipal WWTPs in the United States in 2016. Large cities along the east coast regions had larger CH4 emissions in absolute and per capita terms. Correlation analysis shows that cities with higher gross domestic product, household food consumption expenditure, or household consumption expenditure produced more degradable organics in wastewater, thus more CH4 emissions. Measures to control the sources of degradable organics and regulate WWTP processes with less emission factor are key to mitigate CH4 emissions. In addition to aerobic or anaerobic wastewater treatment systems, factors such as wastewater temperature, length of sewer, and the addition of nitrate that influencing emission factor are suggested to be involved in CH4 emission modeling

In Situ Monitoring of Intracellular Glucose and Glutamine in CHO Cell Culture

The development of processes to produce biopharmaceuticals industrially is still largely empirical and relies on optimizing both medium formulation and cell line in a product-specific manner. Current small-scale (well plate-based) process development methods cannot provide sufficient sample volume for analysis, to obtain information on nutrient utilization which can be problematic when processes are scaled to industrial fermenters. We envision a platform where essential metabolites can be monitored non-invasively and in real time in an ultra-low volume assay in order to provide additional information on cellular metabolism in high throughput screens. Towards this end, we have developed a model system of Chinese Hamster Ovary cells stably expressing protein-based biosensors for glucose and glutamine. Herein, we demonstrate that these can accurately reflect changing intracellular metabolite concentrations in vivo during batch and fed-batch culture of CHO cells. The ability to monitor intracellular depletion of essential nutrients in high throughput will allow rapid development of improved bioprocesses