Poly[diaquabis­(μ4-fumarato-κ4 O 1:O 1′:O 4:O 4′)(μ4-fumarato-κ6 O 1:O 1,O 1′:O 4:O 4,O 4′)(μ2-fumaric acid-κ2 O 1:O 4)dipraseodymium(III)]

The title complex, [Pr2(C4H2O4)3(C4H4O4)(H2O)2]n, was synthesized by reaction of praseodymium(III) nitrate hexa­hydrate with fumaric acid in a water–ethanol (4:1) solution. The asymmetric unit comprises a Pr3+ cation, one and a half fumarate dianions (L 2−), one half-mol­ecule of fumaric acid (H2L) and one coordinated water mol­ecule. The carboxyl­ate groups of the fumarate dianion and fumaric acid exhibit different coordination modes. In one fumarate dianion, two carboxyl­ate groups are chelating with two Pr3+ cations, and the other two O atoms each coordinate a Pr3+ cation. Each O atom of the second fumarate dianion binds to a different Pr3+ cation. The fumaric acid employs one O atom at each end to bridge two Pr3+ cations. The Pr3+ cation is coordinated in a distorted tricapped trigonal–prismatic environment by eight O atoms of fumarate dianion or fumaric acid ligands and one water O atom. The PrO9 coordination polyhedra are edge-shared through one carboxyl­ate O atom and two carboxyl­ate groups, generating infinite praseodymium–oxygen chains, which are further connected by the ligands into a three-dimensional framework. The crystal structure is stabilized by O—H⋯O hydrogen-bond inter­actions between the coordin­ated water mol­ecule and the carboxyl­ate O atoms

2-(3,3,4,4-Tetra­fluoro­pyrrolidin-1-yl)aniline

In the title fluorinated pyrrolidine derivative, C10H10F4N2, the dihedral angle between the best planes of the benzene and pyrrolidine rings is 62.6 (1)°. The crystal packing features inter­molecular N—H⋯F hydrogen bonds

Intersecting distributed networks support convergent linguistic functioning across different languages in bilinguals

How bilingual brains accomplish the processing of more than one language has been widely investigated by neuroimaging studies. The assimilation-accommodation hypothesis holds that both the same brain neural networks supporting the native language and additional new neural networks are utilized to implement second language processing. However, whether and how this hypothesis applies at the finer-grained levels of both brain anatomical organization and linguistic functions remains unknown. To address this issue, we scanned Chinese-English bilinguals during an implicit reading task involving Chinese words, English words and Chinese pinyin. We observed broad brain cortical regions wherein interdigitated distributed neural populations supported the same cognitive components of different languages. Although spatially separate, regions including the opercular and triangular parts of the inferior frontal gyrus, temporal pole, superior and middle temporal gyrus, precentral gyrus and supplementary motor areas were found to perform the same linguistic functions across languages, indicating regional-level functional assimilation supported by voxel-wise anatomical accommodation. Taken together, the findings not only verify the functional independence of neural representations of different languages, but show co-representation organization of both languages in most language regions, revealing linguistic-feature specific accommodation and assimilation between first and second languages

Development of colloidal gold immunochromatographic strips for detection of Riemerella anatipestifer.

Riemerella anatipestifer is one of the most important bacterial pathogen of ducks and causes a contagious septicemia. R. anatipestifer infection causes serositis syndromes similar to other bacterial infections in ducks, including infection by Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica and Pasteurella multocida. Clinically differentiating R. anatipestifer infections from other bacterial pathogen infections is usually difficult. In this study, MAb 1G2F10, a monoclonal antibody against R. anatipestifer GroEL, was used to develop a colloidal gold immunochromatographic strip. Colloidal gold particles were prepared by chemical synthesis to an average diameter of 20 ± 5.26 nm by transmission electron microscope imaging. MAb 1G2F10 was conjugated to colloidal gold particles and the formation of antibody-colloidal gold conjugates was monitored by UV/Vis spectroscopy. Immunochromatographic strips were assembled in regular sequence through different accessories sticked on PVC plate. Strips specifically detected R. anatipestifer within 10 min, but did not detect E. coli, S. enterica and P. multocida. The detection limit for R. anatipestifer was 1 × 10(6) colony forming units, which was 500 times higher than a conventional agglutination test. Accuracy was 100% match to multiplex PCR. Assay stability and reproducibility were excellent after storage at 4°C for 6 months. The immunochromatographic strips prepared in this study offer a specific, sensitive, and rapid detection method for R. anatipestifer, which is of great importance for the prevention and control of R. anatipestifer infections

Spatial variability of active layer thickness detected by ground-penetrating radar in the Qilian Mountains, Western China

The active layer plays a key role in geomorphic, hydrologic, and biogeochemical processes in permafrost regions. We conducted a systematic investigation of active layer thickness (ALT) in northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau by using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) with 100 and 200 MHz antennas. We used mechanical probing, pit, and soil temperature profiles for evaluating ALT derived from GPR. The results showed that GPR is competent for detecting ALT, and the error was ±0.08 m at common midpoint co-located sites. Considerable spatial variability of ALT owing to variation in elevation, peat thickness, and slope aspect was found. The mean ALT was 1.32 ± 0.29 m with a range from 0.81 to 2.1 m in Eboling Mountain. In Yeniu Gou, mean ALT was 2.72 ± 0.88 m and varied from 1.07 m on the north-facing slope to 4.86 m around the area near the lower boundary of permafrost. ALT in peat decreased with increasing elevation at rates of −1.31 m/km (Eboling Mountain) and −2.1 m/km (Yeniu Gou), and in mineral soil in Yeniu Gou, the rate changed to −4.18 m/km. At the same elevation, ALT on the south-facing slope was about 0.8 m thicker than that on the north-facing slopes, while the difference was only 0.18 m in peat-covered area. Within a 100 m

Correcting batch effects in large-scale multiomics studies using a reference-material-based ratio method

Abstract Background Batch effects are notoriously common technical variations in multiomics data and may result in misleading outcomes if uncorrected or over-corrected. A plethora of batch-effect correction algorithms are proposed to facilitate data integration. However, their respective advantages and limitations are not adequately assessed in terms of omics types, the performance metrics, and the application scenarios. Results As part of the Quartet Project for quality control and data integration of multiomics profiling, we comprehensively assess the performance of seven batch effect correction algorithms based on different performance metrics of clinical relevance, i.e., the accuracy of identifying differentially expressed features, the robustness of predictive models, and the ability of accurately clustering cross-batch samples into their own donors. The ratio-based method, i.e., by scaling absolute feature values of study samples relative to those of concurrently profiled reference material(s), is found to be much more effective and broadly applicable than others, especially when batch effects are completely confounded with biological factors of study interests. We further provide practical guidelines for implementing the ratio based approach in increasingly large-scale multiomics studies. Conclusions Multiomics measurements are prone to batch effects, which can be effectively corrected using ratio-based scaling of the multiomics data. Our study lays the foundation for eliminating batch effects at a ratio scale

Transmission electron microscopy image of gold nanoparticles.

<p>Particles had varying sizes and shapes with an average diameter of 20±5.26 nm.</p

Colloidal gold immunochromatographic strips showed positive results for different serotypes of <i>R</i>. <i>anatipestifer</i> strains.

<p>1–12: <i>R</i>. <i>anatipestifer</i> serotype 1 strains CH3, CH1, CQ1, CQ3, CQ4, CQ5, JY4, YXb12, NN2, NJ1, NJ4 and YL4 respectively; 13–23: <i>R</i>. <i>anatipestifer</i> serotype 2 strains JY1, SC2, NJ3, Yb2, Th4, YXb1, NN1, NN5, GD3, GD4 and GD5 respectively; 24: <i>R</i>. <i>anatipestifer</i> serotype 6 strain P2123; 25: <i>R</i>. <i>anatipestifer</i> serotype 8 strain D26220; 26–28: <i>R</i>. <i>anatipestifer</i> serotype 10 strains YXb11, HXb2 and YXL1; 29: <i>R</i>. <i>anatipestifer</i> serotype 12 strain 8785; 30–31: <i>R</i>. <i>anatipestifer</i> serotype 15 strains D743 and NN6; 32–33: Serotype not determined <i>R</i>. <i>anatipestifer</i> strains JY6 and GD6. 34: <i>R</i>. <i>anatipestifer</i> serotype 1 strain WJ4 (CGMCC 5264).</p