Can antiferromagnetism and superconductivity coexist in the high-field paramagnetic superconductor Nd(O,F)FeAs?

We present measurements of the temperature and field dependencies of the magnetization M(T,H) of Nd(O0.89F0.11)FeAs at fields up to 33T, which show that superconductivity with the critical temperature Tc ~ 51K cannot coexist with antiferromagnetic ordering. Although M(T,H) at 55 < T < 140K exhibits a clear Curie-Weiss temperature dependence corresponding to the Neel temperature TN ~ 11-12K, the behavior of M(T,H) below Tc is only consistent with either paramagnetism of weakly interacting magnetic moments or a spin glass state. We suggest that the anomalous magnetic behavior of an unusual high-field paramagnetic superconductor Nd(O1-xFx)FeAs is mostly determined by the magnetic Nd ions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

New Perspectives on Chinese Herbal Medicine (Zhong-Yao) Research and Development

Synthetic chemical drugs, while being efficacious in the clinical management of many diseases, are often associated with undesirable side effects in patients. It is now clear that the need of therapeutic intervention in many clinical conditions cannot be satisfactorily met by synthetic chemical drugs. Since the research and development of new chemical drugs remain time-consuming, capital-intensive and risky, much effort has been put in the search for alternative routes for drug discovery in China. This narrative review illustrates various approaches to the research and drug discovery in Chinese herbal medicine. Although this article focuses on Chinese traditional drugs, it is also conducive to the development of other traditional remedies and innovative drug discovery

Bis(2-amino­pyrimidine-κN 1)dibromidozinc(II)

The title compound, [ZnBr2(C4H5N3)2], is a mononuclear complex in which the ZnII ions have distorted tetra­hedral coordination geometry. The ZnII ion binds to two N atoms from two different 2-amino­pyrimidine ligands and two bromide ions. N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds link the mol­ecules to form a one-dimensional supra­molecular structure. The supra­molecular chains are parallel to each other and N—H⋯Br hydrogen bonds link them into a two-dimensional network in the ac plane. Additionally, there are strong π–π inter­actions [centroid–centroid distance = 3.403 (3) Å]

Homology-Driven Proteomics of Dinoflagellates with Unsequenced Genomes Using MALDI-TOF/TOF and Automated De Novo Sequencing

This study developed a multilayered, gel-based, and underivatized strategy for de novo protein sequence analysis of unsequenced dinoflagellates using a MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometer with the assistance of DeNovo Explorer software. MASCOT was applied as the first layer screen to identify either known or unknown proteins sharing identical peptides presented in a database. Once the confident identifications were removed after searching against the NCBInr database, the remainder was searched against the dinoflagellate expressed sequence tag database. In the last layer, those borderline and nonconfident hits were further subjected to de novo interpretation using DeNovo Explorer software. The de novo sequences passing a reliability filter were subsequently submitted to nonredundant MS-BLAST search. Using this layer identification method, 216 protein spots representing 158 unique proteins out of 220 selected protein spots from Alexandrium tamarense, a dinoflagellate with unsequenced genome, were confidently or tentatively identified by database searching. These proteins were involved in various intracellular physiological activities. This study is the first effort to develop a completely automated approach to identify proteins from unsequenced dinoflagellate databases and establishes a preliminary protein database for various physiological studies of dinoflagellates in the future

Percutaneous closure of postinfarct muscular ventricular septal defects: A multicenter study in China

AbstractBackgroundSurgical repair is an effective method to treat ventricular septal defect (VSD) complicating acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, the mortality rate remains high. This study was designed to assess the immediate and mid-term results of transcatheter closure of postinfarct muscular VSDs.MethodsData were retrospectively collected from 42 AMI patients who underwent attempted transcatheter VSD closure between 2008 and 2012 in seven heart centers of China.ResultsNine patients underwent emergent VSD closure in the acute phase (within two weeks from VSD) while the others underwent elective closure. The time between VSD occurrence and closure in emergency group and elective group was 7.7±2.3 days and 35±14.5 days, respectively (p<0.01). The percentage of procedure success in the emergency group and elective group was 77.8% (7/9) and 97% (32/33), respectively (p=0.048). The hospital mortality was higher for emergent closure in comparison to elective closure (66.7% vs. 6.1%, p<0.01). During a median follow-up of 25 months (0–58 months), two patients died at 8 and 29 months, respectively, and no serious complications occurred in other patients.ConclusionInterventional postinfarct VSD closure is a safe and effective approach that can be performed with a high procedural success rate, with favorable outcomes if it can be undertaken >14 days postinfarct

Influence of eight rootstocks on fruit quality of Morus multicaulis cv. ‘Zijing’ and the comprehensive evaluation of fruit quality traits

Mulberry (Morus L.) has become an important crop throughout the world due to its fruits have been industrially exploited for various commercially valuable products. Many studies on mulberry related to genetic diversity, fruit quality, and breeding programs have been carried out, but little information on mulberry rootstocks is available, especially the possibility of applying grafting to improve the fruit quality. Here, we evaluated the effects of 8 different rootstocks on the fruit quality of ‘Zijing’ mulberry. Twelve fruit quality traits were extremely different except for the fruit shape index (FSI). ‘Zijing’ on ‘Zheza 2’ had the highest fruit weight (FW) and size, as well as titratable acidity (TA), but lower levels of other compounds content except the total soluble solids content (TSS) were detected. ‘Yuesang 51’ exhibited the highest soluble sugar content (SSC), reducing sugar content (RSC), SSC/TA ratio, anthocyanin content (AC) and the lower TA. In contrast, the lowest TSS, SSC and RSC were shown in ‘Guisang 5’. Moreover, ‘Guisang 12’ exhibited the highest TSS and soluble protein content (SPC). The highest vitamin C content (VC) was observed in ‘Guisang 6’. ‘Tang 10 × Lun109’, Zhenzhubai seedlings, ‘Yuesang 11’ together with ‘Yuesang 51’ had the lowest and similar levels of TA. Most importantly, these fruit quality traits were evaluated by principal component analysis (PCA), and ‘Yuesang 51’ with good comprehensive fruit quality was screened out, followed by ‘Guisangyou 12’. Overall, these results contribute to evaluating the roles of different rootstocks on improving fruit quality of mulberry