Search

The interaction problem of flexural-gravity wave with multiple vertical cylinders frozen in an ice sheet on the surface of water with finite water depth is considered. The linearized velocity potential theory is adopted for fluid flow, and the thin elastic plate model is applied for ice sheet deflection. Each cylinder is bottom-mounted, and the shape of its cross section can be arbitrary while remaining constant in the vertical direction. The velocity potential is expanded into an eigenfunction series in the vertical direction, which satisfies the boundary condition on the ice sheet automatically. The horizontal modes, which satisfy the Helmholtz equations, are then transformed into a series of boundary integral equations along the ice sheet edges or the intersection of the ice sheet with the cylinders. The problem is then solved numerically by imposing the ice sheet edge condition together with the impermeable condition on the cylinders. The solution is exact in the sense that the error is only due to numerical discretization and truncation. Computations are first carried out for single and multiple vertical circular cylinders, and good agreements are obtained with the semi-analytical solution. To resolve the difficulty of excessive computation at a large number of cylinders, the effect of the evanescent wave of a cylinder on those at large distance is ignored. This allows for the case of a large number of cylinders in different arrangements to be simulated. Extensive results are provided. Their physics and practical relevance are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Annexin A8 (ANXA8) is a member of the annexin family, which had been reported to regulate multiple cancer cellular processes including proliferation, metastasis and inflammation. However, the specific role of ANXA8 in lung cancer cell biology remains unknown. Our previous transcriptome study revealed that ANXA8 mRNA was downregulated in curcumin analog (MHMD)-treated human non-small lung cancer cells (A549 cell line). Here, we continued to study the ANXA8 expression in A549 cells using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and Western blotting, compared with that in human normal bronchial epithelium cells (BE-AS-2B cell line). Overexpression of ANXA8 via transfection of pEGFP-ANXA8 recombinant vector contributed to the proliferation and migration of A549 cells. Moreover, the cell cycle protein cyclin E1 was upregulated in ANXA8-transfected A549 cells. Knockdown of ANXA8 using an RNA interference technique decreased A549 cell viability and restrained their migration in vitro. The expression levels of multiple cellular factors, including EGFR, PI3K, Akt, mTOR, p70S6K and 4EBP1, in the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway were also altered by ANXA8 knockdown or overexpression in A549 cells, which confirmed the activation of the EGFR/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway by ANXA8. The present results provided evidence to support further investigation of the functional identification of ANXA8 in lung cancer cells in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A domain decomposition method is developed to solve the problem of wave motion inside a harbor with its surface covered by an ice sheet. The shape of the horizontal plane of the harbor can be arbitrary while the sidewall is vertical. The entrance of the harbor is open to the sea with a free surface. The linearized velocity potential theory is adopted for fluid flow, and the thin elastic plate model is applied for the ice sheet. The domain is divided into two subdomains. Inside the harbor, the velocity potential is expanded into a series of eigenfunctions in the vertical direction. The orthogonal inner product is adopted to impose the impermeable condition on the harbor wall, together with the edge conditions on the intersection of the harbor wall and the ice sheet. In the open sea outside of the harbor, through the modified Green function, the velocity potential is written in terms of an integral equation over the surface of the harbor entrance, or the interface between the two subdomains. On the interface, the orthogonal inner product is also applied to impose the continuity conditions of velocity and pressure as well as the free ice edge conditions. Computations are first carried out for a rectangular harbor without the ice sheet to verify the methodology, and then extensive results and discussions are provided for a harbor of a more general shape covered by an ice sheet with different thicknesses and under different incident wave angles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method based on the wide spacing approximation is applied to the wave scattering problem in multiple polynyas. An ice sheet is modeled as an elastic plate, and fluid flow is described by the velocity potential theory. The solution procedure is constructed based on the assumption that the ice sheet length is much larger than the wavelength. For each polynya, of free surface with an ice sheet on each side, the problem is solved exactly within the framework of the linearized velocity potential theory. This is then matched with the solution from neighboring polynyas at their interfaces below the ice sheet on each side, and only the traveling waves are included in the matching. Numerical results are provided to show that the method is very accurate and highly efficient. Extensive simulations are then carried out to investigate the effects of the ice sheet number, ice sheet length, distribution of ice sheets, as well as polynya width. The features of wave reflection and transmission are analyzed, and the physical mechanism is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here, we analyzed the transcriptomes of Brassica campestris L. ssp. chinensis Makino under the treatment of a combination of red (R) and blue (B) light. In total, 5,643 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found under the R and B combination compared with the white light. An analysis of the DEGs enriched in photosynthesis and antenna proteins showed that there were many more upregulated subunits in PSII than those in PSI. The DEGs encoding the cytochrome b6f complex, photosynthetic electron transport, ATP synthases, and key genes involved in chlorophyll (Chl) and carotenoids (Car) biosynthesis were also upregulated. In addition, real-time PCR indicated that 13 of 15 genes showed the similar expression patterns with the RNA-seq data. The R and B combination might promote photosynthesis by specifically regulating Chl biosynthesis, thus accelerating the growth and development of plants and providing a valuable reference for vegetable production in factories and variety breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of wave diffraction by a circular crack in an ice sheet floating on water of finite depth is considered. The fluid flow is described by the linear velocity potential theory, while the infinitely extended ice sheet is modeled as a thin elastic plate with uniform properties. At the crack, zero bending moment and shear force conditions are enforced. The solution starts from the Green function for ice sheet without the crack. This is then used to obtain an integral equation, in which the jumps of the displacement and slope across the crack are the unknowns. For a circular crack, the unknowns are expanded into the Fourier series in the circumferential direction. Through imposing the boundary conditions at the crack, a matrix equation is obtained for the unknowns, which is then truncated and solved. Convergence study is undertaken with respect to the truncation, and it has been found that the series converges fast. A far field identity is used to verify the solution procedure and is found to be satisfied very accurately. Extensive results are provided, and their physical implications are discussed. These include the jumps of the displacement and slope across the crack, resonant motion, far field diffracted wave amplitude, and the deflection of the ice sheet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Southern China, plants are usually exposed to cold stress during winter in an unheated greenhouse, but due to the high energy consumption and costs, most of the greenhouses remain unheated. In an attempt to find a simple and affordable solution to this problem, this study was undertaken. In this research, Capsicum frutescens L. plants were studied to investigate the effect of different root zone temperatures on its growth and chlorophyll fluorescence characteristics under cold stress. The plants were cultivated under cold stress conditions in a root zone temperature (RZT) control system where the roots were subjected to four different root-zone temperature treatments of 20°C-T20, 25°C-T25, 45°C-T45 and a control CK group. Growth characteristics studied included plant height, stem diameter, plant width, root length, biomass accumulation. Whilst fluorescence characteristics investigated were chlorophyll fluorescence ratio Fv/Fm, photochemical quenching (qL), efficiency of Photosystem II (Y[II]) and electron transport rate (ETR). Chlorophyll content in the leaves of the plants was also investigated. The findings demonstrated that plants in the CK group suffered a detrimental effect on the growth characteristics registering the lowest values in the measured variables. Conversely, the highest values were observed in T25 RZT treatment. In fluorescence characteristics, values of Fv/Fm were maintained at between 0.8 and 0.83 but also suffered a photo-inhibitory depression in CK and T45 RZT treatments to Fv/Fm values of <0.79. This depicted that root zone heating protected the PS II of these plants from photoinactivation induced by cold stress. Similar trends were seen in the qL, Y[II], ETR values with the T20 and T25 treatments registering the highest values. Chlorophyll content was significantly higher in the leaves of the plants in the T20 and T25 group. The lowest chlorophyll content was recorded in the CK group. Plants in all the treatments accumulated more biomass in the shoot than in the roots as depicted by a significantly lower shoot to root ratio values with the exception of those in the CK group. The findings of this study suggest that pepper plants can successfully be grown in an unheated greenhouse in the Yangtze River Delta area of Southern China during winter by heating the root zone of the plants to a RZT value of 25°C, thereby providing a simple, affordable and cost-effective technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method based on wide spacing approximation is proposed for the interaction of water wave with a body floating on a polynya. The ice sheet is modelled as an elastic plate and fluid flow is described by the velocity potential theory. The solution procedure is constructed based on the assumption that when the distance between two disturbances to the free surface is sufficiently large, the interactions between them involve only the travelling waves caused by the disturbances and the effect of the evanescent waves is ignored. The solution for the problem can then be obtained from those for a floating body without an ice sheet and for an ice sheet/free surface without a floating body. Both latter solutions have already been found previously and therefore there will be no additional effort in solution once the wide spacing approximation formulation is derived. Extensive numerical results are provided to show that the method is very accurate compared with the exact solution. The obtained formulations are then used to provide some insightful explanations for the physics of flow behaviour, as well as the mechanism for the highly oscillatory features of the hydrodynamic force and body motion. Some explicit equations are derived to show zero reflection by the polynya and peaks and troughs of the force and excited body motion. It is revealed that some of the peaks of the body motion are due to resonance while others are due to the wave characters in the polynya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the feature of magnesium oxychloride cement and its particle. Water-resistant admixture and other inorganic materials (silica fume, fly ash and slag) with mix proportion were added to the mix proportion to improve the mechanical properties of magnesium oxychloride cement concrete. By recording the uniaxial compressive strength of concrete at 7-128 days, the influences on the early and late strength of magnesium oxychloride cement caused by different inorganic materials and varied consumption of magnesium chloride solution were analysed. It is shown that the early strength development is fast and the strength with fly ash performs the highest strength; the late strength of concrete reduces because of the scumming of magnesium oxychloride cement, but the strength resumes. Using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscope to investigate the micro-mechanism, the dense gel phase is found in magnesium oxychloride cement concrete with fly ash, which led to the advantage in compressive strength over other samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, Pimm et al. identified Epsin 4 on chromosome 5q33 as a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia in the British population, based on linkage and association evidence. In Pimm's case-control study, both the single polymorphisms and the individual haplotypes at the 5′ end of the gene showed genetic association with schizophrenia. Here, we report the first study evaluating the relevance of Epsin 4 and schizophrenia outside the British population. Markers showing positive results in the original work as well as two additional polymorphisms were genotyped in 308 Han Chinese family trios. Transmission disequilibrium analysis was used to test for association of single-locus markers and multi-locus haplotypes with schizophrenia. Although no individual marker was significant at the P=0.05 level, the haplotypes detected in our samples, different from those previously reported, showed strong evidence of association (most significant global P=0.0021). Our results indicate the presence of a locus near the 5′ end of Epsin 4 conferring susceptibility to the disease and provide further support for Epsin 4 as an important potential contributor to genetic risk in schizophrenia.Molecular Psychiatry (2006) 11, 395–399. doi:10.1038/sj.mp.4001780; published online 10 January 2006 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify tumour and tumour-associated antigens in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) one may find potential diagnostic markers and immunotherapeutic targets. In the current study, 30 distinct antigens reactive with serum IgG from HCC patients were identified by serological analysis of cDNA expression libraries (SEREX). The mRNA expression patterns of 14 of these 30 antigens were altered in cancer as further revealed by cDNA microarray, with upregulation for nine and downregulation for five antigens. One of the upregulated antigens was cancer-testis (CT) antigen (CAGE), which had been previously reported to be expressed exclusively in normal gametogenic tissues and aberrantly expressed in a variety of cancer cells. In our study, CAGE mRNA was expressed in 39.4% of HCC patients, 73.3% of patients with gastric cancer and 30.8% of patients with colorectal cancer. Antibodies against CAGE protein were detected in approximately 5.1% of the sera from HCC patients, 8.3% of that from gastric cancer patients and 7.3% of that from colorectal cancer patients. The relative high incidence of CAGE in cancer cells makes it a potential target for vaccine design. Another antigen of great interest is transgelin 2. The overexpression of transgelin 2 mRNA in a large per cent (69%) of HCC points to its potential as a diagnostic marker for HCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The white-rot fungus Trametes sp. AH28-2 can synthesize extracellular laccase by induction in cellobiose-based liquid culture medium. Both yields and composition of laccase isozymes, produced by Trametes sp. AH28-2, would be quite different with induction by different small-molecule aromatic compounds, o-toluidine, guaiacol and 3,5-dihydroxytoluerie, which affected microbial growth and the synthesis of laccase isozymes differentially. Higher concentrations of the three inducers could considerably increase laccase isozymes yields but not change the laccase composition. Coculturing of Trametes sp. AH28-2 with either Aspergillus oryzae or Gloeophyllum trabeum showed a few effects on laccase production. Laccase isozyme, laccase B, was selectively induced by 3,5-dihydroxytoluene and purified to homogeneity by two-step chromatography. Purified laccase B appeared as blue, with a broad peak at about 600 nm and a shoulder peak at about 330 nm. The ratio of absorbance at 280 nm to that at 600 nm was 21. Every molecule of laccase B had approximately four copper atoms. Molecular mass of laccase B was estimated to be 74 kDa on SDS-PAGE, 72 kDa by FPLC and was determined to be 71 454 Da by mass spectrum. After being treated with N-glycosidase F, laccase B lost 25% of its molecular mass. The isoelectric point of laccase B was 4.0. Its optimal pH and temperature for oxidizing guaiacol were respectively 4.7 and 45 C. The half-life of the enzyme at 60 C was 14.0 min. The enzyme showed a good stability in a range of pH value of 3.5-7.5. The Km values of the enzyme toward substrates syringaldazine, guaiacol, ABTS, and DMOP were respectively 28.0, 1249.0, 177.0 and 109.8 µM. The corresponding Vmax are 504.0, 1910.0, 117.4 and 159.0 µM min-1 mg-1. In addition, activity of laccase B was inhibited strongly by sodium azide and cyanide, mildly by SDS and trifluoroacetic acid, but only weakly by dimethyl sulfoxide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using site-directed mutagenesis and steady-state kinetic measurements, the functional role of the conserved glycine 127 in a human vaccinia H1-related phosphatase (VHR) was investigated. The mutations of Gly127 to Ala and Pro resulted in a significant decrease in kcat/Km, and increase in Ki for arsenate, indicating that flexibility at the Gly127 site has a large effect on substrate binding and catalytic activity. No substantial decrease in kcat/Km and increase in Ki values were observed for G127 deletion mutant. This showed the conformational flexibility of the PTP loop also affected the enzymatic activity of VHR. Our data suggest that the flexibility of the PTP loop in VHR is probably controlled by Gly127, and that even subtle changes in the loop flexibility may interfere with substrate binding and enzymatic reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recently isolated basidiomycete, Trametes sp. strain AH28-2, can be induced to produce a high level of laccases when grown on a cellobiose-asparagine liquid medium. After induction by kraft lignin, two major isozymes were detected in the fermentation supernatant of the fungus. The principal component laccase A, which accounts for about 85% of the total activity, can be purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by three chromatographic steps: DEAE-Sepharose FF, Superdex-200 and Mono-Q. The solution containing purified laccase is blue in color, and the ratio of absorbance at 280 nm to that at 600 nm is 22. The molecular mass of laccase A is estimated to be 62 kDa by SDS-PAGE, 57 kDa by FPLC, and measured as 58,522 Da by MALDI mass spectrum. Laccase A is a monomeric glycoprotein with a carbohydrate content of 11–12% and an isoelectric point of 4.2. The optimum pH and temperature for oxidizing guaiacol are 4.5 and 50°C, respectively. The half-life of the enzyme at 75°C is 27 min. The enzyme shows a good stability from pH 4.2 to pH 8.0. The Km values of the enzyme toward substrates 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothazoline-6-sulfonate) (ABTS), guaiacol and 2,6-dimethoxyphenol are 25, 420 and 25.5 µM, respectively, and the corresponding Vmax values are 670, 66.8, and 79 µM min–1 mg–1, respectively. Laccase A activity is strongly inhibited by 0.1 mM NaN3 or 0.1 mM cyanide. Two units of laccase A alone is able to completely oxidize 100 µmol 2,6-chlorophenol in 6 h. In the presence of 1 mM ABTS and 1-hydroxybenzotriazole, 15.0 U laccase A is able to oxidize 45% and 70% of 50 µmol fluorene in 12 and 18 h, respectively. The laccase A gene was cloned by a PCR method, and preliminary analysis of its sequence indicates 87.0% similarity to the corresponding segment in the phenoloxidase gene from Coriolus hirsutus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study on the copy number variation (CNV) of schizophrenic patients in the Chinese Han population. The study involved the recruitment of 155 residents from Shanghai who were diagnosed with schizophrenia, and performing genome-wide scans on subjects with structural variants greater than 100kb. It was found that among the 155 cases, 109 participants had CNV, 33 had rare CNV and 22 had one or more rare structural variants that disrupted genes.

The existence of an important genetic contribution to the etiology of schizophrenia is well established from genetic epidemiological studies. The gene of DTNBP1 located on 6p22.3, a high-susceptibility chromosome region of schizophrenia, was highly associated with schizophrenia in Irish high-density pedigrees. DTNBP1, the human ortholog of mouse dysbindin, appears to have a role in neuromuscular synapse formation and maintenance. In the present study, to confirm and extend findings of DTNBP1 in independent samples, researchers investigated seven SNPs within 140-kb length of the gene DTNBP1 in 233 Han Chinese trios. Results showed less heterozygosity in the seven SNPs of DTNBP1 gene compared with the data from a study with Irish high-density pedigrees collected from the relatively homogeneous population of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

Reprints a correction of the table that was previously published in the 2003 issue of "Molecular Psychiatry."