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This study aimed to explore sex differences in the relationship between thyroid function indicators and suicide attempts in first-episode and drug-naïve young major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with comorbid anxiety (MDA). A total of 917 MDD patients (aged 18-35 years) were recruited. The Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD-17), Hamilton anxiety rating scale (HAMA), positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) positive subscale and clinical global impression of severity scale (CGI-S) were used. 467 patients were classified as MDA. The prevalence of suicide attempts was 31.3% in MDA patients, which was significantly higher than that (7.3%) in MDD patients without anxiety. Compared with MDA patients without suicide attempts, MDA patients with suicide attempts were older, had a later age of onset, higher HAMD-17, HAMA, and PANSS positive symptom subscale scores, as well as higher TSH, TgAb and TPOAb levels. For male patients, TSH and TPOAb levels were independently associated with suicide attempts. For female patients, HAMA, PANSS positive symptom scores, CGI-S score and TPOAb levels were independently associated with suicide attempts. Our results suggest that the indicators of thyroid function which can predict suicide attempts in male and female MDA patients have sex differences., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Choroidal thickness is associated with many ocular conditions, interchangeability among different generations of optical coherence tomography is therefore important for both research purpose and clinical application. Hence, we compared choroidal thickness measurements between spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) in healthy paediatric eyes. A total of 114 children from the population-based Hong Kong Children Eye Study with mean age of 7.38 ± 0.82 years were included. Choroidal thickness of the right eye was measured by both devices. The central foveal choroidal thickness (CFCT) measured by SD-OCT and SS-OCT was 273.24 ± 54.29 μm and 251.84 ± 47.12 μm respectively. Inter-device correlation coefficient was 0.840 (95% CI 0.616-0.918). However, choroidal thickness obtained by SD-OCT was significantly thicker than that measured by SS-OCT with a mean difference of 21.40 ± 33.13 μm (P < 0.001). Bland-Altman limit of agreement on the relative difference scale for SD-OCT/SS-OCT was 86.33 μm. Validated conversion equation for translating SD-OCT CFCT measurement into SS-OCT was SS-OCT = 35.261 + 0.810 × SD-OCT. In conclusion, intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) shows an acceptable agreement between SD-OCT and SS-OCT, however, there was a significant inter-device difference of choroidal thickness measurements in normal children eyes. Therefore, the measurements are not interchangeable.

Deep neural networks have shown great performance for direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation problem, but it is necessary to design some suitable networks to solve the multi-DOA estimation problem. In this paper, we use Khatri-Rao product to increase the degree of freedom of antenna array and obtain the image tensor of covariance matrix, then we propose an improved estimation network to process the tensor. We use the curriculum learning scheme and partial label strategy to develop a CurriculumNet training scheme. The training/validation results shows that the proposed training scheme can increase the generalization of the estimation network and improve the accuracy of network around [Formula: see text]. The estimation performance of the proposed network shows high-resolution results, which can distinguish two adjacent signals with angle difference of [Formula: see text]. Moreover, the proposed estimation network has root mean square estimation error lower than [Formula: see text] when signal noise ratio equals [Formula: see text] and can estimate DOAs precisely by only 8 snapshots, which performs much better than prior deep neural network based estimation methods and can estimate multi-DOA results under hostile estimation environments.

To build a risk prediction model of gestational diabetes mellitus using nomogram to provide a simple-to-use clinical basis for the early prediction of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). This study is a prospective cohort study including 1385 pregnant women. (1) It is showed that the risk of GDM in women aged ≥ 35 years was 5.5 times higher than that in women aged < 25 years (95% CI: 1.27-23.73, p < 0.05). In the first trimester, the risk of GDM in women with abnormal triglyceride who were in their first trimester was 2.1 times higher than that of lipid normal women (95% CI: 1.12-3.91, p < 0.05). The area under the ROC curve of the nomogram of was 0.728 (95% CI: 0.683-0.772), the sensitivity and specificity of the model were 0.716 and 0.652, respectively. This study provides a simple and economic nomogram for the early prediction of GDM risk in the first trimester, and it has certain accuracy.

Ilyonectria robusta causes rusty root rot, the most devastating chronic disease of ginseng. Here, we for the first time report the high-quality genome of the I. robusta strain CD-56. Time-course (36 h, 72 h, and 144 h) dual RNA-Seq analysis of the infection process was performed, and many genes, including candidate effectors, were found to be associated with the progression and success of infection. The gene expression profile of CD-56 showed a trend of initial inhibition and then gradually returned to a profile similar to that of the control. Analyses of the gene expression patterns and functions of pathogenicity-related genes, especially candidate effector genes, indicated that the stress response changed to an adaptive response during the infection process. For ginseng, gene expression patterns were highly related to physiological conditions. Specifically, the results showed that ginseng defenses were activated by CD-56 infection and persisted for at least 144 h thereafter but that the mechanisms invoked were not effective in preventing CD-56 growth. Moreover, CD-56 did not appear to fully suppress plant defenses, even in late stages after infection. Our results provide new insight into the chronic pathogenesis of CD-56 and the comprehensive and complex inducible defense responses of ginseng root to I. robusta infection.

Terrestrial ecosystems are considered as carbon sinks that may mitigate the impacts of increased atmospheric CO 2 concentration ([CO 2 ]). However, it is not clear what their carbon sink capacity will be under extreme climatic conditions. In this study, we used long-term (1998-2013) data from a C3 grassland Free Air CO 2 Enrichment (FACE) experiment in Germany to study the combined effects of elevated [CO 2 ] and extreme climatic events (ECEs) on aboveground biomass production. CO 2 fertilization effect (CFE), which represents the promoted plant photosynthesis and water use efficiency under higher [CO 2 ], was quantiffied by calculating the relative differences in biomass between the plots with [CO 2 ] enrichment and the plots with ambient [CO 2 ]. Down-regulated CFEs were found when ECEs occurred during the growing season, and the CFE decreases were statistically significant with p well below 0.05 (t-test). Of all the observed ECEs, the strongest CFE decreases were associated with intensive and prolonged heat waves. These findings suggest that more frequent ECEs in the future are likely to restrict the mitigatory effects of C3 grassland ecosystems, leading to an accelerated warming trend. To reduce the uncertainties of future projections, the atmosphere-vegetation interactions, especially the ECEs effects, are emphasized and need to be better accounted.

Postsynthetic reactions of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are versatile tools for producing functional materials, but the methods of evaluating these reactions are cumbersome and destructive. Here we demonstrate and validate the use of in situ NMR spectroscopy of species in the liquid state to examine solvent-assisted ligand exchange (SALE) and postsynthetic modification (PSM) reactions of metal-organic frameworks. This technique allows functionalization to be monitored over time without decomposing the product for analysis, which simplifies reaction screening. In the case of SALE, both the added ligand and the ligand leaving the framework can be observed. We demonstrate this in situ method by examining SALE and PSM reactions of the robust zirconium MOF UiO-67 as well as SALE with the aluminum MOF DUT-5. In situ NMR spectroscopy provided insights into the reactions studied, and we expect that future studies using this method will permit the examination of a variety of MOF-solute reactions.

In this study, the performance of CMIP5 models in simulating the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is evaluated by using a new metric based on percolation theory. The surface air temperatures (SATs) over the tropical Pacific Ocean are constructed as a SAT network, and the nodes within the network are linked if they are highly connected (e.g., high correlations). It has been confirmed from reanalysis datasets that the SAT network undergoes an abrupt percolation phase transition when the influences of the sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) below are strong enough. However, from simulations of the CMIP5 models, most models are found incapable of capturing the observed phase transition at a proper critical point P c . For the 15 considered models, four even miss the phase transition, indicating that the simulated SAT network is too stable to be significantly changed by the SSTA below. Only four models can be considered cautiously with some skills in simulating the observed phase transition of the SAT network. By comparing the simulated SSTA patterns with the node vulnerabilities, which is the chance of each node being isolated during a ENSO event, we find that the improperly simulated sea-air interactions are responsible for the missing of the observed percolation phase transition. Accordingly, a careful study of the sea-air couplers, as well as the atmospheric components of the CMIP5 models is suggested. Since the percolation phase transition of the SAT network is a useful phenomenon to indicate whether the ENSO impacts can be transferred remotely, it deserves more attention for future model development.

Alteration in cellular energy metabolism plays a critical role in the development and progression of cancer. Targeting metabolic pathways for cancer treatment has been investigated as potential preventive or therapeutic methods. Eugenol (Eu), a major volatile constituent of clove essential oil mainly obtained from Syzygium, has been reported as a potential chemopreventive drug. However, the mechanism by which Eu regulates cellular energy metabolism is still not well defined. This study was designed to determine the effect of Eu on cellular energy metabolism during early cancer progression employing untransformed and H-ras oncogene transfected MCF10A human breast epithelial cells. Eu showed dose-dependent selective cytotoxicity toward MCF10A-ras cells but exhibited no apparent cytotoxicity in MCF10A cells. Treatment with Eu also significantly reduced intracellular ATP levels in MCF10A-ras cells but not in MCF10A cells. This effect was mediated mainly through inhibiting oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) complexs and the expression of fatty acid oxidation (FAO) proteins including PPARα, MCAD and CPT1C by downregulating c-Myc/PGC-1β/ERRα pathway and decreasing oxidative stress in MCF10A-ras cells. These results indicate a novel mechanism involving the regulation of cellular energy metabolism by which Eu may prevent breast cancer progression.

In this work, we studied the air-sea interaction over the tropical central eastern Pacific from a new perspective, climate network. The surface air temperatures over the tropical Pacific were constructed as a network, and the nodes within this network were linked if they have a similar temporal varying pattern. Using three different reanalysis datasets, we verified the percolation phase transition. That is, when the influences of El Niño/La Niña are strong enough to isolate more than 48% of the nodes, the network may abruptly be divided into many small pieces, indicating a change of the network state. This phenomenon was reproduced successfully by a coupled general circulation model, Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Model Spectral Version 2, but another model, Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System Model Grid-point Version 2, failed. As both models have the same oceanic component, but are with different atmospheric components, the improperly used atmospheric component should be responsible for the missing of the percolation phase transition. Considering that this new phenomenon is only recently noticed, current state-of-the-art models may ignore this process and induce unrealistic simulations. Accordingly, percolation phase transition is proposed as a new test bed, which deserves more attention in the future.

Beclin 1 is a well-established core mammalian autophagy protein that is embryonically indispensable and has been presumed to suppress oncogenesis via an autophagy-mediated mechanism. Here, we show that Beclin 1 is a prenatal primary cytoplasmic protein but rapidly relocated into the nucleus during postnatal development in mice. Surprisingly, deletion of beclin1 in in vitro human cells did not block an autophagy response, but attenuated the expression of several DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair proteins and formation of repair complexes, and reduced an ability to repair DNA in the cells exposed to ionizing radiation (IR). Overexpressing Beclin 1 improved the repair of IR-induced DSB, but did not restore an autophagy response in cells lacking autophagy gene Atg7, suggesting that Beclin 1 may regulate DSB repair independent of autophagy in the cells exposed to IR. Indeed, we found that Beclin 1 could directly interact with DNA topoisomerase IIβ and was recruited to the DSB sites by the interaction. These findings reveal a novel function of Beclin 1 in regulation of DNA damage repair independent of its role in autophagy particularly when the cells are under radiation insult.

In the context of global warming, the question of why Antarctic sea ice extent (SIE) has increased is one of the most fundamental unsolved mysteries. Although many mechanisms have been proposed, it is still unclear whether the increasing trend is anthropogenically originated or only caused by internal natural variability. In this study, we employ a new method where the underlying natural persistence in the Antarctic SIE can be correctly accounted for. We find that the Antarctic SIE is not simply short-term persistent as assumed in the standard significance analysis, but actually characterized by a combination of both short- and long-term persistence. By generating surrogate data with the same persistence properties, the SIE trends over Antarctica (as well as five sub-regions) are evaluated using Monte-Carlo simulations. It is found that the SIE trends over most sub-regions of Antarctica are not statistically significant. Only the SIE over Ross Sea has experienced a highly significant increasing trend (p = 0.008) which cannot be explained by natural variability. Influenced by the positive SIE trend over Ross Sea, the SIE over the entire Antarctica also increased over the past decades, but the trend is only at the edge of being significant (p = 0.034).

Drinking water treatment residue (DWTR), a byproduct generated during potable water production, exhibits a high potential for recycling to control eutrophication. However, this beneficial recycling is hampered by unclear metal/metalloid pollution risks related to DWTR. In this study, the pollution risks of Al, As, Ba, Be, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, and Zn due to DWTR application were first evaluated for lake water based on human health risk assessment models and comparison of regulatory standards. The risks of DWTR were also evaluated for sediments on the basis of toxicity characteristics leaching procedure and fractionation in relation to risk assessment code. Variations in the biological behaviors of metal/metalloid in sediments caused by DWTR were assessed using Chironomus plumosus larvae and Hydrilla verticillata. Kinetic luminescent bacteria test (using Aliivibrio fischeri) was conducted to analyze the possibility of acute and chronic detrimental effects of sediment with DWTR application. According to the obtained results, we identify a potential undesirable effect of DWTR related to Fe and Mn (typically under anaerobic conditions); roughly present a dosage threshold calculation model; and recommend a procedure for DWTR prescreening to ensure safe application. Overall, managed DWTR application is necessary for successful eutrophication control.

Community structure is one of the fundamental characteristics of complex networks. Many methods have been proposed for community detection. However, most of these methods are designed for static networks and are not suitable for dynamic networks that evolve over time. Recently, the evolutionary clustering framework was proposed for clustering dynamic data, and it can also be used for community detection in dynamic networks. In this paper, a multi-similarity spectral (MSSC) method is proposed as an improvement to the former evolutionary clustering method. To detect the community structure in dynamic networks, our method considers the different similarity metrics of networks. First, multiple similarity matrices are constructed for each snapshot of dynamic networks. Then, a dynamic co-training algorithm is proposed by bootstrapping the clustering of different similarity measures. Compared with a number of baseline models, the experimental results show that the proposed MSSC method has better performance on some widely used synthetic and real-world datasets with ground-truth community structure that change over time.

This study investigates the efficacy of local and intravenous mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) administration to augment neuroregeneration in both a sciatic nerve cut-and-repair and rat hindlimb transplant model. Bone marrow-derived MSCs were harvested and purified from Brown-Norway (BN) rats. Sciatic nerve transections and repairs were performed in three groups of Lewis (LEW) rats: negative controls (n = 4), local MSCs (epineural) injection (n = 4), and systemic MSCs (intravenous) injection (n = 4). Syngeneic (LEW-LEW) (n = 4) and allogeneic (BN-LEW) (n = 4) hindlimb transplants were performed and assessed for neuroregeneration after local or systemic MSC treatment. Rats undergoing sciatic nerve cut-and-repair and treated with either local or systemic injection of MSCs had significant improvement in the speed of recovery of compound muscle action potential amplitudes and axon counts when compared with negative controls. Similarly, rats undergoing allogeneic hindlimb transplants treated with local injection of MSCs exhibited significantly increased axon counts. Similarly, systemic MSC treatment resulted in improved nerve regeneration following allogeneic hindlimb transplants. Systemic administration had a more pronounced effect on electromotor recovery while local injection was more effective at increasing fiber counts, suggesting different targets of action. Local and systemic MSC injections significantly improve the pace and degree of nerve regeneration after nerve injury and hindlimb transplantation.

Sulfur participates in many important mechanisms and pathways of plant development. The most common source of sulfur in soil -SO4(2-)- is absorbed into root tissue and distributed into aerial part through vasculature system, where it is reduced into sulfite and finally sulfide within the subcellular organs such as chloroplasts and mitochondria and used for cysteine and methionine biosynthesis. MicroRNAs are involved in many regulation pathways by repressing the expression of their target genes. MiR395 family in Arabidopsis thaliana has been reported to be an important regulator involved in sulfate transport and assimilation, and a high-affinity sulphate transporter and three ATP sulfurylases (ATPS) were the target genes of AthmiR395 (Arabidopsis thaliana miR395). We have cloned a miR395 gene from rice (Oryza sativa) and studied its function in plant nutritional response. Our results indicated that in rice, transcript level of OsamiR395 (Oryza sativa miR395) increased under sulfate deficiency conditions, and the two predicted target genes of miR395 were down-regulated under the same conditions. Overexpression of OsamiR395h in tobacco impaired its sulfate homeostasis, and sulfate distribution was also slightly impacted among leaves of different ages. One sulfate transporter (SULTR) gene NtaSULTR2 was identified to be the target of miR395 in Nicotiana tobacum, which belongs to low affinity sulfate transporter group. Both miR395 and NtaSULTR2 respond to sulfate starvation in tobacco.

In this paper, two new methods, Temporal evolution of Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (TDCCA) and Temporal evolution of Detrended Partial-Cross-Correlation Analysis (TDPCCA), are proposed by generalizing DCCA and DPCCA. Applying TDCCA/TDPCCA, it is possible to study correlations on multi-time scales and over different periods. To illustrate their properties, we used two climatological examples: i) Global Sea Level (GSL) versus North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO); and ii) Summer Rainfall over Yangtze River (SRYR) versus previous winter Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). We find significant correlations between GSL and NAO on time scales of 60 to 140 years, but the correlations are non-significant between 1865-1875. As for SRYR and PDO, significant correlations are found on time scales of 30 to 35 years, but the correlations are more pronounced during the recent 30 years. By combining TDCCA/TDPCCA and DCCA/DPCCA, we proposed a new correlation-detection system, which compared to traditional methods, can objectively show how two time series are related (on which time scale, during which time period). These are important not only for diagnosis of complex system, but also for better designs of prediction models. Therefore, the new methods offer new opportunities for applications in natural sciences, such as ecology, economy, sociology and other research fields.

In this study, sea surface air temperature over the Pacific is constructed as a network, and the influences of sea surface temperature anomaly in the tropical central eastern Pacific (El Niño/La Niña) are regarded as a kind of natural attack on the network. The results show that El Niño/La Niña leads an abrupt percolation phase transition on the climate networks from stable to unstable or metastable phase state, corresponding to the fact that the climate condition changes from normal to abnormal significantly during El Niño/La Niña. By simulating three different forms of attacks on an idealized network, including Most connected Attack (MA), Localized Attack (LA) and Random Attack (RA), we found that both MA and LA lead to stepwise phase transitions, while RA leads to a second-order phase transition. It is found that most attacks due to El Niño/La Niña are close to the combination of MA and LA, and a percolation critical threshold Pc can be estimated to determine whether the percolation phase transition happens. Therefore, the findings in this study may renew our understandings of the influence of El Niño/La Niña on climate, and further help us in better predicting the subsequent events triggered by El Niño/La Niña.

It is well known that, in humans, contrast sensitivity training at high spatial frequency (SF) not only leads to contrast sensitivity improvement, but also results in an improvement in visual acuity as assessed with gratings (direct effect) or letters (transfer effect). However, the underlying neural mechanisms of this high spatial frequency training improvement remain to be elucidated. In the present study, we examined four properties of neurons in primary visual cortex (area 17) of adult cats that exhibited significantly improved acuity after contrast sensitivity training with a high spatial frequency grating and those of untrained control cats. We found no difference in neuronal contrast sensitivity or tuning width (Width) between the trained and untrained cats. However, the trained cats showed a displacement of the cells' optimal spatial frequency (OSF) to higher spatial frequencies as well as a larger neuronal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Furthermore, both the neuronal differences in OSF and SNR were significantly correlated with the improvement of acuity measured behaviorally. These results suggest that striate neurons might mediate the perceptual learning-induced improvement for high spatial frequency stimuli by an alteration in their spatial frequency representation and by an increased SNR.

Leukemia cells are superior to hematopoietic cells with a normal differentiation potential in buffering cellular stresses, but the underlying mechanisms for this leukemic advantage are not fully understood. Using CRISPR/Cas9 deletion of the canonical autophagy-essential gene Atg7, we found that erythroleukemia K562 cells are armed with two sets of autophagic machinery. Alternative mitophagy is functional regardless of whether the canonical autophagic mechanism is intact or disrupted. Although canonical autophagy defects attenuated cell cycling, proliferation and differentiation potential, the leukemia cells retained their abilities for mitochondrial clearance and for maintaining low levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and apoptosis. Treatment with a specific inducer of mitophagy revealed that the canonical autophagy-defective erythroleukemia cells preserved a mitophagic response. Selective induction of mitophagy was associated with the upregulation and localization of RAB9A on the mitochondrial membrane in both wild-type and Atg7(-/-) leukemia cells. When the leukemia cells were treated with the alternative autophagy inhibitor brefeldin A or when the RAB9A was knocked down, this mitophagy was prohibited. This was accompanied by elevated ROS levels and apoptosis as well as reduced DNA damage repair. Therefore, the results suggest that erythroleukemia K562 cells possess an ATG7-independent alternative mitophagic mechanism that functions even when the canonical autophagic process is impaired, thereby maintaining the ability to respond to stresses such as excessive ROS and DNA damage.

In this study, relations between winter-time Pacific-Northern America pattern (PNA)/East Pacific wave-train (EPW) and winter-time drought in the west United States over the period of 1951-2010 are analyzed. Considering traditional Pearson's Correlation Coefficient can be influenced by non-stationarity and nonlinearity, a recently proposed method, Detrended Partial-Cross-Correlation Analysis (DPCCA) is applied. With DPCCA, we analyzed the "intrinsic" correlations between PNA/EPW and the winter drought with possible effects of ENSO and PDO removed. We found, i) significant negative correlations between PNA/EPW and drought on time scales of 5-6 years after removing the effects of ENSO, ii) and significant negative correlations between PNA/EPW and drought on time scales of 15-25 years after removing the effects of PDO. By further studying the temporal evolutions of the "intrinsic" correlations, we found on time scales of 5-6 years, the "intrinsic" correlations between PNA/EPW and drought can vary severely with time, but for most time, the correlations are negative. While on interdecadal (15-25 years) time scales, after the effects of PDO removed, unlike the relations between PNA and drought, the "intrinsic" correlations between EPW and drought takes nearly homogeneous-sign over the whole period, indicating a better model can be designed by using EPW.

Autophagy is essentially a metabolic process, but its in vivo role in nuclear radioprotection remains unexplored. We observed that ex vivo autophagy activation reversed the proliferation inhibition, apoptosis, and DNA damage in irradiated hematopoietic cells. In vivo autophagy activation improved bone marrow cellularity following nuclear radiation exposure. In contrast, defective autophagy in the hematopoietic conditional mouse model worsened the hematopoietic injury, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and DNA damage caused by nuclear radiation exposure. Strikingly, in vivo defective autophagy caused an absence or reduction in regulatory proteins critical to both homologous recombination (HR) and non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) DNA damage repair pathways, as well as a failure to induce these proteins in response to nuclear radiation. In contrast, in vivo autophagy activation increased most of these proteins in hematopoietic cells. DNA damage assays confirmed the role of in vivo autophagy in the resolution of double-stranded DNA breaks in total bone marrow cells as well as bone marrow stem and progenitor cells upon whole body irradiation. Hence, autophagy protects the hematopoietic system against nuclear radiation injury by conferring and intensifying the HR and NHEJ DNA damage repair pathways and by removing ROS and inhibiting apoptosis.

In this paper, a new method, detrended partial-cross-correlation analysis (DPCCA), is proposed. Based on detrended cross-correlation analysis (DCCA), this method is improved by including partial-correlation technique, which can be applied to quantify the relations of two non-stationary signals (with influences of other signals removed) on different time scales. We illustrate the advantages of this method by performing two numerical tests. Test I shows the advantages of DPCCA in handling non-stationary signals, while Test II reveals the "intrinsic" relations between two considered time series with potential influences of other unconsidered signals removed. To further show the utility of DPCCA in natural complex systems, we provide new evidence on the winter-time Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and the winter-time Nino3 Sea Surface Temperature Anomaly (Nino3-SSTA) affecting the Summer Rainfall over the middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River (SRYR). By applying DPCCA, better significant correlations between SRYR and Nino3-SSTA on time scales of 6 ~ 8 years are found over the period 1951 ~ 2012, while significant correlations between SRYR and PDO on time scales of 35 years arise. With these physically explainable results, we have confidence that DPCCA is an useful method in addressing complex systems.

Long term memory (LTM) in climate variability is studied by means of fractional integral techniques. By using a recently developed model, Fractional Integral Statistical Model (FISM), we in this report proposed a new method, with which one can estimate the long-lasting influences of historical climate states on the present time quantitatively, and further extract the influence as climate memory signals. To show the usability of this method, two examples, the Northern Hemisphere monthly Temperature Anomalies (NHTA) and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation index (PDO), are analyzed in this study. We find the climate memory signals indeed can be extracted and the whole variations can be further decomposed into two parts: the cumulative climate memory (CCM) and the weather-scale excitation (WSE). The stronger LTM is, the larger proportion the climate memory signals will account for in the whole variations. With the climate memory signals extracted, one can at least determine on what basis the considered time series will continue to change. Therefore, this report provides a new perspective on climate prediction.

We explored the feasibility of studying loss of heterozygosity (LOH) by using exome sequencing and compared the differences in genetic LOH between primary breast tumors and metastatic lesions. Exome sequencing was conducted to investigate the genetic LOH in the peripheral blood, a primary tumor, and a metastatic lesion from the same patient. LOH was observed in 30 and 48 chromosomal loci of the primary tumor and metastatic lesion, respectively. The incidence of LOH was the highest on chromosome 19, followed by chromosomes 14, 3, and 11 in the metastatic lesion. Among these 'hot' regions, LOH was observed for multiple genes of the CECAM, MMP and ZNF families. Therefore, the use of exome sequencing for studying LOH is feasible. More members of gene families appeared with LOH in 'hot' regions, suggesting that these gene families had synergistic effects in tumorigenesis.