Search

Background: CDKN2BAS gene polymorphisms has been shown to correlation with intracranial aneurysm(IA) in the study of foreign people. The study, the author selected the Chinese people as the research object to explore whether CDKN2BAS gene polymorphisms associated with Chinese patients with IA.Methods: We selected 200 patients(52.69 ± 11.50) with sporadic IA as experimental group, 200 participants(49.99 ± 13.00) over the same period to the hospital without cerebrovascular diseases as control group. Extraction of peripheral blood DNA, applying polymerase chain reaction(PCR)-ligase detection reaction (LDR) identified CDKN2BAS Single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP) locus genotype: rs6475606, rs1333040, rs10757272, rs3217992, rs974336, rs3217986, rs1063192. The differences in allelic and genotype frequencies between the patient and control groups were evaluated by the chi-square test or Fisher's exact tests.Results: The genotype of rs1333040 and rs6475606 shown association with sporadic IA(X2 = 8.545, P = 0.014; X2 = 10.961, P = 0.004; respectively);the C allele of rs6475606 showed reduction the occurrence of IA; the rs1333040 and rs6475606 associated with hemorrhage, the C allele of rs1333040 could lower the risk of hemorrhage, and rs6475606 will not, rs1333040 also associated with aneurysm size.Conclusion: Our research shows that variant rs1333040 and rs6475606 of CDKN2BAS related to the Chinese han population of sporadic IAs occurs. This study confirms the association between CDKN2BAS and IAs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The effect of different functional groups of methylated urea on the phase transition of poly( N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) aqueous solutions has been studied by a high-sensitivity differential scanning calorimetry. The results reveal that with the addition of osmolytes with NH groups, the enthalpy change increases with the number of DSC cycles, presumably due to the gradual formation of hydrogen bonds with dehydrated CO groups of PNIPAM at high temperature. Moreover, with the addition of tetramethylurea (TMU) without hydrogen bond donor groups, the enthalpy change of PNIPAM solution remains unchanged with the number of DSC cycles and decreases with the TMU concentration, suggesting that the van der Waals interactions between TMU and isopropyl groups of PNIPAM and the weakening of hydrophobic interactions between isopropyl groups play a dominant role in the effect of TMU on the phase transition of PNIPAM. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016, 54, 1145-1151 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The oceanic lithosphere subduction has been attested to exert the first-order control on the formation of the continental crust, but the role of oceanic plateaus on the crustal growth is elusive. It is difficult to identify the component of the oceanic plateaus in the continental crust because of their disappearance after subduction into deep mantle or obduction to be a part of the ophiolite mélanges in the ancient orogenic belts. Amdo microcontinent in the central Tibetan Plateau is an ideal place to assess the role of oceanic plateaus on crustal growth as it preserves the well-exposed arc magmatic rocks and fragments of the Meso-Tethyan oceanic plateaus to its south. Here, we present an integrated investigation of zircon U Pb ages and Hf isotope, as well as whole-rock elements and Sr-Nd-Hf isotopes of a suit of dacites in the Amdo microcontinent. Zircon U Pb dating indicates that the Amdo dacites formed at ca. 117 Ma, postdated the major formation period of the Meso-Tethyan oceanic plateaus. The Amdo dacites have relatively high SiO 2 (63.45–66.82 wt%) contents and low Mg# values (20.0–36.1), belonging to calc-alkaline series. The zircon thermometer and oxybarometer give estimated temperature and oxygen fugacity of crystallization as ca. 700–720 °C and ΔFMQ = + 0.98, respectively. The Amdo dacites have low Y (5.51–6.61 ppm) and Yb (0.44–0.53 ppm) contents and high La/Yb ratios (28.4–30.3). Despite their low Sr/Y ratios (6.86–13.5) caused by a small degree of fractionation of plagioclase, the Amdo dacites have an adakitic geochemical affinity, which was most likely derived from the thickened continental lower crust. These dacites have more depleted Sr-Nd-Hf isotope compositions (whole-rock 87Sr/86Sr i = 0.709796–0.710563, ε Nd (t) = −3.27 to −2.82, ε Hf (t) = 4.20–4.83 and zircon ε Hf (t) = 4.2–8.8) than the Neoproterozoic and Cambrian orthogneisses, as well as the Jurassic magmatic rocks. Simple binary mixing modeling reveals that the Amdo dacites could represent the hybrid melts of 50–60% of the subducted Meso-Tethyan oceanic plateau materials with 50–40% of the Amdo ancient continental crustal materials. The decoupled whole-rock Nd Hf isotopes (Δε Hf (t) = 7.55–8.43) of the Amdo dacites could be explained by the addition of zircon-free sediments overlie on the oceanic plateaus. These results indicate that subduction of the Meso-Tethyan oceanic plateaus with/without the overlying sediments have made a substantial contribution to continental crustal growth. In conjunction with previous studies, we conclude that the subduction of the Meso-Tethyan oceanic plateaus may have intermittently occurred for around 37 million years, thus highlighting the significance of subduction of the Meso-Tethyan oceanic plateaus during the secular evolution of the central Tibetan Plateau. • ∼117 Ma Amdo dacites first reported here formed under arc magmas-like oxidized environment. • Amdo dacites were most likely derived from the thickened continental lower crust. • Amdo dacites represent a hybrid melt of the ancient crustal basement and oceanic plateau materials. • Subduction of the oceanic plateau has an enormous potential for crust growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In electrochemical alcohol oxidation reactions catalysed by supported Pt-based nanoparticles, the catalytic performance is highly correlated with the electron density accumulated over the metal's surface. The highly electronegative nature of Pt, affects the catalytic performance by accumulating electrons generated over the oxidative reaction on the Pt surface. It was found that alloying Cu to Pt enhances greatly the catalyst's activity and robustness. This enhancement is due to the redox reaction of Cuδ+ species into Cu0 with the electrons generated during the reaction. Here, we show that an oxidative pretreatment of the carbon support XC-72R with HNO 3 or H 2 O 2 can further boost the catalysis of alcohol oxidation. This is mainly explained by the effect of enriched O-containing functional groups introduced in the support materials, which stabilize the presence of Cuδ+ species in the bimetallic Pt-Cu nanoparticles. This process increases the hydrophilic wettability, which enables more adsorption of reactant molecules and hydroxide ions over the catalyst's surface, as demonstrated by DFT calculations. The proposed catalytic system is applicable to a variety of substrates, including methanol, ethanol, isopropanol and sorbitol. Our work emphasizes the importance of support's modification in tuning the interaction within the bimetallic nanoparticles and thus enhancing the electrocatalytic oxidation reactions' activity. [Display omitted] • Electrocatalytic performance of methanol oxidation using Pt-Cu/C can be boosted through catalyst surface treatment. • The carbon support pretreated by HNO 3 or H 2 O 2 contains more O-containing functional groups with improved hydrophilicity. • The surface modification improves the redox cycle of Cu within the nanoparticles and decreases the surface electron density. • The proposed reaction system can be extended to a series of alcohols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiculturalism is an important concept in Canada although there has been limited examination of its meaning in rural settings. To expand this knowledge base, this article presents the Low German (LG) Mennonites as a case example within a context of providing palliative care to this diverse population which is one of the Anabaptist groups that practice adult baptism and focus on a literal interpretation of the Bible. Findings from a mixed methods study and a graduate thesis conducted within the framework of this study focus on three main ideas to understand the perspectives related to death and dying among this group: faith-based healthcare facilities; family, community and mutual aid; and, keeping the dying connected. Implications of these concepts to health and social service providers are included. Canada has prided itself in being a multicultural country, but there has been little indepth examination of cultural or religious diversity in rural settings. This article presents the research related to understanding death and dying among the Low German (LG) Mennonites as a case example to illustrate the complexity of providing care to a unique religious group in rural Canada. The mixed methods and qualitative research were conducted in both Canada and Mexico. The findings are presented according to the following three ideas: (1) faith-based healthcare facilities; (2) family, community and mutual aid; and, (3) keeping the dying connected. The significance of the findings for the provision of care of this group are also included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To develop the strong restorer lines for WA-CMS and Y-CMS and analyse the pyramiding effect of the Rf3 and Rf4 genes, five indica chromosome single segment substitution lines (SSSLs) with the fertility restoration( Rf3) on chromosomes 1 were crossed with 4 SSSLs carrying the Rf4 gene on chromosomes 10 forming 11 F2 and F3 populations by backcrossing and marker-assisted selection(MAS). In the F2 and F3 populations, six double segments pyramiding lines (DSPLs) carrying the genotype Rf3Rf3 / Rf4Rf4 and five secondary SSSLs (SSSSLs) with the Rf3 or Rf4 gene were selected by MAS. The results showed that there were wide differences in restoring abilities for wild abortive( WA) cytoplasmic male sterility( CMS) among the six DSPLs. Of which the restoration abilities of the DSPL04-01/23-10P1,DSPL04-01/23-10P2 and DSPL04-01/23-10P3,carrying the genotype Rf3-4Rf3-4 / Rf4-4Rf4-4,were stronger than that of the DSPL22-01/27-10P with the genotype Rf3-4Rf3-4 / Rf4-3Rf4-3,and the restoring ability of the DSPL22-01/27-10P appeared to be stronger than those of DSPL11-01/14-10P and DSPL22-01/14-10P with the genotype Rf3- 4Rf3-4 / Rf4-2Rf4-2. The length of substituted chromosome segments in the five SSSSLs ranged from 24. 1 cM to 28. 5 cM with an average of 26. 8 cM,and the total length of substituted chromosome segments from them was 133. 9 cM. To reveal the pyramiding effect of the Rf genes,the DSPL04-01/23-10P1 and its corresponding SSSLs were crossed with a typical WA-CMS lines of 'Zhenshan 97A' (ZsA)and a typical Y-CMS line of 'Y-Huanong A' (HnA), respectively. In the F1 populations, the plants carrying the Rf3rf3 / Rf4rf4 genotype were selected and their phenotyping for pollen was evaluated. The restoration ability of the DSPL04-01/23-10P1 was showed to be stronger than that of its corresponding SSSLs, but the difference between them was not significant. Conclusions: There was not interaction effect between the Rf3 and Rf4 genes from different donors in the DSPLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Elastic analogues of the Su–Schrieffer–Heeger model and their realization. • Alternating coupling or damping can lead to topological phase transition. • Experimental demonstration of coupling-induced elastic topological edge states. • Experimental demonstration of damping-induced elastic topological edge states. Topological edge states, identified by topological invariants, have been widely investigated in classical wave systems over the past decades due to their intriguing features such as robustness against defects. Most previous studies in this field have so far focused on their Hermitian Hamiltonians characterized by real-valued eigenfrequencies and orthogonal eigenvectors, while the intrinsically lossy nature of classical wave systems has inspired explorations towards their non-Hermitian counterparts for more realistic experimental investigations and practical applications. Here, we present and experimentally demonstrate a type of elastic metamaterials that can be described by the Su–Schrieffer–Heeger (SSH) model to realize topological edge states in elastic wave system under Hermitian or non-Hermitian modulation. The elastic metamaterials are one-dimensional tight-binding chains consisting of square plates (corresponding to mass points) connected by thin beams (corresponding to rigid bonds). For the hypothetically Hermitian case, alternating hopping strengths contribute to dimerization which gives rise to topologically non-trivial and trivial band gaps as well as the associated topological edge states. For the non-Hermitian case, when uneven absorptive dampings are applied to the double-sized unit cell, topological edge states can still be obtained even though the hopping strengths are identical. These results extend the topological physics in elastic wave systems beyond the conventional Hermiticity assumption and could offer greater possibilities for related elastic functional devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report new measurements of fluorescence excitation spectra and single rovibronic level fluorescence lifetimes for (0,υ2′,0)←(0,0,0) bands with υ2′=0–6 in the HCF A˜1A″←X˜1A′ system. Due primarily to the Renner–Teller interaction, upper state levels with Ka⩾1 display an obvious lengthening of lifetime with increasing energy which is strongly correlated with the presence of vibronic and rovibronic perturbations, and increases dramatically as the barrier to linearity is approached. This system provides a textbook example of the small molecule limit of radiationless transitions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The fluorescence excitation spectrum of the NH2 A˜2A1←X˜2B1 system in the region 2900–4300 A˚ has been measured under jet-cooled conditions using a pulsed discharge source. A total of fourteen bands involving the pure bending states (0,υ2′,0) were observed and analyzed, including 10 bands not previously measured to our knowledge. The spectra are largely free from rotational perturbations at the low N values accessed in this experiment, and the molecular constants were obtained from a least squares fit to the determined spin–rovibronic term values. The derived constants are in good agreement with theoretical predictions incorporating the effects of orbital angular momentum on the spin–rotational fine structure. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Introduces MetaSpider, a meta-search engine. Capacity for real-time indexing and categorizing functions; Components of MetaSpider; Superiority of MetaSpider in precision rate; Exhibition of a high level of automation.