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The status of a project to measure spin-isospin responses of neutron drip-line nuclei using a new low-energy neutron detector, PANDORA (Particle Analyzer Neutron Detector Of Real-time Acquisition), is reported. The performance of PANDORA was characterized by the 6He(p,n)6Li reaction in inverse kinematics at the HIMAC facility in Chiba. Observation of the strong transition to the ground state in 6Li is discussed. Preliminary results of 11Li(p,n)11Be and 14Be(p,n)14B experiments in inverse kinematics at RI Beam Factory (RIBF) of RIKEN Nishina Center are also presented including the exotic decay channel of 11Be→9Li + d. Details of the experimental setup based on PANDORA and the SAMURAI large-acceptance magnetic spectrometer, as well as the combined data-acquisition system are described. The neutron-gamma discrimination capability of PANDORA was evaluated, Figure-of-Merit (FoM) values higher than those found in the literature for similar materials were derived from experimental data.

International audience; This work describes a silicon tracker system developed for experiments with proton-rich radioactive ion beams at the SAMURAI superconducting spectrometer of RIBF at RIKEN. The system is designed for accurate angular reconstruction and atomic number identification of relativistic heavy ions and protons which are simultaneously produced in reactions motivated by studies of proton capture reactions of interest for nuclear astrophysics. The technical characteristics of the tracking array are described in detail as are its performance in two pilot experiments. The physics justification for such a system is also presented.

Direct proton-knockout reactions of ^{55}Sc at ∼220 MeV/nucleon were studied at the RIKEN Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory. Populated states of ^{54}Ca were investigated through γ-ray and invariant-mass spectroscopy. Level energies were calculated from the nuclear shell model employing a phenomenological internucleon interaction. Theoretical cross sections to states were calculated from distorted-wave impulse approximation estimates multiplied by the shell model spectroscopic factors, which describe the wave function overlap of the ^{55}Sc ground state with states in ^{54}Ca. Despite the calculations showing a significant amplitude of excited neutron configurations in the ground-state of ^{55}Sc, valence proton removals populated predominantly the ground state of ^{54}Ca. This counterintuitive result is attributed to pairing effects leading to a dominance of the ground-state spectroscopic factor. Owing to the ubiquity of the pairing interaction, this argument should be generally applicable to direct knockout reactions from odd-even to even-even nuclei.

This report identifies the top cited papers in the field of periodontal regeneration since inception of the concept. Using the H-classics approach, 132 papers published between 1970 and 2012 were identified, with 230.0 ± 175.6 (mean ± SD) citations and 10.4 ± 11.5 citations/year. There were 46 clinical reports, 28 animal studies, 23 in vitro studies, 30 reviews, 3 systematic reviews, and 2 combined animal and in vitro studies. Analysis of covariance showed that institution number (≥3, P = 0.011), journal impact factor at publication (>3.0, P = 0.001) and study type (in vitro/reviews vs. clinical trials/animal studies, P = 0.024) were significantly associated with citations/year. This study has characterized the most influential literature in the field of periodontal regeneration and serves as a quick reference resource.

A resonant state at 3.21-0.04+0.12MeV, located just above the one-neutron separation threshold, was observed for the first time in Be12 from the Be11(d,p)Be12 one-neutron transfer reaction in inverse kinematics. This state is assigned a spin-parity of 0- according to the systematics of the level scheme of the N=8 isotones and decay-width analysis. Gamow coupled-channel and Gamow shell-model calculations show the importance of the continuum coupling, which dramatically influences the excitation energy and ordering of low-lying states. Various exotic structures associated with cross-shell intruding configurations in Be12 and in its isotonic nucleus Li11 are comparably discussed.

8 pags., 4 figs., 3 tabs., The nuclear structure of 51Ar, an uncharted territory so far, was studied by the (p,2p) reaction using γ-ray spectroscopy for the bound states and the invariant mass method for the unbound states. Two peaks were detected in the γ-ray spectrum and six peaks were observed in the 50Ar+n relative energy spectrum. Comparing the results to our shell-model calculations, two bound and six unbound states were established. Three of the unbound states could only be placed tentatively due to the low number of counts in the relative energy spectrum of events associated with the decay through the first excited state of 50Ar. The low cross sections populating the two bound states of 51Ar could be interpreted as a clear signature for the presence of significant subshell closures at neutron numbers 32 and 34 in argon isotopes. It was also revealed that due to the two valence holes, unbound collective states coexist with individual-particle states in 51Ar., We are very grateful to the RIKEN Nishina Center accelerator staff for providing the stable beam and to the BigRIPS team for the smooth operation of the secondary beams. The development of the MINOS device has been supported by the European Research Council through the ERC Grant No. MINOS-258567. F. B. was supported by the RIKEN Special Postdoctoral Researcher Program. K. O. acknowledges the support by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research JP16K05352. Y. U. acknowledges the support by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research 20K03981. Y. L. S. acknowledges the support of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2015-705023) from the European Union and the support from the Helmholtz International Center for FAIR. H. N. L. acknowledges the support from the Enhanced Eurotalents program (PCOFUND-GA-2013-600382) co-funded by CEA and the European Union. T. A., C. L., D. R., H. T., V. W., L. Z., H. N. L., V. W. and A. O. acknowledge the support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) Project No. 279384907-SFB 1245. R. B. G. acknowledges the support from the DFG under Grant No. BL 1513/1-1. Y. L. S. and A. O. acknowledge the support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. B. D. L. and L. X. C. acknowledge the support from the Vietnam Ministry of Science and Technology under Grant No. ĐTCB.01/21/VKHKTHN. I. G. has been supported by HIC for FAIR and HRZZ under project No. 1257 and 7194. K. I. H., D. K. and S. Y. P. acknowledge the support from the NRF grant funded by the Korea government (No. 2017R1A2B2012382 and 2019M7A1A1033186). F. B. acknowledge the support from the RIKEN Special Postdoctoral Researcher Program. D. S. and Z. E. were supported by projects No. GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00034 and No. K128947. V. V. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under Contract No. FPA2017-84756-C4-2-P. V. W. and P. K. acknowledge the support from BMBF grants 05P15RDFN1 and 05P19RDFN1. P. K. acknowledges support from HGS-HIRe. This work was also supported by NKFIH (114454).

To investigate astaxanthin (AST) protecting myocardial cells from hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) injury by regulating miR-138/HIF-1α axis.Myocardial cells were collected and divided into a control group, a H/R group, and a H/R+AST group. The H/R injury model was established, and cells in the H/R+AST group were given AST before modeling. The cell survival rate, contents of myocardial enzymes, and apoptosis were detected.The survival rate in the H/R group reduced and was lower than that in the H/R+AST group (p0.05). Compared with the control group, activities of myocardial enzymes significantly increased in the H/R group but those were inhibited in the H/R+AST group (p0.05). The apoptotic rate in the H/R group significantly increased compared with the control group but that significantly decreased compared with the H/R+AST group (p0.05). The expression of cleaved caspase-9 and caspase-3 increased in the H/R group (p0.05), and was higher than that in the H/R+AST group (p0.05). The expression levels of miR-138 and HIF-1α were detected. MiR-138 level significantly decreased in the H/R group but increased in the H/R+AST group (p0.05). Compared with the control group, HIF-1α content significantly increased in the H/R group but that was significantly inhibited in the H/R+AST group (p0.05). The Luciferase reporter gene assay confirmed that HIF-1α was the target gene of miR-138. After miR-138 mimics and HIF-1α siRNA were transfected into myocardial cells, the cell survival rate significantly increased, and activities of myocardial enzymes were significantly inhibited in the H/R+AST+miR-138 mimics and H/R+AST+HIF-1α siRNA groups (p0.05). The apoptotic rate significantly decreased, and contents of cleaved caspase-9 and caspase-3 were significantly inhibited in the miR-138 mimics and HIF-1α siRNA groups (p0.05).AST can exert a protective function in myocardial cells via regulating the expression of miR-138/HIF-1α axis.

7 pags., 4 figs., 1 tab., Excited states in the N=40 isotone Ti were populated via the V(p,2p)Ti reaction at ∼200 MeV/nucleon at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory and studied using γ-ray spectroscopy. The energies of the 2 →0 and 4 →2 transitions, observed here for the first time, indicate a deformed Ti ground state. These energies are increased compared to the neighboring Cr and Fe isotones, suggesting a small decrease of quadrupole collectivity. The present measurement is well reproduced by large-scale shell-model calculations based on effective interactions, while ab initio and beyond mean-field calculations do not yet reproduce our findings. The shell-model calculations for Ti show a dominant configuration with four neutrons excited across the N=40 gap. Likewise, they indicate that the N=40 island of inversion extends down to Z=20, disfavoring a possible doubly magic character of the elusive Ca., We thank the RIKEN Nishina Center accelerator staff and the Bi-gRIPS team for the stable operation of the high-intensity Zn beam and for the preparation of the secondary beam setting. K.O. ac-knowledges the support by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) JP16K05352. A.P. is supported in part by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (Spain), Severo Ochoa Programme SEV-2016-0597 and grant PGC-2018-94583. F.B. is supported by the RIKEN Spe-cial Postdoctoral Researcher Program. L.X.C. and B.D.L. would like to thank the Vietnam Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) for its support through the Physics Development Program Grant No. ÐTÐLCN.25/18. I.G. has been supported by HIC for FAIR and Croatian Science Foundation under projects no. 1257 and 7194. D. So. was supported by the the European Regional Develop-ment Fund contract No. GINOP-2.3.3-15-2016-00034 and the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund of Hungary via Project No. K128947. V.V. acknowledges support from the Span-ish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad under Contract No. FPA2017-84756-C4-2-P. K.I.H., D.K. and S.Y.P. acknowledge the sup-port from the National Research Foundation of Korea grant No. 2018R1A5A1025563 and 2019M7A1A1033186. The development of MINOS was supported by the European Research Council through the ERC Grant No. MINOS-258567. This work was also supported by the JSPS KAKENHI Grant No. 18K03639, MEXT as “Priority is-sue on post-K computer” (Elucidation of the fundamental laws and evolution of the universe), the Joint Institute for Computational Fundamental Science (JICFuS), the CNS-RIKEN joint project for large-scale nuclear structure calculations, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – Projektnummer 279384907 – SFB 1245, the PRISMA Cluster of Excellence, and the BMBF under Contracts No. 05P18RDFN1 and 05P19RDFN1. TRIUMF receives funding via a contribution through the National Research Council Canada. Com-putations were performed at the Jülich Supercomputing Center (JURECA)

A new 11Be( d , p )12Be transfer reaction experiment was carried out in inverse kinematics at 26.9A MeV, with special efforts devoted to the determination of the deuteron target thickness and of the required optical potentials from the present elastic scattering data. In addition a direct measurement of the cross section for the 0 2 + state was realized by applying an isomer-tagging technique. The s-wave spectroscopic factors of 0.20 − 0.04 + 0.03 and 0.41 − 0.11 + 0.11 were extracted for the 0 1 + and 0 2 + states, respectively, in 12Be. Using the ratio of these spectroscopic factors, together with the previously reported results for the p-wave components, the single-particle component intensities in the bound 0 + states of 12Be were deduced, allowing a direct comparison with the theoretical predictions. It is evidenced that the ground-state configuration of 12Be is dominated by the d-wave intruder, exhibiting a dramatic evolution of the intruding mechanism from 11Be to 12Be, with a persistence of the N = 8 magic number broken.

We report on the first detailed study of intruder configurations in the ground state of 30 Ne by means of the 12 C( 30 Ne, 29 Ne+ γ )X one-neutron knockout reaction at 228 MeV/nucleon. Using a combined analysis of individual parallel momentum distributions and partial cross sections we find: (a) comparable p - and d -wave removal strength to 29 Ne final states with excitation energies below 200 keV, and (b) significant p -wave removal strength to the 620 keV state of 29 Ne, and (c) no evidence for f -wave intruder strength leading to bound 29 Ne final states. The SDPF-U-MIX shell model calculation in the sd–pf model space provides a better overall agreement with the measured energy levels of 29 Ne and the fp -intruder amplitudes in 30 Ne than the SDPF-M prediction, suggesting that the refinement of the sd–pf cross shell interaction and extension of the model space to include the 2p1/2 and 1f5/2 levels are important for understanding the island of inversion.

Periodontitis significantly increases the risk of diabetic complications. This clinical trial investigated the effects of periodontal therapy on cardiac function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and periodontitis.Fifty-eight subjects with T2DM and periodontitis were randomly allocated to Treatment Group (n = 29) receiving non-surgical periodontal therapy, and Control Group (n = 29) having only oral hygiene instructions with delayed periodontal treatment until completion of this 6-month study. The left ventricle (LV) diastolic function was assessed by echocardiography with the tissue Doppler imaging index (E/e' ratio); and LV hypertrophy was evaluated by LV mass index (LVMI). Blood samples were collected for biochemical analysis.The intention-to-treat analysis showed that periodontal treatment significantly reduced the E/e' ratio by 1.66 (95% CI: -2.64 to -0.68, p .01), along with marked improvement of periodontal conditions (p .05). LVMI was not altered at the 6-month follow-up. The serum levels of N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) as a cardiac stress biomarker, C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 decreased numerically without reaching statistical significance.The present study provides the first evidence that non-surgical periodontal therapy may improve cardiac diastolic function in type 2 diabetic patients with periodontitis.

Exclusive cross sections and momentum distributions have been measured for quasifree one-neutron knockout reactions from a ^{54}Ca beam striking on a liquid hydrogen target at ∼200 MeV/u. A significantly larger cross section to the p_{3/2} state compared to the f_{5/2} state observed in the excitation of ^{53}Ca provides direct evidence for the nature of the N=34 shell closure. This finding corroborates the arising of a new shell closure in neutron-rich calcium isotopes. The distorted-wave impulse approximation reaction formalism with shell model calculations using the effective GXPF1Bs interaction and ab initio calculations concur our experimental findings. Obtained transverse and parallel momentum distributions demonstrate the sensitivity of quasifree one-neutron knockout in inverse kinematics on a thick liquid hydrogen target with the reaction vertex reconstructed to final state spin-parity assignments.

International audience; The 9C breakup was studied during the SAMURAI29R1 experiment through inclusive and exclusive measurements at energies around 160 AMeV for 9C, in order to evaluate the astrophysical S18 factor for the inverse process 8B(p,γ)9C at energies in the region of astrophysical interest. The radiative proton capture on 8B is important in the hot pp chains, in explosive Hydrogen burning (ppIV and rapI), at temperatures between 0.05 < T9 < 1 K, as possible alternative paths across the A = 8 mass gap. Another goal of this experiment was a detailed study of the breakup reaction mechanism. During the experiment the nuclear breakup process was studied using a natural C target with 425 µm thickness and the Coulomb dissociation by using a natural Pb target with 150 µm thickness. The reaction products were tracked simultaneously using a system of position sensitive Si detectors and in total 1024 output channels were read out by using new dual gain preamplifiers (DGP) specially designed for the experiments of the HI-p collaboration. The SAMURAI29R1 experiment was carried out during the SAMURAI 18Oxygen 2018 Spring campaign and it is part of the HI-p collaboration together with another three experiments. Performances of the setup used and first results of the analysis are presented.

The spin-isospin responses of the 11Li drip-line nucleus has been measured. Preliminary results of the 11Li(p, n)11Be experiment in inverse kinematics at RI Beam Factory (RIBF) of RIKEN Nishina Center are presented including the observation of 1n, 2n, t, d, 2α and 6He+α decay channels of 11Be reaction product. Details of the experimental setup based on PANDORA (Particle Analyzer Neutron Detector Of Real-time Acquisition) low-energy neutron detector and the SAMURAI large-acceptance magnetic spectrometer are described.

7 pags., 7 figs. -- XXIII International School on Nuclear Physics, Neutron Physics and Applications 22-28 September 2019, Varna, Bulgaria, Within the SEASTAR III campaign at the Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory, at the RIKEN Nishina Center, neutron-rich isotopes in the vicinity of 53K were produced from the fragmentation of the primary 70Zn beam on a 9Be target. After nucleon knockout reactions on the secondary liquid hydrogen MINOS target the known γ rays of the neutron-rich 55Sc isotope were observed (shown in this proceedings) and γ rays from 57,59Sc isotopes have been identified for the first time. The evolution of the occupied nucleon orbitals of these nuclei in the ground and excited state is investigated under the prism of the tensor force., We are grateful to the RIKEN Nishina Center accelerator staff for their work in the primary beam delivery and the BigRIPS team for preparing the secondary beams. This work was supported by the cooperation between TU Darmstadt and the GSI Helmholtz Center for Heavy Ion Research, by the Helmholtz Graduate School for Hadron and Ion Research for FAIR and its abroad program and the BMBF under grant No. 05P19RDFN1. D.S. was supported by projects No. GINOP2.3.3-15-2016-00034 and No. K128947.

We report on the first γ-ray spectroscopy of 51,53K produced via the 52,54Ca(p,2p) reactions at ∼250 MeV/nucleon. Unambiguous final-state angular-momentum assignments were achieved for beam intensities down to few particles per second by using a new technique based on reaction vertex tracking combined with a thick liquid-hydrogen target. Through γ-ray spectroscopy and exclusive parallel momentum distribution analysis, 3/2+ ground states and 1/2+ first excited states in 51,53K were established quantifying the natural ordering of the 1 d 3 / 2 and 2 s 1 / 2 proton-hole states that are restored at N = 32 and 34. State-of-the-art ab initio calculations and shell-model calculations with improved phenomenological effective interactions reproduce the present data and predict consistently the increase of the E(1/2 1 + ) - E(3/2 1 + ) energy differences towards N = 40.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Subjects with diabetes and periodontitis are at high risk of cardiovascular events, while the subclinical alterations of cardiac function in this cohort remain unclear. This cross-sectional study investigated the association of periodontitis with left ventricle (LV) structural and functional abnormalities in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 115 subjects with T2DM were divided into Control group (n = 32) with no or mild periodontitis, and the rest with moderate to severe chronic periodontitis (CP) were further categorized into CP-1 (n = 41) and CP-2 (n = 42) based on disease severity. Echocardiography was performed to precisely assess (a) LV hypertrophy by LV mass index (LVMi); (b) LV diastolic function by tissue Doppler imaging index E/e' ratio; and (c) LV systolic function by speckle tracking derived global longitudinal strain (GLS). RESULTS Overall, a linear trend in LVMi, E/e', and GLS existed among the Control, CP-1, and CP-2 groups, respectively (P

International audience; The 9C breakup reaction was investigated in order to obtain information about the inverse reaction: 8B(p,γ)9C at astro-physical energies within the NP1412SAMURAI29R1 experiment. The 8B(p,γ)9C reaction gives a possible path to the hot pp chain pp-IV at high temperatures and away from it toward a rapid alpha-process rap-I at high temperatures and densities and therefore is important in understanding nucleosynthesis in super-massive hot stars in the early universe, including possible bypass of the 3α-process. For this experiment it was proposed to use a combination of nuclear and Coulomb dissociation measurements (on a light target Be or C and on a heavy target Pb, respectively) at energy of 160 A MeV to extract structure information, which will allow to evaluate the radiative proton capture cross section at low energies and from there the reaction rate. The current work is focused on the development of Monte Carlo simulations for Coulomb breakup mechanism of 9C as well as on the Geant4 simulations of the resulting particle trajectories through the experimental setup, including passage of the particles through the magnetic field of the SAMURAI spectrometer.

We report on the performance of the MINOS Time Projection Chamber developed as a vertex tracker to study exotic nuclei produced from hydrogen-induced knockout via in-beam γ -ray and invariant-mass spectroscopy . In-beam measurements with 4 He and 20Ne beams at 200 and 350 MeV/nucleon, respectively, were performed at the HIMAC facility. The tracking algorithm for protons after quasi-free scattering is described. Realistic simulations and physics experiments are compared and show a good agreement. The vertex position resolution reaches 5 mm FWHM, mostly from re-scattering with the target and the Aluminum reaction chamber. The overall efficiency of vertex reconstruction is also benchmarked with the first experimental campaign data performed at the RIBF, confirming an overall efficiency better than 90% for physics experiments.

Summary The objective of this study was to assess the changes in the chemical composition of yak colostrum and transient milk. Samples were collected from 12 yaks on days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 post-partum (PP). The gross composition, nitrogen fraction distribution, amino acid (AA) profile and fatty acid (FA) profile were analysed. All the components decreased rapidly during the first 3 days except lactose which increased. The ratio of whey protein to casein protein decreased from 46:54 to 17:83 during the first 7 days PP. The content of all the AAs decreased, while the percentages of eight essential AAs in protein of samples increased during the study period. Monounsaturated FAs and polyunsaturated FAs decreased in the first 7 days PP, whereas saturated FAs increased. In conclusion, the changes in chemical composition were remarkable during the first 3 days. The slight variations, happened during the transient period, are not negligible, which also should be taken into account in the development of yak colostrum supplements.

Background Periodontitis is closely linked with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and endothelial dysfunction. This study investigated the effects of periodontal treatment on immuno-inflammatory gene expression of endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in diabetic patients. Methods Eighteen T2DM patients with moderate to severe chronic periodontitis were randomly assigned to the Treatment group with oral hygiene instruction (OHI), scaling and root debridement (n = 11), and Control group (n = 7) with OHI alone. Peripheral blood samples were taken for biochemical analysis and culture of EPCs at baseline and 6 months after the treatment. PCR array-based profiling of 84 Toll-like receptor signalling-related genes in EPCs was firstly assessed for four randomly selected patients from the Treatment group. The differentially expressed genes were then further validated by qPCR in both groups. Results All subjects in the Treatment group significantly improved their periodontal conditions. Among the 84 genes tested, IL-6 and IL-8 transcripts were significantly downregulated with over twofold change after the treatment, and this observation was further validated by qPCR in all subjects from both groups (p

The objective of the study was to explore the extent to which the dietary CP level can be reduced for maintaining muscle protein deposition in growing pigs as well as the related mechanism and whether the response to dietary protein restriction is diversely modified throughout the 2 trial periods. A total of 36 pigs (9.57 ± 0.64 kg initial BW) were individually penned and fed 1 of 3 diets for 10 or 25 d. During each period, the diets contained 20, 17, and 14% CP, respectively. Both the 17% CP diet and the 14% CP diet were supplemented with Lys, Met, Thr, and Trp to provide the same total concentrations as those in the 20% CP diet. Results showed that feeding the 14% CP diet for 10 or 25 d seriously impaired (0.05) growth performance of the pigs compared with those fed the 20 or 17% CP diets. Pigs fed the 20% CP diet for 25 d had a higher (0.05) serum content of urea nitrogen than those fed the 17 and 14% CP diets. In addition, the free AA (FAA) profile in skeletal muscle of the pigs was evidently changed (0.05) by the low-protein diets for 25 d; of note, the 14% CP diet increased (0.05) the size of muscle FAA pool compared with the 20% CP diet. Meanwhile, on d 25, reducing dietary CP levels also influenced (0.05) mRNA levels of specific AA transceptors expressed in skeletal muscle, especially revealing the striking differences between the 14 and 20% CP diet-fed pigs. Most importantly, we observed a globally decreased (0.05) activation of the mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) pathway in skeletal muscle of pigs fed the 14% CP diet, whereas only partial inhibition was observed for those fed the 17% CP diet compared with those fed the 20% CP diet. However, feeding the low-protein diets for 10 d had minimal effects on serum parameters, muscle FAA profile, and muscle mTORC1 pathway of the pigs. Taken together, our results indicate that supplementing with limiting AA to the 14% CP diet is not highly effective for the pigs in restoring protein synthesis and muscle growth, whereas the 17% CP diet likely maintains the pigs' muscle mass, which were regulated, at least in part, by mediating AA transceptors expression, FAA profile, and activation of the mTORC1 pathway.

The elastic scattering and breakup reactions of the halo nucleus $^{11}\mathrm{Be}$ on deuterons at an incident energy of $26.9A$ MeV are reported for the first time. Special attention has been paid to the determination and subtraction of the proton contaminations in the deuterated polyethylene ${({\mathrm{CD}}_{2})}_{n}$ target (where ${\mathrm{D}}_{2}$ denotes $^{2}\mathrm{H}_{2}$). The cross sections for elastic scattering are analyzed with the systematic optical potentials of Daehnick et al. and DA1p, as well as with single-folding potentials, derived from the Jeukenne-Lejeune-Mahaux effective nucleon-nucleon interaction. An extended version of the continuum-discretized coupled-channels (XCDCC) formalism, including dynamic core excitation (DCX) effects, is applied to analyze the elastic scattering and breakup data. Comparisons of the full XCDCC calculation with that omitting DCX effects indicate that the core excitation plays a remarkable role in reproducing breakup reactions of $^{11}\mathrm{Be}+d$.

In order to obtain the relationship between the height of smoke layer and time in the case of fire with small leak at the bottom of circular utility tunnel. In this paper, diesel was used as fuel to conduct three small-size experiments in the utility tunnel. Based on the work of predecessors, the formula for the deposition of smoke suitable for circular utility tunnel was obtained. The results of the study are as following: 1) The highest temperature appears near the ceiling directly above the fire source. The temperature below the location of the hydraulic jump was very low and the temperature presents an obvious stratification phenomenon; 2) By comparing the calculating value with the experimental value, it is suggested that the equation can predict the change of smoke stratification height with time; 3) The horizontal spreading process of smoke in the ceiling is neglected, and the lower air cross-section area is treated approximately, which is the main reason for the difference between the calculating value and the experimental value.

Aquilaria sinensis (Lour.) Spreng is an endangered species of tree that produces agarwood, used in high-quality incense and Chinese medicine. In September 2017, anthracnose spots were first observed on the mature leaves of samples of A. sinensis. Further investigation showed that about 35% of such trees were affected by anthracnose from a sample taken from Huangzhuling Forest Farm (19°30′13.22″N, 110°11′21.23″E) in Tunchang County, Hainan Province, China. Anthracnose causes plant leaves to fall earlier than usual, and anthracnose spots can be seen on the leaves. These initially appear as small brown spots, later taking on various shapes, often circular, oval, or an irregular circle. Symptomatic leaf tissue samples of 3 × 5 mm were cut and their surfaces disinfected in 75% ethanol solution for 30 to 60 s. They were then rinsed three times in sterilized water. These aseptic excised tissues were then plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium amended with 25 µg of streptomycin per liter. The PDA plates were incubated at 25°C in darkness for 5 days. Pure cultures of colonies were then obtained using the single-spore method. These were also cultured on PDA, and all samples were stored at 4°C. The central part of each colony became gray-green, forming the hyphae with irregular margins. These colonies extended over time, after 7 days, with their peripheral colors becoming lighter than that seen in the center. After 15 days, a large number of light-red conidia formed on the colony. These conidia were smooth and aseptate. The size of each conidium was 9.4 to 16.2 × 3.5 to 6.4 μm (average = 13.1 ± 1.3 × 5.1 ± 0.9 μm, n = 100). Globose, terete, or spindly, appressoria were also seen and were 5.6 to 9.1 × 4.7 to 8.6 μm (average = 7.2 ± 0.8 × 6.7 ± 0.7 μm, n = 100) in size. To further identify the fungus HN76 (a representative isolate collected from Hainan in 2017), the rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, partial sequence of glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase-like (GAPDH) gene, chitin synthase-1 (CHS-1) gene, actin (ACT) gene, and β-tubulin (TUB2) gene (Alvarez et al. 2014) were amplified using the primer pairs ITS4/ITS5, GDF1/GDR1, CHS-1-79F/CHS-1-354R, ACT-512F/ACT-783R, and Bt2a/Bt2b, respectively. The sequences were deposited in GenBank (accession nos. MG984763, MG984764, MG984765, MG984766, and MG984767). The results showed 100% identification of all five sequences to the ex-epitype culture of Glomerella cingulata f. sp. camelliae (Weir et al. 2012). Koch’s postulates were also verified by inoculating freshly detached leaves. To test pathogenicity, a conidial suspension of 1 × 10⁵ spores/ml collected from isolate HN76 was sprayed onto 20 punctured leaves and 20 unwounded leaves. To puncture the leaves, an area of cuticle on one side of the midrib of each selected leaf was lightly scratched with a sterile hypodermic needle prior to inoculation. As a control, distilled water was sprayed onto an equal number of punctured and unwounded leaves. All inoculated and control plants were incubated in moist chambers at 25°C. Gray-black lesions appeared on the inoculated punctured leaves within 7 days, whereas the unwounded inoculated plants and the control leaves remained symptomless. To our knowledge, this is the first report of G. cingulata f. sp. camelliae causing anthracnose on A. sinensis in China. The disease has caused considerable economic loss, so control measures should be implemented at affected sites.

1. At the end of the peak laying period for fowl, both performance and egg quality decrease markedly. Counteracting either or both of these could, therefore, have significant positive economic implications. Quercetin, a typical representative of the flavonol compounds, has a variety of biological functions. However, there are no reported findings on its use as a feed additive. 2. In this study, we investigated the effects of quercetin on laying rate, egg quality and blood traits associated with egg quality in laying hens (Hessain) during the late laying period and explored the possibility of using quercetin as a functional feed additive. 3. The laying hens (n = 240; 39 weeks old) were randomly assigned to 4 treatments consisting of 6 replicates (n = 10) and were fed with diets containing quercetin at 0, 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6 g/kg. 4. Results showed that laying rate was increased and feed-egg ratio was decreased significantly by 0.2 and 0.4 g/kg quercetin. Compared with controls, Haugh unit, eggshell strength, eggshell thickness and yolk protein were increased, but yolk cholesterol was decreased by quercetin. 5. In conclusion, quercetin was beneficial in improving performance and egg quality. The recommended concentration of quercetin is 0.4 g/kg of the basal diet. At this concentration, increased laying rate, improved egg quality and reduced yolk cholesterol can be expected.

To analyze the clinical parameters of the patients with femoral neck fracture such as general condition, therapy method, hospitalized expense so as to provide more effective management plan for the clinical work.The patients with femoral neck fracture above 50 years who received in-patient treatment from 2008 January to 2012 December were admitted into this study. We collected and analyzed the information, such as age, chronic medical disease, therapy method, hospitalized duration and expense and so on.There were 1 794 femoral neck fracture patients above 50 years (male/female=1/2.06) in our hospital in recent 5 years and the annual average rate of increase was 7.3%. The average age of the patients was (69.9±10.7) years and the annual average rate of increase was 0.6%. The chronic medical disease diagnosis ratio was 55.0%. The average waiting time for operation was (6.8±4.2) days and the average hospitalized duration was (12.9±4.9) days which showed downward trend in recent years. The most popular operations were cannulated screw internal fixation (41.8%) and artificial femoral head replacement (34.1%). In the study, 146 cases (7.9%) received nonsurgical treatment which showed downward trend. The average hospitalized expense was (35 075.7±11 343.2) yuan which showed no obvious change in recent years. The cost for the females was more than that for the males. The expense for hemiarthroplasty and total hip arthroplasty increased while that for cannulated screw internal fixation decreased gradually.The cannulated screw internal fixation and artificial femoral head replacement were the most important operations for the patients with femoral neck fracture. The number and the average age of the patients were on the rise while the expense showed no obvious change in recent years.

Background: For the deeply bound one-nucleon removal at intermediate energies using a $^{9}\text{Be}$ or $^{12}\text{C}$ target, a strong reduction of cross section was observed relative to the prediction of eikonal theoretical model. The large disagreement has not been explained and the systematic trend is inconsistent with results from transfer reactions. The recently observed asymmetric parallel momentum distribution of the knockout residue indicates the significant dissipative core-target interaction in the knockout reaction with a composite target, implying new reaction mechanisms beyond the eikonal reaction descriptions.Purpose: To investigate the reaction mechanism for deeply bound nucleon removal at intermediate energies.Method: Neutron removal from $^{14}\text{O}$ using a $^{12}\text{C}$ target at 60 MeV/nucleon was performed. Nucleon knockout cross sections were measured. The unbound excited states of $^{13}\text{O}$ were reconstructed by using the invariant mass method with the residues and the associated decay protons measured in coincidence. The measured cross sections are compared with an intra-nuclear cascade (INC) prediction.Results: The measured cross section of ($^{14}\text{O}$, $^{11}\text{C}$) is 60(9) mb, which is 3.5 times larger than that of ($^{14}\text{O}$, $^{13}\text{O}$) channel. This $2pn$-removal cross section is consistent with INC prediction, which is 66 mb with the main contribution being non-direct reaction processes. On the other hand, the upper limit of the cross section for one-neutron removal from $^{14}\text{O}$ followed by proton evaporation is 4.6(20) mb, integrated up to 6 MeV above the proton separation energy of $^{13}\text{O}$. The calculated total cross section for such reaction processes by the INC model is 2.5 mb, which is within the measured upper limit.Conclusions: The data provide the first constraint on the role of core excitation and evaporation processes in deeply bound nucleon removal from asymmetric nuclei. The experiment results suggest that non-direct reaction processes, which are not considered in the eikonal model, play an important role in deeply bound nucleon removal from asymmetric nuclei at intermediate energies.

The elastic scattering and breakup of the halo nucleus $^{11}\mathrm{Be}$ on protons at an incident energy of $26.9A$ MeV have been measured. The $^{11}\mathrm{Be}+p$ elastic scattering cross sections at various energies, including the present one, are systematically analyzed with the Chapel Hill 89 (CH89) and Koning-Delaroche (KD) global optical model potentials (OMPs), and the corresponding normalization factors are obtained. An extended version of the continuum-discretized coupled-channels (XCDCC) formalism, including dynamic core excitation effects, is applied to analyze the elastic scattering and breakup data. It is found that the core excitation plays a moderate role in the elastic scattering and breakup reaction of the halo nucleus $^{11}\mathrm{Be}$, being consistent with previous results at higher energies.

This study investigates the human papillomavirus (HPV) infection rate in female genital tracts, as well as the HPV genotype distribution and HPV correlation with cervical disease in Weihai, Shandong Province, China.A random sample of 9,460 volunteers was simultaneously screened using gene chips and examined by ThinPrep liquid-based cytology test (TCT). Cervical biopsy samples were collected from women with positive HPV-DNA and abnormal TCT for pathological diagnosis.The overall HPV prevalence was 6.93% (656 of 9,460). A total of 753 subjects were infected with HPV subtypes (including multiple HPV infections). Of those with infections, 688 were infected with high-risk (HR) types (91.37%), and 65 were infected with low-risk subtypes (8.63%). The single-infection rate was 63.1%.The prevalence rates of HPV in women aged 20 to 39 years and 40 to 59 years were 7.29% and 6.71%, respectively. The most common genotype was HPV16. The HR genotypes were associated with cervical diseases such as atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS) (37.9%), atypical squamous cells high grade (ASC-H) (42.5%), low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) (50%), and high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion HSIL (66.7%). Cervical biopsy results show that the HPV detection rate increased in the following biopsy samples: cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) I (74.11%), CIN II (84.31%), CIN III (90.32%), and squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) (100%).The HPV infection rate with associated cervical disease in Weihai is equal to those in foreign countries but is lower than the average rate in China. The prevalence of HPV was higher in young people. The most common HPV genotype was 16, followed by 52 and 58. HR HPV is the most probable infection factor for cervical diseases.

Summary Background There is a high incidence of primary cutaneous amyloidosis (PCA) in South America, South-east Asia and Taiwan. To date, the aetiology of PCA remains unknown, but it is believed to be multifactorial. Although most cases are sporadic, some patients have a family history. Familial aggregation and different susceptibility to PCA among ethnic groups suggest that genetic factors may play an important role in its pathogenesis. However, no genetic loci for familial PCA (FPCA) have been identified so far. Objectives In order to identify the susceptibility gene of FPCA, we took a candidate gene approach and performed linkage analysis on chromosome 1q21.3–24.2, including the 1q23.2 region where the gene encoding serum amyloid P component (APCS) is located. Patients and methods Nine FPCA families including 29 individuals affected with PCA were recruited for this linkage study. Initially, 11 highly polymorphic microsatellite markers spanning the region from 1q21.3 to 1q24.2 were genotyped and revealed a suggestive linkage region. This region was further fine-mapped with seven additional markers. We also re-sequenced the 2·5-kb genomic region of the APCS gene in 29 affected and 42 control individuals. Two-point and multipoint linkage analyses were performed using the LINKAGE program. Nonparametric linkage (NPL) analysis and reconstruction of haplotypes were performed with the GENEHUNTER program. Results Both two-point and multipoint linkage analysis for all 11 markers generated negative or small positive total lod scores for all nine families. However, when we considered only three families, a maximum two-point total lod score of 2·09 was obtained for the marker D1S2844 at θ = 0·01. A plateau of multipoint total lod score between D1S2768 and D1S2878 with a maximum of 2·48 at the marker D1S2844 was observed. A maximum NPL score of 3·11 (P = 0·008) was also obtained for the marker D1S2878. However, re-sequencing of the APCS gene identified no functional mutation. Conclusions Both parametric and nonparametric linkage evidence suggested that a possible susceptibility locus for a subset of FPCA might exist on chromosome 1q23. This is the first report demonstrating suggestive evidence of linkage of FPCA to a locus in this candidate region. No functional sequence variations of the APCS gene were found to be associated with this disease among the study families. Our data imply the existence of at least one additional locus responsible for FPCA in these families, confirming genetic heterogeneity of this skin disorder.

Although genetics analyses have identified the HLA-Cw6 allele to be the major risk allele for psoriasis vulgaris (PV) in many racial groups, it has been proposed that other putative genes near the HLA-C locus are involved in PV susceptibility and that the association of Cw6 is a result of linkage disequilibrium. The SPR1 gene, a predicted gene located 128 kb telomeric to the HLA-C locus, is considered to be one potential candidate gene of PV. Until now, no association study of the SPR1 gene has been conducted on psoriasis patients. We investigated the SPR1 gene for disease association by direct sequencing of the SPR1 gene in 116 Chinese patients with PV and 116 normal subjects. Genotyping for HLA-Cw6 was also carried out using polymerase chain reaction/restriction fragment length polymorphism. Significant increase of the HLA-Cw6 allele was found in psoriasis patients (32.8% vs. 13.8%, P = 0.001). We found that the SPR1 gene is a highly polymorphic gene containing 13 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), two of which have not been previously reported, and four SNPs cause amino acid change. No significantly different allelic distribution of 13 SPR1 SNPs could be found between the patients with PV and controls after correction for multiple testing. If the frequencies of SPR1 SNPs were compared between the early onset psoriatics and control subjects, early onset patients were more likely to have G allele at position 988 (60% vs. 35.3%, P = 0.001). However, the significance disappeared upon stratification for the Cw6 status. Haplotype-based association analysis showed two susceptibility haplotypes (types 8 and 19) in early onset psoriasis patients. Nonetheless, the significance also disappeared after stratification of the Cw6 status. Our results suggest that HLA-Cw6 remains the major risk allele in Chinese psoriatics, and that the SPR1 gene might not play an important role in the causation of PV.

Plant polyphenols, especially flavonoids, are of great interest due to their wide range of biological activities. Quercetin, a ubiquitous flavonoid, is known to have antioxidant and antibacterial effects. In this study, we investigated the effect of quercetin on performance, egg quality, cecal microflora populations, and antioxidant status in laying hens. Two hundred forty 28-wk-old Hessian laying hens, with an average laying rate of lay 85% at the start, were randomly allotted to 4 treatments and fed 1 of 4 diets (negative control, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 g of quercetin/kg of diet) for 8 wk. Layer performance responses, egg quality parameters, cecal microflora populations and antioxidant status were measured at the end of the experiment. Results showed that feed conversion decreased as the quercetin level increased. Laying rate had a quadratic correlation with the level of quercetin (P = 0.056) and was maximized by the supplementation level of 0.2 g/kg of diet. However, no significant quercetin effect was observed on egg quality. Regression analysis showed that the population of total aerobes and coliforms decreased and the population of Bifidobacteria increased as the level of quercetin increased. Regression analysis also showed the activities of Cu-Zn-superoxide dismutase increased as the level of quercetin increased (P < 0.05). Results of the study suggest that the appropriate level of supplementation is 0.367 to 0.369 g of quercetin/kg of feed based on the improvement of laying rate (with 88.55 as maximum value) and feed conversion (with 2.0725 as minimum value). Our observations provided further evidence that dietary supplementation of quercetin improved performance by modulation of intestinal environment and liver superoxide dismutase content in laying hens. Quercetin has the potential as functional feed additive in animal production.

In a recent breakup-reaction experiment using a Be12 beam at 29 MeV/nucleon, the 0+ band head of the expected He4+He8 molecular rotation was clearly identified at about 10.3 MeV, from which a large monopole matrix element of 7.0±1.0 fm2 and a large cluster-decay width were determined for the first time. These findings support the picture of strong clustering in Be12, which has been a subject of intense investigations over the past decade. The results were obtained thanks to a specially arranged detection system around zero degrees, which is essential in determining the newly emphasized monopole strengths to signal the cluster formation in a nucleus.