Abstract
We give an overview and describe the rationale, methods, and first results from NIRCam images of the JWST “Prime Extragalactic Areas for Reionization and Lensing Science” (PEARLS) project. ...PEARLS uses up to eight NIRCam filters to survey several prime extragalactic survey areas: two fields at the North Ecliptic Pole (NEP); seven gravitationally lensing clusters; two high redshift protoclusters; and the iconic backlit VV 191 galaxy system to map its dust attenuation. PEARLS also includes NIRISS spectra for one of the NEP fields and NIRSpec spectra of two high-redshift quasars. The main goal of PEARLS is to study the epoch of galaxy assembly, active galactic nucleus (AGN) growth, and First Light. Five fields—the JWST NEP Time-Domain Field (TDF), IRAC Dark Field, and three lensing clusters—will be observed in up to four epochs over a year. The cadence and sensitivity of the imaging data are ideally suited to find faint variable objects such as weak AGN, high-redshift supernovae, and cluster caustic transits. Both NEP fields have sightlines through our Galaxy, providing significant numbers of very faint brown dwarfs whose proper motions can be studied. Observations from the first spoke in the NEP TDF are public. This paper presents our first PEARLS observations, their NIRCam data reduction and analysis, our first object catalogs, the 0.9–4.5
μ
m galaxy counts and Integrated Galaxy Light. We assess the JWST sky brightness in 13 NIRCam filters, yielding our first constraints to diffuse light at 0.9–4.5
μ
m. PEARLS is designed to be of lasting benefit to the community.
We present a study on spectral energy distributions, morphologies, and star formation for an IRAC-selected extremely red object sample in the GOODS Chandra Deep Field-South. This work was enabled by ...new HST/WFC3 near-IR imaging from the CANDELS survey as well as the deepest available X-ray data from Chandra 4 Ms observations. The further morphological study of this sample shows a consistent result with the observed color classification. Our observed infrared color classification is also consistent with the rest-frame color (U - V versus V - J) classification. We also found that quiescent and SFGs are well separated in the nonparametric morphology parameter (Gini versus M sub(20)) diagram measuring their concentration and clumpiness: quiescent galaxies have a Gini coefficient higher than 0.58 and SFGs have a Gini coefficient lower than 0.58. The prevalence of these extended, relatively undisturbed disks challenges the merging scenario as the main mode of massive galaxy formation.
Protein-mediated endocytosis of membrane is a key event in biological system. The mechanism, however, is still not clear. Using a de novo designed bola-type peptide KKKLLLLLLLLKKK (K3L8K3) as a ...protein mimic, we studied how it induced giant unilamellar vesicle (GUV) to form inward buds or endocytosis at varying conditions. Results show that the inward budding is initiated as the charged lipids are neutralized by K3L8K3, which results in a negative spontaneous curvature. If the charged lipids have unsaturated tails, the buddings are slim fibrils, which can further wrap into a spherical structure. In the case of saturated charged lipids, the buddings are rigid tubules, stable in the studied time period. The unsaturated lipid to saturated lipid ratio in the mother membrane is another key parameter governing the shape and dynamics of the buds. A complete endocytosis is observed when K3L8K3 is attached with a hydrophobic moiety, suggesting that hydrophobic interaction helps the buds to detach from the mother membrane. The molecules in the surrounding medium, such as negatively charged oligonucleotides, are engulfed into the GUV via endocytosis pathway induced by K3L8K3. Our study provides a novel strategy for illustrating the endocytosis mechanism by using peptides of simple sequence.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, PNG, UL, UM
The pathogenesis of preeclampsia (PE) involves several pathophysiological processes that may be affected by glucocorticoid (GC). We confirmed previously that GC exposure could result in PE, while PE ...is linked to a deficiency of lipoxin A
4
(LXA
4
), an endogenous dual anti-inflammatory and proresolving mediator. The present study was to investigate whether GC exposure induces PE
via
dampening LXA
4
. In the study, cortisol levels of PE women were higher than those of normal pregnancies, LXA
4
levels were downregulated in both PE patients and GC-mediated PE rats, and leukotriene B
4
(LTB
4
) levels were upregulated in both PE patients and GC- mediated PE rats. Moreover, cortisol levels were negatively correlated to LXA
4
levels, while positively correlated to LTB
4
levels in PE patients. Mechanically, GC downregulated LXA
4
via
disturbing its biosynthetic enzymes, including ALOX15, ALOX5B and ALOX5, especially activating ALOX5, the key enzyme for class switching between LXA
4
and LTB
4
. Importantly, replenishing LXA
4
could ameliorate PE-related symptoms and placental oxidative stress in PE rat model induced by GC. Moreover, LXA
4
could inhibit GC-mediated ALOX5 activation and LTB
4
increase, and also suppress 11β-HSD2 expression and corticosterone upregulation. The protective actions of LXA
4
might be explained by its roles in antagonizing the adverse effects of GC on trophoblast development. Together, our findings indicate that GC exposure could contribute to PE through dampening LXA
4
, and GC/LXA
4
axis may represent a common pathway through which PE occurs.
Here we use whole-genome de novo assembly of second-generation sequencing reads to map structural variation (SV) in an Asian genome and an African genome. Our approach identifies small- and ...intermediate-size homozygous variants (1-50 kb) including insertions, deletions, inversions and their precise breakpoints, and in contrast to other methods, can resolve complex rearrangements. In total, we identified 277,243 SVs ranging in length from 1-23 kb. Validation using computational and experimental methods suggests that we achieve overall <6% false-positive rate and <10% false-negative rate in genomic regions that can be assembled, which outperforms other methods. Analysis of the SVs in the genomes of 106 individuals sequenced as part of the 1000 Genomes Project suggests that SVs account for a greater fraction of the diversity between individuals than do single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). These findings demonstrate that whole-genome de novo assembly is a feasible approach to deriving more comprehensive maps of genetic variation.
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DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Myostatin antagonists are being developed as therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy due to their strong hypertrophic effects on skeletal muscle. Engineered follistatin has the potential to combine ...the hypertrophy of myostatin antagonism with the anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic effects of activin A antagonism.
Engineered follistatin was administered to C57BL/6 mice for 4 weeks, and muscle mass and myofiber size was measured. In the mdx model, engineered follistatin was dosed for 12 weeks in two studies comparing to an Fc fusion of the activin IIB receptor or an anti-myostatin antibody. Functional measurements of grip strength and tetanic force were combined with tissue analysis for markers of necrosis, inflammation, and fibrosis to evaluate improvement in dystrophic pathology.
In wild-type and mdx mice, dose-dependent increases in muscle mass and quadriceps myofiber size were observed for engineered follistatin. In mdx, increases in grip strength and tetanic force were combined with improvements in muscle markers for necrosis, inflammation, and fibrosis. Improvements in dystrophic pathology were greater for engineered follistatin than the anti-myostatin antibody.
Engineered follistatin generated hypertrophy and anti-fibrotic effects in the mdx model.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Highlights • Glucocorticoid (GC) exposure in early placentation induces preeclampsia (PE) in rats. • GC inhibits trophoblast development both in vivo and in vitro. • GC exposure leads to rat PE ...partially via inhibiting trophoblast invasion and EMT. • GC receptor and ERK are involved in the inhibition of GC on trophoblast development.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Spent lithium batteries contain valuable metals such as cobalt, copper, nickel, lithium,
etc.
After pretreatment and recovery of copper, only cobalt, nickel and lithium were left in the acid ...solution. Since the chemical properties of cobalt and nickel are similar, separation of cobalt from a solution containing nickel is technically challenging. In this study, Co(
ii
) was separated from Ni(
ii
) by chelating Co(
ii
) with chlorine ions, Co(
ii
) was then extracted from the aforementioned chelating complexes by methyltrioctylammonium chloride (MTOAC). The effects of concentrations of chlorine ions in the aqueous phase (Cl
−
aq
), MTOAC concentrations in organic phase (MTOAC
org
), ratios of organic phase to aqueous phase (O/A), and the initial aqueous pH on cobalt separation were studied. The results showed that Cl
−
aq
had a significant impact on cobalt extraction efficiency with cobalt extraction efficiency increasing rapidly with the increase in Cl
−
aq
. The effect of initial pH on cobalt extraction efficiency was not significant when it varied from 1 to 6. Under the condition of Cl
−
aq
= 5.5 M, MTOAC
org
= 1.3 M, O/A = 1.5, and pH = 1.0, cobalt extraction efficiency reached the maximum of 98.23%, and nickel loss rate was only 0.86%. The stripping rate of cobalt from Co(
ii
)-MTOAC complexes using diluted hydrochloric acid was 99.95%. By XRD and XRF analysis, the recovered cobalt was in the form of cobalt chloride with the purity of cobalt produced reaching 97.7%. The mode of cobalt extraction was verified to be limited by chemical reaction and the kinetic equation for cobalt extraction was determined to be:
R
(Co)
= 4.7 × 10
−3
MTOAC
(org)
1.85
Co
(aq)
1.25
.
Interception of dearomatized tertiary boronic ester in a diastereoselective 4 + 2 cycloaddition or 1,3-borotopic shift in the presence or absence of "naked" Li
+
, understanding reactivities by activation/strain model, were evaluated by DFT calculations.
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IJS, KILJ, NUK, UL, UM, UPUK
Plasmonic superlattice membrane exhibits remarkable functional properties that are emerging from engineered assemblies of well-defined "meta-atoms," which is featured as a conceptual new category of ...two-dimensional optical metamaterials. The ability to build plasmonic membranes over macroscopic surfaces but with nanoscale ordering is crucial for systematically controlling the light-matter interactions and represents considerable advances for the bottom-up fabrication of soft optoelectronic devices and circuits. Through rational design, novel nanocrystals, and by engineering the packing orders, the hybridized plasmon signature can be customized, promoting controllable near-field confinement for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) based detection. However, building such 2D architectures has proven to be remarkably challenging due to the complicated interparticle forces and multiscale interactions during self-assembly. Here, we report on the fabrication of ultralong-nanobrick-based giant plasmonic superlattice membranes as high-performance SERS substrates for ultrasensitive and label-free protein detection. Using aspect-ratio controllable short-to-ultralong nanobricks as building blocks, we construct three distinctive plasmonic membranes by polymer-ligand-based strategy in drying-mediated self-assembly at the air/water interfaces. The plasmonic membranes exhibit monolayered morphology with nanoscale assembled ordering but macroscopic lateral dimensions, inducing enhanced near-field confinement and uniform hot-spot distribution. By choosing 4-aminothiophenol and bovine serum albumin (BSA) as a model analyte, we establish an ultrasensitive assay for label-free SERS detection. The detection limit of BSA can reach 15 nM, and the enhancement factor reached 4.3 × 10
, enabling a promising avenue for its clinical application in ultrasensitive biodiagnostics.
Unresolved inflammation, due to insufficient production of proresolving anti-inflammatory lipid mediators, can lead to tumorigenesis. Among these mediators, lipoxin A4 (LXA4) has potent ...anti-carcinogenic properties, and may serve as key target for modulating inflammation-associated cancer like colorectal cancer. The purpose of present study was to clarify the roles of LXA4 in colorectal cancer. We investigated the effects and underlying mechanisms of LXA4 in colorectal cancer and its relationship with tumor-associated inflammation and immune microenvironment by employing clinical samples and mouse colorectal cancer cell line CT26-bearing tumor model as well as colorectal cancer cells. It was found that colorectal cancer is associated with dysregulation of immune microenvironment and deficiency of LXA4 that could play different roles at different stages of tumor growth: inhibiting early but promoting late tumor growth. Analysis of peripheral immune cells in subcutaneous xenograft mice model disclosed that early LXA4 treatment induced lymphocytes and inhibited neutrophils and monocytes, while late LXA4 treatment induced neutrophils but inhibited lymphocytes. Detailed analysis of tumor microenvironment revealed that early LXA4 treatment could inhibit inflammatory mediators expressions and leukocytes infiltration into tumor. Furthermore, LXA4 could suppress the expressions of p-ERK, p-P38 and NF-κB in subcutaneous xenograft. Additionally, LXA4 could inhibit the proliferation and migration of colorectal cancer cells, and, meanwhile, inhibit the proliferation and migration of colorectal cancer cells stimulated by activated macrophage-conditioned media. These findings suggest that colorectal cancer is associated with a deficiency of LXA4 that could suppress colorectal cancer via modulating tumor-associated inflammation and immune microenvironment as well as inhibiting colorectal cancer cell development.
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