Radiotherapy is an efficient remedy in the treatment for bladder carcinoma (BCa); still, some cancer cells can survive from the radiation; the therapeutic effect is to be improved. Regulatory T cell ...(Treg)‐induced tumour tolerance and Akt expression play important roles in the tumour survival. This study aims to elucidate the role of radiation induces Akt expression in regulatory T cells (Tregs). The surgically removed BCa tissue was collected from 26 patients treated with or without radiotherapy. The frequency of Tregs and apoptotic Tregs in BCa tissue was assessed by flow cytometry. A cell culture model was employed to investigate the mechanism by which the tumour‐infiltrating Tregs survive from radiation. After radiotherapy, the frequency of Treg was increased in the BCa tissue; the apoptotic Tregs were decreased; the expression of Akt was increased in remained Tregs. The results were reproduced in vitro with a cell culture model. The addition of Akt inhibitor blocked the radiation‐induced Treg survival in culture. Akt plays an important role in the radiation‐induced tumour‐infiltrating Treg survival in BCa.
Light redirecting ribbons (LRR) have recently been adopted in crystalline silicon modules in PV industry. The introduction of this LRR may bring additional stress at the boundary of the busbar/wafer ...contact, which may probably lead to higher power loss after aging. The thermal cycle and electroluminescence (EL) test are employed in this work to investigate this stress-induced power degradation for LRR-based crystalline silicon modules. The obtained results demonstrate that with increase in the thickness of the EVA encapsulant or the decrease in the thickness of the LRR, the power degradation induced by stress can be effectively diminished.
Moisture sensitive trees from the central Tien Shan area, northwest China show a pattern of extremely low growth in 1945. Evidence from a number of sources indicates that a remarkable drought event, ...in both spatial and temporal terms, occurred over the central Tien Shan and surrounding areas in that year. Climatological analysis reveals that this significant growth reduction is likely a combined effect of unusually dry and warm conditions. We also show that this extreme drought is associated with a La Niña or cold phase El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) event. Meanwhile, cooler sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the northern Indian Ocean, particularly in the Arabian Sea, also appear to have contributed to this severe drought episode. Overall, our case study of 1945 extreme drought event in the central Tien Shan area suggests there might be a close link between extreme climate conditions in remote north central Asia and coupled ocean-atmosphere dynamics in the tropics.
There are hump, humpless cattle and gayal distributed in Yunnan province, south-west China, but their genetic background remains unclear. To determine the origin and genetic diversity of Yunnan gayal ...and cattle (Diqing, Nujiang and Wenshan cattle), we analysed mtDNA control region sequences of 71 samples and SRY gene sequences of 39 samples, together with the available sequences in GenBank. The neighbour-joining phylogeny and the reduced median network analysis showed that Yunnan gayal originated from the hybridization between male Bos frontalis and female Bos taurus or Bos indicus, and that Yunnan cattle mostly originated from B. indicus, also containing some hybrids of male B. indicus and female B. taurus. The phylogenetic pattern of Yunnan cattle was consistent with the recently described cattle matrilineal pool from China and indicated more contribution to the Yunnan cattle from B. indicus than from B. taurus.
Summary
Three cypress (
Juniperus przewalski
Kom.) tree ring width chronologies were established based on tree ring cores collected at elevations ranging from 3,550–3,700 m a.s.l. in the headwaters ...of the Yellow River, Animaqin Mountains, in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau. Statistical analysis showed that the chronologies were negatively correlated to the summer half-year (April to September) maximum air temperature (
p
< 0.01). The maximum temperature of the summer half-year was reconstructed for the past 700 years based on the developed chronologies. The reconstruction explains 47% of the maximum temperature variance which occurred during the period with meteorological observations (1959–2001). Both cold and warm periods were evident in the reconstructed summer half-year maximum temperature record over the past 700 years. The summer half-year maximum temperature has increased since the 1980s, and the decade 1980 to 1990 is ranked as one of the fastest warming decades on record, however this is not exceptional on centennial or millennial timescales. The ten-year average summer half-year maximum temperature in the 1990s is relatively high, but it is still colder than several other periods, including 1480s–1490s and 1590s–1600s. The 1480s is the warmest period in the past 700 years. The summer half-year maximum temperature can change significantly within decades. From 1490s to 1500s, the temperature dropped 0.89 °C. In the northeastern region of the Tibetan Plateau, warmer periods are often accompanied by drought whereas cold periods are coincident with above average precipitation.
N
-acetylneuraminic acid is an important member of sialic acids which is a family of nine-carbon carboxylated sugars most frequently found in terminal position in glycoconjugates. It was widely ...distributed in different portions of organisms. In this study, a method of ultra performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry was developed for the determination of
N
-acetylneuraminic acid in poultry eggs. The
N
-acetylneuraminic acid was freed by heating the materials in 0.1 M H
2
SO
4
at 80°C for 2 h. Then, chloroform reagent was used to eliminate phospholipids, cholesterol and other organic impurities, meanwhile, it was able to precipitate protein. In the cleanup step, C18 solid phase extraction columns were used to purify the matrix. Determination of N-acetylneuraminic acid was performed with electrospray ionization in negative ion mode. Chromatographic separation was performed on a Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C18 (100 × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) analytical column. The gradient elution reagent was acetonitrile and water (containing 0.1% formic acid). The tandem spectrometer was operated in the Multiple Reaction Monitoring mode. The linearity over of sialic acids on-column had a correlation coefficient greater than 0.999. The detection method of
N
-acetylneuraminic acid in the poultry eggs had good precision and acceptable recovery.
Despite the importance of the Yellow River to China, climate change for the middle reaches of the Yellow River Basin (YRB) has been investigated far less than for other regions. This work focuses on ...future changes in mean and extreme climate of the YRB for the near-term (2021–2040), mid-term (2041–2060), and far-term (2081–2100) future, and assesses these with respect to the reference period (1986–2005) using the latest REgional MOdel (REMO) simulations, driven by three global climate models (GCMs) and assuming historical and future Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 2.6 and 8.5 forcing scenarios, over the CORDEX East Asia domain at 0.22° horizontal resolution. The results show that REMO reproduces the historical mean climate state and selected extreme climate indices reasonably well, although some cold and wet biases exist. Increases in mean temperature are strongest for the far-term in winter, with an average increase of 5.6 °C under RCP 8.5. As expected, the future temperatures of the warmest day (TXx) and coldest night (TNn) increase and the number of frost days (FD) declines considerably. Changes to mean temperature and FD depend on elevation, which could be explained by the snow-albedo feedback. A substantial increase in precipitation (34%) occurs in winter under RCP 8.5 for the far-term. Interannual variability in precipitation is projected to increase, indicating a future climate with more extreme events compared to that of today. Future daily precipitation intensity and maximum 5-day precipitation would increase and the number of consecutive dry days would decline under RCP 8.5. The results highlight that pronounced warming at high altitudes and more intense rainfall could cause increased future flood risk in the YRB, if a high GHG emission pathway is realized.
ZnO nanocrystals were synthesized by hydrolysis in methanol. X-ray diffraction and photoluminescence spectra confirm that good crystallized ZnO nanoparticles were formed. Utilizing those ZnO ...nanoparticles and poly2-methoxy-5-(3′,7′-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene (MDMO-PPV), light emitting devices with indium tin oxide (ITO)/poly(3,4-oxyethyleneoxy-thiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)/ZnO:MDMO-PPV/Al and ITO/PEDOT:PSS/MDMO-PPV/Al structures were fabricated. Electroluminescence (EL) spectra reveal that EL yield of hybrid MDMO-PPV and ZnO nanocrystals devices increased greatly as compared with pristine MDMO-PPV devices. The current–voltage characteristics indicate that addition of ZnO nanocrystals can facilitate electrical injection and charge transport. The decreased energy barrier to electron injection is responsible for the increased efficiency of electron injection.
Concentrations of copper (Cu), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), arsenic (As), organic carbon (abbreviated to OC) content and pH were measured in rain-fed farm soils collected in ...Sifangwu Village which is located central Gansu Province, Northwest China. Concentrations of Cu, Pb, Cd, Hg and As are higher than the background values in grey calcareous soil. Cd concentration exceeds the Threshold of Secondary Environmental Quality Standard for Soil in China by 261 per cent. By bivariate analysis, it was found that OC does not correlate with heavy metal in the village. This is due to the semiarid conditions and agricultural activities. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to assess the soil data, applying varimax rotation with Kaiser Normalization. The result shows that the data set is defined for three latent components. 1) PC1, which consists of Cu and Cr, and what is characterized as a component subject to strong lithological influence. 2) PC2, dominantly loaded by OC, Pb and Cd, is linked to agricultural influence, i.e. fertilization and cultivation. 3) PC3, the heavy metals Hg and As, in this component are from aerial deposition, thus this PC is named the atmospheric factor. Because PC1 explains 45.026 per cent of total variance, the source of the heavy metal in topsoil in the study area is assumed to be mainly derived from the lithology.
To investigate the clinicopathologic features, immunophenotype, pathological diagnosis and treatment of malignant mixed tumor (MMT).
Clinical and pathological features including immunohistochemical ...phenotypes were analyzed in a case of MMT accompanied with eccrine porocarcinoma (EP) involving both hands, diagnosed definitely in January 2018 along with review of relevant literature.
A 64-year-old man presented with multiple rash on both hands for 4 years. Three lesions of 0.5 to 2.2 cm were removed for pathological evaluation. The pathological changes on little finger of left and right hands were MMT with EP, whereas that removed from the right ring finger was EP. MMT showed infiltrative growth with vascular wall invasion and consisted of epithelial (glandular or tube differentiation) and mesenchymal components (mucinous and/or cartilage stroma). The endothelial cells showed moderate to severe cytological atypia, nuclear pleomorphism and increased mitotic activity. The glandular component had histological char
PDF
