•A new phase of type-II quantum anomaly Hall phase is found.•Phase transition is characterized by spin polarization, beyond Hall conductivity.•Anisotropic behavior of edge states is obtained and ...characterized.•Intricate topological phase transition is discussed under an electric field or/and a light irradiation.
Most topological phase transitions are accompanied by the emergence of surface/edge states with spin dependence. Usually, the quantized Hall conductivity cannot characterize the anisotropic transports and spin dependence of topological states. Here, we study the intricate topological phase transition and the anisotropic behavior of edge states in silicene nanoribbon submitted to an electric field or/and a light irradiation. It is interesting to find that a circularly polarized light can induce a type-II quantum anomaly Hall phase, which is manifested as the high Chern number and the strong anisotropic edge states. Besides the measurement of the quantized Hall conductivity, we further propose to probe these topological phase transitions and the anisotropy of edge states by measuring the current-induced nonequilibrium spin polarization. It is found that the spin polarization exhibits more signatures about the behavior of surface/edge states, beyond the quantized Hall conductivity, especially for spin-dependent transports with different velocities.
Although the prognosis of patients with occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (OBI) is usually benign, a small portion may undergo cirrhosis and subsequently hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We ...studied the mechanism of life-long Integration of virus DNA into OBI host's genome, of which may induce hepatocyte transformation.
We applied HBV capture sequencing on single cells from an OBI patient who, developed multiple HCC tumors and underwent liver resection in May 2013 at Tongji Hospital in China. Despite with the undetectable virus DNA in serum, we determined the pattern of viral integration in tumor cells and adjacent non-tumor cells and obtained the details of the viral arrangement in host genome, and furthermore the HBV integrated region in cancer genome.
HBV captured sequencing of tissues and individual cells revealed that samples from multiple tumors shared two viral integration sites that could affect three host genes, including CSMD2 on chr1 and MED30/EXT1 on chr8. Whole genome sequencing further indicated one hybrid chromosome formed by HBV integrations between chr1 and chr8 that was shared by multiple tumors. Additional 50 poorly differentiated liver tumors and the paired adjacent non-tumors were evaluated and functional studies suggested up-regulated EXT1 expression promoted HCC growth. We further observed that the most somatic mutations within the tumor cell genome were common among the multiple tumors, suggesting that HBV associated, multifocal HCC is monoclonal in origin.
Through analyzing the HBV integration sites in multifocal HCC, our data suggested that the tumor cells were monoclonal in origin and formed in the absence of active viral replication, whereas the affected host genes may subsequently contribute to carcinogenesis.
•The Fulu Formation in South China records a rapid deglaciation of the Sturtian glaciation.•The post-glacial cherts sharply overly the Sturtian glacial diamictite.•These cherts suggest elevated ...continental weathering after the end of the Sturtian glaciation.
The cap carbonates are markers indicating the end of the Sturtian (717–660 Ma) and Marinoan (∼650–635 Ma) global glaciations. These carbonates precipitated from oversaturated seawater, which was caused by intense continental chemical weathering under extremely high atmospheric CO2 levels. Unlike the widespread Marinoan cap carbonate, the Sturtian cap carbonate is restricted, questioning the uniformity of the two post-glacial weathering processes. This study presents a sedimentological analysis of the basinal Sturtian deglacial succession in the Cryogenian Fulu 4th member, South China. The analysis identifies four facies associations: the proglacial diamictite facies association, the glaciomarine shale facies association, the distributary gravelly sandstone facies association, and the turbidite facies association. Notably, the glacial diamictite is directly overlain by chert, revealing an abrupt end of the Sturtian glaciation. The chert is composed of equidimensional granular microquartzs, and is characterized by high total Fe2O3 contents (0.29–0.97 %, mean = 0.50 %), low Ge/Si ratios (0.50–0.68 μmol/mol, mean = 0.61 μmol/mol), left-leaning PAAS-normalized REE patterns, coupled Eu/Eu* and Y/Ho ratios. These results suggest that the Si source is from post-glacial weathering, with a minor hydrothermal influence. This study supports an enhanced weathering response in the termination of the Sturtian glaciation, providing insights from a Si perspective into the deglacial geochemical processes. The restricted occurrence of chert implies that silicate weathering and its signature may have been spatially variable, which is an important consideration for future research.
The fundamental understanding of the surface reconstruction induced by the applied potential is of great significance for enhancing the oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Here, we show that a ...previously overlooked discharge current in the low applied potential region also leads to in situ electrochemical activation of a nitrogen‐doped nickel oxyhydroxide surface. We exploit the fact that doping of heteroatoms weakens the surface structure, and hence, a weak discharge current originating from the capacitive nature of nickel oxyhydroxide has a strong structure‐reforming ability to promote the formation of nitrogen and oxygen vacancies. The current density at 1.4 V (vs. Hg/HgO) can dramatically increase by as much as 31.3 % after discharge in the low applied potential region. This work provides insight into in situ enhancement of the OER and suggests that the low applied potential region must be a primary consideration in evaluating the origin of the activity of electrocatalysts.
Current mechanism studies mainly concern surface reconstruction at high potential with respect to formation of high‐valence metal sites and metal oxyhydroxides. The understanding of correlation between low potential scanning, surface structure, and electrochemical activity is lacking. This work suggests that the low applied potential region must be a primary consideration in evaluating the origin of the activity of electrocatalysts.
Deregulation of HER2 expression could affect the biological characteristics of gastric cancer cells and treatment option for gastric cancer patients. This research aims to investigate the impact of ...HER2 on biological characteristics of gastric cancer stem cells (GCSCs) and prognosis of gastric cancer patients.
HER2 knockdown in GCSCs were constructed by lentivirus transfection. Alterations of proliferation, self-renewal, invasion, migration, colony formation, and tumorigenicity of GCSCs were examined. The changes of gene expressions after HER2 interference in GCSCs were detected by gene microarray. The impact of concentration of serum HER2 and expression of HER2 in tumor tissues on survival of 213 gastric cancer patients was also analyzed.
Down-regulation of HER2 decreased the self-renewal, colony formation, migration, invasion, proliferation, and chemotherapy resistance of GCSCs. However, the tumorigenicity of GCSCs
was increased after down-regulation of HER2. The results of gene microarray showed that HER2 gene might regulate the signal transduction of mTOR, Jak-STAT, and other signal pathways and affect the biological characteristics of GCSCs. Furthermore, survival analyses indicated that patients with high concentration of HER2 in serum had a favorable overall survival. However, there was no significant correlation between expression of HER2 in tumor tissue and overall survival.
Interference of HER2 in GCSCs decreased the capacity of self-renewal, proliferation, colony formation, chemotherapy resistance, invasion, and migration but might increase the tumorigenicity
. Patients with high concentration of HER2 in serum seemed to have a favorable prognosis.
Compelling evidence has indicated a significant association between leukocyte mitochondrial DNA copy number (mtDNAcn) and prognosis of several malignancies in a cancer-specific manner. However, ...whether leukocyte mtDNAcn can predict the clinical outcome of breast cancer (BC) patients has not been well investigated.
The mtDNA copy number of peripheral blood leukocytes from 661 BC patients was measured using a Multiplex AccuCopy™Kit based on a multiplex fluorescence competitive PCR principle. Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards regression model were applied to investigate the association of mtDNAcn with invasive disease-free survival (iDFS), distant disease-free survival (DDFS), breast cancer special survival (BCSS), and overall survival (OS) of patients. The possible mtDNAcn-environment interactions were also evaluated by the Cox proportional hazard regression models.
BC patients with higher leukocyte mtDNA-CN exhibited a significantly worse iDFS than those with lower leukocyte mtDNAcn (5-year iDFS: fully-adjusted model: HR = 1.43395%CI 1.038-1.978, P = 0.028). Interaction analyses showed that mtDNAcn was significantly associated with hormone receptor status (adjusted p for interaction: 5-year BCSS: 0.028, 5-year OS: 0.022), so further analysis was mainly in the HR subgroup. Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that mtDNAcn was an independent prognostic factor for both BCSS and OS in HR-positive patients (HR+: 5-year BCSS: adjusted HR (aHR) = 2.34095% CI 1.163-4.708, P = 0.017 and 5-year OS: aHR = 2.446 95% CI 1.218-4.913, P = 0.011).
For the first time, our study demonstrated that leukocyte mtDNA copy number might influence the outcome of early-stage breast cancer patients depending on intrinsic tumor subtypes in Chinese women.
Water-saving and drought-resistance rice (WDR) plays a vital role in the sustainable development of agriculture. Nevertheless, the impacts and processes of water and nitrogen on grain yield in WDR ...remain unclear.
In this study, Hanyou 73 (WDR) and Hyou 518 (rice) were used as materials. Three kinds of nitrogen fertilizer application rate (NFAR) were set in the pot experiment, including no NFAR (nitrogen as urea applied at 0 g/pot), medium NFAR (nitrogen as urea applied at 15.6 g/pot), and high NFAR (nitrogen as urea applied at 31.2 g/pot). Two irrigation regimes, continuous flooding cultivation and water stress, were set under each NFAR. The relationships between root and shoot morphophysiology and grain yield in WDR were explored.
The results demonstrated the following: 1) under the same irrigation regime, the grain yield of two varieties increased with the increase of NFAR. Under the same NFAR, the reduction of irrigation amount significantly reduced the grain yield in Hyou 518 (7.1%-15.1%) but had no substantial influence on the grain yield in Hanyou 73. 2) Under the same irrigation regime, increasing the NFAR could improve the root morphophysiology (root dry weight, root oxidation activity, root bleeding rate, root total absorbing surface area, root active absorbing surface area, and zeatin + zeatin riboside contents in roots) and aboveground physiological indexes (leaf photosynthetic rate, non-structural carbohydrate accumulation in stems, and nitrate reductase activity in leaves) in two varieties. Under the same NFAR, increasing the irrigation amount could significantly increase the above indexes in Hyou 518 (except root dry weight) but has little effect on Hanyou 73. 3) Analysis of correlations revealed that the grain yield of Hyou 518 and Hanyou 73 was basically positively correlated with aboveground physiology and root morphophysiology, respectively.
The grain yield could be maintained by water stress under medium NFAR in WDR. The improvement of root morphophysiology is a major factor for high yield under the irrigation regime and NFAR treatments in WDR.
Background
When a flow-related aneurysm originates from an anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) supplying the cerebellar arteriovenous malformation (AVM), the management becomes very ...complicated. Endovascular treatment (EVT) was an option, but no consensus has been achieved.
Methods and materials: A retrospective investigation was performed for patients with flow-related aneurysm originating from an AICA supplying the cerebellar AVM.
Results
Ten patients, harboring 13 aneurysms, were identified. Of the 5 a1 aneurysms, 2 underwent stent assisted coiling, 2 underwent parent artery occlusion (PAO), and 1 was intact. Of the 8 a2 aneurysms, 3 underwent coiling with preservation of the AICA, 3 underwent PAO with Onyx, 1 underwent PAO with coils, and 1 was intact. Seven patients underwent partial embolization of the cerebellar AVM, 3 were intact. One patient died 6 hours postoperatively for cerebellar AVM rebleeding. During a follow-up from 6 months to 6 years, 9 patients had favorable recovery.
Conclusion
For the flow-related aneurysm originating from an AICA supplying the cerebellar AVM, the EVT depends on the specific circumstances. When the aneurysm is located at the a1 segment, coiling of the aneurysm with preservation of the parent AICA should be performed. PAO is the last resort. When the a2 aneurysm is proximal to the internal auditory artery, coiling of the aneurysm with preservation of the AICA is preferred. When the aneurysm is distal to the internal auditory artery, PAO can be safely performed.
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•A structural optimization strategy for thin-walled (100 μm) magnesium alloy vascular stents was proposed.•The radial strength of the optimized thin-walled stent (100 μm) can match ...the effect of the original thick-walled stent (150 μm).•The foreshortening and coverage of the optimized thin-walled stent are significantly reduced, the vascular damage is smaller, which is expected to have better biocompatibility.
Thinner biodegradable magnesium alloy stents (BMgSs) afford faster endothelialisation to delay degradation and better clinical performance. However, compared with traditional non-degradable stents, thin-walled BMgS structures are prone to challenges, such as insufficient support capacity and fracture, during immediate expansion due to low elastic modulus and ultimate elongation. In this study, a thin-walled BMgS structure was optimised. A ZE21B alloy with large breaking elongation and excellent mechanical properties served as the basis of our BMgS. Using finite element analysis, the support ring structure of a typical stent BioMatrix was optimised using response surface models, and an optimised configuration of a thin-walled BMgS was obtained. The optimised thin-walled stent (100-μm thick) had a radial strength comparable to that of the original thick-walled stent (150-μm thick); and the maximum principal strain is significantly decreased (0.207 vs 0.283). The balloon dilation and radial strength tests were validated. Experiments showed that the optimised stent had sufficient deformation stability during the crimping and expansion processes, and there was no strut fracture. Furthermore, the maximum principal stress area of the stent and the damage to the stenotic artery were significantly improved after optimisation.
Single cell approaches have increased our knowledge about the cell type composition of the non-human primate (NHP), but a detailed characterization of area-specific regulatory features remains ...outstanding. We generated single-cell transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility (single-cell ATAC) data of 358,237 cells from prefrontal cortex (PFC), primary motor cortex (M1) and primary visual cortex (V1) of adult female cynomolgus monkey brain, and integrated this dataset with Stereo-seq (spatial enhanced resolution omics-sequencing) of the corresponding cortical areas to assign topographic information to molecular states. We identified area-specific chromatin accessible sites and their targeted genes, including the cell type-specific transcriptional regulatory network associated with excitatory neurons heterogeneity. We reveal calcium ion transport and axon guidance genes related to specialized functions of PFC and M1, identified the similarities and differences between adult macaque and human oligodendrocyte trajectories, and mapped the genetic variants and gene perturbations of human diseases to NHP cortical cells. This resource establishes a transcriptomic and chromatin accessibility combinatory regulatory landscape at a single-cell and spatially resolved resolution in NHP cortex.
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