The influence of biochar amendments on the physical quality of a clayey soil (Vertisol) was evaluated by aggregate‐size distribution and stability, water retention, and pore‐space structure of ...biochar‐amended soils. Clayey soil was treated with three kinds of biochars (straw biochar, woodchips biochar, and wastewater‐sludge biochar) at the rate of 0, 20, 40, and 60 g biochar (kg soil)–¹ and incubated for 180 d in glasshouse. The application of straw biochar (SB) and wastewater‐sludge biochar (WSB) significantly enhanced the formation of 5–2 and 0.25–0.5 mm macroaggregates in the clayey soil relative to the control treatment, while the < 0.25‐cm microaggregate decreased with biochar additions. However, woodchips biochar (WCB) had no obvious effect on the formation of macroaggregate. The application of SB and WSB increased the mean weight diameter (MWD) and geometric mean diameter (GMD) of clayey soil, implying that biochar increased the aggregate stability. They improved the aggregate stability through an enhanced resistance to slaking and increased interparticular cohesion. The SB‐amended soils exhibited significant increases in the available water contents of soils. The application of SB significantly increased pore volume in the macropore (> 75 μm) and mesopore (30–75 μm) ranges, which may be the result of the reorganization of pore‐size distribution and aggregation processes induced by the addition of biochar. Results indicated that biochar had the potential to improve the physical quality and pore‐space status of clayey soil. It is suggested that biochar may be considered as a soil amendment for improving poor physical characteristics of clayey soil.
Pseudouridine (Ψ) is the most abundant post-transcriptional RNA modification, yet little is known about its prevalence, mechanism and function in mRNA. Here, we performed quantitative MS analysis and ...show that Ψ is much more prevalent (Ψ/U ratio ∼0.2-0.6%) in mammalian mRNA than previously believed. We developed N3-CMC-enriched pseudouridine sequencing (CeU-Seq), a selective chemical labeling and pulldown method, to identify 2,084 Ψ sites within 1,929 human transcripts, of which four (in ribosomal RNA and EEF1A1 mRNA) are biochemically verified. We show that hPUS1, a known Ψ synthase, acts on human mRNA; under stress, CeU-Seq demonstrates inducible and stress-specific mRNA pseudouridylation. Applying CeU-Seq to the mouse transcriptome revealed conserved and tissue-specific pseudouridylation. Collectively, our approaches allow comprehensive analysis of transcriptome-wide pseudouridylation and provide tools for functional studies of Ψ-mediated epigenetic regulation.
Tissue engineering utilizes expertise in the fields of materials science, biology, chemistry, transplantation medicine, and engineering to design materials that can temporarily serve in a structural ...and/or functional capacity during regeneration of a defect. Hydroxyapatite (HAp) scaffolds are among the most extensively studied materials for this application. However, HAp has been reported to be too weak to treat such defects and, therefore, has been limited to non-load-bearing applications. To capitalize the advantages of HAp and at the same time overcome the drawbacks nanocrystalline HAp (nHAp) is combined with various types of bioactive polymers to generate highly porous biocomposite materials that are used for osteoconduction in the field of orthopedic surgery. In this study we have reviewed nanosized HAp-based highly porous composite materials used for bone tissue engineering, introduced various fabrication methods to prepare nHAp/polymer composite scaffolds, and characterized these scaffolds on the basis of their biodegradability and biocompatibility through in vitro and in vivo tests. Finally, we provide a summary and our own perspectives on this active area of research.
To construct weight efficient aerospace sandwich structures, interlocked orthogrid sandwich composite panels reinforced by carbon fibers were designed, made and tested. The orthogrid is weight ...efficient in flatwise compression for its strength is greater than usual three-dimensional (3D) lattice truss composite structures. Progressive crushing of the ribs endows the orthogrid long deformation plateau and great mean crushing force (MCF) while most of 3D lattice truss composite structures are usually brittle. Crushing models of lattice truss materials were developed to predict the MCF and it is found that the orthogrid composite has comparable or even better specific energy absorption (SEA) compared with 3D metallic lattice trusses. Forming continuous resin adhesive layers between the facesheets and the orthogrid, the orthogrid sandwich panel has stronger shear strength and is more weight efficient than usual 3D lattice truss sandwich panels jointed by adhesive joints in shear resistance. Through the research, it is concluded that interlocking orthogrid provides a simple but efficient way to construct lightweight sandwich composite.
To restrict debonding, carbon fiber reinforced lattice-core sandwich composites with compliant skins were designed and manufactured. Compression behaviors of the lattice composites and sandwich ...columns with different skin thicknesses were tested. Bending performances of the sandwich panels were explored by three-point bending experiments. Two typical failure mechanisms of the lattice-core sandwich structures, delaminating and local buckling were revealed by the experiments. Failure criteria were suggested and gave consistent analytical predictions. For panels with stiff skins, delamination is the dominant failure style. Cell dimensions, fracture toughness of the adhesives and the strength of the sandwich skin decide the critical load capacity of the lattice-core sandwich structure. The mono-cell buckling and the succeeding local buckling are dominant for the sandwich structures with more compliant skin sheets. Debonding is restricted within one cell in bending and two cells in compression for lattice-core sandwich panels with compliant face sheets and softer lattice cores.
Newborn microglia rapidly replenish the whole brain after selective elimination of most microglia (>99%) in adult mice. Previous studies reported that repopulated microglia were largely derived from ...microglial progenitor cells expressing nestin in the brain. However, the origin of these repopulated microglia has been hotly debated. In this study, we investigated the origin of repopulated microglia by a series of fate-mapping approaches. We first excluded the blood origin of repopulated microglia via parabiosis. With different transgenic mouse lines, we then demonstrated that all repopulated microglia were derived from the proliferation of the few surviving microglia (<1%). Despite a transient pattern of nestin expression in newly forming microglia, none of repopulated microglia were derived from nestin-positive non-microglial cells. In summary, we conclude that repopulated microglia are solely derived from residual microglia rather than de novo progenitors, suggesting the absence of microglial progenitor cells in the adult brain.
To identify pivotal lncRNAs in papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) using lncRNA-mRNA-miRNA ceRNA network analysis.
We obtained gene expression profiles from the gene expression omnibus database. Cancer ...specific lncRNA, cancer specific miRNA and cancer specific mRNA were identified. An integrated analysis was conducted to detect potential lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA in regulating disease transformation. The lncRNA regulated gene ontology (GO) terms and regulated pathways were performed by function analysis. Survival analysis was performed for the pivotal lncRNAs.
A total of four lncRNAs, 15 miRNAs and 375 mRNAs are identified as the key mediators in the pathophysiological processes of PTC. GO annotation enrichment analysis showed the most relevant GO terms are signal transduction, integral component of membrane and calcium ion binding. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analysis showed different changed genes mainly enriched in pathways in cancer, PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and focal adhesion. Among four lncRNAs, only SLC26A4-AS1 was significantly associated with PTC patient disease free survival.
This study has constructed lncRNA-mRNA-miRNA ceRNA networks in PTC. The study provides a set of pivotal lncRNAs for future investigation into the molecular mechanisms.
•Vibration behaviors of lattice-core sandwich cylinder were revealed.•LSC is stiffer and has higher fundamental frequency than LSC.•Suggested equivalent method is accurate to predict vibration ...behaviors of LSC.
To study mechanical behaviors of advanced carbon fiber reinforced composite (CFRC) sandwich cylinder with lattice cores, uni-axial compression and free vibration experiments were carried out. Load carrying capacity and local failure modes of the lattice-core sandwich cylinder (LSC) were revealed. Natural frequencies and vibration modes of CFRC LSC were revealed by experiments for the first time. For usual LSC in astronautic engineering, the first order vibration is in the plane of the cross section, turning from a circle to an oval. An equivalent method was proposed to predict the primary frequency and mode shape of the LSC, which is in excellent accordance with the experiment. Compared with grid stiffened cylinder (GSC), LSC of the same weight and dimension always has higher primary frequency, indicating that LSC is much stiffer and could be designed even lighter in astronautic applications.
This paper aims to identify alternative RNA splicing landscape and its prognostic value in adrenocortical carcinoma.
The alternative splicing events data with corresponding clinical information data ...of 79 ACC patients were obtained from the Cancer Genome Atlas and SpliceSeq package. Prognosis-associated AS events by using univariate Cox regression analysis were selected. Gene functional enrichment analysis demonstrated the potential pathways enriched by survival-associated AS. Prognosis-related splicing events were submitted to develop moderate predictors using Lasso regression model.
One thousand five survival-associated alternative splicing events were identified. The prognostic genes included
,
,
. Functional enrichment analysis suggested that prognostic splicing events are associated with Wnt signaling pathway. A prediction model including 12 alternative splicing events was constructed by Lasso regression using train set. ROC analysis showed good performance of the prediction model in test set. Then, a nomogram integrating the clinical-pathological factors and riskscore was constructed for predicting 1- and 3-year survival rate.
Our data provide a comprehensive bioinformatics analysis of AS events in ACC, providing biomarkers for disease progression and a potentially rich source of novel therapeutic targets.
We prove an inequality for the geometric mean of accretive operators,
where the geometric mean was brought in by Drury Linear Multilinear Algebra. 2015;63:296-301. The proof makes use of a result of ...Mathias SIAM J. Matrix Anal. Appl. 1992;13:640-654. This inequality is then used to clarify several plausible assertions.
PDF
