At 17:47 UT on 20 September 1999, a large earthquake of magnitude Mw 7.6 struck the central Taiwan near a small town of Chi‐Chi. The ground‐based receivers of the global positioning system (GPS) in ...the Taiwan area detected coseismic ionospheric disturbances (CIDs) in the total electron content (TEC) triggered by the Chi‐Chi earthquake. When the CIDs travel away from the origin on the Earth surface and then propagate into the ionosphere, their amplitudes and periods generally become smaller and longer, respectively. Moreover, two global grid searches, adapting the ray‐tracing and the beam‐forming techniques, have been used to analyze the observed GPS TEC. We have not only estimated the average speed of the CIDs propagating in the atmosphere and ionosphere but also determined the location of CID origin on the Earth surface by using the two techniques. The results show that the observed CIDs result from shock‐acoustic waves triggered by sudden and large vertical motions of the Chi‐Chi earthquake.
The cross section for the process e^{+}e^{-}→π^{+}π^{-}J/ψ is measured precisely at center-of-mass energies from 3.77 to 4.60 GeV using 9 fb^{-1} of data collected with the BESIII detector operating ...at the BEPCII storage ring. Two resonant structures are observed in a fit to the cross section. The first resonance has a mass of (4222.0±3.1±1.4) MeV/c^{2} and a width of (44.1±4.3±2.0) MeV, while the second one has a mass of (4320.0±10.4±7.0) MeV/c^{2} and a width of (101.4_{-19.7}^{+25.3}±10.2) MeV, where the first errors are statistical and second ones are systematic. The first resonance agrees with the Y(4260) resonance reported by previous experiments. The precision of its resonant parameters is improved significantly. The second resonance is observed in e^{+}e^{-}→π^{+}π^{-}J/ψ for the first time. The statistical significance of this resonance is estimated to be larger than 7.6σ. The mass and width of the second resonance agree with the Y(4360) resonance reported by the BABAR and Belle experiments within errors. Finally, the Y(4008) resonance previously observed by the Belle experiment is not confirmed in the description of the BESIII data.
Programmable nucleases can introduce precise changes to genomic DNA through homology-directed repair (HDR). Unfortunately, HDR is largely restricted to mitotic cells, and is typically accompanied by ...an excess of stochastic insertions and deletions (indels). Here we present an in vivo base editing strategy that addresses these limitations. We use nuclease-free base editing to install a S33F mutation in β-catenin that blocks β-catenin phosphorylation, impedes β-catenin degradation, and upregulates Wnt signaling. In vitro, base editing installs the S33F mutation with a 200-fold higher editing:indel ratio than HDR. In post-mitotic cells in mouse inner ear, injection of base editor protein:RNA:lipid installs this mutation, resulting in Wnt activation that induces mitosis of cochlear supporting cells and cellular reprogramming. In contrast, injection of HDR agents does not induce Wnt upregulation. These results establish a strategy for modifying posttranslational states in signaling pathways, and an approach to precision editing in post-mitotic tissues.
The people's police of public security organs shoulder the important mission of maintaining social security and stability, and ensuring the well-being of people. However, the working environment ...exposed to a variety of adverse factors has significantly increased the risk of cancer and cancer mortality of public security police, such as bladder cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, melanoma cancer, etc. Police related cancer risk research is a noteworthy issue. This article provides a review of existing research on the types and carcinogenic factors of cancer among domestic and foreign police officers, and analyzes various factors that may lead to their cancer based on the actual work situation of Chinese public security police. Corresponding response strategies are proposed to provide a scientific basis for reducing the risk of cancer among public security police.
A continuous germanene layer grown on the Al (111) surface has recently been achieved in experiment. In this work, we investigate its structural, electronic, and hydrogenation-induced properties ...through first-principles calculations. We find that despite having a different lattice structure from its free-standing form, germanene on Al (111) still possesses Dirac points at high-symmetry K and K′ points. More importantly, there exist another three pairs of Dirac points on the K(K′)–M high-symmetry lines, which have highly anisotropic dispersions due to the reduced symmetry. These massless Dirac Fermions become massive when spin–orbit coupling is included. Hydrogenation of the germanene layer strongly affects its structural and electronic properties. Particularly, when not fully hydrogenated, ferromagnetism can be induced due to unpaired local orbitals from the unsaturated Ge atoms. Remarkably, we discover that the one-side semihydrogenated germanene turns out to be a two-dimensional half-semimetal, representing a novel state of matter that is simultaneously a half-metal and a semimetal.
Abstract Background Pathogenesis and diagnostic biomarkers for diseases can be discovered by metabolomic profiling of human fluids. If the various types of coronary artery disease (CAD) can be ...accurately characterized by metabolomics, effective treatment may be targeted without using unnecessary therapies and resources. Objectives The authors studied disturbed metabolic pathways to assess the diagnostic value of metabolomics-based biomarkers in different types of CAD. Methods A cohort of 2,324 patients from 4 independent centers was studied. Patients underwent coronary angiography for suspected CAD. Groups were divided as follows: normal coronary artery (NCA), nonobstructive coronary atherosclerosis (NOCA), stable angina (SA), unstable angina (UA), and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Plasma metabolomic profiles were determined by liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry and were analyzed by multivariate statistics. Results We made 12 cross-comparisons to and within CAD to characterize metabolic disturbances. We focused on comparisons of NOCA versus NCA, SA versus NOCA, UA versus SA, and AMI versus UA. Other comparisons were made, including SA versus NCA, UA versus NCA, AMI versus NCA, UA versus NOCA, AMI versus NOCA, AMI versus SA, significant CAD (SA/UA/AMI) versus nonsignificant CAD (NCA/NOCA), and acute coronary syndrome (UA/AMI) versus SA. A total of 89 differential metabolites were identified. The altered metabolic pathways included reduced phospholipid catabolism, increased amino acid metabolism, increased short-chain acylcarnitines, decrease in tricarboxylic acid cycle, and less biosynthesis of primary bile acid. For differential diagnosis, 12 panels of specific metabolomics-based biomarkers provided areas under the curve of 0.938 to 0.996 in the discovery phase (n = 1,086), predictive values of 89.2% to 96.0% in the test phase (n = 933), and 85.3% to 96.4% in the 3-center external sets (n = 305). Conclusions Plasma metabolomics are powerful for characterizing metabolic disturbances. Differences in small-molecule metabolites may reflect underlying CAD and serve as biomarkers for CAD progression.
Summary Since the beginning of the 1980s, 33 emerging tick-borne agents have been identified in mainland China, including eight species of spotted fever group rickettsiae, seven species in the family ...Anaplasmataceae, six genospecies in the complex Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, 11 species of Babesia , and the virus causing severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome. In this Review we have mapped the geographical distributions of human cases of infection. 15 of the 33 emerging tick-borne agents have been reported to cause human disease, and their clinical characteristics have been described. The non-specific clinical manifestations caused by tick-borne pathogens present a major diagnostic challenge and most physicians are unfamiliar with the many tick-borne diseases that present with non-specific symptoms in the early stages of the illness. Advances in and application of modern molecular techniques should help with identification of emerging tick-borne pathogens and improve laboratory diagnosis of human infections. We expect that more novel tick-borne infections in ticks and animals will be identified and additional emerging tick-borne diseases in human beings will be discovered.
Conventionally, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients are categorized into good-, intermediate- and poor-risk groups according to cytogenetic changes. However, patients with intermediate-risk ...cytogenetics represent a largely heterogeneous population regarding treatment response and clinical outcome. In this study, we integrated cytogenetics and molecular mutations in the analysis of 318 patients with de novo non-M3 AML who received standard chemotherapy. According to the mutation status of eight genes, including NPM1, CEBPA, IDH2, RUNX1, WT1, ASXL1, DNMT3A and FLT3, that had prognostic significance, 229 patients with intermediate-risk cytogenetics could be refinedly stratified into three groups with distinct prognosis (P<0.001); patients with good-risk genotypes had a favorable outcome (overall survival, OS, not reached) similar to those with good-risk cytogenetics, whereas those with poor-risk genotypes had an unfavorable prognosis (OS, 10 months) similar to those with poor-risk cytogenetics (OS, 13.5 months), and the remaining patients with other genotypes had an intermediate outcome (OS, 25 months). Integration of cytogenetic and molecular profiling could thus reduce the number of intermediate-risk AML patients from around three-fourth to one-fourth. In conclusion, integration of cytogenetic and molecular changes improves the prognostic stratification of AML patients, especially those with intermediate-risk cytogenetics, and may lead to better decision on therapeutic strategy.
We study the process e+e−→π+π−ψ(3686) using 5.1 fb−1 of data collected at 16 center-of-mass energy (s) points from 4.008 to 4.600 GeV by the BESIII detector operating at the BEPCII collider. The ...measured Born cross sections for e+e−→π+π−ψ(3686) are consistent with previous results, but with much improved precision. A fit to the cross section shows contributions from two structures: the first has M=4209.5±7.4±1.4 MeV/c2 and Γ=80.1±24.6±2.9 MeV, and the second has M=4383.8±4.2±0.8 MeV/c2 and Γ=84.2±12.5±2.1 MeV, where the first errors are statistical and the second systematic. The lower-mass resonance is observed in the process e+e−→π+π−ψ(3686) for the first time with a statistical significance of 5.8σ. A charged charmoniumlike structure is observed in the π±ψ(3686) invariant mass spectrum for data at s=4.416 GeV. A fit with an S-wave Breit-Wigner function yields a mass M=4032.1±2.4 MeV/c2, where the errors are statistical only. However, there are still unresolved discrepancies between the fit model and data. The width of the intermediate state varies in a wide range for different kinematic regions within the data set. Therefore, no simple interpretation of the data has been found, and a future data sample with larger statistics and more theoretical input will be required to better understand this issue.
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