Abstract
Photogrammetry and cascading microscopy investigations of dental pulp specimens collected from 2,000-year-old individuals buried in a Roman necropolis in Besançon, France, revealed ...unprecedented preserved tissular and cellular morphology. Photogrammetry yielded 3-D images of the smallest archaeological human remains ever recovered. Optical microscopy examinations after standard haematoxylin-phloxine-saffron staining and anti-glycophorin A immunohistochemistry exposed dental pulp cells, in addition erythrocytes were visualised by electron microscopy, which indicated the ancient dental pulp trapped a blood drop. Fluorescence
in situ
hybridisation applied on red blood cells revealed the louse-borne pathogen
Bartonella quintana
, a finding confirmed by polymerase chain reaction assays. Through paleohistology and paleocytology, we demonstrate that the ancient dental pulp preserved intact blood cells at the time of the individual’s death, offering an unprecedented opportunity to engage in direct and indirect tests to diagnose pathogens in ancient buried individuals.
Solder joints are generally regarded as the weakest part in packaging systems and electronic assemblies in modern electronic products and devices. In this study, both experimental and finite element ...methods were used to characterize the mechanical behavior of micro-scale Ni/Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu/Ni sandwich-structured joints with different thickness-to-diameter ratios (R varying from 1/3 to 1/12) under quasi-static tension loading using a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA). Experimental results show that crack initiation and propagation in the solder matrix occur in a typical ductile manner. Compared with Cu/Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu/Cu sandwich-structured solder joints, Ni/Sn3.0Ag0.5Cu/Ni solder joints have much higher tensile strengths due to the dispersion strengthening effect through the fine Ag3Sn particles. With decreasing R, both stiffness and tensile strength of solder joints increase obviously with decreasing coefficient of stress state and damage equivalent stress. Moreover, results of quantitative fractographic analysis by SEM and EDS display three fracture modes with decreasing R. Joints with R≥1/4 all fail by ductile fracture, those with R=1/6 fail by either ductile fracture or mixed ductile and brittle fractures, and for joints with R=1/12, brittle fracture is dominant. Furthermore, results obtained have also shown that the crack growth driving forces, KI and KII, as well as the strain energy release rate, GI, in the Ni3Sn4 layer and at the Ni3Sn4/Ni interface, increase significantly with decreasing R. Hence, under tensile loading the fracture mode of solder joints changes from ductile to brittle as R is decreased.
The enhancer of zeste homolog 2 (EZH2) is upregulated and has an oncogenic role in several types of human cancer. However, the abnormalities of EZH2 and its underlying mechanisms in the pathogenesis ...of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) remain unknown. In this study, we found that high expression of EZH2 in NPC was associated closely with an aggressive and/or poor prognostic phenotype (P<0.05). In NPC cell lines, knockdown of EZH2 by short hairpin RNA was sufficient to inhibit cell invasiveness/metastasis both in vitro and in vivo, whereas ectopic overexpression of EZH2 supported NPC cell invasive capacity with a decreased expression of E-cadherin. In addition, ablation of endogenous Snail in NPC cells virtually totally prevented the repressive activity of EZH2 to E-cadherin, indicating that Snail might be a predominant mediator of EZH2 to suppress E-cadherin. Furthermore, co-immunoprecipitation (IP), chromatin IP and luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that in NPC cells, (1) EZH2 interacted with HDAC1/HDAC2 and Snail to form a repressive complex; (2) these components interact in a linear fashion, not in a triangular fashion, that is, HDAC1 or HDAC2 bridge the interaction between EZH2 and Snail; and (3) the EZH2/HDAC1/2/Snail complex could closely bind to the E-cadherin promoter by Snail, but not YY1, to repress E-cadherin. The data provided in this report suggest a critical role of EZH2 in the control of cell invasion and/or metastasis by forming a co-repressor complex with HDAC1/HDAC2/Snail to repress E-cadherin, an activity that might be responsible, at least in part, for the development and/or progression of human NPCs.
Introduced Wolbachia bacteria can influence the susceptibility of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes to arboviral infections as well as having detrimental effects on host fitness. Previous field trials ...demonstrated that the wMel strain of Wolbachia effectively and durably invades Ae. aegypti populations. Here we report on trials of a second strain, wMelPop-PGYP Wolbachia, in field sites in northern Australia (Machans Beach and Babinda) and central Vietnam (Tri Nguyen, Hon Mieu Island), each with contrasting natural Ae. aegypti densities.
Mosquitoes were released at the adult or pupal stages for different lengths of time at the sites depending on changes in Wolbachia frequency as assessed through PCR assays of material collected through Biogents-Sentinel (BG-S) traps and ovitraps. Adult numbers were also monitored through BG-S traps. Changes in Wolbachia frequency were compared across hamlets or house blocks.
Releases of adult wMelPop-Ae. aegypti resulted in the transient invasion of wMelPop in all three field sites. Invasion at the Australian sites was heterogeneous, reflecting a slower rate of invasion in locations where background mosquito numbers were high. In contrast, invasion across Tri Nguyen was relatively uniform. After cessation of releases, the frequency of wMelPop declined in all sites, most rapidly in Babinda and Tri Nguyen. Within Machans Beach the rate of decrease varied among areas, and wMelPop was detected for several months in an area with a relatively low mosquito density.
These findings highlight challenges associated with releasing Wolbachia-Ae. aegypti combinations with low fitness, albeit strong virus interference properties, as a means of sustainable control of dengue virus transmission.
Polygenic risk scores (PRS) have the potential to identify individuals at risk of diseases, optimizing treatment, and predicting survival outcomes. Here, we construct and validate a genome-wide ...association study (GWAS) derived PRS for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), using a multi-center study of six populations (6 059 NPC cases and 7 582 controls), and evaluate its utility in a nested case-control study. We show that the PRS enables effective identification of NPC high-risk individuals (AUC = 0.65) and improves the risk prediction with the PRS incremental deciles in each population (P
ranging from 2.79 × 10
to 4.79 × 10
). By incorporating the PRS into EBV-serology-based NPC screening, the test's positive predictive value (PPV) is increased from an average of 4.84% to 8.38% and 11.91% in the top 10% and 5% PRS, respectively. In summary, the GWAS-derived PRS, together with the EBV test, significantly improves NPC risk stratification and informs personalized screening.
We present a new type of CeO2 nanodevice in which a single CeO2 nanowire was used as the sensing unit. It was found that incorporation of Pt nanocrystals on CeO2 nanowire could significantly increase ...the sensor response. A possible mechanism was discussed based on the study of morphology and surface bond states of the nanowire using local electron energy loss spectroscopy and X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. The results provide a pathway to improve the performance of gas sensors with a good understanding of the nanowire’s surface physics and chemistry.
To gain more understanding of the potential health effects of sedentary time, knowledge is required about the accumulation and longitudinal development of young people's sedentary time. This study ...examined tracking of young peoples' total and prolonged sedentary time as well as their day-to-day variation using the International Children's Accelerometry Database.
Longitudinal accelerometer data of 5991 children (aged 4-17y) was used from eight studies in five countries. Children were included if they provided valid (≥8 h/day) accelerometer data on ≥4 days, including ≥1 weekend day, at both baseline and follow-up (average follow-up: 2.7y; range 0.7-8.2). Tracking of total and prolonged (i.e. ≥10-min bouts) sedentary time was examined using multilevel modelling to adjust for clustering of observations, with baseline levels of sedentary time as predictor and follow-up levels as outcome. Standardized regression coefficients were interpreted as tracking coefficients (low: < 0.3; moderate: 0.3-0.6; high: > 0.6).
Average total sedentary time at study level ranged from 246 to 387 min/day at baseline and increased annually by 21.4 min/day (95% confidence interval 19.6-23.0) on average. This increase consisted almost entirely of prolonged sedentary time (20.9 min/day 19.2-22.7). Total (standardized regression coefficient (B) = 0.48 0.45-0.50) and prolonged sedentary time (B = 0.43 0.41-0.45) tracked moderately. Tracking of day-to-day variation in total (B = 0.04 0.02-0.07) and prolonged (B = 0.07 0.04-0.09) sedentary time was low.
Young people with high levels of sedentary time are likely to remain among the people with highest sedentary time as they grow older. Day-to-day variation in total and prolonged sedentary time, however, was rather variable over time.
The surface natures of five carbon materials, acetylene black, Super P, ECP600JD, KS-6 and CNTs, are compared in terms of morphology, specific surface area and activity towards electrolyte ...decomposition and anion insertion, and their contributions as conductive additives to cathode performance of lithium ion batteries are understood. With the characterizations from scanning electron microscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller analysis and cyclic voltammetry, it's demonstrated that: (1) the morphology is granular for acetylene black, Super P and ECP600JD, flake-like for KS-6 and wire-like for CNTs; (2) ECP600JD exhibits the largest specific surface area but KS-6 has the smallest one; (3) the activity is the same for all the samples towards the electrolyte decomposition but different from each other towards anion insertion. Charge/discharge tests of LiMn2O4 and LiNi0.5Mn1.5O4 cathodes indicate that the surface natures of carbon materials play an important role in charge/discharge performance of cathodes for lithium ion batteries. ECP600JD with smallest particle size provides the largest site for electrolyte decomposition leading to the lowest coulombic efficiency, while KS-6 with a layered structure exhibits the highest activity towards anion insertion leading to the lowest charge and discharge capacity of cathode materials. These negative effects become more significant when high voltage cathode materials are used.
•Surface natures of five commercial carbon materials were understood.•Carbon with large specific surface area leads to low coulombic efficiency.•Carbon with layered structure leads to low charge/discharge capacity of cathode.•Negative effects become more significant as high voltage cathode material is used.
Abstract
This research’s primary purpose was to research these factors’ influence on buying decision durian milk with seeds. We gathered research data from 300 consumers in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. ...The research model was proposed from previous researches. Besides, we applied the PLS-SEM Algorithm with SmartPLS software for data analysis. Partial least squares (PLS) path modeling is a variance-based structural equation modeling (SEM) method that is broadly implemented in business and social sciences. It is a new statistical tool for the research method. The research results showed that factors (brand, product availability, product reference group, product quality, and promotion activities) positively affected purchasing decisions.
PDF
