The Tibetan Plateau is the highest and one of the most demanding environments ever inhabited by humans. We investigated the timing and mechanisms of its initial colonization at the Nwya Devu site, ...located nearly 4600 meters above sea level. This site, dating from 40,000 to 30,000 years ago, is the highest Paleolithic archaeological site yet identified globally. Nwya Devu has yielded an abundant blade tool assemblage, indicating hitherto-unknown capacities for the survival of modern humans who camped in this environment. This site deepens the history of the peopling of the "roof of the world" and the antiquity of human high-altitude occupations more generally.
Abstract We report the phase-resolved spectral results of the first Galactic pulsating ultraluminous X-ray source (PULX) Swift J0243.6+6124, modeling its 2017–2018 outburst peak using data collected ...by the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (Insight-HXMT). The broad energy coverage of Insight-HXMT allows us to obtain a more accurate spectral continuum to reduce the coupling of broad iron line profiles with other components. We use three different continuum spectrum models but obtain similar iron line results. For the first time, we detect the pulse characteristics of the broad iron line in a PULX. The variation in the width and intensity of this iron line with σ ∼ 1.2–1.5 keV has a phase offset of about 0.25 from the pulse phase. We suggest that the uneven irradiation of the thick inner disk by the accretion column produces the modulated variation of the broad iron line. In addition, the nonpulsed narrow line is suggested to come from the outer disk region.
Twenty‐three published proxy temperature series over China spanning the last 2000 years were selected for an uncertainty analysis in five climate regions. Results indicated that, although large ...uncertainties are found for the period prior to the 16th century, high level of consistency were identified in all regions during the recent 500‐years, highlighted by the two cold periods 1620s–1710s and 1800s–1860s, and the warming during the 20th century. The latter started in Tibet, Northwest and Northeast, and migrated to Central East and Southeast. The analysis also indicates that the warming during the 10–14th centuries in some regions might be comparable in magnitude to the warming of the last few decades of the 20th century which was unprecedented within the past 500 years.
Background Magnifying endoscopy with narrow-band imaging (ME-NBI) can more clearly assess the surface pattern and microvascular architecture of gastric lesions. Objective To evaluate the diagnostic ...efficacy of ME-NBI in patients with early gastric cancer. Design Prospective study. Setting Single academic center. Patients This study involved 164 suspected gastric lesions in 146 consecutive patients who underwent ME-NBI for additional differential diagnosis before treatment. Intervention ME-NBI findings were classified into 3 groups based on irregularities, absence of surface pattern, and microvascular architecture. All lesions were treated endoscopically or surgically, and ME-NBI diagnosis was compared with histopathological findings. Main Outcome Measurements Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of real-time ME-NBI diagnosis were determined. Results The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of ME-NBI were 97.3%, 84.4%, and 90.2%, respectively, in distinguishing between cancerous and noncancerous lesions and were 92.3%, 89.7%, and 90.4%, respectively, in distinguishing undifferentiated from differentiated adenocarcinoma. ME-NBI accurately predicted depth of invasion in 37 of 39 differentiated adenocarcinomas (95%). Limitations The sample size was relatively small. Conclusions ME-NBI can successfully distinguish between cancerous and noncancerous lesions and between undifferentiated and differentiated adenocarcinomas. Of the 3 patterns on ME-NBI, type A is mainly characteristic of noncancerous lesions, type B is a good indicator of differentiated adenocarcinoma and intramucosal/superficially invasive cancers, and type C is indicative of undifferentiated adenocarcinoma or differentiated cancer with deep submucosal invasion.
Rotary desiccant air conditioning system, which combines the technologies of desiccant dehumidification and evaporative cooling, is advantageous in being free from CFCs, using low grade thermal ...energy and controlling humidity and temperature separately. Compared with conventional vapor compression air conditioning system, it preserves the merits of environment-friendly, energy saving, healthy, comfortable, etc. Ongoing research and development works suggest that new desiccant materials and novel system configurations have significant potential for improving the performance and reliability and reducing the cost and size of rotary desiccant dehumidification and air conditioning system, thereby increasing its market competitiveness and breaking out the current fairly small niche market. For the purpose of providing an overview of recent efforts on these issues and showing how rotary desiccant air conditioning systems can be designed and coupled to available thermal energy, this paper presents and analyzes the status of rotary desiccant dehumidification and air conditioning in the following three aspects: the development of advanced desiccant materials, the optimization of system configuration and the utilization of solar energy and other low grade heat sources, such as solar energy, district heating, waste heat and bioenergy. Some key problems to further push forward the research and development of this technology are also summarized.
Schizophrenia is a devastating neurodevelopmental disorder with a complex genetic etiology. Widespread cortical gray matter loss has been observed in patients and prodromal samples. However, it ...remains unresolved whether schizophrenia-associated cortical structure variations arise due to disease etiology or secondary to the illness. Here we address this question using a partitioning-based heritability analysis of genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and neuroimaging data from 1750 healthy individuals. We find that schizophrenia-associated genetic variants explain a significantly enriched proportion of trait heritability in eight brain phenotypes (false discovery rate=10%). In particular, intracranial volume and left superior frontal gyrus thickness exhibit significant and robust associations with schizophrenia genetic risk under varying SNP selection conditions. Cross-disorder comparison suggests that the neurogenetic architecture of schizophrenia-associated brain regions is, at least in part, shared with other psychiatric disorders. Our study highlights key neuroanatomical correlates of schizophrenia genetic risk in the general population. These may provide fundamental insights into the complex pathophysiology of the illness, and a potential link to neurocognitive deficits shaping the disorder.
Summary
There were controversial results between obesity‐associated markers and semen quality. In this study, we investigated the correlations between age, obesity‐associated markers including body ...mass index (BMI), waist‐to‐hip ratio (WHR), waist‐to‐height ratio (WHtR) and waist circumference (WC), the combination of age and obesity‐associated markers, semen parameters and serum reproductive hormone levels in 1231 subfertile men. The results showed that BMI, WC, WHR and WHtR were positively related to age, and there were also positive relations between BMI, WHR, WC and WHtR and between sperm concentration (SC), total sperm count (TSC), progressive motility (PR), sperm motility and per cent of normal sperm morphology (NSM). However, age, each of obesity‐associated markers and the combination of obesity‐associated markers and age were unrelated to any of semen parameters including total normal‐progressively motile sperm count (TNPMS). Age, BMI, WHR, WC and WHtR were negatively related to serum testosterone and SHBG levels. However, only serum LH and FSH levels were negatively related to sperm concentration, NSM and sperm motility. In a conclusion, although age and obesity have significant impacts on reproductive hormones such as testosterone, SHBG and oestradiol, semen parameters related to FSH and LH could not be influenced, indicating that obesity‐associated markers could not predict male semen quality.
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