Rapamycin promotes Schwann cell migration and nerve growth factor secretion

Rapamycin, similar to FKS06, can promote neural regeneration in vitro. We assumed that the mechanisms of action of rapamycin and FK506 in promoting peripheral nerve regeneration were similar. This study compared the effects of different concentrations of raparnycin and FK506 on Sc hwann cells and investigated effects and mechanisms of rapamycin on improving peripheral nerve regeneration. Results demonstrated that the lowest rapamycin concentration （1.53 nmol/L） more significantly promoted Schwann cell migration than the highest FK506 concentration （100μmol/L）. Rapamycin promoted the secretion of nerve growth factors and upregulated growth-associated protein 43 expression in Schwann cells, but did not significantly affect Schwann cell proliferation. Therefore, rapamycin has potential application in peripheral nerve regeneration therapy.

Research on the Optimization of Teaching System of International Economy and Trade

Taking the construction of new liberal arts as a background,this paper proposes that the international economy and trade major should optimize the teaching system and personnel training mechanism by adding the new cross-border e-commerce direction.This paper highlights the development path of high-quality international economy and trade professional training,and further ensures the first-class talent training and first-class professional construction specialty.

利用Picarro测试石笋包裹体水氢、氧同位素的方法

基于当前石笋包裹体水提取测试过程中面临的制约条件,本研究设计了用于提取石笋包裹体水的真空装置,将其与水同位素分析仪Picarro L2140-i相连接组成石笋包裹体水氢、氧同位素(δD、δ18O)测试系统.该系统能够快速地提取石笋包裹体中的水,并对其δD和δ18O的值进行测量.包裹体水真空提取装置使用了以高压气缸为驱动的破碎研磨器,具有良好的破碎效果;在120°C真空条件下破碎获得的包裹体水随后被高纯氮气带入到Picarro L2140-i中进行测量分析.为了验证包裹体水测试系统的可靠性和准确性,本研究分别将石笋包裹体水真空提取装置以及Picarro液态水自动进样器与Picarro L2140-i主机连接,对相同的水样品进行了对比测试.两种方法测得的δ18O和δD值在误差范围内接近.使用该系统对东亚季风区石笋样品进行的测试结果显示:石笋包裹体水的δ18O和δD值分布在全球大气降水线附近,表明测试过程中分馏作用较小;包裹体含水量对测试精度有一定影响,对于水汽浓度为2500~50000 ppm(1 ppm=1μL/L)的样品,δ18O、δD的标准差分别为0.5‰、2‰,与同类型系统相当.研究结果表明该系统能如实测量石笋包裹体水的δ18O和δD值,将为利用水-碳酸钙平衡分馏方程重建古温度提供重要的技术支撑.

Dixon术与Miles术联合手术室全程干预治疗低位直肠癌的疗效对比研究

目的:分析低位直肠癌前切除术(Dixon术)与腹会阴联合直肠癌根治术(Miles术)联合手术室全程干预对低位直肠癌患者围术期指标、排尿功能、环周切缘(CRM)阳性率、直肠穿孔率、术后复发率、死亡率及并发症发生情况的影响.方法:190例低位直肠癌患者为研究对象,予以随机数字表法将190例患者分为Miles术组(95例)、Dixon术组(95例).Miles术组行Miles术进行治疗,Dixon术组行Dixon术进行治疗,两组术后均观察1年,并于围手术期均予以手术室全程干预.比较Dixon术组、Miles术组围术期指标、术后半年排尿功能、CRM阳性率、术中直肠穿孔率、术后1年复发率、死亡率及术后并发症发生情况.结果:Dixon术组术中失血量、术后引流量少于Miles术组,手术时间、术后首次排气时间短于Miles术组.术后半年,Dixon术组排尿功能1级患者占比(53.68%)高于Miles术组(21.05%),排尿功能3级、4级占比(18.95%、5.26%)低于Miles术组(41.05%、18.95%).Dixon术组、Miles术组CRM阳性率、术中直肠穿孔率、术后1年复发率、死亡率、术后并发症发生率(2.11%vs 3.16%,1.05%vs 2.11%,6.32%vs 7.37%,5.26%vs 8.42%,8.42%vs 3.16%)比较,差异均衡.结论:与Miles术结合手术室全程干预相比,Dixon术结合手术室全程干预可缩短低位直肠癌患者手术时间,减少患者术中出血量、术后引流量,使患者术后肠道功能、排尿功能快速恢复,且具有良好的安全性及远期疗效.

Chinese stalagmite paleoclimate researches: A review and perspective

Stalagmite is one kind of secondary carbonates formed in limestone caves(speleothem). After cave water droplets containing Ca2+and HCO3 drip onto floor, carbonate in the water might become supersaturated due to CO2 degassing under certain conditions, resulting in the formation of stalagmite in a process year after year. Stalagmite is one of important geological archives for paleoclimate research. The advantages include wide spatial distribution, suitable for U-Th and U-Pb dating, enriched in climate proxies, continuity, long time span, comparability and lower sampling cost etc. These factors have propelled stalagmite paleoclimate research to the forefront of global paleoclimatology with an irreplaceable role. The stalagmite paleoclimate study started in the western countries, mainly in Europe and America in 1960 s–1970 s, while the relevant research in China was progressively developed in the 1980 s–1990 s after the Reform and Opening up. Although there was a huge gap between the overall research level in China and western countries, a solid research foundation, as well as a number of talent teams were established during the period. In the 21 st century, starting from the publication of stalagmite records from Hulu Cave in Nanjing in 2001, the stalagmite paleoclimate research in China has ushered in a flourishing development and a real leap on the basis of international cooperation, resulting in significant international impacts. The landmark achievements, including establishment of the world’s longest(640000 years) East Asian monsoon stalagmite record, as well as the longest Indian monsoon(280000 years),South American monsoon(250000 years), North American westerly climate(330000 years), Central Asian westerly climate(135000 years), and northwestern China westerly climate(500000 years), have laid a milestone in the paleoclimate study in these climate domains. Importantly, these stalagmite records have revealed the relationship of Asian monsoon variations with solar insolation climate change in polar regions, and the South American monsoon changes on orbital-suborbital timescales, which have provided new geological observations for the development of orbital-suborbital climate theory;elaborated coupling and differentiation relationships between the Asian monsoon and the westerly climate;reconstructed the history of Asian monsoon changes in the Holocene in detail, and thus the hydrological and climate variances behind Chinese and Indian civilizationcultural evolutions. Furthermore, a large number of high-resolution stalagmite records over the past 2000 years have been reconstructed, which are important for understanding short-term climate variability and magnitude, events, cycles, and thus the future climate projection. The achievements have also involved the improvements of a number of important techniques, such as U-Th dating method, the establishments of various hydroclimatic proxies, as well as the contributions to the reconstruction of the atmosphere14C variation history over the past ~54000 years. On the perspective of the future, the Chinese stalagmite community should continue to develop key techniques, further clarify the hydroclimatic significance of stalagmite proxies, impel the integration of related disciplines, and concentrate on key scientific issues in global climate change and major social demands.

Control of Leaf Senescence by an MeOH- Jasmonates Cascade that Is Epigenetically Regulated by OsSRT1 in Rice

Although considerable progress has been made in identifying the genes regulating accumulation of hormones that are involved in leaf senescence, only a few studies have focused on natural variations in jasmonates content and much less on the underlying genetic basis. Moreover, the epigenetic regulation of jasmonate-mediated leaf senescence remains largely unknown, in this study, we carried out metabolic profiling of a worldwide collection of rice accessions and demonstrated that there are substantial variations in jasmonate levels among these accessions. A subsequent metabolite-based genornewide association study identified candidates for two major quantitative genes （QTGs）, OsPME1 and OsTSD2, affecting the content of jasmonates. Further investigations using a series of relevant mutants and transgenic lines revealed the MeOH-jasmonata cascade plays an important role in regulating leaf senescence. Moreover, we showed that OsSRT1, one of the two Sir2 （silent information regugator 2） homologs in rice, negatively regulates leaf senescence by repressing expression of the biosynthetic genes of this metabolic cascade and at least particiaUy through histone H3K9 deacetylation of OsPME1. Taken together, our results indicate that the MeOH-jasmonates cascade and its epigenetic regulation are crucial for controlling leaf senescence process in rice.

Displacement measurement method based on laser self-mixing interference in the presence of speckle

In order to achieve the accurate measurement of displacement, this Letter presents a self-mixing interference displacement measurement method suitable for the speckle effect. Because of the speckle effect, the amplitude of the self-mixing interference signal fluctuates greatly, which will affect the measurement accuracy of displacement. The ensemble empirical mode decomposition is used to process the interference signal, which can filter out high-frequency noise and low-frequency noise at the same time. The envelope of the self-mixing interference signal is extracted by Hilbert transform, and it is used to realize the normalization of the signal. Through a series of signal processing, the influence of speckle can be effectively reduced, and the self-mixing interference signal can be transformed into standard form. The displacement can be reconstructed by fringe counting and the interpolation method. The experimental results show that the method is successfully applied to the displacement measurement in the presence of speckle, which verifies the effectiveness and feasibility of the method.

Earliest parietal art:hominin hand and foot traces from the middle Pleistocene of Tibet

At Quesang on the Tibetan Plateau we report a series of hand and foot impressions that appear to have been intentionally placed on the surface of a unit of soft travertine.The travertine was deposited by water from a hot spring which is now inactive and as the travertine lithified it preserved the traces.On the basis of the sizes of the hand and foot traces,we suggest that two track-makers were involved and were likely children.We interpret this event as a deliberate artistic act that created a work of parietal art.The travertine unit on which the traces were imprinted dates to between~169 and 226 ka BP.This would make the site the earliest currently known example of parietal art in the world and would also provide the earliest evidence discovered to date for hominins on the High Tibetan Plateau(above 4000 m a.s.l.).This remarkable discovery adds to the body of research that identifies children as some of the earliest artists within the genus Homo.

Orbital-scale Asian summer monsoon variations:Paradox and exploration

The Asian summer monsoon(ASM) is a vast climate system, whose variability is critical to the livelihoods of billions of people across the Asian continent. During the past half-century, much progress has been made in understanding variations on a wide range of timescales, yet several significant issues remain unresolved. Of note are two long-standing problems concerning orbital-scale variations of the ASM.(1) Chinese loess magnetic susceptibility records show a persistent glacial-interglacial dominated ~100 kyr(thousand years) periodicity, while the cave oxygen-isotope(δ18 O) records reveal periodicity in an almost pure precession band(~20 kyr periodicity)—the "Chinese 100 kyr problem".(2) ASM records from the Arabian Sea and other oceans surrounding the Asian continent show a significant lag of 8–10 kyr to Northern Hemisphere summer insolation(NHSI), whereas the Asian cave δ18 O records follow NHSI without a significant lag—a discrepancy termed the "sea-land precession-phase paradox". How can we reconcile these differences? Recent and more refined model simulations now provide spatial patterns of rainfall and wind across the precession cycle, revealing distinct regional divergences in the ASM domain, which can well explain a large portion of the disparities between the loess, marine, and cave proxy records. Overall, we also find that the loess, marine, and cave records are indeed complementary rather than incompatible, with each record preferentially describing a certain aspect of ASM dynamics. Our study provides new insight into the understanding of different hydroclimatic proxies and largely reconciles the "Chinese 100 kyr problem" and "sea-land precession-phase paradox".

Identification and Characterization of a Novel Single Domain Antibody Against Ebola Virus

Ebola virus(EBOV) belongs to the Filoviridae family and causes severe illnesses such as hemorrhagic fever with a high mortality rate up to 90%. Now two antibody drugs termed Inmazeb and Ebanga have been approved for treating EBOV infection. However, clinical studies have demonstrated that the mortality rate of the patients who received these two antibody drugs remains above 30%. Therefore, novel therapeutics with better efficacy is still desired. The isolated human IgG1 constant domain 2(CH2 domain) has been proposed as a scaffold for the development of C-based single domain antibodies(C-sd Abs) as therapeutic candidates against viral infections and other diseases. Here, we screened and identified a novel C-sd Ab termed M24 that targets EBOV glycoprotein(GP) from a C-sd Ab phage display library. M24 neutralizes the pseudotype EBOV with IC;of 0.8 nmol/L(12 ng/mL) and has modest neutralizing activity against authentic EBOV.Epitope determination, including molecular docking and site mutation analysis, discloses that M24 binds to the internal fusion loop(IFL) within GP2, a transmembrane subunit of GP. Interestingly, we found that the binding of M24 to GP at pH5.5 has dramatically decreased compared to the binding at pH 7.5, which may lead to weak efficacy in the neutralization of authentic EBOV. Since no sd Ab against EBOV infection has been reported to date, our results not only give a proof of concept that sd Abs could be utilized for the development of potential therapeutic candidates against EBOV infection, but also provide useful information for the discovery and improvement of anti-EBOV agents.

Optical fiber amplifiers for space-division multiplexing

Recently, space-division multiplexing （SDM） techniques using multi-core fiber （MCF） and few-mode fiber （FMF） have been introduced into optical fiber communication to increase transmission capacity. Two main types of optical fiber amplifiers based on the Erbium- doped fiber （EDF） and the Raman effect have been developed to amplify signals in the MCF and FMF. In this paper, we reviewed the principles and configurations of these amplifiers.

Mink Circovirus Can Infect Minks, Foxes and Raccoon Dogs

Dear Editor,Mink circovirus (MiCV), which is clustered in the genus Circovirus of the family Circoviridae, was first described in minks from farms in Dalian, China in 2013 (Lian et al.2014). The complete single-stranded circular genome of the virus is 1,753 nucleotides long and contains two major open reading frames (ORFs), designated ORF1 (Rep gene)and ORF2 (Cap gene)(Lian et al. 2014;Ge et al. 2018).

Dynamics of the SARS-CoV-2 antibody response up to 10 months after infection

COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection has caused substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide and paralyzed the international economy.Understanding the magnitude and duration of the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 is important to achieve a balance between curbing the pandemic and minimizing adverse effects on society.1 Although the antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 within 9 months has been extensively studied,2,3,4,5,6 little is known about the magnitude and kinetics of antibody responses for over 9 months.Moreover,with limited observations over 9 months(n<100),2,7,8 several studies have produced inconsistent conclusions about antibody dynamics,suggesting different rates of antiviral antibody positivity at the last follow-up.2,7,8 These studies have been limited by a lack of measurement of neutralizing antibodies(NAbs),7 of inclusion of mild or asymptomatic cases,2,8 and of further exploration of potential predisposing factors for antibody dynamics.2,7 Considering the individual heterogeneity(such as disease severity)8 and time-dependent nature1 of the immune response,in-depth characterization of SARS-CoV-2 antibody kinetics across disease severity groups over a long period is urgently needed.Therefore,we repeatedly tested IgM,IgG,viral spike protein receptor-binding dom(anti-RBD)IgG,and NAb titers in COVID-19 patients during a follow-up period of up to 10 months and explored potential predisposing factors of antibody titers during follow-up.

The Establishment and Validation of the Human U937 Cell Line as a Cellular Model to Screen Immunomodulatory Agents Regulating Cytokine Release Induced by Influenza Virus Infection

Severe influenza infections are often associated with the excessive induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines,which is also referred to as"cytokine storms".Several studies have shown that cytokine storms are directly associated with influenzainduced fatal acute lung injury and acute respiratory distress syndrome.Due to the narrow administration window,current antiviral therapies are often inadequate.The efforts to use immunomodulatory agents alone or in combination with antiviral agents in the treatment of influenza in animal models have resulted in the achievement of protective effects accompanied with reduced cytokine production.Currently,there are no immunomodulatory drugs for influenza available for clinical use.Animal models,despite being ideal to study the anti-inflammatory responses to influenza virus infection,are very costly and time-consuming.Therefore,there is an urgent need to establish fast and economical screening methods using cellbased models to screen and develop novel immunomodulatory agents.In this study,we screened seven human cell lines and found that the human monocytic cell U937 supports the replication of different subtypes of influenza viruses as well as the production of the important pro-inflammatory cytokines and was selected to develop the cell-based model.The U937 cell model was validated by testing a panel of known antiviral and immunomodulatory agents and screening a drug library consisting of 1280 compounds comprised mostly of FDA-approved drugs.We demonstrated that the U937 cell model is robust and suitable for the high-throughput screening of immunomodulators and antivirals against influenza infection.

Inactivating SARS-CoV-2 by electrochemical oxidation

Fully inactivating SARS-Co V-2, the virus causing coronavirus disease 2019, is of key importance for interrupting virus transmission but is currently performed by using biologically or environmentally hazardous disinfectants. Herein, we report an eco-friendly and efficient electrochemical strategy for inactivating the SARS-Co V-2 using in-situ formed nickel oxide hydroxide as anode catalyst and sodium carbonate as electrolyte. At a voltage of 5 V, the SARS-Co V-2 viruses can be rapidly inactivated with disinfection efficiency reaching 95% in only 30 s and 99.99% in 5 min. Mass spectrometry analysis and theoretical calculations indicate that the reactive oxygen species generated on the anode can oxidize the peptide chains and induce cleavage of the peptide backbone of the receptor binding domain of the SARS-Co V-2 spike glycoprotein, and thereby disables the virus. This strategy provides a sustainable and highly efficient approach for the disinfection of the SARS-CoV-2 viruliferous aerosols and wastewater.

Milankovitch theory and monsoon

The widely accepted“Milankovitch theory”explains insolation-induced waxing and waning of the ice sheets and their effect on the global climate on orbital timescales.In the past half century,however,the theory has often come under scrutiny,especially regarding its“100-ka problem.”Another drawback,but the one that has received less attention,is the“monsoon problem,”which pertains to the exclusion of monsoon dynamics in classic Milankovitch theory even though the monsoon prevails over the vast low-latitude(
30N to
30S)region that covers half of the Earth’s surface and receives the bulk of solar radiation.In this review,we discuss the major issues with the current form of Milankovitch theory and the progress made at the research forefront.

效应量在汉语国际教育研究中的应用

效应量的使用在国际语言教育研究领域日益流行,但在汉语国际教育研究中使用很少.本文包括三部分:一是讨论零假设显著性检验和p值使用的局限性;二是介绍不同种类效应量的基本概念、计算方法和解读标准,并结合实例介绍效应量在汉语国际教育中的应用;三是分析效应量在汉语国际教育中的应用现状,并针对效应量在汉语国际教育的应用提出相应建议.