A susceptibility locus rs7099208 is associated with non-obstructive azoospermia via reduction in the expression of FAM160B1

Non-obstructive azoospermia （NOA） is a severe defect in male reproductive health that occurs in 1% of adult men. In a previous study, we identified that rs7099208 is located within the last intron of FAM160B1 at 10q25.3. In this study, we analysed expression Quantitative Trait Loci （eQTL） of FAM16OB1, ABLIM1 and TRUB1, the three genes surrounding rs7099208. Only the expression level of FAM16OB1 was reduced for the homozygous alternate genotype （GG） of rs7099208, but not for the homozygous reference or heterozygous geno- types. FAM160B1 is predominantly expressed in human testes, where it is found in spermatocytes and round sper- matids. From 17 patients with NOA and five with obstructive azoospermia （OA）, immunohistochemistry revealed that expression of FAM160B1 is reduced, or undetectable in NOA patients, but not in OA cases or normal men. We conclude that rs7099208 is associated with NOA via a reduction in the expression of FAM160B1.

Textual Content Prediction via Fuzzy Attention Neural Network Model without Predefined Knowledge

Text analysis is a popular technique for finding the most significant information from texts including semantic,emotional,and other hidden features,which became a research hotspot in the last few years.Specially,there are some text analysis tasks with judgment reports,such as analyzing the criminal process and predicting prison terms.Traditional researches on text analysis are generally based on special feature selection and ontology model generation or require legal experts to provide external knowledge.All these methods require a lot of time and labor costs.Therefore,in this paper,we use textual data such as judgment reports creatively to perform prison term prediction without external legal knowledge.We propose a framework that combines value-based rules and a fuzzy text to predict the target prison term.The procedure in our framework includes information extraction,term fuzzification,and document vector regression.We carry out experiments with real-world judgment reports and compare our model’s performance with those of ten traditional classification and regression models and two deep learning models.The results show that our model achieves competitive results compared with other models as evaluated by the RMSE and R-squared metrics.Finally,we implement a prototype system with a user-friendly GUI that can be used to predict prison terms according to the legal text inputted by the user.

An Arthrobacter strain isolated from desert soils in the region of Shule River (China) can convert cellulose to potential biofuels

In this study, an Arthrobacter strain from desert soils in the Shule River Valley was isolated, China, which has a strong ability to convert cellulose to potential biofuel. In total, from five soil sample sites, six strains were isolated that grew well on CMC-Agar medium, with colony diameters ranging from 3~4 mm, among them, one strain had a strong ability to produce biofuels. Based on morphological and phylogenetic analyses, the isolate was identified as Arthrobacter nitroguajacolicus strain SLP1. The chemical properties of the biofuel extracted from the fermentation broth of strain SLP1 were analysed by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. A total of 41 kinds of carbon compounds were identified, of those,five were detected at peak concentration and the carbon numbers ranged from C16–C22, which can be classified as alkanes,alkenes, and alcohols. Furthermore, biofuel-producing ability of strain SLP1 was enhanced using NTG mutagen. In a total of 94 mutant strains, four show the most enhanced biofuel production relative to the original strain. Biofuel production conditions were optimized by growing the four mutant strains on LB-Agar and SS-Agar medium.

Linkages between soil microbial stability and carbon storage in the active layer under permafrost degradation

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP)distributes the largest extent of high-altitude mountain permafrost in the world(Zou et al.,2017),which has different characteristics from high-latitude permafrost(Yang et al.,2010)and stores massive soil carbon.

On-Surface Synthesis of Electron-Deficient Bisanthene Tetraimide

Imide-based conjugated molecules have emerged as a highly promising class of building blocks for constructing n-type semiconducting materials with lowlying lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals and exceptional stability.Although imides,such as naphthalene diimides,perylene diimides and their lateral fused analogs,have been synthesized extensively,the design and synthesis of largerπ-extended molecules incorporating more than two imide groups are desirable but still very challenging.Herein,we report the synthesis of an unprecedented electron-deficient bisanthene tetraimide(ATI)containing a bisantheneconjugated core and four five-membered imide groups,which was successfully achieved via a combined approach of solution and on-surface synthesis.The chemical structures,electronic states,formation mechanism and aromaticity of ATI were systematically investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy,noncontact atomic force microscopy,scanning tunneling spectroscopy,and density functional theory calculations.

Trends in the Incidence of High-Risk Newborns Based on a New Conceptual Framework-Beijing Municipality,China,2013-2022

Summary What is already known on this topic?A new conceptual term,small and vulnerable newborns(SVN),bringing preterm birth,small for gestational age(SGA),or low birth weight(LBW)together is being advocated for assessing whether a child is at high risk.What is added by this report?According to the new conceptual term,the increasing incidence of high-risk newborns(from 9.82%to 10.96%)has been observed among 2,005,408 newborns over the period from 2013 to 2022,which is higher than using any of the three definitions of SVN.Maternal age≥35,primiparity,and multiple births are high risks for SVN.What are the implications for public health practice?The new conceptual framework should be used to better assess the number of high-risk newborns.Attention should be paid to multiple births to prevent preterm-related SVN.To reduce term newborns who are SGA,we need to be concerned not only with multiple pregnancies but also with first-time mothers.

Reproductive Characteristics and Trends of Major Pregnancy Outcomes of Women at Different Parities-Beijing Municipality,China,2013-2022

Summary What is already known about this topic?With socioeconomic development,the increase of older pregnancies and multiparas has brought risks to mothers and infants.What is added by this report?As parities increased,the proportion of women of advanced maternal age(AMA)and non-local domicile increased,while the proportion of women with higher education levels decreased.Women with≥3 parities are more likely to have preterm birth(PTB)and macrosomia.What are the implications for public health practice?A comprehensive analysis of pregnancy traits among women at different parities offers a robust foundation for tailored strategies against adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Strong in-plane optical anisotropy in 2D van der Waals antiferromagnet VOCl

Two-dimensional(2D)van der Waals(vdW)magnetic materials with strong in-plane anisotropy can make possible novel applications such as optospintronics and strain sensors.In this work,the strong in-plane optical anisotropy in 2D vdW antiferromagnet VOCl has been systematically investigated.The optical brightness and absorption coefficient exhibit evident periodic variation with the change of incident polarization,unveiling the strong in-plane anisotropic optical absorption.The Raman intensity in this material shows obvious dependence on the polarization angle of incident laser,demonstrating that the phonon properties possess strong in-plane anisotropy.Besides,we have also realized in-situ visualization of in-plane optical reflection anisotropy in this material.Moreover,the strong second harmonic generation(SHG)signal can only be detected when the incident polarization is along specific in-plane crystal orientations,illustrating the presence of strong in-plane nonlinear optical anisotropy.These findings will benefit the applications of VOCl in the field of polarization-dependent electronics and spintronics.

含Benzo[a]azulene单元的锯齿状梯形共轭聚合物的表面在位合成

梯形共轭聚合物(CLPs)因其独特的光电性质而受到广泛关注。绝大多数CLPs是通过溶液方法合成的,但近年来,在超高真空环境中进行的表面原位合成策略逐渐崭露头角,成为CPL合成的新方法。表面原位合成方法能够克服传统溶液合成的限制,如随着聚合度增加而受限的溶解度和结构稳定性,从而实现复杂共轭结构的精确合成。Azulene衍生物是在表面合成非苯型CLPs的有吸引力的前体。与传统的只含六元环的CLPs相比,使用烷基取代的azulene作为前体分子,有望获得具有复杂骨架结构的CLPs,从而调控其电子性质,但目前很少有人探索这种策略。本文报道了3,3'-二溴-2,2’-二甲基-1,1’-联薁(DBMA)在Au(111)表面上的热化学反应。在室温的Au(111)衬底上,我们发现沉积的分子在重构表面的fcc(面心立方堆积)区域形成无定型的聚集体,并在100℃以下保持形貌不变。当退火温度高于150℃后,DBMA发生脱溴反应并与金原子络合形成具有复杂空间立体结构的2,2’-二甲基-1,1’-联薁有机金属聚合物,并展现出迥异的图像特征。随后在更高温度下退火,有机金属聚合物脱去金属原子并经历碳碳偶联反应。该过程伴随着甲基与相邻薁单元之间的分子内环化反应,形成了含有benzo[a]azulene单元的梯形共轭聚合物。有趣的是,我们发现当一侧甲基参与反应并在聚合物中形成六元环时,会显著地弯折聚合物链,使得另一侧甲基与薁单元之间的距离增加,并抑制预期的环化过程。我们通过键分辨扫描探针显微镜对反应过程中的相关结构进行了研究,发现反应结果与反应中间结构的应力关联紧密。我们的结果表明,烷基取代的azulene前体可应用于非苯型碳纳米结构的表面合成,并有望实现扩展的非苯型二维碳纳米结构。

Highly-anisotropic optical and electrical properties in layered SnSe

Anisotropic materials are of considerable interest because of their unique combination of polarization- or direction-dependent electrical, optical, and thermoelectric properties. Low-symmetry two-dimensional （2D） materials formed by van der Waals stacking of covalently bonded atomic layers are inherently anisotropic. Layered SnSe exhibits a low degree of lattice symmetry, with a distorted NaC1 structure and an in-plane anisotropy. Here we report a systematic study of the in-plane anisotropic properties in layered SnSe, using angle-resolved Raman scattering, optical absorption, and electrical transport studies. The optical and electrical characterization was direction-dependent, and successfully identified the crystalline orientation in the layered SnSe. Furthermore, the dependence of Raman-intensity anisotropy on the SnSe flake thickness and the excitation wavelength were investigated by both experiments and theoretical calculations. Finally, the electrical transport studies demonstrated that few-layer SnSe field- effect transistors （FETs） have a large anisotropic ratio of carrier mobility （N 5.8） bet- ween the armchair and zigzag directions, which is a record high value reported for 2D anisotropic materials. The highly-anisotropic properties of layered SnSe indicate considerable promise for anisotropic optics, electronics, and optoelectronics.

A Variational Binary Level Set Method for Structural Topology Optimization

This paper proposes a variational binary level set method for shape and topology optimization of structural.First,a topology optimization problem is presented based on the level set method and an algorithm based on binary level set method is proposed to solve such problem.Considering the difficulties of coordination between the various parameters and efficient implementation of the proposed method,we present a fast algorithm by reducing several parameters to only one parameter,which would substantially reduce the complexity of computation and make it easily and quickly to get the optimal solution.The algorithm we constructed does not need to re-initialize and can produce many new holes automatically.Furthermore,the fast algorithm allows us to avoid the update of Lagrange multiplier and easily deal with constraints,such as piecewise constant,volume and length of the interfaces.Finally,we show several optimum design examples to confirm the validity and efficiency of our method.