Analyses of oligodontia phenotypes and genetic etiologies

Oligodontia is the congenital absence of six or more teeth and comprises the more severe forms of tooth agenesis.Many genes have been implicated in the etiology of tooth agenesis,which is highly variable in its clinical presentation.The purpose of this study was to identify associations between genetic mutations and clinical features of oligodontia patients.An online systematic search of papers published from January 1992 to June 2021 identified 381 oligodontia cases meeting the eligibility criteria of causative gene mutation,phenotype description,and radiographic records.Additionally,ten families with oligodontia were recruited and their genetic etiologies were determined by whole-exome sequence analyses.We identified a novel mutation in WNT10A(c.99_105dup)and eight previously reported mutations in WNT10A(c.433 G>A;c.682 T>A;c.318 C>G;c.511.C>T;c.321 C>A),EDAR(c.581 C>T),and LRP6(c.1003 C>T,c.2747 G>T).Collectively,20 different causative genes were implicated among those 393 cases with oligodontia.For each causative gene,the mean number of missing teeth per case and the frequency of teeth missing at each position were calculated.Genotype–phenotype correlation analysis indicated that molars agenesis is more likely linked to PAX9 mutations,mandibular first premolar agenesis is least associated with PAX9 mutations.

Winter habitat use of snow leopards in Tomur National Nature Reserve of Xinjiang,Northwest China

Snow leopards are one of the least known large cats, the population of which has dramatically de- creased. Their habitat loss was considered the main reason for the decline during the last decade, but their habitat preferences are still not well known. In this paper, we studied the winter habitat preferences of snow leopards in the Tomur National Nature Reserve （TNNR） in Northwest China during 2004-2005. We used sign surveys and tran- sects to study the winter habitat selection of snow leopards. The results indicated that snow leopards showed a preference for habitat variabilities in slope aspect, vegetation cover, dominant topographical features, landform ruggedness and grazing status. We found that prey availability and dominant topographical features were the most important factors that determined the winter habitat selection of snow leopards. Our results supported the idea that the habitat preferences of snow leopards are a tradeoff between suitable habitat features and avoidance of potential human interactions.

Sparse Code Multiple Access-Towards Massive Connectivity and Low Latency 5G Communications

Sparse code multiple access(SCMA) is a novel non-orthogonal multiple access technology considered as a key component in 5G air interface design. In SCMA, the incoming bits are directly mapped to multi-dimensional constellation vectors known as SCMA codewords, which are then mapped onto blocks of physical resource elements in a sparse manner. The number of codewords that can be non-orthogonally multiplexed in each SCMA block is much larger than the number of resource elements therein, so the system is overloaded and can support larger number of users. The joint optimization of multi-dimensional modulation and low density spreading in SCMA codebook design ensures the SCMA receiver to recover the coded bits with high reliability and low complexity. The flexibility in design and the robustness in performance further prove SCMA to be a promising technology to meet the 5G communication demands such as massive connectivity and low latency transmissions.

应对气候变化相关冲击的全球经济压力测试

测试全球经济以应对与气候变化相关的大型互联经济体的极端冲击意义重大。这篇IMF的工作论文研究了易受气候变化相关冲击影响的大型互联经济体,估计了这些经济体因这些冲击而面临风险的外部融资需求,并使用全球网络模型量化分析其对全球经济的溢出效应。研究结果表明,易受气候变化影响的大型互联经济体可能导致1.8万亿美元的国际储备流失(占2019年全球GDP的2%),国内和国际多边宏观经济政策可以帮助将这些全球损失减少到约0.8万亿美元,该情景强调了在评估气候变化相关冲击的影响时考虑全球溢出效应的重要性。本刊编译此篇论文,以期为读者带来思考和启发。

Progress of super-resolution near-field structure and application in optical data storage

The era of big data has necessitated the use of ultra-high density optical storage devices. Super-resolution near-field structure （super-RENS）, which has successfully surpassed the fundamental optical diffraction limit, is one of the promising next generation high-density optical storage technologies. This technology combines the traditional super-resolution optical disk with a near-field structure, and has the advantages of structural simplicity, strong practicability, and, more importantly, compatibility with the current optical storage pickup. The mask layer in super-RENS functions as the key to realizing superresolution. Development of suitable materials and stack designs has greatly been improved in the last decade. This paper described several types of super-RENS, such as aperture-type, light scattering center-type, bubble-type, and other types （e.g., WOx and ZnO）, particularly the newly proposed super-RENS technology and research achievements. The paper also reviews the applications of super-RENS in high-density optical data storage in recent years. After analyzing and comparing various types of super-RENS technology, the paper proposes the aperturetype based on the mechanism of nonlinear optics as the most suitable candidate for practical applications in the near future.

Dynamic Study of Nonlinear Optical Properties in Tetrasodium Salt of Copper Tetrasulfophthalocyanine/Water Solution

The nonlinear refraction of tetrasodium salt of copper tetrasulfophthalocyanine in water was investigated by using Z-scan technique at 532 nm with different input energy and different pulse width. We reported the competition between the excited-state refraction and excited-state-thermal-induced refraction. The sign change of nonlinear refraction induced by thermal effect was observed and analyzed. In addition, we found that the excited-state refraction cannot counteract with excited-state-thermal-induced refraction due to different physical mechanism.