SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF FOUR NOVEL TYPES OF MICROPOROUS BERYLLOPHOSPHATE(Ⅱ)

Four new types of microporous beryllophosphates were hydrothermally synthesized using BeO - P_2O_5- R - MCl (or MCl_2) - H_20, R being HMDA (1, b-hexanediamine), EDA (ethylenediamine), or TBAOH (tetrabutytamine hydroxide), M alkali or alkali earth cation. By means of X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD), infrared (IR), TG-DT and elemental analyses we show that the crystalline beryllopbospbates have novel, unique framework structures, composed from basic units of tetrahedral P0_4 and Be0_4. These materials exhibit zeolite-like adsorption and ion-exchange properties.

Usefulness of a novel slim type Flush Knife-BT over conventional Flush Knife-BT in esophageal endoscopic submucosal dissection

To investigated the usefulness of a novel slim type ball-tipped FlushKnife (FlushKnife-BTS) over ball-tipped FlushKnife (FlushKnife-BT) in functional experiments and clinical practice.METHODSIn order to evaluate the functionality of FlushKnife-BTS, water aspiration speed, resistance to knife insertion through the scope, and waterjet flushing speed were compared between FlushKnife-BTS and BT. In clinical practice, esophageal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) performed using FlushKnife-BTS or BT by an experienced endoscopist between October 2015 and January 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. The treatment speed and frequency of removing and reinserting the knife to aspirate fluid and air during ESD sessions were analyzed.RESULTSFunctional experiments revealed that water aspiration speed by the endoscope equipped with a 2.8-mm working channel with FlushKnife-BTS was 7.7-fold faster than that with conventional FlushKnife-BT. Resistance to knife insertion inside the scope with a 2.8-mm working channel was reduced by 40% with FlushKnife-BTS. The waterjet flushing speed was faster with the use of FlushKnife-BT. In clinical practice, a comparison of 6 and 7 ESD using FlushKnife-BT and BTS, respectively, revealed that the median treatment speed was 25.5 mm2/min (range 19.6-30.3) in the BT group and 44.2 mm2/min (range 15.5-55.4) in the BTS group (P = 0.0633). However, the median treatment speed was significantly faster with FlushKnife-BTS when the resection size was larger than 1000 m2 (n = 4, median 24.2 mm2/min, range 19.6-27.7 vs n = 4, median 47.4 mm2/min, range 44.2-55.4, P = 0.0209). The frequency of knife replacement was less in the BTS group (median 1.76 times in one hour, range 0-5.45) than in the BT group (7.02 times in one hour, range 4.23-15) (P = 0.0065).CONCLUSIONOur results indicate that FlushKnife-BTS enhances the performance of ESD, particularly for large lesions, by improving air and fluid aspiration and knife insertion during ESD and reducing the frequency of knife removal and reinsertion.

T4SP: A Novel Tool and Database for Type IV Secretion Systems in Bacterial Genomes

Secretion systems, macromolecules to pass which can mediate the across cellular membranes, are essential for virulent and genetic material exchange among bacterial species[1]. Type IV secretion system （T4SS） is one of the secretion systems and it usually consists of 12 genes： VirB1, VirB2 ...VirB11, and VirD4[2]. The structure and molecular mechanisms of these genes have been well analyzed in Gram-negative strains[3] and Gram-positive strains were once believed to be lack of T4SS. However, some recent studies revealed that one or more virB/D genes also exist in some kinds of Gram-positive bacteria and play similar role, and form a T4SS-like system[3]. The VirBl-like, VirB4, VirB6, and VirD4 genes were identified in the chromosome of Gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus suis in our previous studies and their role as important mobile elements for horizontal transfer to recipients in an 89 K pathogenicity island （PAl） was demonstrated[45]. However, their structure and molecular mechanisms in other strains, especially in Gram-positive strains, are remained unclear.

Accurate cell type annotation for single-cell chromatin accessibility data via contrastive learning and reference guidance

Recent advances in single-cell chromatin accessibility sequencing(scCAS)technologies have resulted in new insights into the characterization of epigenomic heterogeneity and have increased the need for automatic cell type annotation.However,existing automatic annotation methods for scCAS data fail to incorporate the reference data and neglect novel cell types,which only exist in a test set.Here,we propose RAINBOW,a reference-guided automatic annotation method based on the contrastive learning framework,which is capable of effectively identifying novel cell types in a test set.By utilizing contrastive learning and incorporating reference data,RAINBOW can effectively characterize the heterogeneity of cell types,thereby facilitating more accurate annotation.With extensive experiments on multiple scCAS datasets,we show the advantages of RAINBOW over state-of-the-art methods in known and novel cell type annotation.We also verify the effectiveness of incorporating reference data during the training process.In addition,we demonstrate the robustness of RAINBOW to data sparsity and number of cell types.Furthermore,RAINBOW provides superior performance in newly sequenced data and can reveal biological implication in downstream analyses.All the results demonstrate the superior performance of RAINBOW in cell type annotation for scCAS data.We anticipate that RAINBOW will offer essential guidance and great assistance in scCAS data analysis.The source codes are available at the GitHub website(BioX-NKU/RAINBOW).

A cell marker-based clustering strategy(cmCluster)for precise cell type identification of scRNA-seq data

Background:The precise and efficient analysis of single-cell transcriptome data provides powerful support for studying the diversity of cell functions at the single-cell level.The most important and challenging steps are cell clustering and recognition of cell populations.While the precision of clustering and annotation are considered separately in most current studies,it is worth attempting to develop an extensive and flexible strategy to balance clustering accuracy and biological explanation comprehensively.Methods:The cell marker-based clustering strategy(cmCluster),which is a modified Louvain clustering method,aims to search the optimal clusters through genetic algorithm(GA)and grid search based on the cell type annotation results.Results:By applying cmCluster on a set of single-cell transcriptome data,the results showed that it was beneficial for the recognition of cell populations and explanation of biological function even on the occasion of incomplete cell type information or multiple data resources.In addition,cmCluster also produced clear boundaries and appropriate subtypes with potential marker genes.The relevant code is available in GitHub website(huangyuwei301/cmCluster).Conclusions:We speculate that cmCluster provides researchers effective screening strategies to improve the accuracy of subsequent biological analysis,reduce artificial bias,and facilitate the comparison and analysis of multiple studies.

Tadpole types of Chinese megophryid frogs （Anura： Mego- phryidae） and implications for larval evolution

The larval body shapes and oral discs of 30 frog species from the family Megophryidae from China were examined. Using a phylogenetic framework derived from a Bayesian analysis of published mitochondrial cytochrome b and 16S rRNA gene sequences, we deduced a pattern of historical change among megophryid larval forms. These larvae were categorized into four types according to their body shapes and oral discs： （A） Leptobrachiini type, （B） Lalax type, （C） Brachytarsophrys type, and （D） Megophryini type, of which B and C are novel types. Type A is characterized by a typical oral disc with multiple rows of teeth, representing the tadpole type of the most recent common ancestor of the family Megophryidae. Type B has a typical oral disc with reduced tooth rows, an elongated labium, and integumentary glands. Type C has no labial teeth and a smaller umbelliform oral disc. Type D is characterized by a lack of labial teeth, an enlarged umbelliform oral disc, representing the tadpole of the most recent common ancestor of the subfamily Megophryinae. Our analysis supports the hypothesis that the umbelliform oral disc is apomorphic and also reveals the close association between morphology and microhabitat

A Long Type of TBCK Is a Novel Cytoplasmic and Mitotic Apparatus-Associated Protein Likely Suppressing Cell Proliferation

Autoantibodies from patients with various connective tissue diseases have been shown to be specific probes that can detect cellular structures, including centrosome, centromere/kineto- chore, spliceosome, Golgi complex and the rough endoplasmic reticulum （Louvard et al., 1982; Rattner et al., 1998;