Hydromassage of macular hole edges for large and persistent full-thickness macular holes

●AIM:To introduce the macular hole(MH)hydromassage technique as a potentially beneficial approach for the treatment of large or persistent MH.●METHODS:This retrospective observational case series comprised 16 consecutive patients(17 eyes)diagnosed with MH.Inclusion criteria involved a hole aperture diameter larger than 600μm or the presence of an unclosed MH larger than 600μm following the previous vitrectomy.Standard MH repair procedures were administered in all cases,involving the manipulation and aspiration of the hole margin through the application of water flow with a soft-tip flute needle.A comprehensive assessment was conducted for each case before and after surgery,and optical coherence tomography(OCT)images were captured at every follow-up point.●RESULTS:The mean preoperative aperture diameter was 747±156μm(range 611-1180μm),with a mean base diameter of 1390±435μm(range 578-2220μm).Following surgery,all cases achieved complete anatomical closure of MH,with 13 cases(76.5%)exhibiting type 1 closure and 4 cases(23.5%)demonstrating type 2 closure.No significant differences were observed in the preoperative OCT variables between the two closure types.Eyes with type 1 closure showed a significantly improved visual acuity(0.70±0.10,range 0.50-0.80)compared to those with type 2 closure(0.90±0.12,range 0.80-1.00,P=0.014).●CONCLUSION:The MH hydromassage technique demonstrates promising results,achieving acceptable closure rates in cases of large or persistent MH.This technique may serve as an effective adjunctive maneuver during challenging MH surgery.

Rotating Massive Strangeon Stars and X-Ray Plateau of Short GRBs

Strangeon stars,which are proposed to describe the nature of pulsar-like compact stars,have passed various observational tests.The maximum mass of a non-rotating strangeon star could be high,which implies that the remnants of binary strangeon star mergers could even be long-lived massive strangeon stars.We study rigidly rotating strangeon stars in the slowly rotating approximation,using the Lennard-Jones model for the equation of state.Rotation can significantly increase the maximum mass of strangeon stars with unchanged baryon numbers,enlarging the mass-range of long-lived strangeon stars.During spin-down after merger,the decrease of radius of the remnant will lead to the release of gravitational energy.Taking into account the efficiency of converting the gravitational energy luminosity to the observed X-ray luminosity,we find that the gravitational energy could provide an alternative energy source for the plateau emission of X-ray afterglow.The fitting results of X-ray plateau emission of some short gamma-ray bursts suggest that the magnetic dipole field strength of the remnants can be much smaller than that of expected when the plateau emission is powered only by spin-down luminosity of magnetars.

Statistical study of magnetic holes in the upstream region of Mercury’s bow shock

Magnetic holes are magnetic depression structures that exist widely in many plasma environments.The magnetic holes with durations of>1 s in the solar wind at Mercury’s orbit have drawn much attention,but the properties of the magnetic holes with shorter durations are still unclear.Here,we investigate the magnetic holes with durations of 0.1-100 s in the upstream region of Mercury’s bow shock based on observations by the MESSENGER(MErcury Surface,Space ENvironment,GEochemistry,and Ranging)spacecraft.They can be divided into two groups according to the distribution of their duration:small-duration magnetic holes(SDMHs,<0.6 s)and large-duration magnetic holes(LDMHs,>0.6 s).The duration of each group approximately obeys a log-normal distribution with a median of~0.25 s and 3 s,respectively.Approximately 1.7%(32.6%)of the SDMHs(LDMHs)reduce the magnetic field strength by more than 50%.For both groups,some structures have a linear or quasi-linear polarization,whereas others have an elliptical polarization.The magnetic hole events in both groups tend to have a higher rate of occurrence when the interplanetary magnetic field strength is weaker.Their occurrence rates are also affected by Mercury’s foreshock,which can increase(decrease)the occurrence rate of the SDMHs(LDMHs).This finding suggests that Mercury’s foreshock might be one source of the SDMHs and that the foreshock can destroy some LDMHs.These observations suggest that a new group of magnetic holes with durations of<0.6 s exist in the upstream region of Mercury’s bow shock.

Free Energy of Anisotropic Strangeon Stars

Can pulsar-like compact objects release further huge free energy besides the kinematic energy of rotation?This is actually relevant to the equation of state of cold supra-nuclear matter,which is still under hot debate.Enormous energy is surely needed to understand various observations,such asγ-ray bursts,fast radio bursts and softγ-ray repeaters.In this paper,the elastic/gravitational free energy of solid strangeon stars is revisited for strangeon stars,with two anisotropic models to calculate in general relativity.It is found that huge free energy(>10^(46)erg)could be released via starquakes,given an extremely small anisotropy((p_(t)-p_(r))/p_(r)~10^(-4),with pt/pr the tangential/radial pressure),implying that pulsar-like stars could have great potential of free energy release without extremely strong magnetic fields in the solid strangeon star model.

On the Identification of N-rich Metal-poor Field Stars with Future Chinese Space Station Telescope

During the long term evolution of globular clusters(GCs), some member stars are lost to the field. The recently found nitrogen-rich(N-rich) metal-poor field stars are promising candidates of these GC escapees, since N enhancement is the fingerprint of chemically enhanced populations in GCs. In this work, we discuss the possibility of identifying N-rich metal-poor field stars with the upcoming Chinese Space Station Telescope(CSST). We focus on the main survey camera with NUV, u, g, r, i, z, y filters and slitless spectrograph with a resolution about 200.The combination of UV sensitive equipment and prominent N-related molecular lines in the UV band bodes well for the identification: the color–color diagram of(u-g) versus(g-r) is capable of separating N-rich field stars from normal halo stars, if metallicity can be estimated without using the information on u-band photometry.Besides, the synthetic spectra show that a signal-to-noise ratio of 10 is sufficient to identify N-rich field stars. In the near future, a large sample of N-rich field stars found by CSST, combined with state-of-the-art N-body simulations will be crucial to deciphering GC-Galaxy co-evolution.

Period–Luminosity Relationship forδScuti Stars Revisited

The Gaia DR3 parallax approach was used to estimate the absolute parameters of 2375δScuti stars from the ASAS catalog.The selected stars have a variety of observational characteristics,with a higher than 80%probability of beingδScuti stars.We have displayed all the stars in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram along with theδScuti instability strip,the Zero Age Main Sequence and the Terminal Age Main Sequence.Then,we determined which fundamental and overtone modes each star belongs to using pulsation constant(Q)calculations.In addition,we evaluated the parameters in the Q calculation equation using three machine learning methods,which showed that surface gravity and temperature have the greatest effect on its calculation.The Period-Luminosity(P-L)relationship of theδScuti stars was also revisited.Eventually,using least squares linear regression,we made four linear fits for fundamental and overtone modes and updated their relationships.

Variable Stars in the 50BiN Open Cluster Survey.Ⅲ.NGC 884

Open clusters are the basic building blocks that serve as a laboratory for the study of young stellar populations in the Milky Way.Variable stars in open clusters provide a unique way to accurately probe the internal structure,temporal and dynamical evolutionary stages of individual stars and the host cluster.The most powerful tool for such studies is time-domain photometric observations.This paper follows the route of our previous work,concentrating on a photometric search for variable stars in NGC 884.The target cluster is the companion of NGC869,forming the well-known double cluster system that is gravitationally bound.From the observation run in 2016 November,a total of 9247 B-band CCD images and 8218Ⅴ-band CCD images were obtained.We detected a total of 15 stars with variability in visual brightness,including five Be stars,three eclipsing binaries,and seven of unknown types.Two new variable stars were discovered in this work.We also compared the variable star content of NGC 884 with its companion NGC 869.

Generalized Newton’s Theory of Universal Gravitation and Black Holes

The Newton’s theory of universal gravitation is generalized. Significantly strong at short distances central interaction of bodies and particles is established in comparison with Newtonian. A connection is found with Black Holes, with the horizon of events. Possibility of systematization of all Black Holes is shown. An illustration is given on the example of Black Hole SgrA*.

Life Origin in the Milky Way Galaxy: III. Spatial Distribution of Overheated Stars in the Solar Neighborhood

A concept of ensemble averaged stellar reactors is developed to study the dynamics of processes occurring in stars, allocated in the ~200 pc solar neighborhood. According to the effective temperature value, four stellar classes are identified, for which the correlation coefficients and standard deviation are counted. The theory of the buoyancy terrestial elements is generalized to stellar systems. It was suggested that stars are over-heated due to the shift parameters of the nuclear processes occurring inside the stars, which leads to the synthesis of transuranium elements until the achievement of a critical nuclear mass and star explosion. The heavy transuranium elements sink downward and are concentrated in the stellar depth layers. The physical explanation of the existence of the critical Chandrasekhar star limit has been offered. Based on the spatial analysis of overheated stars, it was suggested that the withdrawal of the stellar reactor from the equilibrium state is a consequence of extragalactic compression inside the galaxy arm due to the arm spirality (not to be confused with the spirality of the galaxy itself).

Investigation on photonic crystal nanobeam cavity based on mixed diamond–circular holes

A photonic crystal nanobeam cavity(M-PCNC)with a structure incorporating a mixture of diamond-shaped and circular air holes is pro-posed.The performance of the cavity is simulated and studied theoretically.Using thefinite-difference time-domain method,the parameters of the M-PCNC,including cavity thickness and width,lattice constant,and radii and numbers of holes,are optimized,with the quality factor Q and mode volume Vm as performance indicators.Mutual modulation of the lattice constant and hole radius enable the proposed M-PCNC to realize outstanding performance.The optimized cavity possesses a high quality factor Q 1.45105 and an ultra-small mode=×volume Vm 0.01(λ/n)[Zeng et al.,Opt Lett 2023:48;3981–3984]in the telecommunications wavelength range.Light can be progres-=sively squeezed in both the propagation direction and the perpendicular in-plane direction by a series of interlocked anti-slots and slots in the diamond-shaped hole structure.Thereby,the energy can be confined within a small mode volume to achieve an ultra-high Q/Vm ratio.

Black Holes or Dark Stars—What Follows from the General Relativity Theory

The paper is concerned with spherically symmetric static problem of the Classical Gravitation Theory (CGT) and the General Relativity Theory (GRT). First, the Dark Stars, i.e. the objects that are invisible because of high gravitation preventing the propagation of light discovered in the 18th century by J. Michel and P. Laplace are discussed. Second, the Schwarzchild solution which was obtained in the beginning of the 20th century for the internal and external spaces of the perfect fluid sphere is analyzed. This solution results in singular metric coefficients and provides the basis of the Black Holes. Third, the general metric form in spherical coordinates is introduced and the solution of GRT problem is obtained under the assumption that gravitation does not affect the sphere mass. The critical sphere radius similar to the Black Hole horizon of events is found. In contrast to the Schwarzchild solution, the radial metric coefficient for the sphere with the critical radius referred to as the Dark Star is not singular. For the sphere with radius which is less than the critical value, the GRT solution becomes imaginary. The problem is discussed within the framework of the phenomenological theory which does not take into account the actual microstructure of the gravitating objects and, though the term “star” is used, the analysis is concerned with a model fluid sphere rather than with a real astrophysical object.

Quenched Galaxies are Important Host Candidates of Binary Black Hole and Binary Neutron Star Mergers

In this work,we present the probabilities of mergers of binary black holes(BBHs)and binary neutron stars(BNSs)as functions of stellar mass,metallicity,specific star formation rate(sSFR),and age for galaxies with redshift z≤0.1.Using the binary-star evolution(BSE)code and some fitting formulae,we construct a phenomenological model of cosmic gravitational wave(GW)merger events.By using the Bayesian analysis method and the observations from Advanced LIGO and Virgo,we obtain the relevant parameters of the phenomenological model(such as the maximum black hole mass is 93_(-22)^(+73)M_(⊙)).Combining the above model results with the galaxy catalog given by the EMERGE empirical galaxy model,we find the normalized probability of occurrence of a merger event varying with log10 sSFR yr(-1)for galaxies with z≤0.1 is different from that in previous studies,that is,two peaks exist in this work while there is only one peak(log_(10)(sSFR/yr^(−1))=−10)in the previous work.The sSFR value corresponding to the new peak is log_(10)(sSFR/yr^(−1))=−12 and in line with the value(log_(10)(sSFR yr^-1)=-12.65_(-0.66)^(+0.44)of NGC 4493,the host galaxy of BNS merger event GW170817.The new peak is caused by today’s quenched galaxies,which give a large contribution to the total SFR at high redshift in the EMERGE empirical galaxy model.Moreover,we find that the BNS mergers are most likely detected in galaxies with age∼11 Gyr,which is greater than previous results(6−8Gyr)and close to the age of NGC 4993,13.2_(-0.9)^(+0.5)Gyr.

日本沼虾StAR基因克隆及其低氧胁迫下表达分析

为了研究类固醇激素合成急性调节蛋白(steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, StAR)在日本沼虾应答低氧胁迫过程中所发挥的作用,实验应用c DNA末端快速扩增(RACE)PCR技术克隆了日本沼虾StAR全长cDNA序列,并利用在线软件对其序列特征进行生物信息学分析,采用半定量RT-PCR方法分析StAR在日本沼虾不同组织的分布情况,采用实时荧光定量PCR(qRT-PCR)与免疫印迹(Western blot)技术对其在不同低氧胁迫阶段中的表达规律进行检测,观察低氧胁迫下精巢组织中StAR蛋白免疫组化定位。结果显示,日本沼虾StAR其cDNA全长3 361 bp (NCBI登录号:MW263908),包括5′-UTR 323 bp,3′-UTR 2 129 bp,开放阅读框909 bp,编码302个氨基酸。氨基酸序列比对及系统进化分析结果显示,日本沼虾StAR基因与三疣梭子蟹等甲壳动物StAR聚类一支,具有最近的亲缘关系。半定量RT-PCR检测结果显示,StAR在日本沼虾不同组织中均有表达,其表达量在肝胰腺和心脏组织中最低,在精巢组织中表达处于较高水平。使用qRT-PCR技术检测日本沼虾精巢中StAR在低氧胁迫下时空表达情况,结果表明,与对照组相比,低氧处理组精巢中StAR基因表达量在1~48 h均显著上调,而在低氧处理组96 h显著降低。此外,本实验对StAR进行了原核表达及抗血清制备,采用Western blot检测StAR蛋白表达丰度基本与基因表达模式相似,免疫组化结果显示,StAR蛋白在精细胞与间质细胞中均有表达。综上所述,长期低氧胁迫显著降低了StAR基因的转录表达水平,并且该基因可能在类固醇合成路径及精子发生过程中均发挥重要作用。本研究结果为进一步解析日本沼虾类固醇激素合成分子机制奠定基础。

STAR基因在不同发育期绵羊睾丸和附睾中的表达与组织分布

为探讨STAR基因在发育的绵羊睾丸和附睾中的表达模式及潜在功能,该研究采集3月龄、 1周岁和3周岁藏绵羊睾丸和附睾(头、体和尾)组织样本,利用实时荧光定量PCR、蛋白免疫印迹和免疫组织荧光染色法检测STAR基因的表达及其编码蛋白的细胞定位。结果发现,随着年龄的增加,在藏绵羊睾丸和附睾(附睾头除外)中STAR基因在转录水平的表达总体呈下降趋势,而在蛋白质水平的表达呈上调趋势。STAR蛋白主要存在于藏绵羊睾丸间质细胞和附睾假复层纤毛上皮主细胞。鉴于间质细胞和主细胞的主要生物学功能是分泌睾酮和分泌促进精子成熟所需的蛋白质,由此推测,STAR基因可能主要在睾丸间质细胞和附睾主细胞的发育和功能维持中发挥作用,进而促进雄激素的合成和精子的成熟。

STAR基因与东湖杂交奶绵羊繁殖性状的关联分析

本实验旨在探究类固醇激素合成急性调节蛋白(Steroidogenic Acute Regulatory Protein,STAR)基因多态性与东湖杂一代奶绵羊发情鉴定评分、产羔数的相关性,鉴定出影响绵羊繁殖性能的关键性位点。本研究以339只东湖杂一代奶绵羊为研究对象,采用竞争性等位基因特异性PCR(KASP)技术对STAR基因的g.31959747T>C、g.31959875A>C2个位点进行基因分型,并利用GLM模型对SNP位点与发情鉴定评分和产羔数进行关联分析。结果表明,g.31959747T>C与奶绵羊发情鉴定评分呈极显著相关,TT型的发情表现更优,但与产羔数差异不显著;g.31959875A>C与发情评分和产羔数均无显著关系;聚合基因型与繁殖性状的关联分析结果表明,TCAC型个体在发情评分、平均产羔数方面均较低。综上,STAR基因g.31959747T>C位点是影响奶绵羊发情评分的关键性位点,可根据育种目标将g.31959747T>C位点作为提高奶绵羊同期发情效果的分子标记,同时将TCAC聚合基因型及时淘汰。本研究结果可为奶绵羊繁殖性状的选育提供参考。

New Cases of Superflares on Slowly Rotating Solar-type Stars and Large Amplitude Superflares in G-and M-type Main Sequence Stars

In our previous work,we searched for superflares on different types of stars while focusing on G-type dwarfs using entire Kepler data to study statistical properties of the occurrence rate of superflares.Using these new data,as a byproduct,we found 14 cases of superflare detection on 13 slowly rotating Sun-like stars with rotation periods of24.5–44 days.This result supports the earlier conclusion by others that the Sun may possibly undergo a surprise superflare.Moreover,we found 12 and seven new cases of detection of exceptionally large amplitude superflares on six and four main sequence stars of G-and M-type,respectively.No large-amplitude flares were detected in A,F or K main sequence stars.Here we present preliminary analysis of these cases.The superflare detection,i.e.,an estimation of flare energy,is based on a more accurate method compared to previous studies.We fit an exponential decay function to flare light curves and study the relation between e-folding decay time,τ,versus flare amplitude and flare energy.We find that for slowly rotating Sun-like stars,large values ofτcorrespond to small flare energies and small values ofτcorrespond to high flare energies considered.Similarly,τis large for small flare amplitudes andτis small for large amplitudes considered.However,there is no clear relation between these parameters for large amplitude superflares in the main sequence G-and M-type stars,as we could not establish clear functional dependence between the parameters via standard fitting algorithms.

Analysis of X-Ray Emission from OB Stars. IV. About X-Ray Emission from Inhomogeneous Winds of OB Stars

We study the origin of X-ray emission from OB stars due to collisions of stellar winds and/or inhomogeneities in the winds. The low-resolution X-ray spectra of a big sample of OB stars were fitted by both the stationary APEC/MEKAL models and by this model with an additional PSHOCK component describing the nonstationary X-ray emission. These spectra were also described by two-temperature PSHOCK models. More than ~50% of considered spectra can be described by the above-mentioned model combinations including the PSHOCK model and the quality of the fits appears to be better for O stars. The plasma temperature of the PSHOCK component is about 1–5 keV with the ionization timescale τ_(u)~ 10^(8)–10^(13)s cm^(-3). The temperature of the PSHOCK component increases with the momentum and kinetic energy of the stellar wind by a power law with an index ~0.12–0.14.Such dependencies were not revealed through modeling by the stationary APEC/MEKAL models only. At the same time the X-ray luminosity of OB stars depends on momentum and kinetic energy of their winds similarly either for stationary or for nonstationary models. We conclude that many O stars and some B stars can be sources of the nonstationary X-rays formed in their inhomogeneous stellar wind.

An Update of the Catalog of Radial Velocity Standard Stars from the APOGEE DR17

We present an updated catalog of 46,753 radial velocity(RV)standard stars selected from the APOGEE DR17.These stars cover the Northern and Southern Hemispheres almost evenly,with 62%being red giants and 38%being main sequence stars.These RV standard stars are stable on a baseline longer than 200 days(with 54%longer than one year and 10%longer than five years)with a median stability better than 215 m s~(-1).The average number of observations of those stars is 5 and each observation is required to have signal-to-noise ratio greater than50 and RV measurement error smaller than 500 m s~(-1).Based on the new APOGEE RV standard star catalog,we have checked the RV zero-points(RVZPs)for current large-scale stellar spectroscopic surveys including RAVE,LAMOST,GALAH and Gaia.By careful analysis,we estimate their mean RVZP to be+0.149 kms~(-1),+4.574 km s~(-1)(for LRS),-0.031 km s~(-1)and+0.014 kms~(-1),respectively,for the four surveys.In the RAVE,LAMOST(for MRS),GALAH and Gaia surveys,RVZP exhibits a systematic trend with stellar parameters(mainly[Fe/H],T_(eff),log g,G_(BP)-G_(RP)and G_(RVS)).The corrections to those small but clear RVZPs are of vital importance for these massive spectroscopic surveys in various studies that require extremely high RV accuracies.

The Neutron Star to Black Hole Mass Gap in the Frame of the Jittering Jets Explosion Mechanism(JJEM)

I build a toy model in the frame of the jittering jets explosion mechanism(JJEM)of core collapse supernovae that incorporates both the stochastically varying angular momentum component of the material that the newly born neutron star(NS)accretes and the constant angular momentum component,and show that the JJEM can account for the≃2.5–5M⊙mass gap between NSs and black holes(BHs).The random component of the angular momentum results from pre-collapse core convection fluctuations that are amplified by post-collapse instabilities.The fixed angular momentum component results from pre-collapse core rotation.For slowly rotating pre-collapse cores the stochastic angular momentum fluctuations form intermittent accretion disks(or belts)around the NS with varying angular momentum axes in all directions.The intermittent accretion disk/belt launches jets in all directions that expel the core material in all directions early on,hence leaving an NS remnant.Rapidly rotating pre-collapse cores form an accretion disk with angular momentum axis that is about the same as the pre-collapse core rotation.The NS launches jets along this axis and hence the jets avoid the equatorial plane region.Inflowing core material continues to feed the central object from the equatorial plane increasing the NS mass to form a BH.The narrow transition from slow to rapid pre-collapse core rotation,i.e.,from an efficient to inefficient jet feedback mechanism,accounts for the sparsely populated mass gap.

Asteroseismology of 16 Kepler Solar-like Stars:Stellar Parameters and the Effects of Element Diffusion

Element diffusion has small but significant effects on the structure of the stellar interior.It is interesting to investigate the effects of element diffusion using asteroseismology.We have constructed two grids of stellar models,one with diffusion and one without,for solar-like stars with masses between 0.9 and 1.4 solar masses,and varied initial helium abundance and metallicity.The oscillation frequencies of all stellar models have also been calculated.Piecewise Hermite cubic polynomials are adopted to interpolate stellar p-mode frequencies at an arbitrary age on a stellar evolutionary track.We have investigated 16 Kepler solar-like stars by comparing the model frequencies with observations.The suggested ranges of stellar parameters and some global variables are obtained.For all stars,the best model reproduces the observational frequencies with aχ^(2)of the order of unity.It has been found that element diffusion is important in modeling solar-like stars.Without diffusion,the best value of the initial helium abundance is below the primordial helium abundance from Big Bang nucleosynthesis.When diffusion is taken into account,the required initial helium abundance increases to be higher than the primordial abundance.Diffusion also generally improves the frequency fitting results by reducing the minimum ofχ^(2).Investigation of the second difference of the oscillation frequencies on KIC 8694723 and KIC 10454113 indicates that the current model of element diffusion may underestimate the strength of settling.