The continental shelf strata provide information regarding sea-level fluctuation and climate changes in the Quaternary period. A 5831.47-km-long high-resolution seismic profile and borehole core (YS01) were acquired to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the strata in South Yellow Sea (SYS) during the late Pleistocene. The strata recorded three transgression events (HI, HII, and HIII) and three stages of paleochannel development (LI, LII, and LIII). Based on the distribution, thickness, and volume of the strata formed in the three transgressions, we concluded that the scale of the three transgressions during the late Pleistocene was HIII, HI, and HII, in descending order. In addition, our data show that the Yellow River extended to the Yellow Sea Trough during the last glacial maximum. The influence of the tectonic framework on sedimentation in the SYS was completely concealed by sea-level changes and sediment supply in the late Pleistocene (~Marine Isotope Stage 5). Since then, the accommodation space, a crucial prerequisite for sedimentation, has been controlled solely by sea-level changes in the SYS. Furthermore, two “source to sink” models of the neritic shelf in the marine and terrestrial environments were established, including high sea-level and shelf-exposure models.

Background: Microglia and macrophages (MMs) are the largest component of the inflammatory infiltrate in glioblastoma (GBM). However, whether there are immunophenotypic differences in isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutated and -wildtype GBMs is unknown. Studies on specimens of untreated IDH-mutant GBMs are rare given they comprise 10% of all GBMs and often receive treatment at lower grades that can drastically alter MM phenotypes. Methods: We obtained large samples of untreated IDH-mutant and -wildtype GBMs. Using immunofluorescence techniques with single-cell automated segmentation, and comparison between single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) databases of human GBM, we discerned dissimilarities between GBM-associated MMs (GAMMs). Results: There are significantly fewer but more pro-inflammatory GAMMs in IDH-mutant GBMs, suggesting this contributes to the better prognosis of these tumors. Our pro-inflammatory score which combines the expression of inflammatory markers (CD68/HLA-A, -B, -C/TNF/CD163/IL10/TGFB2), Iba1 intensity, and GAMM surface area also indicates more pro-inflammatory GAMMs are associated with longer overall survival independent of IDH status. scRNA-seq analysis demonstrates microglia in IDH-mutants are mainly pro-inflammatory, while anti-inflammatory macrophages that upregulate genes such as FCER1G and TYROBP predominate in IDH-wildtype GBM. Conclusions: Taken together, these observations are the first head-to-head comparison of GAMMs in treatment-naïve IDH-mutant versus -wildtype GBMs that highlight biological disparities that can be exploited for therapeutic purposes.

Image stitching is important for the perception and manipulation of undersea robots. In spite of a well-developed technique, it is still challenging for undersea images because of their inevitable appearance ambiguity caused by the limited light in the undersea environment, and local disturbance caused by moving objects, ocean current, etc. To get a clean and stable background panorama in the undersea environment, this paper proposes an undersea image-stitching method by introducing graph-based registration and blending procedures. Specifically, in the registration procedure, matching the features in each undersea image pair is formulated and solved by graph matching, to incorporate the structural information between features. In the blending procedure, an energy function on the indirect graph Markov random field is proposed, which takes both image consistency and neighboring consistency into consideration. Coincidentally, both graph matching and energy minimization can be mathematically formulated by integer quadratic programming problems with different constraints; the recently proposed graduated nonconvexity and concavity procedure is used to optimize both problems. Experiments on both synthetic images and real-world undersea images witness the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Compared with commercial polyolefin membranes, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membrane prepared by electrostatic spinning has higher porosity, electrolyte uptake, thermal stability, and lithium-ion conductivity, etc. However, poor mechanical performance has largely limited the application of electrospun PAN separators. In this study, PAN/polyimide (PI) composite membrane is prepared by electrostatic spinning to improve the mechanical and electrochemical performances. Scanning electron microscopy, thermal analysis method, and electrochemical methods were used for evaluation of the electrospun composite membrane. The results show that the composite membrane possesses good thermal stability and exhibits better mechanical performance than pristine PAN membrane (increasing by 1.1 times in tension strength). The addition of PI can increase porosity and fluid absorption rate obviously. In addition, the composite membrane has high ionic conductivity (18.77 × 10−4 S/cm), wide electrochemical window (about 4.0 V), and excellent cycling performance. It can retain a discharge specific capacity of 153 mA h/g even after 50 cycles at 0.5 C. The electrospun PAN/PI membrane may be a promising candidate for lithium-ion battery separators.

This paper presents new LA-ICP-MS zircon U–Pb chronology, whole-rock geochemical and zircon Hf isotopic data for the felsic lavas of the Huili Group from the southwestern Yangtze Block. LA-ICP-MS zircon U–Pb dating shows that these rocks were emplaced in Late Mesoproterozoic time (∼1028 to 1019 Ma). Relative to typical I-type and S-type granitoids, all the samples are characterized by low Sr and Eu, and high high-field-strength element contents, high TFeO/MgO, enriched rare earth element compositions and negative Eu anomalies, indicating that they share the geochemical signatures of A-type granitoid. They can be further divided into two groups: Group I and Group II. Group I are A1-type felsic rocks and were produced by fractional crystallization of alkaline basaltic magmas. The Group II felsic lavas belong to the A2-type and were derived by partial melting of a crustal source with mixing of mantle-derived magmas. Both Group I and Group II felsic lavas may erupt in a continental back-arc setting. The coexistence of A1- and A2-type rocks in the southwestern Yangtze Block suggests that they can occur in the same tectonic setting.

Thank you very much for your interest in our paper (Kawada, 2018). First, the patients in our study were from one single medical center, while Bonanni's study was a nationwide multicenter research project. Therefore, we do not think it is appropriate to compare these two studies directly. Regarding the sample size, each of the three groups were eligible for statistical analysis, and it is of course better to pursue the same issue with bigger sample sizes, especially, for FTD and DLB in future studies.

The aim of this article was to investigate the mechanism of appetite suppression induced by high-fat diets (HFD) in blunt snout bream (Megalobrama amblycephala). Fish (average initial weight 40·0 (sem 0·35) g) were fed diets with two fat levels (6 and 11 %) with four replicates. HFD feeding for 30 d could significantly increase the weight gain rate, but feeding for 60 d cannot. Food intake of M. amblycephala began to decline significantly in fish fed the HFD for 48 d. HFD feeding for 60 d significantly reduced the expression of neuropeptide Y and elevated the expression of cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART), actions both in favour of suppression of appetite. The activation of fatty acid sensing was partly responsible for the weakened appetite. In addition, inflammatory factors induced by the HFD may be involved in the regulation of appetite by increasing the secretion of leptin and then activating the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR). Lipopolysaccharide (LPS, 2·0 mg/kg of fish weight) was administered to induce inflammation, and sampling was performed after 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 and 48 h of LPS injection. Within 6–24 h of LPS injection, the food intake and appetite of M. amblycephala decreased significantly, whereas the mRNA expression of leptin and mTOR increased significantly. Our results indicate that inflammatory cytokines may be the cause of appetite suppression in M. amblycephala fed a HFD.

Minimally invasive surgery is a developing direction of modern medicine. With the successful development of controllable capsule endoscopies, capsule robots are very popular in the field of gastrointestinal medicine. At present, the study of intestinal robots is aimed at the pipeline environment of a single-phase liquid flow. But there exist food residues (i.e. solid particles) or liquid foods in the actual intestine, so intestinal fluid should be liquid–solid or liquid–liquid two-phase mixed fluid. For inner spiral capsule robots with different internal diameters and outer spiral capsule robots, using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method, the operational performance indicators (i.e. axial thrust force, circumferential resisting moment and maximum pressure to pipeline wall) of spiral capsule robots are numerically calculated in the liquid–solid or liquid–liquid two-phase mixed fluid. By the orthogonal experimental optimization method, the optimum design of spiral capsule robots is obtained in the liquid–solid mixed fluid. The experimental verification has been also carried out. The results show that in the liquid–solid two-phase fluid, the axial thrust force and circumferential resisting moment of the spiral capsule robots decrease with the increase of the size or concentration of solid particles. In the same liquid–solid or liquid–liquid mixed fluid, the operational performance indicators of outer spiral robots are much higher than those of inner spiral robots, and the operational performance indicators of inner spiral robots with bigger internal diameters are higher than those with smaller internal diameters. Adding solid particles of high concentration in the pipeline containing liquid will reduce the drive performance of spiral capsule robots, but adding another liquid of high viscosity will improve the drive performance of spiral capsule robots.

Cell's sub-cellular architecture and function can be revealed by Cryo soft X-ray tomography (Cryo-SXT) and Cryo-fluorescence microscopy (Cryo-FM) respectively. To understand the connection between cells' structure and function, correlative Cryo-SXT and Cryo-FM has been applied. Here we introduce a semiautomatic precise alignment and fusion technology of Cryo-SXT and Cryo-fluorescence microscopy.

'Missing wedge' problem exists in some kind of CT imaging situations, such as electron microscopy, x-ray nano-CT image, etc. Method such as iterative reconstruction algorithms, total variation based method were applied to improve the reconstruction quality, but the 'missing wedge' artifacts are still inevitable. In this paper, a method based on image processing technique was proposed to locate the 'missing wedge' artifacts in CT reconstruction. The result showed good performance on locating the artifacts, which also showed the potential in CT reconstruction and image analysis in nano-CT.

The soft X-ray Microscopy beamline BL07W at National Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory is devoted to cryo nano-tomography for biological applications in the water window (284 - 530 eV) and for imaging of nanomaterials from 200 to 2500 eV. An ellipsoidal capillary used as condense to focus monochromatic light onto the sample. Two Ni zone plate (ZP) lenses made by Zeiss with 40 nm and 25 nm outer most zone widths, respectively, are available, giving spatial resolution in 2D of down to 40 nm and 30 nm, respectively. Hydrated biological specimens had been imaged in the water window photon energy range without chemical fixation, dehydration, chemical staining and physical sectioning. In addition, other applications such as nanomaterials imaging had been demonstrated.