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We present a case of a young female patient with a rare cause of relapsing and remitting Cushing’s syndrome due to ectopic ACTH secretion from a thymic neuroendocrine tumour. A 34-year-old female presented with a constellation of symptoms of Cushing’s syndrome, including facial swelling, muscle weakness and cognitive impairment. We use the terms ‘relapsing and remitting’ in this case report, given the unpredictable time course of symptoms, which led to a delay of 2 years before the correct diagnosis of hypercortisolaemia. Diagnostic workup confirmed ectopic ACTH secretion, and a thymic mass was seen on mediastinal imaging. The patient subsequently underwent thymectomy with complete resolution of her symptoms. Several case series have documented the association of Cushing’s syndrome with thymic neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), although to our knowledge there are a few published cases of patients with relapsing and remitting symptoms. This case is also notable for the absence of features of the MEN-1 syndrome, along with the female gender of our patient and her history of non-smoking.

Electrical transports in iron-pnictide Ba(Fe _1− _x Co _x ) _2 As _2 (BFCA) single crystals are heavily debated in terms of the hidden Fermi-liquid (HFL) and holographic theories. Both HFL and holographic theories provide consistent physic pictures and propose a universal expression of resistivity to describe the crossover of transports from the non-Fermi-liquid (FL) to FL behavior in these so-called ‘strange metal’ systems. The deduced spin exchange energy J and model-dependent energy scale W in BFCA are almost the same, or are of the same order of several hundred Kelvin for over-doped BFCA, which is in agreement with the HFL theory. Moreover, a drawn line of W /3.5 for BFCA in the higher-doping region up to the right demonstrates the crossover from non-FL-like behavior to FL-like behavior at high doping, and shows a new phase diagram of BFCA. The electronic correlation strength in superconductors has been newly probed by the normal-state Hall angle, which found that, for the first time, correlation strength can be characterized by the ratios of T _c to the Fermi temperature T _F , J / T _F , and the transverse mass to longitudinal mass.

We report a study of single crystal Ca _3 Ir _4 Sn _13 (CIS) and Sr _3 Ir _4 Sn _13 (SIS) by measuring the longitudinal and Hall resistivities, upper and lower critical fields and magnetoresistance, as well as the magnetization. The sign change in the Hall coefficient observed on both the CIS and SIS provides direct evidence for the Fermi surface reconstructing during the superlattice phase transition. Both materials are of current interest due to indications of superconductivity associated with charge-density-wave (CDW) ordering. Observations of the diamagnetic feature and the lower critical field H _c _1 ( T ) in both CIS and SIS can be realized by means of the nodeless single-gap BCS theory. In addition, a weak electronic correlation in both systems has been revealed by the small values of the spin exchange energy, upper critical field and Δ (0)/ k _B T _c ratio, derived respectively from the normal-state Hall effect, resistive transition and temperature-dependent H _c _1 . It is noticeable that the magnetoresistance of SIS shows a rapid increase below T′ ∼ 40 K, following Kohler’s scaling rule. The results of the magnetic susceptibility and Hall coefficient also exhibit anomalous features near T′ . With respect to these observations, this suggests that the existence of an additional phonon mode with energy of about 4.0 meV in SIS is responsible for the presence of lattice instability toward a phase transition.

Phalaenopsis species are among the most popular potted flowers for their fascinating flowers. When their whole-genome sequencing was completed, they have become useful for studying the molecular mechanism of anthocyanin biosynthesis. Here, we identified 49 candidate anthocyanin synthetic genes in the Phalaenopsis genome. Our results showed that duplication events might contribute to the expansion of some gene families, such as the genes encoding chalcone synthase (PeCHS), flavonoid 3'-hydroxylase (PeF3'H), and myeloblastosis (PeMYB). To elucidate their functions in anthocyanin biosynthesis, we conducted a global expression analysis. We found that anthocyanin synthesis occurred during the very early flower development stage and that the flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H), F3'H, and dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR) genes played key roles in this process. Over-expression of Phalaenopsis flavonoid 3',5'-hydroxylase (F3'5'H) in petunia showed that it had no function in anthocyanin production. Furthermore, global analysis of sequences and expression patterns show that the regulatory genes are relatively conserved and might be important in regulating anthocyanin synthesis through different combined expression patterns. To determine the functions of MYB2, 11, and 12, we over-expressed them in petunia and performed yeast two-hybrid analysis with anthocyanin (AN)1 and AN11. The MYB2 protein had strong activity in regulating anthocyanin biosynthesis and induced significant pigment accumulation in transgenic plant petals, whereas MYB11 and MYB12 had lower activities. Our work provided important improvement in the understanding of anthocyanin biosynthesis and established a foundation for floral colour breeding in Phalaenopsis through genetic engineering.

A new data for the radiation response to 1 MeV Kr(super 2+) ion irradiation and the energetics of formation of lanthanide stannate pyrochlores Ln2Sn2O7 is discussed. The results give insight into the relation of chemical composition to structural variations, enthalpies of formation and the radiation response, the critical temperature for amorphization of the pyrochlore compositions.

Spherical, ferromagnetic FePt nanoparticles with a particle size of 3 nm is prepared by the simultaneous polyol reduction of Fe(acac)(sub 3) and Pt(acac)(sub 2) in phenyl ether in the presence of the oleic acid and oleylamine. The x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy indicated that the FePt particles are not affected by ligands replacement.

A numerical method is presented for determining flow rates in centrifugal isotope separation cascades that satisfy the required “ideal cascade” conditions. This method is an iterative method, which in the iteration process uses the q-iteration method to give the concentration and distributions of components under a specified hydraulic status for a cascade; and then, based on the concentration distributions, solves the algebraic equations describing the hydraulic status of the cascade to improve the specified hydraulic status towards the required “ideal cascade” conditions. The material losses in the cascade pipes and centrifuges are taken into account. Numerical simulations are performed by taking an MARC cascade with variant stage separation factors as an example. The results from four cases with and without material losses are compared. The results demonstrate that the method works very well, and show that when the material losses are nonexistent or very small, the concentration distributions can exactly satisfy the “ideal cascade” condition; but when the material losses are large, the “ideal cascade” condition can not be satisfied, but the method can produce a solution that allows the condition to be approximately satisfied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wire-like SnO2 is fabricated by the wet chemical method. X-ray diffraction measurements show that the obtained samples have rutile-type structure. Electron transmission microscopy experiments illustrate that the wire-like SnO2 ranged from 10 to 50 nm in width and several microns (m) in length. The high-resolution TEM indicates that SnO2 wires are single crystals. The possible growth mechanism is proposed, and it is found that polyethylene glycol plays an important role in obtaining the wire-like and nano-rods morphology of SnO2. The band gap is determined to be 3.56 eV. Two photoluminescence peaks located at 389 and 470 nm are observed. Our fabrication method promises a simple way of synthesizing wire-like SnO2 at a low temperature of 350C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The explicit form of the kinetic equation for the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose fibers with SF enzyme is derived. This equation is effective for estimating and controlling hydrolysis reactions of cellulose with cellulase. With this equation, it is possible to calculate the maximum digestibility and the half maximum digestion constant. Under the same experimental conditions, the maximum digestibility of fibers treated with SF cellulase decreases in the order viscose rayon > cotton > flax, whereas the concentration of cellulase needed to digest the same fraction of hydrolyzed cellulose decreases in the order flax > cotton > viscose rayon. The enzymatic hydrolysis rate of fibers is greatly affected by cellulase concentration. The results show that the rate is proportional to cellulase concentration at a lower level, while at too high a concentration, the rate increases very little with increased concentration. Thus, it is not rational to select too high a cellulase concentration for the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electrical transports in iron-pnictide Ba(Fe1−xCox)2As2 (BFCA) single crystals are heavily debated in terms of the hidden Fermi-liquid (HFL) and holographic theories. Both HFL and holographic theories provide consistent physic pictures and propose a universal expression of resistivity to describe the crossover of transports from the non-Fermi-liquid (FL) to FL behavior in these so-called ‘strange metal’ systems. The deduced spin exchange energy J and model-dependent energy scale W in BFCA are almost the same, or are of the same order of several hundred Kelvin for over-doped BFCA, which is in agreement with the HFL theory. Moreover, a drawn line of W/3.5 for BFCA in the higher-doping region up to the right demonstrates the crossover from non-FL-like behavior to FL-like behavior at high doping, and shows a new phase diagram of BFCA. The electronic correlation strength in superconductors has been newly probed by the normal-state Hall angle, which found that, for the first time, correlation strength can be characterized by the ratios of Tc to the Fermi temperature TF, J/TF, and the transverse mass to longitudinal mass. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We grew a series of non-stoichiometric crystals of the ternary alloy Bi2TexSey via a direct solidification route. The temperature-dependent electrical and thermal transport properties, such as electrical resistivity (ρ), Seebeck coefficient (S), Hall coefficient (RH), and thermal conductivity (κ), of six selected crystals of Bi2TexSey with x  +  y ~ 3 were studied. We found that the physical properties of the Bi2TexSey-based crystals varied significantly with the Te/Se (x/y) content. This is essentially due to the modification of the electronic band structure of the crystals with the change in sample composition, which ultimately leads to the formation of a p-type material (Bi2Te2.10Se0.66) from an n-type Bi2Te1.89Se0.98. Most importantly, the feature associated with surface-state conduction at low temperatures was also observed in some of these crystals, including Bi2Te1.89Se0.98, Bi2Te2.16Se0.71, and Bi2Te2.10Se0.66. In particular, two highly resistive compounds, Bi2Te2.16Se0.71 and Bi2Te2.10Se0.66 with low carrier densities were identified as potential materials for topological applications. The observed complex transport behavior was realized in connection with the formation of impurity bands (multiband effects) in the Bi2TexSey-based systems. Analysis of the lattice thermal conductivity of the Bi2TexSey-based crystals indicates that the sample composition has a major effect on low-temperature heat conduction via phonon-boundary and phonon-point-defect scattering. Finally, the highest room temperature thermoelectric figure of merit, a ZT of about 0.46, was achieved for n-type Bi2Te1.63Se1.23. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been proved that polyphenols have positive effects against inflammatory response and oxidative stress. We investigated whether dietary supplementation of the holly polyphenols (HP) might relieve a liver injury induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in weaned pigs. Twenty-four weaned pigs were fed diets containing 0 or HP and saline or LPS challenge in 2×2 factorial arrangement of treatments. On d 17, pigs were intraperitoneally injected with an LPS or saline. Dietary HP supplementation reduced plasma AST and GGT activities and liver MDA levels, increased plasma ALB and TP and liver GSH concentrations, and ameliorated LPS-induced liver histopathological damage. HP supplementation reduced plasma and /or liver TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-1β levels, and liver mRNA expression of IL-6, TNF-α and COX2. Moreover, HP decreased the mRNA abundance of liver MyD88, TRAF6 and NOD1. These results suggest that HP supplementation attenuates liver injury induced by LPS in weaned pigs, and inhibits inflammatory response and oxidative stress.

The molybdenum (Mo) non-point source pollution in the mining area has an irreversible impact on the surrounding water and soil ecosystems. Herein, three integrated vertical subsurface flow constructed wetlands (CWs) were constructed to assess the effects of combination substrates and plant on the removal of Mo(VI). Results showed that CW1 with combination substrates and cattail exhibited a favorable removal performance for Mo(VI) at 80.90%. Moreover, most Mo(VI) retained in the CWs was retained in the substrate (58.13–88.04%), and the largest fraction of Mo(VI) retained was the water-soluble fraction on the surface of the combination substrates. Mo(VI) removal was also influenced by the microbial community composition in substrate, especially their co-occurrence networks. The species that showed significant positive correlation with Mo(VI) removal were Planctomycetes, Latescibacteria, Armatimonadetes, and Gemmatimonadetes. Moreover, CWs added plants showed that more co-occurrences interaction between taxa occurs, which means that the wetlands efficiently select recruitment of potential microbial consortia and change the co-occurrences to remove pollution in the substrate. These results could be useful in providing an ecology-based solution for the treatment of Mo(VI) in wastewater, especially in adjusting the microbial communities for Mo(VI) removal at the genetic level. HIGHLIGHTS Complex substrates coupled cattail enhanced Mo(VI) removal in constructed wetlands.; Adsorption was the main Mo(VI) removal mechanism by DWTRs and MCPP.; Mo(VI) removal was also influenced by microbial community composition.; Cattails changed the co-occurrences of microbes to remove pollution in substrates.;

Abstract Oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy is used to treat patients with esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), but no biomarkers are currently available for patient selection. We performed a prospective, clinical trial to identify potential biomarkers associated with clinical outcomes. Tumor tissue was obtained from 38 patients with resectable EAC before and after 2 cycles of oxaliplatin-fluorouracil chemotherapy. Pre-treatment mRNA expression of 280 DNA repair (DNAR) genes was tested for association with histopathological regression at surgery, disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). High expression of 13 DNA damage repair genes was associated with DFS less than one year (P

The impact of surface aging level of long-term energized conductors on spectrum characteristics of audible noise is studied in this paper. It is found that the average roughness and root-mean-square roughness of conductors increase with the operating time, namely the aging degree, through the quantitative measurement. A-weighted equivalent continuous sound pressure level (LAeq) is found to increase with the aging level. As the aging aggravation, the LAeq and its high-frequency components (>1 kHz) increase substantially and high-frequency components are mainly contributing to the increasing of LAeq. The high-frequency components (>1 kHz) of the new and aged stranded conductors have a marked increasing trend as the surface potential gradient increases, while the low-frequency components are mainly environment noise.

The entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana provides an eco-friendly substitute to chemical insecticides for mosquito control. Nevertheless, its widespread application has been hindered by its comparatively slow efficacy in eliminating mosquitoes. To augment the potency of B. bassiana against Aedes mosquitoes, a novel recombinant strain, Bb -Cyt1Aa, was developed by incorporating the Bacillus thuringiensis toxin gene Cyt1Aa into B. bassiana . The virulence of Bb -Cyt1Aa was evaluated against Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus using insect bioassays. Compared to the wild-type (WT) strain, the median lethal time (LT 50 ) for A. aegypti larvae infected with Bb -Cyt1Aa decreased by 33.3% at a concentration of 1 × 10 8 conidia/mL and by 22.2% at 1 × 10 7 conidia/mL. The LT 50 for A. aegypti adults infected with Bb -Cyt1Aa through conidia ingestion was reduced by 37.5% at 1 × 10 8 conidia/mL and by 33.3% at 1 × 10 7 conidia/mL. Likewise, the LT 50 for A. aegypti adults infected with Bb -Cyt1Aa through cuticle contact decreased by 33.3% and 30.8% at the same concentrations, respectively. Furthermore, the Bb -Cyt1Aa strain also demonstrated increased toxicity against both larval and adult A. albopictus , when compared to the WT strain. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that the expression of B. thuringiensis toxin Cyt1Aa in B. bassiana enhanced its virulence against Aedes mosquitoes. This suggests that B. bassiana expressing Cyt1Aa has potential value for use in mosquito control., Importance: Beauveria bassiana is a naturally occurring fungus that can be utilized as a bioinsecticide against mosquitoes. Cyt1Aa is a delta-endotoxin protein produced by Bacillus thuringiensis that exhibits specific and potent insecticidal activity against mosquitoes. In our study, the expression of this toxin Cyt1Aa in B. bassiana enhances the virulence of B. bassiana against Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus , thereby increasing their effectiveness in killing mosquitoes. This novel strain can be used alongside chemical insecticides to reduce dependence on harmful chemicals, thereby minimizing negative impacts on the environment and human health. Additionally, the potential resistance of B. bassiana against mosquitoes in the future could be overcome by acquiring novel combinations of exogenous toxin genes. The presence of B. bassiana that expresses Cyt1Aa is of significant importance in mosquito control as it enhances genetic diversity, creates novel virulent strains, and contributes to the development of safer and more sustainable methods of mosquito control., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.