Remote detection of a lunar granitic batholith at Compton-Belkovich.

Granites are nearly absent in the Solar System outside of Earth. Achieving granitic compositions in magmatic systems requires multi-stage melting and fractionation, which also increases the concentration of radiogenic elements1. Abundant water and plate tectonics facilitate these processes on Earth, aiding in remelting. Although these drivers are absent on the Moon, small granite samples have been found, but details of their origin and the scale of systems they represent are unknown2. Here we report microwave-wavelength measurements of an anomalously hot geothermal source that is best explained by the presence of an approximately 50-kilometre-diameter granitic system below the thorium-rich farside feature known as Compton-Belkovich. Passive microwave radiometry is sensitive to the integrated thermal gradient to several wavelengths depth. The 3-37-gigahertz antenna temperatures of the Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-2 microwave instruments allow us to measure a peak heat flux of about 180 milliwatts per square metre, which is about 20 times higher than that of the average lunar highlands3,4. The surprising magnitude and geographic extent of this feature imply an Earth-like, evolved granitic system larger than believed possible on the Moon, especially outside of the Procellarum region5. Furthermore, these methods are generalizable: similar uses of passive radiometric data could vastly expand our knowledge of geothermal processes on the Moon and other planetary bodies.

A novel reverse perilesional home phototherapy can promote the repigmentation of vitiligo patches with complete leukotrichia: A 12-week, open-label, double-arm, multicenter, randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Existing phototherapies are ineffective for treating patients with vitiligo with complete leukotrichia. We compared the efficacy of reverse perilesional irradiation, during which only the lesional areas are covered, with conventional narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) home phototherapy for repigmentation of non-segmental vitiligo in patients with complete leukotrichia. METHODS: This was a 12-week, open-label, double-arm, multicenter clinical trial, with a total of 121 patients with non-segmental vitiligo who were randomly divided into two groups (both received topical tacrolimus): the conventional NB-UVB irradiation (CI) and reverse perilesional NB-UVB irradiation (RI) groups. RESULTS: A statistically significant difference in improvement from baseline was observed in the RI group compared with the findings in the CI group (-30.8% ± 11.8% vs. -25.5% ± 11.05%, respectively [p = .010]; pair-wise comparison p = .900 at week 4, p = .104 at week 8, and p = .010 at week 12). At week 12, the average percentage change from baseline of leukotrichia in the irradiation area significantly decreased from 100% to 82.2% ± 13.65% in the RI group, and from 100% to 88.7% ± 9.64% in the CI group (p = .027). Adverse events were minor, including desquamation, dryness, erythema, and blisters. No severe or lasting side effects were observed during the study. CONCLUSION: RI mediated better repigmentation of vitiligo with complete leukotrichia than CI.

Enhanced photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline by a H2O2-assisted Bi3NbO7/Bi2Sn2O7 composite under visible light.

A Z-scheme BNO/BSO composite photocatalyst has been successfully prepared using an in situ solvothermal method. The phase component, microstructure and optical properties of the as-prepared samples were characterized using X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and other means. The photocatalytic performance of the BNO/BSO composite was evaluated via the degradation of the typical antibiotic tetracycline (TC) under hydrogen peroxide assistance and visible light irradiation. The "cata + H2O2 + vis" system shows the best photocatalytic activity, and its apparent rate constant reaches 0.03164 min-1, which is 4.9 times and 5.7 times that of the "cata + vis" system and the "cata + H2O2" system, respectively. Compared with pristine that of BSO alone, the reaction rate constant of the 15% BNO/BSO composite increases 1.8 times. The enhanced photocatalytic activity is attributed to the construction of a unique Z-scheme-type heterojunction, which effectively suppresses the recombination of electron-hole pairs. In addition, the addition of H2O2 promotes the generation of more active species. Moreover, a possible photocatalytic degradation mechanism is also further proposed.

Vitamin and mineral status of children with autism spectrum disorder in Hainan Province of China: associations with symptoms.

Objective: This study was designed to compare the vitamin and mineral levels of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) with those of age-matched typically developing (TD) children and to investigate their effects on the symptoms of autistic children. Methods: The Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC), Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and Gesell Developmental Scale (GDS) were completed for 274 children diagnosed with ASD. Vitamins and minerals were compared for all ASD children and 97 age-matched TD children. Serum levels of vitamin A (VA) were detected with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC); those of vitamin D (VD), folate, vitamin B12 (VB12), and ferritin were measured with immunoassay methods; and those of minerals were detected using atomic absorption spectrophotometry in two groups. Results: The VD and folate levels of children with ASD were significantly lower than those of TD children. The levels of calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn) in children with ASD were significantly lower than those in TD children, and no significant difference was found in copper (Cu) levels. Correlation analysis showed that VA and Ca levels were negatively correlated with ASD symptoms. Folate, Ca, Fe and Zn were positively correlated with the GDS scores of autistic children. There were no significant interactions among VD, VB12 and ferritin and symptoms. Conclusion: We found that children with autism had more vitamin and mineral insufficiencies than TD children, and their levels were related to ASD symptoms. Therefore, it is essential to formulate a detailed nutritional evaluation for ASD children and provide timely and intensive interventions.

Autism-like behavior of murine offspring induced by prenatal exposure to progestin is associated with gastrointestinal dysfunction due to claudin-1 suppression.

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are associated with the contribution of many prenatal risk factors; in particular, the sex hormone progestin and vitamin D receptor (VDR) are associated with gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in ASD development, although the related mechanism remains unclear. We investigated the possible role and mechanism of progestin 17-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17-OHPC) exposure-induced GI dysfunction and autism-like behaviours (ALB) in mouse offspring. An intestine-specific VDR-deficient mouse model was established for prenatal treatment, while transplantation of haematopoietic stem cells (HSCT) with related gene manipulation was used for postnatal treatment for 17-OHPC exposure-induced GI dysfunction and ALB in mouse offspring. The in vivo mouse experiments found that VDR deficiency mimics prenatal 17-OHPC exposure-mediated GI dysfunction, but has no effect on 17-OHPC-mediated autism-like behaviours (ALB) in mouse offspring. Furthermore, prenatal 17-OHPC exposure induces CLDN1 suppression in intestine epithelial cells, and transplantation of HSCT with CLDN1 expression ameliorates prenatal 17-OHPC exposure-mediated GI dysfunction, but has no effect on 17-OHPC-mediated ALB in offspring. In conclusion, prenatal 17-OHPC exposure triggers GI dysfunction in autism-like mouse offspring via CLDN1 suppression, providing a possible explanation for the involvement of CLDN1 and VDR in prenatal 17-OHPC exposure-mediated GI dysfunction with ASD.

Diversity and Biogeography of Human Oral Saliva Microbial Communities Revealed by the Earth Microbiome Project.

The oral cavity is an important window for microbial communication between the environment and the human body. The oral microbiome plays an important role in human health. However, compared to the gut microbiome, the oral microbiome has been poorly explored. Here, we analyzed 404 datasets from human oral saliva samples published by the Earth Microbiome Project (EMP) and compared them with 815 samples from the human gut, nose/pharynx, and skin. The diversity of the human saliva microbiome varied significantly among individuals, and the community compositions were complex and diverse. The saliva microbiome showed the lowest species diversity among the four environment types. Human oral habitats shared a small core bacterial community containing only 14 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) under 5 phyla, which occupied over 75% of the sequence abundance. For the four habitats, the core taxa of the saliva microbiome had the greatest impact on saliva habitats than other habitats and were mostly unique. In addition, the saliva microbiome showed significant differences in the populations of different regions, which may be determined by the living environment and lifestyle/dietary habits. Finally, the correlation analysis showed high similarity between the saliva microbiome and the microbiomes of Aerosol (non-saline) and Surface (non-saline), i.e., two environment types closely related to human, suggesting that contact and shared environment being the driving factors of microbial transmission. Together, these findings expand our understanding of human oral diversity and biogeography.

Improving Superconducting Performance of Fe(Se, Te) with In Situ Formed Grain-Boundary Strengthening and Flux Pinning Centers.

It is well known that the existence of interstitial Fe is a great obstacle to enhancing the superconducting properties of the Fe(Se, Te) system. In this work, a silver and oxygen codoping effect toward enhancement of the superconductivity and flux pinning in Fe(Se, Te) bulks is reported. The oxygen ions from SeO2 can induce the precipitation of interstitial Fe as Fe2O3, thus simultaneously optimizing the superconducting properties of Fe(Se, Te) and forming extra flux pinning centers, while the existence of Ag can enhance the intergrain connections of the polycrystalline material by improving the electron transport at grain boundaries. Compared with the undoped sample, the critical current density, the upper critical field, and the thermally activated flux flow activation energy are greatly enhanced by 4.7, 1.7, and 1.5 times, respectively. The novel synthesis technique and optimized properties of this work can pave the way for the development of high-performance Fe(Se, Te) superconducting wires or tapes.

Case Report: A Frameshift Mutation in MSH2 Exon 2 in a Kidney Recipient With Muir-Torre Syndrome.

Muir-Torre syndrome (MTS), a rare subtype of Lynch syndrome, is mostly autosomal dominant, which is caused by germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes, the resulting microsatellite instability (MSI) of which increases the risk of developing sebaceous and other visceral tumors. Several reports have showed an association between immunosuppressive agents and the progression of latent MTS. In this report, we described a 41-year-old man with a history of kidney transplantation, having a rapid growth of the nodule on the anterior chest under immunosuppressive therapy, which was histologically proved to be sebaceous carcinoma. Systemic evaluation for visceral malignancies revealed sigmoid adenocarcinoma. These findings were consistent with the clinical diagnosis of MTS. Histological findings showed an absence of MMR proteins, including MSH2 and MSH6 both in the sebaceous carcinoma and sigmoid adenocarcinoma on immunohistochemical (IHC) analysis. A frame-shift mutation of c.229_230delAG (p. Ser77fs) in the MSH2 exon 2 in the lesion was detected by next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis. This case report not only reveals a new site of MSH2 mutation in this family of East Asian descent but also highlights the importance of adequate diagnosis for Muir-Torre syndrome, as well as further prevention of the development of latent visceral tumors in kidney transplant recipients.

Boosting Superconducting Properties of Fe(Se, Te) via Dual-Oscillation Phenomena Induced by Fluorine Doping.

Fluorine-doped Fe(Se, Te) has been successfully synthesized using the melting method. A dual-oscillation effect was found in the F-doped sample, which combined both microstructural oscillation and chemical compositional oscillation. The microstructural oscillation could be attributed to alternate growth of tetragonal ß-Fe(Se, Te) and hexagonal δ-Fe(Se, Te), which formed a pearlite-like structure and led to the enhancement of δ l flux pinning due to the alternating distributed nonsuperconducting δ-Fe(Se, Te) phase. The chemical compositional oscillations in ß-Fe(Se, Te) phase were because of the inhomogeneously distributed Se and Te, which changes the pinning mechanism from surface pinning in the undoped sample to Δκ pinning in the 5% F-doped one. As a result, the critical current, upper critical field, and thermally activated flux-flow activation energy of FeSe0.45Te0.5F0.05 were enhanced by 7, 2, and 3 times, respectively. Our work revealed the physical insights into F-doping resulting in high-performance Fe(Se, Te) superconductors and inspired a new approach to optimize superconductivities in iron-based superconductors through phase and element manipulations.

A phosphine-catalyzed [3+6] annulation reaction of modified allylic compounds and tropone.

A novel phosphine-catalyzed reaction of modified allylic compounds, including acetates, bromides, chlorides, or tert-butyl carbonates derived from the Morita-Baylis-Hillman (MBH) reaction with tropone to yield [3+6] annulation products in excellent yields was developed. It offers a simple and convenient method for constructing bridged nine-membered carbocycles.

Synthesis and characterization of nano-HA/PA66 composites.

Based on the bioactivity and biocompatibility of hydroxyapatite (HA) and the excellent mechanical performance of polyamide 66 (PA66), a composite of nanograde HA with PA66 was designed and fabricated to mimic the structure of biological bone which exhibits a composite of nanograde apatite crystals and natural polymer. The HA/PA66 composite combines the bioactivity of HA and the mechanical property of PA66. This study focused on the preparation method of HA/PA66 composite and the influence of HA crystals on the characterization of the composite. HA slurry was used directly to prepare HA/PA66 composite by a solution method, in which HA is able to form hydrogen bond, i.e. chemical bonding with PA66. The nano-HA needle-like crystals treated by hydrothermal method are better in the particle size distribution and the particle dispersion. The morphology, crystal structure and crystallinity as well as crystal size of these needle-like crystals are similar to bone apatite. The nano-HA needle-like crystals dispersed uniformly in PA66 matrix with reinforcement effect and can prevent the micro-crackle spreading into cleft and fracture during the deformation process. The mechanical testing shows that the nano-HA/PA66 composite has a good mechanical property, and may be a promising bone replacement material.