Dynamical ground state in the XY pyrochlore Yb2GaSbO7.

The magnetic ground state of the pyrochlore Yb2GaSbO7 has remained an enigma for nearly a decade. The persistent spin fluctuations observed by muon spin relaxation measurements at low temperatures have not been adequately explained for this material using existing theories for quantum magnetism. Here we report on the synthesis and characterisation of Yb2GaSbO7 to elucidate the central physics at play. Through DC and AC magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and neutron scattering experiments, we observe evidence for a dynamical ground state that makes Yb2GaSbO7 a promising candidate for disorder-induced spin-liquid or spin-singlet behaviour. This state is quite fragile, being tuned to a splayed ferromagnet in a modest magnetic field µ0Hc∼1.5T.

Cation, magnetic, and charge ordering in MnFe3O5.

The recently-discovered high pressure material MnFe3O5 displays a rich variety of magnetically ordered states on cooling. Fe spins order antiferromagnetically below a Néel transition at 350 K. A second transition at 150 K marks Mn spin order that leads to spin canting of some of the Fe spins and ferrimagnetism. A further transition at 60 K is driven by charge ordering of Fe2+ and Fe3+ over two inequivalent Fe sites, with further canting of all spins. Electrical resistivity measurements reveal semiconducting behaviour in MnFe3O5 with a change in activation energy at 285 K.

Preclinical validation of a targeted next generation sequencing-based comprehensive chromosome screening methodology in human blastocysts.

STUDY QUESTION: Can a novel targeted next generation sequencing (tNGS) platform accurately detect whole chromosome aneuploidy in a trophectoderm biopsy and provide additional information to improve testing? SUMMARY ANSWER: Karyotypes obtained by tNGS were concordant with other validated platforms and single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping information obtained can be used for improved detection and quality control. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: qPCR-based whole chromosome aneuploidy screening is highly accurate in comparison to other common methods and has been shown to improve IVF success in two randomized clinical trials. With aneuploidy screening becoming standard of care in many IVF centres, there is a need to develop platforms with high throughput, low cost capabilities. STUDY DESIGN SIZE, DURATION: Twelve well-characterized cell lines were obtained from a commercial cell line repository and 31 discarded human blastocysts were obtained from 17 IVF patients who underwent comprehensive chromosome screening (CCS). PARTICIPANTS/MATERIAL, SETTING, METHODS: All samples were processed using a unique amplification strategy which directly incorporated sequencing library adapters and barcodes. Sequencing was performed on an Ion Torrent Proton. A custom bioinformatics pipeline was used to determine the karyotype for each sample. The consistency of tNGS diagnoses with either conventional karyotyping of cell lines or quantitative real-time PCR based CCS of blastocyst biopsies was evaluated. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: Overall consistency per sample of tNGS based CCS in 5-cell samples from a variety of cell lines was 99.2%. In the blinded analysis of rebiopsies of aneuploid blastocysts, an overall targeted tNGS CCS consistency of 98.7% was observed per sample. These data demonstrate the ability of tNGS based CCS to provide an accurate and high throughput evaluation of aneuploidy in the human blastocyst. LARGE SCALE DATA: Not applicable. LIMITATIONS REASONS FOR CAUTION: This study is limited to whole chromosome aneuploidy, as mosaicism and segmental aneuploidy have not been investigated. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: These data show an accurate, high throughput method, and with the greater depth of each amplicon sequenced in comparison to commercial kits, there is greater application available for single nucleotide polymorphism based analysis for quality control. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTERESTS: This study was funded through intramural research funds provided by the Foundation for Embryonic Competence. There are no competing interests.

Characteristic travelling patterns of non-recurrent laryngeal nerves.

BACKGROUND: The non-recurrent laryngeal nerve is subject to potential injury during thyroid surgery. Intra-operative identification and preservation of this nerve can be challenging. Its presence is associated with an aberrant subclavian artery and the developmental absence of the brachiocephalic trunk. This study aimed to evaluate the incidence of non-recurrent laryngeal nerves and present a new classification system for the course of these nerves. METHODS: Non-recurrent laryngeal nerves were identified on the right side in 15 patients who underwent thyroidectomy. The incidence of non-recurrent laryngeal nerves (during thyroidectomy) and aberrant subclavian arteries (using neck computed tomography) was evaluated, and the course of the nerves was classified according to their travelling patterns. RESULTS: The overall incidence of non-recurrent laryngeal nerves was 0.68 per cent. The travelling patterns of the nerves could be classified as: descending (33 per cent), vertical (27 per cent), ascending (20 per cent) or V-shaped (20 per cent). CONCLUSION: Clinicians need to be aware of these variations to avoid non-recurrent laryngeal nerve damage. A retroesophageal subclavian artery (on neck computed tomography) virtually assures a non-recurrent laryngeal nerve. This information is important for preventing vocal fold paralysis. Following a review of non-recurrent laryngeal nerve travelling patterns, a new classification was devised.

Serum capacity to neutralize superantigens does not affect the outcome of Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia.

Staphylococcal superantigens (SAg) could play an important role in sepsis by activating numerous T cells. We investigated whether serum capacity to neutralize SAgs can be a prognostic factor in Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia (SAB). In a university hospital, 105 consecutive SAB patients were enrolled during a 12-month period. The earliest serum samples prior to SAB onset were stored for a later T cell proliferation assay. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for 19 SAg genes was performed for S. aureus blood isolates. To determine the serum capacity to neutralize SAgs, T cell proliferation by the culture supernatant of each S. aureus isolate was measured in the presence and absence of the corresponding patient's serum. Twenty-six (24.8%) patients died within 4 weeks from SAB onset. Vascular catheter-related infection was associated with survival for ≥4 weeks. Unknown primary focus, Simplified Acute Physiology Score-II (SAPS-II), and specific SAg genes (tst, sec, sel, or sep) were associated with the 4-week mortality. No variables related to T cell proliferation assay showed statistical significance. In the multivariate analysis, SAPS-II ≥33 and tst were independently associated with the 4-week mortality. Serum capacity to neutralize SAg does not significantly affect SAB outcome. SAPS-II ≥33 and tst are independent predictors of the 4-week mortality.

Highly stable ultrabroadband mid-IR optical parametric chirped-pulse amplifier optimized for superfluorescence suppression.

We present a 9 GW peak power, three-cycle, 2.2 microm optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification source with 1.5% rms energy and 150 mrad carrier envelope phase fluctuations. These characteristics, in addition to excellent beam, wavefront, and pulse quality, make the source suitable for long-wavelength-driven high-harmonic generation. High stability is achieved by careful optimization of superfluorescence suppression, enabling energy scaling.

Case of coexisting, ipsilateral nonrecurrent and recurrent inferior laryngeal nerves.

OBJECTIVE: We report an extremely rare case of coexisting, ipsilateral nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve and recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve. METHOD: We present a case report and a review of the world literature concerning ipsilateral nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve and recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve. RESULTS: The presence of a coexisting, ipsilateral nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve and recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve is a very rare embryological aberration which is associated with a right subclavian artery originating from the aortic arch. We report a case of coexisting, ipsilateral nonrecurrent and recurrent inferior laryngeal nerves associated with this vascular anomaly. CONCLUSION: The surgeon must be aware of the possibility of coexisting, ipsilateral nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve and recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve, and thus must trace the nerve in its entirety. Occasionally, what appears to be a nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve will actually be a communicating branch between the recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve and the oesophageal or sympathetic ganglia. If such a neurological variant is present, the consequences of careless dissection could include not only vocal fold paralysis but also dysphagia (if the pharyngeal and oesophageal branches of nonrecurrent or recurrent inferior laryngeal nerve are injured).

Platelet count evaluation using three automated haematology analysers compared with the immunoplatelet reference method, and estimation of possible inadequate platelet transfusion.

The accuracy of three automated haematology analysers [Sysmex XE-2100 (both optical and impedance mode), Bayer Advia 120, and Beckman Coulter LH-750] was compared with the immunoplatelet reference method for platelet measurement. A total of 165 blood specimens were obtained from patients and platelet counts were determined using the four-automated haematology analyser methods and the immunoplatelet reference method. The coefficients of determination (R(2)) between the automated haematology analyser methods and the immunoplatelet reference method for the overall platelet range were >0.98. A bias study, however, showed some disagreement. The use of a coincidence correction calculation for the immunoplatelet method did not improve the correlation between the immunoplatelet method and the automated haematology analyser methods. To estimate the possibility of inadequate platelet transfusion, the number of prophylactic platelet transfusion indications determined by the automated haematology analyser platelet counts were compared with the number of transfusion indications according to the platelet counts determined by the immunoplatelet method. An additional 48 blood specimens were included in this analysis. All of the automated haematology analysers showed some disagreement in the transfusion indications when compared with the immunoplatelet method, suggesting the possibility of inadequate platelet transfusion.

Case of thyroid hemiagenesis and ectopic lingual thyroid presenting as goitre.

OBJECTIVE: We report an extremely rare case of thyroid hemiagenesis with ectopic lingual thyroid. METHOD: Case report and review of the world literature concerning thyroid hemiagenesis with ectopic lingual thyroid and heredity. RESULTS: Ectopic thyroid is an uncommon embryological aberration characterised by the presence of thyroid tissue in a site other than its usual, pretracheal location. The lingual thyroid is the most common manifestation of benign ectopic thyroid tissue, but is still a rare clinical entity. Thyroid hemiagenesis is also a very rare abnormality, in which one thyroid lobe fails to develop. We report a case of left thyroid hemiagenesis and goitre in the right lobe in a 26-year-old woman with an ectopic lingual thyroid. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this is the first report in the world literature of thyroid hemiagenesis with ectopic lingual thyroid.

The influence of urine volume on body impedance measurement.

Bio-signal has some characteristics that the signal is so weak. So, it is good that the factors to influence measured electrical signal are eliminated as much as they can. So, in this paper we will show the influence of urine in bladder on measuring human body impedance. Human urine has different conductivity from other human tissues. Therefore, if the volume of the urine changed, the measured body impedance data also changed.So, in this paper, we will show the influence of urine in bladder with foot-to-foot and thigh-to-thigh current paths. As a result, if the current flows through human bladder, the influence of urine in the bladder must be considered when the body impedance is measured

Effect of interleukin-4 on vascular endothelial growth factor production in rheumatoid synovial fibroblasts.

Interleukin (IL)-4 has been demonstrated to have anti-inflammatory and anti-tumour activity. Because aberrant angiogenesis is a significant pathogenic component of tumour growth and chronic inflammation, we investigated the effect of IL-4 on the production of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) by synovial fibroblasts derived from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) were prepared from synovial tissues of RA and incubated with different concentrations of IL-4 in the presence or absence of transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta. VEGF level was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and semiquantitative reverse transcription--polymerase chain reaction. Treatment of FLS with IL-4 alone caused a dose-dependent increase in VEGF levels. In contrast, IL-4 exhibited the inhibitory effect on VEGF production when FLS were stimulated with TGF-beta. Combined treatment of IL-4 and IL-10 inhibited TGF-beta-induced VEGF production in an additive fashion. TGF-beta increased the induction of cyclooxygenase-2 mRNA, which was inhibited significantly by the treatment of IL-4. NS-398, a COX-2 inhibitor, inhibited TGF-beta-induced VEGF production in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, exogenous addition of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) restored IL-4 inhibition on TGF-beta induced VEGF production. Collectively, our results suggest that IL-4 have an anti-angiogenic effect, especially in the inflammatory milieu of RA by inhibiting the VEGF production in synovial fibroblasts.

Hypoxia induces expression of connective tissue growth factor in scleroderma skin fibroblasts.

Connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) plays a role in the fibrotic process of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Because hypoxia is associated with fibrosis in several profibrogenic conditions, we investigated whether CTGF expression in SSc fibroblasts is regulated by hypoxia. Dermal fibroblasts from patients with SSc and healthy controls were cultured in the presence of hypoxia or cobalt chloride (CoCl(2)), a chemical inducer of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha. Expression of CTGF was evaluated by Northern and Western blot analyses. Dermal fibroblasts exposed to hypoxia (1% O(2)) or CoCl(2) (1-100 microM) enhanced expression of CTGF mRNA. Skin fibroblasts transfected with HIF-1alpha showed the increased levels of CTGF protein and mRNA, as well as nuclear staining of HIF-1alpha, which was enhanced further by treatment of CoCl(2). Simultaneous treatment of CoCl(2) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta additively increased CTGF mRNA in dermal fibroblasts. Interferon-gamma inhibited the TGF-beta-induced CTGF mRNA expression dose-dependently in dermal fibroblasts, but they failed to hamper the CoCl(2)-induced CTGF mRNA expression. In addition, CoCl(2) treatment increased nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB binding activity for CTGF mRNA, while decreasing IkappaBalpha expression in dermal fibroblasts. Our data suggest that hypoxia, caused possibly by microvascular alterations, up-regulates CTGF expression through the activation of HIF-1alpha in dermal fibroblasts of SSc patients, and thereby contributes to the progression of skin fibrosis.

Emission of a hot electron jet from intense femtosecond-laser-cluster interactions.

A directional hot electron jet with energy higher than 100 keV was generated along the laser propagation direction from Ar clusters irradiated with a laser pulse of duration 28 fs and intensity 1 x 10(17) W/cm(2). The hot electron jet was detected only with linearly polarized laser pulses, not with circularly polarized pulses. Channel betatron resonance is believed to be the main accelerating mechanism for this directional hot electron jet.

Coherent control of high-order harmonics with chirped femtosecond laser pulses.

High-order harmonics were coherently controlled using chirped femtosecond laser pulses for the production of sharp and strong harmonics. As the laser intensity was increased above the saturation intensity for optical-field ionization, the laser chirp needed to suppress harmonic chirp in the plateau region changed from positive to negative. We showed that the modification of a laser chirp condition in a rapidly ionizing medium should be included for the proper coherent control of high-order harmonics, necessitating the integral treatment of the interaction between atoms and a driving laser pulse.

Chloroplast DNA phylogeography of Cunninghamia konishii (Cupressaceae), an endemic conifer of Taiwan.

In this study, we investigated the genetic structure and phylogeographic pattern of the genus Cunninghamia, a member of the Cupressaceae restricted to mainland China and Taiwan, based on sequences of the trnD-trnT noncoding spacer of the chloroplast DNA. Maternal inheritance of chloroplasts was determined experimentally. No paternal leakage was detected. Both parsimony and neighbor-joining analyses revealed the polyphyly of Cunninghamia konishii, populations of which were nested in clades of C. lanceolata from mainland China. The nucleotide diversity of chloroplast DNA sequences within C. konishii (0.0118) was higher than that between species (0.0104), which agrees with a previous allozyme investigation. Based on mutational differences between sequences, a minimum spanning network consisting of five clades was constructed. Significant genetic differentiation (phiST = 0.130, P < 0.001) was detected between the clades based on AMOVA analyses. We infer several possible refugia in the Yunnan, Zhejiang, and Guangdong provinces of south China, all located in the minimum network as interior nodes. We also infer possible migration routes of Cunninghamia populations. The phylogeographic pattern shown in the reconstructed network suggests that the present-day Cunninghamia populations in Taiwan were derived from six different sources in continental Asia via long-distance seed dispersal. A migrant-pool model explains the heterogeneous composition of the organelle DNA in Taiwan's populations and the low differentiation between populations of Taiwan and China (phiCT = 0.012, P = 0.454). In contrast with the genetic heterogeneity within geographic populations, many local populations have attained coalescence at the trnD-trnT alleles, which has led to significant differentiation at the population level.

Anterior and posterior medialization (APM) thyroplasty.

OBJECTIVE: In unilateral vocal fold paralysis with dysphonia, most of the paralyzed vocal folds may be medialized effectively by medialization laryngoplasty. However, if the posterior glottal gap is wide, these procedures may sometimes have a limit to medialize the posterior glottis and cannot be effective for acceptable voice quality. The objective of this study is to introduce a new surgical technique for medializing the membranous and cartilaginous portions of the paralyzed vocal fold: anterior and posterior medialization (APM) thyroplasty. METHOD: Six patients underwent APM thyroplasty. They completed preoperative and postoperative evaluation with acoustic analysis and video laryngoscopy. RESULTS: All patients satisfied their voice subjectively after surgery. The paralyzed vocal folds, membranous and cartilaginous parts, were medialized well, and the paralyzed arytenoid showed less anterior tipping postoperatively. On voice analysis all patients showed prolonged phonation times and decreased perturbations after surgery. CONCLUSION: The advantages of this procedure are to medialize the membranous and cartilaginous portions of the paralyzed vocal fold directly and to correct vertical mismatch between two vocal folds. This procedure might be especially indicated in the lateralized position of the paralyzed vocal fold but not in the higher paralyzed vocal fold compared with the normal vocal fold.

In vitro development of reconstructed bovine embryos and fate of donor mitochondria following nuclear injection of cumulus cells.

In this study we examined the developmental potential of reconstructed embryos and the fate of donor mitochondria during preimplantation development after nuclear transfer in cattle. Isolated cumulus cells were used as donor cells in nuclear transfer. Cumulus cells labelled with MitoTracker Green FM fluorochrome were injected into enucleated bovine MII oocytes and cultured in vitro. MitoTracker labelling on donor cells did not have a detrimental effect on blastocyst formation following nuclear transfer. Cleavage rate was about 69% (56/81) and blastocyst formation rate was 6.2% (5/81) at 7 days after nuclear transfer. The labelled mitochondria dispersed to the cytoplasm and became distributed between blastomeres and could be identified up to the 8- to 15-cell stage. Small patches of mitochondria were detected in some 8- to 15-cell stage embryos (5/20). However, donor mitochondria were not detected in embryos at the 16-cell stage and subsequent developmental stages. In the control group, mitochondria could be identified in arrested 1-cell embryos up to 7 days after nuclear transfer. These results suggest that disappearance of the labelled donor mitochondria in nuclear transfer bovine embryos is not due to fading of the fluorochrome marker, but is rather an as yet undefined cytoplasmic event.

4-Acetyl-12,13-epoxyl-9-trichothecene-3,15-diol isolated from the fruiting bodies of Isariajaponica Yasuda induces apoptosis of human leukemia cells (HL-60).

The fruiting bodies of Isaria fungi have been traditionally used in Korea to treat cancer. An apoptosis-inducing compound, 4-acetyl-12,13-epoxyl-9-trichothecene-3,15-diol, was isolated from the methanol extract of fruiting bodies of Isaria japonica Yasuda by bioassay-guided fractionation. The apoptosis of the human leukemia cells (HL-60) by the compound was accessed by propidium iodide-staining flow cytometric analysis, and apoptosis-inducing activity at IC50 concentration (10 nmol/l) was further confirmed by a nuclear morphological change, a ladder pattern of internucleosomal DNA fragmentation, and an activation of caspase-3.