ALBERT

Description: Although it is possible to improve the optoelectronic conversions of solar cells through the construction of one-dimensional nanostructures on their front surfaces, much effort at such fabrication has led to only modest increases in conversion efficiencies. In this study, we employed i-line lithography and ion implantation to fabricate arrays of well-aligned, contamination-free silicon nanopillars with core/shell p–n junctions for use in high-performance nanostructured solar cells. Such structures provided concurrent improvements in both the optical and electrical characteristics of nanopillar devices. We extracted high currents with large fill factors from these lowly reflective nanopillar arrays, resulting in power conversion efficiencies of up to 11.70 ± 0.22%—that is, 28% higher than that of the planar counterpart. Moreover, when applying 75-nm-thick silicon nitride as a passivation layer on the nanopillars, the average total reflection over wavelengths in the range of 400–1020 nm decreased to 2.56%, while the power conversion efficiency increased further to 12.39%.

Description: We previously presented DriverDB, a database that incorporates ~6000 cases of exome-seq data, in addition to annotation databases and published bioinformatics algorithms dedicated to driver gene/mutation identification. The database provides two points of view, ‘Cancer’ and ‘Gene’, to help researchers visualize the relationships between cancers and driver genes/mutations. In the updated DriverDBv2 database ( http://ngs.ym.edu.tw/driverdb ) presented herein, we incorporated 〉9500 cancer-related RNA-seq datasets and 〉7000 more exome-seq datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), and published papers. Seven additional computational algorithms (meaning that the updated database contains 15 in total), which were developed for driver gene identification, are incorporated into our analysis pipeline, and the results are provided in the ‘Cancer’ section. Furthermore, there are two main new features, ‘Expression’ and ‘Hotspot’, in the ‘Gene’ section. ‘Expression’ displays two expression profiles of a gene in terms of sample types and mutation types, respectively. ‘Hotspot’ indicates the hotspot mutation regions of a gene according to the results provided by four bioinformatics tools. A new function, ‘Gene Set’, allows users to investigate the relationships among mutations, expression levels and clinical data for a set of genes, a specific dataset and clinical features.

Description: Pigs are important intermediate hosts for generating novel influenza viruses. The Eurasian avian-like H1N1 (EAH1N1) swine influenza viruses (SIVs) have circulated in pigs since 1979, and human cases associated with EAH1N1 SIVs have been reported in several countries. However, the biologic properties of EAH1N1 SIVs are largely unknown. Here, we...

Description: We have studied the generation of terahertz (THz) radiation via the interaction of intense femtosecond laser pulses with solid targets at a small incidence angle. It is found that preplasma with a moderate density gradient can enhance the emission. We also observe saturation of the THz output with the driving laser energy. We find that THz emission is closely related to the 3/2 harmonics of the driving laser. Particle-in-cell simulations indicate that under the present experimental conditions, the THz emission could be attributed to the transient currents at the plasma-vacuum interface, mainly formed by the two-plasmon-decay instability.

Description: 〈span〉〈div〉ABSTRACT〈/div〉Shale gas in the Sichuan Basin and its periphery potentially plays an important role in the world shale gas industry. An understanding of remigration and leakage from continuous shale reservoirs is very important for shale gas exploration, especially in the Sichuan Basin and its periphery. The shale gas accumulation models that relate to remigration and leakage were developed within the Wufeng and Longmaxi black shales in the Jiaoshiba and the Youyang blocks. First, a tectono-sedimentary history of the Wufeng and Longmaxi black shales in the Sichuan Basin and its periphery was developed based on the published literature. The history exhibits a continuous distribution of high-quality Wufeng and Longmaxi black shale, which is the foundation of the shale gas formation. Second, the shale gas remigration–accumulation model in the anticlines was clarified by using data collected from the shale gas fields in Jiaoshiba block. The shale gas model for the Jiaoshiba block was developed on the basis of a continuous shale reservoir distribution, differentiated structural deformation, and a gas self-sealed system. Third, the shale gas fault failure leakage model in the fault blocks and the erosion model in the residual areas were revealed based on the shale reservoir and shale gas content heterogeneity in the Youyang block. These two models were validated by available data including 13 two-dimensional seismic lines and 2 shale gas exploration vertical wells in the Youyang block. Shale gas areas with high gas resource and gas production rates in the anticlines were defined by the remigration–accumulation model. The fault failure leakage model was used to find shale gas with limited commercial potential, whereas commercial shale gas was largely lacking according to the erosion residual model. The study on remigration and leakage from continuous shale reservoirs in the Sichuan Basin and its periphery can be used to better understand and improve the exploration efforts based on resource preservation.〈/span〉

Description: The Diyanqinamu porphyry Mo deposit in the southern Greater Khingan Range of the Central Asian orogenic belt contains 800 million metric tons (Mt) of ore with an average grade of 0.097% molybdenum. The deposit is hosted in Late Jurassic volcanic rocks of tuff, andesite, and volcanic breccia. Multiple-stage hydrothermal activities have resulted in propylitic, phyllic, and argillic alteration in this deposit. Five stages (I–V) of hydrothermal activity are identified. Stage I is represented by a mineral assemblage of epidote, chlorite, and magnetite, with some discontinuous barren veinlets of quartz + K-feldspar ± fluorite ± magnetite ± epidote ± chlorite. Stage II is marked by occurrence of quartz + fluorite + molybdenite + magnetite ± pyrite ± sericite ± siderite veinlets/veins with phyllic halos. Stage III consists of fluorite + siderite + quartz + molybdenite + pyrite ± ankerite ± calcite ± chalcopyrite veins that are commonly related to phyllic alteration and dissemination of fluorite in the altered rocks. Stage IV has an assemblage of fluorite + quartz + pyrite ± ankerite ± calcite ± molybdenite ± chalcopyrite ± sphalerite ± galena in coarse veins (10–20 mm wide). Stage V consists of narrow (≤5-mm wide) veinlets of calcite + fluorite + pyrite ± quartz. Molybdenite mainly occurs in Stages II and III. Re-Os dating results for molybdenite samples from these two stages yielded an isochron age of 156.2 ± 4.2 Ma (2 , MSWD = 0.96, n = 10). Most molybdenite samples have high 34 S values (≥8.4) relative to other sulfide minerals (i.e., galena, sphalerite, pyrite, and chalcopyrite) of Stages II to V ( 34 S = 2.5–8.3, n = 22). Molybdenite also has low 207 Pb/ 204 Pb and 208 Pb/ 204 Pb ratios relative to other sulfide minerals although there are minor overlaps. In a diagram of 206 Pb/ 204 Pb versus 207 Pb/ 204 Pb, these Pb isotope data display a positive trend transecting the growth curves of crustal lead, which could be invoked by mixing of crustal and mantle sources with distinct Pb isotopes. In combination with the S isotope data and mineral paragenesis, we suggest that magmas were the main source of molybdenum, whereas other metals (i.e., Pb, Zn, and Cu) were possibly sourced from the country rocks.

Description: The Central Carbon Metabolic Flux Database (CeCaFDB, available at http://www.cecafdb.org ) is a manually curated, multipurpose and open-access database for the documentation, visualization and comparative analysis of the quantitative flux results of central carbon metabolism among microbes and animal cells. It encompasses records for more than 500 flux distributions among 36 organisms and includes information regarding the genotype, culture medium, growth conditions and other specific information gathered from hundreds of journal articles. In addition to its comprehensive literature-derived data, the CeCaFDB supports a common text search function among the data and interactive visualization of the curated flux distributions with compartmentation information based on the Cytoscape Web API, which facilitates data interpretation. The CeCaFDB offers four modules to calculate a similarity score or to perform an alignment between the flux distributions. One of the modules was built using an inter programming algorithm for flux distribution alignment that was specifically designed for this study. Based on these modules, the CeCaFDB also supports an extensive flux distribution comparison function among the curated data. The CeCaFDB is strenuously designed to address the broad demands of biochemists, metabolic engineers, systems biologists and members of the -omics community.

Description: Starch is the most widespread and abundant storage carbohydrate in crops and its production is critical to both crop yield and quality. In regard to the starch content in the seeds of crop plants, there is a distinct difference between grasses (Poaceae) and dicots. However, few studies have described the evolutionary pattern of genes in the starch biosynthetic pathway in these two groups of plants. In this study, therefore, an attempt was made to compare evolutionary rate, gene duplication, and selective pattern of the key genes involved in this pathway between the two groups, using five grasses and five dicots as materials. The results showed 1) distinct differences in patterns of gene duplication and loss between grasses and dicots; duplication in grasses mainly occurred before the divergence of grasses, whereas duplication mostly occurred in individual species within the dicots; there is less gene loss in grasses than in dicots, 2) a considerably higher evolutionary rate in grasses than in dicots in most gene families analyzed, and 3) evidence of a different selective pattern between grasses and dicots; positive selection may have occurred asymmetrically in grasses in some gene families, for example, ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase small subunit. Therefore, we deduced that gene duplication contributes to, and a higher evolutionary rate is associated with, the higher starch content in grasses. In addition, two novel aspects of the evolution of the starch biosynthetic pathway were observed.

Description: The discovery of an emerging viral disease, severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS), caused by SFTS virus (SFTSV), has prompted the need to understand pathogenesis of SFTSV. We are unique in establishing an infectious model of SFTS in C57/BL6 mice, resulting in hallmark symptoms of thrombocytopenia and leukocytopenia. Viral RNA and histopathological changes were identified in the spleen, liver, and kidney. However, viral replication was only found in the spleen, which suggested the spleen to be the principle target organ of SFTSV. Moreover, the number of macrophages and platelets were largely increased in the spleen, and SFTSV colocalized with platelets in cytoplasm of macrophages in the red pulp of the spleen. In vitro cellular assays further revealed that SFTSV adhered to mouse platelets and facilitated the phagocytosis of platelets by mouse primary macrophages, which in combination with in vivo findings, suggests that SFTSV-induced thrombocytopenia is caused by clearance of circulating virus-bound platelets by splenic macrophages. Thus, this study has elucidated the pathogenic mechanisms of thrombocytopenia in a mouse model resembling human SFTS disease.

Description: One of the promises of nanoparticle (NP) carriers is the reformulation of promising therapeutics that have failed clinical development due to pharmacologic challenges. However, current nanomedicine research has been focused on the delivery of established and novel therapeutics. Here we demonstrate proof of the principle of using NPs to revive the clinical potential of abandoned compounds using wortmannin (Wtmn) as a model drug. Wtmn is a potent inhibitor of phosphatidylinositol 3′ kinase-related kinases but failed clinical translation due to drug-delivery challenges. We engineered a NP formulation of Wtmn and demonstrated that NP Wtmn has higher solubility and lower toxicity compared with Wtmn. To establish the clinical translation potential of NP Wtmn, we evaluated the therapeutic as a radiosensitizer in vitro and in vivo. NP Wtmn was found to be a potent radiosensitizer and was significantly more effective than the commonly used radiosensitizer cisplatin in vitro in three cancer cell lines. The mechanism of action of NP Wtmn radiosensitization was found to be through the inhibition of DNA-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation. Finally, NP Wtmn was shown to be an effective radiosensitizer in vivo using two murine xenograft models of cancer. Our results demonstrate that NP drug-delivery systems can promote the readoption of abandoned drugs such as Wtmn by overcoming drug-delivery challenges.