ALBERT

Description: SBF-1 exerts strong anticervical cancer effect through inducing endoplasmic reticulum stress-associated cell death via targeting sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase 2 Cell Death and Disease 5, e1581 (December 2014). doi:10.1038/cddis.2014.538 Authors: W Li, Z Ouyang, Q Zhang, L Wang, Y Shen, X Wu, Y Gu, Y Shu, B Yu, X Wu, Y Sun & Q Xu

Description: Suppression of BRCA1 sensitizes cells to proteasome inhibitors Cell Death and Disease 5, e1580 (December 2014). doi:10.1038/cddis.2014.537 Authors: Y Gu, P Bouwman, D Greco, J Saarela, B Yadav, J Jonkers & S G Kuznetsov

Description: The capability of Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model in the simulation of cirrus clouds has been examined, with a focus on the effects of radiative processes and vertical model resolution. We incorporate in WRF a new radiation module, referred to as the Fu-Liou-Gu scheme, which is an improvement and refinement based on the Fu-Liou scheme, particularly in reference to parameterization of the single-scattering properties of ice crystal size and shape. We conducted a number of real-time WRF simulations for cirrus cases that were observed in the coastal and western United States on 29–30 March 2007, and we compared these with available observations from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and GOES visible and IR images over the same areas. Simulation results show that WRF is capable of generating reasonable cirrus cloud fields and their movement and dissipation processes, especially those associated with the large-scale frontal system. Radiative processes are important in cirrus cloud simulations by affecting the vertical thermal structure and hence convection. The newly implemented radiation module, the Fu-Liou-Gu scheme, has been demonstrated to work well in WRF and can be effectively used for studies related to cirrus cloud formation and evolution and aerosol-cloud-radiation interactions. With the newly implemented radiation scheme, the simulations of cloud cover and cloud and ice water path (CWP and IWP) have been improved for cirrus clouds, with a more consistent comparison with the corresponding MODIS observations in terms of CWP and IWP means and CWP frequency distribution, especially for optically thin cirrus with an improvement of about 20% in simulated mean IWP. The model-simulated ice crystal sizes have also been shown to be comparable to those determined from MODIS cloud products. Finally, we have demonstrated that model vertical resolution plays a significant role in cirrus cloud simulation in terms of altering vertical velocity field and the associated regional circulation.

Description: Abstract Severe geomagnetic storms caused by the solar wind disturbances have harmful influences on the operation of modern equipment and systems. The modeling and forecasting of AE index are extremely useful to understand the geomagnetic substorms. This study presents a novel cloud‐nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous input (NARX) model to predict AE index 1 hr ahead. The cloud‐NARX model provides AE index forecasting results, with a correlation coefficient of 0.87 on the data of whole year 2015. The benchmarks on the data of the two interested periods of 17–21 March 2015 and 22–26 June 2015 are presented. The presented model uses uncertainty “cloud” model and cloud transformation to quantify the uncertainty throughout the structure detection, parameter estimation, and model prediction. The new predicted band can be generated to forecast AE index with confidence interval. The proposed method provides a new way to evaluate the model based on uncertainty analysis, revealing the reliability of model, and visualize the bias of model prediction.

Description: Abstract Severe geomagnetic storms caused by the solar wind disturbances have harmful influences on the operation of modern equipment and systems. The modeling and forecasting of AE index are extremely useful to understand the geomagnetic substorms. This study presents a novel cloud‐nonlinear autoregressive with exogenous input (NARX) model to predict AE index 1 hr ahead. The cloud‐NARX model provides AE index forecasting results, with a correlation coefficient of 0.87 on the data of whole year 2015. The benchmarks on the data of the two interested periods of 17–21 March 2015 and 22–26 June 2015 are presented. The presented model uses uncertainty “cloud” model and cloud transformation to quantify the uncertainty throughout the structure detection, parameter estimation, and model prediction. The new predicted band can be generated to forecast AE index with confidence interval. The proposed method provides a new way to evaluate the model based on uncertainty analysis, revealing the reliability of model, and visualize the bias of model prediction.

Description: Integrated analyses identify the involvement of microRNA-26a in epithelial–mesenchymal transition during idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis Cell Death and Disease 5, e1238 (May 2014). doi:10.1038/cddis.2014.207 Authors: H Liang, Y Gu, T Li, Y Zhang, L Huangfu, M Hu, D Zhao, Y Chen, S Liu, Y Dong, X Li, Y Lu, B Yang & H Shan

Description: InPBi was predicted to be the most robust infrared optoelectronic material but also the most difficult to synthesize within In-VBi (V = P, As and Sb) 25 years ago. We report the first successful growth of InPBi single crystals with Bi concentration far beyond the doping level by gas source molecular beam epitaxy. The InPBi thin films reveal excellent surface, structural and optical qualities making it a promising new III–V compound family member for heterostructures. The Bi concentration is found to be 2.4 ± 0.4% with 94 ± 5% Bi atoms at substitutional sites. Optical absorption indicates a band gap of 1.23 eV at room temperature while photoluminescence shows unexpectedly strong and broad light emission at 1.4–2.7 μm which can't be explained by the existing theory. Scientific Reports 4 doi: 10.1038/srep05449

Description: A stochastic approach has been developed to model the positions of BC/dust internally mixed with two snow-grain types: hexagonal plate/column (convex) and Koch snowflake (concave). Subsequently, light absorption and scattering analysis can be followed by means of an improved geometric-optics approach coupled with Monte Carlo photon tracing to determine BC/dust single-scattering properties. For a given shape (plate, Koch snowflake, spheroid, or sphere), the action of internal mixing absorbs substantially more light than external mixing. The snow-grain shape effect on absorption is relatively small, but its effect on asymmetry factor is substantial. Due to a greater probability of intercepting photons, multiple inclusions of BC/dust exhibit a larger absorption than an equal-volume single inclusion. The spectral absorption (0.2 – 5  μ m) for snow grains internally mixed with BC/dust is confined to wavelengths shorter than about 1.4  μ m, beyond which ice absorption predominates. Based on the single-scattering properties determined from stochastic and light absorption parameterizations and using the adding/doubling method for spectral radiative transfer, we find that internal mixing reduces snow albedo substantially more than external mixing and that the snow-grain shape plays a critical role in snow albedo calculations through its forward scattering strength. Also, multiple inclusion of BC/dust significantly reduces snow albedo as compared to an equal-volume single sphere. For application to land/snow models, we propose a two-layer spectral snow parameterization involving contaminated fresh snow on top of old snow for investigating and understanding the climatic impact of multiple BC/dust internal mixing associated with snow grain metamorphism, particularly over mountain/snow topography.

Description: Article In the proximity of noncollinear magnetization, the Cooper-paired electrons of a superconductor may exist in a spin-triplet state. Here, the authors use scanning tunnel methods to directly observe this effect in Niobium as an adjacent film of Holmium is driven between helical and ferromagnetic order. Nature Communications doi: 10.1038/ncomms9053 Authors: A. Di Bernardo, S. Diesch, Y. Gu, J. Linder, G. Divitini, C. Ducati, E. Scheer, M.G. Blamire, J.W.A. Robinson

Description: ABSTRACT Exercise is dependent on adequate oxygen supply for mitochondrial respiration in both cardiac and locomotor muscle. To determine whether skeletal myofiber VEGF is critical for regulating exercise capacity, independent of VEGF function in the heart, ablation of the VEGF gene was targeted to skeletal myofibers (skmVEGF-/-) during embryogenesis (∼ E9.5), leaving intact VEGF expression by all other cells in muscle. In adult mice, VEGF levels were decreased in the soleus (by 65%), plantaris (94%), gastrocnemius (74%), EDL (99%) and diaphragm (64%) (p 〈 0.0001, each muscle). VEGF levels were unchanged in the heart. Treadmill speed (WT 86  ± 4 cm/sec., skmVEGF-/- 70 ± 5 cm/sec., p = 0.006) and endurance (WT 78 ± 24 min., skmVEGF-/- 18 ± 4 min., p = 0.0004) were severely limited in skmVEGF-/- mice in contrast to minor effect of conditional skmVEGF gene deletion in the adult. Body weight was also reduced (WT 22.8 ± 1.6 g, skmVEGF-/-, 21.1 ± 1.5, p = 0.02), but the muscle mass/body weight ratio was unchanged. The capillary/fiber ratio was lower in skmVEGF-/- plantaris (WT 1.51 ± 0.12, skmVEGF-/- 1.16 ± 0.20, p = 0.01), gastrocnemius (WT 1.61 ± 0.08, skmVEGF-/- 1.39 ± 0.08, p = 0.01), EDL (WT 1.36 ± 0.07, skmVEGF-/- 1.14 ± 0.13, p = 0.03) and diaphragm (WT 1.39 ± 0.18, skmVEGF-/- 0.79 ± 0.16, p = 0.0001) but, not in soleus. Cardiac function (heart rate, maximal pressure, maximal dP/dt, minimal dP/dt,) in response to dobutamine was not impaired in anesthetized skmVEGF-/- mice. Isolated soleus and EDL fatigue times were 16% and 20% (p 〈 0.02) longer, respectively, in skmVEGF-/- mice than the WT group. These data suggest that skeletal myofiber VEGF expressed during development is necessary to establish capillary networks that allow maximal exercise capacity. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved