Hengzongshu/ArticleAgent huggingface dataset:
In a previous report, we demonstrated the presence of cells with a neural/glial phenotype on the concave side of the vertebral body growth plate in Idiopathic Scoliosis (IS) and proposed this phenotype alteration as the main etiological factor of IS.In the present study, we utilized the same specimens of vertebral body growth plates removed during surgery for Grade III-IV IS to analyse gene expression.We suggested that phenotype changes observed on the concave side of the vertebral body growth plate can be associated with altered expression of particular genes, which in turn compromise mechanical properties of the concave side.

We used a Real-Time SYBR Green PCR assay to investigate gene expression in vertebral body growth plates removed during surgery for Grade III-IV IS; cartilage tissues from human fetal spine were used as a surrogate control.Special attention was given to genes responsible for growth regulation, chondrocyte differentiation, matrix synthesis, sulfation and transmembrane transport of sulfates.We performed morphological, histochemical, biochemical, and ultrastructural analysis of vertebral body growth plates.

Expression of genes that control chondroitin sulfate sulfation and corresponding protein synthesis was significantly lower in scoliotic specimens compared to controls.Biochemical analysis showed 1) a decrease in diffused proteoglycans in the total pool of proteoglycans; 2) a reduced level of their sulfation; 3) a reduction in the amount of chondroitin sulfate coinciding with raising the amount of keratan sulfate; and 4) reduced levels of sulfation on the concave side of the scoliotic deformity. Conclusion:The results suggested that altered expression of genes that control chondroitin sulfate sulfation and corresponding changes in protein synthesis on the concave side of vertebral body growth plates could be causal agents of the scoliotic deformity.
In the paper [1] authors applied canonical transformation to water wave equation not only to remove cubic nonlinear terms but to simplify drastically fourth order terms in Hamiltonian. After the transformation well-known but cumbersome Zakharov equation is drastically simplified and can be written in X-space in compact way. This new equation is very suitable for analytic study as well as for numerical simulation At the same time one of the important issues concerning this system is the question of its integrability. The first part of the work is devoted to numerical and analytical study of the integrability of the equation obtained in [1]. In the second part we present generalization of the improved Zakharov equation for the "almost" 2-D water waves at the surface of deep water. When considering waves slightly inhomogeneous in transverse direction, one can think in the spirit of Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation for Korteveg-de-Vries equation taking into account weak transverse diffraction. Equation can be written instead of classical variables η(x,y,t) and ψ(x,y,t) in terms of canonical normal variable b(x,y,t). This equation is very suitable for robust numerical simulation. Due to specific structure of nonlinearity in the Hamiltonian the equation can be effectively solved on the computer. It was applied for simulation of sea surface waving including freak waves appearing.
The aim of this work was to assess the potential of the optical methods for studying erythrocytes (Er) and blood serum (BS) of patients with colorectal cancer (CC). A total of 26 persons (52 + 8 years old) with CC (histologically – adenocarcinoma) in the T1–2 stage (the 1st group consisting of 10 patients) and in the terminal stage T3–4 (the 2nd group involving 16 patients) were examined. The metastases (in the liver area) were detected in 6 patients; the remaining patients had no metastases. The degree of lymph node involvement in most patients was not determined, the ten corresponding N1. The control group consisted of 16 healthy people (50 + 6 years old). Electric and viscoelastic Er parameters were investigated by dielectrophoresis, their membrane structure – by TLC and gas chromatography. The optical properties of BS were studied by the methods of ellipsometry. The reaction of the monoclonal antibody CD 24 with BS antigens of CC patients was studied by spectroscopic ellipsometry close to the conditions of surface plasmon resonance (SPR) (ProteOn XPR36 (BioRad). We observed significant differences in Er parameters, associated with the CC stage. Given in the 2nd group (T3–4) summarized rigidity, viscosity, electrical conductivity, the relative polarizability, indexes of aggregation and destruction were significantly higher than those in the 1st (T1–2) and in the control group (p < 0.001–0.05). At the same time the patients of the 2nd group had marked disturbances of Er deformability, leading to the development of microcirculatory disorders and tissue hypoxia with the expressed deficit of intracellular macroergs. We observed high levels of cholesterol fraction, oleic, stearic acids, high index of cholesterol/phospholipids (PHL) and low levels of total lipids, easily oxidable PHL, arachidonic acid, omega-3 index in Er membranes in the 2nd group in comparison with those in the 1st group of patients (p < 0.0001–0.03). Scanning ellipsometry showed marked heterogeneity in thickness and composition, the abundance of discontinuities in thin films of BS of patients in the 2nd group compared to the 1st one (p < 0.001). Increasing the refractive index in combination with the reduction in film thickness as CC stage was weighting has been observed (p < 0.01–0,⧹.05). The concentration of the antigens to the CD24 in the BS of patients (obtained by SPR) in the terminal stages of CC was higher than that in the T1–2 (p < 0.001). We revealed correlations between Er parameters, BS ellipsometry characteristics and biochemical parameters, which reflected the interaction between these components depending on the CC stage. Identified microcirculatory disturbances probably aggravate the course of CC and, therefore, require additional therapeutic effects. Differences in Er and BS parameters associated with the stage of CC, give hope for the development of new diagnostic methods at the early stages of the disease.
The cross-section for inclusive phi meson production in pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV has been measured with the LHCb detector at the Large Hadron Collider.

The differential cross-section is measured as a function of the phi transverse momentum p_T and rapidity y in the region 0.6 < p_T < 5.0 GeV/c and 2.44 < y < 4.06. The cross-section is integrated over p_T and y and is found to be sigma(pp -> phi X) = 1758 pm 19(stat) ^{+43}_{-14}(syst) pm 182(scale) microbarn, where the first systematic uncertainty depends on the p_T and y region and the second is related to the overall scale.

Predictions based on the Pythia 6.4 generator underestimate the cross-section.
In this paper, we give a short survey of recent results on the algebraic version of the Birkhoff conjecture for integrable billiards on surfaces of constant curvature. We also discuss integrable magnetic billiards. As a new application of the algebraic technique, we study the existence of polynomial integrals for the two-sided magnetic billiards introduced by Kozlov and Polikarpov. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Finite dimensional integrable systems: new trends and methods’.
Background. Anaplastic thyroid cancer (ATC) is one of the most aggressive human tumors. Since median survival of ATC patients is only 4 months, its early diagnosis is very important. Although ATC has specific clinical manifestations, the analysis of expression of different microRNAs can facilitate preoperative diagnostics and help to detect its potential precursors among differentiated cancers and other thyroid malignancies. The study objective is to identify microRNAs specific for ATC that are different from microRNAs in other thyroid cancers. Materials and methods. We analyzed the expression of 14 microRNAs in histological specimens of 67 patients with ATC. The control groups included 25 patients with benign nodules, 36 patients with follicular adenomas, 32 patients with follicular cancer, and 152 patients with papillary thyroid cancer. For 7 out of 67 ATC patients, we compared mi-croRNA levels in histological and cytological specimens. Results . Patients with ATC demonstrated a statistically significant decrease in the expression of miR-145, miR-125b and increase in the expression of miR-155 and miR-21 compared to all control groups. We found two reliable diagnostic markers of ATC: relative miR-21 expression (at a cutoff of 14.9, sensitivity was 0.955 and specificity was 0.837) and the miR-21/miR-145 ratio (at a cutoff of 122, sensitivity was 0.955 and specificity was 0.955). The level of miR-21 expression and miR-21/miR-145 ratio in cytological specimens were accurate in all 7 cases (100 %). Conclusion. the level of expression of specific microRNAs can be used as a reliable biomarker for ATC. The consistency between the results obtained in cytological and histological specimens enables the use of stained cytological samples for this analysis.
The paper reports on a new plasma startup scenario in the Gas Dynamic Trap (GDT) magnetic mirror device. The primary 5 MW neutral beam injection (NBI) plasma heating system fires into a sufficiently dense plasma target ("seed plasma"), which is commonly supplied by an arc plasma generator. In the reported experiments, a different approach to seed plasma generation is explored. One of the channels of the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) heating system is used to ionize the neutral gas and build up the density of plasma to a level suitable for NBI capture. After a short transition (about 1 ms) the discharge becomes essentially similar to a standard one initiated by the plasma gun. The paper presents the discharge scenario and experimental data on the seed plasma evolution during ECR heating, along with the dependencies on incident microwave power, magnetic configuration and pressure of a neutral gas. The characteristics of consequent high-power NBI discharge are studied and differences to the conventional scenario are discussed. A theoretical model describing the ECR breakdown and the seed plasma accumulation in a large scale mirror trap is developed on the basis of the GDT experiment.
In wheat, the vernalization requirement is mainly controlled by the VRN genes. Different species of hexaploid and tetraploid wheat are widely used as genetic source for new mutant variants and alleles for fundamental investigations and practical breeding programs.

In this study, VRN-A1 and VRN-B1 were analysed for 178 accessions representing six tetraploid wheat species (Triticum dicoccoides, T. dicoccum, T. turgidum, T. polonicum, T. carthlicum, T. durum) and five hexaploid species (T. compactum, T. sphaerococcum, T. spelta, T. macha, T. vavilovii). Novel allelic variants in the promoter region of VRN-A1 and VRN-B1 were identified based on the change in curvature and flexibility of the DNA molecules.

The new variants of VRN-A1 (designated as Vrn-A1a.2, Vrn-A1b.2 – Vrn-A1b.6 and Vrn-A1i) were found to be widely distributed in hexaploid and tetraploid wheat, and in fact were predominant over the known VRN-A1 alleles. The greatest diversity of the new variants of VRN-B1 (designated as VRN-B1.f, VRN-B1.s and VRN-B1.m) was found in the tetraploid and some hexaploid wheat species. For the first time, minor differences within the sequence motif known as the VRN-box of VRN1 were correlated with wheat growth habit. Thus, vrn-A1b.3 and vrn-A1b.4 were revealed in winter wheat in contrast to Vrn-A1b.2, Vrn-A1b.5, Vrn-A1b.6 and Vrn-A1i. It was found that single nucleotide mutation in the VRN-box can influence the vernalization requirement and growth habit of wheat. Our data suggest that both the A-tract and C-rich segment within the VRN-box contribute to its functionality, and provide a new view of the hypothesised role of the VRN-box in regulating transcription of the VRN1 genes. Specifically, it is proposed that combination of mutations in this region can modulate vernalization sensitivity and flowering time of wheat. New allelic variants of the VRN-A1 and VRN-B1 genes were identified in hexaploid and tetraploid wheat. Mutations in A-tract and C-rich segments within the VRN-box of VRN-A1 are associated with modulation of the vernalization requirement and flowering time. New allelic variants will be useful in fundamental investigations into the regulation of VRN1 expression, and provide a valuable genetic resource for practical breeding of wheat.
Fiber lasers operating via Raman gain or based on rare‐earth‐doped active fibers are widely used as sources of CW radiation. However, these lasers are only quasi‐CW: their intensity fluctuates strongly on short time scales. Here the framework of the complex Ginzburg–Landau equations, which are well known as an efficient model of mode‐locked fiber lasers, is applied for the description of quasi‐CW fiber lasers. The vector Ginzburg–Landau model of a Raman fiber laser describes the experimentally observed turbulent‐like intensity dynamics, as well as polarization rogue waves. Our results open debates about the common underlying physics of operation of very different laser types – quasi‐CW lasers and passively mode‐locked lasers. image
Software tools to automatically survey extended hydrogen bond motifs in a large set of crystal structures have recently become available [1,2].When applied to structures stored in the Cambridge Structural Database [3], these tools allow discrimination between common and unusual hydrogen bond motifs.Complete hydrogen bond networks can be described and common substructures can be identified by using the list of motifs present in each structure as a fingerprint [1].

The application of automated motif analysis will be demonstrated by discussing results obtained for amino acids, sulfonamides, sulfinamides and for cocrystals containing the corresponding functional groups.

The results from such an analysis are particularly useful for the comparison of polymorphs and in the design of cocrystals.We will show that common packing arrangements in different forms can be readily identified by using motif fingerprints.The presence of unusual hydrogen bond motifs will be related to polymorph stability and to unusual experimental conditions.The relevance of data from homomolecular crystals to the design of cocrystals will be assessed by comparing frequent motifs in crystals that contain the same donor and acceptor group either as part of a single molecule or in two components of a cocrystal.
Given a graph G = ( V , E ), two vertices s , t ∈ V , and two integers k , ℓ , the Short Secluded Path problem is to find a simple s ‐ t ‐path with at most k vertices and ℓ neighbors. We study the parameterized complexity of the problem with respect to four structural graph parameters: the vertex cover number, treewidth, feedback vertex number, and feedback edge number. In particular, we completely settle the question of the existence of problem kernels with size polynomial in these parameters and their combinations with k and ℓ . We also obtain a 2 O (tw) · ℓ 2 · n ‐time algorithm for n ‐vertex graphs of treewidth tw, which yields subexponential‐time algorithms in several graph classes.
The formation of three-dimensional (3D) structures during Ge deposition on Si(111) at about 800 °C is studied with scanning tunneling, Kelvin probe and electron microscopies, and scanning tunneling and Raman spectroscopies.

The observed surface morphology is formed by dewetting of Ge from Si(111), since it occurs mainly by means of minimization of surface and interfacial energies. The dewetting proceeds through massive Si eroding around growing 3D structures, providing them to be composed of SiGe with about a 30% Ge content, and leads to the significant reduction of the SiGe/Si interface area.

It is found that the SiGe top component of 3D structures forms sharp interfaces with the underlying Si. The minimization of interfacial and strain energies occurs on the way that the 3D structures appear to get the dendrite-like shape. The Ge distribution in the 3D SiGe structures is inhomogeneous in the lateral dimension with a higher Ge concentration in their central areas and Ge segregation on their surface.
The paper presents the results of numerical simulation and experimental studies of the generation of two ribbon beams in an accelerating diode with magnetic insulation at a diode voltage of ~ 0.7 MeV and a current of 10 kA in it.

Model-ing is implemented using the Particle CST Studio package. The experiments were conducted on the U-3 accelerator of the ELMI installation. In calculations with three-dimensional geometry corresponding to the experiments, the distribu-tion of electron velocities over the pitch angle at the exit of the beams from the diode under the conditions of an inho-mogeneous magnetic field with an induction of about 1 T was obtained. Using the GEANT4 software package in processing measurement results with this sensor gives confidence in the correctness of the obtained distribution function.

These calculated data were confirmed in an experiment in which, using a sensor with seven recording channels, a distribution function of the velocity of electrons with a characteristic width at half maximum of 0.03 rad was obtained.
We consider a class of linear time-varying delay systems of neutral type with periodic coefficients.

We obtain conditions for the exponential stability of the zero solution

and establish estimates characterizing the exponential decay rate of solutions at infinity.
. This paper deals with the application of the r-solution method to recover the initial tsunami waveform in a tsunami source area by remote water-level measurements. Wave propagation is considered within the scope of a linear shallow-water theory. An ill-posed inverse problem is regularized by means of least square inversion using a truncated SVD (singular value decomposition) approach. The method presented allows one to control instability of the numerical solution and to obtain an acceptable result in spite of ill-posedness of the problem. It is shown that the accuracy of tsunami source reconstruction strongly depends on the signal-to-noise ratio, the azimuthal coverage of recording stations with respect to the source area and bathymetric features along the wave path. The numerical experiments were carried out with synthetic data and various computational domains including a real bathymetry.
A search for Bs -> mu+ mu- and B0 -> mu+ mu- decays is performed using 1.0 fb^-1 of pp collision data collected at \sqrt{s}=7 TeV with the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider. For both decays the number of observed events is consistent with expectation from background and Standard Model signal predictions. Upper limits on the branching fractions are determined to be BR(Bs -> mu+ mu-) mu+ mu-) < 1.0 (0.81) x 10^-9 at 95% (90%) confidence level.
We have analysed changes in the oxidation state of SiO x films produced by pulsed laser deposition in a background gas with different partial pressures of oxygen.

The optical properties of the films in IR range are shown to be close to those of SiO 2 while the total oxidation degree is considerably less than 2.

It is suggested that the film consists of oxidized and unoxidized regions due to preferential oxidation of the periphery of the silicon ablation plume during expansion. These regions are overlapping in the film if the laser beam is scanned on the target.
Objective: to study the effect of sleep duration on the 16-year risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) in an open population of men aged 45–64 years living in Novosibirsk. Patients and methods. In 2003–2005 during the IV screening (HAPIEE project), a representative sample of men aged 45–69 years (n=781; mean age – 56.48±0.2 years, response rate – 61%) was examined. A standard clinical and epidemiological examination was carried out: sleep duration was assessed using the Jenkins scale, the level of state-trait anxiety (STA) – using the Spielberger self-assessment scale, depression, life exhaustion, family and workplace stress – with MONICA-MOPSY scales. Social support was assessed with Berkman–Syme Social Network Index. The cohort was followed up for 16 years. Results and discussion. In the studied population of men aged 45–64 years, the most common sleep duration was 7 hours (44.7%), in second place – 8 hours of sleep (27.6%), in third place – 6 hours of sleep (16.4%). Among people with newly diagnosed DM, 7-hour sleep prevailed – 39.2%, 6- and 8-hour sleep – 25.3% each (÷2=7.774; df=5; p>0.05). In men with 5–6 hours of sleep, compared with men sleeping for 7–8 hours, we found a 1.72-fold increased 16-year risk of developing diabetes (95% CI 1.066–2.776; p<0.05), and in men aged 45–54 years – a 1.868-fold increase (95% CI 1.089–3.927; p<0.05). In the Cox-proportional multivariate model, an independent effect on the diabetes risk was observed for: 5–6 hours of sleep at night: hazard ratio (HR) 1.561 (95% CI 1.063–2.83; p<0.001), depression (HR 1.767; 95% CI 1.058–2.952; p<0.05), life exhaustion (HR 1.511; 95% CI 1.266–2.984; p<0.05), and low and medium-1 SNI (HR 1.956; 95% CI 1.074–3.560; p<0.05). Conclusion. Short and very short sleep duration could be defined as a major risk factor of DM.
Magnetic resonance (MR) is one of the most versatile and useful physical effects used for human imaging, chemical analysis, and the elucidation of molecular structures. However, its full potential is rarely used, because only a small fraction of the nuclear spin ensemble is polarized, that is, aligned with the applied static magnetic field.

Hyperpolarization methods seek other means to increase the polarization and thus the MR signal. A unique source of pure spin order is the entangled singlet spin state of dihydrogen, parahydrogen (pH 2 ), which is inherently stable and long‐lived. When brought into contact with another molecule, this 'spin order on demand' allows the MR signal to be enhanced by several orders of magnitude.

Considerable progress has been made in the past decade in the area of pH 2 ‐based hyperpolarization techniques for biomedical applications. It is the goal of this Review to provide a selective overview of these developments, covering the areas of spin physics, catalysis, instrumentation, preparation of the contrast agents, and applications.
Inhibition of the activity of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) has become the main strategy for treating inflammatory diseases. The orthopoxvirus TNF-binding proteins can bind and efficiently neutralize TNF. To analyze the mechanisms of the interaction between human (hTNF) or mouse (mTNF) TNF and the cowpox virus N-terminal binding domain (TNFBD-CPXV), also the variola virus N-terminal binding domain (TNFBD-VARV) and to define the amino acids most importantly involved in the formation of complexes, computer models, derived from the X-ray structure of a homologous hTNF/TNFRII complex, were used together with experiments. The hTNF/TNFBD-CPXV, hTNF/TNFBD-VARV, mTNF/TNFBD-CPXV, and mTNF/TNFBD-VARV complexes were used in the molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and MM/GBSA free energy calculations. The complexes were ordered as hTNF/TNFBD-CPXV, hTNF/TNFBD-VARV, mTNF/TNFBD-CPXV and mTNF/TNFBD-VARV according to increase in the binding affinity. The calculations were in agreement with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) measurements of the binding constants. Key residues involved in complex formation were identified.
The experimental study of the effect of weak shock waves on the supersonic boundary layer of the flat plate with a blunt leading edge (the radius of bluntness was r = 2.5 mm) with Mach number M = 2.5 and zero angle of attack was carried out. The measurements were carried out using the constant temperature anemometer. The paper presents a complex flow structure on the surface of the model. High-intensity peaks were found in the regions of the disturbed flow. Also the spectral analysis of perturbations was performed. It is found that the supersonic boundary layer on a flat plate is very sensitive to the effect of weak shock waves.