The Mechanical Properties of Gangue Paste Material for Deep Mines: An Experimental and Model Study.

Gangue paste material is mainly composed of coal gangue with particle size, which is mixed with cement. Fly ash and additives can be added to change its performance. In this paper, the influence of each component on the mechanical properties of gangue paste material was studied by an orthogonal experiment. The conversion relationship among various indexes of mechanical properties of gangue paste material and the response surface prediction model were discussed. The results show that the mechanical properties of gangue paste materials are positively correlated with the content of cement, the content of fly ash and the mass concentration, which increase with the increase of the three factors, and show the primary and secondary relationship of the content of cement > the content of fly ash > the mass concentration. A response surface prediction model of mechanical property parameters is established, which includes the first order term of the influencing factors of gangue paste material and the first order interaction term between any two factors. In the response surface prediction model of uniaxial compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, cohesion and elastic modulus, the goodness of fit test coefficients are 0.998, 0.957, 0.970 and 0.997, respectively, which proves that the model has good goodness of fit. The research results provide basic parameters for paste filling mining practice, and also provide the basis for numerical simulation of filling body value.

ZNF3 regulates proliferation, migration and invasion through MMP1 and TWIST in colorectal cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a malignant tumor with a high incidence and mortality worldwide. Currently, the underlying molecular mechanisms of CRC are still unclear. Zinc finger protein 3 (ZNF3) is a zinc-finger transcription factor that has been reported as a candidate for breast cancer prognosis, suggesting its involvement in the regulation of tumorigenesis. However, the association between ZNF3 and CRC remains unknown. To investigate the role of ZNF3 in CRC, we first analyze the correlation between ZNF3 expression and CRC, and the results demonstrate that ZNF3 is highly expressed in CRC tissue and cells, which is associated with the age of CRC patients. In vitro studies show that ZNF3 overexpression promotes CRC cell migration. Compared to control cells, knockdown of ZNF3 markedly suppresses CRC cell proliferation, migration and invasion and promotes G0/G1 phase cell cycle arrest. The expressions of the EMT-related markers TWIST and MMP1 are significantly decreased when ZNF3 is silenced. Additionally, overexpression of MMP1 and TWIST exacerbates CRC cell proliferation, accelerates the S phase cell cycle in ZNF3-knockdown SW480 cells, and increases cell migration and invasion through Transwell chambers. These data suggest that ZNF3 is involved in cellular proliferation, migration and invasion by regulating MMP1 and TWIST in CRC cells.

Gaussian process regression to determine water content of methane: Application to methane transport modeling.

The uncontrolled release of methane from natural gas wells may pose risks to shallow groundwater resources. Numerical modeling of methane migration from deep hydrocarbon formations towards shallow systems requires knowledge of phase behavior of the water-methane system, usually calculated by classic thermodynamic approaches. This study presents a Gaussian process regression (GPR) model to estimate water content of methane gas using pressure and temperature as input parameters. Bayesian optimization algorithm was implemented to tune hyper-parameters of the GPR model. The GPR predictions were evaluated with experimental data as well as four thermodynamic models. The results revealed that the predictions of the GPR are in good correspondence with experimental data having a MSE value of 3.127 × 10-7 and R2 of 0.981. Furthermore, the analysis showed that the GPR model exhibits an acceptable performance comparing with the well-known thermodynamic models. The GPR predicts the water content of methane over widespread ranges of pressure and temperature with a degree of accuracy needed for typical subsurface engineering applications.

Common genetic variants in ADCY5 and gestational glycemic traits.

Two meta-analysis of genome wide association studies identified two variants at adenylate cyclase 5 (ADCY5) associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus, fasting and 2-hour glucose in non-pregnant individuals of European descent. The objective of our study was to explore the role of common variants in ADCY5 on gestational glycemic traits, including plasma glucose, insulin values, ß cell function and insulin resistance in the fasted state as well as plasma glucose 1 hour after a 50-gram glucose challenge test among Chinese Han women. Homoeostasis model assessment (HOMA) was used to quantify ß cell function (HOMA1-ß and HOMA2-ß) and insulin resistance (HOMA1-IR and HOMA2-IR). Thirty-five single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in ADCY5 were genotyped in 929 unrelated Chinese Han women with singleton pregnancies. Three SNPs (rs6797915, rs9856662 and rs9875803) displayed evidence for association with plasma glucose 1 hour after a 50-gram glucose challenge test (P = 0.042, 0.018 and 0.018, respectively), one (rs6777397) displayed evidence for association with HOMA1-ß (P = 0.014), and one (rs6762009) displayed evidence for association with HOMA1-IR (P = 0.033). These results provide additional insight into the effects of genetic variation within ADCY5 in glucose metabolism, especially during pregnancy and in non-European descent populations.

Effects of maternal and fetal LEP common variants on maternal glycemic traits in pregnancy.

Previous studies suggest that leptin (LEP) has an important role in glucose metabolism in the nonpregnant state. During pregnancy, circulating maternal concentrations of leptin rise significantly, mainly due to increased secretion of leptin from maternal adipose tissue and placenta. This study aimed to analyze the impact of maternal and fetal common LEP variants on glucose homeostasis in the pregnant state. Several glycemic traits, including fasting plasma glucose, fasting plasma insulin (FPI), and plasma glucose 1 hour after a 50-g oral glucose load, were measured in 1,112 unrelated Chinese Han pregnant women at 24-28 weeks gestation. Homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) was used to assess beta cell function (HOMA1-ß and HOMA2-ß) and insulin resistance (HOMA1-IR and HOMA2-IR).The relationships between glycemic traits and 12 LEP variants were determined. After applying the Bonferroni correction, we detected that (1) maternal rs10954173 and fetal rs10244329 were associated with maternal FPI although the effect of fetal rs10244329 may be not independent of maternal rs10244329, and (2) maternal rs12537573 was associated with maternal FPI and HOMA2-IR. This study provides genetic evidence that both maternal and fetal LEP polymorphisms may affect maternal glucose metabolism in pregnancy.

Association of maternal and fetal LEPR common variants with maternal glycemic traits during pregnancy.

Recent studies suggested that maternal and placental leptin receptor (LEPR) may be involved in maternal glucose metabolism in pregnancy. To identify maternal and fetal LEPR common variants influencing gestational glycemic traits, we performed association study of 24-28-week maternal fasting glucose, glucose 1 hour after the consumption of a 50-g oral glucose load, fasting insulin and indices of beta-cell function (HOMA-ß) and insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in 1,112 unrelated women and their children. Follow-up of 36 LEPR loci identified 3 maternal loci (rs10889567, rs1137101 and rs3762274) associated with fasting glucose, these 3 fetal loci associated with fasting insulin and HOMA1-IR, as well as these 3 maternal-fetal loci combinations associated with HOMA2-ß. We also demonstrated association of maternal locus rs7554485 with HOMA2-ß and HOMA2-IR, maternal locus rs10749754 with fasting glucose, fetal locus rs10749754 with HOMA2-IR. However, these associations were no longer statistically significant after Bonferroni correction. In conclusion, our results first revealed multiple associations between maternal and fetal LEPR common variants and gestational glycemic traits. These associations did not survive Bonferroni correction. These corrections are overly conservative for association studies. We therefore believe the influence of these nominally significant variants on gestational glycometabolism will be confirmed by additional studies.

No association detected between seven common variants in the CDKAL1 gene and gestational glycemic traits.

Elevated plasma glucose levels in pregnancy increase adverse pregnancy outcomes. Cyclin-dependent kinase 5 regulatory subunit-associated protein 1-like 1 (CDKAL1) has been shown to be involved in insulin secretion in pancreatic ß cells. In this study, we investigated the impact of genetic variants in CDKAL1 on plasma glucose, insulin values, ß cell function and insulin resistance in the fasted state as well as plasma glucose 1 h after the consumption of a 50-g oral glucose load between 24 and 28 weeks of pregnancy among 929 unrelated pregnant Han Chinese women. Seven common variants previously reported to associate with diabetes were genotyped. Insulin resistance and ß cell function were assessed by homeostasis model assessment. The genetic impacts were analyzed using analysis of variance and analysis of covariance. The results showed that there was no significant association between any of the seven variants and those gestational glycemic traits. Therefore, this study suggests that the seven common variants in CDKAL1 are not significant factors for the variations of several gestational glycemic traits in the Han Chinese population. However, further well-designed studies with larger sample size, more ethnic groups and more CDKAL1 variants are required to validate the association between CDKAL1 and gestational glycemic traits.

Genetic origin of Kadai-speaking Gelong people on Hainan island viewed from Y chromosomes.

The government of China defined 56 official ethnicities for the ethnic groups in China for political purposes; however, there are many more than 56 ethnic groups. Therefore, similar groups must be pooled for registry, and the so-called ethnicity identification is an important official mission in China. Here, we showed how genetics can help in the ethnicity identification for the Gelong people on Hainan Island. The Gelong speak a Kadai language whose other speakers (officially of the Gelao ethnicity) are all far in the southwest of China. Being registered as a Han ethnicity, the Gelong lost all the benefits assigned to the minorities. Y-chromosome typing was performed in a sample of 78 individuals. Twenty single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and seven short tandem repeats (STRs) were typed and eight haplogroups were detected, among which haplogroup O1a* was the most dominant. Compared with the Y haplogroups of the populations in south China, the Gelong were found to be closest to the Gelao and the Hlai using principal components (PCs) analysis, dendrogram clustering and STR networks. The genetic similarity between the Gelong and the Hlai may have resulted from the gene flow during thousands of years of neighboring history on Hainan Island, whereas the similarity between the Gelong and the Gelao may have resulted from their common ancestry because there is less possibility of gene flow over such a far distance. As both linguistic and genetic evidence support the similarity between the Gelong and the Gelao, we suggest that the Gelong register as Gelao for their official ethnicity. However, this identification is invalid until it is accepted by the Gelong people themselves and the Hainan government.

Paternal genetic structure of Hainan aborigines isolated at the entrance to East Asia.

BACKGROUND: At the southern entrance to East Asia, early population migration has affected most of the Y-chromosome variations of East Asians. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To assess the isolated genetic structure of Hainan Island and the original genetic structure at the southern entrance, we studied the Y chromosome diversity of 405 Hainan Island aborigines from all the six populations, who have little influence of the recent mainland population relocations and admixtures. Here we report that haplogroups O1a* and O2a* are dominant among Hainan aborigines. In addition, the frequency of the mainland dominant haplogroup O3 is quite low among these aborigines, indicating that they have lived rather isolated. Clustering analyses suggests that the Hainan aborigines have been segregated since about 20 thousand years ago, after two dominant haplogroups entered East Asia (31 to 36 thousand years ago). CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results suggest that Hainan aborigines have been isolated at the entrance to East Asia for about 20 thousand years, whose distinctive genetic characteristics could be used as important controls in many population genetic studies.