Coexistence of superconductivity and charge density wave instability in A15-Nb3Sn.

A15-type compound Nb3Sn has attracted much attention due to its relatively high critical temperature and critical field of superconductivity, making it a leading material for superconducting applications. In this study, we investigate the structural instability and superconductivity of Nb3Sn under hydrostatic pressure using first-principles calculations. We determine the electronic properties, phonon dispersion, electron-phonon coupling and the superconducting gap for Nb3Sn at pressures ranging from ambient to 9 GPa. Our results show that a significant electron density is present near the Fermi level due to the van Hove singularity, indicating the strong electron-phonon coupling. The phonon dispersion of Nb3Sn exhibits Kohn anomalies at three different wave vectors at a lower temperature. Moreover, above a pressure of 6 GPa, the charge density wave (CDW) instability disappeared, suggesting that pressure inhibits the CDW phase. The superconducting temperature is predicted to be TC = 18.62 K under ambient conditions, which is well consistent with the experimental results. We find that both the CDW and superconducting orders respond to pressure, with their transition temperatures decreasing as the pressure increases below 6 GPa. Above 6 GPa, the superconducting transition temperature increases slowly with pressure. Our results suggest that the instability in Nb3Sn is driven by the softening of the phonon modes due to the CDW caused by strong electron-phonon coupling. Therefore, the CDW phase and superconducting phase of Nb3Sn coexist at low pressure.

Evaluation of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) as an industrial crop: a review.

Rising human population has increased the utilization of available resources for food, clothes, medicine, and living space, thus menacing natural environment and mounting the gap between available resources, and the skills to meet human desires is necessary. Humans are satisfying their desires by depleting available natural resources. Therefore, multifunctional plants can contribute towards the livelihoods of people, to execute their life requirements without degrading natural resources. Thus, research on multipurpose industrial crops should be of high interest among scientists. Hemp, or industrial hemp, is gaining research interest because of its fastest growth and utilization in commercial products including textile, paper, medicine, food, animal feed, paint, biofuel, biodegradable plastic, and construction material. High biomass production and ability to grow under versatile conditions make hemp, a good candidate species for remediation of polluted soils also. Present review highlights the morphology, adaptability, nutritional constituents, textile use, and medicinal significance of industrial hemp. Moreover, its usage in environmental conservation, building material, and biofuel production has also been discussed.

Identifying Modifiable Risk Factors for Relapse in Patients With Schizophrenia in China.

BACKGROUND: Preventing relapse of schizophrenic patients is really a challenge. The present study sought to provide more explicit evidence and factors of different grades and weights by a series of step-by-step analysis through χ2 test, logistic regression analysis and decision-tree model. The results of this study may contribute to controlling relapse of schizophrenic patients. METHODS: A total of 1,487 schizophrenia patients were included who were 18-65 years of age and discharged from 10 hospitals in China from January 2009 to August 2009 and from September 2011 to February 2012 with improvements or recovery of treatment effect. We used a questionnaire to collect information about relapse and correlative factors during one year after discharge by medical record collection and telephone interview. The χ2 test and logistic regression analysis were used to identify risk factors and high-risk factors firstly, and then a decision-tree model was used to find predictive factors. RESULTS: The χ2 test found nine risk factors which were associated with relapse. Logistic regression analysis also showed four high-risk factors further (medication adherence, occupational status, ability of daily living, payment method of medical costs). At last, a decision-tree model revealed four predictors of relapse; it showed that medication adherence was the first grade and the most powerful predictor of relapse (relapse rate for adherence vs. nonadherence: 22.9 vs. 55.7%, χ2 = 116.36, p < 0.001). The second grade factor was occupational status (employment vs. unemployment: 19.7 vs. 42.7%, χ2 = 17.72, p < 0.001); the third grade factors were ability of daily living (normal vs. difficult: 28.4 vs. 54.3%, χ2 = 8.61, p = 0.010) and household income (household income ≥ 3000 RMB vs. <3000 RMB: 28.6 vs. 42.4%, χ2 = 6.30, p = 0.036). The overall positive predictive value (PPV) of the logistic regression was 0.740, and the decision-tree model was 0.726. Both models were reliable. CONCLUSIONS: For schizophrenic patients discharged from hospital, who had good medication adherence, more higher household income, be employed and normal ability of daily living, would be less likely to relapse. Decision tree provides a new path for doctors to find the schizophrenic inpatient's relapse risk and give them reasonable treatment suggestions after discharge.

[Effects of stand structure on understory biomass of the Quercus spp secondary forests in Hunan Province, China]. / æž—åˆ†ç»“æž„å¯¹æ¹–å—æ Žç±»å¤©ç„¶æ¬¡ç”Ÿæž—æž—ä¸‹æ¤è¢«ç”Ÿç‰©é‡çš„å½±å“.

We examined biomass characteristics and the potential driving factors of different forest types of Quercus spp. secondary forest in Hunan. A total of fifty plots were divided into five forest types: Castanopsis eyri - Rhododendron latoucheae mixed forest (CR), Fagus lucida - Fargesia spathacea mixed forest (FF), Lithocarpus glaber - Damnacanthus indicus + Camellia japonica mixed forest (LDC), C. eyri + Quercus serrata - R. latoucheae mixed forest (CQR), Cyclobalanopsis glauca - Camellia oleifera + R. latoucheae mixed forest (CCR). The biomass of understory vegetation was low in the five forest types, being smaller than 2.3 t·hm-2. There was no significant difference in the biomass of understory shrubs among the five forest types. The biomass of herbage layer in CR was significantly lower than that of the other four forest types. The factors affecting the biomass of understory vegetation varied in different forests types. In CR, biomass of herbaceous layer was negatively correlated with canopy and uniform angle index, whereas total understory biomass was positively correlated with opening degree index. In FF, biomass of shrub layer was negatively correlated with stand canopy density and uniform angle index, while herbaceous biomass and total understory biomass were positively correlated with stand closure. In LDC, herbaceous biomass was positively correlated with the stand aggregation index. In CQR, shrub biomass was negatively correlated with stand mingling index, while herbaceous biomass was positively related with stand density. In CCR, there was no significant correlation between stand structure and understory biomass. To adjust the understory biomass, we should first adjust the horizontal distribution pattern of stand and then adjust the degree of forest cover and tree species structure.

Effectiveness of Electroacupuncture and Electroconvulsive Therapy as Additional Treatment in Hospitalized Patients With Schizophrenia: A Retrospective Controlled Study.

Electroacupuncture (EA) and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are often used in the management of schizophrenia. This study sought to determine whether additional EA and ECT could augment antipsychotic response and reduce related side effects. In this retrospective controlled study, 287 hospitalized schizophrenic patients who received antipsychotics (controls, n = 50) alone or combined with EA (n = 101), ECT (n = 55) or both (EA + ECT, n = 81) were identified. EA and ECT were conducted for 5 and 3 sessions per week, respectively, with a maximum of 12 sessions for ECT during hospitalization. The Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) and Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) were used to assess the severity of psychotic symptoms. Clinical response on SAPS and SANS, weight gain, and adverse events were compared. Survival analysis revealed that the ECT and EA + ECT groups had markedly greater clinical response rate than controls on SAPS [72.7 and 90.1% vs. 64.0%; relative risk (RR), 1.974 and 2.628, respectively, P ≤ 0.004] and on SANS (67.3 and 70.4% vs. 42.0%; RR, 1.951 and 2.009, respectively, P ≤ 0.015). A significantly greater response rate on SANS than controls was also observed in the EA group (64.4% vs. 42.0%; RR = 1.938, P = 0.008). EA-containing regimens remarkably reduced weight gain and incidences of headache, insomnia, dry mouth, and electrocardiographic abnormalities. These results suggest that EA and ECT can serve as additional treatment for enhancing antipsychotic response and reduce the side effects in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia. Clinical Trial Registration: http://www.chictr.org.cn/showprojen.aspx?proj=38901, identifier ChiCTR1900023563.

Morphological and Transcriptomic Analysis Reveals the Osmoadaptive Response of Endophytic Fungus Aspergillus montevidensis ZYD4 to High Salt Stress.

Halophilic fungi have evolved unique osmoadaptive strategies, enabling them to thrive in hypersaline habitats. Here, we conduct morphological and transcriptomic response of endophytic fungus (Aspergillus montevidensis ZYD4) in both the presence and absence of salt stress. Under salt stress, the colony morphology of the A. montevidensis ZYD4 changed drastically and exhibited decreased colony pigmentation. Extensive conidiophores development was observed under salt stress; conidiophores rarely developed in the absence of salt stress. Under salt stress, yellow cleistothecium formation was inhibited, while glycerol and compatible sugars continued to accumulate. Among differentially expressed unigenes (DEGs), 733 of them were up-regulated while 1,619 unigenes were down-regulated. We discovered that genes involved in the accumulation of glycerol, the storage of compatible sugars, organic acids, pigment production, and asexual sporulation were differentially regulated under salt stress. These results provide further understanding of the molecular basis of osmoadaptive mechanisms of halophilic endophytic fungi.

Genome-wide identification and comparative expression analysis reveal a rapid expansion and functional divergence of duplicated genes in the WRKY gene family of cabbage, Brassica oleracea var. capitata.

WRKY transcription factors (TFs), one of the ten largest TF families in higher plants, play important roles in regulating plant development and resistance. To date, little is known about the WRKY TF family in Brassica oleracea. Recently, the completed genome sequence of cabbage (B. oleracea var. capitata) allows us to systematically analyze WRKY genes in this species. A total of 148 WRKY genes were characterized and classified into seven subgroups that belong to three major groups. Phylogenetic and synteny analyses revealed that the repertoire of cabbage WRKY genes was derived from a common ancestor shared with Arabidopsis thaliana. The B. oleracea WRKY genes were found to be preferentially retained after the whole-genome triplication (WGT) event in its recent ancestor, suggesting that the WGT event had largely contributed to a rapid expansion of the WRKY gene family in B. oleracea. The analysis of RNA-Seq data from various tissues (i.e., roots, stems, leaves, buds, flowers and siliques) revealed that most of the identified WRKY genes were positively expressed in cabbage, and a large portion of them exhibited patterns of differential and tissue-specific expression, demonstrating that these gene members might play essential roles in plant developmental processes. Comparative analysis of the expression level among duplicated genes showed that gene expression divergence was evidently presented among cabbage WRKY paralogs, indicating functional divergence of these duplicated WRKY genes.

[Cloning and expression of atp6 and atp9 genes from ramie (Boehmeria nivea (L.) Gaud.) and their relationship with cytoplasmic male sterility].

The atp6 and apt9 gene fragments associated with cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) were cloned from the mitochondrial DNA of a ramie (Boehmeria nivea (L.) Gaud.) cytoplasmic male sterile line and its maintainer and restorer lines using PCR and degenerated primer strategy. The primers were designed according to the reserved sequences in the encoding region of mitochondrial genes atp6 and atp9 of some dicotyledons from GenBank. These fragments did not have complete encoding region but showed the homology of 94% and 85% with atp6 and atp9 genes from the referred dicotyledons in GenBank. The complete atp6 and atp9 genes including the complete open reading frames were cloned by means of amplifying the 3' and 5'end unknown sequences of these gene fragments using DNA Walking method. The atp6 gene showed no difference among ramie male sterile line, maintainer and restorer lines at mtDNA sequence, transcription and translation control and protein level. However, compared to the maintainer and restorer lines, the atp9 gene of the male sterile line was different and deletion in several bases at the 3' end of the encoding region. An abnormally high expression of atp9 gene in the male sterile line at the budding stage and full-bloom stage was analyzed by RT-PCR analysis. These results indicated that the variation in DNA sequence and/or abnormality in expression of atp9 gene in the male sterile line maybe closely related to ramie CMS.