Reassessing the first appearance of eukaryotes and cyanobacteria

The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis had a profound impact on the Earth's surface chemistry, leading to a sharp rise in atmospheric oxygen between 2.45 and 2.32 billion years (Gyr) ago and the onset of extreme ice ages. The oldest widely accepted evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis has come from hydrocarbons extracted from approximately 2.7-Gyr-old shales in the Pilbara Craton, Australia, which contain traces of biomarkers (molecular fossils) indicative of eukaryotes and suggestive of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria. The soluble hydrocarbons were interpreted to be indigenous and syngenetic despite metamorphic alteration and extreme enrichment (10-20 per thousand) of (13)C relative to bulk sedimentary organic matter. Here we present micrometre-scale, in situ (13)C/(12)C measurements of pyrobitumen (thermally altered petroleum) and kerogen from these metamorphosed shales, including samples that originally yielded biomarkers. Our results show that both kerogen and pyrobitumen are strongly depleted in (13)C, indicating that indigenous petroleum is 10-20 per thousand lighter than the extracted hydrocarbons. These results are inconsistent with an indigenous origin for the biomarkers. Whatever their origin, the biomarkers must have entered the rock after peak metamorphism approximately 2.2 Gyr ago and thus do not provide evidence for the existence of eukaryotes and cyanobacteria in the Archaean eon. The oldest fossil evidence for eukaryotes and cyanobacteria therefore reverts to 1.78-1.68 Gyr ago and approximately 2.15 Gyr ago, respectively. Our results eliminate the evidence for oxygenic photosynthesis approximately 2.7 Gyr ago and exclude previous biomarker evidence for a long delay (approximately 300 million years) between the appearance of oxygen-producing cyanobacteria and the rise in atmospheric oxygen 2.45-2.32 Gyr ago.     

连续测量法同时测定空气中222Rn子体与220Rn子体浓度

222Rn子体浓度可通过测定母体222Rn浓度,根据平衡因子进行大致估算.由于220Rn及其子体之间并不存在相对稳定的平衡因子,因此,若要准确获得220Rn子体浓度,需借助仪器通过累积、连续测量进行测定.文章应用我国不常见的工作水平监测仪(working level monitor),同时实现空气中222Rn子体与220Rn子体的累积连续测量,从而计算得到两者浓度.通过借助液体闪烁仪的参照比较,验证了此法同时测量空气中222Rn子体与220Rn子体的准确性与可靠性.     

Analysis of Spatial Data Structures for Proximity Detection

Construction is a dangerous business. According to statistics, in every of the past thirteen years more than 1000 workers died in the USA construction industry. In order to minimize the overall number of these incidents, the research presented in this paper investigates to monitor and analyze the trajectories of construction resources first in a simulated environment and later on the actual job site. Due to the complex nature of the construction environment, three dimensional (3D) positioning data of workers is hardly collected. Although technology is available that allows tracking construction assets in real-time, indoors and outdoors, in 3D, at the same time, the continuously changing spatial and temporal arrangement of job sites requires any successfully working data processing system to work in real-time. This research paper focuses is safety on spatial data structures that offer the capability of realigning itself and reporting the distance of the closest neighbor in real-time. This paper presents results to simulations that allow the processing of real-time location data for collision detection and proximity analysis. The presented data structures and perform-ance results to the developed algorithms demonstrate that real-time tracking and proximity detection of resources is feasible.     

On the Role of Counterfactuals in Inferring Causal Effects

Causal inference in the empiricalsciences is based on counterfactuals. The mostcommon approach utilizes a statistical model ofpotential outcomes to estimate causal effectsof treatments. On the other hand, one leadingapproach to the study of causation inphilosophical logic has been the analysis ofcausation in terms of counterfactualconditionals. This paper discusses and connectsboth approaches to counterfactual causationfrom philosophy and statistics. Specifically, Ipresent the counterfactual account of causationin terms of Lewis's possible-world semantics,and reformulate the statistical potentialoutcome framework using counterfactualconditionals. This procedure highlights variousproperties and mechanisms of the statisticalmodel.     

Laserprobe oxygen isotope analysis of minerals from mantle-derived rocks in eastern China

Oxygen isotope analyses were carried out by the laserprobe technique for mineral separates from mantle xenolith and megacryst in Cenozoic basalts, East China. The results not only give the δ I8O range consistent with that reported for peridotites in the world, but also yield oxygen isotope equilibrium between coexisting minerals.     

Dicer generates a regulatory microRNA network in smooth muscle cells that limits neointima formation during vascular repair

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) coordinate vascular repair by regulating injury-induced gene expression in vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and promote the transition of SMCs from a contractile to a proliferating phenotype. However, the effect of miRNA expression in SMCs on neointima formation is unclear. Therefore, we studied the role of miRNA biogenesis by Dicer in SMCs in vascular repair. Following wire-induced injury to carotid arteries of Apolipoprotein E knockout (Apoe ^?/?) mice, miRNA microarray analysis revealed that the most significantly regulated miRNAs, such as miR-222 and miR-21-3p, were upregulated. Conditional deletion of Dicer in SMCs increased neointima formation by reducing SMC proliferation in Apoe ^?/? mice, and decreased mainly the expression of miRNAs, such as miR-147 and miR-100, which were not upregulated following vascular injury. SMC-specific deletion of Dicer promoted growth factor and inflammatory signaling and regulated a miRNA–target interaction network in injured arteries that was enriched in anti-proliferative miRNAs. The most connected miRNA in this network was miR-27a-3p [e.g., with Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 26 (ARHGEF26)], which was expressed in medial and neointimal SMCs in a Dicer-dependent manner. In vitro, miR-27a-3p suppresses ARHGEF26 expression and inhibits SMC proliferation by interacting with a conserved binding site in the 3′ untranslated region of ARHGEF26 mRNA. We propose that Dicer expression in SMCs plays an essential role in vascular repair by generating anti-proliferative miRNAs, such as miR-27a-3p, to prevent vessel stenosis due to exaggerated neointima formation.     

A genome-wide association scan of nonsynonymous SNPs identifies a susceptibility variant for Crohn disease in ATG16L1

We performed a genome-wide association study of 19,779 nonsynonymous SNPs in 735 individuals with Crohn disease and 368 controls. A total of 7,159 of these SNPs were informative. We followed up on all 72 SNPs with P 0.4), these data suggest that the underlying biological process may be specific to Crohn disease.