Special issue on toxic metal pollution

Metals and metalloids are an integral part of the Earth’s crust.Some of these elements are of great concern due to their high toxicity and threat to humans,wildlife,and the ecosystem.For simplicity,the term toxic metals is adopted to represnt both     

Overexpression of N-cadherin is correlated with metastasis and worse survival in colorectal cancer patients

N-cadherin is related to the progression and metastases of several solid carcinomas. However, it was still unclear whether N-cadherin is overexpressed in colorectal malignant tumors that have stronger malignant tendency. In this study, we used immunohistochemistry to detect the expression patterns of N-cadherin in both the primary tumors and their normal mucosa tissues of 120 patients with colorectal cancer. We revealed that N-cadherin was expressed in 78.3% (94/120) of colorectal tumor tissues and in only 9.2% (11/120) of paired distant normal mucosa tissues with a significant difference (P=0.000). The low, moderate, and high expression of N-cadherin protein was 42.5%, 30.8%, and 26.7%, respectively. N-cadherin overexpression was associated with advanced TNM stage, lymph nodes metastasis and distant metastasis (P<0.05). Patients with N-cadherin overexpressed showed the obvious lower overall survival rate than those with moderate and low expression, and patients with low expression had a better survival rate than those with moderate and high expression (P<0.05). In conclusion, high N-cadherin expression may lead to tumor aggressiveness and metastatic potential in colorectal cancer, and may prove to be a possible prognostic factor.     

BAP31 is frequently overexpressed in patients with primary colorectal cancer and correlates with better prognosis

We previously showed that B cell receptor associated protein 31(BAP31) was significantly upregulated in colorectal cancer compared with normal mucosa epithelia. However, its expression pattern and pathological role in colorectal cancer are not clearly understood. In this study, we investigated whether the expression of BAP31 was associated with the clinicopathological parameters of colorectal cancer. The expression pattern of BAP31 was detected by immunohistochemistry on a tissue microarray in both primary ...     

An experimental study of phase transformations in olivine under pressure and temperature conditions corresponding to the mantle transition zone

High-pressure polymorphs of olivine (wadsleyite and ringwoodite) are major minerals in the mantle transition zone (MTZ).Phase transformations in olivine are important for a series of geodynamic problems such as the mineralogical and evolutionary history of the mantle,mantle convection patterns,and deep focus earthquakes in subduction zones.In this study,we examine phase transformations in olivine with two compositions,namely Mg 2 SiO 4 (Fo 100) and (Mg 0.9 Fe 0.1) 2 SiO 4 (Fo 90),at pressures between 14.1 and 20 GPa and a constant temperature of 1400°C,using the newly installed multi-anvil system at the Laboratory for Studies of the Earth’s Deep Interior (SEDI),China University of Geosciences (Wuhan).At 14.1 GPa,Fo 90 transformed completely into the wadsleyite structure (β),while Fo 100 remained as olivine (α).Between 14.8 and 15.6 GPa,both Fo 100 and Fo 90 transformed into the wadsleyite structure.Wadsleyite crystals were identified by two characteristic Raman peaks between 722 and 723 and 917 and 919 cm 1.They exhibit a bimodal grain size distribution:large-crystals with average grain sizes greater than 100 μm and microcrystals less than 10 μm.The population of microcrystals increased with pressure,apparently due to the increase in over-pressure (the difference between the experimental pressure condition and the equilibrium transformation pressure at 1400°C),which promotes nucleation and retards grain growth.All run charges contained large numbers of wadsleyite microcrystals,because of the low activation energy of the nucleation process.The experimentally observed microstructure may shed light on the morphology of wadsleyite observed in shocked meteorites.At 19.5 GPa,wadsleyite coexisted with ringwoodite (γ) in Fo 100,but was absent in Fo 90.At 20 GPa,both samples transformed completely into ringwoodite,which was characterized by the 798 and 840 cm 1 Raman lines.Ringwoodite crystals are euhedral grains (average grain size 10-20 μm),with well-developed triple junctions.The complex upper mantle structure in eastern China determined from seismological studies cannot be explained by the simple transformation sequence of the olivine system alone.Phase transformations in other pyroxene-normative components (including pyroxenes and garnets) and the interaction of these components with olivine may be responsible for the complex structure.High-pressure and high-temperature experimental studies on complex systems (e.g.olivine-pyroxene),combined with data from geophysical exploration,may help in establishing a more realistic geological-petrological model for eastern China and further our understanding of the possible physical mechanisms that are responsible for the complex structure.Such studies will have profound implications for understanding the dynamic processes in the deep Earth interior.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cis</Emphasis>-regulatory change and expression divergence between duplicate genes formed by genome duplication of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Arabidopsis thaliana</Emphasis>

As an index of functional divergence, expression divergence between duplicate gene copies has been observed and correlated with protein coding sequence divergence and bias in gene functional classes. However, the changes in the cis-regulatory region of the duplicate genes which is thought to have important role in expression divergence, has not been explored on the genome-wide scale. We analyzed functional genomics data for a large number of duplicated gene pairs formed by ancient polyploidy events in Arabidopsis thaliana. The divergence in cis-regulatory regions between two copies is positively correlated with the magnitude difference of expression. Moreover, we find that highly expressed duplicate gene pairs have a more diverged cis-regulatory region than weakly expressed gene pairs. We also show that the correlation between expression functional constraint and protein functional constraint is different in old and young duplicate pairs. Our results suggest that cis-regulatory sequence divergence contributes to the expression divergence of duplicate genes formed by genome-wide du-plication. Cis-regulatory region diverges faster in highly expressed duplicate pairs. The diversify selection strengths that act on cis-regulatory region and protein coding region are negatively correlated in young duplicate pairs under expression con-straint.     

Pollen-inferred vegetation and environmental changes since 16.7 ka BP at Balikun Lake,Xinjiang

A high-resolution fossil pollen record from the sedimentary cores of Balikun Lake, northwestern China, combined with modern surface pollen data, is used to reconstruct the history of vegetation and climatic change since 16.7 cal. ka BP. Fossil pollen assem-blages and lithology indicate that the study area was dominated by desert. The desert had extremely arid climate and lower effective moisture during 16.7–7.9 cal. ka BP, especially from 16.7 to 8.9 cal. ka BP when the lake maybe dried up. During 8.9–7.9 cal. ka BP, the environment gradually recovered in this area. It was then followed by the optimum period from 7.9 to 4.3 cal. Ka BP, when the effective moisture obviously increased. It was characterized by the typical desert-steppe/steppe vegetation and was accompanied with several patch-birch woodlands around the lake. After that, a short but extremely arid climatic event occurred during 4.3–3.8 cal. ka BP, and the vegetation quickly changed from desert-steppe/steppe to desert. It was a relatively optimum period from 3.8 to 0.53 cal. ka BP showing typical desert-steppe/meadow-steppe landscape. Since 0.53 cal. ka BP, the climate has shown signs of deteriorating again. Furthermore, regional comparison shows that the characteristics of climatic and environmental evolution in this area were clearly different from East Asia monsoonal area during the last 16.7 cal. ka BP. It was characterized by the arid climate during the late-glacial and early Holocene, and relatively wet during the mid-late Holocene.     

Progress in the study of mercury methylation and demethylation in aquatic environments

Mercury(Hg) and its compounds are a class of highly toxic and pervasive pollutants.During the biogeochemical cycling of Hg,methylmercury(MeHg),a potent neurotoxin,can be produced and subsequently bioaccumulated along the food chain in aquatic ecosystems.MeHg is among the most widespread contaminants that pose severe health risks to humans and wildlife.Methylation of inorganic mercury to MeHg and demethylation of MeHg are the two most important processes in the cycling of MeHg,determining the levels of MeHg in aquatic ecosystems.This paper reviews recent progress on the study of Hg methylation and demethylation in aquatic environments,focusing on the following three areas:(1) sites and pathways of Hg methylation and demethylation,(2) bioavailability of Hg species for methylation and demethylation,and(3) application of isotope addition techniques in quantitatively estimating the net production of MeHg.     

In situ simultaneous determination of trace elements, U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotopes in zircon and baddeleyite

This paper describes a combined method of simultaneously measuring U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotopes as well as trace elements in Phalaborwa baddeleyite and 91500, GJ-1, TEMORA-1 and SK10-2 zircons by means of Neptune MC-ICPMS and Agilent Q-ICPMS connected to a 193 nm excimer laser ablation system. Material ablated by laser was carried in different proportions into Q-ICPMS for U-Pb isotopic and trace elemental and MC-ICPMS for Lu-Hf isotopic compositions. Experiments indicate that different proportions of ablated material for the Q-ICPMS and MC-ICPMS （6：4, 5：5 and 4：6 respectively） do not show any bias for the zircon/baddeleyite U-Pb age, Lu-Hf isotope and trace elemental compositions within analytical errors. Using 40-60 μm spot size, the obtained U-Pb ages of Phalaborwa baddeleyite, 91500, GJ-1, TEMORA and SK10-2 zircons are 2065±15 （2σ, n=20）, 1063±6 （2σ, n=-19）, 613±6 （2σ, n=20）, 416±5 （2σ, n=20） and 32.6±0.5 （2σ, n=20） Ma, respectively. The ^176Hf/^177Hf ratios are 0.281231±24 （2SD, n=20）, 0.282310±35 （2SD, n=19）, 0.282028±34 （2SD, n=20）, 0.282687±34 （2SD, n=20） and 0.282752±53 （2SD, n=20）, respectively. The obtained trace elemental compositions are identical to the reference values. Therefore, this kind of technique makes it possible to simultaneously obtain the U-Pb age, Lu-Hf isotopes and trace elemental compositions of zircon and baddeleyite, which could be an important tool in solving problems in earth sciences.