We present the calibration strategy for the 20 kton liquid scintillator central detector of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO). By utilizing a comprehensive multiple-source and multiple-positional calibration program, in combination with a novel dual calorimetry technique exploiting two independent photosensors and readout systems, we demonstrate that the JUNO central detector can achieve a better than 1% energy linearity and a 3% effective energy resolution, required by the neutrino mass ordering determination.

Heterosis was defined as the advantage of hybrid performance over its parents in terms of growth and productivity. Previous studies showed that differential gene expression between hybrids and their parents is responsible for the heterosis; however, information on systematic identification and characterization of the differentially expressed genes are limited. In this study, an interspecific hybrid between common wheat (Triticum aestivum. L., 2n = 6x = 42, AABBDD) line 3338 and spelt (Triticum spelta L. 2n = 6x = 42, AABBDD) line 2463 was found to be highly heterotic in both aerial growth and root related traits, and was then used for expression assay. A modified suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) was used to generate four subtracted cDNA libraries, and 748 nonreduandant cDNAs were obtained, among which 465 had high sequence similarity to the GenBank entries and represent diverse of functional categories, such as metabolism, cell growth and maintenance, signal transduction, photosynthesis, response to stress, transcription regulation and others. The expression patterns of 68.2% SSH-derived cDNAs were confirmed by reverse Northern blot, and semi-quantitative RT-PCR exhibited the similar results (72.2%). And it was concluded that the genes differentially expressed between hybrids and their parents involved in diverse physiological process pathway, which might be responsible for the observed heterosis.

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) features a 20 kt multi-purpose underground liquid scintillator sphere as its main detector. Some of JUNO's features make it an excellent location for B solar neutrino measurements, such as its low-energy threshold, high energy resolution compared with water Cherenkov detectors, and much larger target mass compared with previous liquid scintillator detectors. In this paper, we present a comprehensive assessment of JUNO's potential for detecting B solar neutrinos via the neutrino-electron elastic scattering process. A reduced 2 MeV threshold for the recoil electron energy is found to be achievable, assuming that the intrinsic radioactive background U and Th in the liquid scintillator can be controlled to 10 g/g. With ten years of data acquisition, approximately 60,000 signal and 30,000 background events are expected. This large sample will enable an examination of the distortion of the recoil electron spectrum that is dominated by the neutrino flavor transformation in the dense solar matter, which will shed new light on the inconsistency between the measured electron spectra and the predictions of the standard three-flavor neutrino oscillation framework. If eV , JUNO can provide evidence of neutrino oscillation in the Earth at approximately the 3 (2 ) level by measuring the non-zero signal rate variation with respect to the solar zenith angle. Moreover, JUNO can simultaneously measure using B solar neutrinos to a precision of 20% or better, depending on the central value, and to sub-percent precision using reactor antineutrinos. A comparison of these two measurements from the same detector will help understand the current mild inconsistency between the value of reported by solar neutrino experiments and the KamLAND experiment.

No abstract

Genistein plays an important role in the prevention of atherosclerosis. However, the underlying mechanisms have not been fully investigated. In this study, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were pretreated with genistein (10, 100, and 1000 nM) for 6 h and then exposed to ox-LDL (50 mg/L) for another 24 h. Results showed that ox-LDL induced the expressions of E-selectin, P-selectin, monocyte chemotactic protein-1, interleukin-8, vascular adhesion molecule-1, and intercellular adhesion molecule-1, which were counteracted by genistein. The inhibitory effect was further enhanced with the augment of genistein (10, 100, and 1000 nM). Further analyses demonstrated the effect of genistein was associated with reducing miR-155 and elevating SOCS1, and miR-155 mimics or SOCS1 siRNA acted similarly in genistein ameliorating inflammation. Moreover, the effect of genistein was accompanied with the inhibition of the NF-ĸB signaling pathway. The present study indicates that genistein could reverse ox-LDL-induced inflammation through miR-155/SOCS1-mediated repression of the NF-ĸB signaling pathway in HUVECs.

To better understand the development of wheat roots, a reference map of the major soluble proteins of wheat roots was established using a combination of 2-DE and MALDI TOF MS and MS/MS, and a total of 450 protein spots were detected with silver staining in a pH ranges of 4-7, of which 282 spots corresponding to 240 proteins were identified. These identified proteins were grouped into diverse functional categories. In comparison with a wheat leave proteome, in root, proteins involved in metabolism and transport were over-represented, whereas proteins involved in energy, disease and defense, transcription, and signal transduction were under-represented. To further get an insight into the molecular basis of wheat heterosis, differential proteome analysis between hybrid and parents were performed. A total of 45 differentially expressed protein spots were detected, and both quantitative and qualitative differences could be observed. Moreover, 25 of the 45 differentially expressed protein spots were identified, which were involved in metabolism, signal transduction, energy, cell growth and division, disease and defense, secondary metabolism. These results indicated that hybridization between two parental lines can cause expression differences between wheat hybrid and its parents not only at mRNA levels but also at protein abundances.

JUNO is a massive liquid scintillator detector with a primary scientific goal of determining the neutrino mass ordering by studying the oscillated anti-neutrino flux coming from two nuclear power plants at 53 km distance. The expected signal anti-neutrino interaction rate is only 60 counts per day (cpd), therefore a careful control of the background sources due to radioactivity is critical. In particular, natural radioactivity present in all materials and in the environment represents a serious issue that could impair the sensitivity of the experiment if appropriate countermeasures were not foreseen. In this paper we discuss the background reduction strategies undertaken by the JUNO collaboration to reduce at minimum the impact of natural radioactivity. We describe our efforts for an optimized experimental design, a careful material screening and accurate detector production handling, and a constant control of the expected results through a meticulous Monte Carlo simulation program. We show that all these actions should allow us to keep the background count rate safely below the target value of 10 Hz (i.e. ∼1 cpd accidental background) in the default fiducial volume, above an energy threshold of 0.7 MeV.

In this article, the correlation between the copy number of survival motor neuron 2 (SMN2) gene, neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein (NAIP), and the phenotype of spinal muscular atrophy patients were analyzed.Forty patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) were included in the study at the Department of Medical Genetics of the First People's Hospital and the Department of Neurology of the Second People's Hospital in Yunnan Province from January 2012 to September 2018. Multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification assay was performed to determine the copy numbers of SMN2 and NAIP genes. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the correlation between copy numbers of the SMN2 and NAIP genes and the clinical phenotypes of SMA.Our results show that among the 40 SMA patients, there were 13 type I cases, 16 type II cases and 11 type III cases. A total of 37 patients possessed a homozygous deletion of SMN1 exons 7 and 8, while the other 3 SMA patients possessed a single copy of SMN1 exon 8. There was no correlation between SMA subtypes and the deletion types of SMN1 exon 7 and 8 (P = .611). The percentage of 2, 3, and 4 copies of SMN2 exon 7 was 25.0%, 62.5%, and 12.5%, respectively. The percentage of 0, 1, and 2 copies of NAIP exon 5 was 10%, 57.5%, and 32.5%, respectively. The distributions of SMN2 and NAIP copy numbers among various SMA types were significantly different (all P < .05). Five combined SMN1-SMN2-NAIP genotypes were detected, of which 0-3-1 genotype had the highest proportion than the others, accounting for 42.5%. The copy number of SMN2 and NAIP gene had synergistic effect on SMA phenotype. The combined SMN1-SMN2-NAIP genotypes with fewer copies were associated with earlier onset age, higher mortality, and smaller average age at death in SMA patients. Therefore, we conclude that the copy number variance of SMN2 and NAIP is correlated with the SMA phenotype. Analysis of the copy number structure of the SMN1-SMN2-NAIP gene is helpful for SMA typing, disease prognosis prediction, and genetic counseling.