One-third of Sun-like stars are born with misaligned planet-forming disks.

Exoplanets are organized in a broad array of orbital configurations that reflect their formation along with billions of years of dynamical processing through gravitational interactions. This history is encoded in the angular momentum architecture of planetary systems-the relation between the rotational properties of the central star and the orbital geometry of planets. A primary observable is the alignment (or misalignment) between the rotational axis of the star and the orbital plane of its planets, known as stellar obliquity.

[Level of Typical Antibiotics in Effluent from Beijing Wastewater Treatment Plants].

To investigate the concentration level of antibiotics in the effluent of Beijing's wastewater treatment plants （WWTPs）, ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry （UPLC-MS/MS） was used to detect antibiotics in the effluent of nine WWTPs in Beijing, and the effects of the WWTPs process and the years of construction and other factors on the antibiotic level were analyzed. The correlation between antibiotics and conventional water quality indicators, anionic active agents, and heavy metals was analyzed. The results showed that a total of 13 antibiotics in four categories were detected in nine WWTPs, with total concentrations ranging from 16.

[Occurrence Characteristics and Ecological Risk Assessment of Antibiotics in Reclaimed Water-receiving Rivers in Beijing].

Taking Liangshui River, the reclaimed water-receiving river in Beijing, as the research area, the types, detection frequencies, and concentrations of 16 antibiotics in water and sediment were analyzed, and their temporal-spatial variation and occurrence characteristics were discussed. The results showed that nine and 13 target antibiotics were detected in the water and sediment of Liangshui River, with the antibiotic concentration ranges of ND-116.68 ng·L and ND-235.

Axillary lymph node removal in metastatic breast cancer.

Background: Several prospective studies have found that local surgical resection did not improve the survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer (dnMBC). However, a significant portion of dnMBC patients still undergo local surgery, and the role of axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) in dnMBC patients remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the effect of ALND in patients with dnMBC.

Effect of palmitoylethanolamide on degeneration of a human-derived retinal pigment epithelial cell induced by all-trans retinal.

Aim: To study the effect of palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) on apoptosis of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells induced by all-trans retinal (atRAL) and to explore the possible molecular mechanism.

Methods: CellTiter 96 Aqueous One Solution Cell Proliferation Assay (MTS) was used to detect the effect of PEA on human-derived retinal epithelial cells (ARPE-19) viability induced by atRAL. A Leica DMi8 inverted microscope was used to observe cell morphology.

All-trans-retinoic acid generation is an antidotal clearance pathway for all-trans-retinal in the retina.

The present study was designed to analyze the metabolites of all-trans-retinal (atRal) and compare the cytotoxicity of atRal versus its derivative all-trans-retinoic acid (atRA) in human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. We confirmed that atRA was produced in normal pig neural retina and RPE. The amount of all-trans-retinol (atROL) converted from atRal was about 2.

[Distribution and Burial Characteristics of Nitrogen Forms in Sediment of Dianchi Lake During Last Century].

In order to analyze the composition, distribution and burial characteristics of nitrogen in sediments of Dianchi Lake in the last hundred years, 6 sediment cores were sampled in July 2014 to determine the contents of different nitrogen species and sedimentary age sequence. The integrated results demonstrated a high content of total nitrogen in sediments ranging from 1263.68-7155.

[Distribution Characteristics of -alkanes in Sediment Core and Implication of Environment in Different Lakes of Dianchi].

In order to study the composition and environment significance of the organic matter in Lake Dianchi, samples from two sediment cores from the northern and southern parts of the lake were collected in July, 2014. Meanwhile, the vertical distributions of total organiccarbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), -alkanes fractions were investigated. The results showed that ① the concentrations of TOC and TN had been clearly increasing since the 1970s, which implied that the primary productivity of Lake Dianchi was continuously enhanced; ② The values of the parameter -C/-C, and CPI indicated the alternation between herbs and woody plants from the bottom up in Lake Dianchi sediments.

[Adsorption and Desorption Characteristics of Endosulfan in Purple Soil].

In order to reveal the residual process of endosulfan in purple soil and protect soil ecological environment, the adsorption and desorption characteristics of endosulfan in purple soil were investigated, and effects of temperature, adsorbent amount, and initial pH of adsorption solution on the adsorption capacity were also examined by static adsorption and desorption experiments. The results showed that the adsorption kinetic process could be well described by the second-order kinetic equation with the initial rate constants of α-, β-endosulfan as 0. 157 and 0.

Effects of organic solvents on two retinal pigment epithelial lipofuscin fluorophores, A2E and all-trans-retinal dimer.

Gene and drug therapies are being developed to alleviate vision loss in patients with Stargardt's disease and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). To evaluate the therapeutic effects of these treatments, organic solvents are routinely used to extract and quantify bisretinoid lipofuscin constituents, such as N-retinylidene-N-retinyl-ethanolamine (A2E) and all-trans-retinal dimer (ATR-dimer). By high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), we found that A2E and ATR-dimer were both altered by tetrahydrofuran (THF) and chloroform, but were stable in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) or methanol (MeOH).

Structures and biogenetic analysis of lipofuscin bis-retinoids.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is still an incurable blinding eye disease because of complex pathogenic mechanisms and unusual diseased regions. With the use of chemical biology tools, great progress has been achieved in improving the understanding of AMD pathogenesis. The severity of AMD is, at least in part, linked to the non-degradable lipofuscin bis-retinoids in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE).

Information extraction for tracking liver cancer patients' statuses: from mixture of clinical narrative report types.

Objective: To provide an efficient way for tracking patients' condition over long periods of time and to facilitate the collection of clinical data from different types of narrative reports, it is critical to develop an efficient method for smoothly analyzing the clinical data accumulated in narrative reports.

Materials And Methods: To facilitate liver cancer clinical research, a method was developed for extracting clinical factors from various types of narrative clinical reports, including ultrasound reports, radiology reports, pathology reports, operation notes, admission notes, and discharge summaries. An information extraction (IE) module was developed for tracking disease progression in liver cancer patients over time, and a rule-based classifier was developed for answering whether patients met the clinical research eligibility criteria.

Preliminary studies on the chemical characterization and antioxidant properties of acidic polysaccharides from Sargassum fusiforme.

In order to investigate the antioxidant properties of the polysaccharides from the brown alga Sargassum fusiforme, the crude polysaccharides from S. fusiforme (SFPS) were extracted in hot water, and the lipid peroxidation inhibition assay exhibited that SFPS possessed a potential antioxidant activity. Hence, two purely polymeric fractions, SFPS-1 and SFPS-2 were isolated by the column of DEAE (2-diethylaminoethanol)-Sepharose Fast Flow, with their molecular weights of 51.