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At least 1,459 records · Page 81
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2018

Solid Phase Equilibrium Relations in the CaO-SiO{sub 2}-Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5}-La{sub 2}O{sub 3} System at 1273 K

Silicate slag system with additions Nb and RE formed in the utilization of REE-Nb-Fe ore deposit resources in China has industrial uses as a metallurgical slag system. The lack of a phase diagram, theoretical, and thermodynamic information for the multi-component system restrict the comprehensive utilization process. In the current work, solid phase equilibrium relations in the CaO-SiO{sub 2}-Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5}-La{sub 2}O{sub 3} quaternary system at 1273 K (1000 °C) were investigated experimentally by the high-temperature equilibrium experiment followed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and energy dispersive spectrometer. Six spatial independent tetrahedron fields in the CaO-SiO{sub 2}-Nb{sub 2}O{sub 5}-La{sub 2}O{sub 3} system phase diagram were determined by the Gibbs Phase Rule. The current work combines the mass fraction of equilibrium phase and corresponding geometric relation. A determinant method was deduced to calculate the mass fraction of equilibrium phase in quaternary system according to the Mass Conservation Law, the Gibbs Phase Rule, the Lever’s Rule, and the Cramer Law.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

Efficient Separation and Extraction of Vanadium and Chromium in High Chromium Vanadium Slag by Selective Two-Stage Roasting–Leaching

Vanadium and chromium are important rare metals, leading to a focus on high chromium vanadium slag (HCVS) as a potential raw material to extract vanadium and chromium in China. In this work, a novel method based on selective two-stage roasting–leaching was proposed to separate and extract vanadium and chromium efficiently in HCVS. XRD, FT-IR, and SEM were utilized to analyze the phase evolutions and microstructure during the whole process. Calcification roasting, which can calcify vanadium selectively using thermodynamics, was carried out in the first roasting stage to transfer vanadium into acid-soluble vanadate and leave chromium in the leaching residue as (Fe{sub 0.6}Cr{sub 0.4}){sub 2}O{sub 3} after H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} leaching. When HCVS and CaO were mixed in the molar ratio CaO/V{sub 2}O{sub 3} (n(CaO)/n(V{sub 2}O{sub 3})) of 0.5 to 1.25, around 90 pct vanadium and less than 1 pct chromium were extracted in the first leaching liquid, thus achieving the separation of vanadium and chromium. In the second roasting stage, sodium salt, which combines with chromium easily, was added to the first leaching residue to extract chromium and 95.16 pct chromium was extracted under the optimal conditions. The total vanadium and chromium leaching rates were above 95 pct, achieving the efficient separation and extraction of vanadium and chromium. The established method provides a new technique to separate vanadium and chromium during roasting rather than in the liquid form, which is useful for the comprehensive application of HCVS.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2018

On the Alternate Stirring Mode of F-EMS for Bloom Continuous Castings

Local solute transportation behaviors under different alternate stirring parameters of final electromagnetic stirring (F-EMS) and their influences on the internal quality of the as-cast bloom are compared and evaluated based on a developed coupled model of electromagnetism, heat, and solute transport. To this end, plant trials were conducted in Shaoguan Steel, China. Under the action of F-EMS, a negative segregation band in an ellipse shape is observed at the central area of strand cross section, where the minimum carbon segregation degree is decreased from 0.98 to 0.84 as the stirring duration increases from 15 to 35 seconds in the alternate stirring mode, while it is reduced to 0.805 in the continuous stirring mode. The white band and shrinkage cavity are simultaneously observed at strand center under the conditions of continuous stirring mode, and alternate stirring mode with a stirring period of 35 seconds because of the local over-sustaining melt rotation. In contrast, the V-shape porosity belt width and strand center segregation fluctuation range increase from 60 to 90 mm and from 0.12 to 0.30, respectively, as the stirring duration is reduced from 25 to 15 seconds in the alternate stirring mode because of the poor mixing of the local melt at the strand center.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2017

High expression of Ki-67 acts a poor prognosis indicator in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a common head and neck malignancy in Southern China and Southeast Asia compared with Western countries. The standard treatment for NPC is radiotherapy. However, radioresistance remains a serious obstacle to satisfactory treatment, it can cause local recurrence and distant metastases in some patients after treatment by radiation. We retrospectively reviewed 108 NPC patients (7th AJCC Ⅲ-Ⅳa) who have received intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) between August 2008 and January 2012 at Xiangya Hospital of Central South University. Ninety-eight patients with >60% reduction of tumor size after radiation treatment were regarded as radiation sensitive, Ten patients with <40% reduction of tumor size after radiation treatment were regarded as radiation resistant. Using immunohistochemistry, we found that the high expression rate of Ki-67 in radiation resistant and radiation sensitive patients was 80.0% and 42.6%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.025). The 5-year progress free survival rates in patients with low and high expression of Ki-67 was 70.7% and 48.0%, respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.0008). Multivariate Cox regression analysis identified that high expression of Ki-67 was an independent negative prognostic factor in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients [Hazard ratio (95% CI), 2.098(1.101, 3.996); p = 0.024]. These results demonstrate that high expression of Ki-67 contributes to radiation resistance and acts a poor prognosis indicator in patients with locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. - Highlights: • Radiation resistance remains a serious obstacle in some locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients after treatment by radiation. • The proportion of Ki67 + cells after radiotherapy provided an independent variable of responsiveness to radiotherapy in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. • The expression of Ki67 association with radiation resistance in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

FGF8 and FGFR3 are up-regulated in hypertrophic chondrocytes: Association with chondrocyte death in deep zone of Kashin-Beck disease

Highlights: • Both FGF8 and FGFR3 expression was up-regulated in SIN-1 induced hypertrophic chondrocytes. • Both FGF8 and FGFR3 is overexpression in animal model of KBD. • Both FGF8 and FGFR3 is overexpression in cartilage of KBD patients. The aim of this study was to investigate FGF8 and FGFR3 expression in clinical samples of Kashin–Beck disease (KBD), an endemic osteochondropathy found in China, as well as in pre-clinical models of this disease.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

The changing Chinese SEA indicator guidelines: Top-down or bottom-up?

In the last decades, China has introduced a set of indicators to guide the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) practice. The most recent indicator system proposed in 2009 is based on sector-specific guidelines and it found its justification in past negative experiences with more general guidelines (from 2003), which were mostly inspired by, or copied from, international experiences. Based on interviews with practitioners, researchers and administrators, we map and analyse the change in the national guidelines. This analysis is based on a description of the indicators that makes it possible to discern different aggregation levels of indicators and then trace the changes occurring under two sets of guidelines. The analysis also reveals the reasons and rationales behind the changes found in the guidelines. This analysis is inspired by implementation theory and a description of some of the more general trends in the development of SEA and other environmental policies in a recent Chinese context. Beside a more top-down, intentional approach specifying indicators for different sectors based on Chinese experiences from the preceding years, another significant change, following the new guidelines, is a more bottom-up approach which gives more discretion to practitioners. This entails a call for practitioners to make decisions on indicators, which involves an interpretation of the ones present in sector guidance. Highlights: • Focusing on the new Chinese national SEA guidelines proposed in 2009 • Mapping and analysing the most recent change in the indicator system • Revealing the reasons and rationales behind the changes found in the new guidelines • A top-down intention specifying indicators for different sectors • A bottom-up effect in giving discretion and interpretation of using indicators.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Impact assessment of land use planning driving forces on environment

Land use change may exert a negative impact on environmental quality. A state–impact–state (SIS) model describing a state transform under certain impacts has been integrated into land use planning (LUP) environmental impact assessment (LUPEA). This logical model is intuitive and easy to understand, but the exploration of impact is essential to establish the indicator system and to identify the scope of land use environmental impact when it is applied to a specific region. In this study, we investigated environmental driving forces from land use planning (LUPF), along with the conception, components, scope, and impact of LUPF. This method was illustrated by a case study in Zoucheng, China. Through the results, we concluded that (1) the LUPF on environment are impacts originated from the implementation of LUP on a regional environment, which are characterized by four aspects: magnitude, direction, action point, and its owner; (2) various scopes of LUPF on individual environmental elements based on different standards jointly define the final scope of LUPEA; (3) our case study in Zoucheng demonstrates the practicability of this proposed approach; (4) this method can be embedded into LUPEA with direction, magnitudes, and scopes of the LUPF on individual elements obtained, and the identified indicator system can be directly employed into LUPEA and (5) the assessment helps to identify key indicators and to set up a corresponding strategy to mitigate the negative impact of LUP on the environment, which are two important objectives of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) in LUP. - Highlights: • Environmental driving forces from land use planning (LUPF) are investigated and categorized. • Our method can obtains the direction, magnitudes and scopes of environmental driving forces. • The LUPEA scope is determined by the combination of various scopes of LUPF on individual elements. • LUPF assessment can be embedded into LUPEA. • The method can help to identify key indicators and set up a strategy to mitigate negative environmental impact.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2012

Fluxes, variability and sources of cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury in dry atmospheric depositions in urban, suburban and rural areas

In China's largest city, Shanghai, dry deposition fluxes of Cd, Pb, As and Hg were 137, 19 354, 2897 and 9.4 {mu}g m{sup -2} a{sup -1}, respectively in an urban area, intermediate in a suburban area, and 51.7, 5311, 1703 and 7.3 {mu}g m{sup -2} a{sup -1}, respectively in a rural area. Enrichment factors were Cd>Pb>As>Hg. Seasonal variations of metals differed: Pb and As were dominated by fossil fuel combustion, Cd was related to industrial pollution, and natural source controlled Hg levels.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2014

Rare earth element components in atmospheric particulates in the Bayan Obo mine region

The Bayan Obo mine, located in Inner Mongolia, China, is the largest light rare earth body ever found in the world. The research for rare earth elements (REEs) enrichment in atmospheric particulates caused by mining and ore processing is fairly limited so far. In this paper, atmospheric particulates including total suspended particulate (TSP) matter and particles with an equivalent aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm (PM{sub 10}) were collected around the Bayan Obo mine region, in August 2012 and March 2013, to analyze the levels and distributions of REEs in particles. The total concentrations of REEs for TSP were 149.8 and 239.6 ng/m{sup 3}, and those for PM{sub 10} were 42.8 and 68.9 ng/m{sup 3}, in August 2012 and March 2013, respectively. Enrichment factor was calculated for all 14 REEs in the TSP and PM{sub 10} and the results indicated that REEs enrichment in atmosphere particulates was caused by anthropogenic sources and influenced by the strong wind in springtime. The spatial distribution of REEs in TSP showed a strong gradient concentration in the prevailing wind direction. REE chondrite normalized patterns of TSP and PM{sub 10} were similar and the normalized curves inclined to the right side, showing the conspicuous fractionation between the light REEs and heavy REE, which supported by the chondrite normalized concentration ratios calculated for selected elements (La{sub N}/Yb{sub N}, La{sub N}/Sm{sub N}, Gd{sub N}/Yb{sub N}). - Highlights: • TSP and PM{sub 10} samples were collected to analyze the levels and distributions of REE. • Enrichment factors indicated that REE enrichment was caused by anthropogenic sources. • The distribution of REEs showed a strong gradient in the prevailing wind direction. • Obvious fractionation between LREEs and HREEs is observed in atmospheric particulates.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Assessment and uncertainty analysis of groundwater risk

Highlights: • Two different sets of index evaluation systems for shallow and deep groundwater were built respectively. • Ordinary kriging was adopted to execute the interpolation estimation. • The synthetic weights were adopted merging the AHP method and PCA method. • The uncertainty of groundwater risk was analyzed by indicator kriging. Groundwater with relatively stable quantity and quality is commonly used by human being. However, as the over-mining of groundwater, problems such as groundwater funnel, land subsidence and salt water intrusion have emerged. In order to avoid further deterioration of hydrogeological problems in over-mining regions, it is necessary to conduct the assessment of groundwater risk. In this paper, risks of shallow and deep groundwater in the water intake area of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project in Tianjin, China, were evaluated. Firstly, two sets of four-level evaluation index system were constructed based on the different characteristics of shallow and deep groundwater. Secondly, based on the normalized factor values and the synthetic weights, the risk values of shallow and deep groundwater were calculated. Lastly, the uncertainty of groundwater risk assessment was analyzed by indicator kriging method. The results meet the decision maker's demand for risk information, and overcome previous risk assessment results expressed in the form of deterministic point estimations, which ignore the uncertainty of risk assessment.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Impact of particle size on distribution and human exposure of flame retardants in indoor dust

Highlights: • Indoor dust from office/public microenvironments/cars were separated into 6 size fractions. • FR distribution was dependent on Kow/dust surface area/TOC/FR migration pathway. • OPFR bioaccessibility was 1.8–82%, bioaccessible PBDEs/NBFRs/DPs were < detection limit. • Human exposure to FR was dependent on dust particle size and bioaccessibility. The effect of dust particle size on the distribution and bioaccessibility of flame retardants (FRs) in indoor dust remains unclear. In this study, we analyzed 20 FRs (including 6 organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs), 8 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), 4 novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs), and 2 dechlorane plus (DPs)) in composite dust samples from offices, public microenvironments (PME), and cars in Nanjing, China. Each composite sample (one per microenvironment) was separated into 6 size fractions (F1–F6: 200–2000 µm, 150–200 µm, 100–150 µm, 63–100 µm, 43–63 µm, and 9). Bioaccessibility of FRs was measured by the physiologically-based extraction test, with OPFR bioaccessibility being 1.8–82% while bioaccessible PBDEs, NBFRs, and DPs were under detection limits due to their high hydrophobicity. The OPFR bioaccessibility in 200–2000 µm fraction was significantly higher than that of <43 µm fraction, but with no difference among the other four fractions. Risk assessment was performed for the most abundant OPFR-tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate. The average daily dose (ADD) values were the highest for the <43 µm fraction for all three types of dust using total concentrations, but no consistent trend was found among the three types of dust if based on bioaccessible concentrations. Our results indicated that dust size impacted human exposure estimation of FRs due to their variability in distribution and bioaccessibility among different fractions. For future risk assessment, size selection for dust sampling should be standardized and bioaccessibility of FRs should not be overlooked.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Projection of temperature-related mortality due to cardiovascular disease in beijing under different climate change, population, and adaptation scenarios

Highlights: • The population change can bring 5 times growth to temperature-related CVD deaths. • Increase of heat-related CVD deaths is higher than decrease of cold-related ones. • The adaptation to climate change may cause more temperature-related CVD deaths. Human health faces unprecedented challenges caused by climate change. Thus, studies of the effect of temperature change on total mortality have been conducted in numerous countries. However, few of those studies focused on temperature-related mortality due to cardiovascular disease (CVD) or considered future population changes and adaptation to climate change. We present herein a projection of temperature-related mortality due to CVD under different climate change, population, and adaptation scenarios in Beijing, a megacity in China. To this end, 19 global circulation models (GCMs), 3 representative concentration pathways (RCPs), 3 socioeconomic pathways, together with generalized linear models and distributed lag non-linear models, were used to project future temperature-related CVD mortality during periods centered around the years 2050 and 2070. The number of temperature-related CVD deaths in Beijing is projected to increase by 3.5–10.2% under different RCP scenarios compared with that during the baseline period. Using the same GCM, the future daily maximum temperatures projected using the RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5 scenarios showed a gradually increasing trend. When population change is considered, the annual rate of increase in temperature-related CVD deaths was up to fivefold greater than that under no-population-change scenarios. The decrease in the number of cold-related deaths did not compensate for the increase in that of heat-related deaths, leading to a general increase in the number of temperature-related deaths due to CVD in Beijing. In addition, adaptation to climate change may enhance rather than ameliorate the effect of climate change, as the increase in cold-related CVD mortality greater than the decrease in heat-related CVD mortality in the adaptation scenarios will result in an increase in the total number of temperature-related CVD mortalities.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Long-term exposure to ambient air pollution (including PM1) and metabolic syndrome: The 33 Communities Chinese Health Study (33CCHS)

Highlights: • Associations of ambient air pollution with metabolic syndrome were scarcely studied. • Data from 15,477 Chinese adults were analyzed. • Long-term exposure to air pollution was associated with metabolic syndrome. • Demographic and lifestyle factors modified the association between metabolic syndrome and air pollution. Little evidence exists about the effects of long-term exposure to ambient air pollution on metabolic syndrome (MetS). This study aimed to determine the association between long-term ambient air pollution and MetS in China. A total of 15,477 adults who participated in the 33 Communities Chinese Health Study (33CCHS) in 2009 were evaluated. MetS was defined based on the recommendation by the Joint Interim Societies. Exposure to air pollutants was assessed using data from monitoring stations and a spatial statistical model (including particles with diameters ≤ 1.0 µm (PM{sub 1}), ≤ 2.5 µm (PM{sub 2.5}), and ≤ 10 µm (PM{sub 10}), sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}), nitrogen dioxide (NO{sub 2}), and ozone (O{sub 3})). Two-level logistic regression analyses were utilized to assess the associations between air pollutants and MetS. The prevalence of MetS was 30.37%. The adjusted odds ratio of MetS per 10 µg/m{sup 3} increase in PM{sub 1}, PM{sub 2.5}, PM{sub 10}, SO{sub 2}, NO{sub 2}, and O{sub 3} were 1.12 (95% CI = 1.00–1.24), 1.09 (95% CI = 1.00–1.18), 1.13 (95% CI = 1.08–1.19), 1.10 (95% CI = 1.02–1.18), 1.33 (95% CI = 1.12–1.57), and 1.10 (95% CI = 1.01–1.18), respectively. Stratified analyses indicated that the above associations were stronger in participants with the demographic variables of males, < 50 years of age, and higher income, as well as with the behavioral characteristics of smoking, drinking, and consuming sugar-sweetened soft drinks frequently. This study indicates that long-term exposure to ambient air pollutants may increase the risk of MetS, especially among males, the young to middle aged, those of low income, and those with unhealthy lifestyles.

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2018

Osteoradionecrosis of the Skull Base in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: Incidence and Risk Factors

Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a type of malignancy with a high prevalence in southern China and Southeast Asia. The primary treatment modality is radiation therapy (RT). Osteoradionecrosis (ORN) of the skull base remains one of the most serious complications after RT, affecting survival time and quality of life. Thus far, skull base ORN has been seldom reported and can be difficult to distinguish and easy to misdiagnose. In this retrospective study, we report the incidence of skull base ORN and analyze its associated factors in an attempt to decrease the occurrence of ORN.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗
DOE OSTI2014

Collaborating CPU and GPU for large-scale high-order CFD simulations with complex grids on the TianHe-1A supercomputer

Programming and optimizing complex, real-world CFD codes on current many-core accelerated HPC systems is very challenging, especially when collaborating CPUs and accelerators to fully tap the potential of heterogeneous systems. In this paper, with a tri-level hybrid and heterogeneous programming model using MPI + OpenMP + CUDA, we port and optimize our high-order multi-block structured CFD software HOSTA on the GPU-accelerated TianHe-1A supercomputer. HOSTA adopts two self-developed high-order compact definite difference schemes WCNS and HDCS that can simulate flows with complex geometries. We present a dual-level parallelization scheme for efficient multi-block computation on GPUs and perform particular kernel optimizations for high-order CFD schemes. The GPU-only approach achieves a speedup of about 1.3 when comparing one Tesla M2050 GPU with two Xeon X5670 CPUs. To achieve a greater speedup, we collaborate CPU and GPU for HOSTA instead of using a naive GPU-only approach. We present a novel scheme to balance the loads between the store-poor GPU and the store-rich CPU. Taking CPU and GPU load balance into account, we improve the maximum simulation problem size per TianHe-1A node for HOSTA by 2.3×, meanwhile the collaborative approach can improve the performance by around 45% compared to the GPU-only approach. Further, to scale HOSTA on TianHe-1A, we propose a gather/scatter optimization to minimize PCI-e data transfer times for ghost and singularity data of 3D grid blocks, and overlap the collaborative computation and communication as far as possible using some advanced CUDA and MPI features. Scalability tests show that HOSTA can achieve a parallel efficiency of above 60% on 1024 TianHe-1A nodes. With our method, we have successfully simulated an EET high-lift airfoil configuration containing 800M cells and China's large civil airplane configuration containing 150M cells. To our best knowledge, those are the largest-scale CPU–GPU collaborative simulations that solve realistic CFD problems with both complex configurations and high-order schemes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

Using SIMS to decode noisy stratigraphic δ 13 C variations in Ediacaran carbonates

Carbonate carbon isotope (δ 13 C carb ) chemostratigraphy is a valuable tool in Precambrian stratigraphic correlation. The effectiveness of this tool rests on the assumption that δ 13 C carb data record global seawater signals. However, in some cases δ 13 C carb data exhibit rapid and noisy stratigraphic variations that may have been influenced by authigenic or diagenetic carbonate minerals. To assess the contribution of non-primary minerals towards bulk carbonate carbon isotope values, we acquired SIMS (secondary ion mass spectrometry) δ 13 C carb data, electron microscopic data, and CL (cathodoluminescence) microscopic data from two Ediacaran successions—the lower Member II of the Doushantuo Formation in South China and the Mooifontein Member of the Zaris Formation in southern Namibia. The Doushantuo samples came from a stratigraphic interval with noisy meter-scale δ 13 C carb variations of up to 10‰, whereas the Mooifontein Member is characterized by consistent δ13Ccarb values with limited meter-scale variations of less than ~4‰. Our data show that the meter-scale stratigraphic variations in δ 13 C carb are also mirrored in the SIMS data at μm-mm scales in both Doushantuo and Mooifontein samples. In the Doushantuo samples, SIMS δ 13 C carb values of authigenic calcite vary by up to 10‰ over μm-mm scales and can be either higher or lower than those of the co-existing dolomite matrix, which also appears to be affected by authigenic carbonate on the basis of petrographic observation. Bulk-sample δ 13 C carb values measured on powders microdrilled from the same SIMS specimens are within the range of SIMS δ 13 C carb values. Thus, we infer that bulk-sample δ 13 C carb values of Doushantuo samples represent mixtures of different carbonate components. The Doushantuo and Mooifontein SIMS δ 13 C carb data validate the traditional method of using chemostratigraphic consistency to evaluate authigenic/diagenetic alteration, but given that secondary phases may be 13 C-enriched relative to matrix carbonate, caution is warranted when taking maximum values to approximate primary chemostratigraphic trends.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2013

The crystal structure of HIV CRF07 B′/C gp41 reveals a hyper-mutant site in the middle of HR2 heptad repeat

HIV CRF07 B′/C is a strain circulating mainly in northwest region of China. The gp41 region of CRF07 is derived from a clade C virus. In order to compare the difference of CRF07 gp41 with that of typical clade B virus, we solved the crystal structure of the core region of CRF07 gp41. Compared with clade B gp41, CRF07 gp41 evolved more basic and hydrophilic residues on its helix bundle surface. Based on sequence alignment, a hyper-mutant cluster located in the middle of HR2 heptads repeat was identified. The mutational study of these residues revealed that this site is important in HIV mediated cell–cell fusion and plays critical roles in conformational changes during viral invasion. - Highlights: • We solved the crystal structure of HIV CRF07 gp41 core region. • A hyper-mutant cluster in the middle of HR2 heptads repeat was identified. • The hyper-mutant site is important in HIV-cell fusion. • The model will help to understand the HIV fusion process.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗