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Structural and magnetic properties of conventional and microwave treated Ni-Zr doped barium strontium hexaferrite

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Saturation magnetization increases whereas the coercivity decreases. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The transition from hard phase to soft phase. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Therefore, it is used for high-density magnetic recording applications. -- Abstract: M-type hexaferrites of component B{sub 0.5}Sr{sub 0.5}Fe{sub 12-2x}Ni{sub x}Zr{sub x}O{sub 19} were investigated. The XRD patterns show single phase of the magnetoplumbite barium strontium ferrite and no other phases were present. Significant increase in line broadening of the XRD patterns was observed indicating a decrease of grain size. The samples exhibit well defined crystallization; all of them are hexagonal platelet grains. As the substitution level increased x = 0.2-0.8 mol%, the grains are agglomerated and the average diameter increased. The H{sub c} decreases remarkably with increasing Ni and Zr ions content. It was found that the particle size could be effectively decreased and coercivity H{sub c} could easily be controlled by varying the concentration (x) without significantly decreasing saturation magnetization. In particular, Ba{sub 0.5}Sr{sub 0.5}Fe{sub 12-2x}Ni{sub x}Zr{sub x}O{sub 19} with x = 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 mol% has suitable magnetic characteristics with particle size small enough for high-density magnetic recording applications.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

NEWLY QUENCHED GALAXIES AS THE CAUSE FOR THE APPARENT EVOLUTION IN AVERAGE SIZE OF THE POPULATION

We use the large COSMOS sample of galaxies to study in an internally self-consistent way the change in the number densities of quenched early-type galaxies (Q-ETGs) of a given size over the redshift interval 0.2 < z < 1 in order to study the claimed size evolution of these galaxies. In a stellar mass bin at 10{sup 10.5} < M{sub galaxy} < 10{sup 11} M{sub Sun }, we see no change in the number density of compact Q-ETGs over this redshift range, while in a higher mass bin at >10{sup 11} M{sub Sun }, where we would expect merging to be more significant, we find a small decrease, by {approx}30%. In both mass bins, the increase of the median sizes of Q-ETGs with time is primarily caused by the addition to the size function of larger and more diffuse Q-ETGs. At all masses, compact Q-ETGs become systematically redder toward later epochs, with a (U - V) color difference which is consistent with a passive evolution of their stellar populations, indicating that they are a stable population that does not appreciably evolve in size. We find furthermore, at all epochs, that the larger Q-ETGs (at least in the lower mass bin) have average rest-frame colors that are systematically bluer than those of the more compact Q-ETGs, suggesting that the former are indeed younger than the latter. The idea that new, large, Q-ETGs are responsible for the observed growth in the median size of the population at a given mass is also supported by analysis of the sizes and number of the star-forming galaxies that are expected to be the progenitors of the new Q-ETGs over the same period. In the low mass bin, the new Q-ETGs appear to have {approx}30% smaller half-light radii than their star-forming progenitors. This is likely due to the fading of their disks after they cease star formation. Comparison with higher redshifts shows that the median size of newly quenched galaxies roughly scales, at constant mass, as (1 + z){sup -1}. We conclude that the dominant cause of the size evolution seen in the Q-ETG population is that the average sizes and thus stellar densities of individual Q-ETGs roughly scale with the average density of the universe at the time when they were quenched, and that subsequent size changes in individual objects, through merging or other processes, are of secondary importance, especially at masses below 10{sup 11} M{sub Sun}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

PHOTOMETRY OF THE STINGRAY NEBULA (V839 ARA) FROM 1889 TO 2015 ACROSS THE IONIZATION OF ITS PLANETARY NEBULA

Up until around 1980, the Stingray was an ordinary B1 post-AGB star, but then it suddenly sprouted bright emission lines like in a planetary nebula (PN), and soon after this the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) discovered a small PN around the star, so apparently we have caught a star in the act of ionizing a PN. We report here on a well-sampled light curve from 1889 to 2015, with unique coverage of the prior century plus the entire duration of the PN formation plus three decades of its aftermath. Surprisingly, the star anticipated the 1980s ionization event by declining from B = 10.30 in 1889 to B = 10.76 in 1980. Starting in 1980, the central star faded fast, at a rate of 0.20 mag year{sup −1}, reaching B = 14.64 in 1996. This fast fading is apparently caused by the central star shrinking in size. From 1994 to 2015, the V-band light curve is almost entirely from the flux of two bright [O iii] emission lines from the unresolved nebula, and it shows a consistent decline at a rate of 0.090 mag year{sup −1}. This steady fading (also seen in the radio and infrared) has a timescale equal to that expected for ordinary recombination within the nebula, immediately after a short-duration ionizing event in the 1980s. We are providing the first direct measure of the rapidly changing luminosity of the central star on both sides of a presumed thermal pulse in 1980, with this providing a strong and critical set of constraints, and these are found to sharply disagree with theoretical models of PN evolution.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Automated Weld Characterization Using the Thermoelectric Method

The effective assessment of the integrity of welds is a complicated NDE problem that continues to be a challenge. To be able to completely characterize a weld, detailed knowledge of its tensile strength, ductility, hardness, microstructure, macrostructure, and chemical composition is needed. NDE techniques which can provide information on any of these features are extremely important. In this paper, we examine a seldom used approach based on the thermoelectric (TE) effect for characterizing welds and their associated heat affected zone (HAZ). The thermoelectric method monitors the thermoelectric power which is sensitive to small changes in the kinetics of the conduction electrons near the Fermi surface that can be caused by changes in the local microstructure. The technique has been applied to metal sorting, quality testing, flaw detection, thickness gauging of layers, and microscopic structural analysis. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique for characterizing welds, a series of tungsten-inert-gas welded Inconel-718 samples were scanned with a computer controlled TE probe. The samples were then analyzed using a scanning electron microscope and Rockwell hardness tests to characterize the weld and the associated HAZ. We then correlated the results with the TE measurements to provide quantitative information on the size of the HAZ and the degree of hardness of the material in the weld region. This provides potentially valuable information on the strength and fatigue life of the weld. We begin the paper by providing a brief review of the TE technique and then highlight some of the factors that can effect the measurements. Next, we provide an overview of the experimental procedure and discuss the results. Finally, we summarize our findings and consider areas for future research.

Fulton, J. P.↗

Quantifying dispersity in size and shape of nanoparticles from small-angle scattering data using machine learning based CREASE

Here, we use machine learning (ML) enhanced computational reverse engineering analysis of scattering experiments (CREASE) to interpret small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) data obtained from a system of nanoparticles without a priori knowledge of their exact shapes (e.g. spheres or ellipsoids), sizes (0.5–50 nm) and distributions. The SAXS measurements yielded three categories of scattering profiles exhibiting 'strong', 'weak' and 'no' features. Diminishing features (e.g. broadening or disappearing peaks) in scattering profiles have always been attributed to the presence of significant dispersity in the system. Such featureless SAXS data are not suitable for traditional analysis using analytical models. If one were to fit a relevant analytical model (e.g. the lmfit analytical model for polydisperse spheres) to these 'weak' and 'no' SAXS profiles from our nanoparticle systems, one would obtain non-unique interpretations of the data. Relying on electron microscopy to identify the distributions of nanoparticle shapes and sizes is also unfeasible, especially in high-throughput synthesis and characterization loops. In such situations, to identify the distributions of particle sizes and shapes that could be present in the sample, one must rely on methods like ML-CREASE to interpret the data quickly and output all relevant interpretations about the structure present in the system. The ML-CREASE optimization loop takes the experimental scattering profile as input and outputs multiple candidate solutions whose computed scattering profiles match the SAXS profile input. The ML-CREASE method outputs distributions of relevant structural features, such as the volume fraction of the nanoparticles in the system and the mean and standard deviation of the particle size and aspect ratio, assuming a type of distribution (e.g. normal, log-normal) for size and aspect ratio. We find that, for the SAXS profiles analyzed here, accounting for the shape dispersity along with size dispersity of the nanoparticles using ML-CREASE improved the match between the computed scattering profiles and input experimental profiles.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Optimizing galaxy samples for clustering measurements in photometric surveys

When analysing galaxy clustering in multiband imaging surveys, there is a trade-off between selecting the largest galaxy samples (to minimize the shot noise) and selecting samples with the best photometric redshift (photo-$z$) precision, which generally includes only a small subset of galaxies. In this paper, we systematically explore this trade-off. Our analysis is targeted towards the third-year data of the Dark Energy Survey (DES), but our methods hold generally for other data sets. Using a simple Gaussian model for the redshift uncertainties, we carry out a Fisher matrix forecast for cosmological constraints from angular clustering in the redshift range $z$ = 0.2–0.95. We quantify the cosmological constraints using a figure of merit (FoM) that measures the combined constraints on $Ωm$ and $σ_8$ in the context of Λ cold dark matter ($Λ$CDM) cosmology. We find that the trade-off between sample size and photo-z precision is sensitive to (1) whether cross-correlations between redshift bins are included or not, and (2) the ratio of the redshift bin width $δz$ to the photo-$z$ precision $σ_z$. When cross-correlations are included and the redshift bin width is allowed to vary, the highest FoM is achieved when $δz$ ~ $σ_z$. We find that for the typical case of 5-10 redshift bins, optimal results are reached when we use larger, less precise photo-z samples, provided that we include cross-correlations. For samples with higher $σ_z$, the overlap between redshift bins is larger, leading to higher cross-correlation amplitudes. This leads to the self-calibration of the photo-z parameters and therefore tighter cosmological constraints. These results can be used to help guide galaxy sample selection for clustering analysis in ongoing and future photometric surveys.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Stardust Interstellar Foils I1061N,1 and I1031N, 1: First Results from Automated Crater Searches and Future Analytical Possibilities

In addition to samples from comet 81P/Wild 2, NASA's Stardust mission may have returned the first samples of contemporary interstellar dust. The interstellar tray collected particles for 229 days during two exposures prior to the spacecraft encounter with Wild 2 and tracked the interstellar dust stream for all but 34 days of that time. In addition to aerogel capture cells, the tray contains Al foils that make up approx.15% of the total exposed collection surface . Interstellar dust fluxes are poorly constrained, but suggest that on the order of 12-15 particles may have impacted the total exposed foil area of 15,300 sq mm; 2/3 of these are estimated to be less than approx.1 micrometer in size . Examination of the interstellar foils to locate the small rare craters expected from these impacts is proceeding under the auspices of the Stardust Interstellar Preliminary Examination (ISPE) plan. Below we outline the automated high-resolution imaging protocol we have established for this work and report results obtained from two interstellar foils.

Zolensky, M. E.↗

The effects of Suspended Sediment on Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes) and Mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) Metabolism

Sedimentation is recognized as a significant environmental stressor in aquatic ecosystems and high amounts of suspended sediments (SS) in streams are known to negatively affect aquatic organisms. In particular, it has been hypothesized that many fish species may exhibit increased respiration rates when exposed to elevated SS. To evaluate this hypothesis, we evaluated the acute response (3 hour exposure) of two small, freshwater fish species exposed to high suspended sediment loads using experimental respirometry chambers which measure oxygen consumption as a proxy of metabolism. Our results indicate that Japanese Medaka (Oryzias latipes) did not exhibit a significantly greater oxygen consumption, as compared to control fish, when exposed to chamber sediment of 0.17 g/L (p-value of 0.41), though oxygen consumption was higher for sediment treatments. However, mosquitofish (Gambusia affinis) exposed to 0.17 g/L did exhibit noticeably greater oxygen consumption compared to fish in no-sediment control test, but not at statistically significant levels (p-value of 0.07). In this work, further study is needed with increased sample sizes and across SS levels to determine the threshold of increased metabolic rate among freshwater species exposed to SS.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Spatial resolution of different discretizations over long-time for the Dirac equation with small potentials

In this report we compare the long-time error bounds and spatial resolution of finite difference methods with different spatial discretizations for the Dirac equation with small electromagnetic potentials characterized by $\varepsilon \in (0, 1]$ a dimensionless parameter. We begin with the simple and widely used finite difference time domain (FDTD) methods, and establish rigorous error bounds of them, which are valid up to the time at $O(1/\varepsilon)$. In the error estimates, we pay particular attention to how the errors depend explicitly on the mesh size $h$ and time step $\tau$ as well as the small parameter $\varepsilon$. Based on the results, in order to obtain "correct" numerical solutions up to the time at $O(1/\varepsilon)$, the $\varepsilon$-scalability (or meshing strategy requirement) of the FDTD methods should be taken as $h = O(\varepsilon^{1/2})$ and $\tau = O(\varepsilon^{1/2})$. To improve the spatial resolution capacity, we apply the Fourier spectral method to discretize the Dirac equation in space. Error bounds of the resulting finite difference Fourier pseudospectral (FDFP) methods show that they exhibit uniform spatial errors in the long-time regime, which are optimal in space as suggested by the Shannon's sampling theorem. Extensive numerical results are reported to confirm the error bounds and demonstrate that they are sharp.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF Ly{alpha} EMITTERS AT z {approx} 0.3 FROM UV-TO-FIR MEASUREMENTS

The analysis of the physical properties of low-redshift Ly{alpha} emitters (LAEs) can provide clues in the study of their high-redshift analogs. At z {approx} 0.3, LAEs are bright enough to be detected over almost the entire electromagnetic spectrum and it is possible to carry out a more precise and complete study than at higher redshifts. In this work, we examine the UV and IR emission, dust attenuation, star formation rate (SFR), and morphology of a sample of 23 GALEX-discovered star-forming LAEs at z {approx} 0.3 with direct UV (GALEX), optical (ACS), and FIR (PACS and MIPS) data. Using the same UV and IR limiting luminosities, we find that LAEs at z {approx} 0.3 tend to be less dusty, have slightly higher total SFRs, have bluer UV continuum slopes, and are much smaller than other galaxies that do not exhibit Ly{alpha} emission in their spectrum (non-LAEs). These results suggest that at z {approx} 0.3, Ly{alpha} photons tend to escape from small galaxies with low dust attenuation. Regarding their morphology, LAEs belong to Irr/merger classes, unlike non-LAEs. Size and morphology represent the most noticeable difference between LAEs and non-LAEs at z {approx} 0.3. Furthermore, the comparison of our results with those obtained at higher redshifts indicates either that the Ly{alpha} technique picks up different kind of galaxies at different redshifts or that the physical properties of LAEs are evolving with redshift.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

MORPHOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF Lyα EMITTERS AT REDSHIFT 4.86 IN THE COSMOS FIELD: CLUMPY STAR FORMATION OR MERGER?

We investigate morphological properties of 61 Lyα emitters (LAEs) at z = 4.86 identified in the COSMOS field, based on Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) imaging data in the F814W band. Out of the 61 LAEs, we find the ACS counterparts for 54 LAEs. Eight LAEs show double-component structures with a mean projected separation of 0.″63 (∼4.0 kpc at z = 4.86). Considering the faintness of these ACS sources, we carefully evaluate their morphological properties, that is, size and ellipticity. While some of them are compact and indistinguishable from the point-spread function (PSF) half-light radius of 0.″07 (∼0.45 kpc), the others are clearly larger than the PSF size and spatially extended up to 0.″3 (∼1.9 kpc). We find that the ACS sources show a positive correlation between ellipticity and size and that the ACS sources with large size and round shape are absent. Our Monte Carlo simulation suggests that the correlation can be explained by (1) the deformation effects via PSF broadening and shot noise or (2) the source blending in which two or more sources with small separation are blended in our ACS image and detected as a single elongated source. Therefore, the 46 single-component LAEs could contain the sources that consist of double (or multiple) components with small spatial separation (i.e., ≲0.″3 or 1.9 kpc). Further observation with high angular resolution at longer wavelengths (e.g., rest-frame wavelengths of ≳4000 Å) is inevitable to decipher which interpretation is adequate for our LAE sample.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Converter design techniques and applications

Transistorized direct current voltage converters offer a number of advantages over other types because of their small size, low weight, high efficiency, high reliability, precision accuracy and wide range of control. There are three basic types of converter subsystems: series converter in which a voltage-controlled component is placed in series with the load; shunt converter in which a current-controlled component is placed in shunt with the load; and a switching converter in which a voltage-controlled component is turned on and off in series with the load. Converters employing any of these three types of subsystems can provide constant voltage, constant current, or constant impedance across the load. Design and application considerations, step-by-step design procedures, and the solution to sample design problems for the series, shunt, and switching types are presented.

Lalli, V. R.↗

Exobiology opportunities from Discovery-class missions

Discovery-class missions that are now planned, and those in the concept stage, have the potential to expand our knowledge of the origins and evolution of biogenic compounds, and ultimately, of the origins of life in the solar system. This class of missions, recently developed within NASA's Solar System Exploration Program, is designed to meet important scientific objectives within stringent guidelines--$150 million cap on development cost and a 3-year cap on the development schedule. The Discovery Program will effectively enable "faster, cheaper" missions to explore the inner solar system. The first two missions are Mars Environmental Survey (MESUR) Pathfinder and Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR). MESUR Pathfinder will be the first Discovery mission, with launch planned for November/December 1996. It will be primarily a technical demonstration and validation of the MESUR Program--a network of automated landers to study the internal structure, meteorology, and surface properties of Mars. Besides providing engineering data, Pathfinder will carry atmospheric instrumentation and imaging capabilities, and may deploy a microrover equipped with an alpha proton X-ray spectrometer to determine elemental composition, particularly the lighter elements of exobiological interest. NEAR is expected to be launched in 1998 and to rendezvous with a near-Earth asteroid for up to 1 year. During this time, the spacecraft will assess the asteroid's mass, size, density, map its surface topography and composition, determine its internal properties, and study its interaction with the interplanetary environment. A gamma ray or X-ray spectrometer will be used to determine elemental composition. An imaging spectrograph, with 0.35 to 2.5 micron spectral range, will be used to determine the asteroid's compositional disbribution. Of the 11 Discovery mission concepts that have been designated as warranting further study, several are promising in terms of determining the composition and chemical evolution of organic matter on small planetary bodies. The following mission concepts are of particular interest to the Exobiology Program: Cometary coma chemical composition, comet nucleus tour, near earth asteroid returned sample, small missions to asteroids and comets, and solar wind sample return. The following three Discovery mission concepts that have been targeted for further consideration are relevant to the study of the evolution of biogenic compounds: Comet nucleus penetrator, mainbelt asteroid rendezvous explorer, and the Mars polar Pathfinder.

Meyer, Michael A.↗

Pinhole Effects on Venus Superpressure Balloon Lifetime

Experimental results are presented for a series of experiments that addressed the effect of small pinhole defects on the potential lifetime of a Venus superpressure balloon. The experiments were performed on samples of a candidate balloon envelope material through which a single small hole of 80 to 300 microns in diameter was deliberately made in each one by puncturing with a metal pin. The material was mounted horizontally in a test apparatus and then a 2-3 mm thick layer of sulfuric acid was placed on top to mimic balloon wetting at Venus. Acid penetration and damage manifested itself as a darkening of the aluminum metal and adhesive layers around the hole in the balloon material. There were no test conditions under which the acid simply fell through the pinhole due to gravity because the surface tension forces always compensated at this size. Very little acid-damaged material was observed for the smallest 80 micron pinholes while gas flowed through the hole due to balloon-like pressurization: the black spot size was approximately 0.2 mm in diameter after 6 days with 86% sulfuric acid. The damage area grew more quickly in the absence of gas flowing out of an 80 micron hole, namely at a rate of 2 mm/day. It was concluded that the flow of escaping gas out of the hole provides a substantial reduction of the rate of acid penetration and damage. Larger diameter pinholes of approximately 300 micron diameter showed larger growth rates of 0.7 mm/day with gas flow and 1.7 mm/day without. The pinhole size did not change over the duration of these experiments because the material has an outer layer of fluoropolymer film that remained intact during the process and thereby held the hole size constant. None of the damage rates measured in these experiments pose a threat to the lifetime of the balloon over the projected course of a 30 day mission because the affected area is too small to cause a structural failure either through direct damage or increased solar heating and attendant balloon pressurization leading to burst.

Venus↗

Anatomical Fraction segmentation in the biomass bales

The U.S. Department of Energy Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) is committed to the development of sustainable, nationwide, commercial biofuel production to displace petroleum-derived fuels, increase domestic energy production, and encourage the creation of a domestic bioenergy and bioproducts industry. Operating a commercial-scale bioenergy operation requires significant technological advancements for determining biomass feedstock quality during the preprocessing stage. Usage of non-food feedstocks- e.g., corn-stover, pine residue, and forest residue - at the biorefineries reduces strain on the food supply chain. But the non-food feedstock heterogeneity- physical size, shape, and chemical composition-poses a significant challenge during milling, conveyance, feeding, and biofuel conversion processes. 3D X-Ray imaging (CT) is capable of distinguishing material features by detecting density and compositional differences. But the inherent complexity introduced during harvesting and bailing makes the reconstruction and interpretation of baled biomass materials from x-ray data time consuming, laborious, and expensive. Feedstocks are low-density materials that produce small contrast differences in the x-ray images. This paper focuses on using the shape and texture properties, using 3D image processing techniques like 3D skeletonization, directional statistics to characterize and extract volumetric content of the different tissue samples in the biomass bales.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Study of Structure and Small-Scale Fragmentation in TMC-1

Large-scale C(sup 18)O maps show that the Taurus molecular cloud 1 (TMC-1) has numerous cores located along a ridge which extends about 12 minutes by at least 35 minutes. The cores traced by C(sup 18)O are about a few arcminutes (0.1-0.2 pc) in extent, typically contain about 0.5-3 solar mass, and are probably gravitationally bound. We present a detailed study of the small-scale fragmentary structure of one of these cores, called core D, within TMC-1 using very high spectral and spatial resolution maps of CCS and CS. The CCS lines are excellent tracers for investigating the density, temperature, and velocity structure in dense cores. The high spectral resolution, 0.008 km /s, data consist mainly of single-dish, Nyquist-sampled maps of CCS at 22 GHz with 45 sec spatial resolution taken with NASA's 70 m DSN antenna at Goldstone. The high spatial resolution spectral line maps were made with the Very Large Array (9 sec resolution) at 22 GHz and with the OVRO millimeter array in CCS and CS at 93 GHz and 98 GHz, respectively, with 6 sec resolution. These maps are supplemented with single-dish observations of CCS and CC(sup 34)S spectra at 33 GHz using a NASA 34 m DSN antenna, CCS 93 GHz, C(sup 34)S (2-1), and C(sup 18)O (1-0) single-dish observations made with the AT&T Bell Laboratories 7 m antenna. Our high spectral and spatial CCS and CS maps show that core D is highly fragmented. The single-dish CCS observations map out several clumps which range in size from approx. 45 sec to 90 sec (0.03-0.06 pc). These clumps have very narrow intrinsic line widths, 0.11-0.25 km/s, slightly larger than the thermal line width for CCS at 10 K, and masses about 0.03-0.2 solar mass. Interferometer observations of some of these clumps show that they have considerable additional internal structure, consisting of several condensations ranging in size from approx. 10 sec- 30 sec (0.007-0.021 pc), also with narrow line widths. The mass of these smallest fragments is of order 0.01 solar mass. These small-scale structures traced by CCS appear to be gravitationally unbound by a large factor. Most of these objects have masses that fall below those of the putative proto-brown dwarfs (approx. less than 0.1 solar mass). The presence of many small gravitationally unbound clumps suggests that fragmentation mechanisms other than a purely Jeans gravitational instability may be important for the dynamics of these cold dense cores.

Langer, W. D.↗

Exosomal miR-675 from metastatic osteosarcoma promotes cell migration and invasion by targeting CALN1

Highlights: • Metastatic OS-derived exosomes induce the migration and invasion of osteoblast. • The expression of miR-675 is higher in metastatic OS-derived exosomes. • Exosomal miR-675 regulate the migration and invasion of osteoblast by down-regulating the expression of CALN1. • The expression of exosomal miR-675 is higher in metastatic OS patients' serum sample. Exosomal microRNAs(miRNAs) transfer from tumor to stromal cells is reportedly associated with cancer progression and metastasis in various epithelial cancers. However, the role of exosomal miRNA in the metastasis of osteosarcoma(OS) -the most common bone malignancy-still largely remains unknown. In this study, we purified exosomes with a median size close to 100 nm from cell culture media as well as patient serum, and proved that exosomes derived from the metastatic, but not the non-metastatic OS cells increase the migration and invasion of non-malignant fibroblast cells (hFOB1.19) in vitro. Furthermore, the differential miRNA cargo between metastatic and non-metastatic OS is identified by small RNA sequencing and RT-PCR validation, we found a highly expression of exosomal, but not cellular miR-675 level in the metastatic OS cell-lines compared with non-metastatic counterparts. Meanwhile, we also found that exosomal miR-675 could down-regulate CALN1 expression in recipient cell, which may influence the invasion and migration of hFOB1.19. Finally, the up regulation serum exosomal miR-675 and down regulation of CALN1 in tumor specimen was also found to be associated with the metastatic phenotype in OS patients. Our findings indicate that the exosomal miR-675 is a gene associated with OS and serum exosomal miR-675 expression may serve as a novel biomarker for the metastasis of OS.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗