Stretch tuning of dispersion in optical microfibers.

Dispersion management is vital for nonlinear optics and ultrafast lasers. We demonstrate that group velocity dispersion (GVD, or second-order dispersion, i.e., ß2) and group delay dispersion (GDD) in optical microfibers can be tuned simply by stretch due to their remarkable features of small diameter and diameter-dependent dispersion. We experimentally demonstrate that a pulling force of just a few mN would elongate the optical microfibers by up to 5%, bringing a significant change in the ß2 and GDD. This change can be increment or decrement, lying on the diameter of optical microfibers. Therefore, 10-cm-long optical microfibers would provide a GDD change of 104 fs2 when elongated by 5%, well in the elastic limit. Remarkably, this change is equivalent to the GDD (not GDD change) provided by a 0.5-m-long single-mode fiber. Experimental results and simulations show that the GDD change is due to the interplay between elongation, diameter shrink, and refractive index decrease. Benefited from the easy manipulation, tiny pulling force required, and full integration with conventional optical fibers, stretch tuning of dispersion in optical microfibers would find applications in dispersion management for ultrafast lasers and nonlinear optics.

Effect of autologous bone marrow stem cells-scaffold transplantation on the ongoing pregnancy rate in intrauterine adhesion women: a randomized, controlled trial.

Intrauterine adhesion is a major cause of female reproductive disorders. Although we and others uncontrolled pilot studies showed that treatment with autologous bone marrow stem cells made a few patients with severe intrauterine adhesion obtain live birth, no large sample randomized controlled studies on this therapeutic strategy in such patients have been reported so far. To verify if the therapy of autologous bone marrow stem cells-scaffold is superior to traditional treatment in moderate to severe intrauterine adhesion patients in increasing their ongoing pregnancy rate, we conducted this randomized controlled clinical trial. Totally 195 participants with moderate to severe intrauterine adhesion were screened and 152 of them were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either group with autologous bone marrow stem cells-scaffold plus Foley balloon catheter or group with only Foley balloon catheter (control group) from February 2016 to January 2020. The per-protocol analysis included 140 participants: 72 in bone marrow stem cells-scaffold group and 68 in control group. The ongoing pregnancy occurred in 45/72 (62.5%) participants in the bone marrow stem cells-scaffold group which was significantly higher than that in the control group (28/68, 41.2%) (RR=1.52, 95%CI 1.08-2.12, P=0.012). The situation was similar in live birth rate (bone marrow stem cells-scaffold group 56.9% (41/72) vs. control group 38.2% (26/68), RR=1.49, 95%CI 1.04-2.14, P=0.027). Compared with control group, participants in bone marrow stem cells-scaffold group showed more menstrual blood volume in the 3rd and 6th cycles and maximal endometrial thickness in the 6th cycle after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis. The incidence of mild placenta accrete was increased in bone marrow stem cells-scaffold group and no severe adverse effects were observed. In conclusion, transplantation of bone marrow stem cells-scaffold into uterine cavities of the participants with moderate to severe intrauterine adhesion increased their ongoing pregnancy and live birth rates, and this therapy was relatively safe.

Safety and efficacy of a modified technique of laparoscopic radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer.

AIM: Objective to investigate the feasibility, safety, and short-term efficacy of laparoscopic radical hysterectomy without uterine lifter combined with self-locking nylon band. METHODS: The clinical data of 152 patients who underwent a laparoscopic radical hysterectomy in the Department of gynecology and oncology of Changzhou maternal and child health hospital from January 2017 to June 2020 were analyzed retrospectively, including 97 patients who used uterine lifter (traditional laparoscopic radical hysterectomy) and 55 patients who underwent operation without uterine lifter but combining with self-locking nylon band (modified laparoscopic radical hysterectomy). The differences in operation time, intraoperative blood loss, the width of excised parauterine tissue, the length of the excised vaginal wall, postoperative pathology and short-term prognosis between the two groups were compared and analyzed. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the two groups in operation time, intraoperative blood loss, the width of parauterine tissue, and the length of the vaginal wall (p > 0.05). There were no significant differences in the number of lymph nodes, pelvic lymph node metastasis rate and depth of cervical interstitial infiltration between the two groups (p > 0.05), the infiltration rate of lymphatic vascular space in the traditional group was higher than that in the improved group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: It is feasible and safe for laparoscopic radical hysterectomy without uterine lifter combining with a self-locking nylon band to seal the vaginal wall. The uterine lifter may lead to lymphatic vascular space infiltration of tumor cells.

Photonic Nanolaser with Extreme Optical Field Confinement.

We proposed a photonic approach to a lasing mode supported by low-loss oscillation of polarized bound electrons in an active nano-slit-waveguide cavity, which circumvents the confinement-loss trade-off of nanoplasmonics, and offers an optical confinement down to sub-1-nm level with a peak-to-background ratio of ∼30 dB. Experimentally, the extremely confined lasing field is realized as the dominant peak of a TE_{0}-like lasing mode around 720-nm wavelength, in 1-nm-level width slit-waveguide cavities in coupled CdSe nanowire pairs. The measured lasing characteristics agree well with the theoretical calculations. Our results may pave a way towards new regions for nanolasers and light-matter interaction.

GANT61 elevates chemosensitivity to cisplatin through regulating the Hedgehog, AMPK and cAMP pathways in ovarian cancer.

Background: This study aimed to explore the effect of GANT61 on ovarian cancer (OC) chemosensitivity. Materials & methods: OC cells (Caov-3 and SKOV-3) were treated by GANT61 alone or combined with cisplatin/taxol. The mRNA sequencing was conducted, followed by rescue experiments. Results: GANT61 reduced OC cell viability in a dose-dependent manner and enhanced chemosensitivity to cisplatin but not to taxol. In total, 545 dysregulated genes were identified after the addition of GANT61 to cisplatin-treated OC cells, which were enriched in the AMPK, Hedgehog and cAMP pathways, then further validated by western blot. Furthermore, rescue experiments observed that AMPK pathway inhibitor and cAMP pathway inhibitor attenuated GANT61's chemosensitivity to cisplatin. Conclusion: GANT61 enforces OC chemosensitivity to cisplatin by regulating the Hedgehog, AMPK and cAMP pathways.

Elastic ice microfibers.

Ice is known to be a rigid and brittle crystal that fractures when deformed. We demonstrate that ice grown as single-crystal ice microfibers (IMFs) with diameters ranging from 10 micrometers to less than 800 nanometers is highly elastic. Under cryotemperature, we could reversibly bend the IMFs up to a maximum strain of 10.9%, which approaches the theoretical elastic limit. We also observed a pressure-induced phase transition of ice from Ih to II on the compressive side of sharply bent IMFs. The high optical quality allows for low-loss optical waveguiding and whispering-gallery-mode resonance in our IMFs. The discovery of these flexible ice fibers opens opportunities for exploring ice physics and ice-related technology on micro- and nanometer scales.

Optimizing up-conversion single-photon detectors for quantum key distribution.

High-performance single-photon detectors (SPDs) at 1550-nm band are critical for fiber-based quantum communications. Among many types of SPDs, the up-conversion SPDs based on periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides are of great interest. Combined with a strong pump laser, the telecom single-photons are converted into short wavelength ones and detected by silicon-based SPDs. However, due to the difficulty of precise controlling waveguide profile, the direct coupling between a single-mode fiber and the waveguide is not efficient. Here by utilizing fiber taper with proper diameter, optimal mode-matching is achieved and coupling efficiency up to 93% is measured. With an optimized design, a system detection efficiency of 36% and noise counting rate of 90 cps are realized. The maximum detection efficiency is characterized as 40% with a noise counting rate of 200 cps. Numerical simulation results indicate that our device can significantly improve the performance of QKD and extend the communication distance longer than 200 km.

On-chip single-mode CdS nanowire laser.

By integrating a free-standing cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanowire onto a silicon nitride (SiN) photonic chip, we demonstrate a highly compact on-chip single-mode CdS nanowire laser. The mode selection is realized using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure. When the pumping intensity exceeds the lasing threshold of 4.9 kW/cm2, on-chip single-mode lasing at ~518.9 nm is achieved with a linewidth of 0.1 nm and a side-mode suppression ratio of up to a factor of 20 (13 dB). The output of the nanowire laser is channelled into an on-chip SiN waveguide with high efficiency (up to 58%) by evanescent coupling, and the directional coupling ratio between the two output ports can be varied from 90 to 10% by predesigning the coupling length of the SiN waveguide. Our results open new opportunities for both nanowire photonic devices and on-chip light sources and may pave the way towards a new category of hybrid nanolasers for chip-integrated applications.

Self-phase modulation in single CdTe nanowires.

We measure the transmission of near-infrared ps pulses through single CdTe nanowires. Benefitting from the strong light confinement and large effective nonlinearity of these nanowires, a significant spectral broadening of ∼ 5 nm and nonlinear phase shift of a few π due to self-phase modulation (SPM) is observed experimentally at coupled peak power of a dozen W with a propagating length down to several hundred µms. A nonlinear-index coefficient (n2) as high as (9.5 ± 1.4) × 10-17 m2/W at 1550 nm is extracted from transmission spectra, corresponding to a nonlinear parameter (γ) of ∼ 1050 W-1m-1. The simulations indicate a spectral broadening more than 1.5 µm in single nanowire when pumped by fs pulses in anomalous dispersion regime. The obtained results suggest that, CdTe nanowire is promising in developing ultracompact nonlinear optical devices for microphotonic circuits.

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3B is overexpressed and correlates with deteriorated tumor features and unfavorable survival profiles in cervical cancer patients.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to detect the expression of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 3B (EIF3B) and investigate its correlation with tumor features and survival in cervical cancer patients. METHODS: This study retrospectively reviewed 187 cervical cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) patients underwent tumor resection. Immunohistochemistry was performed to determine the expression of EIF3B in tissue samples. Besides, disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated. The median follow-up duration was 69 months, and the last follow-up date was 2017/12/31. RESULTS: EIF3B expression was higher in tumor tissue compared to paired adjacent tissue (45.5% vs. 32.1%, P= 0.015). Besides, EIF3B high expression was associated with higher Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Stage (P= 0.001) and presence of lymph node metastasis (P= 0.002). As to survival profiles, Kaplan-Meier curves disclosed that DFS (P< 0.001) and OS (P< 0.001) were both shorter in EIF3B high expression group compared to EIF3B low expression group. Multivariate Cox's regression analysis disclosed that EIF3B high expression, pathological grade III (vs I/II) and FIGO Stage III/IV (vs I/II) were independent predictive factors for unfavorable DFS as well as OS in cervical cancer patients (all P value < 0.05). CONCLUSION: EIF3B is overexpressed, and its high expression correlates with higher FIGO Stage, lymph node metastasis and unfavorable survival profiles in cervical cancer patients.

Properties of Concrete Prepared with Recycled Aggregates Treated by Bio-Deposition Adding Oxygen Release Compound.

Recycled aggregates have high water absorption and crushing index. In order to improve the properties of recycled aggregates in concrete production, various treatments were used to modify the aggregates. In recent years, bio-deposition as a new treatment method of recycled aggregates was environmentally friendly. An improved method of bio-deposition was implemented to modify the properties of recycled mortar aggregates (RMA). O-bio-deposition is based on aerobic bacteria induced CaCO3 precipitation by respiration by varying the distance between the RMA and the bottom of the container and by adding an oxygen release compound to the culture solution that contains bacteria to promote the induction of CaCO3. First, the physical properties, including water absorption, crushing value, and apparent density, of the coarse RMA under different treatment methods were determined, and an o-bio-deposition treatment method was obtained. The fine RMA was treated and compared with the untreated RMA. Concretes were then prepared from the treated coarse RMA, and compressive strength and slump were determined. In addition, the effect of the o-bio-deposition treatment on the RMA surface and the micro-cracks of concretes were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that the water absorption and crushing index of the coarse RMA treated by o-bio-deposition were reduced by 40.38 and 19.76% compared with untreated RMA, respectively. Regarding the concrete, the slump and the compressive strength (28 d) of concrete were increased by 115% and 25.3%, respectively compared with the untreated concrete.

Nanowire lasers as intracellular probes.

We investigate a cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanowire (NW) laser that is spontaneously internalized into a single cell to serve as a stand-alone intracellular probe. By pumping with nano-joule light pulses, green laser emission (500-520 nm) can be observed inside cells with a peak linewidth as narrow as 0.5 nm. Due to the sub-micron diameter (∼200 nm), the NW has an appreciable fraction of the evanescent field outside, facilitating a sensitive detection of cellular environmental changes. By monitoring the lasing peak wavelength shift in response to the intracellular refractive index change, our NW laser probe shows a sensitivity of 55 nm per RIU (refractive index units) and a figure of merit of approximately 98.

Femtosecond Mode-locked Fiber Laser at 1 µm Via Optical Microfiber Dispersion Management.

Mode-locked Yb-doped fiber lasers around 1 µm are attractive for high power applications and low noise pulse train generation. Mode-locked fiber lasers working in soliton and stretched-pulse regime outperform others in terms of the laser noise characteristics, mechanical stability and easy maintenance. However, conventional optical fibers always show a normal group velocity dispersion around 1 µm, leading to the inconvenience for necessary dispersion management. Here we show that optical microfibers having a large anomalous dispersion around 1 µm can be integrated into mode-locked Yb-doped fiber lasers with ultralow insertion loss down to -0.06 dB, enabling convenient dispersion management of the laser cavity. Besides, optical microfibers could also be adopted to spectrally broaden and to dechirp the ultrashort pulses outside the laser cavity, giving rise to a pulse duration of about 110 fs. We believe that this demonstration may facilitate all-fiber format high-performance ultrashort pulse generation at 1 µm and may find applications in precision measurements, large-scale facility synchronization and evanescent-field-based optical sensing.

Proposed liquid-cooled nanowire lasers.

While the nanowire (NW) lasers have attracted much attentions as nanoscale coherent sources in recent years, the heat accumulation and temperature-rise-induced breakdown remain challenges to improving the lasers for practical applications. Here we propose a microscale liquid-cooled approach to address the issue. Calculated results show that, compared with conventional air-cooled lasing systems, liquid-cooled NW lasers can allow much higher thermal power. By keeping the NW temperature below 373 K, the allowed thermal power in water is about 21 times that in air (850 µW in water versus 40 µW in air). Transient temperature evolution reveals a much faster heat dissipation of the NW in water (30 ns) than in air (7 µs), indicating a much higher allowable repetition rate in water than in air (e.g., 10 MHz versus 100 kHz). Our results suggest a possible route to compact NW lasers with higher power, new materials and new operation modes.

Expression of VEGF and HIF-1α in locally advanced cervical cancer: potential biomarkers for predicting preoperative radiochemotherapy sensitivity and prognosis.

Locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) is an early-stage cervical cancer characterized by a local tumor diameter of ≥4 cm. Patients with LACC have a relatively poor prognosis. Although preoperative radiochemotherapy (PRCT) might offer a valuable opportunity for subsequent radical surgery, surgeons should also consider the nonresponsive rate, the adverse effects of PRCT, and the surgical complications before designing a treatment plan. Therefore, biomarkers for predicting PRCT sensitivity and prognosis in patients with LACC are of high importance. We investigated the prognostic significance of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in patients with LACC. A total of 43 patients with LACC who underwent PRCT (one course each of intravenous chemotherapy and after-loading intracavitary brachytherapy followed by a radical hysterectomy) during the period 2009-2014 were included in this study. VEGF and HIF-1α expression levels were evaluated by immunohistochemistry in LACC lesions before and after PRCT. In addition, we analyzed the association of these proteins with the clinical response and pathological findings of pelvic lymph node metastasis (PLNM) after the subsequent surgery. The total clinical response rate was 81.39% after PRCT, including five complete responses and 30 partial responses. VEGF and HIF-1α expression before PRCT was significantly higher than after PRCT (VEGF: 85.71% vs 66.67%; HIF-1α: 83.33% vs 59.52%, P<0.05). In addition, the same trend was found in patients with PLNM compared to those without PLNM (VEGF: 100% vs 77.78%; HIF-1α: 100% vs 74.07%, P<0.05). The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves were 0.896 and 0.835 when using pre-PRCT VEGF and HIF-1α expression levels, respectively, to diagnose PLNM in patients with LACC. Serial detection of VEGF and HIF-1α demonstrated a sensitivity of 66.67% and specificity of 88.89%. These findings suggest that VEGF and HIF-1α expressions are potential biomarkers for PRCT and have great clinical significance for the prediction of PRCT response and prognosis in patients with LACC.

The biphasic expression pattern of miR-200a and E-cadherin in epithelial ovarian cancer and its correlation with clinicopathological features.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the leading cause of death among gynecologic malignancies. Despite great efforts to improve early detection and optimize chemotherapeutic regimens, the 5-year survival rate is only 30% for patients presenting with late-stage ovarian cancer. The high mortality of this disease is due to late diagnosis in over 70% of ovarian cancer cases. A class of small noncoding RNAs, or microRNAs, was found to regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. Some, but not all, of the data indicated that the miR-200 family was dysregulated in a variety of malignancies. In this study, we demonstrated that miR-200a and E-cadherin were significantly upregulated in EOC compared to benign epithelial ovarian cysts and normal ovarian tissues. However, further stratification of the subject indicated that the expression levels of miR-200a were significantly downregulated in late-stage (FIGO III+V) and grade 3 groups compared with early stage (FIGO I+II) and grade 1 to 2 groups. Similarly, relatively low levels of miR-200a were observed in the lymph compared to the node-negative group. E-cadherin expression was found to be absent in normal ovarian tissue and was frequently expressed in benign epithelial ovarian cysts, with absence or low levels observed in late-stage ovarian cancers. There was a significantly positive correlation between miR-200a and E-cadherin in EOC. The biphasic expression pattern suggested that miR-200a levels may serve as novel biomarkers for the early detection of EOC, and miR-200a and E-cadherin are candidate targets for the development of new treatment modalities against ovarian cancer.

FSH modulates the expression of inhibin-alpha and the secretion of inhibins via orphan nuclear receptor NUR77 in ovarian granulosa cells.

It has been previously reported that follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) regulates the expression of inhibin-alpha in human granulosa cells, but the precise molecular pathway remains unknown. In the present study, we investigated the role of the orphan nuclear receptor, NUR77, in both the transcriptional regulation of the inhibin α-subunit gene and the secretion of inhibins. Our results showed that in a human granulosa cell tumor-derived cell line (KGN) and in human granulosa-lutein cells (hGL), FSH induced the expression of NUR77 and inhibin-alpha, although inhibin-alpha expression did not increased following FSH treatment if NUR77 was knocked down. Furthermore, simply overexpressing or reducing NUR77 levels affected inhibin-alpha expression, while NUR77 overexpression improved the secretion of inhibin A and B from human granulosa cells. In addition, chromatin immunoprecipitation-PCR, avidin-biotin-conjugated DNA precipitation, and luciferase reporter assays confirmed that NUR77 directly regulated the transcription of the inhibin-alpha gene through the specific NGFI-B response element located within its promoter. In the ovarian granulosa cells of the Nur77 knockout mice, the mRNA levels of inhibin-alpha were decreased relative to wild-type mice. These data indicate a role of NUR77 in the regulation of inhibin-alpha in ovarian granulosa cells.

Association of the vascular endothelial growth factor gene polymorphisms (-460C/T, +405G/C and +936T/C) with endometriosis: a meta-analysis.

Published data on the association between the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene -460C/T (rs833061), +405G/C (rs2010963), +936T/C (rs3025039) polymorphisms and endometriosis risk are inconclusive. Eleven eligible case-control studies including 2690 cases and 2803 controls were included in this meta-analysis through searching the databases of PubMed and CBMdisc (up to August 1, 2011). In the overall analysis, no significant association between the -460C/T and +405G/C polymorphisms and risk of endometriosis was observed. However, significant associations were observed between endometriosis risk and VEGF+936T polymorphism with summarized odds ratio of 1.19 (95%CI, 1.02-1.37), 1.18 (95%CI, 1.03-1.37), 1.15 (95%CI, 1.01-1.30) for CT versus CC genotype, dominant mode (CT/TT vs. CC) and allele comparison (T vs. C), respectively. Furthermore, stratified analysis showed that significantly strong association between +936T/C polymorphism and endometriosis was present only in stage III-IV (OR = 1.32 for dominant mode; OR = 1.30 for T vs. C), but not in stage I-II. However, no significantly increased risk of endometriosis was found in any of the genetic models in Asians or in Caucasians. This meta-analysis supports that VEGF+936T/C polymorphism is capable of causing endometriosis susceptibility.

Association of polymorphisms of cytokine and TLR-2 genes with long-term immunity to hepatitis B in children vaccinated early in life.

Hepatitis B vaccine is effective in preventing hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. However, 5-10% of vaccinees fail to produce sufficient antibody against hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs). In this study, we investigated the association of genetic polymorphisms with long-term response to hepatitis B vaccine in 301 children who received the vaccine 5-7 years ago. Of them, 86 (28.6%) had anti-HBs <10 mIU/ml (group A) and 215 (71.4%) had anti-HBs ≥10 mIU/ml (group B). While the frequencies of T allele and TT genotype in single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) rs2243250 and rs2070874 of interleukin (IL)-4 in group A were higher than those in group B (all P<0.05 and q<0.2), the frequency of C allele in SNP rs2243250, rs2070874 and rs2227284 of IL-4 in group B was higher than that in group A (all P<0.05 and q<0.2). None of 11 other SNP in IL-2, IL-10, IL-1ß, IL-13, IL-12B, tumor necrosis factor-α, and toll-like receptor-2 genes was found to associate with anti-HBs response. SNP rs2070874 was associated with humoral response to hepatitis B vaccine after analyzed by multivariable logistic regression analysis (P=0.015). The haplotype TT defined by SNP rs2243250 and rs2070874 in IL-4 was associated with the poor humoral response (adjusted P=0.037). Our findings demonstrate that IL-4 gene polymorphisms may affect the long-term immune response to hepatitis B vaccine.

Regeneration of uterine horns in rats by collagen scaffolds loaded with collagen-binding human basic fibroblast growth factor.

Severe damages of uterine endometrium which prevent embryos from implantation and placentation finally often result in infertility or pregnant complications. There is lack of effective treatments due to the limitation of native materials available and complexity of the function and internal environment of uterus. In the present study, a collagen targeting basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) delivery system was constructed by a collagen membrane loaded with bFGF fused a collagen-binding domain (CBD) to the N-terminal which limits the diffusion of bFGF from collagen. We tested the bFGF delivery system in rats under the severe uterine damage model (partial rat uterine horn excision/reconstruction), and found this delivery system improved regeneration abilities of uterine endometrium and muscular cells, improved vascularization, as well as better pregnancy outcomes in rats. Therefore, this targeting delivery system may be an effective strategy for uterine tissue regeneration.