The Prevalence of Rodents Orientia tsutsugamushi in China During Two Decades: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: Orientia tsutsugamushi is a zoonotic intracellular pathogen that requires parasitism in eukaryotic cells to reproduce. In recent years, tsutsugamushi disease reported in many places nationwide has crossed the Yangtze River, continuously, spreading to the North China. Now this phenomenon has aroused people's attention. Materials and Methods: In this study, meta-analysis was used to analyze the infection of rodents (vectors) in China, to clarify the transmission rule of O. tsutsugamushi. Results: This study included literature from six databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, Wanfang, CNKI, and VIP). A total of 55 articles were included in the study from 610 retrieved articles. The total infection rate of O. tsutsugamushi in rodents was 5.5% (1206/20,620, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.0553-0.0617). The prevalence of O. tsutsugamushi in rodents before 2013 (7.73%, 95% CI: 4.11-12.37) was higher than after 2013 (2.11%, 95% CI: 0.64-4.41). O. tsutsugamushi spread among a variety of rodents, among which Rattus losea (13.3%, 95% CI: 4.33-26.26), Rattus tanezumi (5.69%, 95% CI: 1.37-12.72), and Apodemus agrarius (5.32%, 95% CI: 2.26-9.58) infection rate was higher. Kawasaki (8.32%, 95% CI: 1.42-20.17), Karp (7.36%, 95% CI: 2.62-14.22), Kato (2.54%, 95% CI: 0.08-8.28), and Gilliam (2.13%, 95% CI: 0.42-5.09) were the main prevalent genotypes in China. The prevalence of O. tsutsugamushi in rodents was seasonal, increasing gradually in summer (2.39%, 95% CI: 0.46-5.77), peaking in autumn (4.59%, 95% CI: 1.15-10.16), and then declining. The positive rate of immunofluorescence assay (25.07%, 95% CI: 8.44-46.88) was the highest among the detection methods, and it was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Based on the subgroup of geographical factors and climatic factors, the probability of O. tsutsugamushi infection in rodents was the highest when the temperature >19℃ (8.20%, 95% CI: 1.22-20.52), the altitude <100 millimeters (7.23%, 95% CI: 3.45-12.26), the precipitation >700 millimeters (12.22%, 95% CI: 6.45-19.50), and the humidity 60-70% (7.80%, 95% CI: 4.17-12.44). Conclusions: Studies have shown that rodents carrying O. tsutsugamushi are common. People should prevent and control rodents in life and monitor rodents carrying O. tsutsugamushi for a long time.

Telecom-wavelength conversion in a high optical depth cold atomic system.

We experimentally investigate the frequency down-conversion through the four-wave mixing (FWM) process in a cold 85Rb atomic ensemble, with a diamond-level configuration. An atomic cloud with a high optical depth (OD) of 190 is prepared to achieve a high efficiency frequency conversion. Here, we convert a signal pulse field (795 nm) attenuated to a single-photon level, into a telecom light at 1529.3 nm within near C-band range and the frequency-conversion efficiency can reach up to 32%. We find that the OD is an essential factor affecting conversion efficiency and the efficiency may exceed 32% with an improvement in the OD. Moreover, we note the signal-to-noise ratio of the detected telecom field is higher than 10 while the mean signal count is larger than 0.2. Our work may be combined with quantum memories based on cold 85Rb ensemble at 795 nm and serve for long-distance quantum networks.

Optical memory for arbitrary perfect Poincaré states in an atomic ensemble.

Inherent spin angular momentum (SAM) and orbital angular momentum (OAM), which manifest as polarization and spatial degrees of freedom (DOFs) of photons, hold a promise of large capability for applications in classical and quantum information processing. To enable these photonic spin and orbital dynamic properties strongly coupled with each other, Poincaré states have been proposed and offer advantages in data multiplexing, information encryption, precision metrology, and quantum memory. However, since the transverse size of Laguerre-Gaussian beams strongly depends on their topological charge numbers | l |, it is difficult to store asymmetric Poincaré states due to the significantly different light-matter interaction for distinct spatial modes. Here, we experimentally realize the storage of perfect Poincaré states with arbitrary OAM quanta using the perfect optical vortex, in which 121 arbitrarily selected perfect Poincaré states have been stored with high fidelity. The reported work has great prospects in optical communication and quantum networks for dramatically increased encoding flexibility of information.

Highly Efficient Storage of 25-Dimensional Photonic Qudit in a Cold-Atom-Based Quantum Memory.

Building an efficient quantum memory in high-dimensional Hilbert spaces is one of the fundamental requirements for establishing high-dimensional quantum repeaters, where it offers many advantages over two-dimensional quantum systems, such as a larger information capacity and enhanced noise resilience. To date, it remains a challenge to develop an efficient high-dimensional quantum memory. Here, we experimentally realize a quantum memory that is operational in Hilbert spaces of up to 25 dimensions with a storage efficiency of close to 60% and a fidelity of 84.2±0.6%. The proposed approach exploits the spatial-mode-independent interaction between atoms and photons which are encoded in transverse-size-invariant vortex modes. In particular, our memory features uniform storage efficiency and low crosstalk disturbance for 25 individual spatial modes of photons, thus allowing the storing of qudit states programmed from 25 eigenstates within the high-dimensional Hilbert spaces. These results have great prospects for the implementation of long-distance high-dimensional quantum networks and quantum information processing.

Long-Lived Memory for Orbital Angular Momentum Quantum States.

Quantum memories that are capable of storing multiple spatial modes offer advantages in speed and robustness when incorporated into quantum networks. When it comes to spatial degrees of freedom, orbital angular momentum (OAM) modes have received widespread attention since they enable encoding with inherent infinite number of dimensions. Although the faithful storage of OAM qubits or qutrits has been realized in previous works, the achieved lifetimes are still on the order of a few microseconds as limited by the spatially dependent decoherence. We here demonstrate a long-lived quantum memory for OAM qutrits by suppressing the decoherence in the transverse and longitude direction simultaneously; the achieved fidelity beats the quantum-classical criteria after a storage time of 400 µs, which is 2 orders of magnitude longer than earlier works. The present work is promising for establishing high-dimensional quantum networks.

Microglial Polarization: Novel Therapeutic Strategy against Ischemic Stroke.

Ischemic stroke, which is the second highest cause of death and the leading cause of disability, represents ~71% of all strokes globally. Some studies have found that the key elements of the pathobiology of stroke is immunity and inflammation. Microglia are the first line of defense in the nervous system. After stroke, the activated microglia become a double-edged sword, with distinct phenotypic changes to the deleterious M1 types and neuroprotective M2 types. Therefore, ways to promote microglial polarization toward M2 phenotype after stroke have become the focus of attention in recent years. In this review, we discuss the process of microglial polarization, summarize the alternation of signaling pathways and epigenetic regulation that control microglial polarization in ischemic stroke, aiming to find the potential mechanisms by which microglia can be transformed into the M2 polarized phenotype.

All-optical reversible single-photon isolation at room temperature.

Nonreciprocal devices operating at the single-photon level are fundamental elements for quantum technologies. Because magneto-optical nonreciprocal devices are incompatible for magnetic-sensitive or on-chip quantum information processing, all-optical nonreciprocal isolation is highly desired, but its realization at the quantum level is yet to be accomplished at room temperature. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate two regimes, using electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) or a Raman transition, for all-optical isolation with warm atoms. We achieve an isolation of 22.52 ± 0.10 dB and an insertion loss of about 1.95 dB for a genuine single photon, with bandwidth up to hundreds of megahertz. The Raman regime realized in the same experimental setup enables us to achieve high isolation and low insertion loss for coherent optical fields with reversed isolation direction. These realizations of single-photon isolation and coherent light isolation at room temperature are promising for simpler reconfiguration of high-speed classical and quantum information processing.

Entangled qutrits generated in four-wave mixing without post-selection.

High-dimensional entangled states and quantum repeaters are important elements in efficient long-range quantum communications. The high-dimensional property associated with the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of each photon improves the bandwidth of the quantum communication network. However, the generation of high-dimensional entangled states by the concentration method reduces the brightness of the entangled light source, making extensions to these higher dimensions difficult. To overcome this difficulty, we propose to generate entangled qutrits in the OAM space by loading the pump light with OAM. Compared with the concentration method, our experimental results show that the rate of generation of photon pairs improves significantly with an observed 5.5-fold increase. The increased generation rate provides the system with the ability to resist the noise and improve the fidelity of the state. The S value of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality increases from 2.48 ± 0.07 to 2.69 ± 0.04 under the same background noise, and the fidelity of the reconstructed density matrix improves from 57.8 ± 0.14% to 70 ± 0.17%. These achievements exhibit the enormous advantages of high-dimensional entanglement generation.

Nrf2 played an important role in radiation protection effect of low-level laser exposed on umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell.

To investigate the protective function of low-level laser irradiation (LLLI) against ionizing irradiation and explore the molecular mechanism of photomodulation of Nrf2 protein, the impact of LLLI (635 nm, 5.7 J/cm2) before 2 Gy gamma ray radiation of radio-sensitive tissue hematopoietic stem cells was evaluated. As a result, reduced levels of reactive oxygen species and increased expression of antioxidant enzymes were detected. Moreover, increased expression of Nrf2 was observed after LLLI, whereas brusatol pretreatment before LLLI abolished this effect. In vivo, transplantation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) was employed for therapy of hematopoietic function in an acute radiation sickness (H-ARS) mouse model, which was induced by 6-Gy ionizing irradiation; different hUC-MSC pretreatments including LLLI and Nrf2 RNAi were accounted for during experimental grouping. LLLI treatment of cells significantly increased the erythrocyte count and number of myelopoiesis clones (P < 0.05), but such improvements were reduced by Nrf2 RNAi pretreatment compared with cells transplanted without intervention. Therefore, LLLI may improve the radiation protection effect through molecular mechanisms related to the Nrf2 antioxidant pathway.

Experimental realization of optical storage of vector beams of light in warm atomic vapor.

Vector beams have drawn considerable interest recently because of their unique properties in the transverse plane. Here we experimentally realize optical storage of a vector beam of light in a warm cell. The vector beam is tailored using a Sagnac interferometer containing an internal vortex phase plate, and the light pulse is stored in warm rubidium vapor. The preservation of both the spatial structure and the phase information is verified after retrieval. The implementation of vector beam storage in a room-temperature memory has potential for use in the fabrication of versatile vortex-based quantum networks.

Experimental realization of narrowband four-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state in a single cold atomic ensemble.

Multi-photon entangled states not only play a crucial role in research on quantum physics but also have many applications in quantum information fields such as quantum computation, quantum communication, and quantum metrology. To fully exploit the multi-photon entangled states, it is important to establish the interaction between entangled photons and matter, which requires that photons have narrow bandwidth. Here, we report on the experimental generation of a narrowband four-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state with a fidelity of 64.9% through multiplexing two spontaneous four-wave mixings in a cold Rb85 atomic ensemble. The full bandwidth of the generated GHZ state is about 19.5 MHz. Thus, the generated photons can effectively match the atoms, which are very suitable for building a quantum computation and quantum communication network based on atomic ensembles.

Two-color hyper-entangled photon pairs generation in a cold 85Rb atomic ensemble.

Hyper-entangled photon pairs are very promising in the quantum information field for enhancing the channel capacity in communication and improving compatibility for networks. Here we report on the experimental generation of a hyper-entangled photon pair at a wavelength of 795 nm and 1475 nm via the spontaneous four-wave mixing process in a cold 85Rb atomic ensemble. The photons in each pair generated are entangled in both the time-frequency and polarization degrees of freedom. Such hyper-entangled photon pairs with special wavelength have potential applications in high-dimensional quantum communication and quantum physics.

Experimental realization of entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom between two quantum memories.

Entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom has many benefits over entanglement in a single one. The former enables quantum communication with higher channel capacity and more efficient quantum information processing and is compatible with diverse quantum networks. Establishing multi-degree-of-freedom entangled memories is not only vital for high-capacity quantum communication and computing, but also promising for enhanced violations of nonlocality in quantum systems. However, there have been yet no reports of the experimental realization of multi-degree-of-freedom entangled memories. Here we experimentally established hyper- and hybrid entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom, including path (K-vector) and orbital angular momentum, between two separated atomic ensembles by using quantum storage. The results are promising for achieving quantum communication and computing with many degrees of freedom.

Orbital Angular Momentum-Entanglement Frequency Transducer.

Entanglement is a vital resource for realizing many tasks such as teleportation, secure key distribution, metrology, and quantum computations. To effectively build entanglement between different quantum systems and share information between them, a frequency transducer to convert between quantum states of different wavelengths while retaining its quantum features is indispensable. Information encoded in the photon's orbital angular momentum (OAM) degrees of freedom is preferred in harnessing the information-carrying capacity of a single photon because of its unlimited dimensions. A quantum transducer, which operates at wavelengths from 1558.3 to 525 nm for OAM qubits, OAM-polarization hybrid-entangled states, and OAM-entangled states, is reported for the first time. Nonclassical properties and entanglements are demonstrated following the conversion process by performing quantum tomography, interference, and Bell inequality measurements. Our results demonstrate the capability to create an entanglement link between different quantum systems operating in a photon's OAM degrees of freedom, which will be of great importance in building a high-capacity OAM quantum network.

Design, synthesis, and biological activity of novel 1,4-disubstituted piperidine/piperazine derivatives as CCR5 antagonist-based HIV-1 entry inhibitors.

A series of novel 1,4-disubstituted piperidine/piperazine derivatives were designed, synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro activities against HIV-1 Bal (R5) infection in CEMX174 5.25M7 cells. A majority of these compounds showed potent anti-HIV-1 activities with IC(50) at nanomolar levels. N-(4-Fluoro-benzyl)piperazine analog B07 hydrochloride exhibited potency against HIV-1 activity similar to that of TAK-220 hydrochloride, but it had much better water solubility (25 mg/ml in phosphate sodium buffer at 25 °C) and oral bioavailability (56%) than TAK-220 hydrochloride (a solubility of 2 mg/ml and oral bioavailability of 1.4%). These results suggest that B07 hydrochloride may serve as a better lead for the development of new anti-HIV-1 therapies or microbicides for treatment and prevent of HIV-1 infection.

Tricyclononene carboxamide derivatives as novel anti-HIV-1 agents.

By modifying the chemical structure of anti-orthopoxvirus compound ST-246, we designed and synthesized a series of tricyclononene carboxamide derivatives and tested their anti-HIV-1 activity and cytotoxicity. We found that benzoimidazol-containing compound 7g was highly effective in inhibiting HIV-1 R5 infection with an IC(50) value of 0.41 microM and a selectivity index of 292, but it exhibited no significant inhibitory activity on HIV-1 reverse transcriptase, integrase and protease. CoMFA was used to analyze structure-activity relationships with good predictive power (r(2) = 0.921; q(2) = 0.582). Moreover, the CoMFA model showed that the length of the molecule, the amide, and the amine moieties all played crucial roles in anti-HIV activity. These results suggest that 7g may serve as a lead for the development of novel anti-HIV-1 therapies.