Anisotropic growth of Au-Ag heteronanostructures through plasmon-induced reduction.

Plasmonic heteronanostructures are promising building blocks for photofunctional materials and devices including photocatalysts, optical materials, and optoelectronic devices. In the present work, we fabricated Au-Ag bimetallic heteronanostructures based on site-selective and anisotropic Ag deposition and growth on Au nanocubes. Plasmonic Au nanocubes were adsorbed onto a glass plate, and the distal mode or proximal-distal mode of the nanocubes was selectively excited in the presence of Ag+ and citrate ions. Polycrystalline Ag was deposited around the top of the Au nanocubes by the distal mode excitation, and single crystalline Ag was grown laterally from the Au nanocubes by the proximal-distal mode excitation. The present method would be applied to the fabrication of various plasmonic nanostructures composed of two or more heterodomains.

Quantum gate control of polar molecules with machine learning.

We propose a scheme for achieving basic quantum gates using ultracold polar molecules in pendular states. The qubits are encoded in the YbF molecules trapped in an electric field with a certain gradient and coupled by the dipole-dipole interaction. The time-dependent control sequences consisting of multiple pulses are considered to interact with the pendular qubits. To achieve high-fidelity quantum gates, we map the control problem for the coupled molecular system into a Markov decision process and deal with it using the techniques of deep reinforcement learning (DRL). By training the agents over multiple episodes, the optimal control pulse sequences for the two-qubit gates of NOT, controlled NOT, and Hadamard are discovered with high fidelities. Moreover, the population dynamics of YbF molecules driven by the discovered gate sequences are analyzed in detail. Furthermore, by combining the optimal gate sequences, we successfully simulate the quantum circuit for entanglement. Our findings could offer new insights into efficiently controlling molecular systems for practical molecule-based quantum computing using DRL.

Simulation of quantum walks on a circle with polar molecules via optimal control.

Quantum walks are the quantum counterpart of classical random walks and have various applications in quantum information science. Polar molecules have rich internal energy structure and long coherence time and thus are considered as a promising candidate for quantum information processing. In this paper, we propose a theoretical scheme for implementing discrete-time quantum walks on a circle with dipole-dipole coupled SrO molecules. The states of the walker and the coin are encoded in the pendular states of polar molecules induced by an external electric field. We design the optimal microwave pulses for implementing quantum walks on a four-node circle and a three-node circle by multi-target optimal control theory. To reduce the accumulation of decoherence and improve the fidelity, we successfully realize a step of quantum walk with only one optimal pulse. Moreover, we also encode the walker into a three-level molecular qutrit and a four-level molecular ququart and design the corresponding optimal pulses for quantum walks, which can reduce the number of molecules used. It is found that all the quantum walks on a circle in our scheme can be achieved via optimal control fields with high fidelities. Our results could shed some light on the implementation of discrete-time quantum walks and high-dimensional quantum information processing with polar molecules.

Molecular Modelling of Ionic Liquids: Situations When Charge Scaling Seems Insufficient.

Charge scaling as an effective solution to the experiment-computation disagreement in molecular modelling of ionic liquids (ILs) could bring the computational results close to the experimental reference for various thermodynamic properties. According to the large-scale benchmark calculations of mass density, solvation, and water-ILs transfer-free energies in our series of papers, the charge-scaling factor of 0.8 serves as a near-optimal option generally applicable to most ILs, although a system-dependent parameter adjustment could be attempted for further improved performance. However, there are situations in which such a charge-scaling treatment would fail. Namely, charge scaling cannot really affect the simulation outcome, or minimally perturbs the results that are still far from the experimental value. In such situations, the vdW radius as an additional adjustable parameter is commonly tuned to minimize the experiment-calculation deviation. In the current work, considering two ILs from the quinuclidinium family, we investigate the impacts of this vdW-scaling treatment on the mass density and the solvation/partition thermodynamics in a fashion similar to our previous charge-scaling works, i.e., scanning the vdW-scaling factor and computing physical properties under these parameter sets. It is observed that the mass density exhibits a linear response to the vdW-scaling factor with slopes close to -1.8 g/mL. By further investigating a set of physiochemically relevant temperatures between 288 K and 348 K, we confirm the robustness of the vdW-scaling treatment in the estimation of bulk properties. The best vdW-scaling parameter for mass density would worsen the computation of solvation/partition thermodynamics, and a marginal decrease in the vdW-scaling factor is considered as an intermediate option balancing the reproductions of bulk properties and solvation thermodynamics. These observations could be understood in a way similar to the charge-scaling situation. i.e., overfitting some properties (e.g., mass density) would degrade the accuracy of the other properties (e.g., solvation free energies). Following this principle, the general guideline for applying this vdW-tuning protocol is by using values between the density-derived choice and the solvation/partition-derived solution. The charge and current vdW scaling treatments cover commonly encountered ILs, completing the protocol for accurate modelling of ILs with fixed-charge force fields.

RAB40C gene polymorphisms rs62030917 and rs2269556 are associated with an increased risk of lumbar disc herniation development in the Chinese Han population.

BACKGROUND: Lumbar disc herniation (LDH) places a serious burden on the daily lives and socioeconomics of people. Although the pathogenesis of LDH is complex, genetic factors such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may affect the risk of developing LDH. In the present study, we aimed to elucidate the effect of RAB40C SNPs on the risk of LDH in the Chinese Han population. METHODS: We investigated 508 LDH cases and 508 healthy controls for this case-control study. Three tag SNPs in RAB40C were selected and genotyped using the Agena MassARRAY platform (Agena Bioscience, San Diego, CA, USA). After adjusting for age and gender, odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using unconditional logistic regression. RESULTS: In the allele model, we found rs62030917 and rs2269556 in RAB40C with a minor G allele significantly increased the risk of LDH (rs62030917: OR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.00-1.50, p = 0.046; rs2269556: OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.02-1.45, p = 0.033). In genetic model analysis, rs2269556 was associated with an increased risk of LDH under both codominant (OR = 1.49, 95% CI = 1.03-2.15, p = 0.035) and log-additive models (OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.01-1.45, p = 0.035). rs62030917 of RAB40C was associated with an increased risk of LDH under codominant, recessive and log-additive models (p < 0.05) only among individuals younger than 49 years after stratification by age. CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, our results suggest that rs62030917 and rs2269556 in the RAB40C gene influence genetic susceptibility to LDH.

Implementation of three-qubit quantum computation with pendular states of polar molecules by optimal control.

Ultracold polar molecules have been considered as the possible candidates for quantum information processing due to their long coherence time and strong dipole-dipole interaction. In this paper, we consider three coupled polar molecules arranged in a linear chain and trapped in an electric field with gradient. By employing the pendular states of polar molecules as qubits, we successfully realize three-qubit quantum gates and quantum algorithms via the multi-target optimal control theory. Explicitly speaking, through the designs of the optimal laser pulses with multiple iterations, the triqubit Toffoli gate, the triqubit quantum adders, and the triqubit quantum Fourier transform can be achieved in only one operational step with high fidelities and large transition probabilities. Moreover, by combining the optimized Hadamard, oracle, and diffusion gate pulses, we simulate the Grover algorithm in the three-dipole system and show that the algorithm can perform well for search problems. In addition, the behaviors of the fidelity and the average transition probability with respect to iteration numbers are compared and analyzed for each gate pulse. Our findings could pave the way toward scalability for molecular quantum computing based on the pendular states and could be extended to implement multi-particle gate operation in the molecular system.

Comparative Three-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis of 4 Kinds of Pedicle Screw Schemes for Treatment of Adult Degenerative Scoliosis.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to evaluate the biomechanical stress of the internal fixation screws and vertebral bodies after the full-segment, interval, key vertebral, and strategy pedicle screw fixations under 7 work conditions in a patient with adult degenerative scoliosis (ADS) using finite elements (FE) analysis. MATERIAL AND METHODS A patient with ADS underwent internal fixation by pedicle screws after posterior incision in combination with subtotal laminectomy decompression and bone graft fusion, and received thin-layer computed tomography (CT) spine scanning at T12-L5. The CT data were used to constitute three-dimensional FE full-segment, interval, key vertebral, and strategic pedicle screw models. The stress of each screw-rod system under different working conditions was evaluated. RESULTS Forward flexion, backward extension, lateral flexion, and rotation greatly increased the force of the pedicle screw systems. The maximum stress of the screw-rods was the lowest in the full-segment model under almost all the working conditions except for the upright situation. The maximum stress of the vertebral bodies was the minimum in the strategic model under all the 7 working conditions, followed by that in the key vertebra and full-segment models. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, the strategic and key vertebra pedicle screw schemes can decrease the biomechanical stress of screw-rod systems and vertebral bodies, which is close to the full-segment scheme. Our results may help explore the optimal surgical means for pedicle screw fixation for ADS patients, which can maximally reduce the risk of screws-related postoperative complications and simultaneously maintain a reasonable 3D orthopedic effect.

Optical control of entanglement and coherence for polar molecules in pendular states.

Quantum entanglement and coherence are both essential physical resources in quantum theory. Cold polar molecules have long coherence time and strong dipole-dipole interaction and thus have been suggested as a platform for quantum information processing. In this paper, we employ the pendular states of the polar molecules trapped in static electric fields as the qubits, and put forward several theoretical schemes to generate the entanglement and coherence for two coupled dipoles by using optimal control theory. Through the designs of appropriate laser pulses, the transitions from the ground state to the Bell state and maximally coherent state can be realized with high fidelities 0.9906 and 0.9943 in the two-dipole system, respectively. Meanwhile, we show that the degrees of entanglement and coherence between the two pendular qubits are effectively enhanced with the help of optimized control fields. Furthermore, our schemes are generalized to the preparation of the Hardy state and even to the creation of arbitrary two-qubit states. Our findings can shed some light on the implementation of quantum information tasks with the molecular pendular states.

Hybrid quantum receiver for quadrature amplitude modulation coherent-state discrimination beating the classical limit.

We present a quantum receiver for quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) coherent-state discrimination with the homodyne-displacement hybrid structure. Our strategy is to carry out two successive measurements on parts of the quantum states. The homodyne result of the first measurement reveals partial information about the state and is forwarded to a displacement receiver, which finally identifies the input state by using feedback to adjust a reference field. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation results show that for 16-QAM, the hybrid receiver could outperform the standard quantum limit using only on-off single-photon detectors with a reduced number of signal-state partitions, showing great potential toward implementing the receiver practically.

Chinese version of the Constant-Murley questionnaire for shoulder pain and disability: a reliability and validation study.

BACKGROUND: Shoulder pain is a common musculoskeletal disorder in Chinese population, which affects more than 1,3 billion individuals. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no available Chinese-language version of measurements of shoulder pain and disability so far. Moreover, the Constant-Murley score (CMS) questionnaire is a universally recognized patient-reported questionnaire for clinical practice and research. The present study was designed to evaluate a Chinese translational version of CMS and subsequently assess its reliability and validity. METHODS: The Chinese translational version of CMS was formulated by means of forward-backward translation. Meanwhile, a final review was carried out by an expert committee, followed by conducting a test of the pre-final version. Therefore, the reliability and validity of the Chinese translational version of CMS could be assessed using the internal consistency, construct validity, factor analysis, reliability and floor and ceiling effects. Specifically, the reliability was assessed by testing the internal consistency (Cronbach's α) and test-retest reliability (intraclass coefficient correlation [ICC]), while the construct validity was evaluated via comparison between the Chinese translational version of CMS with visual analog scale (VAS) score and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36, Spearman correlation). RESULTS: The questionnaire was verified to be acceptable after distribution among 120 subjects with unilateral shoulder pain. Factor analysis had revealed a two-factor and 10-item solution. Moreover, the assessment results indicated that the Chinese translational version of CMS questionnaire harbored good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = 0.739) and test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.827). In addition, the Chinese translational version of CMS was moderately correlated with VAS score (r = 0.497) and SF-36 (r = 0.135). No obvious floor and ceiling effects were observed in the Chinese translational version of CMS questionnaire. CONCLUSION: Chinese translational version of CMS exhibited good reliability, which is relatively acceptable and is likely to be widely used in this population.

A cross-sectional study on the impact of hemodialysis duration on retinal nerve fiber layer thinning in hemodialysis patients.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between hemodialysis duration (HDD) and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness. A total of 60 patients receiving maintenance hemodialysis and 67 healthy controls were analyzed. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) was employed to measure annular RNFL thicknesses. The hemodialysis group exhibited reduced temporal and inferior RNFL thicknesses relative to the control group. In hemodialysis patients, the inferior RNFL thickness was negatively correlated with HDD and positively correlated with intraocular pressure (IOP). Moreover, IOP was positively correlated with HDD. Mediation analysis showed that the negative correlation between HDD and inferior RNFL thickness was mediated by IOP. In conclusion, hemodialysis leads to temporal and inferior RNFL thinning, and the thickness reduction is proportional to hemodialysis duration. However, such changes are not induced by an increase in IOP.

Entanglement Generation of Polar Molecules via Deep Reinforcement Learning.

Polar molecules are a promising platform for achieving scalable quantum information processing because of their long-range electric dipole-dipole interactions. Here, we take the coupled ultracold CaF molecules in an external electric field with gradient as qubits and concentrate on the creation of intermolecular entanglement with the method of deep reinforcement learning (RL). After sufficient training episodes, the educated RL agents can discover optimal time-dependent control fields that steer the molecular systems from separate states to two-qubit and three-qubit entangled states with high fidelities. We analyze the fidelities and the negativities (characterizing entanglement) of the generated states as a function of training episodes. Moreover, we present the population dynamics of the molecular systems under the influence of control fields discovered by the agents. Compared with the schemes for creating molecular entangled states based on optimal control theory, some conditions (e.g., molecular spacing and electric field gradient) adopted in this work are more feasible in the experiment. Our results demonstrate the potential of machine learning to effectively solve quantum control problems in polar molecular systems.

Elevated lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 is associated with progression of nonculprit lesions after percutaneous coronary intervention.

Lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2) is an enzyme that hydrolyzes oxidized phospholipids to generate bioactive proatherogenic products. Nonculprit lesions have been assumed to contribute to the pathogenesis of recurrent acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The role of LP-PLA2 in the progression of nonculprit coronary lesions after successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) remains unclear. Our study included 123 patients with ACS who underwent initial PCI and a long-term follow-up (mean interval, one year) with coronary angiography. Among them, 19 patients were diagnosed as the progression of nonculprit lesions, based on the presence of at least one of the following factors: (1) ≥ 10% reduction in the diameter of a preexisting ≥ 50% stenosis; (2) ≥ 30% reduction in the diameter of a < 50% stenosis; and (3) early-onset stenosis with ≥ 30% reduction in the diameter of a segment that was normal on the primary angiogram. Blood sampling was drawn from all patients at 12-14 hours after PCI. The ACS patients with progression had higher total cholesterol (4.47 ± 1.02 mmol/L vs. 3.59 ± 0.57 mmol/L, P < 0.05), higher levels of Lp-PLA2 activity (14.39 ± 6.13 nmol/min/ml vs. 8.86 ± 3.14 nmol/min/ml, P < 0.001) and a higher proportion of multi-vessel disease than those without progression. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that Lp-PLA2 activity (ß = 0.024, P = 0.005) was an independent predictor for rapid progression of nonculprit coronary lesions. In conclusion, elevated Lp-PLA2 activity is associated with rapid progression of nonculprit coronary lesions in ACS patients who underwent PCI.

BoostXML: Gradient Boosting for Extreme Multilabel Text Classification With Tail Labels.

Multilabel learning involving hundreds of thousands or even millions of labels is referred to as extreme multilabel learning (XML), in which the labels often follow a power-law distribution with the majority occurring in very few data points as tail labels. Recent years have witnessed the intensive use of deep-learning methods for high-performance XML, but they are typically optimized for the head labels with abundant training instances and less consider the performance on tail labels, which, however, like the needles in haystacks, are often the focus of attention in real-life applications. In light of this, we present BoostXML, a deep learning-based XML method for extreme multilabel text classification, enhanced greatly by gradient boosting. In BoostXML, we pay more attention to tail labels in each Boosting Step by optimizing the residual mostly from unfitted training instances with tail labels. A Corrective Step is further proposed to avoid the mismatching between the text encoder and weak learners during optimization, which reduces the risk of falling into local optima and improves model performance. A Pretraining Step is also introduced in the initial stage of BoostXML to avoid exorbitant bias to tail labels. Extensive experiments on five benchmark datasets with state-of-the-art baselines demonstrate the advantage of BoostXML in tail-label prediction.

Dietary calcium decreases plasma cholesterol level only in female but not in male hamster fed a high cholesterol diet.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of dietary calcium on plasma lipoprotein profile in castrated and ovariectomized hamsters. METHODS: Male, castrated, female and ovariectomized hamsters (n=36 each group) were randomly divided into three sub-groups (n=12) and fed one of the three diets containing 0, 2, and 8 g calcium per kg diet for a period of six weeks. Changes in plasma lipoprotein profile were monitored at the end of week 0, 3 and 6. RESULTS: Plasma total cholesterol (TC), non-high density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C), triacylglycerols (TG) and TC/HDL-C were decreased only in intact female and ovariectomized hamsters. In contrast, three levels of dietary calcium had no effect on lipoprotein profiles in both intact male and castrated hamsters. CONCLUSION: Beneficial modification of lipoprotein profile by dietary calcium was gender-dependent at least in hamsters.

Clinical observation of a 16-year-old female exposed to radiation in utero: follow-up after the Shanxi Xinzhou radiation accident.

A follow-up study of the late effects of intrauterine exposure to irradiation has been made on a 16-year-old girl whose mother was exposed to external (60)Co irradiation during the Xinzhou radiation accident 16 years previously. The outcomes of the general medical examinations, conventional chromosome aberration analyses and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) are presented and the China-revised Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (C_WISC) was used to identify her IQ level, which was well below normal for her age. The biological dose of the radiation to which she was exposed when she was in her mother's uterus was inferred to be 1.85 Gy. Although there is no evidence of any other developmental changes or tumour induction at this stage in her life, the child's total intelligence level does appear to have been affected.

Follow-up study of a pregnant woman 16 years after exposure in the Xinzhou radiation accident.

To investigate the late effects of radiation on child-bearing women, a follow-up study was performed on a 39-year-old survivor 16 years after a (60)Co radiation accident. The woman, Fang, was 19 weeks pregnant at the time of exposure. Physical examinations, a full range of clinical laboratory and imaging tests, as well as cytogenetic analyses were conducted to evaluate Fang's current health conditions. Fang shows the appearance of premature ageing and has a decreased menstrual period. Laboratory studies and imaging tests suggest nodular goitre disease and osteoporosis. Otherwise, no apparent abnormalities were found in the major organs. No malignant tumours were detected by either tumour markers or imaging tests. However, the existence of chromosome aberrations warrants long-term follow-up for tumour incidence in the future. Fang became pregnant 8 years after the accident, but suffered a miscarriage due to the death of the foetus at 6 months into the pregnancy. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the intrauterine death of the foetus might be associated with the previous exposure. There is no evidence of malignant tumours as of the date of the follow-up study. Non-cancerous diseases, i.e. thyroid disease and osteoporosis, which may be related to radiation exposure, are the major manifestations of the long-term effects of the accident.

[Effects of ketamine on proliferation and apoptosis of pheochromocytoma cell].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the effect of ketamine on adrenal pheochromocytoma (PC12) cell proliferation inhibition and induction of apoptosis and its mechanism. METHODS: PC12 cells of rats were models for dopaminergic neuron. PC12 cells were cultured with ketamine at concentrations of 0.9, 1.2, 1.5, 1.8 and 2.1 mmol/L, respectively. The cell viability was measured by MTT method after incubation at 12, 24, 48 and 72h. Hoechst stain was used to observe the morphological changes of apoptosis. PC12 cells cultured after 48 h with different concentrations of ketamine were selected to detect apoptotic rate using flow cytometry and detect the expression of bax and bcl-2 proteins using Western blotting. RESULTS: For different concentrations of ketamine, vitality of PC12 cells significantly decreased with increase of the incubation time. Apoptosis was obviously observed using Hoechst staining. Flow cytometry showed that apoptosis rates significantly increased with increasing ketamine concentrations. CONCLUSION: Ketamine can inhibit the proliferation of PC12 cell by inducing apoptosis of the PC12 cell in a concentrations-dependent manner. The underlying mechanism may be related to promoting the expression of bax and inhibiting the expression of bcl-2 in the cells.

[The Effect of Immunized Platelet Transfusion Refractoriness on Allo-HSCT Patients with Malignant Hematological Diseases].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the characteristics of platelet antibody in patients with hematological diseases, so as to research the effect of immunized platelet transfusion refractoriness (PTR) on the prognosis of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) recepients with malignant hematological diseases patients. METHODS: The clinical data of platelet antibody positive patients tested by Capture-P in the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2019 were retrospectively analyzed, including sex, age, disease, platelet transfusion assessments, CD34+ cells, transplant prognosis, and so on. RESULTS: In 5 years, 913 (7.28%) hematologic patients with platelet antibody positive were identified, the detection rate of females (513 cases) were higher than males (400 cases). Among the 913 patients, the antibody positive rates of 520 patients with malignant hematological diseases (acute myeloid leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome) showed significantly statistical different (10.27%, 8.01%, and 7.20%) (P<0.01), and the positive rate of the acute myeloid leukemia of those patients was higher than myelodysplastic syndrome patients(α<0.0125). There were 35 cases diagnosed as immunized PTR before allo-HSCT, the platelet increments, 14 h correct count increment, progression-free survival rate and overall survival rate of those patients were significantly lower than those in negative transfusion effective patients (P<0.01), while the percentage of ABO matching was significantly higher (α<0.0125). CONCLUSION: The positive rate of platelet antibody identification is high in females and acute myeloid leukemia patients, and immunized PTR caused by antibody is a risk factor for poor prognosis of allo-HSCT in malignant hematological disease patients.

Electrocatalytic Degradation of Levofloxacin, a Typical Antibiotic in Hospital Wastewater.

Presently, in the context of the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, several antibiotics are overused in hospitals, causing heavy pressure on the hospital's wastewater treatment process. Therefore, developing stable, safe, and efficient hospital wastewater treatment equipment is crucial. Herein, a bench-scale electrooxidation equipment for hospital wastewater was used to evaluate the removal effect of the main antibiotic levofloxacin (LVX) in hospital wastewater using response surface methodology (RSM). During the degradation process, the influence of the following five factors on total organic carbon (TOC) removal was discussed and the best reaction condition was obtained: current density, initial pH, flow rate, chloride ion concentration, and reaction time of 39.6 A/m2, 6.5, 50 mL/min, 4‱, and 120 min, respectively. The TOC removal could reach 41% after a reaction time of 120 min, which was consistent with the result predicted by the response surface (40.48%). Moreover, the morphology and properties of the electrode were analyzed. The degradation pathway of LVX was analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Subsequently, the bench-scale electrooxidation equipment was changed into onboard-scale electrooxidation equipment, and the onboard-scale equipment was promoted to several hospitals in Dalian.