Effective Potential and Superfluidity of Microwave-Shielded Polar Molecules.

We analytically show that the effective interaction potential between microwave-shielded polar molecules consists of an anisotropic van der Waals-like shielding core and a modified dipolar interaction. This effective potential is validated by comparing its scattering cross sections with those calculated using intermolecular potential involving all interaction channels. It is shown that a scattering resonance can be induced under microwave fields reachable in current experiments. With the effective potential, we further study the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer pairing in the microwave-shielded NaK gas. We show that the superfluid critical temperature is drastically enhanced near the resonance. As the effective potential is suitable for exploring the many-body physics of molecular gases, our results pave the way for studies of the ultracold gases of microwave-shielded molecular gases.

Hybrid Model Teaching in the Postepidemic Period: From Nucleic Acid to Antigen for the Fluorescence Analysis of SARS-CoV-2.

Owing to the global spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), education has shifted to distance online learning, whereas some face-to-face courses have been resumed with the improvement of the outbreak prevention and management situation, including a laboratory course for senior undergraduate students in chemical biology. Here, we present an innovative chemical biology experiment covering COVID-19 topics, which was created for third-year undergraduates. The basic principles of two nucleic-acid- and antigen-based diagnostic techniques for SARS-CoV-2 are demonstrated in detail. These experiments are designed to provide students with comprehensive knowledge of COVID-19 and related diagnoses in daily life. Crucially, the biosafety of this experimental manipulation was ensured by using artificial nucleic acids and recombinant protein. Furthermore, an interactive hybrid online-facing teaching model was designed to cover the key mechanism regarding PCR and serological tests of COVID-19. Finally, a satisfactory evaluation was obtained through a questionnaire, and simultaneously, reasonable improvements to the course design were suggested. The proposed curriculum provides all the necessary information for other instructors to create new courses supported by research.

Fabrication of a Free-Standing MWCNT Electrode by Electric Field Force for an Ultra-Sensitive MicroRNA-21 Nano-Genosensor.

Abnormal expression of microRNA-21 (miR-21) is considered to be closely associated with the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer. However, great challenges do exist for the development of ultra-sensitive biosensors to detect the abnormal expression of miR-21 due to the low concentration in serum (fm level) at the early stage of colorectal cancer. Therefore, electric field force is used to rotate and rearrange random multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) at the microscale to improve the active sites of the electrode in this study. The free-standing MWCNTs are densely and high-orderly embedded into the bare electrode along the direction of the electric field. Compared to the bare electrode, the peak-current response of the free-standing MWCNT electrode improves by 150 times in cyclic voltammetric measurement. A nano-genosensor based on the free-standing MWCNT electrode is developed for measuring miR-21. The nano-genosensor for miR-21 shows an ultra-high sensitivity of 48.24 µA µm-1 , a wide linear range from 0.01 × 10-15 to 100 × 10-12 m, and a low detection limit of 1.2 × 10-18 m. The present nano-genosensor shows superior performance for miR-21 in human serum samples and demonstrates a potential application for the diagnosis of early stage colorectal cancer.

Spatially Confined Fabrication of Polar Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride) Nanotubes.

Polar poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) nanotubes have attracted significant attention due to their excellent piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties, yet a tunable fabrication of homogeneous polar PVDF nanotubes remains a challenge. Here, a simple method is reported to fabricate polar PVDF nanotubes using anodize aluminum oxide (AAO) membranes as templates that are removed by etching in a potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution and then ageing at room temperature. PVDF nanotubes originally crystallized in the AAO membrane are pure α-crystals with very low crystallinity, yet after being released from the templates, the crystallinity of the nanotubes markedly increases with ageing at room temperature, leading to the formation of ß-PVDF crystals in a very short time, with the formation of γ crystals after longer ageing times. A large amount of γ crystals formed when the released PVDF nanotubes are heated to ≈130 °C. The formation of polar PVDF nanotubes released from the AAO templates treated with higher concentrations of alkaline solution results from the reaction of the surface of the PVDF nanotubes with the alkaline solution and structure reorganization under confined conditions. This large-scale preparation of ß- and γ-PVDF opens a new pathway to produce polar PVDF nanomaterials.

All-optical pulse switching with a periodically driven dissipative quantum system.

All-optical switching used to switch the input optical signals without any electro-optical conversion plays a vital role in the next generation of optical information processing devices. Even all-optical switchings (AOSs) with continuous input signals have been widely studied, all-optical pulse switchings (AOPSs) whose input signals are pulse sequences have rarely been investigated because of the time-dependent Hamiltonian, especially for dissipative quantum systems. In this paper, we propose an AOPS scheme, where a strong pulsed field is used to switch another pulsed input signal. With the help of Floquet-Lindblad theory, we identify the control field that can effectively turn on/off the input signal whose amplitude envelope is a square-wave (SW) pulse train in a three-level dissipative system. By comparing the properties of the AOPSs controlled by a continuous-wave (CW) field and an SW control field, we find that the SW field is more suitable to be a practical tool for controlling the input SW signal. It is interesting to impress that the switching efficacy is robust against pulse errors. The proposed protocol is readily implemented in atomic gases or superconducting circuits and corresponds to AOPSs or all-microwave pulse switchings.

Recent advances of functional nucleic acid-based sensors for point-of-care detection of SARS-CoV-2.

This review focuses on critical scientific barriers that the field of point-of-care (POC) testing of SARS-CoV-2 is facing and possible solutions to overcome these barriers using functional nucleic acid (FNA)-based technology. Beyond the summary of recent advances in FNA-based sensors for COVID-19 diagnostics, our goal is to outline how FNA might serve to overcome the scientific barriers that currently available diagnostic approaches are suffering. The first introductory section on the operationalization of the COVID-19 pandemic in historical view and its clinical features contextualizes essential SARS-CoV-2-specific biomarkers. The second part highlights three major scientific barriers for POC COVID-19 diagnosis, that is, the lack of a general method for (1) designing receptors of SARS-CoV-2 variants; (2) improving sensitivity to overcome false negatives; and (3) signal readout in resource-limited settings. The subsequent part provides fundamental insights into FNA and technical tricks to successfully achieve effective COVID-19 diagnosis by using in vitro selection of FNA to overcome receptor design barriers, combining FNA with multiple DNA signal amplification strategies to improve sensitivity, and interfacing FNA with portable analyzers to overcome signal readout barriers. This review concludes with an overview of further opportunities and emerging applications for FNA-based sensors against COVID-19.

Integrated Methylome and Transcriptome Analysis Provides Insights into the DNA Methylation Underlying the Mechanism of Cytoplasmic Male Sterility in Kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.).

Cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) is widely exploited in hybrid seed production. Kenaf is an important fiber crop with high heterosis. The molecular mechanism of kenaf CMS remains unclear, particularly in terms of DNA methylation. Here, using the anthers of a kenaf CMS line (P3A) and its maintainer line (P3B), comparative physiological, DNA methylation, and transcriptome analyses were performed. The results showed that P3A had considerably lower levels of IAA, ABA, photosynthetic products and ATP contents than P3B. DNA methylome analysis revealed 650 differentially methylated genes (DMGs) with 313 up- and 337 down methylated, and transcriptome analysis revealed 1788 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with 558 up- and 1230 downregulated genes in P3A compared with P3B. Moreover, 45 genes were characterized as both DEGs and DMGs, including AUX,CYP, BGL3B, SUS6, AGL30 and MYB21. Many DEGs may be regulated by related DMGs based on methylome and transcriptome studies. These DEGs were involved in carbon metabolism, plant hormone signal transduction, the TCA cycle and the MAPK signaling pathway and were shown to be important for CMS in kenaf. These results provide new insights into the epigenetic mechanism of CMS in kenaf and other crops.

Electrochemical biosensors for measurement of colorectal cancer biomarkers.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is associated with one of the highest rates of mortality among cancers worldwide. The early detection and management of CRC is imperative. Biomarkers play an important role in CRC screening tests, CRC treatment, and prognosis and clinical management; thus rapid and sensitive detection of biomarkers is helpful for early detection of CRC. In recent years, electrochemical biosensors for detecting CRC biomarkers have been widely investigated. In this review, different electrochemical detection methods for CRC biomarkers including immunosensors, aptasensors, and genosensors are summarized. Further, representative examples are provided that demonstrate the advantages of electrochemical sensors modified by various nanomaterials. Finally, the limitations and prospects of biomarkers and electrochemical sensors in detection are also discussed. Graphical abstract.

PtS2 nanosheets as a peroxidase-mimicking nanozyme for colorimetric determination of hydrogen peroxide and glucose.

Using an ultrasonication-assisted liquid exfoliation method, we have synthesized PtS2 nanosheets with good reproducibility. Herein, intrinsic peroxidase-like activity was for the first time demonstrated for PtS2 nanosheets, which can catalyze H2O2 oxidation of 3,3',5,5'-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) to generate a colored solution. The catalytic mechanism of PtS2 nanosheets was investigated, which indicated that acceleration of the electron transfer between TMB and H2O2 was the main reason for the peroxidase-like activity of PtS2 nanosheets. Based on these observations, we exploited PtS2 nanosheets integrated into dopamine-functionalized hyaluronic acid (HA-DA) hydrogel microspheres by droplet microfluidics to construct PtS2 nanosheet- and PtS2@HA-DA microsphere-based sensors for highly sensitive determination of H2O2. When coupled with glucose oxidase, we further developed two glucose sensors based on the above two methods. Among them, the linearity of the PtS2 nanosheet-based spectrophotometry was in the range of 0.5 to 150 µM and the limit of detection as low as 0.20 µM. The linearity of the microsphere-based colorimetry was in the range 200 to 12,000 µM with a detection limit of 29.95 µM. Both of the glucose sensors can be applied to the determination of glucose in human serum with reliable results and reproducibility.

PEG-PtS2 nanosheet-based fluorescence biosensor for label-free human papillomavirus genotyping.

A simple and efficient ultrasonication-assisted liquid exfoliation method is proposed to produce PtS2 nanosheets on a large scale and improve their dispersion in aqueous solution by surface polyethylene glycol modification. The interaction of polyethylene glycol-modified PtS2 (PEG-PtS2) nanosheets with fluorescent labeled DNA and the fluorescence quenching mechanism using FAM-labeled hpv16e6 gene fragment as a probe was investigated. The excitation and emission wavelengths were 468 and 517 nm, respectively. The fluorescence quenching mechanism of PEG-PtS2 nanosheets for double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) might stem from the static quenching effect. Based on the difference in fluorescence quenching capability of PEG-PtS2 nanosheets in fluorescent probe tagged single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) and dsDNA, a mix-and-detect method was proposed for determination of DNA. Without the need for probe immobilization and tedious washing steps, the genotyping of human papillomavirus (HPV) was easily achieved. The limit of detection was calculated to 0.44 nM, showing a good linear range within 0.05-10 nM. We believe this biosensor provides opportunities to develop a simple and low-cost strategy for molecular diagnostics. Graphical abstract.

Comparison of reverse dorsoradial flap for thumb reconstruction: narrow pedicle versus wide pedicle.

INTRODUCTION: The reverse homodigital dorsoradial flap remains a useful alternative for covering thumb defects. However, the description of pedicle width of dorsoradial flap is not clear. The aim of this study was to compare the results of narrow pedicle with wide pedicle in dorsoradial flaps and describe our experience with the thumb reconstruction. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From July 2014 to February 2019, 42 patients were treated with the reverse dorsoradial flap for thumb reconstruction. The patients were divided as Group A (pedicle width ≤ 0.8 cm) and Group B (pedicle width > 0.8 cm). Flap survival, time to return to work, flap sensibility, the range of motion (ROM) of the joints, and final aesthetic outcomes were evaluated. RESULTS: Respectively in the Group A (17 cases) and Group B (25 cases), 14-19 flaps survived uneventfully, whereas 3-6 flaps experienced venous congestion with no or partial flap loss. No significant difference was identified between the two groups for the incidence of venous congestion, static 2-point discrimination and ROM of the injured thumbs. Time to return to work was significantly shorter in Group A. The aesthetic satisfaction of the patients in Group A was significantly better comparing with that in Group B. CONCLUSIONS: The reverse homodigital dorsoradial flap with narrow pedicle width is associated with more favorable outcomes in terms of time lost from work and aesthetic satisfaction of the patients.

Investigating the anti-angiogenic effects of Fufang Kushen Injection in combination with cisplatin using a zebrafish model.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine formula Fufang Kushen Injection (FKI) has demonstrated potential to enhance the efficacy and reduce the toxicity of the chemotherapeutic drug cisplatin. However, there is insufficient evidence to determine whether the combination of matrine and cisplatin were linked to the angiogenesis pathway. In this study, we selected two zebrafish lines, AB and Tg (vegfr2: GFP), as in vivo models to rapidly assess the anti-angiogenesis effects. KFI and cisplatin had no obvious effects when used individually, but combined KFI (5 and 10 µL/mL) and cisplatin (50µg/mL) significantly inhibited the zebrafish intersegmental vessel (ISV) formation and growth. Matrine at 50 µg/mL also showed synergetic anti-angiogenesis activity with cisplatin (50µg/mL) in 48hpf zebrafish larvae. This study has shown the potential of FKI to enhance cisplatin efficacy and reduce its toxicity by inhibiting angiogenesis. These results contribute to the scientific evidence supporting the use of KFI in combination with cisplatin to treat cancer in the clinic.

Efficient Generation of Many-Body Entangled States by Multilevel Oscillations.

We generate high-fidelity massively entangled states in an antiferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) by utilizing multilevel oscillations. Combining the multilevel oscillations with additional adiabatic drives, we greatly shorten the necessary evolution time and relax the requirement on the control accuracy of quadratic Zeeman splitting, from microgauss to milligauss, for a ^{23}Na spinor BEC. The achieved high fidelities over 96% show that two kinds of massively entangled states, the many-body singlet state and the twin-Fock state, are almost perfectly generated. The generalized spin squeezing parameter drops to a value far below the standard quantum limit even with the presence of atom number fluctuations and stray magnetic fields, illustrating the robustness of our protocol under real experimental conditions. The generated many-body entangled states can be employed to achieve the Heisenberg-limit quantum precision measurement and to attack nonclassical problems in quantum information science.

Uniaxial Dynamical Decoupling for an Open Quantum System.

Dynamical decoupling (DD) is an active and effective method for suppressing decoherence of a quantum system from its environment. In contrast to the nominal biaxial DD, this work presents a uniaxial decoupling protocol that requires a significantly reduced number of pulses and a much lower bias field satisfying the "magic" condition. We show this uniaxial DD protocol works effectively in a number of model systems of practical interest, e.g., a spinor atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in stray magnetic fields (classical noise), or an electron spin coupled to nuclear spins (quantum noise) in a semiconductor quantum dot. It requires only half the number of control pulses and a 10-100 times lower bias field for decoupling as normally employed in the above mentioned illustrative examples, and the overall efficacy is robust against rotation errors of the control pulses. The uniaxial DD protocol we propose shines new light on coherent controls in quantum computing and quantum information processing, quantum metrology, and low field nuclear magnetic resonance.

Fusion Method Combining Ground-Level Observations with Chemical Transport Model Predictions Using an Ensemble Deep Learning Framework: Application in China to Estimate Spatiotemporally-Resolved PM2.5 Exposure Fields in 2014-2017.

Atmospheric chemical transport models (CTMs) have been widely used to simulate spatiotemporally resolved PM2.5 concentrations. However, CTM results are usually prone to bias and errors. In this study, we improved the accuracy of PM2.5 predictions by developing an ensemble deep learning framework to fuse model simulations with ground-level observations. The framework encompasses four machine-learning models, i.e., general linear model, fully connected neural network, random forest, and gradient boosting machine, and combines them by stacking approach. This framework is applied to PM2.5 concentrations simulated by the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model for China from 2014 to 2017, which has complete spatial coverage over the entirety of China at a 12-km resolution, with no sampling biases. The fused PM2.5 concentration fields were evaluated by comparing with an independent network of observations. The R2 values increased from 0.39 to 0.64, and the RMSE values decreased from 33.7 µg/m3 to 24.8 µg/m3. According to the fused data, the percentage of Chinese population residing under the level II National Ambient Air Quality Standards of 35 µg/m3 for PM2.5 has increased from 46.5% in 2014 to 61.7% in 2017. The method is readily adapted to utilize near-real-time observations for operational analyses and forecasting of pollutant concentrations and can be extended to provide source apportionment forecasts as well.

New approach for optimal electricity planning and dispatching with hourly time-scale air quality and health considerations.

Integrating accurate air quality modeling with decision making is hampered by complex atmospheric physics and chemistry and its coupling with atmospheric transport. Existing approaches to model the physics and chemistry accurately lead to significant computational burdens in computing the response of atmospheric concentrations to changes in emissions profiles. By integrating a reduced form of a fully coupled atmospheric model within a unit commitment optimization model, we allow, for the first time to our knowledge, a fully dynamical approach toward electricity planning that accurately and rapidly minimizes both cost and health impacts. The reduced-form model captures the response of spatially resolved air pollutant concentrations to changes in electricity-generating plant emissions on an hourly basis with accuracy comparable to a comprehensive air quality model. The integrated model allows for the inclusion of human health impacts into cost-based decisions for power plant operation. We use the new capability in a case study of the state of Georgia over the years of 2004-2011, and show that a shift in utilization among existing power plants during selected hourly periods could have provided a health cost savings of $175.9 million dollars for an additional electricity generation cost of $83.6 million in 2007 US dollars (USD2007). The case study illustrates how air pollutant health impacts can be cost-effectively minimized by intelligently modulating power plant operations over multihour periods, without implementing additional emissions control technologies.

Opioids increase hip fracture risk: a meta-analysis.

The relationship between hip fracture risk and opioid use remains controversial. Thus, we performed a meta-analysis to assess the risk of hip fracture among opioid users. PubMed and EMBASE were searched for studies published from the inception of the databases until June 2015. The information was extracted independently by two teams of authors. When the heterogeneity was significant, the random-effects model was used to calculate the overall pooled risk estimates. Ten studies with 697,011 patients were included in the final meta-analysis. The overall combined relative risk for the use of opioids and hip fracture was 1.54 [95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.34-1.77]. Subgroup analyses revealed sources of heterogeneity, and sensitivity analysis indicated stable results, and no publication bias was observed. This meta-analysis demonstrates that opioids significantly increase the risk of hip fracture.

Hemangioma treatment with pulsed dye laser-distinct parameters used between neonatal and non-neonatal patients.

BACKGROUND: Pulsed dye laser (PDL) treatment remains the standard of care for infantile hemangiomas (IHs). However, the use of PDL to treat IHs in neonates has been hardly reported. In this study, the PDL treatments of IHs between neonatal and non-neonatal patients were retrospectively investigated. METHODS: All patients diagnosed with hemangiomas were treated by PDL. Their clinical data were collected, and the treatment outcomes and PDL parameters in neonates and non-neonates were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U-rank test. RESULTS: All patients reached good or excellent scale in the treatment efficiency assessment. Laser energy used per treatment session was significantly lower in neonatal group than in non-neonatal group (Z = -8.980, P < 0.001). Total laser energy used in neonates was also markedly lower than that in non-neonatal patients (Z = -3.065, P = 0.002). However, treatment session numbers in these two groups were not significantly different (Z = -1.725, P = 0.085). Additionally, we observed that after each treatment, the purpura disappeared faster in neonates (2-4 weeks) than in non-neonatal patients (4-6 weeks), indicating neonates might have greater recovery ability. CONCLUSIONS: PDL, with distinct parameters, was effective in the treatment of IHs in neonates. After each laser treatment, neonates recovered faster than non-neonatal patients.

Co-immobilization of Pseudomonas stutzeri YHA-13 and Alcaligenes sp. ZGED-12 with polyvinyl alcohol-alginate for removal of nitrogen and phosphorus from synthetic wastewater.

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) are the two main factors causing water eutrophication. Immobilized micro-organisms have been widely studied in N and P removal. However, the effects of various immobilizing conditions on the removal efficiency of N and P using immobilized micro-organism beads (IMOBs) remain unclear. Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and alginate, as the two frequently immobilizing-used matrixes, were used for co-immobilizing Pseudomonas stutzeri YHA-13 and Alcaligenes sp. ZGED-12. PVA, alginate and CaCl2contents, immobilization time and different wet biomass ratios of P. stutzeri to Alcaligenes sp. were conducted to elucidate their roles in and influences on the removal efficiency of N and P from synthetic wastewater. The application potential of IMOBs was estimated as well. Results showed that IMOBs prepared by cross-link of 4% PVA and 2-3% alginate with 5% CaCl2and saturated boric acid solution for 10-15 min are the best ones in removal of N and P. Though IMOBs containing P. stutzeri and/or Alcaligenes sp. were capable of removal of the two nutrients, the highest removal efficiency was observed when the wet biomass ratio of P. stutzeri to Alcaligenes sp. was adjusted to 2:2. In addition, the IMOBs were of good ability to remove chemical oxygen demand (COD), NO(3)(-), NO(2)(-), NH(4)(+)- N, total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) from artificial wastewater. Of which, micro-organisms immobilized in matrixes were mainly responsible for NO(3)(-) and TP removal. Therefore, P. stutzeri YHA-13 and Alcaligenes sp. ZGED-12 are reliable bioresources to remove N and P from wastewater.

Let-7b-5p promotes triptolide-induced growth-inhibiting effects in glioma by targeting IGF1R.

Glioma is one of the most common malignancies of the central nervous system. The therapeutic effect has not been satisfactory despite advances in comprehensive treatment techniques. Our previous studies have found that triptolide inhibits glioma proliferation through the ROS/JNK pathway, but in-depth mechanisms need to be explored. Recent studies have confirmed that miRNAs may function as tumor suppressor genes or oncogenes and be involved in cancer development and progression. In this study, we found that let-7b-5p expression levels closely correlated with WHO grades and overall survival in patients in tumor glioma-CGGA-mRNAseq-325, and the upregulation of let-7b-5p can inhibit the proliferation and induce apoptosis of glioma cells. Functionally, upregulation of let-7b-5p increased the inhibitory effect on cell viability and colony formation caused by triptolide and promoted the apoptosis rate of triptolide-treated U251 cells. Conversely, downregulation of let-7b-5p had the opposite effect, indicating that let-7b-5p is a tumor suppressor miRNA in glioma cells. Moreover, target prediction, luciferase reporter assays and functional experiments revealed that IGF1R was a direct target of let-7b-5p. In addition, upregulation of IGF1R reversed the triptolide-regulated inhibition of cell viability but promoted glioma cell apoptosis and activated the ROS/JNK signaling pathway induced by triptolide. The results obtained in vivo experiments substantiated those from the in vitro experiments. In summary, the current study provides evidence that triptolide inhibits the growth of glioma cells by regulating the let-7b-5p-IGF1R-ROS/JNK axis in vitro and in vivo. These findings may provide new ideas and potential targets for molecularly targeted therapies for comprehensive glioma treatment.