Probing the Short-Distance Structure of the Quark-Gluon Plasma with Energy Correlators.

Energy-energy correlators (EECs) are promising observables to study the dynamics of jet evolution in the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) through its imprint on angular scales in the energy flux of final-state particles. We carry out the first complete calculation of EECs using realistic simulations of high-energy heavy-ion collisions and dissect the different dynamics underlying the final distribution through analyses of jet propagation in a uniform medium. The EECs of γ-jets in heavy-ion collisions are found to be enhanced by the medium response from elastic scatterings instead of induced gluon radiation at large angles. In the meantime, EECs are suppressed at small angles due to energy loss and transverse momentum broadening of jet shower partons. These modifications are further shown to be sensitive to the angular scale of the in-medium interaction, as characterized by the Debye screening mass. Experimental verification and measurement of such modifications will shed light on this scale and the short-distance structure of the QGP in heavy-ion collisions.

Challenging pitfalls in frozen section pathology: a case of mandible ghost cell odontogenic carcinoma and the literature review.

BACKGROUND: Ghost cell odontogenic carcinoma (GCOC) is a rare malignancy characterized by the presence of ghost cells, preferably in the maxilla. Only slightly more than 50 case reports of GCOC have been documented to date. Due to the rarity of this tumor and its nonspecific clinical criteria, there is a heightened risk of misdiagnosis in clinical examination, imaging findings, and pathology interpretation. CASE PRESENTATION: A 50-year-old male patient presented to the hospital due to experiencing pain in his lower front teeth while eating for the past 2 months. Upon examination, a red, hard, painless mass was found in his left lower jaw, measuring approximately 4.0 cm × 3.5 cm. Based on the malignant histological morphology of the tumor and the abundant red-stained keratinized material, the preoperative frozen section pathology misdiagnosed it as squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The surgical resection specimen pathology via paraffin section revealed that the tumor was characterized by round-like epithelial islands within the fibrous interstitium, accompanied by a large number of ghost cells and some dysplastic dentin with infiltrative growth. The malignant components displayed marked heterogeneity and mitotic activity. Additionally, a calcified cystic tumor component of odontogenic origin was observed. Hemorrhage, necrosis, and calcifications were present, with a foreign body reaction around ghost cells. Immunoreactivity for ß-catenin showed strong nuclear positivity in tumor cells, while immunostaining was completely negative for p53. The Ki67 proliferation index was approximately 30-40%. The tumor cells exhibited diffuse CK5/6, p63, and p40 immunoreactivity, with varying immunopositivity for EMA. Furthermore, no BRAFV600E mutation was identified by ARMS-PCR. The final pathology confirmed that the tumor was a mandible GCOC. CONCLUSION: We have reported and summarized for the first time the specific manifestations of GCOC in frozen section pathology and possible pitfalls in misdiagnosis. We also reviewed and summarized the etiology, pathological features, molecular characteristics, differential diagnosis, imaging features, and current main treatment options for GCOC. Due to its rarity, the diagnosis and treatment of this disease still face certain challenges. A correct understanding of the pathological morphology of GCOC, distinguishing the ghost cells and the secondary stromal reaction around them, is crucial for reducing misdiagnosis rates.

Spin Alignment of Vector Mesons in Heavy-Ion Collisions.

Polarized quarks and antiquarks in high-energy heavy-ion collisions can lead to the spin alignment of vector mesons formed by quark coalescence. Using the relativistic spin Boltzmann equation for vector mesons derived from Kadanoff-Baym equations with an effective quark-meson model for strong interaction and quark coalescence model for hadronizaton, we calculate the spin density matrix element ρ_{00} for ϕ mesons and show that anisotropies of local field correlations with respect to the spin quantization direction lead to ϕ meson's spin alignment. We propose that the local correlation or fluctuation of ϕ fields is the dominant mechanism for the observed ϕ meson's spin alignment and its strength can be extracted from experimental data as functions of collision energies. The calculated transverse momentum dependence of ρ_{00} agrees with STAR's data. We further predict the azimuthal angle dependence of ρ_{00} which can be tested in future experiments.

3D Structure of Jet-Induced Diffusion Wake in an Expanding Quark-Gluon Plasma.

The diffusion wake accompanying the jet-induced Mach cone provides a unique probe of the properties of quark-gluon plasma in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. It can be characterized by a depletion of soft hadrons in the opposite direction of the propagating jet. We explore the 3D structure of the diffusion wake induced by γ-triggered jets in Pb+Pb collisions at the LHC energy within the coupled linear Boltzmann transport and hydro model. We identify a valley structure caused by the diffusion wake on top of a ridge from the initial multiple parton interaction (MPI) in jet-hadron correlation as a function of rapidity and azimuthal angle. This leads to a double-peak structure in the rapidity distribution of soft hadrons in the opposite direction of the jets as an unambiguous signal of the diffusion wake. Using a two-Gaussian fit, we extract the diffusion wake and MPI contributions to the double peak. The diffusion wake valley is found to deepen with the jet energy loss as characterized by the γ-jet asymmetry. Its sensitivity to the equation of state and shear viscosity is also studied.

Image-enhanced single-pixel imaging using fractional calculus.

Recent years, image enhancement for single-pixel imaging has developed rapidly and provides an image-free way for extracting image information. However, the conventional image enhancement approaches for single-pixel imaging are still based on the discontinuously adjustable operations such as integer-order derivatives, which are frequently used in edge detection but sensitive to the image noise. Therefore, how to balance between two conflicting demands, i.e. edge detection and noise suppression, is a new challenge. To address this issue, we introduce arbitrary-order fractional operations into single-pixel imaging. In experiment, the proposed technique has the capacity to detect image edges with high quality. Compared with integer-order derivative method which amplifies noise significantly while extracting edges, it offers a nice tradeoff between image SNR and performance of edge enhancement. In addition, it also shows good performance of image smoothing and improvement of image quality, if fractional order is negative. The proposed technique provides the adjustable fractional order as a new degree of freedom for edge extraction and image de-noising and therefore makes up for the shortcomings of traditional method for image enhancement.

From Hydrodynamics to Jet Quenching, Coalescence, and Hadron Cascade: A Coupled Approach to Solving the R_{AA}⊗v_{2} Puzzle.

Hydrodynamics and jet quenching are responsible for the elliptic flow v_{2} and suppression of large transverse momentum (p_{T}) hadrons, respectively, two of the most important phenomena leading to the discovery of a strongly coupled quark-gluon plasma in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. A consistent description of the hadron suppression factor R_{AA} and v_{2}, especially at intermediate p_{T}, however, remains a challenge. We solve this long-standing R_{AA}⊗v_{2} puzzle by including quark coalescence for hadronization and final state hadron cascade in the coupled linear Boltzmann transport-hydro model that combines concurrent jet transport and hydrodynamic evolution of the bulk medium. We illustrate that quark coalescence and hadron cascade, two keys to solving the puzzle, also lead to a splitting of v_{2} for pions, kaons, and protons in the intermediate p_{T} region. We demonstrate for the first time that experimental data on R_{AA}, v_{2}, and their hadron flavor dependence from low to intermediate and high p_{T} in high-energy heavy-ion collisions can be understood within this coupled framework.

Insecticidal and P450 mediate metabolism of fluralaner against red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).

The red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), a worldwide invasive and polyphagous pest, and often nests in residential areas. Finding an alternative pesticide that is both effective on S. invicta and environmentally friendly is urgent and crucial. Fluralaner, a novel isoxazoline insecticide, has been proven to possess selective toxicity for insects versus mammals and has been safe for mammals and non-target organisms, suggesting its potential in pest management. However, little toxicity information is available for the controlment of S. invicta. In this article, we studied the toxicity of fluralaner against S. invicta systematically, and the roles of metabolism-related enzymes in the metabolism process of fluralaner. The toxicity results showed that the topical application and feeding application were all effective for S. invicta. Moreover, fluralaner can be transmitted among workers by contacting and feeding which leads to a toxic reaction among nestmates. By exploring the biochemistry change, we found cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (P450) may be involved in the detoxification of fluralaner as well as carboxylesterase (CarE), but not glutathione S-transferase (GST). Synergism assays gave solid evidence in which piperonyl butoxide, an activity inhibitor of P450, increased the toxicity of fluralaner to S. invicta. Importantly, with the RNAi treatment, four of S.invicta P450 genes were significantly inhibited and showed more sensitivity to fluralaner at LC50 concentration. Our result indicated that fluralaner could be a potential alternative pesticide in S. invicta control. And CYP9AS16, CYP6AS161, CYP6SQ20, and CYP336A45 genes were closely associated with the metabolism process of fluralaner.

Jet quenching and medium response in high-energy heavy-ion collisions: a review.

Jet quenching has been used successfully as a hard probe to study properties of the quark-gluon plasma (QGP) in high-energy heavy-ion collisions at both the relativistic heavy-ion collider and the large hadron collider. We will review recent progresses in theoretical and phenomenological studies of jet quenching with jet transport models. Special emphasis is given to effects of jet-induced medium response on a wide variety of experimental observables and their implications on extracting transport properties of the QGP in heavy-ion collisions.

Theoretical and experimental study of hybrid optical computing engine for arbitrary-order FRFT.

Fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) is the generalization of Fourier transform. It provides many significant advantages, such as fractional order as the new degree of freedom and high efficiency and great performance for non-stationary signal analysis/processing, that other operations including Fourier transform cannot. Here, we report a hybrid optical system for computation of arbitrary-order FRFT of temporal signals. In experiment, the fractional-domain information of input temporal signals could be directly acquired by detector. In addition, the optical computing results are in good agreement with numerical results. Then we apply the optical computing engine to demodulation of chirp spread spectrum signals. Using sub-Nyquist sampling, the proposed technology could greatly save the number of measurements in demodulation. The compression ratio could be as low as 0.4%, because of the high compression performance of chirp signals in FRFT domain. As a result, the proposed technology has unique advantages in analysis and information extraction for non-stationary signals, especially for chirp-like signals, and may become a powerful optical time-frequency analysis tool for temporal signals.

Search for the Elusive Jet-Induced Diffusion Wake in Z/γ-Jets with 2D Jet Tomography in High-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions.

Diffusion wake is an unambiguous part of the jet-induced medium response in high-energy heavy-ion collisions that leads to a depletion of soft hadrons in the opposite direction of the jet propagation. New experimental data on Z-hadron correlation in Pb+Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider show, however, an enhancement of soft hadrons in the direction of both the Z and the jet. Using a coupled linear Boltzmann transport and hydro model, we demonstrate that medium modification of partons from the initial multiple parton interaction (MPI) gives rise to a soft hadron enhancement that is uniform in azimuthal angle while jet-induced medium response and soft gluon radiation dominate the enhancement in the jet direction. After subtraction of the contributions from MPI with a mixed-event procedure, the diffusion wake becomes visible in the near-side Z-hadron correlation. We further employ the longitudinal and transverse gradient jet tomography for the first time to localize the initial jet production positions in Z/γ-jet events in which the effect of the diffusion wake is apparent in Z/γ-hadron correlation even without the subtraction of the MPI contribution.

Gradient Tomography of Jet Quenching in Heavy-Ion Collisions.

Transverse momentum broadening and energy loss of a propagating parton are dictated by the space-time profile of the jet transport coefficient q[over ^] in a dense QCD medium. The spatial gradient of q[over ^] perpendicular to the propagation direction can lead to a drift and asymmetry in parton transverse momentum distribution. Such an asymmetry depends on both the spatial position along the transverse gradient and path length of a propagating parton as shown by numerical solutions of the Boltzmann transport in the simplified form of a drift-diffusion equation. In high-energy heavy-ion collisions, this asymmetry with respect to a plane defined by the beam and trigger particle (photon, hadron, or jet) with a given orientation relative to the event plane is shown to be closely related to the transverse position of the initial jet production in full event-by-event simulations within the linear Boltzmann transport model. Such a gradient tomography can be used to localize the initial jet production position for more detailed study of jet quenching and properties of the quark-gluon plasma along a given propagation path in heavy-ion collisions.

Bayesian Extraction of Jet Energy Loss Distributions in Heavy-Ion Collisions.

Based on the factorization in perturbative QCD, a jet cross section in heavy-ion collisions can be expressed as a convolution of the jet cross section in p+p collisions and a jet energy loss distribution. Using this simple expression and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method, we carry out Bayesian analyses of experimental data on jet spectra to extract energy loss distributions for both single inclusive and γ-triggered jets in Pb+Pb collisions with different centralities at two colliding energies at the Large Hadron Collider. The average jet energy loss has a dependence on the initial jet energy that is slightly stronger than a logarithmic form and decreases from central to peripheral collisions. The extracted jet energy loss distributions with a scaling behavior in x=Δp_{T}/⟨Δp_{T}⟩ have a large width. These are consistent with the linear Boltzmann transport model simulations, in which the observed jet quenching is caused on the average by only a few out-of-cone scatterings.

More significance of TB-IGRA except for the diagnose of tuberculosis.

OBJECTIVE: Tuberculosis (TB)-interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) test has the characteristics of short time, high specificity, and high sensitivity, but it lacks the correlation research between TB-IGRA test results and body's immune cells, disease progression and prognosis, which is explored in this study. DESIGN: A retrospective study was carried out on positive TB-IGRA patients who were infected with TB and diagnosed at our hospital from January 2014 to June 2015. The TB-IGRA, routine blood test, T-cell subgroup data were collected for statistical analysis. RESULTS: TB-IGRA results were in positive proportion to the lymphocytes, CD4+ T cells and CD4+ CD28+ T cells, whereas negative to the Treg cells. Patient with unilateral pulmonary lesion had higher TB-IGRA than those with bilateral pulmonary lesions. After the stimulation of TB-specific antigen, the proportion of CD4+ IFN-γ+ and CD8+ IFN-γ+ T Tcells were both increased and the CD4+ IFN-γ+ T had positive correlation with the value of TB-IGRA. CONCLUSIONS: IFN-γ was tested with TB-IGRA in patients with TB by the specific TB T cells and correlated with the lymphocytes, while the lymphocytes also closely related to the host's anti-TB immunity and disease outcome. Hence the result of TB-IGRA could reflect the specific anti-TB immunity ability of the host, disease progression and prognosis. This study further expands the application scope of TB-IGRA technology in the diagnosis of TB and lays a foundation for clinical practice to understand the immunity state of the patients with TB and the application of auxiliary clinical immunity regulators.

[Follow-up observation of catch-up growth of preterm infants after discharge and risk factors for extrauterine growth retardation].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the catch-up growth of preterm infants within a corrected age of 6 months and the risk factors for extrauterine growth retardation (EUGR). METHODS: A total of 321 preterm infants who were discharged after treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit and had regular follow-up documents with complete follow-up records were enrolled. According to the Prenatal Health Care Norms in 2015, these infants were divided into low-risk group with 69 infants and high-risk group with 252 infants. The Z-score method was used to evaluate body weight, body length, and head circumference, and the catch-up growth of the preterm infants within a corrected age of 6 months was analyzed. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the risk factors for EUGR at the corrected age of 6 months. RESULTS: The percentage of preterm infants with Z scores of body weight, body length, and head circumference of < -2 (not reach the standard for catch-up growth) in both groups decreased gradually with increasing corrected age. At the corrected age of 6 months, the percentages of preterm infants whose body weight, body length, and head circumference did not reach the standard for catch-up growth in the low-risk group were reduced to 1.4% (1/69), 2.9% (2/69), and 1.4% (1/69) respectively, while in the high-risk group, these percentages were reduced to 1.2% (3/252), 1.6% (4/252), and 3.6% (9/252) respectively. The high-risk group had a significantly higher incidence rate of EUGR at the corrected age of 6 months than the low-risk group (28.2% vs 15.9%, P=0.039). The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that multiple birth (OR=2.68, P=0.010), low birth weight (<1 000 g: OR=14.84, P<0.001; 1 000-1 499 g: OR=2.85, P=0.005), and intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) (OR=11.41, P<0.001) were risk factors for EUGR at the corrected age of 6 months, while nutritional enhancement after birth (OR=0.25, P<0.001) reduced the risk of EUGR. CONCLUSIONS: Most preterm infants can achieve catch-up growth at the corrected age of 6 months. High-risk preterm infants have a high incidence rate of EUGR at the corrected age of 6 months. Multiple birth, low birth weight, and IUGR are risk factors for EUGR, while rational nutritional enhancement after birth can reduce the incidence rate of EUGR in preterm infants.

[Application of humidified high-flow nasal cannula in neonates with meconium aspiration syndrome and pulmonary hypertension after extubation].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical value of humidified high-flow nasal cannula (HHFNC) as a respiratory support after extubation by comparing it with nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) in neonates with meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) and persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn (PPHN). METHODS: A total of 78 neonates with MAS and PPHN were randomly administered with HHFNC or NCPAP immediately after extubation. The following indices were compared between the two groups: blood gas parameters, duration of noninvasive ventilation, rate of extubation failure, and incidence of complications, such as nasal damage, abdominal distension, and intraventricular hemorrhage. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in the rate of extubation failure, PaO2, PCO2, and PaO2/FiO2 ratio at one hour after NCPAP or HHFNC, duration of noninvasive ventilation, time to full enteral feeding, length of hospital stay, and incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage between the two groups (P>0.05). The HHFNC group had significantly lower incidence of nasal damage (5.0% vs 31.6%; P<0.05) and incidence of abdominal distension (7.5% vs 34.2%; P<0.05) than the NCPAP group. CONCLUSIONS: Both NCPAP and HHFNC can be used as the sequential therapy for neonates with MSA and PPHN after extubation, and they both have a definite effect. As a new strategy of respiratory support, HHFNC is better tolerated, and has fewer side effects than NCPAP.

Vortical Fluid and Λ Spin Correlations in High-Energy Heavy-Ion Collisions.

Fermions become polarized in a vortical fluid due to spin-vorticity coupling, and the polarization density is proportional to the local fluid vorticity. The radial expansion converts spatial vortical structures in the transverse plane to spin correlations in the azimuthal angle of final Λ hyperons' transverse momentum in high-energy heavy-ion collisions. Using a (3+1)D viscous hydrodynamic model with fluctuating initial conditions from a multiphase transport (AMPT) model, we reveal two vortical structures that are common in many fluid dynamic systems: a right-handed toroidal structure around each beam direction for transverse vorticity and pairing of longitudinal vortices with opposite signs in the transverse plane. The calculated azimuthal correlation of the transverse spin is shown to have a cosine form plus an offset due to the toroidal structure of the transverse vorticity around the beam direction and the global spin polarization. The longitudinal spin correlation in the azimuthal angle shows an oscillatory structure due to multiple vorticity pairs in the transverse plane. Mechanisms of these vortical structures, physical implications of hyperon spin correlations, dependence on colliding energy, rapidity, centrality, and sensitivity to the shear viscosity are also investigated.

Next-to-leading order QCD factorization for semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering at twist 4.

Within the framework of a high-twist approach, we calculate the next-to-leading order (NLO) perturbative QCD corrections to the transverse momentum broadening in semi-inclusive hadron production in deeply inelastic e+A collisions, as well as lepton pair production in p+A collisions. With explicit calculations of both real and virtual contributions, we verify, for the first time, the factorization theorem at twist 4 in NLO for the nuclear-enhanced transverse momentum weighted differential cross section and demonstrate the universality of the associated twist-4 quark-gluon correlation function. We also identify the QCD evolution equation for the twist-4 quark-gluon correlation function in a large nucleus, which can be solved to determine the scale dependence of the jet transport parameter in the study of jet quenching.

LX loaded nanoliposomes synthesis, characterization and cellular uptake studies in H2O2 stressed SH-SY5Y cells.

In this study, we report the cellular uptake studies of novel LX loaded nanoliposomes in H2O2 stress SH-SY5Y Cells synthesized by thin film evaporation method. We have isolated the smallest size nanoliposomes after 90 min ultrasonification, keeping Polydisperse Index as 0.259. The morphology, size, zepta potential and drug efficiency of prepared nanoliposomes are characterized by using Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), particle size analyzer and High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The particle size analyzer have confirmed the particle size of nanoluposomes measured in range of 100-250 nm, whereas the shape of these nanoliposomes is almost spherical. The zeta potential of small size nanoliposomes was measured as -49.62 and encapsulation efficiency of the LX loaded nanoliposomes was 87%. The oxidative stress response in SH-SY5Y Cells for various doses of drug with and without nanoliposomes has affectively improved the cell-stress response up to 20% after 24 h of incubation at 37 degrees C. The results indicated that LX loaded nanoliposomes were taken by the cells effectively which ultimately improved the cell-stress response. Thus, this study confirmed that synthesized nanoliposomes are not only effective drug carriers but could be potentially used for delivery of genes, antibodies, and proteins in future.

[Influencing factors for severity of bronchopulmonary dysplasia in preterm infants].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the influencing factors for the severity of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in preterm infants. METHODS: The clinical data of 110 preterm infants who were diagnosed with BPD and had a hospital stay of over 28 days between January 2011 and December 2013 were analyzed. These BPD infants were divided into 3 groups according to the clinical criteria: mild group (n=52), moderate group (n=44), and severe group (n=14). The relationship between the severity of BPD and the gestational age, birth weight, asphyxia, oxygen therapy, pregnancy complications, intrauterine pneumonia and mechanical ventilation was analyzed. RESULTS: The severity of BPD was correlated with the following factors: gestational age, birth weight, prenatal infection, duration of oxygen inhalation with a concentration of >40%, use of mechanical ventilation, parameters and duration of mechanical ventilation, duration of continuous positive airway pressure, adoption of intubation surfactant extubation (INSURE) approach, Ureaplasma urealyticum infection, intrauterine pneumonia and patent ductus arteriosus. Logistic regression analysis indicated that the mechanical ventilator parameter peak inspiratory pressure (OR=1.260, 95%CI: 1.096-1.448) and duration of mechanical ventilation (OR=1.010, 95%CI: 1.005-1.016) were independent risk factors for the severity of BPD, while the INSURE approach was a protective factor (OR=0.208, 95%CI: 0.060-0.923). CONCLUSIONS: The severity of BPD is associated with various factors in preterm infants. The important measures for preventing BPD include avoiding the birth of preterm infants with a very low birth weight, shortening the duration of mechanical ventilation, preventing and reducing pulmonary infections, and applying the INSURE approach.

[Cellular and humoral immunity in preterm infants of different gestational ages].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the characteristics of immune function in newborn infants of different gestational ages. METHODS: A total of 115 premature infants free of infection between June 1, 2012 and June 1, 2013 were divided into two groups according to their gestational age at birth: early preterm infant group (28-33+6 weeks, n=57) and late preterm infant group (34-36+6 weeks, n=58). Meanwhile, 88 full-term infants (37-41+6 week) were recruited to the control group. Venous blood samples were collected within 24 hours after birth. The percentages of lymphocyte subsets, such as CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and CD19+ T cells and natural killer (NK) cells were measured by flow cytometry, and the absolute count of each population was calculated using the results from routine blood work. Concentrations of serum IgG, IgA, and IgM were measured by immunoturbidimetry. RESULTS: Both preterm infant groups had significantly higher percentages of CD3+ and CD4+ T cells and CD4+/CD8+ ratio (P<0.05) and significantly lower percentages of CD8+ and CD19+ T cells and NK cells (P<0.05), as compared with the full-term infant group. The absolute counts of total lymphocytes, CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, and CD19+ T cells, and NK cells in both preterm infant groups were significantly lower than those in the full-term infant group (P<0.05), and the above parameters in the late preterm infant group were significantly higher than those in the early preterm infant group (P<0.05). Both preterm infant groups showed significantly lower concentrations of serum IgG than the full-term infant group (P<0.05), while no significant differences in concentrations of serum IgA and IgM were observed between the three groups (P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Neonatal gestational age has an effect on cellular and humoral immunity. The immune function gradually improves with increasing gestational age.