Remote Charging and Degradation Suppression for the Quantum Battery.

The quantum battery (QB) makes use of quantum effects to store and supply energy, which may outperform its classical counterpart. However, there are two challenges in this field. One is that the environment-induced decoherence causes the energy loss and aging of the QB, the other is that the decreasing of the charger-QB coupling strength with increasing their distance makes the charging of the QB become inefficient. Here, we propose a QB scheme to realize a remote charging via coupling the QB and the charger to a rectangular hollow metal waveguide. It is found that an ideal charging is realized as long as two bound states are formed in the energy spectrum of the total system consisting of the QB, the charger, and the electromagnetic environment in the waveguide. Using the constructive role of the decoherence, our QB is immune to the aging. Additionally, without resorting to the direct charger-QB interaction, our scheme works in a way of long-range and wireless-like charging. Effectively overcoming the two challenges, our result supplies an insightful guideline to the practical realization of the QB by reservoir engineering.

Effect of deep neuromuscular block on the quality of early recovery after sleeve gastrectomy in obese patients: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Deep neuromuscular block (NMB) has been shown to improve surgical conditions and alleviate post-operative pain in bariatric surgery compared with moderate NMB. We hypothesized that deep NMB could also improve the quality of early recovery after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). METHODS: Eighty patients were randomized to receive either deep (post-tetanic count 1-3) or moderate (train-of-four count 1-3) NMB. The QoR-15 questionnaire was used to evaluate the quality of early recovery at 1 day before surgery (T0), 24 and 48 h after surgery (T2, T3). Additionally, we recorded diaphragm excursion (DE), postoperative pain, surgical condition, cumulative dose of analgesics, time of first flatus and ambulation, post-operative nausea and vomiting, time of tracheal tube removal and hospitalization time. MAIN RESULTS: The quality of recovery was significantly better 24 h after surgery in patients who received a deep versus moderate block (114.4 ± 12.9 versus 102.1 ± 18.1). Diaphragm excursion was significantly greater in the deep NMB group when patients performed maximal inspiration at T2 and T3 (P < 0.05). Patients who underwent deep NMB reported lower visceral pain scores 40 min after surgery; additionally, these patients experienced lower pain during movement at T3 (P < 0.05). Optimal surgical conditions were rated in 87.5% and 64.6% of all measurements during deep and moderate NMB respectively (P < 0.001). The time to tracheal tube removal was significantly longer in the deep NMB group (P = 0.001). There were no differences in other outcomes. CONCLUSION: In obese patients receiving deep NMB during LSG, we observed improved QoR-15 scores, greater diaphragmatic excursions, improved surgical conditions, and visceral pain scores were lower. More evidence is needed to determine the effects of deep NMB on these outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ChiCTR2200065919. Date of retrospectively registered: 18/11/2022.

Burden of gastroesophageal reflux disease in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of disease study 2019.

INTRODUCTION: For effective preventive strategies against GORD (gastro-esophageal reflux disease), we assessed the GORD burden from 1990 to 2019. METHODS: The burden of GORD between 1990 and 2019 was evaluated globally, regionally, and nationally. Using ASIR (age-standardized incidence), ASYLDs (age-standardized years lived with disabilitys), we compared them to the GBD world population per 100,000. The estimates were based on 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). The AAPC (average annual percent change) in incidence, YLDs, along with prevalence rates with associated 95% CIs were estimated. RESULTS: Data to estimate the burden of GORD are scarce till now. The global ASIR of GORD in 2019 was 3792.79 per 100,000, an increase AAPC of 0.112% from 1990. The prevalence of GORD increased with a AAPC of 0.096% to 9574.45 per 100,000. Global ASYLDs in 2019 was 73.63, an increase AAPC of 0.105% from 1990. The GORD burden varies greatly depending on the development level and geographical location. USA demonstrated the most obvious decreasing trend in burden of GORD, while Sweden had an increasing trend. That the increase in GORD YLDs was mediated primarily by the growth and aging of population, was revealed by decomposition analyses. There was an inverse relationship between SDI (socio-demographic index) and GORD-burden. Frontier analyses revealed significant scope of improvement in the status of development at all levels. CONCLUSION: GORD is a public health challenge, especially in Latin America. Some SDI quintiles had declining rates, while some countries experienced increased rates. Thus, resources should be allocated for preventative measures based on country-specific estimates.

Geometrical Bounds on Irreversibility in Squeezed Thermal Bath.

Irreversible entropy production (IEP) plays an important role in quantum thermodynamic processes. Here, we investigate the geometrical bounds of IEP in nonequilibrium thermodynamics by exemplifying a system coupled to a squeezed thermal bath subject to dissipation and dephasing, respectively. We find that the geometrical bounds of the IEP always shift in a contrary way under dissipation and dephasing, where the lower and upper bounds turning to be tighter occur in the situation of dephasing and dissipation, respectively. However, either under dissipation or under dephasing, we may reduce both the critical time of the IEP itself and the critical time of the bounds for reaching an equilibrium by harvesting the benefits of squeezing effects in which the values of the IEP, quantifying the degree of thermodynamic irreversibility, also become smaller. Therefore, due to the nonequilibrium nature of the squeezed thermal bath, the system-bath interaction energy has a prominent impact on the IEP, leading to tightness of its bounds. Our results are not contradictory with the second law of thermodynamics by involving squeezing of the bath as an available resource, which can improve the performance of quantum thermodynamic devices.

Reconfigurable Photon Sources Based on Quantum Plexcitonic Systems.

A single photon in a strongly nonlinear cavity is able to block the transmission of a second photon, thereby converting incident coherent light into antibunched light, which is known as the photon blockade effect. Photon antipairing, where only the entry of two photons is blocked and the emission of bunches of three or more photons is allowed, is based on an unconventional photon blockade mechanism due to destructive interference of two distinct excitation pathways. We propose quantum plexcitonic systems with moderate nonlinearity to generate both antibunched and antipaired photons. The proposed plexcitonic systems benefit from subwavelength field localizations that make quantum emitters spatially distinguishable, thus enabling a reconfigurable photon source between antibunched and antipaired states via tailoring the energy bands. For a realistic nanoprism plexcitonic system, chemical and optical schemes of reconfiguration are demonstrated. These results pave the way to realize reconfigurable nonclassical photon sources in a simple quantum plexcitonic platform.

Optical signatures of Mott-superfluid transition in nitrogen-vacancy centers coupled to photonic crystal cavities: publisher's note.

This publisher's note contains corrections to Opt. Lett.44, 2081 (2019)OPLEDP0146-959210.1364/OL.44.002081.

Optical signatures of Mott-superfluid transition in nitrogen-vacancy centers coupled to photonic crystal cavities.

Detecting optical signatures of quantum phase transitions (QPT) in driven-dissipative systems constitutes a new frontier for many-body physics. Here we propose a practical idea to characterize the extensively studied phenomenon of photonic QPT, based on a many-body system composed of nitrogen-vacancy centers embedded individually in photonic crystal cavities, by detecting the critical behaviors of mean photon number, photon fluctuation, photon correlation, and emitted spectrum. Our results bridge these observables to the distinct optical signatures in different quantum phases and serve as good indicators and invaluable tools for studying dynamical properties of dissipative QPT.

Generation of multiqubit steady-state quantum correlation by squeezed-reservoir engineering.

Stationary quantum correlation among two-level systems (TLSs) in steady state is one of unique resources for applications in quantum information processing. Here we propose a scheme to generate such quantum correlation among the TLSs inside a lossy cavity. It is found that, by applying a broadband squeezed laser acting as a squeezed-vacuum reservoir to the cavity, a stable quantum correlation of the TLSs can be generated. By adiabatically eliminating the cavity field, we derive a reduced master equation of the TLSs in the bad-cavity limit. We show that the generated quantum correlation is essentially determined by the squeezing features transferred from the squeezed-vacuum reservoir via the cavity field as a quantum bus. We study the effect of the system parameters, such as the squeezing, the detuning, the coupling strength, and the decay rate of the TLSs, on the performance of the scheme. The feasibility of our proposal is supported by the application of currently available experimental techniques.

The effect of craniocervical flexion and neck endurance exercises plus pulmonary rehabilitation on pulmonary function in spinal cord injury: a pilot single-blinded randomised controlled trial.

STUDY DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial with computerised allocation, assessor blinding and intention-to-treat analysis. OBJECTIVE: This study wanted to prove that cervicocranial flexion exercise (CCFE) and superficial neck flexor endurance training combined with common pulmonary rehabilitation is feasible for improving spinal cord injury people's pulmonary function. SETTING: Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare: Department of Physiotherapy, Taiwan. METHOD: Thirteen individuals who had sustained spinal cord injury for less than a year were recruited and randomised assigned into two groups. The experimental group was assigned CCFEs and neck flexor endurance training plus normal cardiopulmonary rehabilitation. The control group was assigned general neck stretching exercises plus cardiopulmonary rehabilitation. Lung function parameters such as forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), FEV1/FVC, peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), inspiratory capacity (IC), dyspnoea, pain, and neck stiffness were recorded once a week as short-term outcome measure. RESULT: The experimental group showed significant time effects for FVC (pre-therapy: 80.4 ± 21.4, post-therapy: 86.9 ± 16.9, p = 0.021, 95% CI: 0.00-0.26) and PEFR (pre-therapy: 67.0 ± 33.4; post-therapy: 78.4 ± 26.9, p = 0.042, 95% CI: 0.00-0.22) after the therapy course. Furthermore, the experimental group showed significant time effects for BDI (experimental group: 6.3 ± 3.0; control group: 10.8 ± 1.6, p = 0.012, 95% CI: 0.00-0.21). CONCLUSION: The exercise regime for the experimental group could efficiently increase lung function due to the following three reasons: first, respiratory accessory muscle endurance increases through training. Second, posture becomes less kyphosis resulting increasing lung volume. Third, the ratio between superficial and deep neck flexor is more synchronised. IRB TRIAL REGISTRATION: TYGH108045. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT04500223.

[Effects of mechanical ventilation and positive end-expiratory on central venous pressure].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of mechanical ventilation and positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) on central venous pressure (CVP). METHODS: Forty cases of respiratory failure with mechanical ventilation were enrolled. Catheter was inserted via subclavian vein in each. And then CVP was measured without mechanical ventilation and under different PEEP conditions of 0, 6 and 12 cm H2O. RESULTS: Mechanical ventilation could affect the levels of CVP, P(peak) ≈ PS+PEEP, followed PEEP, t = 3.364, P = 0.006. There was significant difference was found among the three groups, F = 15.293, P = 0.000. And CVP increased with a rising level of PEEP. CONCLUSION: Mechanical ventilation and PEEP affect the accuracy of CVP.

Pain during and after coronavirus disease 2019: Chinese perspectives.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) global pandemic poses a major threat to human health and health care systems. Urgent prevention and control measures have obstructed patients' access to pain treatment, and many patients with pain have been unable to receive adequate and timely medical services. Many patients with COVID-19 report painful symptoms including headache, muscle pain, and chest pain during the initial phase of the disease. Persistent pain sequela in patients with COVID-19 has a physical or mental impact and may also affect the immune, endocrine, and other systems. However, the management and treatment of neurological symptoms such as pain are often neglected for patients hospitalized with COVID-19. Based on the China's early experience in the management of COVID-19 symptoms, the possible negative effects of pre-existing chronic pain in patients with COVID-19 and the challenges of COVID-19 prevention and control bring to the diagnosis and treatment of chronic pain are discussed. This review calls to attention the need to optimize pain management during and after COVID-19.

Preparation of TiO2/porous glass-H with the coupling of photocatalysis oxidation-adsorption system in the initial position and its desulfurization performance on model fuel.

TiO2/porous glass-H as composite catalysts were synthesized hydrothermally in the presence of H2O2 using porous glass microspheres as carriers. The photocatalytic-adsorptive desulfurization of model fuel by composite catalysts was investigated under UV irradiation. The structure and morphology of the composite catalysts were characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM), N2 adsorption, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis). The results showed that TiO2/porous glass-H exhibited a significantly enhanced photocatalytic-adsorption desulfurization performance due to its enhanced surface area, highly enhanced light absorption, and reduced recombination of photogenerated electron pairs compared with TiO2/porous glass synthesized in the absence of H2O2. The optimized TiO2 loading was 20% and the reaction temperature was 303.15 K, which could achieve almost 100% sulfur removal when 0.1 g catalyst was applied to a sulfide concentration of 300 mg L-1. Based on the kinetic fitting of the obtained data, it was found that the rate-controlling step of sulfide adsorption on the catalyst was a molecular diffusion process and the adsorption intensity and adsorption capacity of the composite catalyst were significantly improved compared with the porous glass-H in the adsorption thermodynamic curve, and ΔS, ΔH and ΔG of the adsorption process were calculated. In addition, TiO2/porous glass-H could be regenerated via simple heat treatment, exhibiting similar efficiency as the original TiO2/porous glass-H after three regeneration cycles.

Association between interleukin-6 gene promoter -572C/G polymorphism and the risk of sporadic Alzheimer's disease.

Inflammation is a key component of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and we have examined the effect of two polymorphisms (-174G/C and -572C/G) in the promoter of the inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene on risk of AD in 318 AD patients. Significant differences in genotype and allele frequencies of -572C/G IL-6 promoter polymorphism were observed between AD patients and controls. The GG genotype was associated with a decreased risk of developing AD (OR 0.423, 95% CI 0.200-0.894). Similarly, logistic regression analysis revealed that G allele was a protective factor for AD (OR 0.732, 95% CI 0.567-0.945). For -174G/C variability, no C variability was found in all the subjects. The frequency of the IL-6 -174G/C promoter polymorphism is very low or no variability in Henan Han population. The -572C/G polymorphism of IL-6 gene promoter region is associated with AD, and G allele is an independent protective factor for AD.

Controllable quantum dynamics of inhomogeneous nitrogen-vacancy center ensembles coupled to superconducting resonators.

We explore controllable quantum dynamics of a hybrid system, which consists of an array of mutually coupled superconducting resonators (SRs) with each containing a nitrogen-vacancy center spin ensemble (NVE) in the presence of inhomogeneous broadening. We focus on a three-site model, which compared with the two-site case, shows more complicated and richer dynamical behavior, and displays a series of damped oscillations under various experimental situations, reflecting the intricate balance and competition between the NVE-SR collective coupling and the adjacent-site photon hopping. Particularly, we find that the inhomogeneous broadening of the spin ensemble can suppress the population transfer between the SR and the local NVE. In this context, although the inhomogeneous broadening of the spin ensemble diminishes entanglement among the NVEs, optimal entanglement, characterized by averaging the lower bound of concurrence, could be achieved through accurately adjusting the tunable parameters.

Dynamics of quantum correlation between separated nitrogen-vacancy centers embedded in plasmonic waveguide.

We investigate the dynamics of quantum correlation between two separated nitrogen vacancy centers (NVCs) placed near a one-dimensional plasmonic waveguide. As a common medium of the radiation field of NVCs propagating, the plasmonic waveguide can dynamically induce quantum correlation between the two NVCs. It is interesting to find that such dynamically induced quantum correlation can be preserved in the long-time steady state by locally applying individual driving on the two NVCs. In particular, we also show that a large degree of quantum correlation can be established by this scheme even when the distance between the NVCs is much larger than their operating wavelength. This feature may open new perspectives for devising active decoherence-immune solid-state optical devices and long-distance NVC-based quantum networks in the context of plasmonic quantum electrodynamics.

Realizing and characterizing chiral photon flow in a circuit quantum electrodynamics necklace.

Gauge theory plays the central role in modern physics. Here we propose a scheme of implementing artificial Abelian gauge fields via the parametric conversion method in a necklace of superconducting transmission line resonators (TLRs) coupled by superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). The motivation is to synthesize an extremely strong effective magnetic field for charge-neutral bosons which can hardly be achieved in conventional solid-state systems. The dynamic modulations of the SQUIDs can induce effective magnetic fields for the microwave photons in the TLR necklace through the generation of the nontrivial hopping phases of the photon hopping between neighboring TLRs. To demonstrate the synthetic magnetic field, we study the realization and detection of the chiral photon flow dynamics in this architecture under the influence of decoherence. Taking the advantages of its simplicity and flexibility, this parametric scheme is feasible with state-of-the-art technology and may pave an alternative way for investigating the gauge theories with superconducting quantum circuits. We further propose a quantitative measure for the chiral property of the photon flow. Beyond the level of qualitative description, the dependence of the chiral flow on external pumping parameters and cavity decay is characterized.

One-step generation of multipartite entanglement among nitrogen-vacancy center ensembles.

We describe a one-step, deterministic and scalable scheme for creating macroscopic arbitrary entangled coherent states (ECSs) of separate nitrogen-vacancy center ensembles (NVEs) that couple to a superconducting flux qubit. We discuss how to generate the entangled states between the flux qubit and two NVEs by the resonant driving. Then the ECSs of the NVEs can be obtained by projecting the flux qubit, and the entanglement detection can be realized by transferring the quantum state from the NVEs to the flux qubit. Our numerical simulation shows that even under current experimental parameters the concurrence of the ECSs can approach unity. We emphasize that this method is straightforwardly extendable to the case of many NVEs.