Numerical implementation of three-dimensional vectorial complex ray model and application to rainbow scattering of spheroidal drops.

The rainbow patterns of oblate spheroidal drops have been observed in experiments nearly forty years ago [Nature312, 529 (1984)10.1038/312529a0]. However, the prediction for those complex patterns has been a challenge for conventional light scattering models. The vectorial complex ray model (VCRM) allows to account for the direction, the polarization, the phase, the amplitude and the wavefront curvature of waves and provides a powerful tool for the study of the light/electromagnetic wave interaction with a homogeneous object of any shape with smooth surface. In [Opt. Lett.46, 4585 (2021)10.1364/OL.434149], the authors have reported an important breakthrough of VCRM for the three-dimensional scattering (VCRM3D) and the simulated rainbow patterns of oblate drops. The present paper is devoted to the detailed description of the numerical implementation allowing the simulation of the 3D scattering field by a nonspherical particle. Its ability to predict both the fine and coarse intensity structures of the rainbows and the near-backward scattering patterns of spheroids is demonstrated. This work opens perspectives for exploring the 3D scattering characteristics of large objects with any smooth shape and developing relevant optical techniques for particle characterization.

Grating lobe-free silicon optical phased array with periodically bending modulation of dense antennas.

A grating lobe-free silicon optical phased array with large field of view is demonstrated. Antennas with periodically bending modulation are spaced at half wavelength or less. The experimental results show that the crosstalk between adjacent waveguides is negligible at 1550 nm wavelength. Additionally, to reduce the optical reflection caused by the sudden change of refractive index at the output antenna of the phased array, tapered antennas are added to the output end face so that more light will be coupled into the free space. The fabricated optical phased array shows a field of view of 120° without any grating lobes.

Generalized rainbow patterns of oblate drops simulated by a ray model in three dimensions.

The scattering patterns near the primary rainbow of oblate drops are simulated by extending the vectorial complex ray model (VCRM) [Opt. Lett.36, 370 (2011)OPLEDP0146-959210.1364/OL.36.000370] to three-dimensional (3D) calculations. With the curvature of a wavefront as an intrinsic property of a ray, this advanced ray model permits, in principle, to predict the amplitudes and phases of all emergent rays with a rigorous algebraic formalism. This Letter reports a breakthrough of VCRM for 3D scattering with a line-by-line triangulation interpolation algorithm allowing to calculate the total complex amplitude of a scattered field. This makes possible to simulate not only the skeleton (geometrical rainbow angles, hyperbolic-umbilic caustics), but also the coarse (Airy bows, lattice) and fine (ripple fringes) structures of the generalized rainbow patterns (GRPs) of oblate drops. The simulated results are found qualitatively and quantitatively in good agreement with experimental scattering patterns for drops of different aspect ratios. The physical interpretation of the GRPs is also given. This work opens up prominent perspectives for simulating and understanding the 3D scattering of large particles of any shape with a smooth surface by VCRM.

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein activates extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling to downregulate sortilin expression in liver sinusoidal endothelial cells.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Both type 2 diabetes mellitus and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease are closely associated with elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and its oxidized form (ox-LDL). This study aimed to investigate the regulation of sortilin in liver tissue and its potential implications for lipid metabolism. METHODS: Sixty male Wistar rats were randomly divided into four groups: control group (n = 15), ox-LDL group (n = 15), PD98059 group (n = 15), and ox-LDL + PD98059 group (n = 15). Liver sinusoidal endothelial cells were extracted from liver tissue of the control group and were identified using an anti-CD31 antibody. Lipid droplet accumulation was observed by Oil red O and hematoxylin-eosin staining. The protein expression levels were detected by immunohistochemical staining, real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, and western blot. Histopathologic examinations were performed by Gomori methenamine silver staining. RESULTS: The ox-LDL group exhibited increased lipid droplet accumulation. Further, ox-LDL activated the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-mediated downregulation of sortilin expression, whereas blocking of ERK signaling by PD98059 increased sortilin protein expression. Consistently, hematoxylin-eosin staining showed that the structure of the hepatocytes was loose and disordered in arrangement, with lipid droplets present in the cytoplasm of the ox-LDL group. However, PD98059 significantly improved the integration of the scaffold structure. Gomori methenamine silver staining showed that the ox-LDL group had darker and more obvious fragmented silver nitrate deposits in the basement membrane and sinus space. CONCLUSIONS: Sortilin can protect liver sinusoidal endothelial cells from injury and maintain integration of the liver scaffold structure in ox-LDL-induced lipid-injured liver.

High-precision two-dimensional beam steering with a 64-element optical fiber phased array.

Large-scale optical fiber phased arrays (OFPAs) are capable of realizing high-power lasers and high-speed beam steering, which are widely used in long-distance detection and communication. However, dephasing occurring from optical fiber jitter and power amplifier noise can reduce beam quality and steering precision in applications. We demonstrate a two-dimensional 64-element OFPA system that employs a stochastic parallel gradient descent algorithm to synchronize the phases and thus achieve high-quality multi-beam output. Using multi-beam steering, the total scan time for covering a certain field of view can be shorter compared to single-beam steering. Moreover, an avalanche photodiode array is used to enhance the precision of the voltage for beam steering. Experimental results show that the peak sidelobe ratio of the main beam achieves 23.7 dB, and the speed of the beam steering between two discretionary angles is 128 kHz.

Female-specific activation of pregnane X receptor mediates sex difference in fetal hepatotoxicity by prenatal monocrotaline exposure.

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are a group of hepatic toxicant widely present in plants. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A plays a key role in metabolic activation of PAs to generate electrophilic metabolites, which is the main cause of hepatotoxicity. We have previously demonstrated the sex difference in developmental toxicity and hepatotoxicity in fetal rats exposed to monocrotaline (MCT), a representative toxic PA. The aim of this study was to explore the underlying mechanism. 20 mg·kg-1·d-1 MCT was intragastrically given to pregnant Wistar rats from gestation day 9 to 20. CYP3As expression and pregnane X receptor (PXR) activation were specifically enhanced in female fetal liver. After MCT treatment, we also observed a significant increase of CYP3As expression in LO2 cells (high PXR level) or hPXR-transfected HepG2 cells (low PXR level). Employing hPXR and CYP3A4 dual-luciferase reporter gene assay, we confirmed the agonism effect of MCT on PXR-dependent transcriptional activity of CYP3A4. Agonism and antagonism of the androgen receptor (AR) either induced or blocked MCT-induced PXR activation, respectively. This study was the first report identifying that MCT served as PXR agonist to induce CYP3A expression. CYP3A induction may increase self-metabolic activation of MCT and subsequently lead to more severe hepatotoxicity in female fetus. While in male, during the intrauterine period, activated AR by testosterone secretion from developing testes represses MCT-induced PXR activation and CYP3A induction, which may partially protect male fetus from MCT-induced hepatotoxicity.

Chip scale GaAs optical phased arrays for high speed beam steering.

High speed photoelectronic optical phased arrays are demonstrated by vertically arranged GaAs-AlGaAs slab waveguides. The optical phased arrays are composed of 15-channel independently tuned waveguide with end-fire emission. We achieve a very fast beam steering step response of 0.34 µs, beam divergence of 4.7°, and beam steering ranges of around 30°with side lobe level better than 8 dB. The presented optical phased arrays provide a superior approach for high speed beam steering on a nano-photoelectronic integrated chip.

High glucose/ox-LDL induced hepatic sinusoidal capillarization via αvß5/FAK/ERK signaling pathway.

OBJECTIVE: The main purpose of this study is to explore the role of integrin αvß5 in hepatic sinusoidal capillarization under high glucose/ox-LDL conditions. METHODS: Establish rat model of diabetic fatty liver disease. LSECs were extracted from tissue obtained from rats of control group, cultured and treated with media containing glucose (25 mM, 24 h)/ox-LDL (100 µg/ml, 24 h) in different inhibitors. The expression of integrin αvß5, FAK, ERK, VN in LSECs were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and gomori methenaminutese silver stain was used to observe the basement membrane histopathological features of the liver tissue. Immunohistochemical to detected the protein expression of integrin αvß5 and VN in liver tissue. Using scanning electron microscopy to visualise the fenestration frequency and fenestration diameter. Protein expression of VN was also testified by immunofluorescence assay. RESULTS: CONCLUSIONS: Integrin αvß5 which induces LSECs dysfunction, promoting hepatic sinusoidal capillarization regulates VN expression via ERK/FAK pathway under high glucose/ox-LDL, may be a potential target for prevention and treatment of T2DM with fatty liver disease.

Maternal-Fetal Disposition and Metabolism of Retrorsine in Pregnant Rats.

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs) are extensively synthesized by plants, are commonly present in herbs and foodstuffs, and exhibit hepatotoxicity requiring metabolic activation by cytochrome P450 3A to form the electrophilic metabolites-pyrrolic esters. PAs also cause embryo toxicity, but the metabolic profiles of PAs in fetus and placenta have been far from clear. In this study, we determined the basal metabolic activation of retrorsine (RTS) in rat maternal liver, placenta, and fetal liver in vitro and examined the fetal toxicity and bioactivation of RTS in vivo. Detection of microsomal RTS metabolites in vitro showed that the basal metabolic activity of fetal liver and placenta to RTS was much weaker than that of maternal liver. In addition, a higher rate of pyrrolic ester formation was found in normal male fetal liver compared with that of female pups. In vivo exposure to RTS caused fetal growth retardation, as well as placental and fetal liver injury. Little difference in serum RTS was observed in dams and fetuses, but the content of pyrrole-protein adduction in the fetal liver was much lower than that in maternal liver, which was consistent with basal metabolic activity. Unexpectedly, compared with basal metabolism in fetal liver, exposure to RTS during middle and late pregnancy caused an opposite gender difference in RTS metabolism and CYP3A expression in the fetal liver. For the first time, our study showed that RTS can permeate the placenta barrier and entering fetal circulation, whereas the intrauterine pyrrolic metabolite was generated mainly by fetal liver but not transported from the maternal circulation. Induction of CYP3A by RTS was gender-dependent in the fetal liver, which was probably responsible for RTS-induced fetal hepatic injury, especially for female pups.

High frame-rate computational ghost imaging system using an optical fiber phased array and a low-pixel APD array.

To obtain a high imaging frame rate, a computational ghost imaging system scheme is proposed based on optical fiber phased array (OFPA). Through high-speed electro-optic modulators, the randomly modulated OFPA can provide much faster speckle projection, which can be precomputed according to the geometry of the fiber array and the known phases for modulation. Receiving the signal light with a low-pixel APD array can effectively decrease the requirement on sampling quantity and computation complexity owing to the reduced data dimensionality while avoiding the image aliasing due to the spatial periodicity of the speckles. The results of analysis and simulation show that the frame rate of the proposed imaging system can be significantly improved compared with traditional systems.

[One new truxillic amide compound from Abrus mollis leaves].

The butanol extract part was extracted and isolated with water, alcohol and different organic solvents from Abrus mollis leaves. 6 compounds were isolated and purified using various column chromatographies and identified with the spectral techniques such as UV, MS, TLC, HPLC and NMR. The structures of 6 compounds were trigonelline (1), praline (2), alanine anhydride (3), (Z)-N-(4-hydroxycinnamoyl)tyrosine (4), (E)-N-(4-hydroxycinnamoyl)tyrosine (5), and abrusamide C (6). Compound 6 is a new compound, and compounds 1-4 were isolated from the plant for the first time.

[Primary Pharmacodynamic Study on Chuanping Dropping Pills].

OBJECTIVE: To study the antitussive, antiasthmatic, and expectorant effects of Chuanoing dropping pills. METHODS: Histamine-acetylcholine induced asthma, ovalbumin sensitization, pulmonary overflow, spiral strip trachea of guinea pig, lung strip of guinea pig, ammonia water or citric acid induced cough of mice, and phenol red expectoration of mice were carried out. RESULTS: Chuanping dripping pills significantly prolonged the incubation induced by histamine-acetylcholine, reduced the reaction stage of ovalbumin sensitization of guinea pig with asthma, inhibited the increase of pulmonary overflow on histamine induced asthma, reduced the contraction of smooth muscle and lung strip by histamine induced asthma on guinea pig, reduced cough times on ammonia or citrate acid caused mice, and increased the output on mice tracheal phenol red. CONCLUSIONS: Chuanping dropping pills have significant effect on antitussive, antiasthmatic and expectorant actions.

[The application of loop-mediated isothermal amplification for detection of common pathogenic bacteria in lower respiratory tract infections].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the spectrum of common pathogenic bacteria of low respiratory tract infection by loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) of nucleic acid test and to prove the clinical significance of this method. METHODS: A total of 289 qualified sputum samples from patients with lower respiratory tract infections in Fujian Province were detected by LAMP technique, and then the distribution of pathogenic bacteria was analyzed. The positive cases (the patients whose specific bacterial copies in their sputum samples > 1×10(3) copies/ml) were divided into 2 groups according to whether their treatment had covered this pathogen or not. The underlying diseases, duration of anti-bacterial treatment, the hospital days, and the effectiveness of initial treatment and cure rate were compared. RESULTS: The culture method in the 289 patients showed that 44 (15.2%) were positive. Tests by the LAMP method with a bacteria concentration > 1×10(3) copies/ml as cutoff value, showed positive results in 124 patients (43.0%). The lower respiratory tract pathogens included 144 strains of bacteria (77.8%), and 41 strains of atypical pathogens (22.2%). Gram-negative bacteria were the predominant pathogens, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, H. influenzae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. In 95 cases the initial therapy had covered the pathogens, while in 29 cases the initial therapy had not. The effectiveness of the initial treatment (χ(2) = 31.0, P < 0.01) and the total days of hospital stay (t = -2.083, P = 0.039) in the group whose antibiotics had covered the pathogens were significantly higher than those of the other group. However, there were no significant difference in duration of anti-bacterial treatment (t = -1.073, P = 0.285)and cure rates (χ(2) = 0.6, P = 0.4) between the 2 groups. CONCLUSIONS: LAMP method can detect the nuclear acid of the bacteria in the sputum much more rapidly and sensitively than the routine culture method. LAMP technique may be helpful to know the pathogenic bacteria before treatment, and therefore may improve the choice of initial antibiotic therapy.

A highly sensitive and specific Homo1-based real-time qPCR method for quantification of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells in rats.

BACKGROUND: Owing to the characteristics of easier access in vitro, low immunogenicity, and high plasticity, human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) are considered as a promising cell-based drugs for clinical application. No internationally recognized technology exists to evaluate the pharmacokinetics and distribution of cell-based drugs in vivo. METHODS: We determined the human-specific gene sequence, Homo1, from differential fragments Homo sapiens mitochondrion and Rattus norvegicus mitochondrion. The expression of Homo1 was utilized to determine the distribution of UC-MSCs in the normal and diabetic nephropathy (DN) rats. RESULTS: We observed a significant correlation between the number of UC-MSCs and the expression level of Homo1. Following intravenous transplantation, the blood levels of UC-MSCs peaked at 30 min. A large amount of intravenously injected MSCs were trapped in the lungs, but the number of them decreased rapidly after 24 h. Additionally, the distribution of UC-MSCs in the kidneys of DN rats was significantly higher than that of normal rats. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we establish a highly sensitive and specific Homo1-based real-time quantitative PCR method to quantify the distribution of human UC-MSCs in rats. The method provides guidelines for the safety research of cells in preclinical stages.

Scattering of a Gaussian beam by an elliptical cylinder using the vectorial complex ray model.

The scattered waves of a shaped beam by an infinite cylinder in the far field are, stricto sensu, neither cylindrical nor spherical, so the asymptotic form of special functions involved in the theories based on the rigorous solution of Maxwell equations cannot be used to evaluate scattered intensities, even in the most simple case of Gaussian beam scattering by an infinite circular cylinder. Thus, although theories exist for the scattering of a shaped beam by infinite cylinders with circular and elliptical sections, the numerical calculations are limited to the near field. The vectorial complex ray model (VCRM) developed by Ren et al. describes waves by rays with a new property: the curvature of the wavefront. It is suitable to deal with the scattering of an arbitrarily shaped beam by a particle with a smooth surface of any form. In this paper, we apply this method to the scattering of an infinite elliptical cylinder illuminated by a Gaussian beam at normal incidence with an arbitrary position and orientation relative to the symmetric axis of the elliptical section of the cylinder. The method for calculating the curvature of an arbitrary surface is given and applied in the determination of the two curvature radii of the Gaussian beam wavefront at any point. Scattered intensities for different parameters of the beam and the particle as well as observation distance are presented to reveal the scattering properties and new phenomena observed in the beam scattering by an infinite elliptical cylinder.

Optical absorption analysis and optimization of gold nanoshells.

Gold nanoshells, consisting of a nanoscale dielectric core coated with an ultrathin gold shell, have wide biomedical applications due to their strong optical absorption properties. Gold nanoshells with high absorption efficiencies can help to improve these applications. We investigate the effects of the core material, surrounding medium, core radius, and shell thickness on the absorption spectra of gold nanoshells by using the light-scattering theory of a coated sphere. Our results show that the position and intensity of the absorption peak can be tuned over a wide range by manipulating the above-mentioned parameters. We also obtain the optimal absorption efficiencies and structures of hollow gold nanoshells and gold-coated SiO(2) nanoshells embedded in water at wavelengths of 800, 820, and 1064 nm. The results show that hollow gold nanoshells possess the maximum absorption efficiency (5.42) at a wavelength of 800 nm; the corresponding shell thickness and core radius are 4.8 and 38.9 nm, respectively. They can be used as the ideal photothermal conversation particles for biomedical applications.

[Spermatic cord seal-up injection for acute epididymitis: clinical observation of 56 cases].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical effect of spermatic cord seal-up injection on acute epididymitis and its mechanisms. METHODS: A total of 120 cases of acute epididymitis were allocated to a trial group (n = 56), aged 18 - 78 (38.4 +/- 9.6) years, and a control group (n = 64), aged 14 -82 (41.3 +/- 7.2) years. The patients in the trial group were given seal-up injections of a mixture of lidocaine, gentamicin (or Amikacin) and dexamethasone into the spermatic cord, qd or bid, for 2 courses of 5 days each, with an interval of 3 to 5 days. Those in the control group were treated by intravenous drip of penicillin, qd, intramuscular injection of Streptomycin, bid, and oral medication of SMZCo (SMZ-TMP), bid, with the initial dose doubled. After less than 2 weeks of treatment, we compared the therapeutic effects between the two groups of patients. RESULTS: In the trial group, 53.6% of the patients were basically cured, 37.5% obviously improved and 91.1% improved (total rate of effectiveness). The average treatment time for the improved cases was (9.2 +/- 0.5) d. In the control group, 40.6% of the patients were basically cured, 31.2% obviously improved and 71.8% improved (total rate of effectiveness). The average treatment time for the improved cases was (12.8 +/- 0.7) d. There were significant differences between the two groups in the total rate of effectiveness and the average treatment time for the improved cases (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Spermatic cord seal-up injection for acute epididymitis deserves wide clinical application for its simple operation, good tolerance, short therapeutic course and high safety and efficacy.

A semantic union model for open domain Chinese knowledge base question answering.

In Open-domain Chinese Knowledge Base Question Answering (ODCKBQA), most common simple questions can be answered by a single relational fact in the knowledge base (KB). The abbreviations, aliases, and nesting of entities in Chinese question sentences, and the gap between them and the structured semantics in the knowledge base, make it difficult for the system to accurately return answers. This study proposes a semantic union model (SUM), which concatenates candidate entities and candidate relationships, using a contrastive learning algorithm to learn the semantic vector representation of question and candidate entity-relation pairs, and perform cosine similarity calculations to simultaneously complete entity disambiguation and relation matching tasks. It can provide information for entity disambiguation through the relationships between entities, avoid error propagation, and improve the system performance. The experimental results show that the system achieves a good average F1 of 85.94% on the dataset provided by the NLPCC-ICCPOL 2016 KBQA task.

Scattering from an elliptical cylinder by using the vectorial complex ray model.

The vectorial complex ray model (VCRM) is applied to the light scattering of an elliptical cylinder illuminated by a plane wave. In the VCRM, all waves are described by vectorial complex rays, and the scattering intensities are computed by the superposition of the complex amplitudes of the vectorial rays. The significant merit of this approach is that the wave properties are integrated in the ray model such that the divergence/convergence of the wave each time it encounters a dioptric surface is deduced by the wavefront curvature equation, and the phase shifts due to the focal lines are determined directly by the curvature of the wavefront. The approach is particularly suitable for a large cylinder with an elliptical cross section.

[Association between polymorphisms of insulin-like growth factor receptor gene and susceptibility to non-small-cell lung cancer in Fujian Chinese].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between polymorphisms of insulin-like growth factor receptor (IGF-1R and IGF-2R) and genetic susceptibility and non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: A case-control study of 260 patients with NSCLC and 258 cancer-free subjects from Fujian was carried out. Genotypes of polymorphisms of IGF-1R +1013 and IGF-2R +1619 were determined by DNA sequencing and polymerase chain reaction-restrictive fragment length polymorphism. RESULTS: (1) Significant differences in allele frequency and genotypes distribution of IGF-1R +1013 (G/A) were found between the two groups (P<0.05). On multivariate analysis after controlling age and gender, compared with GG genotype of the IGF-1R +1013 (G/A), the risk of lung cancer for individuals with GA genotype was increased by 0.80 times (95%CI: 1.24-2.59, P = 0.002), those with AA genotype was increased by 2.56 times (95%CI: 1.78-7.26, P = 0.000), and those with the polymorphic A variant (GA or AA) was increased by 0.98 times (95%CI: 1.39-2.83, P = 0.000). No significant differences in genotypic or allelic frequencies of IGF-2R +1619 (G/A) were found between the two groups (P> 0.05). (2) After stratification of the clinical status, the IGF-1R +1013 A allele increased the risk of lung squamous cell carcinoma (OR = 3.20, 95%CI: 1.75-5.84, P = 0.000), lung adenocarcinoma (OR = 1.55, 95%CI: 1.00-2.41, P = 0.049) and other types of lung cancer (OR = 1.96, 95% CI: 1.10-3.49, P = 0.023), but no association was found between the two SNPs and other clinical features. (3) IGF-1R +1013 (G/A) and IGF-2R +1619(G/A) polymorphisms showed a synergic effect (P = 0.003). CONCLUSION: The common IGF-1R gene polymorphism G1013A may influence the risk of lung cancer. The polymorphisms of IGF-1R +1013 (G/A) and IGF-2R +1619 (G/A) have synergistic influence on the risk of lung cancer.