Indistinguishable photons from an artificial atom in silicon photonics.

Silicon is the ideal material for building electronic and photonic circuits at scale. Integrated photonic quantum technologies in silicon offer a promising path to scaling by leveraging advanced semiconductor manufacturing and integration capabilities. However, the lack of deterministic quantum light sources and strong photon-photon interactions in silicon poses a challenge to scalability. In this work, we demonstrate an indistinguishable photon source in silicon photonics based on an artificial atom. We show that a G center in a silicon waveguide can generate high-purity telecom-band single photons. We perform high-resolution spectroscopy and time-delayed two-photon interference to demonstrate the indistinguishability of single photons emitted from a G center in a silicon waveguide. Our results show that artificial atoms in silicon photonics can source single photons suitable for photonic quantum networks and processors.

Sensing spin wave excitations by spin defects in few-layer-thick hexagonal boron nitride.

Optically active spin defects in wide bandgap semiconductors serve as a local sensor of multiple degrees of freedom in a variety of "hard" and "soft" condensed matter systems. Taking advantage of the recent progress on quantum sensing using van der Waals (vdW) quantum materials, here we report direct measurements of spin waves excited in magnetic insulator Y3Fe5O12 (YIG) by boron vacancy [Formula: see text] spin defects contained in few-layer-thick hexagonal boron nitride nanoflakes. We show that the ferromagnetic resonance and parametric spin excitations can be effectively detected by [Formula: see text] spin defects under various experimental conditions through optically detected magnetic resonance measurements. The off-resonant dipole interaction between YIG magnons and [Formula: see text] spin defects is mediated by multi-magnon scattering processes, which may find relevant applications in a range of emerging quantum sensing, computing, and metrology technologies. Our results also highlight the opportunities offered by quantum spin defects in layered two-dimensional vdW materials for investigating local spin dynamic behaviors in magnetic solid-state matters.

Research progress of FAPI PET/CT in the diagnosis of malignant liver tumors / 中华肝脏病杂志

Malignant liver tumors have a high incidence and mortality rate. Therefore, it is of great significance to promptly learn about tumor advancement status through relevant examinations for patients' follow-up, diagnosis, and therapy as well as the improvement of the five-year survival rate. The primary lesions and intrahepatic metastases of malignant liver tumors have been better demonstrated in the clinical study with the use of various isotope-labeled fibroblast activating protein inhibitors because of their low uptake in liver tissues and high tumor/background ratio, which provides a new method for early diagnosis, precise staging, and radionuclide therapy. In light of this context, a review of the research progress of fibroblast-activating protein inhibitors for the diagnosis of liver malignant tumors is presented.

WDR62 regulates mouse oocyte meiotic maturation related to p-JNK and H3K9 trimethylation.

WDR62 (WD40-repeat protein 62) participates in diverse biological process, especially mitotic spindle organization via regulating centriole biogenesis and the function of centriole-associated protein. However, the role of WDR62 exerts in spindle assembly and meiotic progression control in oocytes lacking typical centrosomes remains obscure. In a previous study, we reported that WDR62 is involved in spindle migration and asymmetric cytokinesis in mouse oocyte meiosis. In the current study, another novel function of WDR62 regulating cell cycle progression through meiotic spindle formation during oocyte meiotic maturation was found. Knockdown of WDR62 through siRNA microinjection disrupted the meiotic cell cycle and induced metaphase-I (MI) arrest coupled with severe spindle abnormality, chromosome misalignment, and aneuploid generation. Moreover, WDR62 depletion induced defective kinetochore-microtubule attachments (K-MT) and activated spindle assembly checkpoint (SAC), which could trigger the arrest of meiotic progression. Further study demonstrated that depletion of WDR62 was associated with an aberrant location of p-JNK and reduced its expression level; concomitantly, status of H3K9 trimethylation was also altered. In addition, phenotypes similar to WDR62 depletion were observed during the function-loss analysis of p-JNK using a specific inhibitor (SP600125), which signifies that WDR62 is important for spindle organization and meiotic progression, and this function might be via its regulation of p-JNK. In conclusion, this study revealed that WDR62 functions in multiple ways during oocyte meiotic maturation, which could be related to p-JNK and H3K9 trimethylation.

Plasma-Sprayed (Bi2O3)0.705 (Er2O3)0.245 (WO3)0.05 Electrolyte for Intermediate-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (IT-SOFCs).

Stabilized bismuth oxide material with fluorite structure (δ-Bi2O3) has been studied as a promising electrolyte material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs) due to its high oxygen ion conductivity in mediate temperature. Especially, the ternary system Bi2O3-Er2O3-WO3 is widely concerned for its high ionic conductivity and thermal stability. In this study, regarding its low melting point, the possibility to deposit dense Bi2O3-Er2O3-WO3 ((Bi2O3)0.705 (Er2O3)0.245 (WO3)0.05, EWSB) electrolyte by plasma spraying was examined. It was confirmed that the sintered EWSB bulk presents a high ion conductivity of 0.34 S cm-1 at 750 °C and excellent stability that indicates no structure transformation and conductivity degradation after annealing at 600 °C for 1000 h. The phase structure and cross-sectional microstructure of plasma-sprayed EWSB were characterized by XRD and SEM. Results showed that the as-plasma-sprayed EWSB presents a dense microstructure with well bonded lamellae. The XRD showed the formation of EWSB with δ-phase and a trace of ß-phase, while the ß-phase disappeared after annealing at 750 °C for 10 h. The deposited EWSB electrolyte presented the excellent ionic conductivity of 0.26 S cm-1 at 750 °C which can be directly applied to SOFC at intermediate temperature.

Recent Research Advances in Plasma Spraying of Bulk-Like Dense Metal Coatings with Metallurgically Bonded Lamellae.

Although thermal spray metallic coatings have been widely used for materials protection from wear, corrosion and oxidation, its porous feature limits the full utilization of materials potential. Moreover, the oxidation inherent to thermal spraying in the ambient atmosphere is detrimental to interlamellar bonding formation, which further degrades the performance of thermal spray metal coatings. How to tape out the full potential of spray materials in the form of the coating is a still great challenge to thermal spray coating technology. Facing such challenge, recent efforts have been made to deposit dense metallic coatings with sufficiently bonded lamellae by oxide-free molten droplets through atmospheric plasma spraying. In this paper, the strategies for depositing bulk-like metal coatings will be reviewed. The formation of the bulk-like coating through post-spray treatments is briefly reviewed including post-spray heat treatment and laser remelting following the brief introduction to the features of thermal spray metallic coatings. The effect of the substrate preheating temperature on the splat formation and subsequently the adhesion formation was examined to reveal the dominant limitation of resultant oxide scale. Then, the role of the deposition temperature on the formation of bulk-like metal deposits with neglecting the effect of oxidation during spraying by vacuum plasma spraying practices is shortly presented. The recent progress on the new strategies to develop spread-fusing bonding mechanism and in-situ in-flight deoxidizing mechanism through developing ultra-hot metallic droplets will be introduced. The thermodynamics and kinetics requirements for the in-situ in-flight deoxidizing through deoxidizer elements adding to alloy spray powders for achieving oxide-free molten droplets in the ambient atmosphere are examined. The conditions to develop the spread-fusing mechanism during the spreading of impacting molten metal droplet for metallurgical bonding are presented. It is obvious from this review paper that the realization of two mechanisms depends on both the spray materials design and heating control of in-flight particles. Through the generation of ultra-hot droplets by plasma spraying to achieve oxide-free molten droplets, strategically it will be possible to deposit bulk-like dense metallic coating through spread-fusing of splat surfaces with limited post-spray oxidation. Such strategies will tape out the full potential of coating materials and open up the new application fields for plasma spraying.

Microstructure and Ablation Behavior of Low-Pressure Plasma Sprayed ZrB2 Coatings Down to 100 Pa.

The effect of chamber pressure on the microstructure and ablation behavior of ZrB2 coatings deposited by low-pressure plasma spraying was investigated. The results showed that as the spray chamber pressure further was reduced to less than 50 kPa, the porosity of the coating deposited at the same distance decreased with the chamber pressure, and the coating prepared under 100 Pa presented the lowest porosity of about 0.89%. The ablation performance test subjected to high-temperature plasma jet revealed that the linear ablation rate of ZrB2 coating increased with the porosity of the coating. As a result, among the ZrB2 coatings deposited at chamber pressures of 100 Pa, 5 kPa, 10 kPa and 50 kPa, the dense coating deposited at 100 Pa showed the lowest ablation rate of 0.33 µm/s. The dense ZrB2 coating with a thickness of about 100 µm was able to withstand 300 s ablation by a plasma flame with a net power of 25 kW resulting in an ablating coating surface temperature of about 2000 °C. The ablation mechanism of the coating was also examined.

Synthesis of Si-Based High-Efficiency and High-Durability Superhydrophilic-Underwater Superoleophobic Membrane of Oil-Water Separation.

Oil pollution is caused by the frequent discharge of contaminated industrial wastewater and accidental oil spills and is a severe environmental and health concern. Therefore, efficient materials and processes for effective oil-water separation are being developed. Herein, SiO2-Na2SiO3-coated stainless steel fibers (SSF) with underwater superoleophobic and low-adhesion properties were successfully prepared via a one-step hydrothermal process. The modified surfaces were characterized with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and contact angle measurements to observe the surface morphology, confirm the successful incorporation of SiO2, and evaluate the wettability, as well as with X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results revealed that SiO2 nanoparticles were successfully grown on the stainless-steel fiber surface through the facile hydrothermal synthesis, and the formation of sodium silicate was detected with XRD. The SiO2-Na2SiO3-coated SSF surface exhibited superior underwater superoleophobic properties (153-162°), super-hydrophilicity and high separation efficiency for dichloromethane-water, n-hexane-water, tetrachloromethane-water, paroline-water, and hexadecane-water mixtures. In addition, the as-prepared SiO2-Na2SiO3-coated SSF demonstrated superior wear resistance, long-term stability, and re-usability. We suggest that the improved durability may be due to the presence of sodium silicate that enhanced the membrane strength. The SiO2-Na2SiO3-coated SSF also exhibited desirable corrosion resistance in salty and acidic environments; however, further optimization is needed for their use in basic media. The current study presents a novel approach to fabricate high-performance oil-water separation membranes.

New Helvolic Acid Derivatives with Antibacterial Activities from Sarocladium oryzae DX-THL3, an Endophytic Fungus from Dongxiang Wild Rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.).

Three new helvolic acid derivatives (named sarocladilactone A (1), sarocladilactone B (2) and sarocladic acid A (3a)), together with five known compounds (6,16-diacetoxy-25-hy- droxy-3,7-dioxy-29-nordammara-1,17(20)-dien-21-oic acid (3b), helvolic acid (4), helvolinic acid (5), 6-desacetoxy-helvolic acid (6) and 1,2-dihydrohelvolic acid (7)), were isolated from the endophytic fungus DX-THL3, obtained from the leaf of Dongxiang wild rice (Oryza rufipogon Griff.). The structures of the new compounds were elucidated via HR-MS, extensive 1D and 2D NMR analysis and comparison with reported data. Compounds 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 exhibited potent antibacterial activities. In particular, sarocladilactone B (2), helvolinic acid (5) and 6-desacetoxy-helvolic acid (6) exhibited strongly Staphylococcus aureus inhibitory activity with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 4, 1 and 4 µg/mL, respectively. The structure-activity relationship (SAR) of these compounds was primarily summarized.

Fabrication of Nanostructured Cadmium Selenide Thin Films for Optoelectronics Applications.

There is lot of research work at enhancing the performance of energy conversion and energy storage devices such as solar cells, supercapacitors, and batteries. In this regard, the low bandgap and a high absorption coefficient of CdSe thin films in the visible region, as well as, the low electrical resistivity make them ideal for the next generation of chalcogenide-based photovoltaic and electrochemical energy storage devices. Here, we present the properties of CdSe thin films synthesized at temperatures (below 100°C using readily available precursors) that are reproducible, efficient and economical. The samples were characterized using XRD, FTIR, RBS, UV-vis spectroscopy. Annealed samples showed crystalline cubic structure along (111) preferential direction with the grain size of the nanostructures increasing from 2.23 to 4.13 nm with increasing annealing temperatures. The optical properties of the samples indicate a small shift in the bandgap energy, from 2.20 to 2.12 eV with a decreasing deposition temperature. The band gap is suitably located in the visible solar energy region, which make these CdSe thin films ideal for solar energy harvesting. It also has potential to be used in electrochemical energy storage applications.

Plasma-Sprayed High-Performance (Bi2O3)0.75(Y2O3)0.25 Electrolyte for Intermediate-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (IT-SOFCs).

Rare earth element-doped bismuth oxides with the fluorite structure (δ-Bi2O3) exhibit high oxygen ion conductivity at low temperature, which is promising electrolyte materials for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs). However, traditional co-sintering process is not applicable to the manufacturing of IT-SOFCs using low melting point Bi2O3-based electrolyte, while further high-temperature processing is not required for deposition Bi2O3-based electrolytes. In this study, plasma spraying was used to examine the possibility to deposit high-performance Bi2O3-based electrolytes without the following high-temperature process. (Bi2O3)0.75 (Y2O3)0.25 (YSB) spray powders were prepared by the sinter-crushing method. The YSB electrolytes were fabricated by plasma spraying at different deposition temperatures. The effects of deposition temperature on the coating microstructure, crystalline stability, and ion conductivity were investigated. Results showed that the as-sprayed YSB electrolytes present a dense microstructure with well-bonded lamellar interfaces. The pure δ-phase YSB electrolyte was deposited with 37.5-75 µm powders at a deposition temperature of 350 °C. The deposited YSB electrolyte presented the excellent ionic conductivity of 0.19 S cm-1 at 700 °C in comparison with 0.21 S cm-1 for sintered bulk.

Effect of Powder Particle Size and Spray Parameters on the Ni/Al Reaction During Plasma Spraying of Ni-Al Composite Powders.

It was known for long that Ni-Al composite powders can be used to deposit self-bonding coating as a bond coat for common ceramic coatings due to the exothermic reaction between Ni and Al. However, it was found that with commercial Ni-Al composite powders with a large particle size, it is difficult to ignite the self-propagating reaction between Ni and Al to form Ni-Al intermetallics by plasma spraying. In this study, Ni-Al composite powder particles of different sizes were used to prepare Ni-Al intermetallics-based coatings by plasma spraying. The dependencies of the exothermic reaction between Ni and Al and the coating microstructure on powder particle size and spray parameters were investigated. The phase composition, microstructure, porosity and oxide content of the coatings were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope and image analyzing. The results show that particle size of Ni-Al composite powders is the dominant factor controlling the exothermic reaction for the formation of Ni-Al intermetallics during plasma spraying. When the powders larger than about 50 µm are used, the reaction forming aluminide cannot complete even by heating of plasma flame generated at high plasma arc power. However, when smaller powders less than 50 µm are used, the exothermic reaction can completely occur rapidly in plasma spraying, contributing to heating of Ni-Al droplets to the highest temperature for development of the self-bonding effect. The positive relationship between molten droplet temperature and tensile adhesive strength of the resultant coatings is recognized to confirm the contribution of high droplet temperature to the adhesive or cohesive strength.

MicroRNA-155 deficiency attenuates inflammation and oxidative stress in experimental autoimmune prostatitis in a TLR4-dependent manner.

To explore the mechanism of microRNA-155 (miR-155) deficiency, protecting against experimental autoimmune prostatitis (EAP) in a toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-dependent manner. After wild-type (WT) and miR-155-/- mice were injected with complete Freund's adjuvant and prostate antigen to establish EAP model, half were randomly selected for injection with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, a TLR4 ligand). The following experiments were then performed: von Frey filaments, hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), Western blotting, and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). And the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and the level of Malondialdehyde (MDA) were detected by corresponding kits.miR-155-/- mice with prostatitis exhibited the attenuated pelvic tactile allodynia/hyperalgesia and the suppressed TLR4/nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway as compared with the WT mice with prostatitis. In addition, LPS enhanced the upregulation of miR-155 and the activation of the TLR4/NF-κB pathway in the prostatic tissues of WT mice with EAP. Furthermore, prostatitis mice had aggravated inflammation scores accompanying the increased interleukin (IL)-1ß, tumor necrosis factor-α, IL-6, interferon-γ, IL-12, and MDA in prostatic tissues with the decreased IL-10, SOD and GSH-Px, and the unaltered IL-4. Compared with the mice from the WT + EAP group and the miR-155-/- + EAP + LPS group, mice from the miR-155-/- + EAP group had decreased inflammation and oxidative stress. miR-155 deficiency ameliorated pelvic tactile allodynia/hyperalgesia in EAP mice and improved inflammation and oxidative stress in prostatic tissues in a TLR4-dependent manner involving NF-κB activation, thereby exerting a therapeutic effect in chronic prostatitis treatment.

Platelet Volume Is Reduced In Metastasing Breast Cancer: Blood Profiles Reveal Significant Shifts.

BACKGROUND: Platelets play a crucial role in breast cancer (BC) progression and metastases. Mean platelet volume (MPV) is an indicator of platelet activation. The aim of the present study was to assess whether there is a difference in MPV between patients with metastatic BC with liver metastases and those with BC without liver metastases. METHODS: Between January 2014 and December 2017, 211 metastatic BC patients with synchronous liver metastases and 215 BC patients without metastases were retrospectively analyzed. Patients' clinicopathological characteristics data were collected. RESULTS: MPV levels were reduced in patients with liver metastases compared with those in patients without liver metastases. There were significant differences in MPV levels according to liver metastases status both in premenopausal and in postmenopausal non-TNBC or non-HER2+ patients. Moreover, in postmenopausal HER2+ or TNBC patients, MPV levels were lower in patients with liver metastases compared with those in patients without liver metastases. In the group with non-liver metastasis, platelet distribution width was significantly associated with tumor N stage. In addition, the prevalence of BC liver metastases decreased as MPV quartiles increased. After adjusting for other risk factors, the odds ratios for liver metastases according to MPV quartiles were 1.000, 0.267 (0.134-0.530), 0.072 (0.034-0.152), and 0.137 (0.066-0.281), respectively. CONCLUSION: MPV is reduced in BC patients with liver metastases compared with that in BC patients without metastases. Moreover, MPV is independently associated with the presence of liver metastases.

Decreased platelet distribution width predicts a worse prognosis in patients undergoing surgical resection for hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common malignant tumor and second most common cause of tumor-related deaths worldwide. Activated platelets play a prominent role in tumor. Platelet distribution width (PDW) indicates platelets activation and is altered in malignancies. The aim of this study was to explore the prognostic value of PDW for overall survival (OS) in HCC patients. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 273 HCC patients at a single institution from 2010 to 2014. The relationship between PDW and clinicopathological characteristics was analyzed. Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariate Cox regression analyses were used to evaluate the relationship of PDW with OS. RESULTS: Low PDW levels were observed in 127 (46.5%) out of 273 patients. A significant correlation was found between PDW and liver cirrhosis. Median follow-up was 36 months, survival curves revealed that the patients with increased PDW had significantly shorter survival time than those with normal PDW (p= 0.001). Cox regression analysis demonstrated that PDW was an independent prognostic factor for overall survival (hazard ratio, 2.464; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.402-4.330, p= 0.001). CONCLUSION: PDW is significantly associated with OS in HCC. This result suggests activated platelet may affect clinical outcome and warrant continued investigation.

Serum Zonulin in HBV-Associated Chronic Hepatitis, Liver Cirrhosis, and Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The gut microbiota is involved in the occurrence and development of chronic liver diseases. Zonulin is considered a marker of intestinal permeability. The purpose of this study was to assess zonulin levels in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), HBV-associated liver cirrhosis (LC), and HBV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study population consisted of 90 HBV-associated HCC patients, 90 HBV-associated LC patients, 90 CHB patients, and 90 healthy subjects. Serum levels of zonulin and AFP were determined. The diagnostic accuracy of each marker was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis (AUC). RESULTS: Serum zonulin levels were significantly higher in patients with HCC than in patients with LC or CHB or healthy subjects (p < 0.001). Moreover, the zonulin levels were increased in the advanced stage of LC and HCC. ROC curve analysis revealed that serum zonulin could be used to differentiate CHB from cirrhosis. In addition, the combination of zonulin and AFP exhibited a significantly larger AUC compared with zonulin or AFP alone. CONCLUSIONS: Serum zonulin levels were significantly increased both in LC and in HCC and correlated with the advanced stage of LC and HCC. Moreover, the combination of zonulin and AFP confers significant benefit to diagnostic accuracy in differentiating LC from HCC.

Bioinspired Mechanically Robust Metal-Based Water Repellent Surface Enabled by Scalable Construction of a Flexible Coral-Reef-Like Architecture.

Mechanical robustness is a central concern for moving artificial superhydrophobic surfaces to application practices. It is believed that bulk hydrophilic materials cannot be use to construct micro/nanoarchitectures for superhydrophobicity since abrasion-induced exposure of hydrophilic surfaces leads to remarkable degradation of water repellency. To address this challenge, the robust mechanical durability of a superhydrophobic surface with metal (hydrophilic) textures, through scalable construction of a flexible coral-reef-like hierarchical architecture on various substrates including metals, glasses, and ceramics, is demonstrated. Discontinuous coral-reef-like Cu architecture is built by solid-state spraying commercial electrolytic Cu particles (15-65 µm) at supersonic particle velocities. Subsequent flame oxidation is applied to introduce a porous hard surface oxide layer. Owing to the unique combination of the flexible coral-reef-like architecture and self-similar manner of the fluorinated hard oxide surface layer, the coating surface retains its water repellency with an extremely low roll-off angle (<2°) after cyclic sand-paper abrasion, mechanical bending, sand-grit erosion, knife-scratching, and heavy loading of simulated acid rain droplets. Strong adhesion to glass, ceramics, and metals up to 34 MPa can be achieved without using adhesive. The results show that the present superhydrophobic coating can have wide outdoor applications for self-cleaning and corrosion protection of metal parts.

Carbazole alkaloids isolated from the branch and leaf extracts of Clausena lansium.

The present study carried out a phytochemical investigation of the methanol extract of the branches and leaves of Clausena lansium and afforded nine carbazole alkaloids (compounds 1-9) including two new carbazole alkaloids, claulansiums A and B (compounds 1 and 2). The new compounds were elucidated on the basis of extensive spectroscopic data (MS, NMR, IR, and UV) and the known compounds were identified by comparing spectroscopic data with those reported in literature. All the isolated compounds were tested for their cytotoxic activity against A549 and Hela cancer cell lines. Our results showed that compounds 2-6 exhibited varying degrees of cytotoxicity to cancer cells, with IC50 values ranging from 8.67 to 98.89 µmol·L-1.