Exponentially Enhanced Non-Hermitian Cooling.

Certain non-Hermitian systems exhibit the skin effect, whereby the wave functions become exponentially localized at one edge of the system. Such exponential amplification of wavefunction has received significant attention due to its potential applications in, e.g., classical and quantum sensing. However, the opposite edge of the system, featured by exponentially suppressed wave functions, remains largely unexplored. Leveraging this phenomenon, we introduce a non-Hermitian cooling mechanism, which is fundamentally distinct from traditional refrigeration or laser cooling techniques. Notably, non-Hermiticity will not amplify thermal excitations, but rather redistribute them. Hence, thermal excitations can be cooled down at one edge of the system, and the cooling effect can be exponentially enhanced by the number of auxiliary modes, albeit with a lower bound that depends on the dissipative interaction with the environment. Non-Hermitian cooling does not rely on intricate properties such as exceptional points or nontrivial topology, and it can apply to a wide range of excitations.

Rapid identification and determination of chemical components of huai yam based on UPLC-Q-Exactive-MS and fragmentation patterns.

Huai Yam (Dioscoreae Rhizoma) contains many active ingredients such as flavonoids, saponins, and amino acids. In this study, an efficient method for the classification and rapid identification of yam components was established based on UPLC-Q-Exactive-MS and data post-processing techniques. First, the mass spectrometry information including the characteristic fragmentations (CFs) and neutral losses (NLs) of yam reported in the literature were summarised and a database of compounds was established. Then, the mass spectrometry data detected by the yam sample are compared with those described in database for rapid identification of target compounds. Finally, 60 compounds were identified, including 18 flavones, 2 saponins, 10 amino acids, 7 organic acids, 3 carbohydrates, 8 fatty acids and 12 others. A new strategy for identifying target constituents based on CFs and NLs was successfully established, laying the foundation for further research on yam and promoting the development of composition analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

Molecular Mechanisms of Iron Transport and Homeostasis Regulated by Antarctic Krill-Derived Heptapeptide-Iron Complex.

In this study, the molecular mechanisms of iron transport and homeostasis regulated by the Antarctic krill-derived heptapeptide-iron (LVDDHFL-iron) complex were explored. LVDDHFL-iron significantly increased the hemoglobin, serum iron, total iron binding capacity levels, and iron contents in the liver and spleen to normal levels, regulated the gene expressions of iron homeostasis, and enhanced in vivo antioxidant capacity in iron-deficiency anemia mice (P < 0.05). The results revealed that iron ions within LVDDHFL-iron can be transported via the heme transporter and divalent metal transporter-1, and the absorption of LVDDHFL-iron involved receptor-mediated endocytosis. We also found that the transport of LVDDHFL-iron across cells via phagocytosis was facilitated by the up-regulation of the high mobility group protein, heat shock protein ß, and V-type proton ATPase subunit, accompanied by the regulatory mechanism of autophagy. These findings provided deeper understandings of the mechanism of LVDDHFL-iron facilitating iron absorption.

Elevated SLC40A1 impairs cardiac function and exacerbates mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and apoptosis in ischemic myocardia.

Iron homeostasis is crucial for optimal cardiac function. Iron deficiency and overload have been linked to the development of cardiomyopathy and heart failure (HF) via intricate mechanisms. Although the crucial role of SLC40A1 in iron metabolism by facilitating the efflux of cellular iron has been confirmed, its specific molecular functions in cardiovascular diseases remain poorly understood. In this study, we generated mice with inducible cardiomyocyte-specific overexpression of SLC40A1 for the first time. The overexpression of SLC40A1 in the cardiomyocytes of adult mice resulted in significant iron deficiency, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and apoptosis, subsequently resulting in the development of fatal HF. Notably, SLC40A1 upregulation was observed in the ischemic region during the initial phase of myocardial infarction (MI), contributing to iron loss in the cardiomyocytes. Conversely, the cardiomyocyte-specific knockdown of SLC40A1 improved cardiac dysfunction after MI by enhancing mitochondrial function, suppressing oxidative stress, and reducing cardiomyocytes apoptosis. Mechanistically, Steap4 interacted with SLC40A1, facilitating SLC40A1-mediated iron efflux from cardiomyocytes. In short, our study presents evidence for the involvement of SLC40A1 in the regulation of myocardial iron levels and the therapeutic benefits of cardiomyocyte-specific knockdown of SLC40A1 in MI in mice.

The Effects of Abdominal Obesity and Sagittal Imbalance on Sacroiliac Joint Pain After Lumbar Fusion.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative sacroiliac joint pain (SIJP) is a common manifestation of failed back surgery syndrome after a posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). However, there is currently no consensus on the risk factors for SIJP after PLIF. OBJECTIVES: We explored the effects of abdominal obesity and sagittal imbalance on SIJP after PLIF. STUDY DESIGN: This is a prospective observational cohort study. SETTING: This study occurred at the Department of Spinal Surgery at a hospital affiliated with a medical university. METHODS: A total of 401 patients who underwent PLIF from June 2018 to June 2021 were enrolled in this study. 36 patients experienced postoperative SIJP. In contrast, a matched group comprised 72 non-SIJP patients. We used 1:2 propensity score matching to compare obesity features and sagittal spine parameters in the 2 groups. Inflammatory cytokines and visual analog scale (VAS) scores were measured in the SIJP group. RESULTS: A total of 36 patients (8.98%) experienced SIJP during the follow-up. Compared with the non-SIJP group, patients with postoperative SIJP had a higher body mass index (BMI), greater abdominal obesity, a higher incidence of pelvic incidence-lumbar lordosis greater than 10°, and a higher incidence of a sagittal vertical axis greater than 5 cm (P < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis showed that the area under the curve for waist circumference was greater than that for BMI (0.762 vs. 0.650, P = 0.049). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the risk factors for SIJP were abdominal obesity, a pelvic incidence-lumbar lordosis of greater than 10°, and a sagittal vertical axis greater than 5 cm (P < 0.05). In patients with SIJP, interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor-α, and VAS scores were higher in the abdominal obesity group than in the non-abdominal obesity group (P < 0.05). LIMITATIONS: There was no uniform diagnosis of SIJP, so the incidence rate of SIJP might not be accurate. CONCLUSIONS: The significant predictors of SIJP were abdominal obesity and sagittal imbalance. Patients with abdominal obesity showed higher levels of inflammatory markers and pain intensity. More attention should be paid to body shape and the angle of correction of lumbar lordosis before lumbar surgery.

Vitamin D delays intervertebral disc degeneration and improves bone quality in ovariectomized rats.

Known to be involved in bone-cartilage metabolism, Vitamin D (VD) may play a role in human's disc pathophysiology. Given that postmenopausal women are prone to suffer VD deficiency and intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD), this study is intended to investigate whether VD can delay IDD in ovariectomized rats by improving bone microstructure and antioxidant stress. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly allocated into four groups: sham, oophorectomy (OVX)+VD deficiency (VDD), OVX, and OVX+VD supplementation (VDS). In vivo, after a 6-month intervention, imaging and pathology slice examinations showed that IDD induced by OVX was significantly alleviated in VDS and deteriorated by VDD. The expressions of aggrecan and Collagen II in intervertebral disc were reduced by OVX and VDD, and elevated by VDS. Compared with the OVX+VDD and OVX group vertebrae, OVX+VDS group vertebrae showed significantly improved endplate porosity and lumbar bone mineral density with increased percent bone volume and trabecular thickness. Furthermore, 1α,25(OH)2 D3 restored the redox balance (total antioxidant capacity, ratio of oxidized glutathione/glutathione) in the disc. The cocultivation of 1α,25(OH)2 D3 and nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs) was conducted to observe its potential ability to resist excessive oxidative stress damage induced by H2 O2 . In vitro experiments revealed that 1α,25(OH)2 D3 reduced the senescence, apoptosis, and extracellular matrix degradation induced by H2 O2 in NPCs. In conclusion, VDS exhibits protective effects in OVX-induced IDD, partly by regulating the redox balance and preserving the microstructure of endplate. This finding provides a new idea for the prevention and treatment of IDD.

Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion with a zero-profile VA spacer device: a clinical and radiological study with two-year follow-up.

STUDY DESIGN: A retrospective study. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to compare clinical and radiological outcomes of the anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) with a novel zero-profile variable-angle (Zero-P VA) spacer and a traditional poly-ether-ether-ketone (PEEK) cage and plate system in cases pertaining to cervical radiculopathy/myelopathy. There are two conventional types of ACDF procedures aimed at treating symptomatic cervical spondylosis. The first one involves an uninstrumented "stand-alone" approach utilizing bone graft/cage, while the second incorporates bone graft/cage in conjunction with a front plate positioned before the vertebral bodies. Both procedures have their own inherent advantages and disadvantages. The Zero-P VA spacer, however, represents a unique synthesis by amalgamating the advantages of both traditionally typical procedures. Notably, this spacer can potentially circumvent the issue related to prevertebral soft-tissue disturbance and reduce the occurrence of dysphagia. METHODS: Using our surgical database, the authors systematically conducted a retrospective analysis encompassing all patients who underwent single-level ACDF between January 2018 and January 2019, with a minimum two-year follow-up. Patients either received a Zero-P VA implant or PEEK cage coupled with plating. The Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) for arm and neck pain were documented. Dysphagia was evaluated using the Eating Assessment Tool-10 (ETA-10). Additional parameters such as cervical alignment, fusion rate and the incidence of postoperative complications were assessed. RESULTS: According to the outcomes of the statistical analysis, there was no substantial disparity that emerged in the advancements observed in the JOA and VAS metrics between the two study cohorts. Noteworthy, however, the ETA-10 scores were statistically significantly reduced in the Zero-P VA group compared to the cage and plating group (p < 0.05). At the final follow-up, there were no statistically significant differences in the height of the operated segment, Cobb angle of the fused segment, C2-C7 Cobb angle and fusion rate between the two groups (p > 0.05). However, postoperative complications were slightly lower in patients with the Zero-P VA group (7.69%) as compared to the cage and plating group (16.67%). CONCLUSION: The clinical outcomes observed with the Zero-P VA spacer used for single-level ACDF were found to be satisfactory. The performance of this device is comparable or even superior to the traditional cage and plating method in preventing postoperative dysphagia and mitigating potential complications associated with the use of a plate.

Reinforcement Learning-Guided Long-Timescale Simulation of Hydrogen Transport in Metals.

Diffusion in alloys is an important class of atomic processes. However, atomistic simulations of diffusion in chemically complex solids are confronted with the timescale problem: the accessible simulation time is usually far shorter than that of experimental interest. In this work, long-timescale simulation methods are developed using reinforcement learning (RL) that extends simulation capability to match the duration of experimental interest. Two special limits, RL transition kinetics simulator (TKS) and RL low-energy states sampler (LSS), are implemented and explained in detail, while the meaning of general RL are also discussed. As a testbed, hydrogen diffusivity is computed using RL TKS in pure metals and a medium entropy alloy, CrCoNi, and compared with experiments. The algorithm can produce counter-intuitive hydrogen-vacancy cooperative motion. We also demonstrate that RL LSS can accelerate the sampling of low-energy configurations compared to the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, using hydrogen migration to copper (111) surface as an example.

Spatial-temporal pattern of change in production-living-ecological space of Nanchong City from 2000 to 2020 and underlying factors.

This study analyzed the spatial-temporal change pattern and underlying factors in production-living-ecological space (PLES) of Nanchong City, China, over the past 20 years using historical land use data (2000, 2010, 2020). A land use transfer matrix was calculated from the historical land use maps, and spatial analysis was conducted to analyze changes in the land use dynamics degree, standard deviation ellipse, and center of gravity. The results showed that there was a rapid spatial evolution of the PLES in Nanchong from 2000 to 2010, followed by a stabilization in the second decade. The transfer of ecological-production space occurred mainly in the Jialing and Yilong River basins, while the reduction of production space and the increase of living space were most prominent in the intersection of three districts (Shunqing, Jialing, and Gaoping districts). The return of production-ecological space was observed in the south and northeast of Yingshan, and there was little notable transfer of other types. The distribution of production space in Nanchong evolved in a north-south to east-west trend, with the center of gravity moving from Yilong to Peng'an County. The living space and production space expanded in a north-south direction, and the center of gravity position was in Nanbu, indicating a more balanced growth or decrease in the last 20 years. The changes in the spatial-temporal pattern of PLES in Nanchong were attributed to the intertwined factors of national policies, economic development, population growth, and the natural environment. This study introduced a novel approach towards rational planning of land resources in Nanchong, which may facilitate more sustainable urban planning and development.

FAM210A is essential for cold-induced mitochondrial remodeling in brown adipocytes.

Cold stimulation dynamically remodels mitochondria in brown adipose tissue (BAT) to facilitate non-shivering thermogenesis in mammals, but what regulates mitochondrial plasticity is poorly understood. Comparing mitochondrial proteomes in response to cold revealed FAM210A as a cold-inducible mitochondrial inner membrane protein. An adipocyte-specific constitutive knockout of Fam210a (Fam210aAKO) disrupts mitochondrial cristae structure and diminishes the thermogenic activity of BAT, rendering the Fam210aAKO mice vulnerable to lethal hypothermia under acute cold exposure. Induced knockout of Fam210a in adult adipocytes (Fam210aiAKO) does not affect steady-state mitochondrial structure under thermoneutrality, but impairs cold-induced mitochondrial remodeling, leading to progressive loss of cristae and reduction of mitochondrial density. Proteomics reveals an association between FAM210A and OPA1, whose cleavage governs cristae dynamics and mitochondrial remodeling. Mechanistically, FAM210A interacts with mitochondrial protease YME1L and modulates its activity toward OMA1 and OPA1 cleavage. These data establish FAM210A as a key regulator of mitochondrial cristae remodeling in BAT and shed light on the mechanism underlying mitochondrial plasticity in response to cold.

Role of ferroptosis and immune infiltration in intervertebral disc degeneration: novel insights from bioinformatics analyses.

Background: Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD), which contributes to stenosis of the spinal segment, commonly causes lower back pain. The process of IVDD degradation entails gradual structural adjustments accompanied by extreme transformations in metabolic homeostasis. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms associated with IVDD are poorly understood. Methods: The RNA-sequencing datasets GSE34095 and GSE56081 were obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Ferroptosis-related differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified from these gene sets. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was established and visualized using the STRING database and Cytoscape software, and the key functional modules of ferroptosis-related genes were identified. Gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analyses were performed on the DEGs. Weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), immune infiltration analysis in the GEO database, and other GSE series were used as validation datasets. The xCELL algorithm was performed to investigate the immune cell infiltration differences between the degenerated IVDD and control groups. Results: The major genes involved in nucleus pulposus tissue immune infiltration and ferroptosis-related genes were mined by bioinformatics analysis. A total of 3,056 DEGs were obtained between the IVDD tissue and control groups. The DEGs were enriched in the cell cycle; apoptosis; necroptosis; and the PI3K-Akt, Hippo, and HIF-1 signaling pathways. PCR and Western blot techniques were utilized to confirm the differential ferroptosis-related genes. The results indicated that the protein expression levels of NCOA4 and PCBP1 were elevated, while the protein expression level of GPX4 was reduced in NPCs following IL-1ß treatment. Our study has found that severe disc tissue degeneration leads to a noteworthy increase in the expression of CD8A in naive T cells, CCR7 in memory CD4+ cells, GZMB in natural killer (NK) cells, and CD163 and CD45 in macrophages. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate that ferroptosis occurs in IVDD, suggesting that ferroptosis may also increase IVDD improvement by triggering immune infiltration. This work was conducted to further understand IVDD pathogenesis and identify new treatment strategies.

Targeting mitochondrial circadian rhythms: The potential intervention strategies of Traditional Chinese medicine for myocardial ischaemia‒reperfusion injury.

Coronary artery disease has one of the highest mortality rates in the country, and methods such as thrombolysis and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) can effectively improve symptoms and reduce mortality, but most patients still experience symptoms such as chest pain after PCI, which seriously affects their quality of life and increases the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events (myocardial ischaemiareperfusion injury, MIRI). MIRI has been shown to be closely associated with circadian rhythm disorders and mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are a key component in the maintenance of normal cardiac function, and new research shows that mitochondria have circadian properties. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), as a traditional therapeutic approach characterised by a holistic concept and evidence-based treatment, has significant advantages in the treatment of MIRI, and there is an interaction between the yin-yang theory of TCM and the circadian rhythm of Western medicine at various levels. This paper reviews the clinical evidence for the treatment of MIRI in TCM, basic experimental studies on the alleviation of MIRI by TCM through the regulation of mitochondria, the important role of circadian rhythms in the pathophysiology of MIRI, and the potential mechanisms by which TCM regulates mitochondrial circadian rhythms to alleviate MIRI through the regulation of the biological clock transcription factor. It is hoped that this review will provide new insights into the clinical management, basic research and development of drugs to treat MIRI.

α-Ketoglutaric acid ameliorates intervertebral disk degeneration by blocking the IL-6/JAK2/STAT3 pathway.

Intervertebral disk degeneration (IVDD) is the major cause of low back pain. Alpha-ketoglutaric acid (α-KG), an important intermediate in energy metabolism, has various functions, including epigenetic regulation, maintenance of redox homeostasis, and antiaging, but whether it can ameliorate IVDD has not been reported. Here, we examined the impacts of long-term administration of α-KG on aging-associated IVDD in adult rats. In vivo and in vitro experiments showed that α-KG supplementation effectively ameliorated IVDD in rats and the senescence of nucleus pulposus cells (NPCs). α-KG supplementation significantly attenuated senescence, apoptosis, and matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13) protein expression, and it increased the synthesis of aggrecan and collagen II in IL-1ß-treated NPCs. In addition, α-KG supplementation reduced the levels of IL-6, phosphorylated JAK2 and STAT3, and the nuclear translocation of p-STAT3 in IL-1ß-induced degenerating NPCs. The effects of α-KG were enhanced by AG490 in NPCs. The underlying mechanism may involve the inhibition of JAK2/STAT3 phosphorylation and the reduction of IL-6 expression. Our findings may help in the development of new therapeutic strategies for IVDD.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Alpha-ketoglutaric acid (α-KG) exerted its protective effect on nucleus pulposus cells' (NPCs) degeneration by inhibiting the senescence-associated secretory phenotype and extracellular matrix degradation. The possible mechanism may be associated with negatively regulating the JAK2/STAT3 phosphorylation and the decreased IL-6 expression, which could be explained by a blockage of the positive feedback control loop between IL-6 and JAK2/STAT3 pathway.

Telomere length as a marker of changes in body composition and fractures-an analysis of data from the NHANES 2001-2002.

Purpose: There has been an association between changes in body composition, fracture incidence, and age in previous studies. Telomere length (TL) has been proposed as a biomarker of aging. However, the relationship between body composition, fractures, and TL has rarely been studied. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the correlation between TL and body composition and fractures.Patients and methods: 20950 participants from the 2001-2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were included in the final analysis. In NHANES, body compositions were measured with DXA, and TL was determined with quantitative PCR. Correlation analysis of TL and body composition was conducted using multivariate weighted linear regression and logistic regression models. Results: The results showed that TL positively correlated with bone mineral density (BMD) and bone mineral content (BMC) in most body parts. However, BMD and BMC were negatively connected with TL in the upper limbs and skull. Fat content was negatively associated with TL, while muscle content was positively linked to TL. In addition, TL's trend analysis results were consistent with the regression model when transformed from a continuous to a classified variable. An increase in TL was associated with a higher incidence of wrist fractures, while a decrease in spine fractures. The above correlation also has a certain degree of sex specificity. Conclusion: Our study indicate that TL is associated with body composition as well as fractures, but further research is needed to confirm these contrasting associations in the skull, upper limbs, and wrists.

Giant room-temperature nonlinearities in a monolayer Janus topological semiconductor.

Nonlinear optical materials possess wide applications, ranging from terahertz and mid-infrared detection to energy harvesting. Recently, the correlations between nonlinear optical responses and certain topological properties, such as the Berry curvature and the quantum metric tensor, have attracted considerable interest. Here, we report giant room-temperature nonlinearities in non-centrosymmetric two-dimensional topological materials-the Janus transition metal dichalcogenides in the 1 T' phase, synthesized by an advanced atomic-layer substitution method. High harmonic generation, terahertz emission spectroscopy, and second harmonic generation measurements consistently show orders-of-the-magnitude enhancement in terahertz-frequency nonlinearities in 1 T' MoSSe (e.g., > 50 times higher than 2H MoS2 for 18th order harmonic generation; > 20 times higher than 2H MoS2 for terahertz emission). We link this giant nonlinear optical response to topological band mixing and strong inversion symmetry breaking due to the Janus structure. Our work defines general protocols for designing materials with large nonlinearities and heralds the applications of topological materials in optoelectronics down to the monolayer limit.

Characterizing Temperature and Strain Variations with Qubit Ensembles for Their Robust Coherence Protection.

Solid-state spin defects, especially nuclear spins with potentially achievable long coherence times, are compelling candidates for quantum memories and sensors. However, their current performances are still limited by dephasing due to variations of their intrinsic quadrupole and hyperfine interactions. We propose an unbalanced echo to overcome this challenge by using a second spin to refocus variations of these interactions while preserving the quantum information stored in the nuclear spin free evolution. The unbalanced echo can be used to probe the temperature and strain distribution in materials. We develop first-principles methods to predict variations of these interactions and reveal their correlation over large temperature and strain ranges. Experiments performed in an ensemble of ∼10^{10} nuclear spins in diamond demonstrate a 20-fold dephasing time increase, limited by other noise sources. We further numerically show that our method can refocus even stronger noise variations than present in our experiments.

Iron Complexes with Antarctic Krill-Derived Peptides Show Superior Effectiveness to Their Original Protein-Iron Complexes in Mice with Iron Deficiency Anemia.

Antarctic krill protein-iron complex and peptide-iron complex were acquired to investigate their iron bioavailability, expression of iron-regulated genes, and in vivo antioxidant capacity. Results indicated that the Antarctic krill peptide-iron complex significantly increased the hemoglobin (Hb), serum iron (SI), and iron contents in the liver and spleen in iron-deficiency anemia (IDA) mice (p < 0.05) compared with those of the Antarctic krill protein-iron complex. Despite the gene expressions of the divalent metal transporter 1(DMT1), the transferrin (Tf), and the transferrin receptor (TfR) being better regulated by both Antarctic krill peptide-iron complex and protein-iron complex, the relative iron bioavailability of the Antarctic krill peptide-iron complex group (152.53 ± 21.05%) was significantly higher than that of the protein-iron complex group (112.75 ± 9.60%) (p < 0.05). Moreover, Antarctic krill peptide-iron complex could enhance the antioxidant enzyme activities of superoxidase dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), reduce the malondialdehyde (MDA) level in IDA mice compared with the protein-iron complex, and reduce the cell damage caused by IDA. Therefore, these results indicated that Antarctic krill peptide-iron complex could be used as a highly efficient and multifunctional iron supplement.

Communication-Efficient Quantum Algorithm for Distributed Machine Learning.

The growing demands of remote detection and an increasing amount of training data make distributed machine learning under communication constraints a critical issue. This work provides a communication-efficient quantum algorithm that tackles two traditional machine learning problems, the least-square fitting and softmax regression problems, in the scenario where the dataset is distributed across two parties. Our quantum algorithm finds the model parameters with a communication complexity of O(log_{2}(N)/ε), where N is the number of data points and ε is the bound on parameter errors. Compared to classical and other quantum methods that achieve the same goal, our methods provide a communication advantage in the scaling with data volume. The core of our methods, the quantum bipartite correlator algorithm that estimates the correlation or the Hamming distance of two bit strings distributed across two parties, may be further applied to other information processing tasks.

Laser Cooling of Nuclear Magnons.

The initialization of nuclear spin to its ground state is challenging due to its small energy scale compared with thermal energy, even at cryogenic temperature. In this Letter, we propose an optonuclear quadrupolar effect, whereby two-color optical photons can efficiently interact with nuclear spins. Leveraging such an optical interface, we demonstrate that nuclear magnons, the collective excitations of nuclear spin ensemble, can be cooled down optically. Under feasible experimental conditions, laser cooling can suppress the population and entropy of nuclear magnons by more than 2 orders of magnitude, which could facilitate the application of nuclear spins in quantum information science.

Association Between Poor Nutritional Status and Increased Risk for Subsequent Vertebral Fracture in Elderly People with Percutaneous Vertebroplasty.

Background: The relationship between a poor nutritional state and the risk of fractures has not been investigated. This study aimed to investigate the ability of the Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) and Geriatric Nutritional Risk Index (GNRI) to predict the incidence of subsequent vertebral fracture (SVF) after percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP). Methods: A total of 307 women and 138 men over 50 years old who underwent PVP for osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF) were included. Blood biochemical indexes, body mass index (BMI), bone mineral density (BMD), physical function, and muscle strength were measured at baseline. Cox regression analysis was used to determine whether nutritional state was an independent predictor for SVF. Results: During follow-up, 35 (25.4%) men and 85 (27.7%) women suffered SVF. Patients with SVF had lower BMI, serum albumin levels, GNRI scores, grip strength, lumbar BMD, and Short-Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) scores and higher fall rates and CONUT scores (P < 0.05). Compared with normal nutrition, mild malnutrition was associated with higher risk for SVF (women: HR 2.37, p=0.001, men: HR 2.97, p=0.021 by GNRI; women: HR 2.36, p=0.005, men: HR 3.62, p=0.002 by CONUT) after adjusting for confounding factors. Those with moderate-severe malnutrition also had a higher risk of SVF. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that poor nutrition state was significantly associated with lower SVF-free survival (P<0.05). The area under curve (AUC) for predicting SVF was 0.65 and 0.73 for the GNRI and 0.67 and 0.66 for the CONUT in men and women, respectively. Conclusion: GNRI and CONUT are simple and effective tools for predicting SVF in patients undergoing PVP. Health management and nutrition supplement after PVP is a potentially effective prevention strategy against SVF.