[Clinicopathological and molecular genetic features of Crohn's disease].

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological and molecular genetic characteristics of Crohn's disease (CD). Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 52 CD patients who underwent surgical resection at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between January 2014 and June 2023. Clinical presentations and histopathological features were assessed. Whole-genome sequencing was performed on 17 of the samples, followed by sequencing and pathway enrichment analyses. Immunohistochemistry was used to assess the expression of frequently mutated genes. Results: Among the 52 patients, 34 were males and 18 were females, male-to-female ratio was 1.9∶1.0, with a median age of 45 years at surgery and 35 years at diagnosis. According to the Montreal classification, A3 (51.9%,27/52), B2 (61.5%, 32/52), and L3 (50.0%,26/52) subtypes were the most predominant. Abdominal pain and diarrhea were the common symptoms. Histopathological features seen in all 52 patients included transmural inflammation, disruption of cryptal architecture, lymphoplasmacytic infiltration, varying degrees of submucosal fibrosis and thickening, increased enteric nerve fibers and neuronal proliferation. Mucosal defects, fissure ulcers, abscesses, pseudopolyps, and adenomatous proliferation were also observed in 51 (98.1%), 38 (73.1%), 28 (53.8%), 45 (86.5%), and 28 (53.8%) cases, respectively. Thirty-one (59.6%) cases had non-caseating granulomas, and 3 (5.8%) cases had intestinal mucosal glandular epithelial dysplasia. Molecular analysis showed that 12/17 CD patients exhibited mutations in at least one mucin family gene (MUC2, MUC3A, MUC4, MUC6, MUC12, MUC17), and MUC4 was the most frequently mutated in 7/17 of cases. Immunohistochemical stains showed reduced MUC4 expression in epithelial cells, with increased MUC4 expression in the epithelial surface, particularly around areas of inflammatory cell aggregation; and minimal expression in the lower half of the epithelium. Conclusions: CD exhibits diverse clinical and pathological features, necessitating a comprehensive multidimensional analysis for diagnosis. Mutations and expression alterations in mucin family genes, particularly MUC4, may play crucial roles in the pathogenesis of CD.

[Correlation of VISTA and PD-L1 expression with the clinicopathological features and prognosis in triple-negative breast cancer].

Objective: To investigate the expression of VISTA and PD-L1 in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and to explore its relationship with clinicopathologic features and prognosis. Methods: Ninety TNBC patients who underwent surgical resections between 2016 to 2018 in Jiangsu Province Hospital were selected. The expression of VISTA and PD-L1 in both tumor cells and immune cells was evaluated by immunohistochemistry, and the relationship with clinicopathologic parameters and prognosis was analyzed. Results: VISTA was expressed in 17.8% (16/90) of the tumors. The expression of VISTA in tumor cells was related to a higher Ki-67 proliferation index (P=0.02) and higher number of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL, P<0.01). VISTA was expressed in 71.1% (64/90) of the immune cells and the expression correlated with smaller tumor size (P=0.02), lower T stage (P=0.04), higher number of TIL (P<0.01), higher number of CD8+T cells (P=0.03) and higher Ki-67 proliferation index (P=0.02). PD-L1 was expressed in 17.8% (16/90) of the immune cells and the expression correlated with higher histologic grade (P=0.04), higher Ki-67 proliferation index (P=0.02) and higher number of TIL (P<0.01). VISTA expression was higher in immune cells within TNBC patients than PD-L1 (P<0.01). Among 90 TNBC patients, complete follow-up was obtained in 85 patients, 8 of whom had recurrences or metastasis after surgery, and two patients cases died of recurrences or metastasis. Conclusions: The expression rate of VISTA is higher than that of PD-L1 in TNBC. The expression of VISTA in immune cells predicts a lower T stage. VISTA may act as an effective immunotherapy target.

[Relationship between clinicopathological features and prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma].

Objective: To investigate the relationship between clinicopathologic features and prognosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma located in the head of pancreas. Methods: A retrospective study was performed on 169 patients undergoing radical resection for pancreatic head cancer collected in the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University from January 2018 to April 2019. Univariate analysis and multivariate analysis were performed. Results: Patient's age, tumor differentiation, tumor maximum diameter, resection margin (several resection margins including portal vein groove resection margin, posterior resection margin, and uncinate resection margin), number of positive lymph nodes, number of regional lymph node dissected, and some preoperative and postoperative indicators were associated with prognosis (P<0.05). Direct tumor invasion of organs and surrounding tissues, perineural and vascular invasion, pathologic variants etc. had no statistical significance for survival time. Patient's age, maximum tumor diameter, degree of differentiation, uncinate incision margin, number of regional lymph nodes dissected, and preoperative CA19-9 were independent factors affecting prognosis. Patients older than 74 years of age, with tumors larger than 3 cm in diameter, poorly differentiated, less than 7 regional lymph node dissected, positive uncinate margin, and preoperative CA19-9 higher than 1.5×105 U/L were independent risk factors in patients with pancreatic head cancer. Conclusions: Old age, tumor lager than 3 cm, poor differentiation, low examined lymph nodes, direct uncinate margin involvement and (or) with preoperative CA19-9 higher than 1.5×105 U/L are related to poor prognosis of head pancreatic cancer.

[Clinicopathological features in relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma].

Objective: To study the clinical pathological features of patients with relapsed diffuse large B-celllymphoma (DLBCL) and to provide evidence for early clinical screening of recurrent cases. Methods: The clinical and pathological data of the 20 patients, who had relapsed DLBCL (relapsed group) and were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2015 to December 2019, were included. Meanwhile, other 34 patients with DLBCL who had achieved complete response (CR) for 36 months or more (CR group) were used as controls.Statistical methods were used to retrospectively analyze the differences in general conditions, clinical characteristics, lab resultsand pathological features between the two groups. Results: Clinically, there were 6 males and 14 females with a median age of 55.5 (33-85) years in the relapsed group and 14 males and 20 females with a median age of 53 (15-89) years in the CR group. The relapsed and CR groups had significant difference in Ann Arbor stage (P=0.001), International Prognostic Index score (P=0.006), primary lesions (P=0.003), extranodal involvement (P=0.002), and hepatitis B viral infection (P=0.046), ß2-MG level (P=0.029), LDH level (P=0.005) and CRP level (P=0.006), while the age (P=0.732), gender (P=0.416), ECOG score (P=0.248), B symptoms (P=0.511), the presence of hypoalbuminemia (P=0.279), anemia (P=0.983) and A/G(P=0.416) showed no statistical difference.Pathologically, compared with the CR group, the relapsed group was mostly non-GCB type (85% vs. 59%,P=0.048), with a higher CD5 positive rate (25% vs.3%,P=0.014) and a lower bcl-6　positive rate (60% vs. 88%,P=0.017), while the expression of Ki-67, CD10, bcl-2, MUM1, CD20 and PAX5 was not different between the two groups. Conclusion: Most of the patients with relapsed DLBCL are non-GCB type. The patients with CD5 positivity, stage III-IV, International Prognostic Index score 3-5, nodal origin, often involving>1 extranodal organ, abnormally elevated LDH, CRP and ß2-MG level, and HBV infection are more likely to relapse.

A 14 × 14 µm(2) footprint polarization-encoded quantum controlled-NOT gate based on hybrid waveguide.

Photonic quantum information processing system has been widely used in communication, metrology and lithography. The recent emphasis on the miniaturized photonic platform is thus motivated by the urgent need for realizing large-scale information processing and computing. Although the integrated quantum logic gates and quantum algorithms based on path encoding have been successfully demonstrated, the technology for handling another commonly used polarization-encoded qubits has yet to be fully developed. Here, we show the implementation of a polarization-dependent beam-splitter in the hybrid waveguide system. With precisely design, the polarization-encoded controlled-NOT gate can be implemented using only single such polarization-dependent beam-splitter with the significant size reduction of the overall device footprint to 14 × 14 µm(2). The experimental demonstration of the highly integrated controlled-NOT gate sets the stage to develop large-scale quantum information processing system. Our hybrid design also establishes the new capabilities in controlling the polarization modes in integrated photonic circuits.

On-chip generation and manipulation of entangled photons based on reconfigurable lithium-niobate waveguide circuits.

A consequent tendency toward high-performance quantum information processing is to develop the fully integrated photonic chip. Here, we report the on-chip generation and manipulation of entangled photons based on reconfigurable lithium-niobate waveguide circuits. By introducing a periodically poled structure into the waveguide circuits, two individual photon-pair sources with a controllable electro-optic phase shift are produced within a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer, resulting in a deterministically separated identical photon pair. The state is characterized by 92.9±0.9% visibility Hong-Ou-Mandel interference. The photon flux reaches ∼1.4×10(7) pairs nm-1 mW-1. The whole chip is designed to contain nine similar units to produce identical photon pairs spanning the telecom C and L band by the flexible engineering of nonlinearity. Our work presents a scenario for on-chip engineering of different photon sources and paves the way to fully integrated quantum technologies.

Compact engineering of path-entangled sources from a monolithic quadratic nonlinear photonic crystal.

An integrated realization of photonic entangled states becomes an inevitable tendency toward integrated quantum optics. Here we report the compact engineering of steerable photonic path-entangled states from a monolithic quadratic nonlinear photonic crystal. The crystal acts as a coherent beam splitter to distribute photons into designed spatial modes, producing the heralded single-photon and appealing beamlike two-photon path entanglement. We characterize the path entanglement by implementing quantum spatial beating experiments. Such a multifunctional entangled source can be further extended to the high-dimensional fashion and multiphoton level, which paves a desirable way to engineering miniaturized quantum light sources.

Heralded generation of multipartite entanglement for one photon by using a single two-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystal.

We propose a compact scheme for the heralded generation of single-photon multipartite entanglement by using a single two-dimensional nonlinear photonic crystal. Studies have shown that by appropriate structure design, the single-photon entanglement shared among three spatially distinct optical modes can be generated through three concurrent spontaneous parametric down-conversion processes by using the other photon in an identical spatial mode as a trigger. Furthermore, we analyze the entanglement of such heralded single-photon tripartite W-type state theoretically. This method can be expanded for the heralded single-photon N-partite entanglement generation. This compact and stable quantum light source may act as a key ingredient in quantum information science.

Generation of polarization-entangled photon pairs via concurrent spontaneous parametric downconversions in a single χ(2) nonlinear photonic crystal.

We propose a scheme for generating polarization-entangled photon pairs using a χ((2)) nonlinear photonic crystal, which is designed for enabling two concurrent quasi-phase-matched spontaneous parametric downconversion processes. Beamlike photon pairs produced from each process are collinear but noncollinear with the pump. Moreover, the source we design works in a postselection-free way and applies to both degenerate and nondegenerate cases. Combining possible waveguide technologies, our scheme may provide an integrated polarization entanglement source.

Hong-Ou-Mandel interference mediated by the magnetic plasmon waves in a three-dimensional optical metamaterial.

We studied the quantum properties of magnetic plasmon waves in a three-dimensional coupled metamaterial. A Hong-Ou-Mandel dip of two-photon interference with a visibility of 86 ± 6.0% was explicitly observed, when the sample was inserted into one of the two arms of the interferometer. This meant that the quantum interference property survived in such a magnetic plasmon wave-mediated transmission process, thus testifying the magnetic plasmon waves owned a quantum nature. A full quantum model was utilized to describe our experimental results. The results showed that the metamaterials could not only steer the classical light but also the non-classical light and they might have potential application in the future quantum information.

On-chip steering of entangled photons in nonlinear photonic crystals.

One promising technique for working toward practical photonic quantum technologies is to implement multiple operations on a monolithic chip, thereby improving stability, scalability and miniaturization. The on-chip spatial control of entangled photons will certainly benefit numerous applications, including quantum imaging, quantum lithography, quantum metrology and quantum computation. However, external optical elements are usually required to spatially control the entangled photons. Here we present the first experimental demonstration of on-chip spatial control of entangled photons, based on a domain-engineered nonlinear photonic crystal. We manipulate the entangled photons using the inherent properties of the crystal during the parametric downconversion, demonstrating two-photon focusing and beam-splitting from a periodically poled lithium tantalate crystal with a parabolic phase profile. These experimental results indicate that versatile and precise spatial control of entangled photons is achievable. Because they may be operated independent of any bulk optical elements, domain-engineered nonlinear photonic crystals may prove to be a valuable ingredient in on-chip integrated quantum optics.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms and haplotypes of TLR6 gene in Chinese Cantonese population.

Sequence polymorphisms in the coding region of Toll-like receptor 6 gene were investigated in Chinese Cantonese population. By amplifying and sequencing a 2787 bp segment containing the entire coding region of TLR6 gene of 191 individuals in Chinese Cantonese population, a total of seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) along with their frequencies were detected. Comparing these data with SNP published in dbSNP database of National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), two SNP (+176T/C and +1408G/T) were firstly reported, and five SNP caused amino-acid substitution. Sixteen haplotypes and their distributions were reconstructed. Linkage disequilibrium analysis and neutrality test were also performed. Comparing with other ethnic populations, Chinese Cantonese displayed obvious differences in TLR6 polymorphism. It may in part reflect the ethnic diversity of pathogen susceptibility and facilitate to develop the disease-association studies as well as population genetics and evolutionary research.

Stimulated emission as a result of multiphoton interference.

By performing an experiment on stimulated emission by two photons in the parametric amplification process and comparing it to a three-photon interference scheme, we present evidence in support of the idea that the underlying physics of stimulated emission is simply the constructive interference due to photon indistinguishability. So the observed signal enhancement upon the input of photons can be interpreted as a result of multiphoton interference of the input photons and the otherwise spontaneously emitted photon from the amplifier.

Four-photon interference with asymmetric beam splitters.

Two experiments of four-photon interference are performed with two pairs of photons from parametric downconversion with the help of asymmetric beam splitters. The first experiment is a generalization of the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference effect to two pairs of photons while the second one utilizes this effect to demonstrate a four-photon de Broglie wavelength of lambda/4 by projection measurement.

Simultaneous determination of six main nucleosides and bases in natural and cultured Cordyceps by capillary electrophoresis.

A simple method is described for simultaneous determination of six main nucleosides and bases including adenine, uracil, adenosine, guanosine, uridine and inosine in Cordyceps by capillary electrophoresis (CE). Chemometric optimization based on central composite design was employed to find the optimum resolution. The optimum factor space was defined by three parameters: buffer concentration, pH and concentration of acetonitrile as organic modifier. Resolution (Rs) was employed to evaluate the response function. A running buffer composed of 500 mM boric acid, adjusted pH to 8.6 with sodium hydroxide and 12.2% acetonitrile as modifier was found to be the most appropriate for the separation. The contents of the six components were determined by using adenosine monophosphate as an internal standard. Furthermore, hierarchical clustering analysis based on characteristics of 32 peaks in CE profiles from the tested 12 samples showed that natural and cultured Cordyceps were in different clusters. Adenosine and inosine were extracted as markers for discrimination of natural Cordyceps. The result of clustering based on the two peaks characteristics was in excellent agreement with that based on 32 peaks'. Thus, adenosine and inosine could be used as markers for quality control of natural and cultured Cordyceps.

Simultaneous determination of ergosterol, nucleosides and their bases from natural and cultured Cordyceps by pressurised liquid extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography.

A simple method is described for the simultaneous determination of ergosterol, nucleosides and their bases in Cordyceps. The samples were extracted by using pressurised liquid extraction (PLE). The effects of experimental variables, such as solvent, temperature, static extraction time and cycles, on PLE efficiency have been studied. The results showed a strong influence of the solvent and temperature on extraction efficiency of PLE. The determination was achieved by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) using a Zorbax NH2 analytical column (250 x 4.6 mm i.d., 5 microm) with diode-array detector (DAD). The automated preparation of the sample permits a very fast analysis which is an important goal for routine purpose.