Duration time of labor progression for pregnant women of vaginal birth after cesarean in Hubei, China.

OBJECTIVE: There have been limited reports on the duration of labor progression in pregnant women undergoing vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC). This study aimed to investigate the duration of labor progression during VBAC in Hubei, China. METHODS: A total of 359 pregnant women undergoing VBAC were enrolled as the VBAC group, meeting the following criteria: singleton pregnancy, gestational age ≥ 37 weeks, live birth, history of cesarean delivery, and a willingness to attempt a vaginal delivery. At the same time, 359 primiparas successfully undergoing vaginal delivery were randomly enrolled in the control group at a 1:1 ratio. Subsequently, the durations of the first, second, and third stages of labor were comparatively analyzed between the two groups. RESULTS: The duration of the first, second, and total stages of labor in the VBAC group was significantly shorter than that in the control group (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in the duration of the third stage of labor between the two groups (p > 0.05). The amount of blood loss, the rate of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), and episiotomy were higher in the VBAC group than in the control group (p < 0.05). The rate of labor analgesia and intrapartum fever in the VBAC group was significantly lower than that in the control group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The duration of labor progression of the first, second, and total stages of VBAC is shorter than that in primiparous women in our observation in China.

Effects of early- and late- neuraxial analgesia on multiparous women: a retrospective monocentric study.

BACKGROUND: The mechanism underlying maternal fever and prolonged labor progression associated with neuraxial analgesia (NA) remains elusive, raising concerns among certain pregnant women regarding the application of NA during vaginal delivery. This study aimed to investigate the impact of early and late NA on maternal and neonatal outcomes in multiparous women. METHODS: This retrospective study collected data from 1119 multiparous women with singleton pregnancies, full term and live births at our labor and delivery center between August 1st, 2021 and July 31st, 2022. Based on the timing of NA initiation, participants were categorized into three groups: no-NA, early-NA and late-NA. The no-NA group comprised of 172 women who did not receive NA during vaginal delivery; the early-NA group included 603 women in which NA was initiated when cervical dilation was between 0.5 and 2.0 cm; and the late-NA group comprising 344 cases in which NA was initiated at the cervical dilation of ≥ 2 cm. Maternal and neonatal outcomes were observed, including durations of the first, second, third and total stage of labor, the rate of intrapartum cesarean delivery (CD), intrapartum fever, postpartum hemorrhage (PPH), transfer to intensive care unit (ICU), admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), meconium-stained amniotic fluid, and neonatal Apgar scores at 1 and 5 min. RESULTS: No differences were noted in the maternal age, body mass index (BMI) on admission, gestations, parity, gestational weeks at delivery and neonatal birth weight, or the rate of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and hypertension disorder did not significantly differ among the three groups (p > 0.05). The no-NA group had shorter durations of first stage, second stage of labor compared to the early-NA or late-NA group (median, 215.0 min and 10.0 min vs. 300.0 min and 12.0 min vs. 280.0 min and 13.0 min) (p < 0.05), but no differences were observed between the early-NA and late-NA group (p > 0.05). There were no differences in the rate of intrapartum CD, intrapartum fever, PPH, maternal transferred to ICU, neonatal transfer to NICU, meconium-stained amniotic fluid, and postpartum stay ≥ 7d, as well as the neonatal the Apgar scores at 1 and 5 min among the three groups (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: NA is associated with extended durations of the first, second and total stages of labor. However, the early initiation of NA in multiparous women (cervical dilation within 0.5-2.0 cm) does not increase the risk of intrapartum CD or intrapartum fever. These findings endorse the secure utilization of early NA for pain relief during labor in multiparous women.

Definition of follicular helper T cell and cytokines expression in synovial fluid of rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the role of synovial fluid (SF) CD4+T, CD19+B, follicular helper cells (Tfh), and cytokines in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: This study enrolled 16 patients with RA and 8 patients with osteoarthritis (OA). The frequencies of the SF CD4+ T, CD19+ B, Tfh cells, and Tfh subsets were assessed using flow cytometry. The medical condition in patients with RA was evaluated using The Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28), the Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI), and the Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI). Levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP), and rheumatoid factor (RF) were measured. The cytokines IL-4, IL-13, IL-21, and BLyS were measured by ELISA test. RESULTS: The percentages of SF CD4+T, CD19+B, and PD-1+CXCR5+ Tfh in RA patients were higher than those in OA patients. And the Tfh2 was the main subset among Tfh subsets. In addition, levels of IL-21 and BLyS were higher in patients with RA compared to patients with OA. Furthermore, the treatment of TNF-α inhibitors may be associated with decreased levels of SF Tfh. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated SF Tfh, B cell, and cytokines expression profiles were observed in RA patients. Tfh2 was the major subset of the Tfh, and IL-21 and BLyS were significantly enhanced. Additionally, TNF-α inhibitors reduced Tfh in SF. Therefore, Tfh, B, and Tfh2 cells could play a significant role in the progression of RA. Key Points •Tfh cells in the synovial fluid are significantly higher in RA patients and are dominated by the Tfh2 subpopulation. •Synovial fluid Tfh cells decrease in RA patients after anti-TNF-α treatment.

Clinical analysis of prophylactic uterine artery embolization combined with double balloon catheter for second-trimester pregnancy termination in cases of complete placenta previa: A retrospective study.

Complete placenta previa often causes significant bleeding in a short period during second-trimester pregnancy termination. This can destabilize the mother's circulation, threatening her life. Furthermore, the condition is complicated by an immature cervix, making it a challenging clinical problem. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of prophylactic uterine artery embolization (UAE) combined with double balloon catheter (DBC) deal with those cases. A total of 7 patients who underwent pregnancy termination in the second-trimester in Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hubei Province between March 1st, 2021 and August 31st, 2023 were retrospectively analyzed in this study. All patients were diagnosed with complete placenta previa status and placenta accreta spectrum, and were treated with prophylactic UAE combined with DBC, and/or dilation and evacuation. All the patients received mifepristone, and 5 of them underwent medical termination with ethacridine lactate. Following prophylactic UAE combined with DBC, 6 patients underwent dilation and evacuation, which was monitored by ultrasound. And one patient experienced natural delivery of their fetus and placenta. Only one patient (patient 3) developed an intrapartum fever after prolonged duration of 18 hours from ethacridine to UAE and 56 hours from UAE to DBC. The amount of intrapartum hemorrhage ranged from 20 mL to 300 mL. The combined therapy of prophylactic UAE and DBC is a preferred option for patients with complete placenta previa undergoing second-trimester pregnancy termination. The use of dilation and evacuation may depend on the cervical condition, bleeding, or infection.

GTS-21 alleviates murine collagen-induced arthritis through inhibition of peripheral monocyte trafficking into the synovium.

Emerging preclinical and clinical evidence reveals a critical role for the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) in mediating rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Activation of CAP via vagus nerve stimulation or alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) agonists has previously been shown to significantly reduce inflammation and improve outcomes in animal models of experimental arthritis. In this study, we sought to determine the protective mechanism of CAP on inflammatory arthritis, specifically RA, by using a selective α7nAChR agonist, GTS-21, to examine the role of CAP in the recruitment of monocytes/macrophages into the synovium in a collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mouse model. We found that GTS-21 ameliorated systemic and local synovial inflammation, thereby reducing synovial macrophage infiltration in CIA mice. Using in vivo imaging, we further demonstrated that GTS-21 suppressed the trafficking of monocytes into inflamed joints, while our in vitro Transwell assay data confirmed that GTS-21 reduced the migratory ability of monocytes. In addition, we found that GTS-21 reduced the number of peripheral inflammatory monocytes and down-regulated expression of the chemokines CCR2 and CCR5 on monocytes and CCL2 in the paw tissue. GTS-21 also mediated the expression levels of the adhesion molecules LFA-1 and VLA-4 on monocytes and VCAM-1 in the paw tissue, thereby blocking monocyte adhesion to the extracellular matrix. Together, our data demonstrate that GTS-21 alleviates arthritis by inhibiting peripheral monocyte trafficking into the synovium. Our findings describe a novel mechanism through which the cholinergic signaling pathway can reduce synovial inflammation in RA patients.

Magnetoelectric coupling in multiferroics probed by optical second harmonic generation.

Magnetoelectric coupling, as a fundamental physical nature and with the potential to add functionality to devices while also reducing energy consumption, has been challenging to be probed in freestanding membranes or two-dimensional materials due to their instability and fragility. In this paper, we report a magnetoelectric coupling probed by optical second harmonic generation with external magnetic field, and show the manipulation of the ferroelectric and antiferromagnetic orders by the magnetic and thermal fields in BiFeO3 films epitaxially grown on the substrates and in the freestanding ones. Here we define an optical magnetoelectric-coupling constant, denoting the ability of controlling light-induced nonlinear polarization by the magnetic field, and found the magnetoelectric-coupling was suppressed by strain releasing but remain robust against thermal fluctuation for freestanding BiFeO3.

Development and validation of a nonenhanced CT based radiomics model to detect brown adipose tissue.

Purpose: It has been reported that brown adipose tissue (BAT) has a protective effect regarding cardiovascular disease. Positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) is the reference method for detecting active BAT; however, it is not feasible to screen for BAT due to the required radionuclides and high-cost. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a nonenhanced CT based radiomics model to detect BAT and to explore the relationship between CT radiomics derived BAT and cardiovascular calcification. Patients and methods: 146 patients undergoing 18F-FDG PET-CT were retrospectively included from two centers for model development (n = 86) and external validation (n = 60). The data for the model development were randomly divided into a training cohort and an internal validation cohort with a 7:3 ratio, while the external validation data were divided 1:1 into a propensity score matching (PSM) cohort and a randomly sex matched cohort. Radiomics features of BAT and non-BAT depots were extracted from regions of interest (ROI) on nonenhanced CT corresponding to PET studies. Inter-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and Pearson's correlation analysis were performed to select radiomics features with high consistency. Next, least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) with linear regression model was used to select radiomics features for model construction. Support vector machine (SVM) was used to develop the model and a radiomics score (RS) was calculated for each depot. The diagnostic performance of the radiomics model was evaluated both on a per-depot and per-patient basis by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). We further divided patients into BAT-RS group and non-BAT-RS group based on radiomics score and compared their cardiovascular calcification by calculating calcium volume and score. Results: A total of 22 radiomics features were selected for model construction. On a per-depot basis, the AUROCs were 0.87 (95% CI: 0.83-0.9), 0.85 (95% CI: 0.79-0.90), 0.72 (95% CI: 0.67-0.77) and 0.74 (95% CI: 0.69-0.79) for detecting BAT in the training, internal validation, external validation 1 and external validation 2 cohorts, respectively. On a per-patient basis, the radiomics model had high AUROCs of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.84-0.98), 0.77 (95% CI: 0.61-0.92) and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.72-0.98) in the training, external validation 1 and external validation 2 cohorts, respectively. When grouping based on the radiomics model, the BAT-RS group had lower odds of coronary artery calcium (CAC) and thoracic aorta calcium (TAC) compared with the non-BAT-RS group (CAC: 2.8% vs. 20.3%, p = 0.001; TAC: 19.4% vs. 39.2%, p = 0.009). The BAT-RS group had less CAC volume (4.1 ± 4.0 mm3 vs. 147.4 ± 274.3 mm3; p = 0.001), CAC score (2.8 ± 3.0 vs. 169.1 ± 311.5; p = 0.001), TAC volume (301.4 ± 450.2 mm3 vs. 635.3 ± 1100.7 mm3; p = 0.007) and TAC score (496.2 ± 132.6 vs. 749.2 ± 1297.3; p = 0.007) than the non-BAT-RS group. Conclusion: We developed and validated a nonenhanced CT based reliable radiomics model for detecting BAT with PET-CT findings as reference standard. Radiomics signatures from nonenhanced CT can reliably detect BAT and have promising potential to be used in routine clinical settings. Importantly, our study showed that patients with BAT had less cardiovascular calcification.

The method for termination of mid-trimester pregnancy with placenta previa: A case study.

BACKGROUND: Prenatal bleeding is very dangerous for pregnant women with placenta previa during termination of pregnancy in the mid-trimester. Traditionally, cesarean section or hysterectomy is used to stop bleeding. This study aims to investigate the method for termination of mid-trimester pregnancy with placenta previa, especially emergency uterine artery embolization (UAE) combined with cervical double balloon (CDB). METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted based on 261 cases of mid-pregnancy termination in our hospital, where 34 cases with placenta previa were set as the observation group, and the remaining 227 cases were set as control group. At first, the termination method of Mifepristone combined with Misoprostol/Ethacridine Lactate was adopted. If the volume of prenatal bleeding was up to 400 mL, emergency uterine artery embolization (UAE) was implemented to stop bleeding, then cervical double balloon (CDB) was used to promote cervical ripening. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis was performed to assess the accuracy in predicting the length of placental edge crossed the cervical os for prenatal bleeding. RESULTS: The number of gravidity/parities, the rate of cesarean section, the medical cost, the rate of previous cesarean section were all higher in the observation group than in the control group (P < .05). The volume of prenatal hemorrhage, postpartum hemorrhage, the rate of puerperal morbidity, emergency UAE rate and ICU rate were higher in the observation group than in the control group (P < .05). There were 4 cases showing prenatal hemorrhage up to 400 mL and undergoing emergency UAE + CDB in the observation group, while there were no such cases in the control group (P < .05). An optimal cut-off value of 1.7cm for the length of placental edge crossed the cervical os in diagnosing prenatal hemorrhage demonstrated sensitivity and specificity of 75.0% and 86.7%, respectively (area under the ROC curve, 0.858). CONCLUSION: The combined therapy of mifepristone and Misoprostol/Ethacridine Lactate was useful for termination of mid-trimester pregnancy with placenta previa, and attention needs to be attached to prenatal hemorrhage during labor induction. Emergency UAE + CDB is a good combination method to treat prenatal hemorrhage and promote cervical ripening during the induction.

Event-Related Potentials Analysis of the Effects of Discontinuous Short-Term Fine Motor Imagery on Motor Execution.

In this study, event-related potentials and neurobehavioral measurements were used to investigate the effects of discontinuous short-term fine motor imagery (MI), a paradigm of finger sequential MI training interspersed with no-MI that occurs within 1 hr, on fine finger motor execution. The event-related potentials revealed that there were significant differences in the P300 between the fine MI training and the no-MI training. There were also significant changes in the P200 between fine motor execution of familiar tasks after MI training and fine motor execution of unfamiliar tasks without MI training. Neurobehavioral data revealed that the fine MI enhanced fine motor execution. These findings may suggest that discontinuous short-term fine MI could be useful in improving fine motor skills.

Strong Light-Matter Interactions between Gap Plasmons and Two-Dimensional Excitons under Ambient Conditions in a Deterministic Way.

Strong exciton-plasmon interactions between layered two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors and gap plasmons show a great potential to implement cavity quantum electrodynamics under ambient conditions. However, achieving a robust plasmon-exciton coupling with nanocavities is still very challenging, because the layer area is usually small in the conventional approaches. Here, we report on a robust strong exciton-plasmon coupling between the gap mode of a bowtie and the excitons in MoS2 layers with gold-assisted mechanical exfoliation and nondestructive wet transfer techniques for a large-area layer. Due to the ultrasmall mode volume and strong in-plane field, the estimated effective exciton number contributing to the coupling is largely reduced. With a corrected exciton transition dipole moment, the exciton numbers are extracted as being 40 for the case of a single layer and 48 for eight layers. Our work paves the way to realize strong coupling with 2D materials with a small number of excitons at room temperature.

Risk factors for serious infections in inpatients with systemic lupus erythematosus. / ç³»ç»Ÿæ€§çº¢æ–‘ç‹¼ç–®ä½é™¢æ‚£è€ åˆå¹¶ä¸¥é‡æ„ŸæŸ“çš„å±é™©å› ç´ .

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the risk factors for serious infections among hospitalized systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, and to provide the advice for preventing serious infections in SLE patients. METHODS: Information of SLE patients hospitalized from March 2017 to February 2019 at the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University was obtained. The patients were assigned into a serious infection group and a non-serious infection group. The risk factors for serious infections among SLE inpatients were identified by comparison between the 2 groups and multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: There were 463 SLE inpatients in total, and 144 were in the serious infection group and 319 in the non-serious infection group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that age ≥54.50 years old (OR=4.958, P<0.001), cardiovascular involvement (OR=6.287, P<0.001), hematologic involvement (OR=2.643, P=0.003), serum albumin <20 g/L (OR=2.340, P=0.036), C-reaction protein (CRP)/erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)≥0.12 (OR=2.430, P=0.002), glucocorticoid dose ≥8.75 mg/d prednisone-equivalent (OR=2.465, P=0.002), and the combined use of immunosuppressive agents (OR=2.847, P=0.037) were the risk factors for serious infections in SLE inpatients. CONCLUSIONS: SLE patients with older age, cardiovascular involvement, hematologic involvement, low serum albumin are prone to suffering serious infections. Increased CRP/ESR ratio indicates serious infections in SLE inpatients. High-dose glucocorticoid and the combined use of immunosuppressive agents can increase the risk of serious infections in SLE inpatients.

Self-Catalyzed AlGaAs Nanowires and AlGaAs/GaAs Nanowire-Quantum Dots on Si Substrates.

Self-catalyzed AlGaAs nanowires (NWs) and NWs with a GaAs quantum dot (QD) were monolithically grown on Si(111) substrates via solid-source molecular beam epitaxy. This growth technique is advantageous in comparison to the previously employed Au-catalyzed approach, as it removes Au contamination issues and renders the structures compatible with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology applications. Structural studies reveal the self-formation of an Al-rich AlGaAs shell, thicker at the NW base and thinning towards the tip, with the opposite behavior observed for the NW core. Wide alloy fluctuations in the shell region are also noticed. AlGaAs NW structures with nominal Al contents of 10, 20, and 30% have strong room temperature photoluminescence, with emission in the range of 1.50-1.72 eV. Individual NWs with an embedded 4.9 nm-thick GaAs region exhibit clear QD behavior, with spatially localized emission, both exciton and biexciton recombination lines, and an exciton line width of 490 µeV at low temperature. Our results demonstrate the properties and behavior of the AlGaAs NWs and AlGaAs/GaAs NWQDs grown via the self-catalyzed approach for the first time and exhibit their potential for a range of novel applications, including nanolasers and single-photon sources.

Enhanced emission from a single quantum dot in a microdisk at a deterministic diabolical point.

We report on controllable cavity modes by controlling the backscattering by two identical scatterers. Periodic changes of the backscattering coupling between two degenerate cavity modes are observed with the changing angle between two scatterers and elucidated by a theoretical model using two-mode approximation and numerical simulations. The periodically appearing single-peak cavity modes indicate mode degeneracy at diabolical points. Interactions between single quantum dots and cavity modes are then investigated. Enhanced emission of a quantum dot with a six-fold intensity increase is obtained in a microdisk at a diabolical point. This method to control cavity modes allows large-scale integration, high reproducibility and flexible design of the size, the location, the quantity and the shape for scatterers, which can be applied for integrated photonic structures with scatterer-modified light-matter interaction.

Establishment and Application of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry for Detection of Shewanella Genus.

Shewanella species are widely distributed in the aquatic environment and aquatic organisms. They are opportunistic human pathogens with increasing clinical infections reported in recent years. However, there is a lack of a rapid and accurate method to identify Shewanella species. We evaluated here matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) for rapid identification of Shewanella. A peptide mass reference spectra (PMRS) database was constructed for the type strains of 36 Shewanella species. The main spectrum projection (MSP) cluster dendrogram showed that the type strains of Shewanella species can be effectively distinguished according to the different MS fingerprinting. The PMRS database was validated using 125 Shewanella test strains isolated from various sources and periods; 92.8% (n = 116) of the strains were correctly identified at the species level, compared with the results of multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA), which was previously shown to be a method for identifying Shewanella at the species level. The misidentified strains (n = 9) by MALDI-TOF MS involved five species of two groups, i.e., Shewanella algae-Shewanella chilikensis-Shewanella indica and Shewanella seohaensis-Shewanella xiamenensis. We then identified and defined species-specific biomarker peaks of the 36 species using the type strains and validated these selected biomarkers using 125 test strains. Our study demonstrated that MALDI-TOF MS was a reliable and powerful tool for the rapid identification of Shewanella strains at the species level.

Induction of labour in mid-trimester pregnancy using double-balloon catheter placement within 12 h versus within 12-24 h.

BACKGROUND: This study aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the induction of labour in mid-trimester pregnancy using a double-balloon catheter (DBC) within 12 h versus within 12-24 h. METHODS: In this retrospective study, a total of 58 pregnant women at 14 + 0 weeks to 27 + 6 weeks of gestation were enrolled as research subjects, and they underwent the intended termination of pregnancy at our birth centre from January 1, 2017, to June 31, 2019. Based on the duration of DBC, the patients were divided into two groups, namely, the DBC group within 12 h and the DBC group within 12-24 h. RESULTS: All 58 cases were successful vaginal deliveries, and no one chose to undergo caesarean section. The success rate of induction (successful abortion of the foetus and placenta without the implementation of dilation and evacuation) was higher in the DBC group within 12-24 h (96.3%, 29/31) than in the DBC group within 12 h (71.0%, 18/27) (p < 0.05). Additionally, the time from DBC removal to delivery in the DBC group within 12-24 h was significantly shorter than that in the DBC group within 12 h (3.0 h versus 17.8 h) (p < 0.05), and the degree of cervical dilation after DBC removal in the DBC group within 12-24 h was larger than that in the DBC group within 12 h (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In the clinic, the placement time of DBC generally lasts for approximately 12 h. However, considering that the cervical condition is immature in the mid-trimester, properly extending the placement time of DBC to 24 h will benefit cervical ripening and reduce the chance of dilation and evacuation.

Diabolical points in coupled active cavities with quantum emitters.

In single microdisks, embedded active emitters intrinsically affect the cavity modes of the microdisks, resulting in trivial symmetric backscattering and low controllability. Here we demonstrate macroscopic control of the backscattering direction by optimizing the cavity size. The signature of the positive and negative backscattering directions in each single microdisk is confirmed with two strongly coupled microdisks. Furthermore, diabolical points are achieved at the resonance of the two microdisks, which agrees well with theoretical calculations considering the backscattering directions. Diabolical points in active optical structures pave the way for an implementation of quantum information processing with geometric phase in quantum photonic networks.

Enhanced Strong Interaction between Nanocavities and p-shell Excitons Beyond the Dipole Approximation.

Large coupling strengths in exciton-photon interactions are important for the quantum photonic network, while strong cavity-quantum dot interactions have been focused on s-shell excitons with small coupling strengths. Here we demonstrate strong interactions between cavities and p-shell excitons with a great enhancement by the in situ wave-function control. The p-shell excitons are demonstrated with much larger wave-function extents and nonlocal interactions beyond the dipole approximation. Then the interaction is tuned from the nonlocal to the local regime by the wave function shrinking, during which the enhancement is obtained. A large coupling strength of 210 µeV has been achieved, indicating the great potential of p-shell excitons for coherent information exchange. Furthermore, we propose a distributed delay model to quantitatively explain the coupling strength variation, revealing the intertwining of excitons and photons beyond the dipole approximation.

The effect of the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway on collagen-induced arthritis involves the modulation of dendritic cell differentiation.

BACKGROUND: The cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway (CAP) has a strong anti-inflammatory effect on collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), a classic animal model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the underlying immune regulatory mechanism remains unclear. Here, we investigated the effect of the CAP on arthritis development and the involvement of dendritic cells (DCs). METHODS: Forty DBA/1 mice were randomly divided into five groups: a control group (sham vagotomy+ phosphate-buffered saline; shamVGX+PBS), a CIA group (shamVGX+CIA + PBS), a vagotomy group (VGX + CIA + PBS), a GTS-21 (4 mg/kg) group (shamVGX+CIA + GTS-4), and a GTS-21 (8 mg/kg) group (shamVGX+CIA + GTS-8). The vagotomy group underwent left cervical vagotomy 4 days before arthritis induction, whereas the sham-vagotomy group underwent vagus nerve exposure. Mice were pretreated with GTS-21 by intraperitoneal injection on the day of surgery. The degree of arthritis was measured by using the arthritis score, hematoxylin and eosin staining, and TRAP (tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase) staining. Flow cytometry was used to detect the expression of CD80 and major histocompatibility complex II (MHC II) on CD11c+ DCs in the spleen. Luminex was used to detect the serum concentration of interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα), and IL-10. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect CD11c expression in the synovium. The effects of GTS-21 on DC differentiation and maturation were examined in vitro by treating bone marrow-derived DCs with GTS-21 and assessing differentiation and maturation. Flow cytometry was used to analyze CD80 and MHC II expression on the surface of DCs. RESULTS: GTS-21 treatment ameliorated clinical arthritis in a mouse model of CIA in vivo, decreasing the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the serum and downregulating CD80 and MHC II expression on DCs in the spleen of CIA mice. GTS-21 treatment strongly suppressed the infiltration of DCs into the synovium. Vagotomy itself did not exacerbate the severity of arthritis in CIA mice. In vitro, GTS-21 (10 µmol/L) significantly downregulated CD80 and MHC II in bone marrow-derived immature DCs and this effect was blocked by the α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonist methyllycaconitine (MLA). However, GTS-21 had no effects on mature DCs. CONCLUSIONS: The present study provides new insight into the mechanism underlying the effects of the CAP on RA and indicates that the immunosuppressive effect of GTS-21 may be mediated by the inhibition of DC differentiation.

Two-Photon Rabi Splitting in a Coupled System of a Nanocavity and Exciton Complexes.

Two-photon Rabi splitting in a cavity-dot system provides a basis for multiqubit coherent control in a quantum photonic network. Here we report on two-photon Rabi splitting in a strongly coupled cavity-dot system. The quantum dot was grown intentionally large in size for a large oscillation strength and small biexciton binding energy. Both exciton and biexciton transitions couple to a high-quality-factor photonic crystal cavity with large coupling strengths over 130 µeV. Furthermore, the small binding energy enables the cavity to simultaneously couple with two exciton states. Thereby, two-photon Rabi splitting between the biexciton and cavity is achieved, which can be well reproduced by theoretical calculations with quantum master equations.