Creation of memory-memory entanglement in a metropolitan quantum network.

Towards realizing the future quantum internet1,2, a pivotal milestone entails the transition from two-node proof-of-principle experiments conducted in laboratories to comprehensive multi-node set-ups on large scales. Here we report the creation of memory-memory entanglement in a multi-node quantum network over a metropolitan area. We use three independent memory nodes, each of which is equipped with an atomic ensemble quantum memory3 that has telecom conversion, together with a photonic server where detection of a single photon heralds the success of entanglement generation. The memory nodes are maximally separated apart for 12.5 kilometres. We actively stabilize the phase variance owing to fibre links and control lasers. We demonstrate concurrent entanglement generation between any two memory nodes. The memory lifetime is longer than the round-trip communication time. Our work provides a metropolitan-scale testbed for the evaluation and exploration of multi-node quantum network protocols and starts a stage of quantum internet research.

Interference of Blood Glucose Testing by an Increase in Serum IgM Levels.

BACKGROUND: An absurd result of plasma glucose test caused by increased serum IgM levels. METHODS: Serum immunoglobulin levels are determined by using an immunoturbidimetric assay. Additionally, serial dilutions were performed to assess the absurd results. RESULTS: Our results showed that an increase in serum IgM levels induces errors in the measurement of the plasma glucose level. CONCLUSIONS: This study simply presents a message that both medical technologists and physicians need to be aware of this because improper results of blood glucose levels may result in aggressive and invasive patient management. Additionally, physicians may be led to wrong interpretation due to false levels of glucose. In fact, we do not know how often this situation accidentally occurs in the laboratory. Therefore, all medical technologists must stay alert to absurd and unusual test results and reconfirm the reason for an absurd result.

Evaluation of Friedewald's Formula for Plasma LDL-Cholesterol Estimation.

BACKGROUND: Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) can contribute to atherosclerosis if it is oxidized within the walls of arteries. Therefore, LDL-C plays an important role in cardiovascular disease risk assessment and prevention. The current study aims to evaluate the validity of Friedewald's formula in the Taiwanese population. METHODS: In this analytical cross-sectional study, a data set containing 31,729 results was used and lipid profiles of all samples were measured using the Beckman Coulter AU680 clinical chemistry analyzer. This study was conducted from September 2016 to August 2019. RESULTS: The agreement between the direct and calculated LDL-C was significant with Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) of 0.904 (p < 0.001). Mean LDL-C levels were 99.3 ± 32.8 mg/dL and 95.3 ± 37.6 mg/dL for direct and calculated LDC-C, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Good agreement was observed between direct and calculated LDC-C. Therefore, it can be concluded that Friedewald's formula is applicable in LDL-C estimation when the direct method is not affordable.

Performance Evaluation of the VIDAS® D-Dimer Exclusion™ II Assay and the Beckman Coulter D-Dimer Assay.

BACKGROUND: The breakdown of fibrinogen and fibrin during the process of fibrinolysis creates D-dimer. A D-dimer analysis is crucial for the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis, and disseminated intravascular coagulation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the validity of two different D-dimer assays. METHODS: To analyze the D-dimer, venous blood taken in a vacuette containing 3.2% sodium citrate was used. Peripheral whole blood specimens were collected from 89 subjects, and plasma was separated from these specimens. VIDAS® D-dimer Exclusion™ II and the Beckman Coulter D-dimer assays were used for the quantitative detection of D-dimer levels. The analytical performance of the two different D-dimer assays was compared. RESULTS: The plasma values of D-dimer ranged from 89.2 to 7,452.9 ng/mL (FEU) when tested on the VIDAS® platform and from 20 to 7,770 ng/mL (FEU) when tested on the Beckman Coulter platform. Our results showed that the agreement between the two methods was acceptable and Pearson's correlation coefficient (r) was 0.93 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: A high correlation exists between quantitative D-dimer measurements conducted with the VIDAS® D-dimer Exclusion™ II and the Beckman Coulter D-dimer assays.

Detecting Debonding between Steel Beam and Reinforcing CFRP Plate Using Active Sensing with Removable PZT-Based Transducers.

Carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates are widely used to retrofit or reinforce steel structures, and the debonding damage between the steel structure and the CFRP plate is a typical failure in strengthening steel structures. This paper proposes a new approach to detecting debonding between a steel beam and a reinforcing CFRP plate by using removable lead zirconate titanate (PZT)-based transducers and active sensing. The removable PZT-based transducers are used to implement the active sensing approach, in which one transducer, as an actuator, is used to generate stress wave, and another transducer, as a sensor, is used to detect the stress wave that propagates across the bonding between the steel beam and the reinforcing CFRP plate. The bonding condition significantly influences the received sensor signal, and a wavelet-packet-based energy index (WPEI) is used to quantify the energy of the received signal to evaluate the severity of debonding between the steel beam and the reinforcing CFRP plate. To validate the proposed approach, experimental studies were performed, and two removable PZT-based transducers were designed and fabricated to detect the debonding between a steel beam and the reinforcing CRFP plate. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method in detecting the debonding between a steel beam and the reinforcing CFRP plate using removable PZT-based transducers.

Monitoring of Epoxy-Grouted Bonding Strength Development between an Anchored Steel Bar and Concrete, Using PZT-Enabled Active Sensing.

Anchored steel bars have been widely used in retrofitting of existing concrete structures. The bonding strength between the anchored steel bar and the concrete is critical to the integrity of the strengthened concrete structure. This paper presents a method to monitor epoxy-grouted bonding strength development by using a piezoceramic-enabled active sensing technique. One concrete beam with an anchored steel bar was involved in the monitoring test, and two concrete beams with six anchored steel bars were used in the pull-out test. To enable the active sensing, a Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) patch was bonded to the surface of the exposed end, and piezoceramic smart aggregates were embedded in each concrete specimen. During the monitoring experiment, signals from PZT sensors and smart aggregates were acquired at intervals of 0, 20, 40, 60, 80, and 100 min. In addition, a pull-out test was performed on each of the remaining six anchored steel bars in the two concrete beams, while the signal was recorded in the test. Furthermore, a wavelet packet analysis was applied to analyze the received signal energies to investigate the bonding strength development between the concrete and the anchored steel bar during the epoxy solidification process. The test results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in monitoring the bonding strength development between the anchored steel bar and the concrete, using the PZT-enabled active sensing.

A PZT-Based Electromechanical Impedance Method for Monitoring the Soil Freeze⁻Thaw Process.

It is important to conduct research on the soil freeze⁻thaw process because concurrent adverse effects always occur during this process and can cause serious damage to engineering structures. In this paper, the variation of the impedance signature and the stress wave signal at different temperatures was monitored by using Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) transducers through the electromechanical impedance (EMI) method and the active sensing method. Three piezoceramic-based smart aggregates were used in this research. Among them, two smart aggregates were used for the active sensing method, through which one works as an actuator to emit the stress wave signal and the other one works as a sensor to receive the signal. In addition, another smart aggregate was employed for the EMI testing, in which it serves as both an actuator and a receiver to monitor the impedance signature. The trend of the impedance signature with variation of the temperature during the soil freeze⁻thaw process was obtained. Moreover, the relationship between the energy index of the stress wave signal and the soil temperature was established based on wavelet packet energy analysis. The results demonstrate that the piezoceramic-based electromechanical impedance method is reliable for monitoring the soil freezing and thawing process.

Damage Detection of Common Timber Connections Using Piezoceramic Transducers and Active Sensing.

Timber structures have been widely used due to their low-cost and environmental-friendly properties. It is essential to monitor connection damage to ensure the stability and safety of entire timber structures since timber connection damage may induce catastrophic incidents if not detected in a timely manner. However, the current investigations on timber connections focus on mechanical properties and failure modes, and the damage detection of timber connection receives rare attention. Therefore, in this paper, we investigate the damage detection of four common timber connections (i.e., the screw connection, the bolt connection, the decussation connection, and the tooth plate connection) by using the active sensing method. The active sensing method was implemented by using a pair of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) transducers: one PZT patch is used as an actuator to generate stress waves, and the other works as a sensor to detect stress waves after propagating across the timber connection. Based on the wavelet packet energy analysis, the signal energy levels of received stress waves under different damage extent are quantified. Finally, by comparing the signal energy between the intact status and the damage status of the timber connection, we find that the energy attenuates with increasing severity of the connection damage. The experimental results demonstrate that the active sensing method can realize real-time monitoring of timber connection damage, which can guide further investigations.

A Feasibility Study on Timber Moisture Monitoring Using Piezoceramic Transducer-Enabled Active Sensing.

In recent years, the piezoceramic transducer-enabled active sensing technique has been extensively applied to structural damage detection and health monitoring, in civil engineering. Being abundant and renewable, timber has been widely used as a building material in many countries. However, one of the more challenging applications of timber, in construction, is the potential damage caused by moisture. Increased moisture may cause easier warping of timber components and encourage corrosion of integrated metal members, on top of potentially causing rot and decay. However, despite numerous efforts to inspect and monitor the moisture content of timber, there lacks a method that can provide truly real time, quantitative, and non-invasive measurement of timber moisture. Thus, the research presented in this paper investigated the feasibility of moisture-content monitoring using an active sensing approach, as enabled by a pair of the Lead Zirconate Titanate (PZT) transducers bonded on the surface of a timber specimen. Using a pair of transducers in an active sensing scheme, one patch generated a designed stress wave, while another patch received the signal. While the active sensing was active, the moisture content of the timber specimen was gradually increased from 0% to 60% with 10% increments. The material properties of the timber correspondingly changed under varying timber moisture content, resulting in a measurable differential in stress wave attenuation rates among the different specimens used. The experimental results indicated that the received signal energy and the moisture content of the timber specimens show a parabolic relationship. Finally, the feasibility and reliability of the presented method, for monitoring timber moisture content, are discussed.

Diffuse filiform polyposis of the small intestine without inflammatory bowel disease.

Filiform polyposis is a rare disease, which typically occurs in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. We report a case of filiform polyposis occurring in a 56-year-old man with no history or evidence of inflammatory bowel disease. The patient's main symptoms were melena and anemia. We performed an emergency exploratory laparotomy, in which we observed worm-like polyps spread almost along the entire small intestine, and a partial resection of the small intestine to treat bleeding in the bowel was carried out. Two days later, the patient was noted to have melena again, and we performed an abdominal angiographic embolization, successfully stopping the bleeding. Histologic evaluation of the excised specimen revealed chronic inflammatory cells within the lamina propria without hyperplastic or adenomatous epithelial changes. Although the surgery was very successful, careful management of the patient was required, owing to the great risk of re-bleeding.

Preparation of heterojunction C3N4/WO3 photocatalyst for degradation of microplastics in water.

In this study, a WO3/g-C3N4 composite photocatalyst was synthesized via a hydrothermal method and characterized for its potential application in photocatalytic H2 generation from PET degradation. XRD analysis revealed that the hexagonal WO3 crystal structure was achieved after 10 h of hydrothermal time, with particles of suitable size for uniform loading on the g-C3N4 surface. SEM images showed the successful loading of WO3 nanorods onto the g-C3N4 surface, significantly increasing the specific surface area. FTIR and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy confirmed the formation of a Z-type heterojunction between WO3 and g-C3N4. Photoluminescence measurements indicated a reduced rate of electron-hole pair recombination in the composite. The 30% WO3/g-C3N4 composite demonstrated a high H2 evolution rate of 14.21 mM and excellent stability in PET solution under visible light irradiation. 1H NMR and EPR spectroscopy analyses revealed the degradation of PET into small molecular compounds and the generation of active radicals, including ·O2-, during the reaction. Overall, the WO3/g-C3N4 composite exhibited promising potential for photocatalytic H2 production and PET degradation.

Downregulation of GPR160 inhibits the progression of glioma through suppressing epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) biomarkers.

BACKGROUND: Glioma is one of the most fatal types of malignant tumours, the cause of which is mostly unknown. Orphan GPCRs (GPRs) have been previously implicated in tumour growth and metastasis. Therefore, these GPRs could prove to be alternative and promising therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. OBJECTIVE: The role of GPR160 in glioma has not yet been assessed. This study aims to explore the association of GPR160 with glioma progression and investigate its role in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and metastasis. METHODS: Changes in protein expression were assessed using western blot analysis and immunofluorescent staining assays, while mRNA expression changes were evaluated using qRT-PCR. To detect the changes in progression and metastasis, MTT, EdU proliferation, wound healing, transwell migration, and flow cytometry assays were carried out in vitro. An epithelial to mesenchymal phenotypic analysis was performed to detect EMT. RESULTS: We demonstrated that knockdown of GPR160 inhibited proliferation, colony formation, and cell viability and promoted apoptosis. Pro-apoptotic biomarkers were upregulated, while anti-apoptotic biomarkers were downregulated. Cell lines with GPR160 knockdown (GPR160 KD) showed a slowed migration rate and decreased invasion ability. EMT mesenchymal biomarkers were downregulated in GPR160 KD cell lines, while epithelial biomarkers were upregulated. CONCLUSION: This study provides evidence that GPR160 is a potential therapeutic target in glioma for the first time. These findings can be used to discover in detail the molecular mechanism and pathways through which GPR160 promotes glioma progression.

Design, synthesis and selection of DNA-encoded small-molecule libraries.

Biochemical combinatorial techniques such as phage display, RNA display and oligonucleotide aptamers have proven to be reliable methods for generation of ligands to protein targets. Adapting these techniques to small synthetic molecules has been a long-sought goal. We report the synthesis and interrogation of an 800-million-member DNA-encoded library in which small molecules are covalently attached to an encoding oligonucleotide. The library was assembled by a combination of chemical and enzymatic synthesis, and interrogated by affinity selection. We describe methods for the selection and deconvolution of the chemical display library, and the discovery of inhibitors for two enzymes: Aurora A kinase and p38 MAP kinase.

Low Temperature Influence on the Behavior of Viscoelastic Layer of the Pounding Tuned Mass Damper.

In previous studies, the pounding tuned mass damper (PTMD) has been successfully demonstrated to mitigate the undesired vibration of a variety of structures at room temperature. The advantages of the PTMD over the traditional tuned mass damper (TMD) has been verified through theoretical analysis and experimental investigations. However, the PTMD relies on an impact layer made of viscoelastic material to improve its vibration control performance and robustness against detuning effect. The energy dissipation of the viscoelastic material can be affected by the changes of environmental temperature. Therefore, this paper aims to study the impact damping behavior of the viscoelastic material in the low temperature environment of the sea bed where the PTMD is expected to control vibrations of subsea pipelines. The experimental apparatus fabricated in the previous study to generate and measure the lateral impact was housed inside a refrigerator. The experimental results indicate that the pounding stiffness decreased whereas the energy dissipation increased in the low temperature environment. Moreover, an impact fatigue test was also performed in the low temperature environment and compared with the room temperature case. Experimental results from a previous study show that the viscoelastic material was damaged after 36,000 cycles of impacts in the room temperature and a cyclic hardening-softening process was observed. However, in the low temperature environment, the viscoelastic material was damaged after 50,000 cycles of impacts and the cyclic hardening-softening process was not observed. As the impact cycle grew, the pounding stiffness decreased from 53,000 N/m1.5 to 17,000 N/m1.5 and the energy dissipation increased from 46.12 J/m per cycle to 65.4 J/m per cycle.

Carbon dioxide as a green carbon source for the synthesis of carbon cages encapsulating porous silicon as high performance lithium-ion battery anodes.

Si/C composite is one of the most promising candidate materials for next-generation lithium-ion battery anodes. Herein, we demonstrate the novel structure of carbon cages encapsulating porous Si synthesized by the reaction between magnesium silicide (Mg2Si) and carbon dioxide (CO2) and subsequent acid washing. Benefitting from the in situ deposition through magnesiothermic reduction of CO2, the carbon cage seals the inner Si completely and shows higher graphitization than that obtained from the decomposition of acetylene. After removing MgO, pores are created, which can accommodate the volume change of the Si anode during the charge/discharge process. As the anode material for lithium-ion batteries, the porous Si/C electrode shows a charge capacity of ∼1124 mA h g-1 after 100 cycles with 86.4% capacity retention at the current density of 0.4 A g-1. When the current density increases to 1.6 and 3.2 A g-1, the capacity can still be maintained at ∼860 and ∼460 mA h g-1, respectively. The prominent cycling and rate performance is contributed by the built-in space for Si expansion, static carbon cages that prevent penetration of electrolyte and stabilize the solid electrolyte interface (SEI) outside, and fast charge transport by the novel structure.

Biological interactions and cooperative management of multiple species.

Coordinated decision making and actions have become the primary solution for the overexploitation of interacting resources within ecosystems. However, the success of coordinated management is highly sensitive to biological, economic, and social conditions. Here, using a game theoretic framework and a 2-species model that considers various biological relationships (competition, predation, and mutualism), we compute cooperative (or joint) and non-cooperative (or separate) management equilibrium outcomes of the model and investigate the effects of the type and strength of the relationships. We find that cooperation does not always show superiority to non-cooperation in all biological interactions: (1) if and only if resources are involved in high-intensity predation relationships, cooperation can achieve a win-win scenario for ecosystem services and resource diversity; (2) for competitive resources, cooperation realizes higher ecosystem services by sacrificing resource diversity; and (3) for mutual resources, cooperation has no obvious advantage for either ecosystem services or resource evenness but can slightly improve resource abundance. Furthermore, by using a fishery model of the North California Current Marine Ecosystem with 63 species and seven fleets, we demonstrate that the theoretical results can be reproduced in real ecosystems. Therefore, effective ecosystem management should consider the interconnection between stakeholders' social relationship and resources' biological relationships.

Isolated splenic metastases from gastric carcinoma: a case report and literature review.

Isolated metastases to the spleen from gastric carcinoma is very rare. Only a few cases have been reported in the literature. We herein present a case of isolated splenic metastases in a 62-year-old man, occurring 12 mo after total gastrectomy for gastric carcinoma. The patient underwent a laparoscopic exploration, during which two lesions were found at the upper pole of the spleen, without involvement of other organs. A laparoscopic splenectomy was performed. Histological examination confirmed that the splenic tumor was a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma similar to the primary gastric lesion. The postoperative course was uneventful and the patient has been well for 9 mo, with no tumor recurrence. The clinical data of 18 cases of isolated splenic metastases from gastric carcinoma treated by splenectomy were summarized after a literature review. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of isolated splenic metastases undergoing laparoscopic splenectomy.

GP369, an FGFR2-IIIb-specific antibody, exhibits potent antitumor activity against human cancers driven by activated FGFR2 signaling.

Dysregulated fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling has been implicated in the pathogenesis of human cancers. Aberrant activation of FGF receptor 2 (FGFR2) signaling, through overexpression of FGFR2 and/or its ligands, mutations, and receptor amplification, has been found in a variety of human tumors. We generated monoclonal antibodies against the extracellular ligand-binding domain of FGFR2 to address the role of FGFR2 in tumorigenesis and to explore the potential of FGFR2 as a novel therapeutic target. We surveyed a broad panel of human cancer cell lines for the dysregulation of FGFR2 signaling and discovered that breast and gastric cancer cell lines harboring FGFR2 amplification predominantly express the IIIb isoform of the receptor. Therefore, we used an FGFR2-IIIb-specific antibody, GP369, to investigate the importance of FGFR2 signaling in vitro and in vivo. GP369 specifically and potently suppressed ligand-induced phosphorylation of FGFR2-IIIb and downstream signaling, as well as FGFR2-driven proliferation in vitro. The administration of GP369 in mice significantly inhibited the growth of human cancer xenografts harboring activated FGFR2 signaling. Our findings support the hypothesis that dysregulated FGFR2 signaling is one of the critical oncogenic pathways involved in the initiation and/or maintenance of tumors. Cancer patients with aberrantly activated/amplified FGFR2 signaling could potentially benefit from therapeutic intervention with FGFR2-targeting antibodies.

[Chemical components of volatiles form withered black poplar leaves with different physiological age].

By the methods of steam distillation and GC-MS, this paper analyzed the chemical components of the volatiles from withered black poplar leaves. The main components of the volatiles from young leaves were(Z)-3-hexenol (44.81% ),4-methyl-1-pentanol (21.85%) and 2-hydroxy-benzaldehyde (15.19%), those from matured leaves were(Z)-3-hexenol (28.71%) and 2-hydroxy-benzaldehyde (10.35%), while in the volatiles from senescent leaves, the main components were 2-hydroxy-benzaldehyde (28.81%) and benzyl alcohol (15.06%). The (Z)-3-hexenol content in the volatiles was evidently decreased with increasing leaf age, while the species and contents of aromatic compounds were in adverse.