Differentiation of Type 17 Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells in Circulation Contributes to the Severity of Sepsis.

Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are essential in defending against infection. Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response to infection and a leading cause of death. The relationship between the overall competency of the host immune response and disease severity is not fully elucidated. This study identified a higher proportion of circulating MAIT17 with expression of IL-17A and retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor γt in patients with sepsis. The proportion of MAIT17 was correlated with the severity of sepsis. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis revealed an enhanced expression of lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA) in MAIT17 in patients with sepsis. Cell-culture experiments demonstrated that phosphoinositide 3-kinase-LDHA signaling was required for retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor γt expression in MAIT17. Finally, the elevated levels of plasma IL-18 promoted the differentiation of circulating MAIT17 cells in sepsis. In summary, this study reveals a new role of circulating MAIT17 in promoting sepsis severity and suggests the phosphoinositide 3-kinase-LDHA signaling as a driving force in MAIT17 responses.

Comparative transcriptomic analysis delineates adaptation strategies of Rana kukunoris toward cold stress on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

BACKGROUND: Cold hardiness is fundamental for amphibians to survive during the extremely cold winter on the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Exploring the gene regulation mechanism of freezing-tolerant Rana kukunoris could help us to understand how the frogs survive in winter. RESULTS: Transcriptome of liver and muscle of R. kukunoris collected in hibernation and spring were assisted by single molecule real-time (SMRT) sequencing technology. A total of 10,062 unigenes of R. kukunoris were obtained, and 9,924 coding sequences (CDS) were successfully annotated. Our examination of the mRNA response to whole body freezing and recover in the frogs revealed key genes concerning underlying antifreeze proteins and cryoprotectants (glucose and urea). Functional pathway analyses revealed differential regulated pathways of ribosome, energy supply, and protein metabolism which displayed a freeze-induced response and damage recover. Genes related to energy supply in the muscle of winter frogs were up-regulated compared with the muscle of spring frogs. The liver of hibernating frogs maintained modest levels of protein synthesis in the winter. In contrast, the liver underwent intensive high levels of protein synthesis and lipid catabolism to produce substantial quantity of fresh proteins and energy in spring. Differences between hibernation and spring were smaller than that between tissues, yet the physiological traits of hibernation were nevertheless passed down to active state in spring. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our comparative transcriptomic analyses, we revealed the likely adaptive mechanisms of R. kukunoris. Ultimately, our study expands genetic resources for the freezing-tolerant frogs.

CRISPR/Cas12a-Powered Amplification-Free RNA Diagnostics by Integrating T7 Exonuclease-Assisted Target Recycling and Split G-Quadruplex Catalytic Signal Output.

Rapid and sensitive RNA detection is of great value in diverse areas, ranging from biomedical research to clinical diagnostics. Existing methods for RNA detection often rely on reverse transcription (RT) and DNA amplification or involve a time-consuming procedure and poor sensitivity. Herein, we proposed a CRISPR/Cas12a-enabled amplification-free assay for rapid, specific, and sensitive RNA diagnostics. This assay, which we termed T7/G4-CRISPR, involved the use of a T7-powered nucleic acid circuit to convert a single RNA target into numerous DNA activators via toehold-mediated strand displacement reaction and T7 exonuclease-mediated target recycling amplification, followed by activating Cas12a trans-cleavage of the linker strands inhibiting split G-Quadruplex (G4) assembly, thereby inducing fluorescence attenuation proportion to the input RNA target. We first performed step-by-step validation of the entire assay process and optimized the reaction parameters. Using the optimal conditions, T7/G4-CRISPR was capable of detecting as low as 3.6 pM target RNA, obtaining ∼100-fold improvement in sensitivity compared with the most direct Cas12a assays. Meanwhile, its excellent specificity could discriminate single nucleotide variants adjacent to the toehold region and allow species-specific pathogen identification. Furthermore, we applied it for analyzing bacterial 16S rRNA in 40 clinical urine samples, exhibiting a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 100% when validated by RT-quantitative PCR. Therefore, we envision that T7/G4-CRISPR will serve as a promising RNA sensing approach to expand the toolbox of CRISPR-based diagnostics.

Ghrelin regulates the endoplasmic reticulum stress signalling pathway in gestational diabetes mellitus.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of the ghrelin-regulated endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) signalling pathway in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). METHODS: Pregnant female C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into a normal group, GDM group (high-fat diet + STZ), GDM + ghrelin group (acyl ghrelin), and GDM + ghrelin + ghrelin inhibitor group ([D-lys3]-GHRP-6). We measured body weight, the intake of water and food, glucose, cholesterol, triglyceride and fasting insulin levels in each group. HE staining was used to observe the morphological changes in the pancreas. The TUNEL method was used to detect the apoptosis rate of islet cells. qPCR and Western boltting were performed to detect the relative expression levels of PERK, ATF6, IREIα, GRP78, CHOP and caspase-12, which are related to the ERS signalling pathway in the pancreas. Then, NIT-1 cells were cultured to verify whether ghrelin regulates ERS under high-glucose or tunicamycin conditions. RESULTS: Compared with the GDM group, the GDM + ghrelin group showed improved physical conditions and significantly decreased the fasting blood glucose, glucose tolerance, cholesterol, triglyceride and fasting insulin levels. Damaged islet areas were inhibited by ghrelin in the GDM group. The GDM + ghrelin group showed reduced ß-cell apoptosis compared to the GDM and GDM + ghrelin + ghrelin inhibitor groups. ERS-associated factors (PERK, ATF6, IREIα, GRP78, CHOP and caspase-12) mRNA and protein levels were obviously lower in the GDM + ghrelin group than in the GDM group, while expression levels were restored in the inhibitor group. Ghrelin treatment improved the high-glucose or tunicamycin-induced apoptosis, increased insulin levels and upregulation of GRP78, CHOP and caspase-12 in NIT-1 cells. CONCLUSION: Ghrelin suppressed ERS signalling and apoptosis in GDM mice and in NIT-1 cells. This study established a link between ghrelin and GDM, and the targeting of ERS with ghrelin represents a promising therapeutic strategy for GDM.

Fluoride impairs vascular smooth muscle A7R5 cell lines via disrupting amino acids metabolism.

Given the insidious and high-fatality nature of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), the emergence of fluoride as a newly identified risk factor demands serious consideration alongside traditional risk factors. While vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) play a pivotal role in the progression of CVDs, the toxicological impact of fluoride on VSMCs remains largely uncharted. In this study, we constructed fluorosis model in SD rats and A7R5 aortic smooth muscle cell lines to confirm fluoride impaired VSMCs. Fluoride aggravated the pathological damage of rat aorta in vivo. Then A7R5 were exposed to fluoride with concentration ranging from 0 to 1200 µmol/L over a 24-h period, revealing a dose-dependent inhibition of cell proliferation and migration. The further metabolomic analysis showed alterations in metabolite profiles induced by fluoride exposure, notably decreasing organic acids and lipid molecules level. Additionally, gene network analysis underscored the frequency of fluoride's interference with amino acids metabolism, potentially impacting the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle. Our results also highlighted the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters pathway as a central element in VSMC impairment. Moreover, we observed a dose-dependent increase in osteopontin (OPN) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) mRNA level and a dose-dependent decrease in ABC subfamily C member 1 (ABCC1) and bestrophin 1 (BEST1) mRNA level. These findings advance our understanding of fluoride as a CVD risk factor and its influence on VSMCs and metabolic pathways, warranting further investigation into this emerging risk factor.

SC and OFDM hybrid coherent optical transmission scheme based on 1-bit bandpass delta-sigma modulation.

High-order quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) can effectively improve the capacity and spectral efficiency of coherent optical transmission systems. However, as the modulation order increases, the signal becomes less tolerant to noise and nonlinear effects during transmission, and the implementation cost also increases. We propose a single carrier (SC) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) hybrid coherent optical transmission scheme based on a 1-bit bandpass (BP) delta-sigma modulation (DSM). The driving I-channel and Q-channel signals for the optical in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) modulator carry SC-modulated and OFDM-modulated transmitter data, respectively. Optical quadrature-phase-shift-keying (QPSK) modulation is realized by the 1-bit DSM quantizer and I/Q modulator, which can effectively suppress quantization noise and reduce the complexity of digital signal processing (DSP) and the performance requirements of optoelectronic devices. In addition, the hybrid transmission of SC and OFDM can balance the advantages of both to meet the variable channel conditions and complex application scenarios. High-fidelity transmission of SC 512QAM and OFDM 512QAM hybrid signals, in the form of a 60 Gbaud optical QPSK signal, over 60 km single-mode fiber-28 (SMF-28) is verified by offline experiments, and the bit error rates (BERs) of both SC 512QAM and OFDM 512QAM are below the hard-decision forward-error correction (HD-FEC) threshold of 3.8e-3.

Simultaneous wireless mm-wave transmission of both SC-modulated and OFDM-modulated high-order QAM signals enabled by bandpass delta-sigma modulation.

The application of dual vector millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signals in radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems represents a significant opportunity to enhance spectrum efficiency, transmission capacity, and access flexibility. In addition, facing the increasingly intricate application scenarios, the comprehensive exploitation of high-order quadrature-amplitude-modulation (QAM) signals with hybrid single-carrier (SC) and orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (OFDM) modulation is also vital to rich systematic connotation. Based on bandpass delta-sigma modulation (BP-DSM) and heterodyne detection, we propose what we believe to be a novel scheme for the simultaneous wireless mm-wave transmission of both SC-modulated and OFDM-modulated high-order QAM signals. The innovation lies in the modulation-agnostic nature, accommodating both SC-modulated and OFDM-modulated vector radio-frequency (RF) signals. The BP-DSM is utilized to digitize two independent SC-modulated and OFDM-modulated high-order QAM signals into relatively simple sequences at the transmitter side. With the aid of an optical I/Q modulator, we can integrate both signals after BP-DSM to generate the desired optical quadrature-phase-shift keying (QPSK) signal carrying both information of two original high-order QAM signals. Facilitated by heterodyne detection and a single photodetector (PD), our scheme attains prowess in the detection of both SC-modulated and OFDM-modulated high-order signals. Based on our proposed scheme, we experimentally demonstrate the simultaneous wireless mm-wave transmission of both SC-modulated and OFDM-modulated 512QAM signals at 30-GHz mm-wave band, demonstrating bit-error-rates (BERs) below the hard decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) threshold of 3.8 × 10-3 after transmission over 10-km single-mode fiber (SMF) link and 1-m wireless link. In addition, we further investigate the performance impact between SC-modulated and OFDM-modulated high-order QAM signals, and experiment results indicate that the impact is virtually negligible. Moreover, the performance of the generated QPSK mm-wave signal is transparent to the QAM modulation formats of both SC-modulated and OFDM-modulated signals in our proposed scheme.

Hybrid transmission of PS-GS4QAM and QPSK data in the form of a PS-16QAM mm-wave signal enabled by optical asymmetrical dual-SSB modulation.

The independent optical dual-single-sideband (dual-SSB) signal generation and detection can be achieved by an optical in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) modulator and one single photodiode (PD). The dual-SSB signal is able to carry two different information. After PD detection, the optical dual-SSB signal can be converted into an electrical millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signal. Therefore, the optical dual-SSB signal generation and detection technique can be employed in the radio-over-fiber (RoF) system to achieve higher system spectral efficiency and reduce system architecture complexity. However, the I/Q modulator's nonideal property results in the amplitude imbalance of the optical dual-SSB signal, and then the crosstalk can occur. Moreover, after PD detection, the generated mm-wave signal based on the optical dual-SSB modulation has a relatively low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), which restricts the system performance. In this paper, we propose an optical asymmetrical dual-SSB signal generation and detection scheme based on the probabilistic shaping (PS) technology, to decrease the influence of the optical dual-SSB signal's amplitude imbalance and to enhance the system performance in the scenario of the limited SNR. The dual-SSB in our scheme is composed of the left sideband (LSB) in probabilistic-shaping geometric-shaping 4-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (PS-GS4QAM) format and the right sideband (RSB) in quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) format. The transmitter digital signal processing (DSP) generates a dual-SSB signal to drive the optical I/Q modulator. The I/Q modulator implements an electrical-to-optical conversion and generates an optical dual-SSB signal. After PD detection, the optical dual-SSB signal is converted into a PS-16QAM mm-wave signal. In our simulation, compared with the normal 16QAM scenario, the PS-16QAM scenario exhibits a ∼1.2 dB receiver sensitivity improvement at the hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) threshold of 3.8×10-3. Therefore, in our experiment, based on the PS technology, we design a dual-SSB signal including a 5 Gbaud LSB-PS-GS4QAM at -15 GHz and a 5 Gbaud RSB-QPSK at 20 GHz. After 5 km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) transmission and PD detection, the dual-SSB signal is converted into a 5 Gbaud PS-16QAM mm-wave signal at 35 GHz. Then, the generated PS-16QAM signal is sent into a 1.2 m single-input-single-output (SISO) wireless link. In the DSP at the receiver end, the dual-SSB signal can be recovered from the mm-wave signal, and the PS-GS4QAM and QPSK data carried by the dual-SSB signal can be separated. The bit error rates (BERs) of the LSB-PS-GS4QAM and the RSB-QPSK in our experiment can be below the HD-FEC threshold of 3.8×10-3. The results demonstrate that our scheme can tolerate the I/Q modulator's nonideal property and performs well in the scenario of a relatively low SNR.

The role of mitochondrial DNA copy number in cardiometabolic disease: a bidirectional two-sample mendelian randomization study.

BACKGROUND: This study used a bidirectional 2-sample Mendelian randomization study to investigate the potential causal links between mtDNA copy number and cardiometabolic disease (obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, type 2 diabetes [T2DM], coronary artery disease [CAD], stroke, ischemic stroke, and heart failure). METHODS: Genetic associations with mtDNA copy number were obtained from a genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics from the UK biobank (n = 395,718) and cardio-metabolic disease were from largest available GWAS summary statistics. Inverse variance weighting (IVW) was conducted, with weighted median, MR-Egger, and MR-PRESSO as sensitivity analyses. We repeated this in the opposite direction using instruments for cardio-metabolic disease. RESULTS: Genetically predicted mtDNA copy number was not associated with risk of obesity (P = 0.148), hypertension (P = 0.515), dyslipidemia (P = 0.684), T2DM (P = 0.631), CAD (P = 0.199), stroke (P = 0.314), ischemic stroke (P = 0.633), and heart failure (P = 0.708). Regarding the reverse directions, we only found that genetically predicted dyslipidemia was associated with decreased levels of mtDNA copy number in the IVW analysis (ß= - 0.060, 95% CI - 0.044 to - 0.076; P = 2.416e-14) and there was suggestive of evidence for a potential causal association between CAD and mtDNA copy number (ß= - 0.021, 95% CI - 0.003 to - 0.039; P = 0.025). Sensitivity and replication analyses showed the stable findings. CONCLUSIONS: Findings of this Mendelian randomization study did not support a causal effect of mtDNA copy number in the development of cardiometabolic disease, but found dyslipidemia and CAD can lead to reduced mtDNA copy number. These findings have implications for mtDNA copy number as a biomarker of dyslipidemia and CAD in clinical practice.

Dual high-order QAM-modulated mm-wave signal transmission in the Q-band enabled by simple IM/DD architecture and bandpass delta-sigma modulation.

The intensity-modulation (IM)/direct-detection (DD) systems have been proven effective and low-cost due to their simple system architecture. However, the Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) of the IM/DD systems only reserves its driving signal intensity. Therefore, the IM/DD systems are generally unable to transmit vector signals and have a restricted spectrum efficiency and channel capacity. Similarly, the radio-over-fiber (RoF) transmission systems based on IM/DD are limited by their simple architecture and generally cannot transmit high-order quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals, which hinders the improvement of their spectrum efficiency. To address the challenges, we propose a novel, to the best of our knowledge, scheme to simultaneously transmit the dual independent high-order QAM-modulated millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signals in the RoF system with a simple IM/DD architecture, enabled by precoding-based optical carrier suppression (OCS) modulation and bandpass delta-sigma modulation (BP-DSM). The dual independent signals can carry different information, which increases channel capacity and improves spectrum efficiency and system flexibility. Based on our proposed scheme, we experimentally demonstrate the dual 512-QAM mm-wave signal transmission in the Q-band (33-50 GHz) under three different scenarios: 1) dual single-carrier (SC) signal transmission, 2) dual orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (OFDM) signal transmission, and 3) hybrid SC and OFDM signal transmission. We achieve high-fidelity transmission of dual 512-QAM vector signals over a 5 km single-mode fiber (SMF) and a 1-m single-input single-output (SISO) wireless link operating in the Q-band, with the bit error rates (BERs) of all three scenarios below the hard decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) threshold of 3.8 × 10-3. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time dual high-order QAM-modulated mm-wave signal transmission has been achieved in a RoF system with a simple IM/DD architecture.

Dual vector millimeter-wave signal generation based on optical carrier suppression modulation and direct detection with one photodetector.

We propose a novel, to the best of our knowledge, scheme for dual vector millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signal generation and transmission, based on optical carrier suppression (OCS) modulation, precoding, and direct detection by a single-ended photodiode (PD). At the transmitter side, two independent vector radio frequency (RF) signals with precoding, generated via digital signal processing (DSP), are used to drive an in-phase/quadrature (I/Q) modulator operating at the optical OCS modulation mode to simultaneously generate two independent frequency-doubling optical vector mm-wave signals, which can reduce the bandwidth requirement of transmitter's components and enhance spectral efficiency. With the aid of the single-ended PD and subsequent DSP at the receiver side, two independent frequency-doubling vector mm-wave signals can be separated and demodulated without data error. Based on our proposed scheme, we experimentally demonstrate the generation, transmission, and detection of 2-Gbaud 30-GHz quadrature-phase-shift-keying (QPSK) and 2-Gbaud 46-GHz QPSK signals over 10-km single-mode fiber-28 (SMF-28) and 1-m wireless transmission. The results indicate that the bit-error ratio (BER) of the dual vector mm-wave signals can each reach the hard-decision forward-error-correction (HD-FEC) threshold of 3.8 × 10-3.

Brain network integration underpins differential susceptibility of adolescent anxiety.

BACKGROUND: Parenting is a common and potent environmental factor influencing adolescent anxiety. Yet, the underlying neurobiological susceptibility signatures remain elusive. Here, we used a longitudinal twin neuroimaging study to investigate the brain network integration and its heritable relation to underpin the neural differential susceptibility of adolescent anxiety to parenting environments. METHODS: 216 twins from the Beijing Twin Study completed the parenting and anxiety assessments and fMRI scanning. We first identified the brain network integration involved in the influences of parenting at age 12 on anxiety symptoms at age 15. We then estimated to what extent heritable sensitive factors are responsible for the susceptibility of brain network integration. RESULTS: Consistent with the differential susceptibility theory, the results showed that hypo-connectivity within the central executive network amplified the impact of maternal hostility on anxiety symptoms. A high anti-correlation between the anterior salience and default mode networks played a similar modulatory role in the susceptibility of adolescent anxiety to paternal hostility. Genetic influences (21.18%) were observed for the connectivity pattern in the central executive network. CONCLUSIONS: Brain network integration served as a promising neurobiological signature of the differential susceptibility to adolescent anxiety. Our findings deepen the understanding of the neural sensitivity in the developing brain and can inform early identification and personalized interventions for adolescents at risk of anxiety disorders.

Advances in the assessment of cosmetic outcomes, sensory alteration in surgical areas, and health-related quality of life of endoscopic thyroidectomy.

BACKGROUND: Endoscopic thyroidectomy has been preliminarily proven effective and safe for thyroid diseases. The cosmetic outcomes and life quality are critical contents of postoperative assessment. This review will primarily focus on the assessment methods and results related to cosmetic outcomes, sensory alteration of surgical area, and quality of life following endoscopic thyroidectomy. METHODS: A comprehensive search of published articles within the last decade was conducted using the terms "endoscopic/robotic thyroidectomy," "patient satisfaction scores," "questionnaire," "quality of life," and "cosmetic" in PubMed. RESULTS: Assessment methods for postoperative cosmetic satisfaction and sensory alterations encompassed verbal/visual analog scales, scar evaluations, Semmes-Weinstein monofilament tests, and more. The evaluation of postoperative quality of life in endoscopic thyroidectomy involved tools such as SF-36, SF-12, thyroid-specific questionnaires, thyroid cancer-specific quality of life questionnaires (THYCA-QOL), as well as assessments related to voice and swallow function. The cosmetic results of endoscopic thyroidectomy generally surpassed those of open thyroidectomy, while the quality of life in endoscopic procedures was either superior or equivalent to that in open thyroidectomy, especially with respect to general health, role emotion, and vitality. CONCLUSIONS: Assessments of cosmetic outcomes and sensory alterations following endoscopic thyroidectomy predominantly relied on patients' subjective feelings. The objective and subjective perspectives of scar assessments remain underutilized. In addition, postoperative laryngoscopy and voice function assessments in endoscopic thyroidectomy procedures require more attention.

Humic acid-mediated transport of a typical soil passivation remediation product (chloropyromorphite) in saturated porous media.

Conversion of labile Pb species into chloropyromorphite (CPY) using phosphorus-bearing amendments was considered to be an ideal strategy in soil passivation remediation. However, the fate and transport of CPY in the soil are poorly understood. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap by evaluating the fate and transport of CPY under environmentally relevant conditions of humic acid (HA), pH, electrolyte concentration, and species through the saturated sandy medium. Results showed that bare CPY colloids are basically immobile in sandy porous media while the co-existence of HA made the transport of CPY improved by 30%-93.5%. Facilitated transport of CPY was attributed to the increased stability of CPY and the repulsive interaction between CPY particles and sands due to HA adsorption. The mobility of CPY was also increased with increasing pH from 5.0 to 9.0. When the pH was 9 with a 10 mmol/L NaCl background solution, the stronger energy barrier between CPY and sand led to enhanced transport behavior. The divalent Ca2+ had a more dramatic effect than monovalent Na+ on the aggregation and sedimentation of CPY colloids due to its effectivescreening of the surface charge of CPY and bridging interaction with CPY particles. Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek theory and attachment efficiency calculation indicated that high energy barriers were responsible for the high mobility of CPY colloids, while the retention of CPY in sands was mainly caused by secondary energy minimum and physically straining. The findings of this work can help to evaluate the fate of soil passivation remediation products in natural water and soil.

Mid-infrared pulsed Er:ZBLAN fiber laser producing mode-switchable cylindrical vector beams.

We demonstrate the generation of both continuous-wave (CW) and Q-switched cylindrical vector beams (CVBs) from a mid-infrared Er3+-doped ZBLAN (Er:ZBLAN) fiber laser at ∼ 2.8 µm. A customized S-waveplate is incorporated as the intracavity mode converter to achieve the mid-infrared CVBs. Switchable modes of CVBs between the radially and azimuthally polarized beam can be realized easily by manipulating the cavity conditions. A maximum output power of ∼250 mW is achieved for the CW CVBs. In the short-pulsed CVBs operation regime, both the active and passive Q-switching modes are realized with a pulse duration of hundreds of nanoseconds. The proposed mid-infrared cylindrical vector lasers can have significant potential for applications in biomedicine, optical trapping, material processing and optical communication.

Secure key real-time update and dynamic DNA encryption for CO-OFDM-PON based on a hybrid 5-D chaos.

A double key (DK) real-time update and hybrid five-dimensional (5-D) hyperchaotic deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) dynamic encryption scheme is proposed, which can ensure the security in the orthogonal frequency division multiplexing passive optical network (OFDM-PON). Chaotic sequences for DNA dynamic encryption are produced using a four-dimensional (4-D) hyperchaotic Lü system and a one-dimensional (1-D) logistic map. In this scheme, the DK consists of an external key set, which is stored locally, and an internal key, which is associated with the plaintext and external key. In addition, a pilot cluster is used as the carrier of key transmission and key embedding is achieved by converting key to phase information of the pilot. To verify the feasibility of the scheme, a simulation validation is performed on a 46.5Gb/s 16 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) coherent OFDM-PON system transmitted over an 80 km transmission distance. The results show that the proposed scheme can improve the security performance of OFDM-PON at a low OSNR cost of 0.3 dB and the key space is expanded to (8.514 × 10102)S. When the correlation redundancy (CR) G⩾7, the 0 bit error rate (BER) of key can be achieved and the key can be updated and distributed in real-time without occupying additional secure channels.

Photonic-aided W-band dual-vector RF signal generation and detection enabled by bandpass delta-sigma modulation and heterodyne detection.

We propose a photonic-aided dual-vector radio-frequency (RF) signal generation and detection scheme enabled by bandpass delta-sigma modulation and heterodyne detection. With the aid of the bandpass delta-sigma modulation, our proposed scheme is transparent to the modulation format of the dual-vector RF signals and can support the generation, wireless transmission, and detection of both single-carrier (SC) and orthogonal-frequency-division-multiplexing (OFDM) vector RF signals with high-level quadrature-amplitude-modulation (QAM) modulation. With the aid of the heterodyne detection, our proposed scheme can support up to W-band (75-110 GHz) dual-vector RF signal generation and detection. For the validation of our proposed scheme, we experimentally demonstrate the simultaneous generation of a SC-64QAM signal at 94.5 GHz and a SC-128QAM signal at 93.5 GHz and their error-free high-fidelity transmission over a 20-km single-mode fiber 28 (SMF-28) and a 1-m single-input single-output (SISO) wireless link at the W-band. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that delta-sigma modulation has been introduced into a W-band photonic-aided fiber-wireless integration system to achieve flexible and high-fidelity dual-vector RF signal generation and detection.

Genetic and environmental sources of familial resemblance in anxiety: a nuclear twin family design.

BACKGROUND: A dominant feature of anxiety disorders is familial aggregation. However, the underlying mechanisms of between- and within-generational anxiety resemblance remain poorly understood. By disentangling the genetic v. environmental sources of familial resemblance in anxiety, we can help prevent within-family transmission of anxiety disorders. Therefore, data from both parents and twins are needed to obtain unbiased and detailed estimations of genetic and environmental sources of similarity between family members. METHODS: We examined data from 991 families with same-sex twins. Trait anxiety in twins was assessed via self-report and parent report, while parental trait anxiety was assessed via self-report. We established a nuclear twin family model and estimated genetic and environmental variances using two survey waves. RESULTS: The results suggested that additive genetic (A), dominant genetic (D), and non-shared environmental (E) influences significantly contributed to trait anxiety, whereas familial environmental influences (F) and passive gene-environment correlations (rGE) did not. Sibling environmental influences (S) were only found in self-report data, and increased when genetic influences decreased from Wave 1 to Wave 2. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights the important role of broad heritability in intrafamilial trait anxiety similarity. Parent-child resemblance occurred primarily due to shared genetic makeup rather than direct environmental transmission. Sibling-specific environments, as the only source of shared environments, need further investigation. These findings have both theoretical and practical significance for anxiety disorders. Future research can expand our understanding by examining the gene-environment interplay and sex differences.

Aided-efflux and high production of ß-amyrin realized by ß-cyclodextrin in situ synthesized on surface of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

As a plant-derived pentacyclic triterpenoid, ß-amyrin has been heterogeneously synthesized in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. However, ß-amyrin is intracellularly produced in a lower gram scale using recombinant S. cerevisiae, which limits the industrial applications. Although many strategies have been proven to be effective to improve the production of ß-amyrin, the intracellularly accumulation is still a challenge in reaching higher titer and simplifying the extraction process. To solve this problem, the amphiphilic ß-cyclodextrin (ß-CD) has been previously employed to aid the efflux of ß-amyrin out of the cells. Nevertheless, the supplemented ß-CD in the medium is not consistent with ß-amyrin synthesis and has the disadvantage of rather high cost. Therefore, an aided-efflux system based on in situ synthesis of ß-CD was developed in this study to enhance the biosynthesis of ß-amyrin and its efflux. The in situ synthesis of ß-CD was started from starch by the surface displayed cyclodextrin glycosyltransferase (CGTase) on yeast cells. As a result, the synthesized ß-CD could capture 16% of the intracellular ß-amyrin and improve the total production by 77%. Furthermore, more strategies including inducing system remodeling, precursor supply enhancement, two-phase fermentation and lipid synthesis regulation were employed. Finally, the production of ß-amyrin was increased to 73 mg/L in shake flask, 31 folds higher than the original strain, containing 31 mg/L of extracellular ß-amyrin. Overall, this work provides novel strategies for the aided-efflux of natural products with high hydrophobicity in engineered S. cerevisiae.

Predicting the image quality of respiratory-gated and breath-hold 3D MRCP from the breathing curve: a prospective study.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the image quality of breath-hold magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (BH-MRCP) and respiratory-gating MRCP (RG-MRCP), and to explore breathing curve-based factors and patient-related data affecting image quality. METHODS: A total of 126 participants who underwent RG-MRCP and BH-MRCP on a 3-T magnetic resonance (MR) scanner were enrolled from May to December 2021. The images were evaluated by three radiologists on a 5-point scale. Respiratory parameters were extracted from the breathing curves. The Wilcoxon test was used to compare the image quality between the two MRCPs. Logistic regression analyzes were performed to identify age, sex, abdominal pain, and breathing predictor variables of better image quality. RESULTS: BH-MRCP performed better in visualizing intrahepatic bile ducts and overall image quality than RG-MRCP (p < 0.01). Factors predicting relatively good image quality included lower standard deviation of the respiratory amplitude (SDamp)-minimum-peak (odds ratio = 0.16, p < 0.01) for RG-MRCP and lower SDamp (OR = 0.69, p < 0.01) for BH-MRCP. CONCLUSIONS: BH-MRCP had significantly better overall image quality than RG-MRCP. Respiratory conditions exerted a significant impact on MRCP image quality, and parameters derived from the breathing curve could help predict the image quality of both sequences. KEY POINTS: • Both breath-hold (BH) and respiratory-gating (RG) MRCP demonstrate satisfying image quality. • BH-GRASE-MRCP is significantly better than RG-MRCP at the group level, but not for every individual. • Respiratory conditions exert a significant impact on the image quality, and the breathing curve can help predict the image quality.