Microwave-field sensing via electromagnetically induced absorption of Rb irradiated by three-color infrared lasers.

A microwave electric field sensing has been set up based on a three-color electromagnetically induced absorption in rubidium vapor cell via cascading transitions. All transitions are irradiated by infrared lasers: a 780 nm laser servers as probe to monitor the optical transmittancy via transition 5S1/2→P3/2;, a 776 nm laser and a 1260 nm laser are used to couple the states 5P3/2 and 5D5/2 and states 5D5/2 and 44F7/2, respectively. We find that a frequency detuning ∼2π × ( - 40) MHz of the 776 nm dressing beam prefers to a better signal-to-noise ratio for the probe beam. The off-resonance greatly depresses the double resonance pumping effect. A demonstration measurement for the electric field of microwave 1.18988 GHz, corresponding to the coupling resonance between two adjacent Rydberg states 44F7/2 and 44F9/2, gives a sensitivity of 55.79(23)nVcm-1/Hz and a smallest discernible electric field of 78.9(33) nVcm-1 in time scale of 500 ms.

[Analysis of urine metabolic profile in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma].

Objective: To study the changes of urinary metabolic profile, screen metabolic ions characterization with clinical diagnostic value, and a disease differentiation model establishment, in an attempt to help the clinical diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma patients. Methods: A case-control study was conducted. Ultra-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS) were used to analyze urine samples of 32 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma, 28 patients with liver cirrhosis and 28 healthy persons, respectively. The orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) and the principal component analysis (PCA) model were constructed using MZmine2.0 and SIMCA-P + 12.0.1.0 software for preliminary screening of metabolites. The metabolic ions selected in the final test were analyzed by SPSS, and the markers were analyzed and screened by one-way analysis of variance. Finally, the sensitivity and specificity of the selected markers were analyzed by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare quantitative indicators between groups. Results: OPLS-DA model parameters were R2X = 35.3%, R2Y = 86.9%, and Q2 = 72.2%, which had a good identification value. A total of 26 characteristic ions were screened, of which 17 were identified. 14, 19-Dihydroaspidospermatine had a high value in distinguishing healthy person with hepatocellular carcinoma patients, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was higher than 0.9. The area under the ROC curve for distinguishing liver cancer with liver cirrhosis patients was 0.88, which was higher than the ROC curve of alpha-fetoprotein (0.75). Conclusion: Based on the UPLC-MS platform, the PCA and OPLS-DA models were successfully constructed, and the characteristic metabolic ions in the urine were extracted and identified, which has a certain value in assisting clinical screening of hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

[Clinical value of early bedside ultrasound measurement of quadriceps femoris in diagnosis of ICU-acquired weakness].

Objective: To explore the correlation between quadriceps thickness (thickness of rectus femoris and vastus intermedius), cross-sectional area (cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris) and the strength score of the Medical Research Council (MRC) in critically ill patients, and to explore the changes in the length of hospital stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), and to determine the diagnostic value of muscle changes in the ICU-acquired weakness (ICU-AW). Methods: Patients admitted to the Department of Critical Care Medicine from March to October in 2019 who were expected to stay for more than five days were enrolled in this study. The cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris, the thickness of the rectus femoris, the thickness of the vastus intermedius on the first day of the ICU (D(1)), day 3 (D(3)), and day 5 (D(5)), day 7 (D(7)), out of ICU (D(ICU)), and the MRC muscle strength scores on the day of out of ICU prospectively were collected in all the patients, and the correlation and the regularity of quadriceps changes were analyzed. MRC>48 points on the day of dismiss of ICU were used as the standard for the diagnosis of ICU-AW, and the relationship between muscle changes of the quadriceps and ICU-AW was analyzed. The t test or the Mann-Whitney U test was used for data analysis. Results: A total of 45 patients were included, including 25 males and 20 females, aged (58±10) years. The rectus femoris cross-sectional area, rectus femoris thickness, and vastus intermedius thickness decreased with the length of ICU hospital stay. The cross-sectional area, thickness of the rectus femoris muscle, and the vastus intermedius thickness were positively correlated with the MRC score (r=0.452, 0.411, 0.402, all P<0.05), and the changes were all negatively correlated with the MRC score (r=-0.682, -0.740, -0.734, all P<0.05). On the 3rd day after ICU admission, the best cutoff value of rectus muscle cross-sectional area atrophy rate for discrimination of ICU-AW was 6.0%, with a sensitivity of 66.7% and a specificity of 77.8%; on the 5th day, the best cutoff value of rectus femoris thickness atrophy rate was 14.5%, with a sensitivity of 77.8% and a specificity of 66.7%; on the 7th day, the best cutoff value of vastus intermedius thickness atrophy rate was 19.9%, with a sensitivity of 70.6% and a specificity of 87.5%. Conclusion: Bedside ultrasound measurement of the quadriceps femoris cross-sectional area and thickness has certain diagnostic value for ICU-AW, and can identify patients with ICU-AW early.

Artificial modulation-free Pound-Drever-Hall method for laser frequency stabilization.

We have proposed an artificial modulation-free Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) method for laser frequency stabilization and demonstrated it via two-color polarization spectroscopy of Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) resonance in a room-temperature rubidium vapor. Due to the unique error signal profile, the conventional PDH method owns a large capture range in laser frequency locking. Here we manually construct a PDH error signal via a linear combination of polarization spectroscopies of the Rydberg EIT resonances without and with a magnetic field applied. The artificial modulation-free PDH error signal owns a subnatural linewidth dispersion curve as well as a large capture range with which we successfully stabilize the laser to an absolute atomic frequency reference in a long running time, immune to environmental fluctuation and even manmade impulse perturbation. This method can provide an absolute frequency reference based on atomic transition while keeping similar locking ability to provide corrections for frequency fluctuations over a broad bandwidth as the conventional PDH.

Symmetry-Breaking Assisted Landau-Zener Transitions in Rydberg Atoms.

We report the observation of a controlled Landau-Zener transition (LZT) in Rydberg atoms by breaking the symmetry of the underlying Hamiltonian. For a nonhydrogenic Rydberg atom inside a changing electric (F) field, a LZT occurs between the avoided crossing energy levels of neighboring Rydberg states only for a sufficiently high changing rate. If a transverse magnetic (B) field is applied as we implement, the atomic level symmetry is broken, which causes the Stark manifolds denoted by a different |m| (m is the magnetic quantum number) to interact with each other. The mixed state levels end up pushing the adiabatically repelled target states closer and additionally they serve as stepping stones for the sequential LZTs between the neighboring sublevels. Such a feature significantly decreases the changing rate required for an efficient LZT inside a pure electric field. We report experimental observations that support the above scenario. It opens a versatile approach for engineering a controlled LZT in more general systems.

[Diagnostic value of serum cystatin C for acute kidney injury in patients with liver cirrhosis].

Objective: To determine the diagnostic value of serum cystatin C (Cys C) for acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods: Serum Cys C levels in 150 liver cirrhosis patients (88 AKI and 62 non-AKI patients) were measured by the Particle-Enhanced Nephelometric Immuno-Assay. The accuracy of serum Cys C for the diagnosis of AKI in liver cirrhosis was evaluated by the ROC curve. Results: Liver cirrhosis patients with AKI had significantly higher serum Cys C levels [2.37 (1.75-2.83) mg/L] than those without AKI [0.97 (0.85-1.09) g/L] (P <0.001). Serum Cys C level was highest in the acute tubular necrosis group [5.41 (2.77-6.19) mg/L], followed by the hepatorenal syndrome group [2.55 (2.28-3.59) mg/L] and prerenal azotemia group [2.07 (1.70-2.41) mg/L], and the serum Cys C level was significantly different between the three groups (P <0.001). In addition, patients with AKI were further divided into infection group and non-infection group. Serum Cys C level was significantly higher in the infection group than in the non-infection group (P <0.05). The area under the ROC curve of serum Cys C for the diagnosis of AKI in liver cirrhosis was 0.99 (0.98-1.00) at a cut-off value of 1.36 mg/L, and the sensitivity and specificity were 97% and 95%, respectively. Conclusion: Serum Cys C is a good marker for detecting AKI in liver cirrhosis, and the different levels of increase in Cys C may be useful in differentiating the different types of AKI.

The effects of bortezomib alone or in combination with 5-fluorouracil on proliferation and apoptosis of choriocarcinoma cells.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of bortezomib alone and in combination with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on proliferation and apoptosis in the human choriocarcinoma cell line JEG-3. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Cells were treated with bortezomib, 5-FU or with a combination. Proliferation and apoptosis were measured. NF-iB protein expression was examined using immunofluorescence. RESULTS: Following treatment with ten nM bortezomib, rates of apoptosis were significantly higher than controls (p < 0.05) and NF-kB expression increased. 5-FU at 0.025 µg/ml or 0.25 µg/ml resulted in 60.1 ± 0.4% and 67.0 ± 0.2% growth inhibition, respectively, an increase compared to individual treatment (p < 0.05). Apoptosis in cells treated with bortezomib +5-FU was significantly higher than either treatment alone (p < 0.05). Inhibition of proliferation by the combination treatment was synergistic. CONCLUSION: Bortezomib alone or in combination with 5-FU inhibited JEG-3 cell proliferation and induced apoptosis by increasing NF-kB expression. Combination treatment exerted synergistic effects on growth inhibition.

IL-6-174G/C and IL-6-572C/G polymorphisms are associated with increased risk of coronary artery disease.

We conducted this case-control study to investigate the genetic role of IL-1ß+3954C/T, IL-6-174G/C, IL-6-572C/G, IL-10-1082A/G, and IL-10-819C/T in the development of coronary artery disease (CAD) in a Chinese population. Polymorphisms IL-1ß+3954C/T, IL-6-174G/C, IL-6-572C/G, IL-10-1082A/G, and IL-10-819C/T were determined by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. The CAD patients were more likely to be cigarette smokers, have a history of hypertension, have a higher value of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and have a lower value of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Conditional logistic regression analyses showed that the CC genotype of IL-6-174G/C was significantly associated with increased risk of CAD [odds ratio (OR) = 2.99, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) = 1.56-6.00]. Moreover, the GG genotype of IL-6-572C/G was correlated with increased risk of CAD (OR = 1.99, 95%CI = 1.25-3.19). We found that IL-6-174G/C and IL-6-572C/G gene polymorphisms are associated with an increased risk of CAD.

New insight into power-law behavior of fragment size distributions in the C60 multifragmentation regime.

Previous experimental work has shown that a phase transition in C60 multifragmentation induced by nanosecond laser occurs at almost constant temperature covering a wide range of laser fluency. Here the relative yields of ionic fragments (IFs) C(n)(+) (n = 1-20) resulting from the multifragmentation are measured within the phase transition region. By excluding two small IFs and magic IFs due to their abnormal behavior, the data for residual IFs are used to estimate the size distributions of primary intermediate-mass IFs in the multifragmentation regime. The distributions are found to obey power laws n(-τ). Furthermore, the exponent τ values have sensitive dependence on lower laser fluency and converge to a constant of about 2.4 ± 0.2 for larger fluencies. These observations are in good agreement with an explanation based on the Fisher droplet model, offering the tantalizing possibility of a liquid-to-gas phase transition in C60 systems.

Analysis of gene expression profiles in healing rat fractures treated with nail and plate fixation.

To compare fracture healing therapies, the gene expression profiles of rat fracture samples treated with nail and plate fixation were analyzed at 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 6 weeks after surgery. The gene expression profiles GSE1685, which include 19 samples, were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus database. After preprocessing, the gene expression profiles were subjected to time series analysis using the Short Time-series Expression Miner software, and the significantly differentially expressed gene (DEG) sets were selected. Further, the distributions of those DEG sets on the corresponding chromosomes were identified using the functional classification tool. Finally, the DEGs were subjected to function and pathway enrichment analysis. DEG analysis indicated that the number of DEGs (854 genes) from nail fixation was significantly lower than that of DEGs (1029 genes) from plate fixation. The DEGs were mainly enriched in cell proliferation, cellular localization, and response to wounding functions. Several critical DEGs expressed during the fracture healing process were screened, and 2 common pathways were enriched for the DEGs in the nail fixation and plate fixation. These DEGs and pathways may be potential targets or predictive markers during fracture healing.

Genetic variability in copper-transporting P-type adenosine triphosphatase (ATP7B) is associated with Alzheimer's disease in a Chinese population.

Previous experiments demonstrated that transgenic mice carrying both amyloid precursor protein and mutant ATP7B transgenes reduce amyloid plaques and diminish plasma Abeta levels. These experiments showed that a structural change of ATP7B may affect Alzheimer’s disease (AD) susceptibility. In this study three missense SNPs in ATP7B gene (rs1801243, rs1801244, and rs1801249) were chosen to test whether they were associated with AD. We tested this hypothesis using a case control design. The experimental data showed that there was a significant deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) for SNP rs1801249 (c.3419 T greater than C, Val1140Ala) in the case group (p = 0.014) but not in the control group and that there was an association between SNP rs1801249 and AD under a recessive model (p = 0.003). The data also showed that the genotype frequency distribution of the ATP7B c.1366 G greater than C polymorphism (rs1801244, Val456Leu) differed significantly between the AD patients and the normal subjects (p = 0.012). In addition, the frequency of the TGC haplotype of SNPs rs1801243, rs1801244, and rs1801249 was significantly higher in the AD patients compared with the normal subjects (p = 8.49×10-7). These observations suggested that genetic variations in the copper transporter gene ATP7B might contribute to AD pathogenesis in the Taiwanese population.

Ischemic colitis due to a dissecting aneurysm of the superior rectal artery.

Ischemic injury to the bowel is a disease entity that has a wide spectrum of pathological and clinical findings. Patients with chronic ischemia present with colicky abdominal pain, obstructive symptoms and signs of ischemic colonic stricture. We reported the first case of ischemic colitis arising from a superior rectal artery (SRA) aneurysm. Colonoscopy showed non-resolving colitis complicated by sigmoid stricture. CT angiogram with 3D reconstruction showed a dissecting SRA aneurysm measuring 2 cm by 1.2 cm by 1.3 cm. The patient underwent laparoscopic-assisted low anterior resection, which was converted to open because of adhesions and made a full recovery.

Association analysis of dopaminergic gene variants (Comt, Drd4 And Dat1) with Alzheimer s disease.

Defects in dopaminergic transmission play important roles in the disturbance of synaptic plasticity and even in advanced cognitive behavior. However, the relationship between genes involved in the regulation of dopamine levels and predisposition for Alzheimer s disease (AD) remains unclear. The potential association of dopamine-modulating gene polymorphisms with AD was evaluated. We performed a case-control study with 120 patients and 86 healthy controls. Two catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs2020917 and rs4646312), two dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) SNPs (rs3758653 and rs916455), and four dopamine transporter (DAT1) SNPs (rs2937639, rs6347, rs12516948 and rs11133762) were investigated. The T allele at the DRD4 SNP (rs3758653) was found to be significantly associated with AD. Our results also showed that haplotype frequencies, observed from the analyzed SNPs, were distributed significantly differently in AD patients vs control subjects. Moreover, a strong association was observed between the A allele at rs6347 of DAT1 and moderate stage of dementia. These observations suggest that genetic variations in the dopamine-modulating genes, COMT, DRD4 and DAT1, may contribute to AD pathogenesis in the Taiwanese population.

Long-term outcomes following neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy in patients with clinical T2N0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

The optimal treatment for patients with local esophageal cancer (cT2N0 disease) has not yet been defined. We sought to determine whether neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) can improve prognosis compared with direct esophagectomy in this patient group. Between 1994 and 2005, patients with cT2N0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma who underwent either neoadjuvant CRT or surgery as first-line treatment were retrospectively reviewed. We collected information on their demographic characteristics, staging modality, clinical and pathological stages, perioperative course, and survival. The study endpoints included tumor recurrence, disease-specific survival (DSS), and overall survival rate. Of the 71 eligible patients, 14 received an esophagectomy first, whereas the remaining 57 received neoadjuvant CRT first. Despite the high pathological complete response (pCR) rate of 37% after neoadjuvant CRT, routine neoadjuvant CRT did not translate into better survival compared to direct surgery (5-year DSS: 39% vs. 68%, P= 0.17). The dramatic survival difference between pCR and non-pCR patients (5-year DSS: 85% vs. 4%, P < 0.001) accounts for these unsatisfactory results. In our series, the administration of neoadjuvant CRT to patients with clinical stage T2N0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma did not significantly improve outcomes compared with direct esophagectomy.

Polyamines conjugated to deoxyribonucleic acid-protein in cell nucleus from filling grain embryos were involved in tolerance of wheat to drought.

Deoxyribonucleic acid-protein (DNAP) of the cell nucleus was purified from developing wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) embryo cells under drought stress, with two cultivars differing in drought tolerance as experimental materials - Longmai No. 079 (drought-tolerant) and Wanmai No. 52 (drought-sensitive). Levels of polyamines (PAs) non-covalently conjugated to the DNA and covalently conjugated to the proteins of DNAP were detected. After soil drought treatment for 10 days, in drought-tolerant Longmai No. 079, the increases in the levels of spermine and spermidine non-covalently conjugated to DNA of DNAP were more statistically significant (P<0.05) than in drought-sensitive Wanmai No. 52. Treatment of Wanmai No. 52 with exogenous Spm could not only enhance the tolerance of the cultivar to drought stress, as judged by flag leaf water content, plasma membrane permeability and grain growth, but also elevate the levels of spermine and spermidine noncovalently conjugated to the DNA of the cultivar. On the contrary, treatment of Longmai No. 079 with methylglyoxyl-bis guanylhydrazone, an inhibitor of S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase, could significantly (P<0.05) aggravate the drought stress to this cultivar, accompanied by a marked decreases in the levels of spermine and spermidine non-covalently conjugated to the DNA of the cultivar. On the other hand, the content of putrescine covalently conjugated to the proteins of DNAP rose more markedly (P<0.05) in Longmai No. 079 than in Wanmai No. 52. The transglutaminase inhibitor, o-phenanthrolin, could markedly reduce the drought-induced increase in the level of putrescine covalently conjugated to the proteins of DNAP and aggravate drought stress to the two cultivars. Collectively, it could be inferred that spermine and spermidine non-covalently conjugated to the DNA and putrescine covalently conjugated to the proteins of DNAP in the developing grain embryo cell nucleus might enhance the tolerance of wheat plants to soil drought.

Determining excitation temperature of fragmented C60 via momentum distributions of fragments.

Hot C(60) molecules under nanosecond laser excitation decay by a variety of fragmentation channels. An experimental search has been made to determine the excitation temperature of fragmented C(60)via analyzing the momentum distributions of the prompt ionic fragments C(n)(+) (n ≤ 58). It was found that all the C(60) precursors appearing as these ionic fragments have almost the same temperature and the temperature shows little variation with the laser fluences in our limited range. The results provide a clear evidence that a first-order phase transition in the fragmented C(60) is occurring at this temperature. The value of phase transition temperature is found to be about 6050 ± 250 K, which is in a good agreement with the most recent estimations based on the molecular dynamics simulation. This approach offers an experimental opportunity for studying the fragmentation thermodynamics of more complex polyatomic molecules under excitation temperature determined conditions.

Digestive enzymes along digestive tract of a carnivorous fish Glyptosternum maculatum (Sisoridae, Siluriformes).

This study attempted to determine the presence, distribution and levels of digestive proteases, pepsin, amylase and lipase in the homogenates of digestive tract of a freshwater, cold-adapted, carnivorous teleost of Tibet, Glyptosternum maculatum (n= 10, mean weight: 129.6±28.9 g, mean length: 195.1±16.6 mm, approximately 6 years old), at different temperatures and pH levels. The descending order of protease activity was as follows: stomach (pepsin, 16.16±0.96 U/mg protein), anterior intestine (3.18±0.25 U/mg protein), posterior intestine (1.76±0.21 U/mg protein) and middle intestine (1.52±0.23 U/mg protein). Amylase activity levels in descending order were as follows: anterior intestine (0.0062±0.0007 U/mg protein), stomach (0.0032±0.0009 U/mg protein), middle intestine (0.0023±0.0005 U/mg protein) and posterior intestine (0.0023±0.0004 U/mg protein). The highest lipase activity was found in the anterior intestine (0.83±0.25 U/mg protein), followed by posterior intestine (0.51±0.19 U/mg protein), middle intestine (0.48±0.09 U/mg protein) and stomach (0.39±0.10 U/mg protein). The optimal temperature and pH level for protease were 50°C and 9.0-10.0, respectively, along the intestine. The pepsin optima in the stomach were 30°C and 2.0 respectively. The optimal temperature for amylase was found to be 30°C along the digestive tract and the optimal pH was 7.0 in the intestine and 6.0 in the stomach. The optimal temperature and pH levels of lipase were 30°C, pH 6.0 for the stomach and 40-50°C, pH 8.0 for the intestine, respectively. Hepato-somatic index was 1.35±0.2% and relative intestine length was 0.90±0.19. The weight ratio of the stomach and intestine to body weight was 1.63±0.43% and 1.57±0.24% respectively.

Relationship between polyamines conjugated to mitochondrion membrane and mitochondrion conformation from developing wheat embryos under drought stress.

The mitochondrion conformation and the contents of conjugated polyamines were investigated using the embryos of developing wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grains of two cultivars differing in drought tolerance as experiment materials. After drought stress treatment for 7 days, the relative water content of embryo and relative increase rate of embryo dry weight of the drought-sensitive Yangmai No. 9 cv. decreased more significantly than those of the drought-tolerant Yumai No. 18 cv. Furthermore, the changes in mitochondrion conformation of Yangmai No. 9 were more marked. Meanwhile, the increases of the contents of conjugated non-covalently spermidine (CNC-Spd) and conjugated covalently putrescine (CC-Put) of Yumai No. 18 were more obvious than those of Yangmai No. 9. Treatment with exogenous Spd not only alleviated the injury of drought stress to Yangmai No. 9, but also enhanced the increase of CNC-Spd content and inhibited the change in the mitochondrion conformation of this cultivar. The treatments of Yumai No. 18 with two inhibitors, methylglyoxyl-bis (guanylhydrazone) and phenanthrolin, significantly inhibited the drought stress-induced increases of CNC-Spd and CC-Put contents of the cultivar, respectively. Meanwhile, the treatments with the two inhibitors aggravated the injury of drought stress to Yumai No. 18 and enhanced the change in the mitochondrion conformation of this cultivar. These results mentioned above suggested that the CNC-Spd and CC-Put in embryo mitochondrion membrane isolated from developing grains could enhance the wheat tolerance to drought stress by maintaining the mitochondrion conformation.

Long noncoding RNA PCAT-1 promoted ovarian cancer cell proliferation and invasion by suppressing KLF6.

Since this article has been suspected of research misconduct and the corresponding authors did not respond to our request to prove originality of data and figures, "Long noncoding RNA PCAT-1 promoted ovarian cancer cell proliferation and invasion by suppressing KLF6, by H.-P. Liu, D. Lv, J.-Y. Wang, Y. Zhang, J.-F. Chang, Z.-T. Liu, N. Tang, published in Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci 2019; 23 (11): 4650-4655-DOI: 10.26355/eurrev_201906_18044-PMID: 31210290" has been withdrawn. The Publisher apologizes for any inconvenience this may cause. https://www.europeanreview.org/article/18044.