Controlling the spin current around the rectangular cavities in two-dimensional topological insulators.

Controlling spin current in topological insulators (TIs) is a crucial requirement for applications in quantum computing and spintronics. Using the non-equilibrium Keldysh Green's function formalism, we demonstrate that such control can be established around rectangular cavities of two-dimensional TIs by breaking their time reversal symmetry via exchange magnetic fields and magnetic defects. In the presence of magnetic defects with xy symmetry or Ising symmetry, the density of states is localized, and the spin current forms a current loop around the rectangular cavity in TIs interfacing with two ferromagnetic stripes. We also observe that the spin direction of the traveling electrons is inverted under the reversal of bias and gate voltages. The change in the spin-polarized current around the cavities is predicted by varying the strength of Rashba spin-orbit coupling. This result allows for the creation and control of nearly fully spin-polarized currents with various spatial patterns around the cavities in TIs, and the design of tunable spin diodes for highly integrated spintronics.

The Value of Interleukin-10 in the Early Diagnosis of Neonatal Sepsis: A Meta-Analysis.

OBJECTIVES: Interleukin-10 is a significant marker in neonatal sepsis. This meta-analysis evaluated the accuracy of interleukin-10 expression in the diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. DATA SOURCE: Summary of literature review. STUDY SELECTION: A literature search strategy was developed, including PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library. All publications published till October 1, 2020, were retrieved; the key words were "sepsis" and "interleukin-10." DATA EXTRACTION: The sensitivity, specificity, positive likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio were used to evaluate the data, and the heterogeneity of the combined results was tested according to the I2 value. DATA SYNTHESIS: A total of six articles involving 879 newborns were included in the study. The combined sensitivity was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.78-0.86), the specificity was 0.79 (95% CI, 0.75-0.82), the positive likelihood ratio was 4.17 (95% CI, 2.6-6.69), and the negative likelihood ratio was 0.25 (95% CI, 0.16-0.39). The area under the summary receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.88 (95% CI, 0.86-0.91), and the Q index was 0.81. The combined diagnostic odds ratio was 17.52 (95% CI, 8.95-34.29). CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of the meta-analysis, interleukin-10 is a useful biomarker in the early diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. Its sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic ability are excellent. However, it needs to be combined with clinical history data for comprehensive judgment and should not be used alone for diagnosis.

Keratomycosis Caused by a Rare Pathogen, Myrothecium verrucaria.

PURPOSE: To report a case of keratomycosis caused by a very rare pathogen, Myrothecium verrucaria. METHODS: This is a case report. A 53-year-old man complaint of left eye redness, irritation, intermittent pain after ashes entered his left eye. The patient was examined by slit lamp, anterior segment OCT and in vivo confocal microscopy. The HRT III-RCM image showed massive interlocking white thin lines in the cornea stroma. Corneal scrapings were collected for pathogen culture and PCR test. M. verrucaria was isolated and identified. RESULTS: Hourly topical natamycin (5%) and voriconazole (10 mg/ml) was given as well as intravenous fluconazole (200 mg per day). Treatment was continued with oral itraconazole, 200 mg/day, topical natamycin (5%), 4 times/day, and pranoprofen, 4 times/day. The therapy was tapered off over one and half a month. The cornea lesion healed with scar formation two months later. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first case report of M. verrucaria keratomycosis in China. We are the first to show the characteristic of M. verrucaria on cornea with In vivo confocal microscopy. A combination treatment of tropical natamycin, voriconazole and systemic fluconazole was effective in the treatment of M. verrucaria.

The effect of Wnt/ß-catenin pathway on the scleral remolding in the mouse during form deprivation.

BACKGROUND: Many reports have shown that Wnt/ß-Catenin pathway is associated with a variety of diseases, but its role in the pathogenesis of myopia is still unknown. In order to clarify the role of Wnt/ß-catenin pathway in the development of form deprivation myopia (FDM), this study investigated the expression of scleral Wls, ß-catenin and TCF4 in mice model of form deprivation (FD) myopia. METHODS: Three parallel experimental groups, including FD, monocular exposure (SC) and binocular exposure (NC) group, were designed to investigate the effects of Wnt/ß-Catenin pathway on scleral remodeling mouse during form deprivation in three-week-old C57BL/6 mice. Diopters and axial lengths (AL) in each sample were measured with an infrared eccentric refractometer or spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. The expression of scleral Wls, ß-catenin and TCF4 were detected with Western blot. Morphological changes of posterior sclera were observed with a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The above characterization and analysis were performed on the 0th, 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th days, respectively. RESULTS: The difference of diopter and AL between the three groups (SC, NC and FD group) gradually increased with the prolongation of FD time (except AL between SC and NC groups). The changes of diopter and AL gradually increased with the prolongation of FD time. Especially, the diopter and AL will increase sharply after FD lasts for a long time, such as the measurement on the 21st for diopter and 28th days for AL. Most notably, the AL of FD eyes significantly increased after 28 days of deprivation. Thinning and disordered arrangement of collagen fibers and a decrease of extracellular matrix were observed with TEM. The expression of scleral Wls, ß-catenin and TCF4 increased with age in the NC and SC group. In FD group, they increased significantly on the 7th, 14th and 21st days but decreased on the 28th day. CONCLUSIONS: The expression of Wls, ß-Catenin and TCF4 to FD were more sensitive indicators than that of diopter and AL. Within the first 7 days of FD, the expression of Wls, ß-Catenin and TCF4 in sclera increased sharply. With the extension of FD duration, it gradually decreased. It is suggested that the Wnt/ß-catenin pathway might be involved in the scleral remodeling induced in FDM mice.

Rhodium-catalyzed oxidative annulation of 1H-indazoles with alkynes for the synthesis of indazolo[3,2-a]isoquinolines via C-H bond functionalization.

A Rh(iii)-catalyzed oxidative annulation of 1H-indazoles with internal alkynes via C-C and C-N coupling for the preparation of highly functionalized indazolo[3,2-a]isoquinolines is disclosed. This reaction features the use of easily accessible starting materials, is operationally simple, has a relatively wide substrate scope, and shows good functional group tolerance. Furthermore, some of the prepared compounds exhibit bright emission in both dilute solution and in the solid state, with a Stokes shift of up to 161 nm. The derivative 3ia, bearing the strong electron-withdrawing group -NO2, exhibits remarkable solvatochromic fluorescence.

A retrospective study comparing DALK and PKP in the treatment of necrotizing stromal keratitis.

PURPOSE: To compare the clinical outcomes of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) and penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) in the treatment of necrotizing stromal keratitis (NSK). METHODS: A retrospective study of NSK patients who underwent keratoplasty between January 2015 and December 2017 in the Third Xiangya Hospital was carried out. Data including preoperative and postoperative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure, graft survival rates, corneal endothelial cell density, corneal topography and thickness were reviewed and analyzed by SPSS 23.0 software. RESULTS: Fifty patients were involved. Twenty-five patients received DALK, and the other half received PKP. The average follow-up period was 10.28 ± 5.92 months. At the end of the follow-up period, there were no significant differences in postoperative BCVA, recurrence of virus, graft rejection or graft failure between the two groups. There were also no significant differences in average central corneal thickness postoperatively at 3 months. However, the average corneal endothelial cell density at 3 months was significantly higher in the DALK group (2121.12 ± 450.80 cell/mm2 in the DALK group versus 1812.16 ± 340.38 cell/mm2 in the PKP group, P = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Both DALK and PKP could increase visual acuity and prevent the progression of NSK. There were no significant differences between DALK and PKP in postoperative BCVA, rate of rejection, graft failure or recurrence rate. DALK significantly reduced the loss of corneal endothelial cells.

99mTc-DTPA SPECT/CT provided guide on triamcinolone therapy in Graves' ophthalmopathy patients.

INTRODUCTION: Distinguishing between the active and inactive stages of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) is essential for making treatment decisions. 99mTc-DTPA SPECT/CT is sensitive in identifying inflammation in extraocular muscles of GO patients, which we designate 99mTc-DTPA-active. This study aimed to evaluate the response of 99mTc-DTPA-active GO patients to local immunosuppressive therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-four 99mTc-DTPA-active GO patients (89 eyes) were retrospectively analyzed. Forty-five patients (64 eyes) received repeated peribulbar triamcinolone injection, and 19 patients (25 eyes) received no immunosuppressive treatment. Ophthalmological assessment, including clinical activity score, eyelid retraction, eyelid aperture, proptosis, diplopia, and ocular mobility, was recorded before and after treatment. RESULTS: Compared with untreated patients, the clinical activity score decreased significantly (P < 0.001) while eye symptoms (soft-tissue swelling and eyelid retraction and aperture) improved significantly (P = 0.02, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, respectively) in treated patients after six months. The inferior and medial recti were significantly smaller (P < 0.001, P < 0.001, respectively), and 99mTc-DTPA uptake in the two recti was significantly less (P = 0.001, P = 0.01, respectively) in treated patients than in untreated patients after 3 months. CONCLUSION: Clinical activity score of < 3 does not indicate inactive GO, as revealed with 99mTc-DTPA SPECT/CT. Patients with 99mTc-DTPA-active GO can improve the symptoms with peribulbar triamcinolone injection.

Synthesis of Chiral ß-Fluoroalkyl ß-Amino Acid Derivatives via Palladium-Catalyzed Hydrogenation.

An enantioselective palladium-catalyzed hydrogenation of ß-fluoroalkyl ß-amino acrylic acid derivatives has been successfully developed, providing the corresponding chiral ß-fluoroalkyl ß-amino acid derivatives in good yields with excellent enantioselectivities. In addition, chiral γ-fluoroalkyl γ-amino alcohol could be synthesized by a simple reduction of the corresponding hydrogenated product. The mechanism of the reaction was explored by deuterium-labeling experiments.

All-trans retinoic acid stimulates the secretion of TGF-ß2 via the phospholipase C but not the adenylyl cyclase signaling pathway in retinal pigment epithelium cells.

BACKGROUND: By investigating that (i) all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) affects human retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in expressing and secreting transforming growth factor (TGF)-ß2 and (ii) U73122 (phospholipase C inhibitor) and SQ22536 (adenylyl cyclase inhibitor) regulate the ATRA-induced secretion of TGF-ß2 in human RPE, we sought to interpret the signaling pathway of ATRA in promoting the development of myopia. METHODS: The RPE cell line (D407) was treated with (i) ATRA (10 µM), (ii) U73122 (5-40 µM) and ATRA (10 µM), or (iii) SQ22536 (5-40 µM) and ATRA (10 µM). The control group was no-treated. After stimulated at 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, and 48 h, The expression and secretion of TGF-ß2 was detected. RESULTS: TGF-ß2 in the cytoplasm was time-dependent increased by ATRA (p < 0.001). A time-dependent increase in the TGF-ß2 protein of the supernatant was induced by ATRA (p < 0.001). U73122 (in the range of 5 to 40 µM) could suppress the secretion of TGF-ß2 induced by ATRA (p < 0.001), and 40 µM U73122 could completely inhibit the up-regulated effect of 10 µM ATRA. However, SQ22536 (in the range of 5 to 40 µM) had no impact on the secretion of TGF-ß2 induced by ATRA (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: In RPE cells, ATRA stimulates the secretion of TGF-ß2 via the phospholipase C signaling pathway but not the adenylyl cyclase signaling pathway. U73122 may inhibit the promotion of ATRA in the development of myopia.

Function Extension Based Real-Time Wavelet De-Noising Method for Projectile Attitude Measurement.

The real-time measurement of the projectile attitude is the key to realize the whole process guidance of the projectile. Due to the high dynamic characteristics of the projectile motion, the attitude measurement is affected by the real-time and accuracy of the gyro signal de-noising. For the nonlinear discontinuity of the conventional extension method in real-time wavelet de-noising, a function extension real-time wavelet de-noising method is proposed in this paper. In this method, a prediction model of gyro signal is established based on the Roggla formula. According to the model, the signal is fitted in the sliding window, and the signal of the same length is predicted to realize the right boundary extension. The simulation and experiment results show that compared with the traditional extension method, the proposed method can in-crease the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the smoothness, and can decrease the attitude mean absolute error (AMAE) and the attitude root mean square error (ARMSE). Moreover, the time delay caused by signal de-noising can be effectively solved. The real-time performance of the attitude measurement can be ensured.

Declining histone acetyltransferase GCN5 represses BMSC-mediated angiogenesis during osteoporosis.

Angiogenesis is disrupted in age-related and postmenopausal osteoporosis. However, the mechanisms of the disorder remain elusive. We confirmed in this study that, in accordance with the decrease of H-type vessels, the proangiogenic potential of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) declined during osteoporosis. Screening of the histone acetyltransferase family revealed that GCN5 decreased in BMSCs derived from osteoporotic femur. Further analysis identified that GCN5 plays important roles in regulating the proangiogenic potential of BMSCs. GCN5 promoted BMSC-mediated angiogenesis by enhancing H3K9ac levels on the promoter of Vegf The decrease of GCN5 in osteoporotic BMSCs led to the decline of proangiogenic capacity. Accordingly, overexpression of GCN5 enhanced the proangiogenic potency of osteoporotic BMSCs. Furthermore, recovering GCN5 expression in vivo by lentiviral expression vector significantly attenuated the loss of angiogenesis in ovariectomized mouse femurs. Our study results revealed an epigenetic mechanism controlling BMSC-mediated angiogenesis and provided a novel therapeutic target for osteoporosis treatment.-Jing, H., Liao, L., Su, X., Shuai, Y. Zhang, X., Deng, Z., Jin, Y. Declining histone acetyltransferase GCN5 represses BMSC-mediated angiogenesis during osteoporosis.

Organocatalytic Asymmetric Reduction of Fluorinated Alkynyl Ketimines.

Highly chemoselective catalytic transfer hydrogenation of fluorinated alkynyl ketimines has been achieved by employing chiral phosphoric acid as a catalyst with benzothiazoline as a hydride source, providing the corresponding chiral fluorinated propargylamines in good yields and excellent enantioselectivities. In addition, iodocyclization of fluorinated propargylamine affords chiral 3-iodo-2-(trifluoromethyl)-1,2-dihydroquinoline, which can be easily converted to 2-(trifluoromethyl)- 1,2-dihydroquinoline derivatives with the selective COX-2 inhibitory activity.

Direct C-4 alkylation of quinazoline N-oxides with ethers via an oxidative cross-coupling reaction under metal-free conditions.

A novel and efficient protocol for the direct C-4 alkylation of quinazoline-3-oxides via radical oxidative coupling between quinazoline 3-oxides and ethers in the presence of TBHP was developed. The reaction proceeded smoothly under metal-free conditions, which provided quinazoline-containing heterocyclic molecules in moderate to good yields.

Rhodium-catalyzed C-H bond activation alkylation and cyclization of 2-arylquinazolin-4-ones.

An efficient method for the synthesis of isoquinolino[1,2-b]quinazolin-8-one derivatives and 12-methyl-12H-isoindolo[1,2-b]quinazoline-10-one derivatives is described herein. With rhodium catalysis, the desired products are obtained through a sequence reaction of C-H activation-based alkenylation and intramolecular aza-Heck-type cyclization. The developed method has a wide range of substrate tolerance under mild conditions and provides an alternative for the structural elaboration of quinazoline compounds.

Adaptive Robust Unscented Kalman Filter via Fading Factor and Maximum Correntropy Criterion.

In most practical applications, the tracking process needs to update the data constantly. However, outliers may occur frequently in the process of sensors' data collection and sending, which affects the performance of the system state estimate. In order to suppress the impact of observation outliers in the process of target tracking, a novel filtering algorithm, namely a robust adaptive unscented Kalman filter, is proposed. The cost function of the proposed filtering algorithm is derived based on fading factor and maximum correntropy criterion. In this paper, the derivations of cost function and fading factor are given in detail, which enables the proposed algorithm to be robust. Finally, the simulation results show that the presented algorithm has good performance, and it improves the robustness of a general unscented Kalman filter and solves the problem of outliers in system.

An Improved Heuristic Drift Elimination Method for Indoor Pedestrian Positioning.

Indoor positioning is currently a research hotspot. In recent years, Pedestrian Dead Reckoning (PDR) has been widely used in indoor positioning. However, the positioning error caused by heading drifts will accumulate as the walking distance increases, so some methods need to be used to correct the heading angle. Heuristic Drift Elimination (HDE) is an effective heading correction algorithm, which only uses the information of a building's dominant directions to reduce the heading error, but it does not apply to the non-dominant direction condition. In this paper, we propose a heading drift suppressing method for the limitation of HDE. Firstly, the method constructs membership functions to judge the pedestrian's motion according to the result of comprehensive evaluation. Then, it further determines by a threshold condition whether the pedestrian walks along the dominant directions, and a heading error measurement is introduced for heading correction. Finally, we verify by experiments that the proposed method can correct heading angles properly for different conditions, which indicates an adaptability to the environment.

Preliminary Epidemiologic Assessment of Human Infections With Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A(H5N6) Virus, China.

BACKGROUND: Since 2014, 17 human cases of infection with the newly emerged highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N6) virus have been identified in China to date. The epidemiologic characteristics of laboratory-confirmed A(H5N6) cases were compared to A(H5N1) and A(H7N9) cases in mainland China. METHODS: Data on laboratory-confirmed H5N6, H5N1, and H7N9 cases identified in mainland China were analyzed to compare epidemiologic characteristics and clinical severity. Severity of confirmed H5N6, H5N1 and H7N9 cases was estimated based on the risk of severe outcomes in hospitalized cases. RESULTS: H5N6 cases were older than H5N1 cases with a higher prevalence of underlying medical conditions but younger than H7N9 cases. Epidemiological time-to-event distributions were similar among cases infected with the 3 viruses. In comparison to a fatality risk of 70% (30/43) for hospitalized H5N1 cases and 41% (319/782) for hospitalized H7N9 cases, 12 (75%) out of the 16 hospitalized H5N6 cases were fatal, and 15 (94%) required mechanical ventilation. CONCLUSION: Similar epidemiologic characteristics and high severity were observed in cases of H5N6 and H5N1 virus infection, whereas severity of H7N9 virus infections appeared lower. Continued surveillance of human infections with avian influenza A viruses remains an essential component of pandemic influenza preparedness.

TNF-α Inhibits FoxO1 by Upregulating miR-705 to Aggravate Oxidative Damage in Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells during Osteoporosis.

Decline of antioxidant defense after estrogen deficiency leads to oxidative damage in bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMMSCs), resulting a defect of bone formation in osteoporosis. Forkhead box O1 (FoxO1) protein is crucial for defending physiological oxidative damage in bone. But whether FoxO1 is involved in the oxidative damage during osteoporosis is largely unknown. In this study, we found that FoxO1 protein accumulation was decreased in BMMSCs of ovariectomized mice. The decrease of FoxO1 resulted in the suppression of manganese superoxide dismutase (Sod2) and catalase (Cat) expression and accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), inhibiting the osteogenic differentiation of BMMSCs. The decline of FoxO1 protein was caused by tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) accumulated after estrogen deficiency. Mechanistically, TNF-α activated NF-κB pathway to promote microRNA-705 expression, which function as a repressor of FoxO1 through post-transcriptional regulation. Inhibition of NF-κB pathway or knockdown of miR-705 largely prevented the decline of FoxO1-mediated antioxidant defense caused by TNF-α and ameliorated the oxidative damage in osteoporotic BMMSCs. Moreover, the accumulated ROS further activated NF-κB pathway with TNF-α, which formed a feed-forward loop to persistently inhibiting FoxO1 protein accumulation in BMMSCs. In conclusion, our study revealed that the decline of FoxO1 is an important etiology factor of osteoporosis and unclosed a novel mechanism of FoxO1 regulation by TNF-α. These findings suggested a close correlation between inflammation and oxidative stress in stem cell dysfunction during degenerative bone diseases.

Quinazolinone derivatives: Synthesis and comparison of inhibitory mechanisms on α-glucosidase.

In this study, eight quinazolinone derivatives were designed and synthesized. Their inhibitory activities on α-glucosidase were assessed in vitro. Two compounds: 2-(4-chlorophenyl)-quinazolin-4(3H)-one (CQ) and 2-(4-bromophenyl)-quinazolin-4(3H)-one (BQ) were found to be potent inhibitors of α-glucosidase with IC50 values of 12.5±0.1µM and 15.6±0.2µM, respectively. Spectroscopy methods were performed to analyze the inhibitory mechanisms of both compounds on α-glucosidase. The results revealed that they reversibly inhibited α-glucosidase in a non-competitive manner. CQ and BQ could statically quench the fluorescence spectra by formation of an inhibitor-α-glucosidase complex. The interaction between CQ and α-glucosidase depended on hydrogen bonds, electrostatic and hydrophobic force, while the driving force of the binding between BQ and the enzyme was hydrophobic. The docking results showed that BQ was less active than CQ against α-glucosidase because of its weaker interaction with the enzyme. In brief, the quinazolinone derivatives identified in this work were potentially promising candidates for developing as novel anti-diabetic agents.

Reassortant Eurasian Avian-Like Influenza A(H1N1) Virus from a Severely Ill Child, Hunan Province, China, 2015.

In 2015, a novel influenza A(H1N1) virus was isolated from a boy in China who had severe pneumonia. The virus was a genetic reassortant of Eurasian avian-like influenza A(H1N1) (EA-H1N1) virus. The hemagglutinin, neuraminidase, and matrix genes of the reassortant virus were highly similar to genes in EA-H1N1 swine influenza viruses, the polybasic 1 and 2, polymerase acidic, and nucleoprotein genes originated from influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus, and the nonstructural protein gene derived from classical swine influenza A(H1N1) (CS H1N1) virus. In a mouse model, the reassortant virus, termed influenza A/Hunan/42443/2015(H1N1) virus, showed higher infectivity and virulence than another human EA-H1N1 isolate, influenza A/Jiangsu/1/2011(H1N1) virus. In the respiratory tract of mice, virus replication by influenza A/Hunan/42443/2015(H1N1) virus was substantially higher than that by influenza A/Jiangsu/1/2011(H1N1) virus. Human-to-human transmission of influenza A/Hunan/42443/2015(H1N1) virus has not been detected; however, given the circulation of novel EA-H1N1 viruses in pigs, enhanced surveillance should be instituted among swine and humans.