A high finesse bow-tie cavity for strong atom-photon coupling in Rydberg arrays

We report a high-finesse bow-tie cavity designed for atomic physics experiments with Rydberg atom arrays. The cavity has a finesse of $51,000$ and a waist of $7.1$ $\mu$m at the cesium D2 line ($852$ nm). With these parameters, the cavity induces strong coupling between a single atom and a single photon, corresponding to a cooperativity per traveling mode of $35$ at the cavity waist. To trap and image atoms, the cavity setup utilizes two in-vacuum aspheric lenses with numerical aperture (N.A.) $0.35$ and is capable of housing N.A. $0.5$ microscope objectives. In addition, the large atom-mirror distance ($\gtrsim1.5$ cm) provides good optical access and minimizes stray electric fields at the position of the atoms. This cavity setup can operate in tandem with the Rydberg array platform, creating a fully connected system for quantum simulation and computation

Mutation analysis of the WNT4 gene in Han Chinese women with premature ovarian failure

BACKGROUND: The WNT4 gene plays an important role in female sex determination and differentiation. It also contributes to maintaining of the ovaries and the survival of follicles. METHODS: We sequenced the coding region and splice sites of WNT4 in 145 Han Chinese women with premature ovarian failure (POF) and 200 healthy controls. RESULTS: Only one novel variation, in Exon 2 (195C > T), was detected among the women with POF. However, this synonymous variation did not result in a change in amino acid sequence (65 Asp > Asp). No further variants were found in any of the samples. CONCLUSION: Although we cannot provide any evidence that it is a possible disease-causing gene, this study is the first attempt to investigate the possible role of WNT4 in Han Chinese women with POF

Impact of lockdown on the growth of children in China aged 3-6 years during the COVID-19 pandemic

BackgroundLockdowns in COVID-19 pandemic led to less physical activity and more intake of unhealthy food in children. The aim of this study was to investigate the negative impact of major lockdowns on the growth of children aged 3-6 years during COVID-19 pandemic period.MethodsPhysical examination results in 2019 to 2022 from 5834 eligible children (2972 males and 2862 females) from Southwestern China who were 3 years old in 2019 were retrospectively collected. Height and weight data points were extracted from the results, and percentiles of height (height%), weight (weight%), and BMI (BMI%), and rates of overweight and obesity were calculated and compared between different years during the pandemic.ResultsAfter analyzing the 15404 growth data points from 5834 children, a slowly increasing trend of height% from 2019 to 2022 was observed. Weight%, BMI%, overweight rate, obesity rate, and combined overweight and obesity rate had two peaks in 2020 and 2022 when major lockdowns were adopted and a drop in between (year 2021), except for obesity rate which did not drop in 2021. Similar results were shown after stratification by gender.ConclusionThe lockdowns in COVID-19 pandemic promoted obesity of kindergarten children, but did not show any negative impact on their height growth possibly due to over-nutrition of children during lockdowns. More efforts need to be made to limit the increase of obesity rate in kindergarten children during possible future lockdowns

HMGB1: a double-edged sword and therapeutic target in the female reproductive system

HMGB1 that belongs to the High Mobility Group-box superfamily, is a nonhistone chromatin associated transcription factor. It is present in the nucleus of eukaryotes and can be actively secreted or passively released by kinds of cells. HMGB1 is important for maintaining DNA structure by binding to DNA and histones, protecting it from damage. It also regulates the interaction between histones and DNA, affecting chromatin packaging, and can influence gene expression by promoting nucleosome sliding. And as a DAMP, HMGB1 binding to RAGE and TLRs activates NF-κB, which triggers the expression of downstream genes like IL-18, IL-1β, and TNF-α. HMGB1 is known to be involved in numerous physiological and pathological processes. Recent studies have demonstrated the significance of HMGB1 as DAMPs in the female reproductive system. These findings have shed light on the potential role of HMGB1 in the pathogenesis of diseases in female reproductive system and the possibilities of HMGB1-targeted therapies for treating them. Such therapies can help reduce inflammation and metabolic dysfunction and alleviate the symptoms of reproductive system diseases. Overall, the identification of HMGB1 as a key player in disease of the female reproductive system represents a significant breakthrough in our understanding of these conditions and presents exciting opportunities for the development of novel therapies

Expression of plasma methylated Septin9 gene and its clinical significance in patients with gastric cancer

Background and purpose: Gastric cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in our country. The diagnosis and treatment process of gastric cancer lacks of sensitive and specific biomarker. This study aimed to explore the expression of plasma methylated Septin9 gene (mSEPT9) and its clinical significance in patients with gastric cancer. Methods: From April 2020 to November 2020, 221 patients with gastric cancer and 34 patients with no evidence of disease who visited Zhongshan Hospital Fudan University were enrolled. The status of mSEPT9 was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) fluorescence probe method, and relative mSEPT9 value was determined by the ΔΔCt method. Detailed clinical data including pathological characteristics (patients characteristics and pathology characteristics) and serum biomarkers [carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), carbohydrate antigen (CA)12-5, CA19-9 and CA72-4] were collected and analyzed. Paired t test, χ2 test and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed for statistical analysis. Results: The positive rate, sensitivity and specificity of plasma mSEPT9 were 35%, 35% and 100%, respectively in untreated patients with gastric cancer. The positive rate of mSEPT9 was higher in patients with blood vessel invasion, serosa invasion and lymphatic metastasis, which was 46.87% vs 12.50%, 45.16% vs 14.29%, 75.00% vs 40.00%, respectively (P<0.05). The positive rate of mSEPT9 was higher in progressive disease (PD) patients than in partial response (PR) and stable disease (SD) patients, which were 68.75% and 17.74%, the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). mSEPT9 level before PD and at the time of PD showed statistically significance. Conclusion: Plasma mSEPT9 detection demonstrates a more satisfactory diagnostic performance in gastric cancer than traditional serum biomarkers. The biomarker can provide information regarding severity with high positive rate among PD patients. The status and level of mSEPT9 were of clinical significance in evaluating tumor burden and predicting treatment response

Identification of Novel Biallelic TLE6 Variants in Female Infertility With Preimplantation Embryonic Lethality

Preimplantation embryonic lethality is a rare cause of primary female infertility. It has been reported that variants in the transducin-like enhancer of split 6 (TLE6) gene can lead to preimplantation embryonic lethality. However, the incidence of TLE6 variants in patients with preimplantation embryonic lethality is not fully understood. In this study, we identified four patients carrying novel biallelic TLE6 variants in a cohort of 28 patients with preimplantation embryonic lethality by whole-exome sequencing and bioinformatics analysis, accounting for 14.29% (4/28) of the cohort. Immunofluorescence showed that the TLE6 levels in oocytes from patients were much lower than in normal control oocytes, suggesting that the variants result in the lower expression of the TLE6 protein in oocytes. In addition, a retrospective analysis showed that the four patients underwent a total of nine failures of in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection attempts, and one of them became pregnant on the first attempt using donated oocytes. Our study extends the genetic spectrum of female infertility caused by variants in TLE6 and further confirms previously reported findings that TLE6 plays an essential role in early embryonic development. In such case, oocyte donation may be the preferred treatment

α-palladation of Imines as entry to dehydrogenative heck reaction: Aerobic oxidative cyclization of N-Allylimines to Pyrroles

We report here a palladium(II)-catalyzed oxidative cyclization reaction of N-allylimines derived from methyl ketones, typically acetophenones, affording pyrrole derivatives at room temperature under oxygen atmosphere. The reaction likely proceeds through α-palladation of the imine followed by olefin migratory insertion and β-hydride elimination, thus representing a new example of aerobic dehydrogenative Heck cyclization

Development and clinical application of a liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry-based assay to quantify eight tyrosine kinase inhibitors in human plasma

Introduction: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) are widely used in tumor treatment. The detection of these medicines by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) can avoid the interference of structurally similar compounds. Objectives: This study aimed to develop and validate a new LC-MS/MS assay for the quantification of eight tyrosine kinase inhibitors in human plasma and to preliminarily evaluate the clinical utility of the therapeutic drug monitoring method. Methods: Plasma samples were prepared by simple protein precipitation and separated using an ultra-high-performance reversed phase column. Detection was achieved using a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer in the positive ionization mode. The assay was validated against standard guidelines. We reviewed and analyzed the results of 268 plasma samples obtained from patients administered imatinib and other TKIs collected from January 2020 to November 2021 at Zhongshan Hospital. The analytes were separated and quantified within 3.5 min. Results: The newly developed method demonstrated linearity for the detected drug concentration in the range of 20 to 2000 ng/ml for gefitinib (r2 = 0.991) and crizotinib (r2 = 0.992), 50 to 5000 ng/ml for nilotinib (r2 = 0.991) and imatinib (r2 = 0.995), 1500–150,000 ng/ml for vemurafenib (r2 = 0.998), 1000–100,000 ng/ml for pazopanib (r2 = 0.993), 0.5–100 ng/ml for axitinib (r2 = 0.992) and 5–500 ng/ml for sunitinib (r2 = 0.991) and N-desethyl sunitinib (r2 = 0.998). The lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) was 20 ng/ml for gefitinib and crizotinib, 50 ng/ml for nilotinib and imatinib, 1500 ng/ml for vemurafenib, 1000 ng/ml for pazopanib, 0.5, and 5 ng/ml for sunitinib and N-desethyl sunitinib, respectively. Specificity, precision, accuracy, and stability were tested, and met the requirements of the guidelines. At the same dose, there was no significant difference in plasma drug concentration between the original imatinib medicine and the generic medicine after patent expiration. Conclusion: We developed a sensitive and reliable method for the quantification of eight TKIs