Polymorphisms of CYP1A1 I462V and GSTM1 genotypes and lung cancer susceptibility in Mongolian

Aim: To study the genotype of cytochrome P450 1A1(CYP1A1) I462V and glutathions S-transferase M1( GSTM1) and the relationship of the genetic polymorphism of them with the susceptibility of lung cancer in Mongolia of China. 

Methods: Allele-specific PCR and a multiplex PCR were employed to identify the genotypes of I462V of CYP1A1 and GSTM1 in a case-control study of 210 lung cancer patients with bronchoscopy diagnosis and 210 matched controls free of malignancy.

Results: The frequencies of the variant CYP1A1(Val/Val) genotypes and GSTM1(-) in lung cancer groups were higher than that in control groups (15.24% vs 7.4% and 56.67% vs 40.95% ). The individuals who carried with CYP1A1(Val/Val) or GSTM1(-) genotype had a significantly higher risk of lung cancer, the OR is 2.56 and 1.89 respectively. Stratified histologically the relative risk increased to 2.6 - fold when the patients carried with two valine alleles than the ones carried one valine allele in cases of SCC. GSTM1(-) genotype is the risk factor of SCC (OR=2.39) and AC(OR=2.16). The presence of at least one Val allele of CYP1A1 and GSTM1(-), the risk of lung cancer was increased, the OR was 4.15 for one Val allele and GSTM1(-) and 2.67 for two Val alleles and GSTM1 Considering ages and smoking status, the risk of lung cancer increased when the age less than 50 who carried with CYP1A1 valine (one or two) alleles or the age during the 51 to 65 who carried with GSTM1(-) genotype. The light smokers with CYP1A1 valine alleles and GSTM1(-) have a high risk for lung cancer. No association was found between the light and heavy drinkers with the susceptibility of lung cancer and the genetic polymorphisms of CYP1A1 I462V and GSTM1(-). 

Conclusion: The valine allele of CYP1A1 was the risk factors of lung cancer especially for SCC and GSTM1(-) also was the risk factor of lung cancer and especially for SCC and AC of Mongolian, China. Light smoking has a influence each other with genotype of CYP1A1 I462V and GSTM1(-) and susceptibility of lung cancer. No relationship was found between the susceptibility of lung cancer and drinkers with genetic polymorphisms of CYP1A1 I462V and GSTM1(-). The influence of genotypes on the susceptibility of lung cancer may depend on the ages. There may be a synergetic interaction between CYP1A1 valine allele and GSTM1(-) genotypes on the elevated susceptibility of lung cancer. So do those genotypes with light smokers. Key words polymorphism; genotype; lung cancer; cytochrome P450；glutathione S-transferase Abbreviations: SCC, squamous cell carcinoma; AC, adenocarcinoma; SCLC, small cell lung cancer; LCLC, large cell lung cance

Optimized detector tomography for photon-number resolving detectors with hundreds of pixels

Photon-number resolving detectors with hundreds of pixels are now readily available, while the characterization of these detectors using detector tomography is computationally intensive. Here, we present a modified detector tomography model that reduces the number of variables that need optimization. To evaluate the effectiveness and accuracy of our model, we reconstruct the photon number distribution of optical coherent and thermal states using the expectation-maximization-entropy algorithm. Our results indicate that the fidelity of the reconstructed states remains above 99%, and the second and third-order correlations agree well with the theoretical values for a mean number of photons up to 100. We also investigate the computational resources required for detector tomography and find out that our approach reduces the solving time by around a half compared to the standard detector tomography approach, and the required memory resources are the main obstacle for detector tomography of a large number of pixels. Our results suggest that detector tomography is viable on a supercomputer with 1~TB RAM for detectors with up to 340 pixels

Accuracy of a Novel Non-Invasive technology based EZSCAN system for the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus in Chinese

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A new simple technique based on iontophoresis technology (EZSCAN, Impeto Medical, Paris, France) has recently been developed for the screening of diabetes. In the present study, we investigated the accuracy of this system for the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus in Chinese.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We performed the EZSCAN test in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. EZSCAN measures electrochemical conductance (EC) at forehead, hands and feet, and derives a diabetes index with a value ranging from 0 to 100. Diabetes mellitus was defined as a plasma glucose concentration of at least 7 mmol/l at fasting or 11.1 mmol/l at 2 hours after glucose load, or as the use of antidiabetic drugs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The 195 study participants (51% men, mean age 52 years) included 75 diabetic patients (use of antidiabetic drugs 81%) and 120 non-diabetic subjects. EC (micro Siemens, μSi) was significantly (<it>P </it>< 0.001) lower in diabetic patients at the hands (44 vs. 61) and feet (51 vs. 69) locations, but not at the forehead (15 vs. 17, <it>P </it>= 0.39). When a diabetes index of 40 (suggested by the manufacturer) was used as the threshold, the sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of diabetes mellitus was 85% and 64%, respectively. In 80 patients who underwent an oral glucose tolerance test, EC at hands and feet and the diabetes index were significantly (<it>P </it>< 0.001) associated with both 2-hour post-load plasma glucose and serum glycosylated haemoglobin.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>EZSCAN might be useful in screening diabetes mellitus with reasonable sensitivity and specificity.</p

Synthetic five-wave mixing in an integrated microcavity for visible-telecom entanglement generation

Nonlinear optics processes lie at the heart of photonics and quantum optics for their indispensable role in light sources and information processing. During the past decades, the three- and four-wave mixing ($\chi^{(2)}$ and $\chi^{(3)}$) effects have been extensively studied, especially in the micro-/nano-structures by which the photon-photon interaction strength is greatly enhanced. So far, the high-order nonlinearity beyond the $\chi^{(3)}$ has rarely been studied in dielectric materials due to their weak intrinsic nonlinear susceptibility, even in high-quality microcavities. Here, an effective five-wave mixing process ($\chi^{(4)}$) is synthesized for the first time, by incorporating $\chi^{(2)}$ and $\chi^{(3)}$ processes in a single microcavity. The coherence of the synthetic $\chi^{(4)}$ is verified by generating time-energy entangled visible-telecom photon-pairs, which requires only one drive laser at the telecom waveband. The photon pair generation rate from the synthetic process shows an enhancement factor over $500$ times upon intrinsic five-wave mixing. Our work demonstrates a universal approach of nonlinear synthesis via photonic structure engineering at the mesoscopic scale rather than material engineering, and thus opens a new avenue for realizing high-order optical nonlinearities and exploring novel functional photonic devices.Comment: 4 figure

Momentum space imaging of Cooper pairing in a half-Dirac-gas topological superconductor (a helical 2D topological superconductor)

Superconductivity in Dirac electrons has recently been proposed as a new platform between novel concepts in high-energy and condensed matter physics. It has been proposed that supersymmetry and exotic quasiparticles, both of which remain elusive in particle physics, may be realized as emergent particles in superconducting Dirac electron systems. Using artificially fabricated topological insulator-superconductor heterostructures, we present direct spectroscopic evidence for the existence of Cooper pairing in a half Dirac gas 2D topological superconductor. Our studies reveal that superconductivity in a helical Dirac gas is distinctly different from that of in an ordinary two-dimensional superconductor while considering the spin degrees of freedom of electrons. We further show that the pairing of Dirac electrons can be suppressed by time-reversal symmetry breaking impurities removing the distinction. Our demonstration and momentum-space imaging of Cooper pairing in a half Dirac gas and its magnetic behavior taken together serve as a critically important 2D topological superconductor platform for future testing of novel fundamental physics predictions such as emergent supersymmetry and quantum criticality in topological systems.Comment: Submitted June'14; Accepted to NaturePhysics, to appear AOP (2014