Association of Heart Rate Variability in Taxi Drivers with Marked Changes in Particulate Air Pollution in Beijing in 2008

BACKGROUND: Heart rate variability (HRV), a marker of cardiac autonomic function, has been associated with particulate matter (PM) air pollution, especially in older patients and those with cardiovascular diseases. However, the effect of PM exposure on cardiac autonomic function in young, healthy adults has received less attention. OBJECTIVES: We evaluated the relationship between exposure to traffic-related PM with an aerodynamic diameters <= 2.5 mu m (PM(2.5)) and HRV in a highly exposed panel of taxi drivers. METHODS: Continuous measurements of personal exposure to PM(2.5) and ambulatory electrocardiogram monitoring were conducted on I I young healthy taxi drivers for a 12-hr work shift during their work time (0900-2100 hr) before, during, and after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Mixed-effects regression models were used to estimate associations between PM(2.5) exposure and percent changes in 5-min HRV indices after combining data from the three time periods and controlling for potentially confounding variables. RESULTS: Personal exposures of taxi drivers to PM(2.5) changed markedly across the three time periods. The standard deviation of normal-to-normal (SDNN) intervals decreased by 2.2% [95% confidence interval (0), -3.8% to -0.6%] with an interquartile range (IQR; 69.5 mu g/m(3)) increase in the 30-min PM(2.5) moving average, whereas the low-frequency and high-frequency powers decreased by 4.2% (95% CI, -9.0% to 0.8%) and 6.2% (95% CI, -10.7% to -1.5%), respectively, in association with an IQR increase in the 2-hr PM(2.5) moving average. CONCLUSIONS: Marked changes in traffic-related PM(2.5) exposure were associated with altered cardiac autonomic function in young healthy adults.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000273292800029&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Environmental SciencesPublic, Environmental & Occupational HealthToxicologySCI(E)PubMed65ARTICLE187-9111

Quantum secret sharing between m-party and n-party with six states

We propose a quantum secret sharing scheme between $m$-party and $n$-party using three conjugate bases, i.e. six states. A sequence of single photons, each of which is prepared in one of the six states, is used directly to encode classical information in the quantum secret sharing process. In this scheme, each of all $m$ members in group 1 choose randomly their own secret key individually and independently, and then directly encode their respective secret information on the states of single photons via unitary operations, then the last one (the $m$th member of group 1) sends $1/n$ of the resulting qubits to each of group 2. By measuring their respective qubits, all members in group 2 share the secret information shared by all members in group 1. The secret message shared by group 1 and group 2 in such a way that neither subset of each group nor the union of a subset of group 1 and a subset of group 2 can extract the secret message, but each whole group (all the members of each group) can. The scheme is asymptotically 100% in efficiency. It makes the Trojan horse attack with a multi-photon signal, the fake-signal attack with EPR pairs, the attack with single photons, and the attack with invisible photons to be nullification. We show that it is secure and has an advantage over the one based on two conjugate bases. We also give the upper bounds of the average success probabilities for dishonest agent eavesdropping encryption using the fake-signal attack with any two-particle entangled states. This protocol is feasible with present-day technique.Comment: 7 page

High expression of TMEM200A is associated with a poor prognosis and immune infiltration in gastric cancer

Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the global malignant tumors with high incidence and poor prognosis. Exploring new GC molecular markers is important to improve GC prognosis. Transmembrane protein 200A (TMEM200A) is a member of the family of transmembrane proteins (TMEM). This study is the first to investigate the potential function of TMEM200A and its relationship with immune infiltration in GC.Methods: The differential expression of TMEM200A was determined through the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was drawn to assess the diagnostic value of TMEM200A for GC. The relationship between TMEM200A and the clinical characteristics of patients with GC was investigated using the Wilcoxon test and the Kruskal-Wallis test. The effect of TMEM200A on overall survival (OS) was identified using the Kaplan-Meier method, the Log-rank test, the univariate/multivariate Cox regression analysis, and the nomogram prediction model. The co-expressed genes and gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) were used to explore the potential biological functions of TMEM200A. We used the Tumor Immune Estimation Resource (TIMER) database and the ssGSEA algorithm to estimate the relationship between TMEM200A and immune cell infiltration. Furthermore, we investigated the correlation of TMEM200A with immune checkpoint/immune cell surface markers using the TCGA-STAD data set. Finally, we identified prognosis-related methylation sites in TMEM200A using MethSurv.Results: TMEM200A was highly expressed in GC tissues. TMEM200A had a good diagnostic value for GC. High expression of TMEM200A may shorten the OS of GC patients and may be an independent risk factor for OS in GC patients. TMEM200A participates in the construction of a predictive model with a good predictive effect on the survival rate of GC patients at 1, 3, and 5 years. Co-expressed genes and GSEA indicated that TMEM200A may be an adhesion molecule closely associated with tumor invasion and metastasis. In addition, TMEM200A may be significantly associated with immune cell infiltration and immune checkpoint expression. We also found that TMEM200A contains three methylation sites associated with a poor prognosis.Conclusion: Upregulated TMEM200A may be a promising prognostic marker for GC and is closely associated with the tumor microenvironment (TME)

Optimal Controlled teleportation via several kinds of three-qubit states

The probability of successfully controlled teleportating an unknown qubit using a general three-particle state is investigated. We give the analytic expressions of maximal probabilities of successfully controlled teleportating an unknown qubit via several kinds of tripartite states including a tripartite GHZ state and a tripartite W-state.Comment: 15 page

Distinct Expression Levels and Patterns of Stem Cell Marker, Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Isoform 1 (ALDH1), in Human Epithelial Cancers

Peer reviewe

A numerical study on premixed hydrogen/air flames in a narrow channel with thermally orthotropic walls

Premixed hydrogen/air micro-flame stabilizations in a narrow channel confined by two parallel plates with thermally isotropic and orthotropic wall materials are numerically studied using a OpenFOAM-based, reacting flow code. For a range of simulated equivalence ratios and inflow velocities, two modes of flame shapes (convex-shaped and concave-shaped) are observed, accompanying with variations of the number of heat release rate peaks in flame structures, which can be attributed to the appearance of some critical O-participating and H-participating elementary reactions. Flame stability limits are studied for three sets of wall thermal conductivities of k = 16 W/m K, k = 128 W/m K (isotropic) and k = 128 W/m K & k = 16 W/m K (orthotropic). The low velocity limits show invariant with wall thermal conductivities, while the high velocity limits in descending order are found to be: “k = 128 W/m K” > “k = 128 W/m K & k = 16 W/m K” > “k = 16 W/m K”. The logic behind is the competition between two mechanisms: the wall pre-heating effects and the transverse heat losses to the ambient. The critical convective heat transfer coefficients that reflect the combustor's ability to resist heat losses are also investigated among the three cases. The reduction of the transverse thermal conductivity can have a high critical coefficient value in the low-inflow velocity regime while makes negligible impacts on extending the critical coefficient in the high-inflow velocity regime. In summary, the use of thermally orthotropic wall materials leads to a slightly decreased high velocity limit (~3% lower) but a considerably increased critical convective heat transfer coefficient in the high-inflow velocity-regime (~25% higher), as compared to the thermally isotropic combustor of k = 128 W/m K

A Versatile Numerical Tool for Simulating Combustion Features at Small-Scales

A versatile numerical tool based on the open-source framework OpenFOAM has been developed in this paper for modeling time-accurate, low-Mach number reacting flows, with a particular interest in small-scale flames. This tool consists of a gas-phase Navier-Stokes solver and a solid-wall heat conduction solver which can be implemented alone, or used together in a coupled means to reveal the small-scale combustion’s characteristics of significantly enhanced flame-wall thermal coupling. Validation works has proved that the tool is capable of reproducing experimental flames at various scales (from conventional to small scales), including well-recognized micro-flame features in literature such as three modes of premixed flame dynamics (weak flames, flames with repetitive extinction and ignition, and stable flames). Then, an experimentally-already-found but rarely-simulated unique phenomenon of diffusion flame street is successfully reproduced with well-captured flame structures. Moreover, the conjugate heat transfer model with the specific formulation of solid-wall heat conduction enables an attempt to simulate a novel, thermally-orthotropic combustor with its axial thermal conductivities superior to the transverse ones. Finally, computational performance of the developed OpenFOAM solver is compared to that of the previously-used compressible flow solver Eilmer. The OpenFOAM solver is found to show better wave-damping abilities for overcoming acoustic wave effects at the initial stage of simulations, and is much more efficient in terms of the computational cost

Current Status of Lymphangiogenesis: Molecular Mechanism, Immune Tolerance, and Application Prospect

The lymphatic system is a channel for fluid transport and cell migration, but it has always been controversial in promoting and suppressing cancer. VEGFC/VEGFR3 signaling has long been recognized as a major molecular driver of lymphangiogenesis. However, many studies have shown that the neural network of lymphatic signaling is complex. Lymphatic vessels have been found to play an essential role in the immune regulation of tumor metastasis and cardiac repair. This review describes the effects of lipid metabolism, extracellular vesicles, and flow shear forces on lymphangiogenesis. Moreover, the pro-tumor immune tolerance function of lymphatic vessels is discussed, and the tasks of meningeal lymphatic vessels and cardiac lymphatic vessels in diseases are further discussed. Finally, the value of conversion therapy targeting the lymphatic system is introduced from the perspective of immunotherapy and pro-lymphatic biomaterials for lymphangiogenesis