Serum Containing Tao-Hong-Si-Wu Decoction Induces Human Endothelial Cell VEGF Production via PI3K/Akt-eNOS Signaling

Tao-Hong-Si-Wu decoction (TSD) is a famous traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and widely used for ischemic disease in China. TSD medicated serum was prepared after oral administration of TSD (1.6 g/kg) twice a day for 3 days in rats. TSD medicated serum induced human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) proliferation, VEGF secretion, and nitric oxide (NO) production. These promoted effects of TSD were partly inhibited by treatment with PI3K inhibitor (LY294002) or eNOS inhibitor (L-NAME), respectively, and completely inhibited by treatment with LY294002 and L-NAME simultaneously. Western blot analysis findings further indicated that TSD medicated serum upregulated p-Akt and p-eNOS expressions, which were significantly inhibited by LY294002 or L-NAME and completely inhibited by both LY294002 and L-NAME; these results indicated that TSD medicated serum induced HUVECs VEGF expression via PI3K/Akt-eNOS signaling. TSD medicated serum contains hydroxysafflor yellow A, ferulic acid, and ligustilide detected by UPLC with standards, so these effect of TSD medicated serum may be associated with these three active compounds absorbed in serum

Intelligent Reflecting Surface Assisted Multi-User Robust Secret Key Generation for Low-Entropy Environments

Channel secret key generation (CSKG), assisted by the new material intelligent reflecting surface (IRS), has become a new research hotspot recently. In this paper, the key extraction method in the IRS-aided low-entropy communication scenario with adjacent multi-users is investigated. Aiming at the problem of low key generation efficiency due to the high similarity of channels between users, we propose a joint user allocation and IRS reflection parameter adjustment scheme, while the reliability of information exchange during the key generation process is also considered. Specifically, the relevant key capability expressions of the IRS-aided communication system is analyzed. Then, we study how to adjust the IRS reflection matrix and allocate the corresponding users to minimize the similarity of different channels and ensure the robustness of key generation. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme can bring higher gains to the performance of key generation

Effect of cyclic temperature impact on coal seam permeability

The gas permeability of the coal samples, subjected to cyclic temperature impact under different conditions, was considered in the article. Meanwhile, the change of the coal sample permeability and fractures were analyzed through scanning electron microscopy. The obtained results show that the cyclic temperature impact has largely positive effect on the increase of the coal sample permeability and that new fractures and permeability growth increase with the higher temperature difference

Testing and Analysis of the Vibration Response Characteristics of Heavy-Haul Railway Tunnels and Surrounding Soil with Base Voids

This paper discusses research on the dynamic response characteristics of a heavy-haul railway tunnel and the surrounding soil under the conditions of substrate health and a base void. The detection results of the base condition of 20 double-track tunnels for a heavy-haul railway show the main distribution law of base voids. Based on this, a 1:20 scale test model of a heavy-haul railway tunnel is established. The vibration load of the train is established by a vibration exciter arranged at the tunnel invert. The dynamic response and attenuation law of a heavy-haul railway tunnel lining structure and the surrounding soil are tested using acceleration sensors, strain gauges, and soil pressure boxes. The research results show that most of the diseases are concentrated below the heavy-haul line. The base void causes the peak acceleration of the nearby tunnel invert to increase by 55.6%. Tunnel annular construction joints reduce the conductivity of the vibration waves in the axial direction of the tunnel. The acceleration attenuation rate of the soil above the tunnel invert is significantly less than that under the invert. The base void reduces the acceleration of the nearby soil layer by 19.4% and increases the stress on the surface of the nearby tunnel invert by 21.3%, and the stress change amplitude increases by 0.55%. The tunnel structure in the area of the base void experiences fatigue damage. The base void causes the compaction and bearing capacity of the nearby soil to decrease and the softening speed of the tunnel basement soil layer to increase. Therefore, for the basement damage to heavy-haul railway tunnels, “early detection, early treatment” should be performed

Demonstration of a photonic router via quantum walks

Motivated by the need for quantum computers to communicate between multiple, well separated qubits, we introduce the task of routing the quantum state from one input mode to a superposition of several output modes coherently. We report an experimental demonstration of a deterministic photonic routing protocol applied to an entangled state. We show in a quantum walk architecture, quantum networks perfectly route entangled states from an initial input mode to an arbitrary output mode coherently and deterministically. Our results demonstrate the key principle of a perfect router, opening a route toward data routing and transferring for quantum computing systems. The routing algorithm in our work can be applied to a wide range of physical systems, which provides a way for effective design of efficient routing protocols on practical quantum networks

Analysis of the Causes of the Collapse of a Deep-Buried Large Cross-Section of Loess Tunnel and Evaluation of Treatment Measures

To address the problem of the collapse of the roof of the Bailuyuan tunnel during construction, the causes of collapse were analyzed, targeted treatment measures were proposed, and the effects of the treatment measures were evaluated through on-site monitoring and three-dimensional numerical simulations. The results showed that the particular characteristics of loess and the synergy of groundwater were the internal causes of the tunnel’s collapse as well as, to a certain extent, atmospheric precipitation. Therefore, the combination of multiple factors contributed to the tunnel’s collapse. Untimely monitoring and measurement, as well as the low initial support parameters, reflect a lack of human understanding of the collapse. Based on the analysis of the causes of the collapse, comprehensive treatment measures for inside and outside the tunnel are proposed, which are shown to be effective and to be capable of preventing the occurrence of further collapses. After the collapse treatment, the measured maximum settlement of the tunnel vault was 65.1 mm, the maximum horizontal convergence was 25 mm, the maximum surrounding rock pressure was 0.56 MPa, and the maximum stress on the steel arch frame was 54.34 MPa. Compared with the original design plan, the vertical stress, horizontal stress, and shear stress of the surrounding rock obtained from numerical simulation after the collapse treatment were greatly reduced, the reduction rate at the vault reached 50%, and the safety factors of the initial support positions after treatment met the specification requirements. The research results can provide engineering guidance for the design and construction of large-section tunnels crossing deep-loess strata, and they are of important engineering significance

Aerodynamic performance and flow evolution of a high-speed train exiting a tunnel with crosswinds

Sudden changes in the aerodynamic loads acting on trains can result in derailment or overturning. The impacts of infrastructure scenarios on the aerodynamic performance of trains are significant. When high-speed trains travel from one infrastructure scenario to another one, the aerodynamic loads and flow field will change suddenly. It is a commonly in western China for HSTs to exit a tunnel with crosswinds. In order to investigate the aerodynamic loads and the flow evolution, a three-dimensional, compressible, unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes method was utilized to simulate the process of a train exiting a tunnel under crosswinds. Results show that the flow field and the pressure varied significantly in the horizonal plane while the train exited the tunnel under crosswinds. In addition, the aerodynamic loads of each carriage which varied abruptly resulted in complex dynamic responses of the train including lateral variation, snake-like locomotion, and pitching motion. Furthermore, the variation magnitudes of Delta C-side, Delta C-lift, and Delta C-RM for the head carriage were 4.1, 2.2 and 1.6 times for the middle carriage, and 7.9, 8.1 and 8.2 times for the rear carriage. Therefore, the aerodynamic performance of the head carriage was the worst and the risk of accidents was the highest under crosswinds

Experimental verification of trade-off relation for coherence and disturbance

When a quantum system is sent through a noisy channel, it is usually disturbed. At the same time, the system undergoes decoherence and tends to lose some delicate quantum features. For a particular basis, the coherence of the state changes. Otherwise, if the system is not disturbed, its state might retain all of coherence. As quantum noisy channels lead to both disturbance and decoherence, it is natural to ask about the relation between disturbance and decoherence. Recently, a trade-off relation for coherence and disturbance has been presented by Sharma and Pati (2018 Phys. Rev. A 97 062308). In this paper, with entangled photon pairs and linear optics, we experimentally verify this trade-off relation for a single-qubit system undergoing various noisy channels. Our experimental results agree with the theoretical predictions and provide a quantitative understanding of the relation between quantum channels and resources