2,509 research outputs found

    Spin-1/2 J1-J2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a square lattice: a plaquette renormalized tensor network study

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    We apply the plaquette renormalization scheme of tensor network states [Phys. Rev. E, 83, 056703 (2011)] to study the spin-1/2 frustrated Heisenberg J1-J2 model on a L*L square lattice with L = 8, 16 and 32. By treating tensor elements as variational parameters, we obtain the ground states for different J2/J1 values, and investigate the staggered magnetic order parameters, the nearest-neighbor spin-spin correlations and the plaquette order parameters. In addition to the well-known N\'eel-order and collinear-order at low and high J2/J1, we observe a plaquette order at intermediate J2/J1. A continuous transition between the N\'eel order and the plaquette order near J2 = 0.40J1 is observed. The collinear order emerges at J2 = 0.62J1 through a first-order phase transition.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures total; added one figure; Revised argument in section 3, results unchanged; added note and reference wherei

    Structural Characterization and Antioxidative Activity of Low-Molecular-Weights Beta-1,3-Glucan from the Residue of Extracted Ganoderma lucidum Fruiting Bodies

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    The major cell wall constituent of Ganoderma lucidum (G. lucidum) is β-1,3-glucan. This study examined the polysaccharide from the residues of alkaline-extracted fruiting bodies using high-performance anion-exchange chromatography (HPAEC), and it employed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry (MS) to confirm the structures. We have successfully isolated low-molecular-weight β-1,3-glucan (LMG), in high yields, from the waste residue of extracted fruiting bodies of G. lucidum. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay evaluated the capability of LMG to suppress H2O2-induced cell death in RAW264.7 cells, identifying that LMG protected cells from H2O2-induced damage. LMG treatment decreased H2O2-induced intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. LMG also influenced sphingomyelinase (SMase) activity, stimulated by cell death to induce ceramide formation, and then increase cell ROS production. Estimation of the activities of neutral and acid SMases in vitro showed that LMG suppressed the activities of both neutral and acid SMases in a concentration-dependent manner. These results suggest that LMG, a water-soluble β-1,3-glucan recycled from extracted residue of G. lucidum, possesses antioxidant capability against H2O2-induced cell death by attenuating intracellular ROS and inhibiting SMase activity

    CFEVER: A Chinese Fact Extraction and VERification Dataset

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    We present CFEVER, a Chinese dataset designed for Fact Extraction and VERification. CFEVER comprises 30,012 manually created claims based on content in Chinese Wikipedia. Each claim in CFEVER is labeled as "Supports", "Refutes", or "Not Enough Info" to depict its degree of factualness. Similar to the FEVER dataset, claims in the "Supports" and "Refutes" categories are also annotated with corresponding evidence sentences sourced from single or multiple pages in Chinese Wikipedia. Our labeled dataset holds a Fleiss' kappa value of 0.7934 for five-way inter-annotator agreement. In addition, through the experiments with the state-of-the-art approaches developed on the FEVER dataset and a simple baseline for CFEVER, we demonstrate that our dataset is a new rigorous benchmark for factual extraction and verification, which can be further used for developing automated systems to alleviate human fact-checking efforts. CFEVER is available at https://ikmlab.github.io/CFEVER.Comment: AAAI-2

    Shortâ term and longâ term impacts of Helicobacter pylori eradication with reverse hybrid therapy on the gut microbiota

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    Background and AimsAntiâ Helicobacter pylori therapy may lead to the growth of pathogenic or antibioticâ resistant bacteria in the gut. The study aimed to investigate the shortâ term and longâ term impacts of H. pylori eradication with reverse hybrid therapy on the components and macrolide resistance of the gut microbiota.MethodsHelicobacter pyloriâ related gastritis patients were administered a 14â day reverse hybrid therapy. Fecal samples were collected before treatment and at the end of week 2, week 8, and week 48. The V3â V4 region of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene in fecal specimens was amplified by polymerase chain reaction and sequenced on Illumina MiSeq platform. Additionally, amplification of erm(B) gene (encoding erythromycin resistance methylase) was performed.ResultsReverse hybrid therapy resulted in decreased relative abundances of Firmicutes (from 62.0% to 30.7%; P < 0.001) and Actinobacteria (from 3.4% to 0.6%; 0.032) at the end of therapy. In contrast, the relative abundance of Proteobacteria increased from 10.2% to 49.1% (0.002). These microbiota alterations did not persist but returned to the initial levels at week 8 and week 48. The amount of erm(B) gene in fecal specimens was comparable with the pretreatment level at week 2 but increased at week 8 (0.025) and then returned to the pretreatment level by week 48.ConclusionsHelicobacter pylori eradication with reverse hybrid therapy can lead to shortâ term gut dysbiosis. The amount of erm(B) gene in the stool increased transiently after treatment and returned to the pretreatment level at 1â year postâ treatment.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152555/1/jgh14736_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152555/2/jgh14736.pd

    Convergence of energy-dependent incommensurate antiferromagnetic neutron scattering peaks to commensurate resonance in underdoped bilayer cuprates

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    The recently discovered coexistence of incommensurate antiferromagnetic neutron scattering peaks and commensurate resonance in underdoped YBa2_2Cu3_3O6+x_{6+x} is calling for an explanation. Within the t-J model, the doping and energy dependence of the spin dynamics of the underdoped bilayer cuprates in the normal state is studied based on the fermion-spin theory by considering the bilayer interactions. Incommensurate peaks are found at [(1±δ)π,π][(1\pm\delta)\pi,\pi] and [π,(1±δ)π][\pi,(1\pm\delta)\pi] at low energies with δ\delta initially increasing with doping at low dopings and then saturating at higher dopings. These incommensurate peaks are suppressed, and the parameter δ\delta is reduced with increasing energy. Eventually it converges to the [π,π][\pi,\pi] resonance peak. Thus the recently observed coexistence is interpreted in terms of bilayer interactions.Comment: 15 pages, Revtex, five figures are included, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

    Anomalous c-axis charge dynamics in copper oxide materials

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    Within the t-J model, the c-axis charge dynamics of the copper oxide materials in the underdoped and optimally doped regimes is studied by considering the incoherent interlayer hopping. It is shown that the c-axis charge dynamics is mainly governed by the scattering from the in-plane fluctuation. In the optimally doped regime, the c-axis resistivity is a linear in temperatures, and shows the metallic-like behavior for all temperatures, while the c-axis resistivity in the underdoped regime is characterized by a crossover from the high temperature metallic-like behavior to the low temperature semiconducting-like behavior, which are consistent with experiments and numerical simulations.Comment: 6 pages, Latex, Three figures are adde

    Increasing CD44+/CD24- tumor stem cells, and upregulation of COX-2 and HDAC6, as major functions of HER2 in breast tumorigenesis

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cancer cells are believed to arise primarily from stem cells. CD44<sup>+</sup>/CD24<sup>- </sup>have been identified as markers for human breast cancer stem cells. Although, HER2 is a well known breast cancer oncogene, the mechanisms of action of this gene are not completely understood. Previously, we have derived immortal (M13SV1), weakly tumorigenic (M13SV1R2) and highly tumorigenic (M13SV1R2N1) cell lines from a breast epithelial cell type with stem cell phenotypes after successive SV40 large T-antigen transfection, X-ray irradiation and ectopic expression of HER2/C-erbB2/neu. Recently, we found that M13SV1R2 cells became non-tumorigenic after growing in a growth factor/hormone-deprived medium (R2d cells).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study, we developed M13SV1R2N1 under the same growth factor/hormone-deprived condition (R2N1d cells). This provides an opportunity to analyze HER2 effect on gene expression associated with tumorigenesis by comparative study of R2d and R2N1d cells with homogeneous genetic background except HER2 expression. The results reveal distinct characters of R2N1d cells that can be ascribed to HER2: 1) development of fast-growing tumors; 2) high frequency of CD44<sup>+</sup>/CD24<sup>- </sup>cells (~50% for R2N1d vs. ~10% for R2d); 3) enhanced expression of COX-2, HDAC6 mediated, respectively, by MAPK and PI3K/Akt pathways, and many genes associated with inflammation, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Furthermore, HER2 expression can be down regulated in non-adhering R2N1d cells. These cells showed longer latent period and lower rate of tumor development compared with adhering cells.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HER2 may induce breast cancer by increasing the frequency of tumor stem cells and upregulating the expression of COX-2 and HDAC6 that play pivotal roles in tumor progression.</p

    Disparate exciton-phonon couplings for zone center and boundary phonons in solid-state graphite

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    The exciton-phonon coupling in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite is studied using resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) spectroscopy. With ~ 70 meV energy resolution, multiple low energy excitations associated with coupling to phonons can be clearly resolved in RIXS spectra. Using resonance dependence and the closed form for RIXS cross-section without considering the intermediate state mixing of phonon modes, the dimensionless coupling constant g is determined to be 5 and 0.4, corresponding to the coupling strength of 0.42 eV +/- 40 meV and 0.21 eV +/- 30 meV, for zone center and boundary phonons respectively. The reduced g value for zone-boundary phonon may be related to its double resonance nature.Comment: Main text is 20 pages with 4 figures Supplementary information is 10 pages with 3 figure

    Boron Isotopic Analysis of Representative Atmospheric Aerosols Derived From Long-Range Transported/Local Emission on an Islet Offshore NE Taiwan

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    To identify pollutant origins and their potential sources from either long-range transported (LRT) or local emissions, the Boron (B) concentrations and the B isotopic compositions (δ11B) in the water-soluble fraction of aerosols were determined. These aerosols were collected from an islet offshore in northeastern Taiwan, Peng Chia Yu (PCY), a non-residential islet, from January 1998 to March 2000. This islet may be influenced by various pollutants or chemical transport during monsoon periods, but suffers minimal human perturbation locally. The B in the specimens falls to 0.3–1.63 ng m−3 during the SW monsoon seasons when compared to 0.46–2.56 ng m−3 in the NE monsoon. However, the δ11B results show no clear variations in both monsoon seasons (10.7–24.3‰), regardless of differences in air mass origin. A two end-member mixing scenario is proposed to explain our observations using the obtained δ11B and 1/[B] results. The ocean endmember is characterized by high 1/[B] and high δ11B; while other endmember is from continental endmember or anthropogenic contributions that are characterized by of 1/[B] and lowδ11B (δ11B &lt; 10‰). Based on these chemical and isotopic results, we found aerosol emissions in northern Taiwan are characterized as low B with nearly constant δ11B, when compared with long-range transported continental endmembers derived from nearby regions. This study provides preliminary B and δ11B levels in aerosols derived from LRT/local emissions and discusses potential monsoonal effects on aerosols offshore of NE Taiwan
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