Potential of Core-Collapse Supernova Neutrino Detection at JUNO

JUNO is an underground neutrino observatory under construction in Jiangmen, China. It uses 20kton liquid scintillator as target, which enables it to detect supernova burst neutrinos of a large statistics for the next galactic core-collapse supernova (CCSN) and also pre-supernova neutrinos from the nearby CCSN progenitors. All flavors of supernova burst neutrinos can be detected by JUNO via several interaction channels, including inverse beta decay, elastic scattering on electron and proton, interactions on C12 nuclei, etc. This retains the possibility for JUNO to reconstruct the energy spectra of supernova burst neutrinos of all flavors. The real time monitoring systems based on FPGA and DAQ are under development in JUNO, which allow prompt alert and trigger-less data acquisition of CCSN events. The alert performances of both monitoring systems have been thoroughly studied using simulations. Moreover, once a CCSN is tagged, the system can give fast characterizations, such as directionality and light curve

Detection of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background with JUNO

As an underground multi-purpose neutrino detector with 20 kton liquid scintillator, Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is competitive with and complementary to the water-Cherenkov detectors on the search for the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB). Typical supernova models predict 2-4 events per year within the optimal observation window in the JUNO detector. The dominant background is from the neutral-current (NC) interaction of atmospheric neutrinos with 12C nuclei, which surpasses the DSNB by more than one order of magnitude. We evaluated the systematic uncertainty of NC background from the spread of a variety of data-driven models and further developed a method to determine NC background within 15\% with {\it{in}} {\it{situ}} measurements after ten years of running. Besides, the NC-like backgrounds can be effectively suppressed by the intrinsic pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) capabilities of liquid scintillators. In this talk, I will present in detail the improvements on NC background uncertainty evaluation, PSD discriminator development, and finally, the potential of DSNB sensitivity in JUNO

Real-time Monitoring for the Next Core-Collapse Supernova in JUNO

Core-collapse supernova (CCSN) is one of the most energetic astrophysical events in the Universe. The early and prompt detection of neutrinos before (pre-SN) and during the SN burst is a unique opportunity to realize the multi-messenger observation of the CCSN events. In this work, we describe the monitoring concept and present the sensitivity of the system to the pre-SN and SN neutrinos at the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), which is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction in South China. The real-time monitoring system is designed with both the prompt monitors on the electronic board and online monitors at the data acquisition stage, in order to ensure both the alert speed and alert coverage of progenitor stars. By assuming a false alert rate of 1 per year, this monitoring system can be sensitive to the pre-SN neutrinos up to the distance of about 1.6 (0.9) kpc and SN neutrinos up to about 370 (360) kpc for a progenitor mass of 30$M_{\odot}$ for the case of normal (inverted) mass ordering. The pointing ability of the CCSN is evaluated by using the accumulated event anisotropy of the inverse beta decay interactions from pre-SN or SN neutrinos, which, along with the early alert, can play important roles for the followup multi-messenger observations of the next Galactic or nearby extragalactic CCSN.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Image_2_Emerging innovations on exosome-based onco-therapeutics.tif

Exosomes, nano-sized extracellular vesicles for intercellular communications, are gaining rapid momentum as a novel strategy for the diagnosis and therapeutics of a spectrum of diseases including cancers. Secreted by various cell sources, exosomes pertain numerous functionalities from their parental cells and have enhanced stability that enable them with many features favorable for clinical use and commercialization. This paper focuses on the possible roles of exosomes in cancer therapeutics and reviews current exosome-based innovations toward enhanced cancer management and challenges that limit their clinical translation. Importantly, this paper casts insights on how cold atmospheric plasma, an emerging anticancer strategy, may aid in innovations on exosome-based onco-therapeutics toward improved control over cancers.</p

Image_1_Emerging innovations on exosome-based onco-therapeutics.tif

Exosomes, nano-sized extracellular vesicles for intercellular communications, are gaining rapid momentum as a novel strategy for the diagnosis and therapeutics of a spectrum of diseases including cancers. Secreted by various cell sources, exosomes pertain numerous functionalities from their parental cells and have enhanced stability that enable them with many features favorable for clinical use and commercialization. This paper focuses on the possible roles of exosomes in cancer therapeutics and reviews current exosome-based innovations toward enhanced cancer management and challenges that limit their clinical translation. Importantly, this paper casts insights on how cold atmospheric plasma, an emerging anticancer strategy, may aid in innovations on exosome-based onco-therapeutics toward improved control over cancers.</p

Anticancer Effect of Puerarin on Ovarian Cancer Progression Contributes to the Tumor Suppressor Gene Expression and Gut Microbiota Modulation

Ovarian cancer (OC) causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system due to its late presentation and malignant nature. Although significant progress has been made in the diagnosis and treatment of OC over the last decade, chemotherapeutic drug resistance and cancer recurrence remain serious challenges in OC management. In the field of cancer therapy, traditional Chinese herbal medicines and their active compounds have been widely reported to have favorable therapeutic effects on cancer. Recent studies have also revealed the protective effect of puerarin in cancer, but the exact role and underlying mechanism of puerarin in OC remain unclear. Here, we established in vivo and in vitro OC models to evaluate the anticancer effect of puerarin. It was found that puerarin significantly inhibited OC cell viability and proliferation and induced cell apoptosis. In OC model mice, puerarin treatment suppressed tumor formation and modulated the gut microbiome. In addition, the expression of tumor suppressor genes was activated by puerarin in vitro and in vivo. These findings add to the existing knowledge on the usefulness of herbal active ingredients for the prevention and treatment of OC and provide a new perspective regarding the therapeutic potential of puerarin in cancer

Characterization of the complete chloroplast genome of Polygonatum sibiricum (Liliaceae), a well-known herb to China

Polygonatum sibiricum is a famous and well-known TCH (Traditional Chinese Herb) in China. In this paper, the complete chloroplast genome of P. sibiricum was studied and illustrated to add more genetic information and data. The chloroplast genome is 152,960 bp in length and a typical quadripartite structure, which exhibits a large single-copy region (LSC) of 81,471 bp, a small single-copy region (SSC) of 18,485 bp and a pair of inverted-repeat regions (IRs) of 26,502 bp in each. The overall nucleotide composition of chloroplast genome is: 30.7% A, 31.4% T, 19.3% C, 18.6% G and the total GC content 37.9%. A total of 136 genes were annotated that included 90 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 38 transfer RNA (tRNAs) and 8 ribosome RNA (rRNAs). The phylogenetic ML tree shown that P. sibiricum is closely related to P. cyrtonema on genetic position relationship by the Maximum-Likelihood (ML) method

Lysine Acetylation, Cancer Hallmarks and Emerging Onco-Therapeutic Opportunities

Acetylation, a reversible epigenetic process, is implicated in many critical cellular regulatory systems including transcriptional regulation, protein structure, activity, stability, and localization. Lysine acetylation is the most prevalent and intensively investigated among the diverse acetylation forms. Owing to the intrinsic connections of acetylation with cell metabolism, acetylation has been associated with metabolic disorders including cancers. Yet, relatively little has been reported on the features of acetylation against the cancer hallmarks, even though this knowledge may help identify appropriate therapeutic strategies or combinatorial modalities for the effective treatment and resolution of malignancies. By examining the available data related to the efficacy of lysine acetylation against tumor cells and elaborating the primary cancer hallmarks and the associated mechanisms to target the specific hallmarks, this review identifies the intrinsic connections between lysine acetylation and cancer hallmarks and proposes novel modalities that can be combined with HDAC inhibitors for cancer treatment with higher efficacy and minimum adverse effects

Huangjing—From medicine to healthy food and diet

Abstract Diet‐related chronic diseases are becoming more common where many consumers and nutritionists are seeking food and lifestyle interventions to improve health and standard of living. To supplement regular dietary intake, scientists are seeking to develop new crops that are productive and nutritious, which can improve health outcomes. This review focused on the history of Huangjing as a medicine, healthy food as part of a diverse diet and as an input into pharmacology uses. The sustainable production of Huangjing and the development of health‐promoting Huangjing products are reviewed through consulting the “Chinese Pharmacopoeia” along with other herbal textual research and modern research publications. Hence, the potential development of Huangjing as a regular part of a healthy diet is discussed. Huangjing has been used as medicine and food in China for over 2000 years. While it contains no starch, it is rich in fructan, saponins, and flavonoids, which have been reported to prevent and treat chronic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. As part of a healthy diet, Huangjing has been developed into innovative products used in meals, snacks, drinks, health foods, and drugs. Furthermore, Huangjing is a perennial plant, is suitable for cultivation in forests, and does not occupy fertile farmland. It is proposed to use the achievements of genomics and targeted precision breeding to make in‐forest cultivation of Huangjing more productive, comprehensively nutritious, and environmentally friendly and obtain high‐quality food from forests and mountains, providing Chinese wisdom for the global food and nutrition security issue