Graphene Acoustic Devices

In 2011, Ren’s group has developed the first graphene sound source device in the world. This is the first time that the graphene applications have been extended into acoustic area. The graphene sound source can produce sound in a wide sound frequency range from 100 Hz to 50 kHz. After that, we have innovated the first graphene earphone, which can be used both for human and animals. In 2017, both the sound detection and sound emission have been integrated into one graphene device, which is called graphene artificial throat. In this book chapter, more details for developing those graphene acoustic devices will be introduced, which can help to boost the real applications of graphene devices

A broad-spectrum substrate for the human UDP-glucuronosyltransferases and its use for investigating glucuronidation inhibitors

Strong inhibition of the human UDP-glucuronosyltransferase enzymes (UGTs) may lead to undesirable effects, including hyperbilirubinaemia and drugiherb-drug interactions. Currently, there is no good way to examine the inhibitory effects and specificities of compounds toward all the important human UGTs, side-by-side and under identical conditions. Herein, we report a new, broad-spectrum substrate for human UGTs and its uses in screening and characterizing of UGT inhibitors. Following screening a variety of phenolic compound(s), we have found that methylophiopogonanone A (MOA) can be readily O-glucuronidated by all tested human UGTs, including the typical N-glucuronidating enzymes UGT1A4 and UGT2B10. MOA-O-glucuronidation yielded a single mono-O-glucuronide that was biosynthesized and purified for structural characterization and for constructing an LC-UV based MOA-O-glucuronidation activity assay, which was then used for investigating MOA-O-glucuronidation kinetics in recombinant human UGTs. The derived K-m values were crucial for selecting the most suitable assay conditions for assessing inhibitory potentials and specificity of test compound(s). Furthermore, the inhibitory effects and specificities of four known UGT inhibitors were reinvestigated by using MOA as the substrate for all tested UGTs. Collectively, MOA is a broad-spectrum substrate for the human UGTs, which offers a new and practical tool for assessing inhibitory effects and specificities of UGT inhibitors. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Auto-correlative weak-value amplification under strong noise background

In the general optical metro-logical protocols based on the weak-value amplification(WVA) approach, it is beneficial to choose the pre-selected state and the post-selected one to be nearly orthogonal for improving the sensitivity. However, the orthogonality of the post-selection decreases the probability of detecting photons and makes the weak measurement difficult, especially when there is strong noise background and the pointer is drowned in noise. In this article, we investigate a modified weak measurement protocol with a temporal pointer, namely, the auto-correlative weak-value amplification (AWVA) approach. We find it can significantly improve the precision of optical metrology under Gaussian white noise, especially with a negative signal-to-noise ratio. With the AWVA approach, a small longitudinal time delay (tiny phase shift) $\tau$ of a Gaussian pulse is measured by implementing two auto-correlative weak measurements. The small quantities are obtained by measuring the auto-correlation coefficient of the pulses instead of fitting the shift of the mean value of the probe. Simulation results show that the AWVA approach outperforms the standard WVA technique in the time domain, remarkably increasing the precision of weak measurement under strong noise background.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

Characteristics of atmospheric compositions in the background area of Yangtze River delta during heavy air pollution episode

In order to understand the formation and evolution of recurrent severe haze pollution episodes in Yangtze River Delta, China, a short comparative sampling campaign was conducted at the Lin’an background monitoring station from 25 November 2013 to 14 December 2013. The characteristic concentrations of PM2.5, black carbon, CO2, CO, and CH4 have been systematically recorded at the abovementioned site. Coupled with detailed analysis of air backward trajectories, fire spot distribution surrounding the studied site and meteorological impacts, temporal trend, diurnal variation, and intercorrelation of the aforementioned species have also been comprehensively investigated throughout prehaze, haze, and posthaze periods

A low-crosstalk double-side addressing system using acousto-optic deflectors for atomic ion qubits

The ability to individually and agilely manipulate qubits is crucial for the scalable trapped-ion quantum information processing. A plethora of challenging proposals have been demonstrated with the utilization of optical addressing systems, in which single ions is addressed exclusively by individual laser beam. However, crosstalk error in optical addressing systems limits the gate fidelity, becoming an obstacle to quantum computing, especially quantum error correction. In this work, we demonstrate a low-crosstalk double-side addressing system based on a pair of acousto-optic deflectors (AODs). The AODs addressing method can flexibly and parallelly address arbitrary ions between which the distance is variable in a chain. We employ two 0.4~NA objective lenses in both arms of the Raman laser and obtain a beam waist of 0.95~$\mu\mathrm{m}$, resulting in a Rabi rate crosstalk as low as $6.32\times10^{-4}$ when the neighboring ion separation is about 5.5~$\mu\mathrm{m}$. This agile and low-crosstalk double-side addressing system is promising for higher-fidelity gates and the practical application of the quantum error correction

Antibiotic synergist OM19r reverses aminoglycoside resistance in multidrug-resistant Escherichia coli

Introduction: The continued emergence and spread of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial pathogens require a new strategy to improve the efficacy of existing antibiotics. Proline-rich antimicrobial peptides (PrAMPs) could also be used as antibacterial synergists due to their unique mechanism of action. Methods: Utilizing a series of experiments on membrane permeability, In vitro protein synthesis, In vitro transcription and mRNA translation, to further elucidate the synergistic mechanism of OM19r combined with gentamicin. Results: A proline-rich antimicrobial peptide OM19r was identified in this study and its efficacy against Escherichia coli B2 (E. coli B2) was evaluated on multiple aspects. OM19r increased antibacterial activity of gentamicin against multidrug-resistance E. coli B2 by 64 folds, when used in combination with aminoglycoside antibiotics. Mechanistically, OM19r induced change of inner membrane permeability and inhibited translational elongation of protein synthesis by entering to E. coli B2 via intimal transporter SbmA. OM19r also facilitated the accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). In animal models, OM19r significantly improved the efficacy of gentamicin against E. coli B2. Discussion: Our study reveals that OM19r combined with GEN had a strong synergistic inhibitory effect against multi-drug resistant E. coli B2. OM19r and GEN inhibited translation elongation and initiation, respectively, and ultimately affected the normal protein synthesis of bacteria. These findings provide a potential therapeutic option against multidrug-resistant E. coli