IVIG Delays Onset in a Mouse Model of Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker Disease

Our previous studies showed that intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) contained anti-Aβ autoantibodies that might be able to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, we identified and characterized naturally occurring autoantibodies against PrP from IVIG. Although autoantibodies in IVIG blocked PrP fibril formation and PrP neurotoxicity in vitro, it remained unknown whether IVIG could reduce amyloid plaque pathology in vivo and be used to effectively treat animals with prion diseases. In this study, we used Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker (GSS)-Tg (PrP-A116V) transgenic mice to test IVIG efficacy since amyloid plaque formation played an important role in GSS pathogenesis. Here, we provided strong evidence that demonstrates how IVIG could significantly delay disease onset, elongate survival, and improve clinical phenotype in Tg (PrP-A116V) mice. Additionally, in treated animals, IVIG could markedly inhibit PrP amyloid plaque formation and attenuate neuronal apoptosis at the age of 120 days in mice. Our results indicate that IVIG may be a potential, effective therapeutic treatment for GSS and other prion diseases

Observation of spin-orbit magnetoresistance in metallic thin films on magnetic insulators

A magnetoresistance effect induced by the Rashba spin-orbit interaction was predicted, but not yet observed, in bilayers consisting of normal metal and ferromagnetic insulator. Here, we present an experimental observation of this new type of spin-orbit magnetoresistance (SOMR) effect in a bilayer structure Cu[Pt]/Y3Fe5O12 (YIG), where the Cu/YIG interface is decorated with nanosize Pt islands. This new MR is apparently not caused by the bulk spin-orbit interaction because of the negligible spin-orbit interaction in Cu and the discontinuity of the Pt islands. This SOMR disappears when the Pt islands are absent or located away from the Cu/YIG interface, therefore we can unambiguously ascribe it to the Rashba spin-orbit interaction at the interface enhanced by the Pt decoration. The numerical Boltzmann simulations are consistent with the experimental SOMR results in the angular dependence of magnetic field and the Cu thickness dependence. Our finding demonstrates the realization of the spin manipulation by interface engineering.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 14 pages in supplementary. To appear on Science Advance

Personality differences and investment decision-making

We survey thousands of affluent American investors to examine the relationship between personalities and investment decisions. The Big Five personality traits correlate with investors' beliefs about the stock market and economy, risk preferences, and social interaction tendencies. Two personality traits, Neuroticism and Openness, stand out in their explanatory power for equity investments. Investors with high Neuroticism and those with low Openness tend to allocate less investment to equities. We examine the underlying mechanisms and find evidence for both standard channels of preferences and beliefs and other nonstandard channels. We show consistent out-of-sample evidence in representative panels of Australian and German households

Baseline correction for FAST radio recombination lines: a modified penalized least squares smoothing technique

A pilot project has been proceeded to map 1 deg$^2$ on the Galactic plane for radio recombination lines (RRLs) using the Five hundred meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST). The motivation is to verify the techniques and reliabilities for a large-scale Galactic plane RRL survey with FAST aiming to investigate the ionized environment in the Galaxy. The data shows that the bandpass of the FAST 19 beam L-band is severely affected by radio frequency interferences (RFIs) and standing wave ripples, which can hardly be corrected by traditional low order polynomials. In this paper, we investigate a series of penalized least square (PLS) based baseline correction methods for radio astronomical spectra that usually contain weak signals with high level of noise. Three promising penalized least squares based methods, AsLS, arPLS, and asPLS are evaluated. Adopting their advantages, a modified method named rrlPLS is developed to optimize the baseline fitting to our RRL spectra. To check their effectiveness, the four methods are tested by simulations and further verified using observed data sets. It turns out that the rrlPLS method, with optimized parameter $\lambda = 2 \times 10^8$ , reveals the most sensitive and reliable emission features in the RRL map. By injecting artificial line profiles into the real data cube, a further evaluation of profile distortion is conducted for rrlPLS. Comparing to simulated signals, the processed lines with low signal-to-noise ratio are less affected, of which the uncertainties are mainly caused by the rms noise. The rrlPLS method will be applied for baseline correction in future data processing pipeline of FAST RRL survey. Configured with proper parameters, the rrlPLS technique verified in this work may also be used for other spectroscopy projects.Comment: accepted for publication in PAS

Mutual Information-Based Integrated Sensing and Communications: A WMMSE Framework

In this letter, a weighted minimum mean square error (WMMSE) empowered integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) system is investigated. One transmitting base station and one receiving wireless access point are considered to serve multiple users a sensing target. Based on the theory of mutual-information (MI), communication MI and sensing MI rate are utilized as the performance metrics under the presence of clutters. In particular, we propose an novel MI-based WMMSE-ISAC method by developing a unique transceiver design mechanism to maximize the weighted sensing and communication sum-rate of this system. Such a maximization process is achieved by utilizing the classical method -- WMMSE, aiming to better manage the effect of sensing clutters and the interference among users. Numerical results show the effectiveness of our proposed method, and the performance trade-off between sensing and communication is also validated

Near-Field Channel Estimation for Extremely Large-Scale Terahertz Communications

Future Terahertz communications exhibit significant potential in accommodating ultra-high-rate services. Employing extremely large-scale array antennas is a key approach to realize this potential, as they can harness substantial beamforming gains to overcome the severe path loss and leverage the electromagnetic advantages in the near field. This paper proposes novel estimation methods designed to enhance efficiency in Terahertz widely-spaced multi-subarray (WSMS) systems. Initially, we introduce three sparse channel representation methods: polar-domain representation (PD-R), multi-angular-domain representation (MAD-R), and two-dimensional polar-angular-domain representation (2D-PAD-R). Each method is meticulously developed for near-field WSMS channels, capitalizing on their sparsity characteristics. Building on this, we propose four estimation frameworks using the sparse recovery theory: polar-domain estimation (PD-E), multi-angular-domain estimation (MAD-E), two-stage polar-angular-domain estimation (TS-PAD-E), and two-dimensional polar-angular-domain estimation (2D-PAD-E). Particularly, 2D-PAD-E, integrating a 2D dictionary process, and TS-PAD-E, with its sequential approach to angle and distance estimation, stand out as particularly effective for near-field angle-distance estimation, enabling decoupled calculation of these parameters. Overall, these frameworks provide versatile and efficient solutions for WSMS channel estimation, balancing low complexity with high-performance outcomes. Additionally, they represent a fresh perspective on near-field signal processing

Effect of different plant bio-stimulants in improving cucumber growth under soilless culture

There are more studies about plant bio-stimulants but no clear results about which is the best one in improving vegetable crops specially cucumber. The aim of this study is  to screen the effect of various bio-stimulants in improving cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) growth under soilless culture via root application by modifying coco-peat culture media substrate. In the present study, we tested fifteen treatments as follow: T1 -control (CK); T2 - 10 mM putrescine (Put); T3 - 250 ppm seaweed (Sea); T4 - 0.02 ppm meta-topolin (MT); T5 - 100 ppm naphthalene acetic acid (NAA); T6 - 400 ppm polyaspartic acid (PAS); T7 - 50 ppm sodium nitrophenolate (98% NIT); T8 - 100 ppm tryptophan (AAF); T9 - 1% fulvic acid (FUL); T10 - 107 CFU/ml Bacillus subtilis (BAS); T11 - 106 CFU/ml Trichoderma (TRI); T12 - 50 ppm alanine (ALa); T13 - 150 ppm salicylic acid (SA); T14 - 1 mM silicon (SiO2) and T15 - 0.001 ppm 24-epibrassinolide (EBR). The results obviously showed that using all bio-stimulants significantly increased cucumber growth parameters (plant height, stem diameter, leaves number, leaf area, shoot fresh weight, and root fresh weight). Seedlings Vigor Index (SVI) increased multifold compared with control by all treatments. The increase in cucumber seedlings vigor had a highly significant effect compared with control and the increase was 55.9% followed by 55.2% and 53.4% by Put, MT, and EBR treatments respectively. Our study concluded that the application of plant bio-stimulants can be used to modify coco-peat substrate with a positive effect on plant growth and improvement of cucumber plants under soilless culture. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.442027