4-(Anthracen-9-yl)-2-phenyl-6-(pyridin-2-yl)pyridine

In the title compound, C30H20N2, the anthracene ring system is approximately planar [maximum deviation = 0.035 (2) Å] and is nearly perpendicular to the central pyridine ring, making a dihedral angle of 75.73 (7)°. The terminal pyridine ring and the phenyl ring are oriented at dihedral angles of 8.11 (10) and 13.22 (10)°, respectively, to the central pyridine ring

Entropic uncertainty relations for Markovian and non-Markovian processes under a structured bosonic reservoir

The uncertainty relation is a fundamental limit in quantum mechanics and is of great importance to quantum information processing as it relates to quantum precision measurement. Due to interactions with the surrounding environment, a quantum system will unavoidably suffer from decoherence. Here, we investigate the dynamic behaviors of the entropic uncertainty relation of an atom-cavity interacting system under a bosonic reservoir during the crossover between Markovian and non-Markovian regimes. Specifically, we explore the dynamic behavior of the entropic uncertainty relation for a pair of incompatible observables under the reservoir-induced atomic decay effect both with and without quantum memory. We find that the uncertainty dramatically depends on both the atom-cavity and the cavity-reservoir interactions, as well as the correlation time, $\tau$, of the structured reservoir. Furthermore, we verify that the uncertainty is anti-correlated with the purity of the state of the observed qubit-system. We also propose a remarkably simple and efficient way to reduce the uncertainty by utilizing quantum weak measurement reversal. Therefore our work offers a new insight into the uncertainty dynamics for multi-component measurements within an open system, and is thus important for quantum precision measurements.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, to appear in Scientific Report

The spin measurement of MAXI J1348-630 using the Insight-HXMT data

We report the results of fitting Insight-HXMT data to the black hole X-ray binary MAXI J1348-430, which was discovered on January 26th, 2019, with the Gas Slit Camera (GSC) on-board MAXI. Several observations at the beginning of the first burst were selected, with a total of 10 spectra. From the residuals of fits using disk plus power law models, X-ray reflection signatures were clearly visible in some of these observations. We use the state-of the-art relxill series reflection model to fit six spectra with distinct reflection signatures and a joint fit to these spectra. In particular, we focus on the results for the black hole spin values. Assuming Rin = RISCO, the spin parameter is constrained to be 0.82+0.04-0.03 with 90% confidence level (statistical only).Comment: Revisions to MNRAS are submitted, and comments are welcome

Effects of ACE inhibition on endothelial progenitor cell mobilization and prognosis after acute myocardial infarction in type 2 diabetic patients

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the chemotactic response of endothelial progenitor cells to angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors in T2DM patients after acute myocardial infarction, as well as the associated prognosis. METHODS: Sixty-eight T2DM patients with acute myocardial infarction were randomized to either receive or not receive daily oral perindopril 4 mg, and 36 non-diabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction were enrolled as controls. The numbers of circulating CD45−/low+CD34+CD133+KDR+ endothelial progenitor cells, as well as the stromal cell-derived factor-α and high-sensitivity C reactive protein levels, were measured before acute percutaneous coronary intervention and on days 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, and 28 after percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients were followed up for 6 months. Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR-TRC-12002599. RESULTS: T2DM patients had lower circulating endothelial progenitor cell counts, decreased plasma vascular endothelial growth factor and α levels, and higher plasma high-sensitivity C reactive protein levels compared with non-diabetic controls. After receiving perindopril, the number of circulating endothelial progenitor cells increased from day 3 to 7, as did the plasma levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and stromal cell-derived factor-α, compared with the levels in T2DM controls. Plasma high-sensitivity C reactive protein levels in the treated group decreased to the same levels as those in non-diabetic controls. Furthermore, compared with T2DM controls, the perindopril-treated T2DM patients had lower cardiovascular mortality and occurrence of heart failure symptoms (

The traditional Chinese medicine formulation Ruanjian Sanjie Decoction regulates the tumor matrix and improves the anti-tumor efficacy of TP-PEG-LPs

The Ruanjian Sanjie Decoction (RSD) is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) formulation consisting of Spica Prunellae, Pseudobulbus Cremastrae Seu Pleiones, Concha Ostreae and Semen Coicis, and widely used as an adjuvant in anti-cancer therapy. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of RSD on the extracellular matrix (ECM) of tumors, and on the efficacy of anti-cancer nano-formulations in a tumor-bearing mouse model. The mice were treated with triptolide encapsulated in PEG-modified liposomes (TP-PEG-LPs), either alone or in combination with RSD. The combination treatment significantly retarded tumor growth relative to the untreated controls, indicating the potent adjuvant effect of RSD in targeted anti-cancer therapy. In addition, RSD also reduced the amount of total collagen and collagen I and increased that of collagen III in the tumor ECM, along with decreasing the expression of the pro-angiogenic VEGF. Finally, even high doses of RSD did not significantly affect the liver and kidney function or body weight, indicating low toxicity

An Empathy-Based Sandbox Approach to Bridge Attitudes, Goals, Knowledge, and Behaviors in the Privacy Paradox

The "privacy paradox" describes the discrepancy between users' privacy attitudes and their actual behaviors. Mitigating this discrepancy requires solutions that account for both system opaqueness and users' hesitations in testing different privacy settings due to fears of unintended data exposure. We introduce an empathy-based approach that allows users to experience how privacy behaviors may alter system outcomes in a risk-free sandbox environment from the perspective of artificially generated personas. To generate realistic personas, we introduce a novel pipeline that augments the outputs of large language models using few-shot learning, contextualization, and chain of thoughts. Our empirical studies demonstrated the adequate quality of generated personas and highlighted the changes in privacy-related applications (e.g., online advertising) caused by different personas. Furthermore, users demonstrated cognitive and emotional empathy towards the personas when interacting with our sandbox. We offered design implications for downstream applications in improving user privacy literacy and promoting behavior changes

Fibroblast activation protein-α promotes the growth and migration of lung cancer cells via the PI3K and sonic hedgehog pathways

A characteristic of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in cancer cells is the upregulation of mesenchymal markers. Fibroblast activation protein α (FAPα) is predominantly expressed by stromal fibroblasts. Previous studies have demonstrated that FAPα is also expressed by certain epithelium-derived cancer cells and is involved in the regulation of certain signaling pathways. One of our previous studies showed that FAPα promoted the proliferation of breast cancer cells via the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway. In the present study, the A549 adenocarcinoma (AC) and SK-MES-1 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) lung cancer cell lines were transfected with FAPα. The FAPα-expressing SK-MES-1 cells exhibited an increased growth rate, whereas the FAPα-expressing A549 cells exhibited a similar growth rate, compared with respective empty vector‑transfected control cells. Electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS)-based attachment and wound-healing assays showed that the overexpression of FAPα markedly increased the adhesive and migratory properties of the SK-MES-1 cells but not those of the A549 cells. Additionally, inhibitors of focal adhesion kinase, agonist-induced phospholipase C, neural Wiskott‑Aldrich syndrome protein, extracellular signal‑regulated kinase, Rho-associated protein kinase, PI3K, and sonic hedgehog (SHH) were used to evaluate the interaction between FAPα and signaling pathways. Only the inhibitors of SHH and PI3K inhibited the increased motility of the FAPα‑expressing SK-MES-1 cells. Western blot analysis confirmed the activation of PI3K/AKT and SHH/GLI family zinc finger 1 signaling in the FAPα-expressing SK-MES-1 cells. These results revealed that FAPα promoted the growth, adhesion and migration of lung SCC cells. In addition, FAPα regulated lung cancer cell function, potentially via the PI3K and SHH pathways. Further investigations are required to examine the role of FAPα in lung AC cells

FAP-alpha (Fibroblast activation protein-alpha) is involved in the control of human breast cancer cell line growth and motility via the FAK pathway

Background Fibroblast Activation Protein alpha (FAP-α) or seprase is an integral membrane serine peptidase. Previous work has not satisfactorily explained both the suppression and promotion effects that have been observed in cancer. The purpose of this work was to investigate the role of FAP-α in human breast cancer. Expression of FAP-α was characterized in primary tumour samples and in cell lines, along with the effects of FAP-α expression on in vitro growth, invasion, attachment and migration. Furthermore the potential interaction of FAP-α with other signalling pathways was investigated. Results FAP-α was significantly increased in patients with poor outcome and survival. In vitro results showed that breast cancer cells over expressing FAP-α had increased growth ability and impaired migratory ability. The growth of MDA-MB-231 cells and the adhesion and invasion ability of both MCF-7 cells and MDA-MB-231 cells were not dramatically influenced by FAP-α expression. Over-expression of FAP-α resulted in a reduction of phosphorylated focal adhesion kinase (FAK) level in both cells cultured in normal media and serum-free media. An inhibitor to FAK restored the reduced motility ability of both MCF-7exp cells and MDA-MB-231exp cells and prevented the change in phosphorylated FAK levels. However, inhibitors to PI3K, ERK, PLCϒ, NWASP, ARP2/3, and ROCK had no influence this. Conclusions FAP-α in significantly associated with poor outcome in patients with breast cancer. In vitro, FAP-α promotes proliferation and inhibits migration of breast cancer cells, potentially by regulating the FAK pathway. These results suggest FAP-α could be a target for future therapies