Na4Ir3O8 as a 3D spin liquid with fermionic spinons

Spin liquid states for spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on a hyperkagome lattice are studied. We classify and study flux states according to symmetries. Applying this model to Na4Ir3O8, we propose that the high temperature state may be described by a spinon Fermi surface, which forms a paired state with line nodes below 20 K. The possible mixed spin singlet and spin triplet pairing states are discussed according to the lattice symmetry which breaks inversion.Comment: final versio

Impact on the Performance of Search and Rescue Team by Cloud-Based Services: A Case Study of TransAsia Flight GE235

The purpose of this study is to determine the significant gap between the suitable objective environmental conditions and the real performance outcomes when Taipei fire fighter officers and volunteer fire fighters handled the TransAsia GE235 incident. This study employs the “Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)” model to investigate the search and rescue (SAR) team members’ adoption of cloud-based services to improve their SAR performance. This study uses the Partial Least Square (PLS) validation for the research hypotheses. The results show that the Taipei City Fire Department’s SAR team and the Volunteer Fire Fighter team have certain gaps in applying the cloud-based service to improve the incident SAR performance. It is revealed that resources, especially in training/education of the government official team, are significant to performance improvement. Finally, several management implications are presented to improve the SAR operation performance

Loss of MECP2 Leads to Activation of P53 and Neuronal Senescence.

To determine the role for mutations of MECP2 in Rett syndrome, we generated isogenic lines of human induced pluripotent stem cells, neural progenitor cells, and neurons from patient fibroblasts with and without MECP2 expression in an attempt to recapitulate disease phenotypes in vitro. Molecular profiling uncovered neuronal-specific gene expression changes, including induction of a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) program. Patient-derived neurons made without MECP2 showed signs of stress, including induction of P53, and senescence. The induction of P53 appeared to affect dendritic branching in Rett neurons, as P53 inhibition restored dendritic complexity. The induction of P53 targets was also detectable in analyses of human Rett patient brain, suggesting that this disease-in-a-dish model can provide relevant insights into the human disorder

Clinical features and major histocompatibility complex genes as potential susceptibility factors in pediatric immune thrombocytopenia

Background/PurposeImmune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disorder with diverse response rates to treatments that include corticosteroids, intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG), and splenectomy. The predisposing causes of this autoimmune disorder, one of which is immunogenetic susceptibility, have not been fully determined. We investigated whether clinical features and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes influence the occurrence, treatment response, and disease duration of childhood ITP in Taiwan.MethodsWe performed HLA genotyping of 70 Taiwanese children with ITP and of 70 healthy controls and compared the data. Demographic data were also collected and evaluated.ResultsThe frequencies of heterozygous HLA-A11 and the HLA-Cw1 allele were both significantly decreased in the ITP group (p = 0.0160 and p = 0.0089, respectively), whereas the frequency of heterozygous HLA-DQ5 was significantly increased in the ITP group (p = 0.0057). Patients with HLA-DRB1*11 or -DRB1*15 were more likely to respond poorly to corticosteroids than IVIG (p = 0.0446 and p = 0.0008, respectively). In addition, we observed a positive association between HLA-A11 homozygosity and the development of persistent or chronic ITP [odds ratio (OR) = 6.3165, p = 0.0479]. The presence of HLA-DRB1*08 was, however, negatively correlated with the development of persistent or chronic ITP (OR = 0.1729, p = 0.0657). Children with antecedent of preceding illness (API) and with a younger age of onset were more likely to experience a better treatment response and shorter course of ITP.ConclusionWe suggest that API, age of onset, and particular HLA class I and class II alleles, may be involved in and influence the occurrence and disease duration of childhood ITP, as well as responses to different therapeutic approaches

Efficient Stereo Matching with Decoupled Dissimilarity Measure Using Successive Weighted Summation

Developing matching algorithms from stereo image pairs to obtain correct disparity maps for 3D reconstruction has been the focus of intensive research. A constant computational complexity algorithm to calculate dissimilarity aggregation in assessing disparity based on separable successive weighted summation (SWS) among horizontal and vertical directions was proposed but still not satisfactory. This paper presents a novel method which enables decoupled dissimilarity measure in the aggregation, further improving the accuracy and robustness of stereo correspondence. The aggregated cost is also used to refine disparities based on a local curve-fitting procedure. According to our experimental results on Middlebury benchmark evaluation, the proposed approach has comparable performance when compared with the selected state-of-the-art algorithms and has the lowest mismatch rate. Besides, the refinement procedure is shown to be capable of preserving object boundaries and depth discontinuities while smoothing out disparity maps

Postchallenge responses of nitrotyrosine and TNF-alpha during 75-g oral glucose tolerance test are associated with the presence of coronary artery diseases in patients with prediabetes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Meta-analysis has demonstrated an exponential relationship between 2-hr postchallenge hyperglycemia and coronary artery disease (CAD). Pulsatile hyperglycemia can acutely increase proinflammatory cytokines by oxidative stress. We hypothesized that postchallenge proinflammatory and nitrosative responses after 75 g oral glucose tolerance tests (75 g-OGTT) might be associated with CAD in patients without previously recognized type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Serial changes of plasma glucose (PG), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and nitrotyrosine levels were analyzed during 75 g-OGTT in 120 patients (81 male; age 62 ± 11 years) before coronary angiography. Patients were classified as normal (NGT; 42%), impaired (IGT; 34%) and diabetic (T2DM; 24%) glucose tolerance by 75 g-OGTT.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Postchallenge hyperglycemia elicited TNF-α, IL-6 and nitrotyrosine levels time-dependently, and 2-hr median levels of TNF-α (7.1 versus 6.4 pg/ml; <it>P </it>< 0.05) and nitrotyrosine (1.01 versus 0.83 <it>μ</it>mol/l; <it>P </it>< 0.05), but not IL-6 or PG, were significantly higher in patients with CAD in either IGT or T2DM groups. After adjusting risk factors and glucose tolerance status, 2-hr nitrotyrosine in highest quartiles (OR: 3.1, <it>P </it>< 0.05) remained an independent predictor of CAD by logistic regression analysis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These results highlight postchallenge proinflammatory and nitrosative responses by 75 g-OGTT, rather than hyperglycemia <it>per se</it>, are associated with CAD in patients without previous recognized diabetes.</p