A simple entanglement measure for multipartite pure states

A simple entanglement measure for multipartite pure states is formulated based on the partial entropy of a series of reduced density matrices. Use of the proposed new measure to distinguish disentangled, partially entangled, and maximally entangled multipartite pure states is illustrated.Comment: 8 pages LaTe

Classification and Quantification of Entangled Bipartite Qutrit Pure States

A complete analysis of entangled bipartite qutrit pure states is carried out based on a simple entanglement measure. An analysis of all possible extremally entangled pure bipartite qutrit states is shown to reduce, with the help of SLOCC transformations, to three distinct types. The analysis and the results should be helpful for finding different entanglement types in multipartite pure state systems.Comment: 10 pages, LaTe

Using Clay-Gravel Mixtures as the Impervious Core Materials in Rockfill Dams

Constructing the impervious system of an Earth Core Rockfill Dam (ECRD) usually needs a large volume of clay that may exhaust a huge area of farmland. One way to reduce the volume of clay to be filled is to use natural clay-gravel mixtures (CGM) or to add an appropriate percent of gravel materials into the clay and use the artificial clay-gravel mixtures as the impervious core materials. Using clay-gravel mixtures can also effectively increase the modulus of the core and reduce the differential settlement between the core and its adjacent rockfill shoulders, and thus alleviate the risk of occurrence of potential cracks within the core wall. The impermeability behavior of the compacted clay-gravel mixtures, however, has to be careful investigated and verified. In this chapter, four cases in using clay-gravel mixtures in constructing high ECRDs in China are reviewed, with attention focused on the engineering properties of clay-gravel mixtures and the construction and field quality control aspects of ECRDs using clay-gravel mixtures

Suppression of growth, migration and invasion of highly-metastatic human breast cancer cells by berbamine and its molecular mechanisms of action

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths among females worldwide. Berbamine (BER), a kind of bis-benzylisoquinoline alkaloid, has been used to treat clinical patients with inflammation and cancer for many years in China. The purpose of this study is to investigate the activity of BER against highly-metastatic human breast cancer and its molecular mechanisms of action.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In our study, we found that BER inhibits growth of highly-metastatic human breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-435S cells dose-dependently and time-dependently. The sera from BER-treated rats suppress the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells. BER shows synergistic effects with some existing anticancer agents such as trichostatin A (TSA, the histone deacetylase inhibitor), celecoxib (the inhibitor of COX-2), and carmofur against the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells. BER also displays the strong activity of inducing apoptosis in both estrogen receptor-negative MDA-MB-231 cells and estrogen receptor-alpha-positive MCF-7 breast cancer cells, but not in normal human mammary epithelial cell line MCF10A. BER down-regulates anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 levels and up-regulates pro-apoptotic protein Bax expressions in MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-435S cells. BER also has synergistic effects with anticancer agents trichostatin A, celecoxib and/or carmofur on reducing Bcl-2/Bax ratios and VEGF secretions in MDA-MB-231 cells. In addition, BER significantly suppresses cell migration and invasion, as well as decreases pro-MMP-9/pro-MMP-2 activation in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, BER suppresses Akt and nuclear factor <it>κ</it>B signaling by reducing the phosphorylation of c-Met and Akt, and inhibiting their downstream targets such as nuclear factor <it>κ</it>B p-65, Bcl-2/Bax, osteopontin, VEGF, MMP-9 and MMP-2 on protein and/or mRNA levels in breast cancer cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings have showed that BER suppresses the growth, migration and invasion in highly-metastatic human breast cancer cells by possibly inhibiting Akt and NF-<it>κ</it>B signaling with their upstream target c-Met and downstream targets Bcl-2/Bax, osteopontin, VEGF, MMP-9 and MMP-2. BER has synergistic effects with anticancer agents trichostatin A, celecoxib and carmofur on inhibiting the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells and reducing the ratio of Bcl-2/Bax and/or VEGF expressions in the cancer cells. These findings suggest that BER may have the wide therapeutic and/or adjuvant therapeutic application in the treatment of human breast cancer and other cancers.</p

Label-Free Fluorescent Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimer for Traceable and Controlled Drug Delivery

Poly(amidoamine) dendrimer (PAMAM) is well-known for its high efficiency as a drug delivery vehicle. However, the intrinsic cytotoxicity and lack of a detectable signal to facilitate tracking have impeded its practical applications. Herein, we have developed a novel label-free fluorescent and biocompatible PAMAM derivative by simple surface modification of PAMAM using acetaldehyde. The modified PAMAM possessed a strong green fluorescence, which was generated by the C=N bonds of the resulting Schiff Bases via n-?∗ transition, while the intrinsic cytotoxicity of PAMAM was simultaneously ameliorated. Through further PEGylation, the fluorescent PAMAM demonstrated excellent intracellular tracking in human melanoma SKMEL28 cells. In addition, our PEGylated fluorescent PAMAM derivative achieved enhanced loading and delivery efficiency of the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) compared to the original PAMAM. Importantly, the accelerated kinetics of DOX-encapsulated fluorescent PAMAM nanocomposites in an acidic environment facilitated intracellular drug release, which demonstrated comparable cytotoxicity to that of the free-form doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX·HCl) against melanoma cells. Overall, our label free fluorescent PAMAM derivative offers a new opportunity of traceable and controlled delivery for DOX and other drugs of potential clinical importance

Antifungal Activity and Action Mechanism of Ginger Oleoresin Against Pestalotiopsis microspora Isolated From Chinese Olive Fruits

Pestalotiopsis microspora (P. microspora) is one of dominant pathogenic fungi causing rotten disease in harvested Chinese olive (Canarium album Lour.) fruits. The purposes of this study were to evaluate the antifungal activities of ginger oleoresin (GO) against P. microspora and to illuminate the underlying action mechanisms. The in vitro assays indicate that GO exhibited strong antifungal activity against mycelial growth of P. microspore, and with 50%-inhibition concentration (EC50) and 90%-inhibition concentration (EC90) at 2.04 μL GO and 8.87 μL GO per mL propylene glycol, respectively, while the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal fungicidal concentration were at 10 μL GO and 30 μL GO per mL propylene glycol, respectively. Spore germination of P. microspora was inhibited by GO in a dose-dependent manner, and with 100% inhibition rate at the concentration of 8 μL GO per mL propylene glycol. Compared to the control, the cellular membrane permeability of P. microspora increased due to severe leakage of intercellular electrolytes, soluble proteins, and total sugars with the treatments (EC50, EC90) by GO during incubation. In addition, analysis of fatty acid contents and compositions in cellular membrane by GC-MS indicated that GO could significantly promote the degradation or peroxidation of unsaturated fatty acids in P. microspore, resulting in the enhancement of membrane fluidity. Moreover, observations of microstructure further showed the damage to plasma membrane and morphology of P. microspora caused by GO, which resulted in distortion, sunken and shriveled spores and mycelia of the pathogen. Furthermore, in vivo assay confirmed that over 3 MIC GO treatments remarkably suppressed disease development in P. microspore inoculated-Chinese olive fruit. These results demonstrate that owing to its strong antifungal activity, GO can be used as a promising antifungal agent to inhibit the growth of pathogenic fungi in Chinese olives

Engineering human ventricular heart muscles based on a highly efficient system for purification of human pluripotent stem cell-derived ventricular cardiomyocytes

Background Most infarctions occur in the left anterior descending coronary artery and cause myocardium damage of the left ventricle. Although current pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) and directed cardiac differentiation techniques are able to generate fetal-like human cardiomyocytes, isolation of pure ventricular cardiomyocytes has been challenging. For repairing ventricular damage, we aimed to establish a highly efficient purification system to obtain homogeneous ventricular cardiomyocytes and prepare engineered human ventricular heart muscles in a dish. Methods The purification system used TALEN-mediated genomic editing techniques to insert the neomycin or EGFP selection marker directly after the myosin light chain 2 (MYL2) locus in human pluripotent stem cells. Purified early ventricular cardiomyocytes were estimated by immunofluorescence, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, quantitative PCR, microelectrode array, and patch clamp. In subsequent experiments, the mixture of mature MYL2-positive ventricular cardiomyocytes and mesenchymal cells were cocultured with decellularized natural heart matrix. Histological and electrophysiology analyses of the formed tissues were performed 2 weeks later. Results Human ventricular cardiomyocytes were efficiently isolated based on the purification system using G418 or flow cytometry selection. When combined with the decellularized natural heart matrix as the scaffold, functional human ventricular heart muscles were prepared in a dish. Conclusions These engineered human ventricular muscles can be great tools for regenerative therapy of human ventricular damage as well as drug screening and ventricular-specific disease modeling in the future. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13287-017-0651-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Torsion and accelerating expansion of the universe in quadratic gravitation

Several exact cosmological solutions of a metric-affine theory of gravity with two torsion functions are presented. These solutions give a essentially different explanation from the one in most of previous works to the cause of the accelerating cosmological expansion and the origin of the torsion of the spacetime. These solutions can be divided into two classes. The solutions in the first class define the critical points of a dynamical system representing an asymptotically stable de Sitter spacetime. The solutions in the second class have exact analytic expressions which have never been found in the literature. The acceleration equation of the universe in general relativity is only a special case of them. These solutions indicate that even in vacuum the spacetime can be endowed with torsion, which means that the torsion of the spacetime has an intrinsic nature and a geometric origin. In these solutions the acceleration of the cosmological expansion is due to either the scalar torsion or the pseudoscalar torsion function. Neither a cosmological constant nor dark energy is needed. It is the torsion of the spacetime that causes the accelerating expansion of the universe in vacuum. All the effects of the inflation, the acceleration and the phase transformation from deceleration to acceleration can be explained by these solutions. Furthermore, the energy and pressure of the matter without spin can produce the torsion of the spacetime and make the expansion of the universe decelerate as well as accelerate.Comment: 20 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with gr-qc/0604006, arXiv:1110.344

Fc galactosylation follows consecutive reaction kinetics and enhances immunoglobulin G hexamerization for complement activation

Fc galactosylation is a critical quality attribute for anti-tumor recombinant immunoglobulin G (IgG)-based monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapeutics with complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC) as the mechanism of action. Although the correlation between galactosylation and CDC has been known, the underlying structure–function relationship is unclear. Heterogeneity of the Fc N-glycosylation produced by Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell culture biomanufacturing process leads to variable CDC potency. Here, we derived a kinetic model of galactose transfer reaction in the Golgi apparatus and used this model to determine the correlation between differently galactosylated species from CHO cell culture process. The model was validated by a retrospective data analysis of more than 800 historical samples from small-scale and large-scale CHO cell cultures. Furthermore, using various analytical technologies, we discovered the molecular basis for Fc glycan terminal galactosylation changing the three-dimensional conformation of the Fc, which facilitates the IgG1 hexamerization, thus enhancing C1q avidity and subsequent complement activation. Our study offers insight into the formation of galactosylated species, as well as a novel three-dimensional understanding of the structure–function relationship of terminal galactose to complement activation in mAb therapeutics

Phylogenetic Diversity and Genotypical Complexity of H9N2 Influenza A Viruses Revealed by Genomic Sequence Analysis

H9N2 influenza A viruses have become established worldwide in terrestrial poultry and wild birds, and are occasionally transmitted to mammals including humans and pigs. To comprehensively elucidate the genetic and evolutionary characteristics of H9N2 influenza viruses, we performed a large-scale sequence analysis of 571 viral genomes from the NCBI Influenza Virus Resource Database, representing the spectrum of H9N2 influenza viruses isolated from 1966 to 2009. Our study provides a panoramic framework for better understanding the genesis and evolution of H9N2 influenza viruses, and for describing the history of H9N2 viruses circulating in diverse hosts. Panorama phylogenetic analysis of the eight viral gene segments revealed the complexity and diversity of H9N2 influenza viruses. The 571 H9N2 viral genomes were classified into 74 separate lineages, which had marked host and geographical differences in phylogeny. Panorama genotypical analysis also revealed that H9N2 viruses include at least 98 genotypes, which were further divided according to their HA lineages into seven series (A–G). Phylogenetic analysis of the internal genes showed that H9N2 viruses are closely related to H3, H4, H5, H7, H10, and H14 subtype influenza viruses. Our results indicate that H9N2 viruses have undergone extensive reassortments to generate multiple reassortants and genotypes, suggesting that the continued circulation of multiple genotypical H9N2 viruses throughout the world in diverse hosts has the potential to cause future influenza outbreaks in poultry and epidemics in humans. We propose a nomenclature system for identifying and unifying all lineages and genotypes of H9N2 influenza viruses in order to facilitate international communication on the evolution, ecology and epidemiology of H9N2 influenza viruses