Topological surface electronic states in candidate nodal-line semimetal CaAgAs

We investigate systematically the bulk and surface electronic structure of the candidate nodal-line semimetal CaAgAs by angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy and density functional calculations. We observed a metallic, linear, non-$k_z$-dispersive surface band that coincides with the high-binding-energy part of the theoretical topological surface state, proving the topological nontriviality of the system. An overall downshift of the experimental Fermi level points to a rigid-band-like $p$-doping of the samples, due possibly to Ag vacancies in the as-grown crystals.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Long-term Blood Pressure Prediction with Deep Recurrent Neural Networks

Existing methods for arterial blood pressure (BP) estimation directly map the input physiological signals to output BP values without explicitly modeling the underlying temporal dependencies in BP dynamics. As a result, these models suffer from accuracy decay over a long time and thus require frequent calibration. In this work, we address this issue by formulating BP estimation as a sequence prediction problem in which both the input and target are temporal sequences. We propose a novel deep recurrent neural network (RNN) consisting of multilayered Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, which are incorporated with (1) a bidirectional structure to access larger-scale context information of input sequence, and (2) residual connections to allow gradients in deep RNN to propagate more effectively. The proposed deep RNN model was tested on a static BP dataset, and it achieved root mean square error (RMSE) of 3.90 and 2.66 mmHg for systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) prediction respectively, surpassing the accuracy of traditional BP prediction models. On a multi-day BP dataset, the deep RNN achieved RMSE of 3.84, 5.25, 5.80 and 5.81 mmHg for the 1st day, 2nd day, 4th day and 6th month after the 1st day SBP prediction, and 1.80, 4.78, 5.0, 5.21 mmHg for corresponding DBP prediction, respectively, which outperforms all previous models with notable improvement. The experimental results suggest that modeling the temporal dependencies in BP dynamics significantly improves the long-term BP prediction accuracy.Comment: To appear in IEEE BHI 201

Carbohydrates in a thermomechanical pulp, a sulfite pulp, and a solvent sulfite pulp from western hemlock

A thermomechanical pulp, a high yield sulfite pulp, and a high yield solvent sulfite pulp from western hemlock [Tsuga heterophylla (Raf.) Sarg.] wood were investigated to determine the amount of carbohydrate material present and to elucidate the structures of the carbohydrates. The effects of the three pulping processes, which were quite different, on the carbohydrates are compared. Attempts to isolate hemicelluloses from the pulps were only moderately successful. The high lignin content interfered with hemicellulose extraction. However, a xylose-rich hemicellulose and a glucomannan hemicellulose was isolated from each pulp. Most of the pulp materials remained insoluble in the alkaline media ordinarily used for hemicellulose extractions. The structures of the carbohydrate polysaccharides were clarified by the use of the quite new technique of cross polarization/magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance of solid samples. This physico-chemical spectroscopic method is a non-destructive method in which the solid samples are recovered unchanged. The method requires no preparation of derivatives and hence reduces the chance of polysaccharide degradation. It replaces, in part, the classical methylation procedure ordinarily used to determine the positions of linkages in polysaccharides. The xylan, the glucomannans, and the celluloses of the samples reported in this work were shown by carbon-13 cross polarization/magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance of their solid forms to be linked by 1-->4 glycosidic linkages. In addition, peaks at 90 ppm and 85 ppm in the spectra of cellulose samples from the high yield solvent sulfite pulp indicate at least two crystalline polymorphs of cellulose

The Connotation of Kidney Stores Essence Theory and Kidney Endocrine Substance

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a traditional healing system with unique theoretical system. The Zang‐Fu theory is the closest mapping to body\u27s physiological and pathological changes. Kidney is the most vital Zang organ in TCM system. However, the material basis of kidney essence is still undefined. In this chapter, we propose the idea that kidney endocrine substances, such as renin, kallikrein, erythropoietin (EPO), calcitriol, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)‐7, and klotho, are potential candidates of the material basis of kidney essence. In addition, kidney‐nourishing therapy and related Chinese medicinal herbs are also introduced

Clinical analysis of high myopia in 320 cases in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region

AIM: To analyze the clinical manifestations and etiological factors of high myopia in 320 cases. <p>METHODS:A total of 320 patients(640 eyes)with high myopia treated in Ningxia Eye Hospital from January 2011 to November 2012 were studied. All of them underwent thorough eye examination and relevant environmental factors were recorded. The following data were analyzed, including gender, ethnicity, age of onset, refractive error, axial length, best corrected visual acuity(BCVA), educational level and living environment. <p>RESULTS: Bilateral high myopia was present in 320 patients(130 men and 190 women; 250 being of Han nationality and 70 of Hui nationality)with a mean age of 42.65±16.51 years(range: 3-80 years); the male to female ratio was 1:1.5. The age of onset was lower than 20 years in 237 patients, higher than 21 yeas in 83 patients, the difference was statistically significant(<i>P</i><0.001). There was no significant difference between diopter and educational level(<i>P</i>>0.05). The patients with BCVA higher than 0.3 increased with diopter increased, while BCVA lower than 0.8 and between 0.4～0.7 reduced. Refraction was significantly negatively correlated with BCVA(<i>r</i>=-0.196, <i>P</i><0.05)and positive correlated with axial length(<i>r</i>=0.681, <i>P</i><0.05). <p>CONCLUSION: In the study, patients with high myopia tend to have early onset, low educational level, and spacious living environment. Such results indicate that the genetic factors may be the main cause of high myopia in this group. The higher the degree of myopia was, the worse BCVA and the longer AL would be

Tracing blastomere fate choices of early embryos in single cell culture

Blastomeres of early vertebrate embryos undergo numerous fate choices for division, motility, pluripotency maintenance and restriction culminating in various cell lineages. Tracing blastomere fate choices at the single cell level in vitro has not been possible because of the inability to isolate and cultivate early blastomeres as single cells. Here we report the establishment of single cell culture system in the fish medaka, enabling the isolation and cultivation of individual blastomeres from 16- to 64-cell embryos for fate tracing at the single cell level in vitro. Interestingly, these blastomeres immediately upon isolation exhibit motility, lose synchronous divisions and even stop dividing in &#x2265;50% cases, suggesting that the widely accepted nucleocytoplasmic ratio controlling synchronous divisions in entire embryos does not operate on individual blastomeres. We even observed abortive division, endomitosis and cell fusion. Strikingly, ~5% of blastomeres in single cell culture generated extraembryonic yolk syncytial cells, embryonic stem cells and neural crest-derived pigment cells with timings mimicking their appearance in embryos. We revealed the maternal inheritance of key lineage regulators and their differential expression in cleavage embryos. Therefore, medaka blastomeres possess the accessibility for single cell culture, previously unidentified heterogeneity in motility, division, gene expression and intrinsic ability to generate major extraembryonic and embryonic lineages without positioning cues. Our data demonstrate the fidelity and potential of the single cell culture system for tracking blastomere fate decisions under defined conditions in vitro