Oxytocin is implicated in social memory deficits induced by early sensory deprivation in mice

Acknowledgements We thank Miss Jia-Yin and Miss Yu-Ling Sun for their help in breading the mice. Funding This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81200933 to N.-N. Song; 81200692 to L. Chen; 81101026 to Y. Huang; 31528011 to B. Lang; 81221001, 91232724 and 81571332 to Y-Q. Ding), Zhejiang Province Natural Science Foundation of China (LQ13C090004 to C. Zhang), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2016 M591714 to C.-C. Qi), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2013KJ049).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Radiative transitions in charmonium from Nf=2N_f=2 twisted mass lattice QCD

We present a study for charmonium radiative transitions: $J/\psi\rightarrow\eta_c\gamma$, $\chi_{c0}\rightarrow J/\Psi\gamma$ and $h_c\rightarrow\eta_c\gamma$ using $N_f=2$ twisted mass lattice QCD gauge configurations. The single-quark vector form factors for $\eta_c$ and $\chi_{c0}$ are also determined. The simulation is performed at a lattice spacing of $a= 0.06666$ fm and the lattice size is $32^3\times 64$. After extrapolation of lattice data at nonzero $Q^2$ to 0, we compare our results with previous quenched lattice results and the available experimental values.Comment: typeset with revtex, 15 pages, 11 figures, 4 table

Influence of Reducing Agents on Biosafety and Biocompatibility of Gold Nanoparticles

Extensive biomedical applications of nanoparticles are mainly determined by their safety and compatibility in biological systems. The aim of this study was to compare the biosafety and biocompatibility of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) prepared with HEPES buffer, which is popular for cell culture, and sodium citrate, a frequent reducing agent. From experimental results on the body weight and organ coefficients of acute oral toxicity tests, it could be observed that HEPES-prepared GNPs are biologically safer than citric-prepared GNPs at the same dose of 500 μg/kg. The in vitro cell viability was higher for HEPES-prepared GNPs than citric-prepared GNPs at 5.0- and 10.0-ug/mL concentrations. More reactive oxygen species (ROS) were generated in the cell suspension when supplemented with citric-prepared GNPs than HEPES-prepared GNPs when their concentrations were higher than 20 μg/mL. The results stated that HEPES-prepared GNPs had better biosafety and biocompatibility than citric-prepared GNPs. This study not only revealed the influence of reducing agent on biosafety and biocompatibility of nanomaterials but also provided accumulative evidence for nanomaterials in biomedical applications. [Figure: see text

A mouse line for inducible and reversible silencing of specific neurons

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Acknowledgements: We thank Dr. Joseph W. Lynch for sharing the IVMR plasmid, and Dr. Lisa M. Monteggia for sharing the AAV2-Cre plasmid. Rosa-CAG targeting vector was obtained from Addgenes. This work was supported by the Key State Research Program from Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2011CB510005, 2012CB966900, 2013CB835103), National Natural Science Foundation of China (81221001, 81200692, 81101026, 31100788, 31271182, 31030034, 91232724), Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (12XD1404800), Shanghai Pujiang Program (12PJ1408800), Key Disciplines Group Construction Project of Pudong Health Bureau of Shanghai (PWZxq2014-04) and Sino-UK Higher Education Research Partnership for PhD Studies.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Swine acute diarrhoea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV) Nsp5 antagonizes type I interferon signaling by cleaving DCP1A

Swine acute diarrhoea syndrome coronavirus (SADS-CoV), which is a recently discovered enteric coronavirus, is the major aetiological agent that causes severe clinical diarrhoea and intestinal pathological damage in pigs, and it has caused significant economic losses to the swine industry. Nonstructural protein 5, also called 3C-like protease, cleaves viral polypeptides and host immune-related molecules to facilitate viral replication and immune evasion. Here, we demonstrated that SADS-CoV nsp5 significantly inhibits the Sendai virus (SEV)-induced production of IFN-β and inflammatory cytokines. SADS-CoV nsp5 targets and cleaves mRNA-decapping enzyme 1a (DCP1A) via its protease activity to inhibit the IRF3 and NF-κB signaling pathways in order to decrease IFN-β and inflammatory cytokine production. We found that the histidine 41 and cystine 144 residues of SADS-CoV nsp5 are critical for its cleavage activity. Additionally, a form of DCP1A with a mutation in the glutamine 343 residue is resistant to nsp5-mediated cleavage and has a stronger ability to inhibit SADS-CoV infection than wild-type DCP1A. In conclusion, our findings reveal that SADS-CoV nsp5 is an important interferon antagonist and enhance the understanding of immune evasion by alpha coronaviruses

Suppress HBV by therapeutic vaccine

乙肝预防性疫苗显著减少了乙肝新发感染，但目前全球仍有约2.5亿慢性乙肝感染者，若未得到有效治疗，可能发展为肝癌、肝硬化等终末期肝病并导致死亡。夏宁邵教授团队研究发展了一种新型的B细胞表位嵌合型类病毒颗粒乙肝治疗性疫苗（治疗性蛋白），在多种模型中证实了其对慢性乙肝感染的治疗潜力，为研发治疗慢性乙肝的原创药物提供了新思路。 我校博士后张天英、博士生郭雪染和博士生巫洋涛为该论文共同第一作者，夏宁邵教授、袁权副教授、张军教授为该论文的共同通讯作者。【Abstract】Objective: This study aimed to develop a novel therapeutic vaccine based on a unique B cell epitope and investigate its therapeutic potential against chronic hepatitis B (CHB) in animal models. Methods: A series of peptides and carrier proteins were evaluated in HBV-tolerant mice to obtain an optimized therapeutic molecule. The immunogenicity,therapeutic efficacy and mechanism of the candidate were investigated systematically. Results: Among the HBsAg-aa119-125-containing peptides evaluated in this study, HBsAg-aa113-135 (SEQ13) exhibited the most striking therapeutic effects. A novel immuno-enhanced virus-like particle carrier (CR-T3) derived from the roundleaf bat HBV core antigen (RBHBcAg) was created and used to display SEQ13, forming candidate molecule CR-T3-SEQ13. Multiple copies of SEQ13 displayed on the surface of this particulate antigen promote the induction of a potent anti-HBs antibody response in mice, rabbits and cynomolgus monkeys. Sera and purified polyclonal IgG from the immunized animals neutralized HBV infection in vitro and mediated efficient HBV/HBsAg clearance in the mice. CR-T3-SEQ13-based vaccination induced long-term suppression of HBsAg and HBV DNA in HBV transgenic mice and eradicated the virus completely in hydrodynamic-based HBV carrier mice. The suppressive effects on HBsAg were strongly correlated with the anti-HBs level after vaccination, suggesting that the main mechanism of CR-T3-SEQ13 vaccination therapy was the induction of a SEQ13-specific antibody response that mediated HBV/HBsAg clearance. Conclusions: The novel particulate protein CR-T3-SEQ13 suppressed HBsAg effectively through induction of a humoral immune response in HBV-tolerant mice. This B cell epitope-based therapeutic vaccine may provide a novel immunotherapeutic agent against chronic HBV infection in humans.This work was supported by the National Scientific and Technological Major project (2017ZX10202203-001), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31730029, 81672023, 81871316 and 81702006) and the Xiamen University President Fund Project (20720160063). 该研究获得了“艾滋病和病毒性肝炎等重大传染病防治”科技重大专项、国家自然科学基金等资助

Observation of many-body Fock space dynamics in two dimensions

Quantum many-body simulation provides a straightforward way to understand fundamental physics and connect with quantum information applications. However, suffering from exponentially growing Hilbert space size, characterization in terms of few-body probes in real space is often insufficient to tackle challenging problems such as quantum critical behavior and many-body localization (MBL) in higher dimensions. Here, we experimentally employ a new paradigm on a superconducting quantum processor, exploring such elusive questions from a Fock space view: mapping the many-body system onto an unconventional Anderson model on a complex Fock space network of many-body states. By observing the wave packet propagating in Fock space and the emergence of a statistical ergodic ensemble, we reveal a fresh picture for characterizing representative many-body dynamics: thermalization, localization, and scarring. In addition, we observe a quantum critical regime of anomalously enhanced wave packet width and deduce a critical point from the maximum wave packet fluctuations, which lend support for the two-dimensional MBL transition in finite-sized systems. Our work unveils a new perspective of exploring many-body physics in Fock space, demonstrating its practical applications on contentious MBL aspects such as criticality and dimensionality. Moreover, the entire protocol is universal and scalable, paving the way to finally solve a broader range of controversial many-body problems on future larger quantum devices.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures + supplementary informatio

Structural, Magnetic and Electronic Properties of the Iron-Chalcogenide Ax_xFe2−y_{2-y}Se2_2 (A=K, Cs, Rb, Tl and etc.) Superconductors

The latest discovery of a new iron-chalcogenide superconductor A$_x$Fe$_{2-y}$Se$_2$(A=K, Cs, Rb, Tl and etc.) has attracted much attention due to a number of its unique characteristics, such as the possible insulating state of the parent compound, the existence of Fe-vacancy and its ordering, a new form of magnetic structure and its interplay with superconductivity, and the peculiar electronic structures that are distinct from other Fe-based superconductors. In this paper, we present a brief review on the structural, magnetic and electronic properties of this new superconductor, with an emphasis on the electronic structure and superconducting gap. Issues and future perspectives are discussed at the end of the paper.Comment: 45 pages, 19 figure

Oral microbiome and risk of malignant esophageal lesions in a high-risk area of China: A nested case-control study.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to prospectively evaluate the association of oral microbiome with malignant esophageal lesions and its predictive potential as a biomarker of risk. METHODS: We conducted a case-control study nested within a population-based cohort with up to 8 visits of oral swab collection for each subject over an 11-year period in a high-risk area for esophageal cancer in China. The oral microbiome was evaluated with 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene sequencing in 428 pre-diagnostic oral specimens from 84 cases with esophageal lesions of severe squamous dysplasia and above (SDA) and 168 matched healthy controls. DESeq analysis was performed to identify taxa of differential abundance. Differential oral species together with subject characteristics were evaluated for their potential in predicting SDA risk by constructing conditional logistic regression models. RESULTS: A total of 125 taxa including 37 named species showed significantly different abundance between SDA cases and controls (all P0.84. CONCLUSIONS: The oral microbiome may play an etiological and predictive role in esophageal cancer, and it holds promise as a non-invasive early warning biomarker for risk stratification for esophageal cancer screening programs