Entangling two superconducting LC coherent modes via a superconducting flux qubit

Based on a pure solid-state device consisting of two superconducting LC circuits coupled to a superconducting flux qubit, we propose in this paper that the maximally entangled coherent states of the two LC modes can be generated for arbitrary coherent states through flux qubit controls.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Directed differentiation of notochord-like and nucleus pulposus-like cells using human pluripotent stem cells

Intervertebral disc degeneration might be amenable to stem cell therapy, but the required cells are scarce. Here, we report the development of a protocol for directed in vitro differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into notochord-like and nucleus pulposus (NP)-like cells of the disc. The first step combines enhancement of ACTIVIN/NODAL and WNT and inhibition of BMP pathways. By day 5 of differentiation, hPSC-derived cells express notochordal cell characteristic genes. After activating the TGF-beta pathway for an additional 15 days, qPCR, immunostaining, and transcriptome data show that a wide array of NP markers are expressed. Transcriptomically, the in vitro-derived cells become more like in vivo adolescent human NP cells, driven by a set of influential genes enriched with motifs bound by BRACHYURY and FOXA2, consistent with an NP cell-like identity. Transplantation of these NP-like cells attenuates fibrotic changes in a rat disc injury model of disc degeneration

Exact Ampitude Ratio and Finite-Size Corrections for the M x N Square Lattice Ising Model The :

Let f, U and C represent, respectively, the free energy, the internal energy and the specific heat of the critical Ising model on the square M x N lattice with periodic boundary conditions. We find that N f and U are well-defined odd function of 1/N. We also find that ratios of subdominant (N^(-2 i - 1)) finite-size corrections amplitudes for the internal energy and the specific heat are constant. The free energy and the internal energy at the critical point are calculated asymtotically up to N^(-5) order, and the specific heat up to N^(-3) order.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. E 65, 1 February 200

Exome-wide association analysis reveals novel coding sequence variants associated with lipid traits in Chinese

published_or_final_versio

Generation of Human Liver Chimeric Mice with Hepatocytes from Familial Hypercholesterolemia Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

published_or_final_versio

Cag rnas induce dna damage and apoptosis by silencing nudt16 expression in polyglutamine degeneration

DNA damage plays a central role in the cellular pathogenesis of polyglutamine (polyQ) diseases, including Huntington's disease (HD). In this study, we showed that the expression of untranslatable expanded CAG RNA per se induced the cellular DNA damage response pathway. By means of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), we found that expression of the Nudix hydrolase 16 (NUDT16) gene was down-regulated in mutant CAG RNA-expressing cells. The loss of NUDT16 function results in a misincorporation of damaging nucleotides into DNAs and leads to DNA damage. We showed that small CAG (sCAG) RNAs, species generated from expanded CAG transcripts, hybridize with CUG-containing NUDT16 mRNA and form a CAG-CUG RNA heteroduplex, resulting in gene silencing of NUDT16 and leading to the DNA damage and cellular apoptosis. These results were further validated using expanded CAG RNAexpressing mouse primary neurons and in vivo R6/2 HD transgenic mice. Moreover, we identified a bisamidinium compound, DB213, that interacts specifically with the major groove of the CAG RNA homoduplex and disfavors the CAG-CUG heteroduplex formation. This action subsequently mitigated RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC)-dependent NUDT16 silencing in both in vitro cell and in vivo mouse disease models. After DB213 treatment, DNA damage, apoptosis, and locomotor defects were rescued in HD mice. This work establishes NUDT16 deficiency by CAG repeat RNAs as a pathogenic mechanism of polyQ diseases and as a potential therapeutic direction for HD and other polyQ diseases

Neural network control of a rehabilitation robot by state and output feedback

In this paper, neural network control is presented for a rehabilitation robot with unknown system dynamics. To deal with the system uncertainties and improve the system robustness, adaptive neural networks are used to approximate the unknown model of the robot and adapt interactions between the robot and the patient. Both full state feedback control and output feedback control are considered in this paper. With the proposed control, uniform ultimate boundedness of the closed loop system is achieved in the context of Lyapunov’s stability theory and its associated techniques. The state of the system is proven to converge to a small neighborhood of zero by appropriately choosing design parameters. Extensive simulations for a rehabilitation robot with constraints are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control

Methods to study splicing from high-throughput RNA Sequencing data

The development of novel high-throughput sequencing (HTS) methods for RNA (RNA-Seq) has provided a very powerful mean to study splicing under multiple conditions at unprecedented depth. However, the complexity of the information to be analyzed has turned this into a challenging task. In the last few years, a plethora of tools have been developed, allowing researchers to process RNA-Seq data to study the expression of isoforms and splicing events, and their relative changes under different conditions. We provide an overview of the methods available to study splicing from short RNA-Seq data. We group the methods according to the different questions they address: 1) Assignment of the sequencing reads to their likely gene of origin. This is addressed by methods that map reads to the genome and/or to the available gene annotations. 2) Recovering the sequence of splicing events and isoforms. This is addressed by transcript reconstruction and de novo assembly methods. 3) Quantification of events and isoforms. Either after reconstructing transcripts or using an annotation, many methods estimate the expression level or the relative usage of isoforms and/or events. 4) Providing an isoform or event view of differential splicing or expression. These include methods that compare relative event/isoform abundance or isoform expression across two or more conditions. 5) Visualizing splicing regulation. Various tools facilitate the visualization of the RNA-Seq data in the context of alternative splicing. In this review, we do not describe the specific mathematical models behind each method. Our aim is rather to provide an overview that could serve as an entry point for users who need to decide on a suitable tool for a specific analysis. We also attempt to propose a classification of the tools according to the operations they do, to facilitate the comparison and choice of methods.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figure, 9 tables. Small corrections adde

Elastic theory for the vortex-lattice melting in iron-based high-Tc superconductors

The vortex-lattice melting transitions in two typical iron-based high-Tc superconductor $Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_{x})_{2}As_{2}$ (122-type) and$Nd(O_{1-x}F_{x})FeAs$ (1111-type) for magnetic fields both parallel and perpendicular to the anisotropy axis are studied within the elastic theory. Using the parameters from experiments, the vortex-lattice melting lines in the H-T diagram are located systematically by various groups of Lindemann numbers. It is observed that the theoretical result for the vortex melting on $Ba(Fe_{1-x}Co_{x})_{2}As_{2}$ for parallel fields agrees well the recent experimental data. The future experimental results for the vortex melting can be compared with the present theoretical prediction by tuning reasonable Lindemann numbers.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Privacy-preserving remote user authentication with K-times untraceability

National Research Foundation (NRF) Singapor