Enrofloxacin Induces Intestinal Microbiota-Mediated Immunosuppression in Zebrafish

The immunosuppressive effects of antibiotics and the potential associations with the intestinal microbiota of the host have been increasingly recognized in recent years. However, the detailed underlying mechanisms of immune interference of antibiotics in environmental organisms remain unclear, particularly at the early life stage of high sensitivity. To better understand the gut microbiome and immune function interactions, the vertebrate model, zebrafish, was treated with environmentally relevant concentrations of a frequently detected antibiotic, enrofloxacin (ENR), ranging from 0.01 to 100 μg/L. 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing indicated diminished diversity, richness, and evenness of intestinal flora following ENR treatment. Twenty-two taxa of gut bacteria including Rickettsiales, Pseudomonadales, and Flavobacteriales were significantly correlated with immunosuppressive biomarkers, including a significant decrease in the abundance of macrophages and neutrophils. To validate the immunomodulatory effects due to altered intestinal microbial populations, zebrafish reared under sterile and non-sterile husbandry conditions were compared after ENR treatment. A significant inhibitory effect was induced by ENR treatment under non-sterile conditions, while the number of macrophages and neutrophils, as well as biomarkers of immunosuppressive effects, were significantly salved in zebrafish under sterile conditions, confirming for the first time that immunosuppression by ENR was closely mediated through alterations of the intestinal microbiome in fish.publishedVersio

Challenges in QCD matter physics - The Compressed Baryonic Matter experiment at FAIR

Substantial experimental and theoretical efforts worldwide are devoted to explore the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter. At LHC and top RHIC energies, QCD matter is studied at very high temperatures and nearly vanishing net-baryon densities. There is evidence that a Quark-Gluon-Plasma (QGP) was created at experiments at RHIC and LHC. The transition from the QGP back to the hadron gas is found to be a smooth cross over. For larger net-baryon densities and lower temperatures, it is expected that the QCD phase diagram exhibits a rich structure, such as a first-order phase transition between hadronic and partonic matter which terminates in a critical point, or exotic phases like quarkyonic matter. The discovery of these landmarks would be a breakthrough in our understanding of the strong interaction and is therefore in the focus of various high-energy heavy-ion research programs. The Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at FAIR will play a unique role in the exploration of the QCD phase diagram in the region of high net-baryon densities, because it is designed to run at unprecedented interaction rates. High-rate operation is the key prerequisite for high-precision measurements of multi-differential observables and of rare diagnostic probes which are sensitive to the dense phase of the nuclear fireball. The goal of the CBM experiment at SIS100 (sqrt(s_NN) = 2.7 - 4.9 GeV) is to discover fundamental properties of QCD matter: the phase structure at large baryon-chemical potentials (mu_B > 500 MeV), effects of chiral symmetry, and the equation-of-state at high density as it is expected to occur in the core of neutron stars. In this article, we review the motivation for and the physics programme of CBM, including activities before the start of data taking in 2022, in the context of the worldwide efforts to explore high-density QCD matter.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. Published in European Physical Journal

Research on the response improvement of optical actuation based on lead lanthanum zirconate titanate ceramics

Lead lanthanum zirconate titanate actuators taken as one type of photo-deformable actuators have been widely applied for micro-driven systems and active vibration control of photostrictive laminated flexible structures. However, the slow response of photodeformation of single patch lead lanthanum zirconate titanate actuator greatly affects its application. In this article, the main factors for the slow response of the lead lanthanum zirconate titanate actuator are investigated using experimental method. The increasing temperature during light on state and the residual photovoltage and photodeformation during light off state are considered as dominant factors causing the slow response of the lead lanthanum zirconate titanate actuator. To gain a better driving capability of lead lanthanum zirconate titanate actuator, some effective solutions through weakening the effect of increasing temperature and eliminating residual photovoltage and photodeformation are proposed and experimentally validated in this article. Considering the effective solutions proposed in this article, a novel optical driving mechanism based on multi-patches combination is proposed

A 112 Gb/s DAC-Based Duo-Binary PAM4 Transmitter in 28 nm CMOS

To reduce the high bit error rate of serial transceivers under strong channel attenuation, a low-power 112 Gb/s SerDes transmitter was designed using a duo-binary PAM4 modulation technology. By adopting duo-binary PAM4 modulation technology, the problem of the low bandwidth utilization of a high-speed PAM4 (pulse amplitude modulation 4) signal was improved. The problem of high jitter caused by charge sharing and the limited bandwidth of a 4:1 high-speed MUX was improved by using precharging auxiliary transistors. The system power consumption of the transmitter was reduced by using a 7-bit weighted voltage-driven digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The transmitter was designed with a 28 nm CMOS process and powered by a voltage of 0.9 V. The simulation results showed that when the channel attenuation was 20.9 dB, the transmitter could work at 112 Gb/s, the power consumption was 2.02 pJ/bit, and the linearity was 96.7%

A 112 Gb/s DAC-Based Duo-Binary PAM4 Transmitter in 28 nm CMOS

To reduce the high bit error rate of serial transceivers under strong channel attenuation, a low-power 112 Gb/s SerDes transmitter was designed using a duo-binary PAM4 modulation technology. By adopting duo-binary PAM4 modulation technology, the problem of the low bandwidth utilization of a high-speed PAM4 (pulse amplitude modulation 4) signal was improved. The problem of high jitter caused by charge sharing and the limited bandwidth of a 4:1 high-speed MUX was improved by using precharging auxiliary transistors. The system power consumption of the transmitter was reduced by using a 7-bit weighted voltage-driven digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The transmitter was designed with a 28 nm CMOS process and powered by a voltage of 0.9 V. The simulation results showed that when the channel attenuation was 20.9 dB, the transmitter could work at 112 Gb/s, the power consumption was 2.02 pJ/bit, and the linearity was 96.7%

Multiphysics Modeling and Simulation of a Light-Controlled Variable Damping System

In this paper, a light-controlled variable damping system (LCVDS) is proposed based on PLZT ceramics and electrorheological fluid (ERF). The mathematical models for the photovoltage of PLZT ceramics and the hydrodynamic model for the ERF are established, and the relationship between the pressure difference at both ends of the microchannel and the light intensity is deduced. Then, simulations are conducted by applying different light intensities in the LCVDS to analyze the pressure difference at both ends of the microchannel using COMSOL Multiphysics. The simulation results show that the pressure difference at both ends of the microchannel increases with the increase in light intensity, which is consistent with results from the mathematical model established in this paper. The error rate of the pressure difference at both ends of the microchannel is within 13.8% between the theoretical and simulation results. This investigation lays the foundation for the application of light-controlled variable damping in future engineering