Dragon blood resin ameliorates steroid-induced osteonecrosis of femoral head through osteoclastic pathways

Objective: Dragon’s Blood resin (DBR) is a traditional medicinal substance renowned for its diverse pharmacological effects, which consists of potent anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and angiogenic properties. This study aimed to elucidate its therapeutic mechanism in alleviating steroid-induced osteonecrosis of the femoral head (SIONFH).Methods: Techniques such as SPR and LC-MS were employed to identify and analyze the target proteins of DBR in bone marrow macrophages (BMMs). In vitro, BMMs were treated with RANKL and DBR, and TRAcP staining and actin belt staining were utilized to assess osteoclast activity. The inhibitory effects and underlying mechanisms of DBR on osteoclastogenesis and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation were determined using real-time PCR, western blotting and immunofluorescence staining. An in vivo SIONFH rat model was set up to assess the curative impacts of DBR using micro-CT scanning and pathological staining.Results: Bioinformatic tools revealed a pivotal role of osteoclast differentiation in SIONFH. Proteomic analysis identified 164 proteins binding in BMMs. In vitro assessments demonstrated that DBR hindered osteoclastogenesis by modulating the expression of specific genes and proteins, along with antioxidant proteins including TRX1 and Glutathione Reductase. Notably, the resin effectively inhibited the expression of crucial proteins, such as the phosphorylation of JNK and the nuclear localization of p65 within the TRAF6/JNK and NFκB signaling pathways. In vivo experiments further confirmed that DBR mitigated the onset of SIONFH in rats by curbing osteoclast and ROS activities.Conclusion: These findings underscore the potential of Dragon’s Blood as an effective administration for early-stage SIONFH, shedding light on its therapeutic influence on ROS-mediated osteoclastic signaling pathways

Wind power in China - Dream or reality?

After tremendous growth of wind power generation capacity in recent years, China now has 44.7 GW of wind-derived power. Despite the recent growth rates and promises of a bright future, two important issues - the capability of the grid infrastructure and the availability of backup systems - must be critically discussed and tackled in the medium term. The study shows that only a relatively small share of investment goes towards improving and extending the electricity infrastructure which is a precondition for transmitting clean wind energy to the end users. In addition, the backup systems are either geographically too remote from the potential wind power sites or currently financially infeasible. Finally, the introduction of wind power to the coal-dominated energy production system is not problem-free. Frequent ramp ups and downs of coal-fired plants lead to lower energy efficiency and higher emissions, which are likely to negate some of the emission savings from wind power. The current power system is heavily reliant on independently acting but state-owned energy companies optimizing their part of the system, and this is partly incompatible with building a robust system supporting renewable energy technologies. Hence, strategic, top-down co-ordination and incentives to improve the overall electricity infrastructure is recommended

High-efficiency single-photon source above the loss-tolerant threshold for efficient linear optical quantum computing

Photon loss is the biggest enemy for scalable photonic quantum information processing. This problem can be tackled by using quantum error correction, provided that the overall photon loss is below a threshold of 1/3. However, all reported on-demand and indistinguishable single-photon sources still fall short of this threshold. Here, by using tailor shaped laser pulse excitation on a high-quantum efficiency single quantum dot deterministically coupled to a tunable open microcavity, we demonstrate a high-performance source with a single-photon purity of 0.9795(6), photon indistinguishability of 0.9856(13), and an overall system efficiency of 0.712(18), simultaneously. This source for the first time reaches the efficiency threshold for scalable photonic quantum computing. With this source, we further demonstrate 1.89(14) dB intensity squeezing, and consecutive 40-photon events with 1.67 mHz count rate

Observation of the decay \psip\rar\kstark

Using 14 million $\psi(2S)$ events collected with the BESII detector, branching fractions of \psip\rar\kstarkpm and \kstarknn are determined to be: \calB(\psip\rar\kstarkpm)=(2.9^{+1.3}_{-1.7}\pm0.4)\times 10^{-5} and \calB(\psip\rar\kstarknn)=(13.3^{+2.4}_{-2.7}\pm1.9)\times 10^{-5}. The results confirm the violation of the "12%" rule for these two decay channels with higher precision. A large isospin violation between the charged and neutral modes is observed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Experimental study of ψ(2S)\psi(2S) decays to \K^+ K^- \pi^+ \pi^- \pi^0 final states

$K^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ final states are studied using a sample of $14\times10^6$ $\psi(2S)$ decays collected with the Beijing Spectrometer (BESII) at the Beijing Electron-Position Collider. The branching fractions of $\psi(2S)$ decays to $K^+K^-\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$, $\omega K^+ K^-$, $\omega f_0(1710)$, $K^{\ast}(892)^0 K^- \pi^+\pi^0+c.c.$, $K^{\ast}(892)^{+} K^- \pi^+\pi^- +c.c.$, $K^{\ast}(892)^{+} K^- \rho^0+c.c.$ and $K^{\ast}(892)^0 K^-\rho^+ + c.c.$ are determined. The first two agree with previous measurements, and the last five are first measurements.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figure

Search for the Rare Decays J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e, J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e, and J/Psi --> D0bar e+ e-

We report on a search for the decays J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e + c.c., J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e + c.c., and J/Psi --> D0bar e+ e- + c.c. in a sample of 5.8 * 10^7 J/Psi events collected with the BESII detector at the BEPC. No excess of signal above background is observed, and 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions are set: B(J/Psi --> Ds- e+ nu_e + c.c.)<4.8*10^-5, B(J/Psi --> D- e+ nu_e + c.c.) D0bar e+ e- + c.c.)<1.1*10^-5Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure

Direct Measurements of the Branching Fractions for D0→K−e+νeD^0 \to K^-e^+\nu_e and D0→π−e+νeD^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e and Determinations of the Form Factors f+K(0)f_{+}^{K}(0) and f+π(0)f^{\pi}_{+}(0)

The absolute branching fractions for the decays $D^0 \to K^-e ^+\nu_e$ and $D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e$ are determined using $7584\pm 198 \pm 341$ singly tagged $\bar D^0$ sample from the data collected around 3.773 GeV with the BES-II detector at the BEPC. In the system recoiling against the singly tagged $\bar D^0$ meson, $104.0\pm 10.9$ events for $D^0 \to K^-e ^+\nu_e$ and $9.0 \pm 3.6$ events for $D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e$ decays are observed. Those yield the absolute branching fractions to be $BF(D^0 \to K^-e^+\nu_e)=(3.82 \pm 0.40\pm 0.27)$ and $BF(D^0 \to \pi^-e^+\nu_e)=(0.33 \pm 0.13\pm 0.03)$. The vector form factors are determined to be $|f^K_+(0)| = 0.78 \pm 0.04 \pm 0.03$ and $|f^{\pi}_+(0)| = 0.73 \pm 0.14 \pm 0.06$. The ratio of the two form factors is measured to be $|f^{\pi}_+(0)/f^K_+(0)|= 0.93 \pm 0.19 \pm 0.07$.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

First observation of ψ(2S)→pnˉπ−+c.c.\psi(2S) \to p \bar{n} \pi^- +c.c.

Using 14 million $\psi(2S)$ events collected with the Beijing Spectrometer (BESII) at the Beijing Electron-Positron Collider, the branching fractions of $\psi(2S)$ decays to $p \bar{n} \pi^-$ and $\bar{p} n \pi^+$ and the branching fractions of the main background channels $\psi(2S) \to p \bar{n} \pi^-\pi^0$, $\psi(2S) \to \gamma\chi_{c0} \to \gamma p \bar{n} \pi^-$, $\psi(2S) \to \gamma\chi_{c2} \to \gamma p \bar{n} \pi^-$, and $\psi(2S) \to \gamma \chi_{cJ} \to \gamma p \bar{n} \pi^- \pi^0$ are determined. The contributions of the $N^{\ast}$ resonances in $\psi(2S) \to p \bar{n} \pi^- +c.c.$ are also discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, add vertex requirement systematic erro

Measurement of the branching fractions of psi(2S) -> 3(pi+pi-) and J/psi -> 2(pi+pi-)

Using data samples collected at sqrt(s) = 3.686GeV and 3.650GeV by the BESII detector at the BEPC, the branching fraction of psi(2S) -> 3(pi+pi-) is measured to be [4.83 +- 0.38(stat) +- 0.69(syst)] x 10^-4, and the relative branching fraction of J/psi -> 2(pi+pi-) to that of J/psi -> mu+mu- is measured to be [5.86 +- 0.19(stat) +- 0.39(syst)]% via psi(2S) -> (pi+pi-)J/psi, J/psi -> 2(pi+pi-). The electromagnetic form factor of 3(pi+pi-) is determined to be 0.21 +- 0.02 and 0.20 +- 0.01 at sqrt(s) = 3.686GeV and 3.650GeV, respectively.Comment: 17pages, 7 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.