Analyses of celestial pole offsets with VLBI, LLR, and optical observations

This work aims to explore the possibilities of determining the long-period part of the precession-nutation of the Earth with techniques other than very long baseline interferometry (VLBI). Lunar laser ranging (LLR) is chosen for its relatively high accuracy and long period. Results of previous studies could be updated using the latest data with generally higher quality, which would also add ten years to the total time span. Historical optical data are also analyzed for their rather long time-coverage to determine whether it is possible to improve the current Earth precession-nutation model

Characterization of the activation and allosteric regulation of photoreceptor phosphodiesterase (PDE6)

Photoreceptor phosphodiesterase (PDE6) amplifies visual signals in rod and cone photoreceptors. We developed an assay to quantify binding of radiolabeled PDE inhibitors to the catalytic sites of PDE6 to explore the activation and regulation of PDE6. We determined that both catalytic domains on the PDE6 heterodimer are catalytically active and equivalent. Only one catalytic subunit on PDE6 readily binds to and becomes activated by the G-protein, transducin. The other PDE6 catalytic site requires a large excess of activated transducin to fully activate PDE6. We conclude that transducin activates the two catalytic subunits of rod PDE6 differently. We also demonstrate direct allosteric communication between the regulatory GAF domain and catalytic domain of PDE6: binding of a fragment of the inhibitory gamma subunit to the GAF domain stabilizes radiolabeled PDE inhibitor binding to the catalytic sites; conversely, occupancy of the catalytic site by PDE inhibitors alters cGMP binding to the GAF domain

Release of virtual photon and phonon pairs from qubit-plasmon-phonon ultrastrong coupling system

The most important difference between ultrastrong and non-ultrastrong coupling regimes is that the ground state contains excitations. We consider a qubit-plasmon-phonon ultrastrong coupling (USC) system with a three-level atom coupled to the photon and phonon via its upper two energy levels and show that spontaneous emission of the atom from its intermediate to its ground state produces photon and phonon pairs. It is shown that the current system can produce a strong photon/phonon stream and the atom-phonon coupling plays the active role, which ensures the experimental detection. The emission spectrum and various high-order correlation functions confirm the generation of the pairs of photons and phonons. Our study has important implications for future research on virtual photon and phonon pairs creation in the ground state of the USC regime.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

On the Translation of Chinese Webcomics: A Case Study of My Dear Highness

This paper discusses how to translate Chinese webcomic strips using My Dear Highness as an example. In our translation practice, such methods as variation translation, omission, and shift were adopted to deal with address forms or lengthy sentences, while free translation was used to deal with four-character structures and culture-loaded words or phrases in the original text to the effect that the intended meaning of the source text can be accurately conveyed to target readers under a multimodal context. We believe that whatever methods are used, the ultimate purpose of translation remains the same, and that is, the reading experience provided by the original text can be restored to the greatest possible extent

Using MicroPET Imaging in Quantitative Verification of Acupuncture Effect in Ischemia Stroke Treatment

While acupuncture has survived several thousand years’ evolution of medical practice, its function still remains as a myth from the view point of modern medicine. Our goal in this paper is to quantitatively understand the function of acupuncture in ischemia stroke treatment. We carried out a comparative study using the Sprague Dawley rat animal model. We induced the focal cerebral ischemia in the rats using the middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) procedure. For each rat from the real acupuncture group (n = 40), sham acupoint treatment group (n = 54), and blank control group (n = 16), we acquired 3-D FDG-microPET images at baseline, after MCAO, and after treatment (i.e., real acupuncture, sham acupoint treatment, or resting according to the group assignment), respectively. After verifying that the injured area is in the right hemisphere of the cerebral cortex in the brain by using magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) and triphenyl tetrazolium cchloride (TTC)-staining, we directly compared the glucose metabolism in the right hemisphere of each rat. We carried out t-test and permutation test on the image data. Both tests demonstrated that acupuncture had a more positive effect than non-acupoint stimulus and blank control (P < 0.025) in increasing the glucose metabolic level in the stroke-injured area in the brain, while there was no statistically significant difference between non-acupoint stimulus and blank control (P>0.15). The immediate positive effect of acupuncture over sham acupoint treatment and blank control is verified using our experiments. The long-term benefit of acupuncture needs to be further studied