Spontaneous Formation of One-Dimensional Hydrogen Gas Hydrate in Carbon Nanotubes

We present molecular dynamics simulation evidence of spontaneous formation of quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) hydrogen gas hydrates within single-walled carbon nanotubes (SW-CNTs) of nanometer-sized diameter (1−1.3 nm) near ambient temperature. Contrary to conventional 3D gas hydrates in which the guest molecules are typically contained in individual and isolated cages in the host lattice, the guest H2 molecules in the Q1D gas hydrates are contained within a 1D nanochannel in which the H2 molecules form a molecule wire. In particular, we show that in the (15,0) zigzag SW-CNT, the hexagonal H2 hydrate tends to form, with one H2 molecule per hexagonal prism, while in the (16,0) zigzag SW-CNT, the heptagonal H2 hydrate tends to form, with one H2 molecule per heptagonal prism. In contrast, in the (17,0) zigzag SW-CNT, the octagonal H2 hydrate can form, with either one H2 or two H2 molecules per pentagonal prism (single or double occupancy). Interestingly, in the hexagonal or heptagonal ice nanotube, the H2 wire is solid-like as the axial diffusion constant is very low (× 10−10 cm2/s), whereas in the octagonal ice nanotube, the H2 wire is liquid-like as its axial diffusion constant is comparable to 10−5 cm2/s

Easy and Efficient Transformer : Scalable Inference Solution For large NLP model

Recently, large-scale transformer-based models have been proven to be effective over a variety of tasks across many domains. Nevertheless, putting them into production is very expensive, requiring comprehensive optimization techniques to reduce inference costs. This paper introduces a series of transformer inference optimization techniques that are both in algorithm level and hardware level. These techniques include a pre-padding decoding mechanism that improves token parallelism for text generation, and highly optimized kernels designed for very long input length and large hidden size. On this basis, we propose a transformer inference acceleration library -- Easy and Efficient Transformer (EET), which has a significant performance improvement over existing libraries. Compared to Faster Transformer v4.0's implementation for GPT-2 layer on A100, EET achieves a 1.5-4.5x state-of-art speedup varying with different context lengths. EET is available at https://github.com/NetEase-FuXi/EET. A demo video is available at https://youtu.be/22UPcNGcErg

Transition routes of electrokinetic flow in a divergent microchannel with bending walls

Electrokinetic flow can be generated as a highly coupled phenomenon among velocity field, electric conductivity field and electric field. It can exhibit different responses to AC electric fields in different frequency regimes, according to different instability/receptivity mechanisms. In this investigation, by both flow visualization and single-point laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) method, the response of AC electrokinetic flow and the transition routes towards chaos and turbulence have been experimentally investigated. It is found, when the AC frequency $f_f<30$ Hz, the interface responds at both the neutral frequency of the basic flow and the AC frequency. However, when $f_f>=30$ Hz, the interface responds only at the neutral frequency of the basic flow. Both periodic doubling and subcritical bifurcations have been observed in the transition of AC electrokinetic flow. We hope the current investigation can promote our current understanding on the ultrafast transition process of electrokinetic flow from laminar state to turbulence

Anticonvulsant activities of α-asaronol ((E)-3'-hydroxyasarone), an active constituent derived from α-asarone.

BACKGROUND: Epilepsy is one of chronic neurological disorders that affects 0.5-1.0% of the world's population during their lifetime. There is a still significant need to develop novel anticonvulsant drugs that possess superior efficacy, broad spectrum of activities and good safety profile. METHODS: α-Asaronol and two current antiseizure drugs (α-asarone and carbamazepine (CBZ)) were assessed by in vivo anticonvulsant screening with the three most employed standard animal seizure models, including maximal electroshock seizure (MES), subcutaneous injection-pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizures and 3-mercaptopropionic acid (3-MP)-induced seizures in mice. Considering drug safety evaluation, acute neurotoxicity was assessed with minimal motor impairment screening determined in the rotarod test, and acute toxicity was also detected in mice. RESULTS: In our results, α-asaronol displayed a broad spectrum of anticonvulsant activity (ACA) and showed better protective indexes (PI = 11.11 in MES, PI = 8.68 in PTZ) and lower acute toxicity (LD50 = 2940 mg/kg) than its metabolic parent compound (α-asarone). Additionally, α-asaronol displayed a prominent anticonvulsant profile with ED50 values of 62.02 mg/kg in the MES and 79.45 mg/kg in the sc-PTZ screen as compared with stiripentol of ED50 of 240 mg/kg and 115 mg/kg in the relevant test, respectively. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study revealed α-asaronol can be developed as a novel molecular in the search for safer and efficient anticonvulsants having neuroprotective effects as well as low toxicity. Meanwhile, the results also suggested that α-asaronol has great potential to develop into another new aromatic allylic alcohols type anticonvulsant drug for add-on therapy of Dravet's syndrome

The change in blood glucose levels in tuberculosis patients before and during anti-tuberculosis treatment in China.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to observe (i) changes in fasting blood glucose (FBG) in tuberculosis (TB) patients before and during anti-TB treatment, (ii) whether FBG levels were stable or unstable and (iii) baseline characteristics associated with an unstable FBG. METHOD: TB patients consecutively attended six clinics or hospitals. FBG measurements were made at months 0, 2 and 6. Data analysis was performed using the chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: Of 232 patients without diabetes mellitus (DM) whose initial FBG < 6.1 mmol/L, over 90% maintained FBG < 6.1 mmol/L during treatment and no patient developed DM. Of 17 patients without DM and initial FBG between 6.1 and 6.9 mmol/L, over half had FBG < 6.1 mmol/L during treatment and no patient had DM at the end of treatment. Eight DM patients with already known DM had their FBG controlled at < 7.0 mmol/L during treatment. There were 13 DM patients newly diagnosed with FBG ≥ 7.0 mmol/L, and 69% continued to have FBG ≥ 7.0 mmol/L. After adjustment for confounding, the odds for an unstable FBG were higher for HIV-positive status, already having DM, smoking and coming to hospitals rather than clinics. CONCLUSION: TB patients who do not have DM based on FBG measurements do not develop DM during anti-TB treatment. Those newly diagnosed with DM on screening in general maintain their DM status with high FBG and need to be better managed

Effect of Exogenous Phosphate on the Lability and Phytoavailability of Arsenic in Soils

The effect of exogenous phosphate (P, 200 mg·kg-1 soil) on the lability and phyto-availability of arsenic (As) was studied using the diffusive gradients in thin films (DGT) technique. Lettuce were grown on the As-amended soils following the stabilization of soil labile As after 90 day’s incubation. Phosphate (P) application generally facilitated plant growth except one grown on P-sufficient soil. Soil labile As concentration increased in all the soils after P application due to a competition effect. Plant As concentration increased in red soils collected from Hunan Province, while decreases were observed in the other soils. Even though, an overall trend of decrease was obtained in As phytoavailability along with the increase of DGT-measured soil labile P/As molar ratio. The functional equation between P/As and As phytoavailability provided a critical value of 1.7, which could be used as a guidance for rational P fertilization, thus avoiding overfertilization

Prevalence and diagnostic value of non-criteria antiphospholipid antibodies for antiphospholipid syndrome in Chinese patients

BackgroundThe presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPLs) plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of antiphospholipid antibody syndrome (APS). This study aimed to examine the diagnostic value of a set of non−criteria aPLs and their relevance with APS-related criteria and extra-criteria manifestations.MethodsFrom a prospectively constructed database, consecutive APS patients consisting of 114 primary APS (PAPS group), 54 with APS secondary to SLE (SAPS group), 9 seronegative APS (SNAPS), as well as 209 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 88 healthy controls were included in this study. Levels of criteria aPLs, baseline information, and APS-related criteria and extra-criteria features were extracted from the database. Serum levels of non-criteria aPLs including aPC IgG/IgM, aPI IgG/IgM, aPE IgG/IgM/IgA, aPG IgG/IgM/IgA, anti-phosphatidic acid (aPA) IgG/IgM, aSM IgG/IgM, and aPS/PT IgG/IgM were analyzed with AESKULISA® ELISA Test Kits.ResultsThe addition of aPC IgG/M, aPI IgG/M, aPE IgG/M/A, aSM IgG/M, and aPA IgG/M to aCL or aβ2GPI IgG/M could significantly increase diagnostic sensitivity and accuracy. A significant difference between PAPS or SAPS and HC was presented in all non-criteria aPLs except for aSM IgM and aPG IgA. Eight out of nine SNAPS patients were positive for at least 1 aPL. Pregnancy morbidity was associated with aSM IgM (r = 0.22) and aSM IgG (r = 0.15). Pre-eclampsia or premature birth was associated with aSM IgG (r = 0.16), aPI IgG (r = 0.22), aPC IgG (r = 0.16), and aPG IgG (r = 0.18). Stroke was associated with aPI IgG (r = 0.2). The clinical association was also observed in DVT with aPS/PT IgG (r = 0.17). Valve lesion was positively associated with aSM IgM (Fisher test p = 0.039), APS nephropathy was associated with aPC IgG (OR 3.797), and livedo reticularis was associated with aPE IgM (OR 15.391).ConclusionAdditional detection of non-criteria aPLs including aPC IgG/M, aPE IgG/M/A, aPI IgG/M, aSM IgG/M, and aPA IgG/M could assist in APS diagnosis. The positivity of certain aPLs was statistically associated with both criteria and extra-criteria APS clinical manifestations

A Measurement of Psi(2S) Resonance Parameters

Cross sections for e+e- to hadons, pi+pi- J/Psi, and mu+mu- have been measured in the vicinity of the Psi(2S) resonance using the BESII detector operated at the BEPC. The Psi(2S) total width; partial widths to hadrons, pi+pi- J/Psi, muons; and corresponding branching fractions have been determined to be Gamma(total)= (264+-27) keV; Gamma(hadron)= (258+-26) keV, Gamma(mu)= (2.44+-0.21) keV, and Gamma(pi+pi- J/Psi)= (85+-8.7) keV; and Br(hadron)= (97.79+-0.15)%, Br(pi+pi- J/Psi)= (32+-1.4)%, Br(mu)= (0.93+-0.08)%, respectively.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure