Emergent charge density wave featuring quasi-one-dimensional chains in Ta-intercalated bilayer 2HH-TaS2_{2} with coexisting superconductivity

Recently, intercalation emerges as an effective way to manipulate ground-state properties and enrich quantum phase diagrams of layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs). In this work, we focus on fully Ta-intercalated bilayer 2$H$-TaS$_{2}$ with a stoichiometry of Ta$_{3}$S$_{4}$, which has recently been experimentally synthesized. Based on first-principles calculations, we computationally show the suppression of an intrinsic $3\times3$ charge-density wave (CDW) in the TaS$_{2}$ layer, and the emergence of a $2\times1$ CDW in intercalated Ta layer. The formation of the CDW in Ta$_{3}$S$_{4}$ is triggered by strong electron-phonon coupling (EPC) between the $d$-like orbitals of intercalated Ta atoms via the imaginary phonon modes at M point. A 2$\times$1 CDW structure is identified, featuring quasi-one-dimensional Ta chains, attributable to the competition between the CDW displacements associated with potential CDW vectors ($\boldsymbol{q}_{\text{CDW}}$s). Superconductivity is found to coexist with the 2$\times$1 CDW in Ta$_{3}$S$_{4}$, with an estimated superconducting transition temperature ($T_{\mathrm{c}}$) of 3.0 K, slightly higher than that of bilayer TaS$_{2}$. The Ta$_{3}$S$_{4}$ structures of non-CDW, 2$\times$1 CDW, and $2\times$2 CDW can be switched by strain. Our work enriches the phase diagram of TaS$_{2}$, offers a candidate material for studying the interplay between CDW and superconductivity, and highlights intercalation as an effective way to tune the physical properties of layered materials.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Published as a Letter in PR

Upregulation of Toll-like receptor (TLR) expression and release of cytokines from P815 mast cells by GM-CSF

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Backgroud</p> <p>Recently, mast cells have been recognized to express several Toll-like receptors (TLRs) on their membrane surfaces, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) was reported to be able to alter expression of TLRs and cytokine production in neutrophils. However, whether GM-CSF modulates the expression of TLR and cytokine production in mast cells is not clear.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using flow cytometry and real time PCR techniques, we found that GM-CSF upregulated expression of TLR3 and TLR7 in P815 cells in a concentration dependent manner. GM-CSF also provoked approximately up to 2.4 and 2.3 fold increase in IL-13 and IL-6 release from P815 cells, respectively following 16 h incubation. GM-CSF induced IL-13 secretion, TLR3 and TLR7 expression appeared to be through activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphotidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathways, whereas GM-CSF elicited IL-6 release seemed via Akt signaling pathway. At 10 ng/ml, GM-CSF significantly enhanced R-848-induced IL-6 release from P815 cells.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The ability of GM-CSF in modulation of expression of TLR3 and TLR7 in P815 mast cells and in stimulation of IL-13 and IL-6 release from P815 mast cells in vitro suggests that GM-CSF might play an important role in enhancing the innate immune responses of mast cell to viral infection</p

A Search for Spectral Galaxy Pairs of Overlapping Galaxies based on Fuzzy Recognition

The Spectral Galaxy Pairs (SGPs) are defined as the composite galaxy spectra which contain two independent redshift systems. These spectra are useful for studying dust properties of the foreground galaxies. In this paper, a total of 165 spectra of SGPs are mined out from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 9 (DR9) using the concept of membership degree from the fuzzy set theory particularly defined to be suitable for fuzzily identifying emission lines. The spectra and images of this sample are classified according to the membership degree and their image features, respectively. Many of these 2nd redshift systems are too small or too dim to select from the SDSS images alone, making the sample a potentially unique source of information on dust effects in low-luminosity or low-surface-brightness galaxies that are underrepresented in morphological pair samples. The dust extinction of the objects with high membership degree is also estimated by Balmer decrement. Additionally, analyses for a series of spectroscopic observations of one SGP from 165 systems indicate that a newly star-forming region of our Milky Way might occur.Comment: 16pages, 6figure

Association between sleep duration and quality with rapid kidney function decline and development of chronic kidney diseases in adults with normal kidney function: The China health and retirement longitudinal study

Research have shown that sleep is associated with renal function. However, the potential effects of sleep duration or quality on kidney function in middle-aged and older Chinese adults with normal kidney function has rarely been studied. Our study aimed to investigate the association of sleep and kidney function in middle-aged and older Chinese adults. Four thousand and eighty six participants with an eGFR ≥60 ml/min/1.73 m2 at baseline were enrolled between 2011 and 2015 from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Survey questionnaire data were collected from conducted interviews in the 2011. The eGFR was estimated from serum creatinine and/or cystatin C using the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equations (CKD-EPI). The primary outcome was defined as rapid kidney function decline. Secondary outcome was defined as rapid kidney function decline with clinical eGFR of &lt;60 ml/min/1.73 m2 at the exit visit. The associations between sleep duration, sleep quality and renal function decline or chronic kidney disease (CKD) were assessed based with logistic regression model. Our results showed that 244 (6.0%) participants developed rapid decline in kidney function, while 102 (2.5%) developed CKD. In addition, participants who had 3–7 days of poor sleep quality per week had higher risks of CKD development (OR 1.86, 95% CI 1.24–2.80). However, compared with those who had 6–8 h of night-time sleep, no significantly higher risks of rapid decline in kidney function was found among those who had &lt;6 h or &gt;8 h of night time sleep after adjustments for demographic, clinical, or psychosocial covariates. Furthermore, daytime nap did not present significant risk in both rapid eGFR decline or CKD development. In conclusion, sleep quality was significantly associated with the development of CKD in middle-aged and older Chinese adults with normal kidney function

Singular Points in the Optical Center Distribution of P3P Solutions

Multisolution phenomenon is an important issue in P3P problem since, for many real applications, the question of how many solutions could possibly exist for a given P3P problem must at first be addressed before any real implementation. In this work we show that, given 3 control points, if the camera’s optical center is close to one of the 3 toroids generated by rotating the circumcircle of the control point triangle around each one of its 3 sides, there is always an additional solution with its corresponding optical center lying in a small neighborhood of one of the control points, in addition to the original solution. In other words, there always exist at least two solutions for the P3P problem in such cases. Since, for all such additional solutions, their corresponding optical centers must lie in a small neighborhood of control points, the 3 control points constitute the singular points of the P3P solutions. The above result could act as some theoretical guide for P3P practitioners besides its academic value