Ultrafast Control of Excitonic Rashba Fine Structure by Phonon Coherence in the Metal Halide Perovskite CH3NH3PbI3

We discover hidden Rashba fine structure in CH3NH3PbI3 and demonstrate its quantum control by vibrational coherence through symmetry-selective vibronic (electron-phonon) coupling. Above a critical threshold of a single-cycle terahertz pump field, a Raman phonon mode distinctly modulates the middle excitonic states with persistent coherence for more than ten times longer than the ones on two sides that predominately couple to infrared phonons. These vibronic quantum beats, together with first-principles modeling of phonon periodically modulated Rashba parameters, identify a threefold excitonic fine structure splitting, i.e., optically forbidden, degenerate dark states in between two bright ones with a narrow, similar to 3 nm splitting. Harnessing of vibronic quantum coherence and symmetry inspires light-perovskite quantum control and sub-THz-cycle Rashba engineering of spin-split bands for ultimate multifunction device

Hominin occupation of the Chinese Loess Plateau since about 2.1 million years ago

Considerable attention has been paid to dating the earliest appearance of hominins outside Africa. The earliest skeletal and artefactual evidence for the genus Homo in Asia currently comes from Dmanisi, Georgia, and is dated to approximately 1.77-1.85 million years ago (Ma)(1). Two incisors that may belong to Homo erectus come from Yuanmou, south China, and are dated to 1.7 Ma(2); the next-oldest evidence is an H. erectus cranium from Lantian (Gongwangling)-which has recently been dated to 1.63 Ma(3) and the earliest hominin fossils from the Sangiran dome in Java, which are dated to about 1.5-1.6 Ma(4). Artefacts from Majuangou III5 and Shangshazui(6) in the Nihewan basin, north China, have also been dated to 1.6-1.7 Ma. Here we report an Early Pleistocene and largely continuous artefact sequence from Shangchen, which is a newly discovered Palaeolithic locality of the southern Chinese Loess Plateau, near Gongwangling in Lantian county. The site contains 17 artefact layers that extend from palaeosol S15-dated to approximately 1.26 Ma-to loess L28, which we date to about 2.12 Ma. This discovery implies that hominins left Africa earlier than indicated by the evidence from Dmanisi

Validation of the Chinese version of the "Mood Disorder Questionnaire" for screening bipolar disorder among patients with a current depressive episode

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) is a well-recognized screening tool for bipolar disorder, but its Chinese version needs further validation. This study aims to measure the accuracy of the Chinese version of the MDQ as a screening instrument for bipolar disorder (BPD) in a group of patients with a current major depressive episode.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>142 consecutive patients with an initial DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of a major depressive episode were screened for BPD using the Chinese translation of the MDQ and followed up for one year. The final diagnosis, determined by a special committee consisting of three trained senior psychiatrists, was used as a 'gold standard' and ROC was plotted to evaluate the performance of the MDQ. The optimal cut-off was chosen by maximizing the Younden's index.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 142 patients, 122 (85.9%) finished the one year follow-up. On the basis of a semi-structured clinical interview 48.4% (59/122) received a diagnosis of unipolar depression (UPD), 36.9% (45/122) BPDII and 14.8% (18/122) BPDI. At the end of the one year follow-up,9 moved from UPD to BPD, 2 from BPDII to UPD, 1 from BPDII to BPDI, the overall rate of initial misdiagnosis was 16.4%. MDQ showed a good accuracy for BPD: the optimal cut-off was 4, with a sensitivity of 0.72 and a specificity of 0.73. When BPDII and BPDI were calculated independently, the optimal cut-off for BPDII was 4, with a sensitivity of 0.70 and a specificity of 0.73; while the optimal cut-off for BPDI was 5, with a sensitivity of 0.67 and a specificity of 0.86.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results show that the Chinese version of MDQ is a valid tool for screening BPD in a group of patients with current depressive episode on the Chinese mainland.</p

Synergistic Effect of SRY and Its Direct Target, WDR5, on Sox9 Expression

SRY is a sex-determining gene that encodes a transcription factor, which triggers male development in most mammals. The molecular mechanism of SRY action in testis determination is, however, poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrate that WDR5, which encodes a WD-40 repeat protein, is a direct target of SRY. EMSA experiments and ChIP assays showed that SRY could bind to the WDR5 gene promoter directly. Overexpression of SRY in LNCaP cells significantly increased WDR5 expression concurrent with histone H3K4 methylation on the WDR5 promoter. To specifically address whether SRY contributes to WDR5 regulation, we introduced a 4-hydroxy-tamoxifen-inducible SRY allele into LNCaP cells. Conditional SRY expression triggered enrichment of SRY on the WDR5 promoter resulting in induction of WDR5 transcription. We found that WDR5 was self regulating through a positive feedback loop. WDR5 and SRY interacted and were colocalized in cells. In addition, the interaction of WDR5 with SRY resulted in activation of Sox9 while repressing the expression of β-catenin. These results suggest that, in conjunction with SRY, WDR5 plays an important role in sex determination

Human kidney organoids produce functional renin

Renin production by the kidney is of vital importance for salt, volume, and blood pressure homeostasis. The lack of human models hampers investigation into the regulation of renin and its relevance for kidney physiology. To develop such a model, we used human induced pluripotent stem cell–derived kidney organoids to study the role of renin and the renin-angiotensin system in the kidney. Extensive characterization of the kidney organoids revealed kidney-specific cell populations consisting of podocytes, proximal and distal tubular cells, stromal cells and endothelial cells. We examined the presence of various components of the renin-angiotensin system such as angiotensin II receptors, angiotensinogen, and angiotensin-converting enzymes 1 and 2. We identified by single-cell sequencing, immunohistochemistry, and functional assays that cyclic AMP stimulation induces a subset of pericytes to increase the synthesis and secretion of enzymatically active renin. Renin production by the organoids was responsive to regulation by parathyroid hormone. Subcutaneously implanted kidney organoids in immunodeficient IL2Ry-/-Rag2-/- mice were successfully vascularized, maintained tubular and glomerular structures, and retained capacity to produce renin two months after implantation. Thus, our results demonstrate that kidney organoids express renin and provide insights into the endocrine potential of human kidney organoids, which is important for regenerative medicine in the context of the endocrine system

Experimental Study of Pathogenic Microorganisms Inactivated by Venturi-Type Hydrodynamic Cavitation with Different Throat Lengths

Based on self-developed Venturi-type hydrodynamic cavitation device with different throat length-radius ratios L/R in Hydraulics Laboratory at Zhejiang University of Technology in China, 4 throat length-radius ratios L/R=10, 30, 60 and 100, and 4 raw water percentages V0/V=25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% were considered, Escherichia coli and total colony count were selected for indicator bacteria, effects of throat length-radius ratio, throat velocity, cavitation time, raw water percentage and cavitation number on inactivating pathogenic microorganism in raw water by hydrodynamic cavitation were experimentally studied. The results showed cavitation damage of cells of pathogenic microorganisms occurred by microjets and shock waves due to cavitation bubble collapse. The lower the flow cavitation number, the higher the killing rate of E. coli and total colony count. When flow velocity was lower or raw water percentage was higher, killing rate gradually increased with increase in throat length-radius ratio; when flow velocity was higher or raw water percentage was lower, killing rate was almost independent of throat length-radius ratio. Inactivated effect of pathogenic microorganisms can be further enhanced by increasing throat velocity or prolonging cavitation time. Hydrodynamic cavitation is a novel disinfection technique for drinking water without disinfection byproducts (DBPs) and no need to add disinfectant

The effects of non-proportional biaxial loading paths on ductile fracture initiation: A void growth analysis

The effects of non-proportional biaxial loading paths on ductile fracture initiation toughness are studied in this paper. To this end, the growth of a cylindrical void (hole) located in front of a mode I plane strain crack has been studied using large deformation finite element analysis (FEA). A specific microstructural feature of a steel alloy was thoroughly studied by having a single void positioned at a fixed distance from the crack tip and void that was equal to 10 times the diameter of the void. In particular, the non-proportional biaxial loading path effects on the crack tip blunting, void-growth, ligament reduction and neartip stress fields are investigated computationally. Under smallscale yielding conditions, one proportional loading and two nonproportional loading paths are applied to the modified boundary layer (MBL) model. It is observed that the non-proportional load paths have a marked effect on the void growth, crack tip blunting and their interaction. By applying the criteria for the coalescence of the crack tip and void, the ductile fracture initiation toughness is estimated. It is shown that the ductile fracture toughness is dependent on loading paths, and the T-stress ratios. Results from this study are of relevance to ductile fracture assessment of components or pressure vessels that operate under nonproportional biaxial loading conditions

The effects of nonproportional loading on the elastic-plastic crack-fronts fields

In this paper, the loading path effect on the elastic-plastic crack-front stress field in a thin plate is investigated. There different loading sequences include one proportional loading and two non-proportional loading paths are applied to the 3-D modified boundary layer (MBL) model under small-scale yielding conditions. For the same external displacement field applied at the outer boundary of the 3-D MBL model, the mode I K field and T-stress field combined as the different loading path is applied to investigate the influence of the nonproportional loading. The results show that for either the compressive or tensional T-stress, the loading path which applied K field followed by T field generates the lower crack-tip constraint. There is only slightly difference between the proportional loading path and the T-stress field following by K field loading path. The results show that it is very important to include the load sequence effects in fracture analysis when dealing with nonproportional loading conditions

Point load weight functions for semi-elliptical cracks in finite thickness plate

This paper presents the application of the weight function method for the calculation of stress intensity factors for surface semi-elliptical cracks in finite thickness plates subjected to arbitrary twodimensional stress fields. A new general mathematical form of point load weight function has been formulated by taking advantage of the knowledge of a few specific weight functions for two-dimensional planar cracks available in the literature and certain properties of the weight function in general. The existence of the generalized form of the weight function simplifies the determination of a specific weight function for specific crack configurations. The determination of a specific weight function is reduced to the determination of the parameters of the generalized weight function expression. These unknown parameters can be determined from reference stress intensity factor solutions. This method is used to derive the weight functions for semi-elliptical surface cracks in finite thickness plates. The derived weight functions are then validated against stress intensity factor solutions for several linear and non-linear two-dimensional stress distributions. The derived weight functions are particularly useful for the fatigue crack growth analysis of planar surface cracks subjected to fluctuating nonlinear stress fields resulting from surface treatment (shot peening), stress concentration, or welding (residual stress) Copyrigh