A duplication-free quantum neural network for universal approximation

The universality of a quantum neural network refers to its ability to approximate arbitrary functions and is a theoretical guarantee for its effectiveness. A non-universal neural network could fail in completing the machine learning task. One proposal for universality is to encode the quantum data into identical copies of a tensor product, but this will substantially increase the system size and the circuit complexity. To address this problem, we propose a simple design of a duplication-free quantum neural network whose universality can be rigorously proved. Compared with other established proposals, our model requires significantly fewer qubits and a shallower circuit, substantially lowering the resource overhead for implementation. It is also more robust against noise and easier to implement on a near-term device. Simulations show that our model can solve a broad range of classical and quantum learning problems, demonstrating its broad application potential.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure

TreeCSS: An Efficient Framework for Vertical Federated Learning

Vertical federated learning (VFL) considers the case that the features of data samples are partitioned over different participants. VFL consists of two main steps, i.e., identify the common data samples for all participants (alignment) and train model using the aligned data samples (training). However, when there are many participants and data samples, both alignment and training become slow. As such, we propose TreeCSS as an efficient VFL framework that accelerates the two main steps. In particular, for sample alignment, we design an efficient multi-party private set intersection (MPSI) protocol called Tree-MPSI, which adopts a tree-based structure and a data-volume-aware scheduling strategy to parallelize alignment among the participants. As model training time scales with the number of data samples, we conduct coreset selection (CSS) to choose some representative data samples for training. Our CCS method adopts a clustering-based scheme for security and generality, which first clusters the features locally on each participant and then merges the local clustering results to select representative samples. In addition, we weight the samples according to their distances to the centroids to reflect their importance to model training. We evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of our TreeCSS framework on various datasets and models. The results show that compared with vanilla VFL, TreeCSS accelerates training by up to 2.93x and achieves comparable model accuracy.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure

Association between haptoglobin polymorphism and coronary artery disease: a meta-analysis

BackgroundPrevious studies have investigated the association between the haptoglobin rs72294371 polymorphism and coronary artery disease (CAD) risk, but the results are controversial and uncertain. Therefore, this study aimed to systematically review the literature on haptoglobin polymorphism and susceptibility to CAD.MethodsPubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Wanfang databases were used to identify relevant studies from their inception to April 2024. The pooled odds ratio (OR) with corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) were used to assess the strength of the association. An OR value greater than one suggested an increased risk; otherwise, it suggested a protective risk.ResultsA total of 15 studies comprising 8,632 individuals (2,988 cases and 5,644 controls) were included. In the current meta-analysis, a significant association between haptoglobin polymorphism and CAD was found under recessive model (OR:0.74, 95% CI:0.60–0.92), dominant model (OR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.71–0.95), homozygote model (OR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.53–0.92), and allelic genetic model (OR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.69–0.94). In the analysis stratified by ethnicity, a statistically significant association was observed in Asians rather than Caucasian population.ConclusionThis meta-analysis indicates that haptoglobin polymorphism is associated with CAD susceptibility, especially in Asians

Associations between environmental perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate exposure and severe headache or migraine: a cross-sectional, population-based analysis

BackgroundEnvironmental contaminants may play a significant role in the development of migraine. Perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate were selected for this study due to their known impact on thyroid function, which is closely linked to neurological processes. Disruptions in thyroid function have been associated with various neurological disorders, including migraines. However, there is currently no evidence linking exposure to these specific chemicals to migraine. The study aims to evaluate the association between urinary concentrations of perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate with the prevalence of severe headache or migraine in U.S. adults.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2001–2004. Utilizing electrospray tandem mass spectrometry in conjunction with ion chromatography, urinary concentrations of perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate urine were measured. Multiple logistic regression models were employed to evaluate the linear correlation between perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate exposure and severe headache or migraine. The non-linear relationship is described analytically using a fitted smoothing curve and a two-piecewise regression model. Subgroup analyses were used to further clarify the stability of this relationship across different populations.ResultsThere were 1,446 participants in this population-based study, ranging in age from 20 to 85. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, the multiple logistic regression findings demonstrated that thiocyanate was significantly positively associated with the prevalence of migraine (odds ratio [OR] = 1.18; [1.06, 1.30]; p < 0.001). There was consistency in this connection across different subgroups (p for interaction >0.05). Furthermore, there was a non-linear correlation between urinary thiocyanate and migraine. Using a fitted smoothing curve and a two-piecewise regression model, it was found that the correlation between urinary thiocyanate and migraine was U-shaped (p for Log-likelihood ratio = 0.002). According to the findings of the multiple regression analysis, there was no significant correlation between urinary perchlorate and nitrate and migraine (both p > 0.05).ConclusionWe should limit our exposure to thiocyanate by keeping it within a reasonable range, as indicated by the U-shaped correlation between urinary thiocyanate and migraine

Measuring charge distribution of molecular cations by atomic Coulomb probe microscope

Imaging the charge distributions and structures of molecules and clusters will promote the understanding of the dynamics of the quantum system. Here, we report a method by using an Ar atom as a tip to probe the charge distributions of benzene (Bz) cations in gas phase. Remarkably, the measured charge distributions of Bz cation (QH =0.204,QC=-0.037)and dication (QH =0.248,QC=0.0853)agree well with the calculated Mulliken distributions,and the structures of Bz dimer is reconstructed by using the measured charge distributions. The structures of two Bz dimer isomers (T-shaped and PD isomers) can be resolved from the measured inter-molecular potential V(R) between two Bz ions, and the structures of Bz dimer agree well with the theoretical predictions.Comment: 7 pages, 3 Figure

Post-pollination sepal longevity of female flower co-regulated by energy-associated multiple pathways in dioecious spinach

Reproductive growth is a bioenergetic process with high energy consumption. Pollination induces female flower longevity in spinach by accelerating sepal retention and development. Cellular bioenergetics involved in cellular growth is at the foundation of all developmental activities. By contrast, how pollination alter the sepal cells bioenergetics to support energy requirement and anabolic biomass accumulation for development is less well understood. To investigate pollination-induced energy-associated pathway changes in sepal tissues after pollination, we utilized RNA-sequencing to identify transcripts that were differentially expressed between unpollinated (UNP) and pollinated flower sepals at 12, 48, and 96HAP. In total, over 6756 non-redundant DEGs were identified followed by pairwise comparisons (i.e. UNP vs 12HAP, UNP vs 48HAP, and UNP vs 96HAP). KEGG enrichment showed that the central carbon metabolic pathway was significantly activated after pollination and governed by pivotal energy-associated regulation pathways such as glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, oxidative phosphorylation, photosynthesis, and pentose phosphate pathways. Co-expression networks confirmed the synergistically regulation interactions among these pathways. Gene expression changes in these pathways were not observed after fertilization at 12HAP, but started after fertilization at 48HAP, and significant changes in gene expression occurred at 96HAP when there is considerable sepal development. These results were also supported by qPCR validation. Our results suggest that multiple energy-associated pathways may play a pivotal regulatory role in post-pollination sepal longevity for developing the seed coat, and proposed an energy pathway model regulating sepal retention in spinach

Nuclear mass table in deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum, II: Even-ZZ nuclei

The mass table in the deformed relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum (DRHBc) with the PC-PK1 density functional has been established for even-$Z$ nuclei with $8\le Z\le120$, extended from the previous work for even-even nuclei [Zhang $\it{et.~al.}$ (DRHBc Mass Table Collaboration), At. Data Nucl. Data Tables 144, 101488 (2022)]. The calculated binding energies, two-nucleon and one-neutron separation energies, root-mean-square (rms) radii of neutron, proton, matter, and charge distributions, quadrupole deformations, and neutron and proton Fermi surfaces are tabulated and compared with available experimental data. A total of 4829 even-$Z$ nuclei are predicted to be bound, with an rms deviation of 1.477 MeV from the 1244 mass data. Good agreement with the available experimental odd-even mass differences, $\alpha$ decay energies, and charge radii is also achieved. The description accuracy for nuclear masses and nucleon separation energies as well as the prediction for drip lines is compared with the results obtained from other relativistic and nonrelativistic density functional. The comparison shows that the DRHBc theory with PC-PK1 provides an excellent microscopic description for the masses of even-$Z$ nuclei. The systematics of the nucleon separation energies, odd-even mass differences, pairing energies, two-nucleon gaps, $\alpha$ decay energies, rms radii, quadrupole deformations, potential energy curves, neutron density distributions, and neutron mean-field potentials are discussed.Comment: 394 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables, published in Atomic Data and Nuclear Data Tables, data file in the TXT form is available for download under "Ancillary files

Noncytotoxic polycaprolactone-polyethyleneglycol-ε-poly(<scp>l</scp>-lysine) triblock copolymer synthesized and self-assembled as an antibacterial drug carrier

The PCL35-b-PEG45-b-EPL23 vesicles perform well in vitro drug release and antibacterial activity against Gram− and Gram+ bacteria with low cytotoxicity.</p