Correlated two-photon imaging with true thermal light

We report the first experimental demonstration of two-photon correlated imaging with true thermal light from a hollow cathode lamp. The coherence time of the source is much shorter than that of previous experiments using random scattered light from a laser. A two-pinhole mask was used as object, and the corresponding thin lens equation was well satisfied. Since thermal light sources are easier to obtain and measure than entangled light it is conceivable that they may be used in special imaging applications.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures, accepted by Optics Letter

Differential Proteomic Analysis of Human Saliva using Tandem Mass Tags Quantification for Gastric Cancer Detection.

Novel biomarkers and non-invasive diagnostic methods are urgently needed for the screening of gastric cancer to reduce its high mortality. We employed quantitative proteomics approach to develop discriminatory biomarker signatures from human saliva for the detection of gastric cancer. Salivary proteins were analyzed and compared between gastric cancer patients and matched control subjects by using tandem mass tags (TMT) technology. More than 500 proteins were identified with quantification, and 48 of them showed significant difference expression (p < 0.05) between normal controls and gastric cancer patients, including 7 up-regulated proteins and 41 down-regulated proteins. Five proteins were selected for initial verification by ELISA and three were successfully verified, namely cystatin B (CSTB), triosephosphate isomerase (TPI1), and deleted in malignant brain tumors 1 protein (DMBT1). All three proteins could differentiate gastric cancer patients from normal control subjects, dramatically (p < 0.05). The combination of these three biomarkers could reach 85% sensitivity and 80% specificity for the detection of gastric cancer with accuracy of 0.93. This study provides the proof of concept of salivary biomarkers for the non-invasive detection of gastric cancer. It is highly encouraging to turn these biomarkers into an applicable clinical test after large scale validation

Cerebrospinal Fluid Inflammatory Cytokine Aberrations in Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

It has been suggested that cytokine-mediated inflammation plays a key role for the onset and/or development of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD) and Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, clinical studies have yielded inconsistent results for the aberrant cytokine levels in circulation of patients with AD, PD, and ALS. Previous studies have used meta-analysis to address the inconsistent data for blood cytokine levels in the patients with AD, PD, and ALS. Here, we performed a systemic review of cerebrospinal fluid inflammatory cytokine data in patients with AD, PD and ALS, and sought to quantitatively summarize the CSF inflammatory cytokine data with a meta-analytical technique. The systematic search from Pubmed and Web of Science identified 71 articles with 2629 patients and 2049 controls for the meta-analysis. Random-effects meta-analysis demonstrated that CSF TGF-β, MCP-1, and YKL-40 levels were significantly elevated in AD patients when compared with controls. In addition, patients with PD had heightened levels of TGF-β1, IL-6, and IL-1β in CSF. Furthermore, G-CSF, IL-2, IL-15, IL-17, MCP-1, MIP-1α, TNF-α, and VEGF levels were significantly increased in patients with ALS as compared with controls. Taken together, these results not only strengthen the clinical evidence that neurodegenerative diseases are accompanied by the increased inflammatory response, but also reveal the unique inflammatory response profile in the central nervous system of patients with AD, PD and ALS. Given the robust associations between some cytokines and neurodegenerative diseases found in this meta-analysis, CSF inflammatory cytokines may be used as biomarkers for these diseases in the future

Symmetry-breaking-induced nonlinear optics at a microcavity surface

Second-order nonlinear optical processes lie at the heart of many applications in both classical and quantum regimes1,2,3. Inversion symmetry, however, rules out the second-order nonlinear electric-dipole response in materials widely adopted in integrated photonics (for example, SiO_2, Si and Si_3N_4). Here, we report nonlinear optics induced by symmetry breaking at the surface of an ultrahigh-Q silica microcavity under a sub-milliwatt continuous-wave pump. By dynamically coordinating the double-resonance phase matching, a second harmonic is achieved with an unprecedented conversion efficiency of 0.049% W^(−1), 14 orders of magnitude higher than that of the non-enhancement case. In addition, the nonlinear effect from the intrinsic symmetry breaking at the surface can be identified unambiguously, with guided control of the pump polarization and the recognition of the second-harmonic mode distribution. This work not only extends the emission frequency range of silica photonic devices, but also lays the groundwork for applications in ultra-sensitive surface analysis

A Versatile Microparticle-Based Immunoaggregation Assay for Macromolecular Biomarker Detection and Quantification

The rapid, sensitive and low-cost detection of macromolecular biomarkers is critical in clinical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, research, etc. Conventional assay methods usually require bulky, expensive and designated instruments and relative long assay time. For hospitals and laboratories that lack immediate access to analytical instruments, fast and low-cost assay methods for the detection of macromolecular biomarkers are urgently needed. In this work, we developed a versatile microparticle (MP)-based immunoaggregation method for the detection and quantification of macromolecular biomarkers. Antibodies (Abs) were firstly conjugated to MP through streptavidin-biotin interaction; the addition of macromolecular biomarkers caused the aggregation of Ab-MPs, which were subsequently detected by an optical microscope or optical particle sizer. The invisible nanometer-scale macromolecular biomarkers caused detectable change of micrometer-scale particle size distributions. Goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin and human ferritin were used as model biomarkers to demonstrate MP-based immunoaggregation assay in PBS and 10% FBS to mimic real biomarker assay in the complex medium. It was found that both the number ratio and the volume ratio of Ab-MP aggregates caused by biomarker to all particles were directly correlated to the biomarker concentration. In addition, we found that the detection range could be tuned by adjusting the Ab-MP concentration. We envision that this novel MP-based immunoaggregation assay can be combined with multiple detection methods to detect and quantify macromolecular biomarkers at the nanogram per milliliter level. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.011504

Acute Colonic Pseudo-Obstruction with Feeding Intolerance in Critically Ill Patients: A Study according to Gut Wall Analysis

Objective. To compare the differences between acute colonic pseudo-obstruction (ACPO) with and without acute gut wall thickening. Methods. ACPO patients with feeding tolerance were divided into ACPO with no obvious gut wall thickening (ACPO-NT) group and ACPO with obvious acute gut wall thickening (ACPO-T) group according to computed tomography and abdominal radiographs. Patients’ condition, responses to supportive measures, pharmacologic therapy, endoscopic decompression, and surgeries and outcomes were compared. Results. Patients in ACPO-T group had a significantly higher APACHE II (11.82 versus 8.25, p=0.008) and SOFA scores (6.47 versus 3.54, p<0.001) and a significantly higher 28-day mortality (17.78% versus 4.16%, p=0.032) and longer intensive care unit stage (4 versus 16 d, p<0.001). Patients in ACPO-NT group were more likely to be responsive to supportive treatment (62.50% versus 24.44%, p<0.001), neostigmine (77.78% versus 17.64%, p<0.001), and colonoscopic decompression (75% versus 42.86%, p=0.318) than those in ACPO-T group. Of the patients who underwent ileostomy, 81.25% gained benefits. Conclusions. ACPO patients with gut wall thickening are more severe and are less likely to be responsive to nonsurgical treatment. Ileostomy may be a good option for ACPO patients with gut wall thickening who are irresponsive to nonsurgical treatment

Contributing Authors

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45099/1/10626_2005_Article_1570.pd

A Versatile Microparticle-Based Immunoaggregation Assay for Macromolecular Biomarker Detection and Quantification

The rapid, sensitive and low-cost detection of macromolecular biomarkers is critical in clinical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, research, etc. Conventional assay methods usually require bulky, expensive and designated instruments and relative long assay time. For hospitals and laboratories that lack immediate access to analytical instruments, fast and low-cost assay methods for the detection of macromolecular biomarkers are urgently needed. In this work, we developed a versatile microparticle (MP)-based immunoaggregation method for the detection and quantification of macromolecular biomarkers. Antibodies (Abs) were firstly conjugated to MP through streptavidin-biotin interaction; the addition of macromolecular biomarkers caused the aggregation of Ab-MPs, which were subsequently detected by an optical microscope or optical particle sizer. The invisible nanometer-scale macromolecular biomarkers caused detectable change of micrometer-scale particle size distributions. Goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin and human ferritin were used as model biomarkers to demonstrate MP-based immunoaggregation assay in PBS and 10% FBS to mimic real biomarker assay in the complex medium. It was found that both the number ratio and the volume ratio of Ab-MP aggregates caused by biomarker to all particles were directly correlated to the biomarker concentration. In addition, we found that the detection range could be tuned by adjusting the Ab-MP concentration. We envision that this novel MP-based immunoaggregation assay can be combined with multiple detection methods to detect and quantify macromolecular biomarkers at the nanogram per milliliter level

The flavor-changing single-top quark production in the littlest Higgs model with T parity at the LHC

The littlest Higgs model with discrete symmetry named "T-parity"(LHT) is an interesting new physics model which does not suffer strong constraints from electroweak precision data. One of the important features of the LHT model is the existence of new source of FC interactions between the SM fermions and the mirror fermions. These FC interactions can make significant loop-level contributions to the couplings $tcV$, and furthermore enhance the cross sections of the FC single-top quark production processes. In this paper, we study some FC single-top quark production processes, $pp\to t\bar{c}$ and $pp\to tV$, at the LHC in the LHT model. We find that the cross sections of these processes are strongly depended on the mirror quark masses. The processes $pp\to t\bar{c}$ and $pp\to tg$ have large cross sections with heavy mirror quarks. The observation of these FC processes at the LHC is certainly the clue of new physics, and further precise measurements of the cross scetions can provide useful information about the free parameters in the LHT model, specially about the mirror quark masses.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure