The Transfer of Entanglement Negativity at the Onset of Interactions

Quantum information, in the form of entanglement with an ancilla, can be transmitted to a third system through interaction. Here, we investigate this process of entanglement transmission perturbatively in time. Using the entanglement monotone negativity, we determine how the proclivity of an interaction to either generate, transfer or lose entanglement depends on the choice of Hamiltonians and initial states. These three proclivities are captured by Hamiltonian- and state-dependent quantities that we call negativity susceptibility, negativity transmissibility and negativity vulnerability respectively. These notions could serve, for example, as cost functions in quantum technologies such as machine-learned quantum error correction

Cyclin B1/Cdk1 phosphorylation of mitochondrial p53 induces anti-apoptotic response.

The pro-apoptotic function of p53 has been well defined in preventing genomic instability and cell transformation. However, the intriguing fact that p53 contributes to a pro-survival advantage of tumor cells under DNA damage conditions raises a critical question in radiation therapy for the 50% human cancers with intact p53 function. Herein, we reveal an anti-apoptotic role of mitochondrial p53 regulated by the cell cycle complex cyclin B1/Cdk1 in irradiated human colon cancer HCT116 cells with p53(+/+) status. Steady-state levels of p53 and cyclin B1/Cdk1 were identified in the mitochondria of many human and mouse cells, and their mitochondrial influx was significantly enhanced by radiation. The mitochondrial kinase activity of cyclin B1/Cdk1 was found to specifically phosphorylate p53 at Ser-315 residue, leading to enhanced mitochondrial ATP production and reduced mitochondrial apoptosis. The improved mitochondrial function can be blocked by transfection of mutant p53 Ser-315-Ala, or by siRNA knockdown of cyclin B1 and Cdk1 genes. Enforced translocation of cyclin B1 and Cdk1 into mitochondria with a mitochondrial-targeting-peptide increased levels of Ser-315 phosphorylation on mitochondrial p53, improved ATP production and decreased apoptosis by sequestering p53 from binding to Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL. Furthermore, reconstitution of wild-type p53 in p53-deficient HCT116 p53(-/-) cells resulted in an increased mitochondrial ATP production and suppression of apoptosis. Such phenomena were absent in the p53-deficient HCT116 p53(-/-) cells reconstituted with the mutant p53. These results demonstrate a unique anti-apoptotic function of mitochondrial p53 regulated by cyclin B1/Cdk1-mediated Ser-315 phosphorylation in p53-wild-type tumor cells, which may provide insights for improving the efficacy of anti-cancer therapy, especially for tumors that retain p53

Preparation and physicochemical properties: a new extruded rice using cassava starch and broken rice flour

With the increasing demand for nutrition and health, many researchers are trying to develop a rice product with lower aging rate and convenient nutrient fortification. Being composed of high amylopectin content, cassava starch (CS) shows a lower retrogradation tendency compared to rice starch. So, it has a broad application prospect to partially replace rice starch with CS in rice by extrusion technology. In this study, a new extruded rice (ER) was prepared by broken rice flour and CS using single-screw extruder through “improved extrusion cooking technology,” and the maximum addition level of CS in ER was 30%. Color parameters and texture profile analysis showed that ER was a little darker in appearance with lower hardness, adhesiveness and chewiness. Rapid visco analysis demonstrated that the viscosity of ER paste appeared earlier during the initial heating phase and displayed a lower retrogradation trend than normal rice in the cooling process. The gelatinization temperature and gelatinization enthalpy decreased with the increasing CS in ER, while the degree of gelatinization increased to 76.36% when the content of CS was 30% after extrusion. The X-ray diffraction patterns of control was typical A-type structure, while ER changed to V-type structure with a lower degree of crystallinity. The microstructure observation showed that ER exhibited a looser and more porous structure with increasing the content of CS, which facilitated easier cooking and nutritional enhancement

Natural Disaster Risk Monitoring for Immovable Cultural Relics Based on Digital Twin

Natural disaster risk monitoring is an important task for disaster prevention and reduction. In the case of immovable cultural relics, however, the feedback mechanism, risk factors, monitoring logic, and monitoring indicators of natural disaster risk monitoring are complex. How to achieve intelligent perception and monitoring of natural disaster risk for immovable cultural relics has always been a focus and a challenge for researchers. Based on the analysis of the concepts and issues related to the natural disaster risk of immovable cultural relics, this paper proposes a framework for natural disaster risk monitoring for immovable cultural relics based on the digital twin. This framework focuses on risk monitoring, including the physical entities of natural disaster risk for immovable cultural relics, monitoring indicators, and virtual entity construction. A platform for monitoring the natural disaster risk of immovable cultural relics is proposed. Using the Puzhou Ancient City Site as a test bed, the proposed concept can be used for monitoring the natural disaster risk of immovable cultural relics at different scales

Mechanical properties, in vitro corrosion and biocompatibility of newly developed biodegradable Mg-Zr-Sr-Ho alloys for biomedical applications

Our previous studies have demonstrated that Mg-Zr-Sr alloys can be anticipated as excellent biodegradable implant materials for load-bearing applications. In general, rare earth elements (REEs) are widely used in magnesium (Mg) alloys with the aim of enhancing the mechanical properties of Mg-based alloys. In this study, the REE holmium (Ho) was added to an Mg-1Zr-2Sr alloy at different concentrations of Mg1Zr2SrxHo alloys (x = 0, 1, 3, 5 wt. %) and the microstructure, mechanical properties, degradation behaviour and biocompatibility of the alloys were systematically investigated. The results indicate that the addition of Ho to Mg1Zr2Sr led to the formation of the intermetallic phases MgHo3, Mg2Ho and Mg17Sr2 which resulted in enhanced mechanical strength and decreased degradation rates of the Mg-Zr-Sr-Ho alloys. Furthermore, Ho addition (≤5 wt. %) to Mg-Zr-Sr alloys led to enhancement of cell adhesion and proliferation of osteoblast cells on the Mg-Zr-Sr-Ho alloys. The in vitro biodegradation and the biocompatibility of the Mg-Zr-Sr-Ho alloys were both influenced by the Ho concentration in the Mg alloys; Mg1Zr2Sr3Ho exhibited lower degradation rates than Mg1Zr2Sr and displayed the best biocompatibility compared with the other alloys

Study on the correlation between pre-treatment Glasgow score and blood inflammatory markers and prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients

Objective To investigate the correlation between Glasgow score and blood inflammatory markers before treatment with the efficacy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods Cases from the two clinical centers were divided into training set and validation set， and the clinical characteristics of the two groups were compared to be balanced. To search the independent prognostic risk factors of nasopharyngeal carcinoma and then the prognostic index of each patient was calculated， and the patients were divided into high-risk， intermediate-risk and low-risk groups. Further validation in the validation set. Results Cox multivariate analysis of the training set showed that age >50， T3-T4， N2-N3， GPS score of 1-2， NLR>2.5， and LMR≤2.35 before treatment were poor prognostic factors affecting the 5-year disease-specific survival rate of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Conclusion The combination of GPS， NLR， LMR and age， TNM staging may provide a new way for the prognosis evaluation of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma before treatment

Evolution of the combined effect of different irrigation solutions and activation techniques on the removal of smear layer and dentin microhardness in oval-shaped root canal: An in-vitro study

The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of three final irrigants, namely QMix, MTAD and EDTA, combined with three irrigation techniques, namely conventional needle irrigation (CNI), passive ultrasonic irrigation (PUI) and photon-induced photoacoustic streaming (PIPS), on smear layer removal, dentin mineral content and microhardness in oval-shaped canals.    130 decoronated premolars with single, oval root canals were equally divided into1 blank control group and 12 treatment groups (n=10) according to the final irrigation protocols. Roots in treatment groups were instrumented with ProTaper Gold to size F4 and subjected to final irrigation. Smear layer removal was assessed by using a four-level scoring system under an environmental scanning electron microscope. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was performed to measure the dentin mineral content. Dentin microhardness was measured by Knoop microhardness testing. Statistical analysis of the data was performed by using Kruskal-Wallis test, followed by Dunn’s post hoc test with Bonferroni correction. PUI- and PIPS-activated QMix and EDTA removed smear layer more effectively than MTAD groups (p<0.05). Regarding the dentin mineral content and microhardness, QMix groups yielded the least calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P)  and Ca/P ratio, followed by EDTA groups and MTAD groups (p<0.05). QMix groups produced significantly lower dentin microhardness values and higher hardness reduction percentages than MTAD groups (p<0.05).  Within the limitations of the present study, it was concluded that QMix and EDTA were superior to MTAD in smear layer removal, especially when activated by PUI and PIPS, but these agents produced more pronounced effect on dentin mineral content and microhardness than MTAD

Multi-Component LFM Signal Parameter Estimation for Symbiotic Chirp-UWB Radio Systems

Symbiotic chirp-ultra wide bandwidth (UWB) radio system (SCURS) is a UWB radio system with the symbiosis of linear frequency modulation (LFM) and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals. It has a high data rate and can transmit data on two channels simultaneously. Moreover, multi-component LFM (MCLFM) parameter estimation plays an important role in the demodulation of SCURS. Furthermore, the complex electromagnetic environment also brings impulsive noise. In this paper, a novel parameter estimation method for MCLFM signals based on the fractional Fourier transform-bald eagle search algorithm (FRFT-BES) and synchroextracting short-time fractional Fourier transform-Hough (SSFT-Hough) with alpha-stable noise is proposed. First, we use a nonlinear transformation to eliminate the negative effect of alpha-stable noise on parameter estimation. Second, we combine the improved BES with FRFT to propose FRFT-BES and use it to estimate the frequency modulation rate. Finally, we propose a new time-frequency (TF) transform method with high TF resolution as SSFT, and we combine it with Hough transform (HT) to propose SSFT-Hough to estimate the initial frequency. Frequency modulation rate and initial frequency are widely used in MCLFM signals separation. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method performs well in low mixed signal-to-noise ratio (MSNR), and it is superior to existing methods

Xiaoqinglong granules as add-on therapy for asthma: latent class analysis of symptom predictors of response.

Xiaoqinglong granules (XQLG) has been shown to be an effective therapy in asthma animal models. We reviewed the literature and conducted this study to assess the impact of XQLG as an add-on therapy to treatment with fluticasone/salmeterol (seretide) in adult patients with mild-to-moderate, persistent asthma. A total of 178 patients were randomly assigned to receive XQLG and seretide or seretide plus placebo for 90 days. Asthma control was assessed by asthma control test (ACT), symptoms scores, FEV(1), and PEF. Baseline patient-reported Chinese medicine (CM)-specific symptoms were analyzed to determine whether the symptoms may be possible indicators of treatment response by conducting latent class analysis (LCA). There was no statistically significant difference in ACT score between two groups. In the subset of 70 patients with symptoms defined by CM criteria, XQLG add-on therapy was found to significantly increase the levels of asthma control according to global initiative for asthma (GINA) guidelines (P = 0.0329). There was no significant difference in another subset of 100 patients with relatively low levels of the above-mentioned symptoms (P = 0.1291). Results of LCA suggest that patients with the six typical symptoms defined in CM may benefit from XQLG