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Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Detection of microsatellite instability (MSI) status and gene mutations may be useful for molecular targeted therapy. The liquid biopsy is a newly developed, non-invasive method for tumor diagnosis and monitoring. In this study, we evaluated the possible clinical value of liquid biopsy by analyzing MSI and gene mutation. Methods Next-generation sequencing (NGS) was used to analyze MSI and gene mutation in circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) and tissue DNA extracted from 6 CRC patients’ plasma and matched primary tumor tissue (MPTT) samples, respectively. Results A total of 6 patients (4 male, 2 female) were included for analysis, whose stage ranges from stage I through stage III. NGS-based panel of 5 quasi-monomorphic microsatellite markers (MSI-NGS) BAT-25, BAT-26, NR21, NR24 as well as NR27, and 4 mismatch repair (MMR) genes (MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, MLH1) expressions assessed by immunohistochemistry (MMR-IHC) and NGS (MMR-NGS) were used to determine MSI status synergistically. Comprehensive analysis of NGS and IHC results showed that the overall incidences of MSI in plasma and MPTT samples from these patients were 1/6 and 2/6, respectively. 4 patients were defined as microsatellite stable (MSS) in both plasma and MPTT. In the above 6 patients, MSI-NGS detection in cfDNA accurately identified 1/2 of tissue high-level microsatellite instability (MSI-H) and 4/4 of tissue MSS for an overall accuracy of 5/6. Gene mutational profiles in these CRC patients’ plasma and MPTT samples were analyzed by NGS. Tumor-specific gene mutations were detected in 2/6 of plasma and 4/4 of MPTT samples. The two mutation-positive plasma samples were from CRC patients at stage IIb and stage IIIc. Conclusions Analyzing MSI and gene mutation might be a non-invasive supplementary way to reveal the molecular characteristics of CRC.

The complexity of language is usually reflected in the complexity of sentences. At present, the research of sentence complexity mainly focuses on the analysis of syntactic complexity. In this paper, from the perspective of Leech's theory of sentence semantic structure, the predication structure is taken as the semantic unit to explore the sentence semantic complexity. The predication structures are extracted based on the result of sentence-based syntactic analysis, and then the linear expression sequence of a sentence is converted into a semantic hierarchy based on predicate semantic frameworks; the universality of predicate semantic frameworks is obtained by using the spectral clustering algorithm; and the sentence semantic complexity depends on the universality of predicate semantic frameworks at various layers. The experimental results show that the measurement method of sentence sematic complexity based on predicate semantic frameworks is more effective by comparing with the method that only considers the semantic categories of words in the sentence.

Support vector machine (SVM) is regarded as one of the most effective techniques for supervised learning, while the Gaussian kernel SVM is widely utilized due to its excellent performance capabilit...

The orbital angular momentum (OAM) intrinsically carried by vortex light beams holds a promise for multidimensional high-capacity data multiplexing, meeting the ever-increasing demands for information. Development of a dynamically tunable OAM light source is a critical step in the realization of OAM modulation and multiplexing. By harnessing the properties of total momentum conservation, spin-orbit interaction, and optical non-Hermitian symmetry breaking, we demonstrate an OAM-tunable vortex microlaser, providing chiral light states of variable topological charges at a single telecommunication wavelength. The scheme of the non–Hermitian-controlled chiral light emission at room temperature can be further scaled up for simultaneous multivortex emissions in a flexible manner. Our work provides a route for the development of the next generation of multidimensional OAM-spin-wavelength division multiplexing technology., We acknowledge the support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) (ECCS-1932803, ECCS-1846766, ECCS-1842612, OMA-1936276, CMMI-1635026, DMR-1809518, IIP-1718177, and CNS-2011411), U.S. Army Research Office (ARO) (W911NF-19-1-0249), and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (grant OSR-2016-CRG5-2950-04). This research was partially supported by NSF through the University of Pennsylvania Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) (DMR-1720530). This work was carried out in part at the Singh Center for Nanotechnology, which is supported by the NSF National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure Program under grant NNCI-1542153.

Multi-Robot system can be applied to search and rescue (SAR) tasks in complex environment. This paper focuses on resource scheduling and task allocation of cooperative multi-robot system for SAR (RSTA-RSSAR). RSTA-RSSAR is an extention of MSRCPSP. In RSTA-RSSAR, skills of multi-robot system considered from both depth and breadth. And resouece transfer time between tasks are considered. Meanwhile, Processing time of activities in RSTA-RSSAR changes with skill ability resouces provided. In order to solve the problem effectively, a genetic differential evolution algorithm (PS-GDEA) is proposed. An encoding, decoding and population initialization methods is designed according to the characteristics of RSTA-RSSAR. In this algorithm, a multi-attribute choosing method based on Shannon entropy is proposed. Meanwhile, a genetic algorithm with new selection, crossover and mutation operators is used to generate offspring and a priority based differential evolution strategy is used to evolute parents. The effectiveness of the algorithm is obtained by experiments on test cases. Compared with the classical genetic algorithm for msrcpsp, the proposed algorithm has better performance.

Continual learning, the capability to learn new knowledge from streaming data without forgetting the previous knowledge, is a critical requirement for dynamic learning systems, especially for emerging edge devices such as self-driving cars and drones. However, continual learning is still facing the catastrophic forgetting problem. Previous work illustrate that model performance on continual learning is not only related to the learning algorithms but also strongly dependent on the inherited model, i.e., the model where continual learning starts. The better stability of the inherited model, the less catastrophic forgetting and thus, the inherited model should be elaborately selected. Inspired by this finding, we develop an evolutionary neural architecture search (ENAS) algorithm that emphasizes the Stability of the inherited model, namely ENAS-S. ENAS-S aims to find optimal architectures for accurate continual learning on edge devices. On CIFAR-10 and CIFAR-100, we present that ENAS-S achieves competitive architectures with lower catastrophic forgetting and smaller model size when learning from a data stream, as compared with handcrafted DNNs.

Background Inflammation is implicated in both hepatic cirrhosis development and hepatocellular carcinogenesis, and treatment with long-acting glucocorticoid dexamethasone prevented liver carcinogenesis in mice. However, it is unclear whether glucocorticoids have anti-inflammatory effect on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and if short-acting glucocorticoids (with fewer adverse effects) inhibit paraneoplastic inflammation and HCC progression. Methods To investigate whether different types of anti-inflammatory agents attenuate HCC progression, the current study compared effects of treatments with hydrocortisone (a short-acting glucocorticoid) or aspirin on HCC progression. HCC was induced in diethylnitrosamine-treated rats which were randomly divided into 4 groups (n=8), respectively receiving orally once daily vehicle, glucuronolactone, glucuronolactone+hydrocortisone, and glucuronolactone+aspirin. Diethylnitrosamine (DEN) was given to rats in drinking water (100mg/L) to induce HCC. At weeks 12 and 16 post-induction, effects were compared on HCC nodule formation, microvessel density, and macrophage infiltration, and levels of paraneoplastic protein expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38), phosphorylated p38 (p-p38), nuclear factor (NF)-κB, interleukin (IL)-10, hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Results Compared to the model and glucuronolactone alone groups, HCC nodule number and microvessel density in the glucuronolactone+hydrocortisone group were significantly lower at week 12. At week 12 but not week 16, significantly lower levels of macrophages, TNF-α, p-p38, NF-κB, IL-10, HGF, TGF-β1 and VEGF were observed in the paraneoplastic tissue of the glucuronolactone+hydrocortisone group when compared with the control and glucuronolactone groups. Conclusion The results suggest that hydrocortisone treatment reduces macrophage polarization, expression of inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, and angiogenesis in paraneoplastic tissue, and attenuates early HCC progression. Although hydrocortisone did not have attenuation effect on advanced solid tumor, the current study shows the potential benefits and supports potential clinical use of hydrocortisone in attenuating early progression of HCC, which is through suppressing paraneoplastic inflammation and angiogenesis.

Cancer-derived exosomes are considered a major driver of cancer-induced pre-metastatic niche formation at foreign sites, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we show that miR-25-3p, a metastasis-promoting miRNA of colorectal cancer (CRC), can be transferred from CRC cells to endothelial cells via exosomes. Exosomal miR-25-3p regulates the expression of VEGFR2, ZO-1, occludin and Claudin5 in endothelial cells by targeting KLF2 and KLF4, consequently promotes vascular permeability and angiogenesis. In addition, exosomal miR-25-3p from CRC cells dramatically induces vascular leakiness and enhances CRC metastasis in liver and lung of mice. Moreover, the expression level of miR-25-3p from circulating exosomes is significantly higher in CRC patients with metastasis than those without metastasis. Our work suggests that exosomal miR-25-3p is involved in pre-metastatic niche formation and may be used as a blood-based biomarker for CRC metastasis., The mechanisms underlying pre-metastatic niche formation by cancer derived exosomes is unclear. Here they show that colorectal cancer (CRC) derived exosomal miR-25-3p promotes vascular leakiness and angiogenesis, CRC metastasis, and is upregulated in CRC pateints with metastasis, and suggest miR-25-3p as a biomarker for CRC metastasis.

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a strongly correlated electronic material and has attracted significant attention due to its metal-to-insulator transition and diverse smart applications. Traditional synthesis of VO2 usually requires minutes or hours of global heating and low oxygen partial pressure to achieve thermodynamic control of the valence state. Further patterning of VO2 through a series of lithography and etching processes may inevitably change its surface valence, which poses a great challenge for the assembly of micro- and nanoscale VO2-based heterojunction devices. Herein, we report an ultrafast method to simultaneously synthesize and pattern VO2 on the time scale of seconds under ambient conditions through laser direct writing on a V5S8 "canvas". The successful ambient synthesis of VO2 is attributed to the ultrafast local heating and cooling process, resulting in controlled freezing of the intermediate oxidation phase during the relatively long kinetic reaction. A Mott memristor based on a V5S8-VO2-V5S8 lateral heterostructure can be fabricated and integrated with a MoS2 channel, delivering a transistor with abrupt switching transfer characteristics. The other device with a VSxOy channel exhibits a large negative temperature coefficient of approximately 4.5%/K, which is highly desirable for microbolometers. The proposed approach enables fast and efficient integration of VO2-based heterojunction devices and is applicable to other intriguing intermediate phases of oxides.

Human activity recognition (HAR) is a promising field which has a wide range of applications in medicine, electronic forensics and Internet of Things. Until now, existing works generally focus on artificial extraction of statistical features or applying deep learning to extract deep features to perform activity recognition. However, most studies neglect individual differences among different users, which leads to performance decline of the trained model when applied to new users. In this paper, we propose a novel approach using hypergraph learning for personalized human activity recognition based on fusion features. Fusion features take advantage of deep features and statistical features, and also fuse the user’s personalization factors to reduce the influence of individual differences. In the classification part, a hypergraph learning algorithm is used to recognize user’s activities based on the fusion features. Experiments on the public dataset USC-HAD (11-class) and the self-collected dataset (6-class) show the proposed method has superior performance compared to existing methods, as well as greater potential for usage in personalized human activity recognition during daily lives.

The paper assesses sentence readability based on the standards in the field of Chinese L2 teaching. In view of the inapplicability of the field standards in text readability assessment, the study focuses on two aspects. On the one hand, the graded lexicon of the HSK syllabus is extended to obtain a large-scale graded lexical knowledge base. On the other hand, sentence-based features in the existing teaching grammatical knowledge base are supplemented to achieve the automatic recognition of grammatical points and obtain quantitative grammatical indicators regarding sentence readability. Besides, based on the extended knowledge bases, comprehensive evaluation models are created to calculate the lexical and grammatical difficulties of sentences, as well as the sentence readability. The results of experiments show that the sentence readability is well differentiated in all levels of texts. Furthermore, the correlation between sentence readability and text readability is significantly improved in comparison with existing methods.

Background. Ischemic stroke (IS) seriously impacts the quality of life of survivors. Chinese medicine (CM) has been developed for more than 2000 years and plays a key role in the treatment of ischemic stroke. Many Chinese medicine clinical trials have been conducted; however, the heterogeneity of outcome measurements and reporting limits implications of the findings in clinical practice and health policy development. Therefore, it is important to develop a core outcome set (COS) that should be used and reported in trials for ischemic stroke treated by Chinese medicine. This protocol describes the process of developing the IS-CM-COS. Methods and Analysis. The development of the COS will involve the following four steps: (1) A list of outcomes reported in the registered and published Chinese medicine trials of ischemic stroke will be extracted by conducting a systematic literature review. (2) An additional outcome list will be collected by semistructured interview to patients with ischemic stroke. (3) A two-round Delphi survey will be performed to prioritize and condense the outcomes. (4) In the consensus meeting, a final recommended COS will be developed. Discussion. The COS could improve the reliability and consistency of outcome reporting. We hope that this IS-CM-COS will be used in the future Chinese medicine trials for the treatment of ischemic stroke and improve research quality. Trial Registration. This study was registered with the Core Outcome Measures in Effectiveness Trials Initiative (http://www.comet-initiative.org/studies/details/1282).

In this work, by rotating the applied magnetic field, we have demonstrated a tunable coupling of Dyakonov surface wave at the interface between polycarbonate and nematic liquid crystal experimentally.

Based on magnetoelectric coupling in metamaterial, we present a broadband second harmonic generation (SHG). By combining different meta-molecules together, SHG with 2.7 μm bandwidth can be achieve in mid-infrared regime.

A selective coupling behavior of Dyakonov surface wave at the liquid-crystal-based interface has been demonstrated experimentally. Such a highly directional and lossless surface wave has promising applications in two-dimensional photonic circuits and devices.

We present a broadband second harmonic generation (SHG) by a metamaterial-based artificial nonlinearity. By combining different meta-molecules together, SHG covering 60% wavelength range of the long-wave infrared can be achieved.

Background. The prophylactic effects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) for migraine were examined in numerous clinical trials. This review aimed to analyze the effectiveness and safety of CHM as prophylactic treatment of migraine compared to flunarizine. Methods. Nine databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that evaluated effects of CHM for episodic migraine prophylaxis compared to flunarizine, published before March 2019. Results. Thirty-five RCTs with 2,840 participants met the inclusion criteria, and 31 of them were included in meta-analyses. The overall meta-analysis indicated that, when compared to flunarizine, CHM reduced the frequency of migraine attacks at the end of treatment (EoT) (21 studies, mean difference (MD) −1.23, 95% confidence interval (CI) (−1.69, −0.76)) and at the end of follow-up (EoFU) (five studies, MD −0.96, 95% CI (−1.70, −0.21)). Subgroup analyses based on the treatment duration, follow-up duration, and the dosage of flunarizine showed that CHM was superior to or comparable with flunarizine in reducing migraine frequency. Similar results were also found for secondary outcomes such as the pain visual analogue scale, migraine duration, responder rate, and acute medication usage. In particular, the studies that used CHM containing herb pairs (Chuan Xiong plus Bai Zhi and Chuan Xiong plus Tian Ma) showed promising results. However, the certainty of this evidence was evaluated as “low” or “very low” using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations approach. Conclusion. CHM appeared to be comparable with flunarizine in reducing the frequency of episodic migraine attacks in adults at EoT and EoFU and well-tolerated by participants, regardless of the treatment duration, follow-up duration, and dosage of flunarizine. Due to the low certainty of the evidence, the suggested promising prophylactic outcomes require higher quality evidence from further rigorous RCTs.

Optical gain and loss are considered as a pair of feuds. It is widely believed that optical loss is the most detrimental factor in laser systems that decreases the laser efficiency. The hitherto approach is to minimize or even avoid any loss in designing any laser systems. From an opposite vantage point, however, we demonstrate that harnessing additional optical losses enables an energy-efficient microlaser with a robust single-mode lasing action even in the nonlinear regime above lasing threshold. This is due to elimination of the undesired spatial hole burning effect by tailoring the complex index modulations at an exceptional point (EP), thereby spatially maximizing the interaction of optical gain material with light field in a homogeneous fashion. Approximately 2× enhancement in the laser slope efficiency is observed, enabled by elimination of spatial hole burning. This result is expected to reposition a strategic role of optical losses in laser systems, advancing fundamental laser physics and promisi...

Bone metastasis (BM) is the advanced complication of breast cancer, while bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in the microenvironment unclearly contribute to cancer metastasis. This study investigated potential roles of transforming growth factor- (TGF-) α in the interaction between breast cancer and BMSCs in BM. Clinical cases of breast cancer with bone metastasis (BMBC), breast cancer without bone metastasis (Non-BM-BC), and benign fibroadenoma (Benign) were enlisted in a retrospective study. TGF-α was found obviously overexpressed in BM lesion of BMBC compared to primary lesion of both BMBC and Non-BM-BC (P<0.01), and TGF-α was higher in primary lesion of both BMBC and Non-BM-BC (P<0.01) than Benign group. Interestingly, TGF-α in nontumor tissues of both BMBC and Non-BM-BC was at a higher level than Benign group (P<0.01), and numbers of macrophages in nontumor tissues of both BMBC and Non-BM-BC (P<0.01) were higher than Benign group. Furthermore, in cultured human BMSCs, TGF-α stimulated production of procancer cytokines including IL-6, VEGF, FGF10, FGF17, and TGF-β1 in a dose-dependent manner. Thus, TGF-α in BC could potentially be an important signal of carcinogenesis and metastasis. Macrophages in the nontumor tissue of BC may not be protective but could promote cancer metastasis.

Using convolutional neural network (CNN) methods and satellite images for landslide identification and classification is a very efficient and popular task in geological hazard investigations. However, traditional CNNs have two disadvantages: (1) insufficient training images from the study area and (2) uneven distribution of the training set and validation set. In this paper, we introduced distant domain transfer learning (DDTL) methods for landslide detection and classification. We first introduce scene classification satellite imagery into the landslide detection task. In addition, in order to more effectively extract information from satellite images, we innovatively add an attention mechanism to DDTL (AM-DDTL). In this paper, the Longgang study area, a district in Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, has only 177 samples as the landslide target domain. We examine the effect of DDTL by comparing three methods: the convolutional CNN, pretrained model and DDTL. We compare different attention mechanisms based on the DDTL. The experimental results show that the DDTL method has better detection performance than the normal CNN, and the AM-DDTL models achieve 94% classification accuracy, which is 7% higher than the conventional DDTL method. The requirements for the detection and classification of potential landslides at different disaster zones can be met by applying the AM-DDTL algorithm, which outperforms traditional CNN methods.

// Rui Zhou 1, * , Lin Qiu 2, * , Xiaolong Liu 1, * , Lijuan Ling 1 , Ninglei Li 1 , Kun Zhou 1 , Jingbo Sun 1 , Jian Yan 1 , Canliang Tan 1 , Xiaoping Huang 1 , Luzhe Han 1 , Liangchun Yin 1 , Gang Xiao 1 and Lixin Liu 1 1 Department of General Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China 2 Department of Hematology/Oncology, Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China * These authors contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Lixin Liu, email: liulixin@tom.com Gang Xiao, email: msqm2002@126.com Keywords: RASSF6, Wnt, EMT, colorectal cancer, metastasis Received: November 08, 2016 Accepted: June 02, 2017 Published: July 12, 2017 ABSTRACT Distant metastasis is the primary barrier for the successful treatment of patients with colorectal cancer, and thus, searching for new therapeutic targets by further exploring the molecular mechanisms of colorectal cancer metastasis is important. In this study, we investigated the biological and clinical significance of RASSF6 in colorectal cancer as well as the underlying molecular mechanisms. We found that low RASSF6 expression corresponds to a poor prognosis in colorectal cancer patients, and low RASSF6 expression is distinctly associated with tumour progression. Our in vitro analysis revealed that RASSF6 suppresses the proliferation and metastasis of DLD1 cells, and RASSF6 knockdown in HCT116 cells confirmed these observations. Our mechanistic investigation revealed that RASSF6 inhibits the expression of the classical target genes of Wnt signalling, as demonstrated by the reduced expression of TCF1, c-Jun, and c-Myc in RASSF6-overexpressing DLD1 stable cell lines. Furthermore, we show that RASSF6 functions as a negative regulator of the epithelial-mesenchymal transition; the expression levels of the epithelial markers ZO-1 and E-cadherin were increased, while the expression level of the mesenchymal marker Snail was decreased in a RASSF6-overexpressing DLD1 cell line. Additionally, rescue assays revealed that the activation of Wnt signalling by LiCl treatment impaired the inhibitory effect of RASSF6 on the proliferation and metastasis of colorectal cancer cells, which implies that RASSF6 suppresses the tumorigenicity of colorectal cancer cells at least in part through inhibiting Wnt signalling pathway. Collectively, these findings provide new perspectives for the future study of RASSF6 as a therapeutic target for colorectal cancer.

According to the theory of first-order Born approximation, analytical expressions for Gaussian Schell-model arrays (GSMA) beam scattered on a deterministic medium in the far-zone are derived. In terms of the analytical formula obtained, shifts of GSMA beam's scattered spectrum are numerically investigated. Results show that the scattering directions s x and s y , effective radius σ of the scattering medium, the initial beam transverse width σ 0 , correlation widths δ x and δ y of the source, and line width Γ 0 of the incident spectrum closely influence the distributions of normalized scattered spectrum in the far-zone. These features of GSMA beam scattered spectrum could be used to obtain information about the structure of a deterministic medium.

Tongxinluo (TXL) is a multifunctional traditional Chinese medicine and has been widely used in the treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Numerous studies demonstrate that TXL is a novel neuroprotective drug, however, the mechanisms are largely unknown.we aimed to demonstrate the protective effect of TXL on cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury and provide the evidence for the involvement of Connexin 43/Calpain II/ Bax/Caspase-3 pathway in TXL-mediated neuroprotection.Focal cerebral I/R injury were induced by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO, for 90min) in adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. We estimated the effects of TXL on I/R injury including neurological deficit assessment and cerebral infarct volume measurement via TTC staining, and detected the protein expression of Connexin 43 (Cx43) by western blot. Furthermore, after the intracerebroventricular injection of carbenoxolone (CBX, the inhibitor of Cx43) at 30min before MCAO surgery, Calpain II, Bax and cleaved Caspased-3 immunoreactivity in ischemic penumbra region was detected by immunofluorescent staining, and cell apoptosis was detected by TUNEL staining.TXL treatment greatly improved neurological deficit and reduced the infarction volume compared to MCAO with buffer treatment (P

Highly directional and lossless surface waves have significant potential applications in two-dimensional photonic circuits and devices. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a selective Dyakonov surface wave coupling at the interface between a transparent polycarbonate material and a nematic liquid crystal 5CB. By controlling the anisotropy of the nematic liquid crystal with an applied magnetic field, a single ray at a certain incident angle from a diverged incident beam can be selectively coupled into a surface wave. The implementation of this property may lead to a new generation of on-chip integrated optics and two-dimensional photonic devices.

Objective The Dengzhan Shengmai (DZSM) capsule is a commercially available type of Chinese herbal medicine frequently administered to improve neurological impairment after stroke. Its ability to prevent recurrent stroke, however, has not been determined. This study therefore evaluated the ability of DZSM as an add-on to conventional secondary preventive agents to prevent recurrent ischemic stroke. Methods In this randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, conducted at 83 hospitals in Mainland China, 3143 patients in 14–180 days after the initial onset of ischemic stroke, were randomly allocated to the DZSM (0.36 g, twice daily for 12 months) or the placebo group. All patients in both groups received standard secondary preventive medications. The primary outcome was the 1-year incidence of stroke. Between group differences were assessed using the Cox proportional hazards model. Results Intent-to-treat analysis showed that 58 (3.8%) participants in the DZSM group and 82 (5.4%) in the placebo group experienced new stroke events (hazard ratio = 0.70, 95% confidence interval = 0.50–0.98, P = 0.036). The type and incidence of adverse events were similar in the DZSM and placebo groups. Conclusions The addition of DZSM capsules to standard secondary preventive agents provides additional benefits after the initial onset of ischemic stroke, reducing recurrent stroke without increasing severe adverse events. However, further study is needed to elucidate the role of DZSM on the updated practice of conventional secondary prevention for ischemic stroke.

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams may create a new paradigm for the future classical and quantum communication systems. A majority of existing OAM beam converters are bulky, slow, and cannot withstand high powers. Here, we design and experimentally demonstrate an ultra-fast, compact chalcogenide-based all-dielectric metasurface beam converter which has the ability to transform a Hermite&ndash, Gaussian (HG) beam into a beam carrying an OAM at near infrared wavelength. Depending on the input beam intensity, the topological charge carried by the output OAM beam can be switched between positive and negative. The device provides high transmission efficiency and is fabricated by a standard electron beam lithography. Arsenic trisulfide (As 2 S 3 ) chalcogenide glass (ChG) offers ultra-fast and large third-order nonlinearity as well as a low two-photon absorption coefficient in the near infrared spectral range.

Current studies indicate that inflammation of white adipose tissue (WAT) is a pathogenic characteristic of insulin resistance. However, the significance of visceral WAT inflammation after bariatric surgery remains unclear. Duodenojejunal bypass plus sleeve gastrectomy (DJB-SG) was performed on Goto-Kakisaki rats. Weight, fasting blood glucose (FBG), and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) in the DJB-SG group were compared to those in a sham surgery (SHAM) group every 2 weeks. The results of an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and the volume of visceral adipose tissue (Visc.Fat) were compared before and 8 weeks postsurgery. Eight weeks after surgery, the rats were sacrificed and visceral WAT collected from the greater omentum. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and cluster of differentiation 68 (CD68) expression in the WAT were evaluated in paraffin-embedded sections by immunohistochemistry. Compared with the SHAM group, the DJB-SG group demonstrated a significant reduction in weight, FBG, and HOMA-IR (P

In this Letter, we present a mechanism for effectively broadening the bandwidth of second-harmonic generation (SHG) with the metamaterial-based artificial optical nonlinearity. As the nonlinear response of the artificial nonlinearity arising from the magnetoelectric coupling constructed by the meta-molecule (MM) structure, the broadband second-order nonlinearity can be built by simply combining the MMs with different geometrical sizes together. The physical model and the numerical simulation fully support the artificial generation and modulation of the broadband second harmonics. Our work suggests a new route for realizing the on-chip custom-designed nonlinear optical devices with broadband operation.

The X-linked gene WTX (also called AMER1) has been reported to function as a tumour suppressor gene in Wilms' tumour. In our previous study, WTX expression was shown to be significantly reduced in gastric cancer (GC), but the function and mechanism associated with WTX loss had yet to be fully elucidated.WTX expression and clinical significance were father analyzed in GC and control normal gastric tissues, and validated in public databases. The candidate pathway which was regulated by WTX during GC progression was searched by KEGG pathway analysis. The miRNA which monitored WTX expression was screened by miRNA microarray. After verified the pathway and miRNA both in vitro and in vivo, the relationship of miRNA, WTX and the downstream pathway were analyzed by Western blot, immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR, Co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP), and luciferase analyses.The results showed that WTX serves as a tumour suppressor gene in GC. The loss of WTX which is associated with the aggressiveness of GC by promoting GC cell proliferation in vitro and high metastasis in vivo. Furthermore, WTX expression was positively correlated with the overall survival of GC patients. Microarray assays, bioinformatics analysis, and verification experiments showed that WTX loss activates the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and promotes GC cell proliferation and invasion. And the aberrant miR-20a-5p upregulation contributes to WTX loss in GC, which stimulates PI3K phosphorylation to activate PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and promoted GC progression.The results of the present study elucidated the mechanism of GC progression, which is at least partially caused by aberrant miR-20a-5p upregulation leading to the inhibition of WTX expression and PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway activation. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of the action of the miR-20a-5p/WTX/PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway in the progression and metastasis of GC.

Atherosclerosis is an important cause of stroke and remains a challenge for stroke prevention. Risk factors involved in atherosclerotic stroke and anterior and posterior circulation strokes (ACS and PCS, respectively) are different. The purpose of this study is to investigate differences in risk factors between intracranial and extracranial atherosclerosis (ICAS and ECAS), ACS and PCS, and ICAS/ECAS with ACS/PCS in a Chinese acute ischaemic stroke population.We analysed 551 ischaemic stroke patients who had been enrolled between August 2005 and July 2008. First, risk factors were compared between non-atherosclerosis, ICAS, ECAS, and combined ICAS and ECAS groups. ICAS and ECAS were assessed with transcranial Doppler and carotid colour Doppler ultrasound, respectively. Second, risk factors were compared between ACS and PCS groups. Stroke lesion was assessed with magnetic resonance imaging. Third, risk factors were compared in ICAS/ECAS associated with ACS/PCS.The risk factor for ICAS was high diastolic blood pressure (OR, 1.075; 95% CI, 1.016-1.138; p = 0.013), and the risk factors for ECAS were age (OR, 1.113; 95% CI, 1.046-1.183; p = 0.001) and low density lipoprotein (OR, 1.450; 95% CI, 1.087-1.935; p = 0.012). Hypertension (OR, 1.090; 95% CI, 1.001-1.109; p = 0.027) was associated with PCS. Age (OR, 1.026; 95% CI, 1.011-1.128; p = 0.003), male gender (OR, 2.278; 95% CI, 1.481-3.258; p = 0.003) and age (OR, 1.067; 95% CI, 1.013-1.123; p = 0.014), scores of NIHSS (OR, 1.069; 95% CI, 1.012-1.130; p = 0.018) were risk factors for ICAS and ECAS with ACS, respectively.Risk factors are different between ICAS and ECAS, ACS and PCS, and ICAS/ECAS with ACS/PCS. Thus, targeted strategies are needed to consider these differences to prevent, treat and manage these diseases.

In this paper, we numerically, experimentally and theoretically investigate the polarization conversion effects of Split-ring resonator (SRR)-based metamaterial. When the electric field (E) is not parallel to any side of the SRR, the electric dipole mode of SRR can be excited under normal incidence conditions. This electric dipole contains a component orthogonal to the incident polarization, which can radiate cross-polarized electric field thereby producing polarization conversion effects. Furthermore, a theoretical model is proposed to demonstrate the polarization conversion mechanism theoretically and the results of which are in good agreement with the simulated and experimental results.

In this paper, we propose a novel polarization conversion mechanism based on bianisotropic response of split ring resonator (SRR) metamaterial. It is found that under oblique incidence condition with the incident terahertz electric field parallel to the SRR gap, the magnetic field component of the incident wave can excite the fundamental LC resonance of SRR and form an electric dipole perpendicular to the SRR gap, which radiates orthogonal electric field thus resulting in polarization conversion. Numerical simulations and experiments are performed to verify this idea and the results are in excellent agreement. This study contributes to our understanding of the bianisotropic electromagnetic response of SRR and opens new opportunities for creating high-efficiency and low-loss polarization conversion devices in THz or other frequencies using bianisotropic metamaterials.

The online retail market shows a sharp increase in traffic during holiday sales. The ability to distinguish customers who will likely purchase is critical for provisioning traffic and for providing cost-effective promotions. This paper uniquely studies the browsing and purchasing behaviors of online shoppers during a yearly sale event in China, the world's largest online marketplace. Based on 31 million action logs gathered from wide residential areas, we characterize the steps leading to purchases and determine their precursors. We investigate the effect of time (e.g., date, time of date), environment (e.g., platform, viewed category), and action (e.g., session time, clicks, sequence) on purchases. Action cues from shopping behaviors can be used for early detection. Within 30 seconds of any browsing session, we are able to predict which sessions will result in purchases with a high accuracy of 92.4%. The findings in this paper provide an understanding of traffic during mega sale events that can help online shops plan and provide a better user experience for upcoming shopping festivals.

Optical beams with a phase term proportional to the azimuthal angle possess a singularity at the beam center and carry an orbital angular momentum (OAM). The OAM beams find important applications including the trapping and rotation of microscopic objects, atom-light interactions and optical communications. The OAM beams can be generated by spiral phase plates or spatial light modulators which are bulky. Recently, planar optical components including q-plates, arrays of nano-antennas and all-dielectric metasurfaces, have attracted significant attention. However, they lack reconfigurability, which means that once the components are fabricated, their functionality cannot be changed. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate a nonlinear metasurface-based beam converter which is designed to transform a Hermite-Gaussian beam to a vortex beam with an OAM in a transmission mode. The proposed converter is built of an array of nano-cubes made of chalcogenide(As2S3) glass. Chalcogenides offer several advantages for designing all-dielectric, nonlinear metasurfaces, including high linear refractive index at near-infrared wavelengths, low losses, and relatively high third-order nonlinear coefficient. In particular, reconfigurability is enabled by the intensity-dependent refractive index or Kerr nonlinearity. Input Hermite-Gaussian beam at low intensity transmitting through the metasurface acquired an OAM, while at high intensity, remained its original intensity and phase profile. The parameters of the reconfigurable metasurface were optimized and its functionality was verified using numerical simulation and in laboratory experiments. Compared to conventional metasurfaces, their nonlinear counterparts are likely to enable a number of novel devices for all-optical switching and integrated circuits applications.

We evaluate the suitability of chalcogenide glass films, of interest because of their exceptionally high optical nonlinearities, for applications in metasurface devices and discuss results for a chalcogenide film-based optical beam converter.

Ultra-compact, low-loss, fast, and reconfigurable optical components, enabling manipulation of light by light, could open numerous opportunities for controlling light on the nanoscale. Nanostructured all-dielectric metasurfaces have been shown to enable extensive control of amplitude and phase of light in the linear optical regime. Among other functionalities, they offer unique opportunities for shaping the wave front of light to introduce the orbital angular momentum (OAM) to a beam. Such structured light beams bring a new degree of freedom for applications ranging from spectroscopy and micromanipulation to classical and quantum optical communications. To date, reconfigurability or tuning of the optical properties of all-dielectric metasurfaces have been achieved mechanically, thermally, electrically or optically, using phase-change or nonlinear optical materials. However, a majority of demonstrated tuning approaches are either slow or require high optical powers. Arsenic trisulfide (As$_2$S$_3$) chalcogenide glass offering ultra-fast and large $\chi^{(3)}$ nonlinearity as well as a low two-photon absorption coefficient in the near and mid-wave infrared spectral range, could provide a new platform for the realization of fast and relatively low-intensity reconfigurable metasurfaces. Here, we design and experimentally demonstrate an As$_2$S$_3$ chalcogenide glass based metasurface that enables reshaping of a conventional Hermite-Gaussian beam with no OAM into an OAM beam at low-intensity levels, while preserves the original beam's amplitude and phase characteristics at high-intensity levels. The proposed metasurface could find applications for a new generation of optical communication systems and optical signal processing.

We design and fabricate a hyperlens with a large demagnification of 3.75. We experimentally demonstrate such hyperlens' capability to compress the original patterns with feature size of 300nm down to 80nm using 405nm light.

Second language reading is an important task for second language learners, and sense group reading training can quickly improve a learner’s reading speed. In this paper, we consider text containing syntactic information as experimental data. Sense group segmentation is converted to the problem of sequence annotation, and automatic sense group segmentation is completed based on conditional random fields (CRF). This method provides an auxiliary segmentation approach by which information technology can assist international Chinese teaching.

The future success of semiconductor technology relies on the continuing reduction of the feature size, allowing more components per chip and higher speed. Optical metamaterial-based hyperlens exhibit the ability for spatial pattern compression from the micro- to nanoscale, potentially addressing the ever-increasing demand of photolithograpy for inexpensive, all-optical nanoscale pattern recoding. Here, we demonstrate a photolithography system enabling a feature size of 80 nm using a 405 nm laser source. To realize such a system, we developed a fabrication method to obtain very thick hyperbolic metamaterial enabling a hyperlens with a very large demagnification rate of 3.75. Finally, we discuss several steps necessary to transform the proposed technique into a practical solution for the visible-light-based nanolithography. These include flattening of the inner surface of the hyperlens to increase the working area and integrating the proposed device into a conventional stepper system.

Colloidal suspensions offer as a promising platform for engineering polarizibilities and realization of large and tunable nonlinearities. Previous studies of Gaussian beams propagation in various colloidal suspensions predicted in a number of remarkable optical phenomena and applications, including initiation and regulation of chemical reactions, sorting different species of nanoparticles and imaging through highly scattering media. As compared to the conventionally used Gaussian beams, optical vortices that are characterized by the doughnut-shaped intensity profile and a helical phase front offer even more degrees of freedom for, in particular, optical trapping or imaging applications. In our earlier work, we predicted, using the linear stability analysis and numerical simulations, that the perturbations with an orbital angular momentum of a particular charge will be amplified and lead to the formation of a necklace beam with a particular number of peaks, or “beads.” Here, we performed detailed experimental studies of such necklace beam formation that show an excellent agreement with the analytical and numerical predictions. This work might bring about new possibilities for dynamic optical manipulation and transmission of light through scattering media as well as formation of complex optical patters in colloids.

Structured light and structured matter are two fascinating branches of modern optics that recently started having a significant impact on each other. However, integrating structured light, which commonly is created using bulk optics, on miniaturized silicon chips represents a significant challenge. In this talk, we discuss fundamental optical phenomena at the interface of structured light and engineered optical structures, including theoretical and experimental studies of light-matter interactions of vector and singular optical beams in optical metamaterials and microcavities. The synergy of complex beams, such as the beams carrying an orbital angular momentum (OAM), with nanostructured “engineered” media is likely to bring new dimensions to the science and applications of structured light ranging from fundamentally new regimes of spin-orbit interaction to novel ways of information encoding for the future optical communication systems. We show that unique optical properties of engineered micro- and nanosctructures open unlimited prospects to “engineer” light itself. We discuss several approaches to ultra-compact structured light wavefront shaping using metal-dielectric and all-dielectric resonant metasurfaces. Moreover, by exploiting the emerging non-Hermitian photonics design at an exceptional point, we demonstrate a microring laser generating a single-mode OAM vortex lasing with the ability to precisely define the topological charge of the OAM mode. We show that the polarization associated with OAM lasing can be further manipulated on demand, creating a radially polarized vortex emission. Our OAM microlaser could find applications in the next generation of integrated optoelectronic devices for optical communications in both quantum and classical regimes.

We experimentally investigate the formation, dynamics and stability of complex necklace beams using structured light with different orbital angular momentum propagating in nonlinear nano-colloidal suspensions with negative polarizabilities.

We demonstrate a nonlinear metasurface made of nanostructured chalcogenide glass. We combined on- and off-resonance nanostructures to realize reconfigurable structured light beam that switches between the Hermit-Gaussian and vortex shape depending on its own intensity.

By tailoring the complex index modulations at an exceptional point, we demonstrate a microring laser without spatial hole burning effect and producing a robust single-mode emission with enhanced laser slop efficiency and stability.

Light beams with orbital angular momentum have significant potential to transform many areas of modern photonics from imaging to classical and quantum communication systems. We design and experimentally demonstrate an ultracompact array of nanowaveguides with a circular graded distribution of channel diameters that coverts a conventional laser beam into a vortex with an orbital angular momentum. The proposed nanoscale beam converter is likely to enable a new generation of on-chip or all-fiber structured light applications.

A class of strongly anisotropic materials having their principal elements of dielectric permittivity or magnetic permeability tensors of opposite signs, so-called indefinite or hyperbolic materials, has recently attracted significant attention. These materials enabled such novel properties and potential applications as all-angle negative refraction, high density of states, and imaging beyond the diffraction limit using a so-called hyperlens. While several studies identified a few examples of negative refractions in birefringent crystals existing in nature, the majority of optical materials with hyperbolic dispersion relations known to date are engineered composite materials, “metamaterials”, such as metal-dielectric subwavelength multilayered structures or metal nanowires in a dielectric matrix. In this paper, we investigate naturally existing hyperbolic materials with indefinite permittivity for a range of frequencies from terahertz to ultraviolet. These include graphite, MgB2, cuprate, and ruthenate. Sp...

The emergence of optical metamaterials opens new opportunities for spatial pattern compression from the micro- to nanoscale. By exploiting strongly anisotropic optical properties of engineered nanostructures, we realize the first experimental demonstration of demagnifying hyperlens enabling optical patterning below the diffraction limit. We show that the diffraction-limited features on a mask can be demagnified to form the subwavelength patterns on the photoresist using visible light.

Green material and sustainable technologies have been becoming a heated topic recent years. This study tries to invent cotton-bamboo fiber reinforced composite material, a fully biodegrade green material, based on the preview study and explore the mechanical performance and its structure application. Two sets of experiments were carried out in this research, which are single-shear tensile loading test under ASTM standard and bending test of wind turbine blade. Results revealed that this biodegrade green material have good mechanical properties and can satisfy the requirement of some low-intensity industrial sectors. Further research is needed to apply this cotton-bamboo fiber material in broader market.

In this work, a special indeflnite medium is used to produce a plane wave beam due to its linear type equifrequency contour resulted by the zero parameter in the permeability tenser. Only one transmitting mode exists in such a medium, composing the plane wave beam propagating along the zero parameter direction. Parameters along the fleld vectors of the wave are 1, enabling the wave propagation in the medium like in the air, which is totally difierent from the zero-index medium. A split ring resonator (SRR)-arrays based metamaterial is used to realize such a medium and produce an approximate plane wave beam experimentally. This idea proposes a feasible way to generate a near fleld plane wave beam with certain beamwidth, which can also be applied in cylindrical coordination or 3D cases.