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Two circularly polarized (CP) 2 × 2 array antennas based on the spoof surface plasmon polariton (SPP) and spoof localized surface plasmon (LSP) are proposed. The antenna I is fed by a feed network to increase the axial-ratio (AR) bandwidth. The spoof SPP and spoof LSP are introduced to increase the gain through energy localization, and the structure can suppress the cross-polarization to a certain extent and obtain a wider axial-ratio beamwidth. In addition, the electromagnetic band gap (EBG) is used to suppress surface waves to further increase the gain. The size of antenna I is 1.27λg × 1.27λg × 0.18λg. The impedance bandwidth and the AR bandwidth of antenna I are 72% (3.15–6.75 GHz) and 55% (3.97–6.72 GHz), respectively, and the peak gain is 11.11 dBi. The antenna II optimizes the distance between the two substrates according to antenna I to further increase the gain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying influential nodes in social networks has drawn significant attention in the field of network science. However, most of the existing works request to know the complete structural information about networks, indeed, this information is usually sensitive, private and hard to obtain. Therefore, how to identify the influential nodes in networks without disclosing privacy is especially important. In this paper, we propose a privacy-preserving (named as HE-ranking) framework to identify influential nodes in networks based on homomorphic encryption (HE) protocol. The HE-ranking method collaboratively computes the nodes' importance and protects the sensitive information of each private network by using the HE protocol. Extensive experimental results indicate that the method can effectively identify the influential nodes in the original networks than the baseline methods which only use each private network to identify influential nodes. More importantly, the HE-ranking method can protect the privacy of each private network in different parts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study effect algebra-induced partial ordered sets. All possible cases of effect algebras generated by bounded partial ordered set M I of height 2 are given. In addition, the structure of chain effect algebra is studied carefully and the corresponding results are obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cysteine, a thiol-containing amino acid, is crucial for the synthesis of sulfur-containing biomolecules that control multiple essential cellular activities. Altered cysteine metabolism has been linked to numerous driver oncoproteins and tumor suppressors, as well as to malignant traits in cancer. Cysteine can be acquired from extracellular sources or synthesized de novo via the transsulfuration (TSS) pathway. Limited availability of cystine in tumor interstitial fluids raises the possible dependency on de novo cysteine synthesis via TSS. However, the contribution of TSS to cancer metabolism remains highly contentious. Based on recent findings, we provide new perspectives on this crucial but understudied metabolic pathway in cancer. • Cysteine is critical for synthesis of sulfur-containing biomolecules that control essential cellular activities, such as redox homeostasis, mitochondrial electron transport chain reactions, and the mRNA translation machinery. • During oncogenesis, cystine uptake by the xCT transporter is controlled by driver oncoproteins and tumor suppressors. However, cyst(e)ine levels are limited in tumor interstitial fluids, creating a potential dependency on de novo cysteine synthesis via the transsulfuration (TSS) pathway. • The contribution of de novo cysteine synthesis in cancer cells is highly contentious. • Novel rate-limiting factors for the TSS pathway and glutathione (GSH)-independent cytoprotective mechanisms have been identified in cancer cells under cystine deprivation. • De novo cysteine synthesis is likely a transient but highly plastic emergency stress response mechanism in cancer cells that encounter intermittent cystine deficiency in vivo. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been growing interest in exploring the dynamical interplay of epidemic spreading and awareness diffusion within the multiplex network framework. Recent studies have demonstrated that pairwise interactions are not enough to characterize social contagion processes, but the complex mechanisms of influence and reinforcement should be considered. Meanwhile, the physical social interaction of individuals is not static but time-varying. Therefore, we propose a novel sUAU-tSIS model to characterize the interplay of simplicial awareness contagion and epidemic spreading on time-varying multiplex networks, in which one layer with 2-simplicial complexes is considered the virtual information layer to address the complex contagion mechanisms in awareness diffusion and the other layer with time-varying and memory effects is treated as the physical contact layer to mimic the temporal interaction pattern among population. The microscopic Markov chain approach based theoretical analysis is developed, and the epidemic threshold is also derived. The experimental results show that our theoretical method is in good agreement with the Monte Carlo simulations. Specifically, we find that the synergistic reinforcement mechanism coming from the group interactions promotes the diffusion of awareness, leading to the suppression of the spreading of epidemics. Furthermore, our results illustrate that the contact capacity of individuals, activity heterogeneity, and memory strength also play important roles in the two dynamics; interestingly, a crossover phenomenon can be observed when investigating the effects of activity heterogeneity and memory strength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a broadband plasmon‐induced transparency (PIT) hybrid metamaterial system (HMS) is realized and numerically demonstrated via the interference between different resonance modes of metal and dielectric resonators. The employed PIT HMS supports a strong near‐fired coupling between unit cells consisting of eight TiO2 nested split rings (dark plasmonic resonators) surrounded by four metal cut wires (bright plasmonic resonators) embedded in the intermediate dielectric layer, and a broad transparency window which is higher than 0.9 is obtained from 0.61 to 0.76 THz with a relative bandwidth of 21.9%. In the transparent window, the drastic change of phase leads to high group delay, and the remarkable slow light phenomenon can be clearly observed. The maximum of the group delay and group index can reach 528 ps and 2880, respectively. The localization distributions of the electromagnetic field intuitively exhibit the generation and action process of destructive interference. The theoretical investigation of the two‐oscillator model further confirms the effectiveness and consistency of the simulation results. In addition, the fourfold symmetric of the proposed PIT HMS supports the liberation from the dependence of incident polarization form. Such an implementation opens a new path for the designing of filtering, switching, and data storing devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhanced anapole and coupled toroidal dipole moments sustaining the synthesized terahertz (THz) metamaterial innovatively promise for absorption‐transmission‐absorption (ATA) metamaterial rasorber (MMR). The anapole mode, due to the strong interaction of electric and magnetic dipole moments, and Fabry–Pérot resonance are supported by the dumbbell‐shaped apertures topologically distributed in a double‐layer silver plate, thus forming the transmission window with high frequency‐selectivity. Meanwhile, the coupled toroidal dipole moments depending on the toroidal structure can cause destructive and constructive interference in far and near fields, respectively, thus causing much electromagnetic energy loss in a wide band. Combining anapole with toroidal dipole moments, the ATA MMR depending on the THz metamaterial can attain high absorption (over 0.88) at 1.46–2.29 THz with relative absorption bandwidth (RABW) of 44.27%, and at 3.51–4.3 THz the RABW of 20.26%, and simultaneously the transmission (over 0.7) window covering 2.9–3.21 THz, with relative transmission bandwidth (RTBW) of 10.3%. These superior properties of the MMR promise a great potential for practical application in radar and electromagnetic stealth fields. Furthermore, the innovative combination of anapole and toroidal dipole moments in the MMR assists in enriching the theoretical framework and strategically opening up state‐of‐the‐art pathways of multipole electrodynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, a 2×2 broadband circularly polarized antenna array using the sequential rotation (SR) technique in the feed network is presented. This antenna covers the 5G-band of 3.5–3.6 GHz and 4.8–4.9 GHz. So, it can be used for 5G-band communication [1]. The performance of the antenna is obtained by simulation and experiment, as follows: the bandwidth of S11 parameter below -10 dB is 3.7 GHz (3.3–7 GHz), and AR bandwidth (AR < 3 dB) is 2.4 GHz (3.5–5.5 GHz and 5.8-6.2 GHz), the maximum gain is about 10.2 dBi, and the gain is greater than 0 dBi in the range of 3.6–6.5 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To investigate the association between cardiovascular health metrics defined by Life's Essential 8 (LE8) scores and vascular complications among individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Materials and Methods: This prospective study included 11 033 participants with T2D, all devoid of macrovascular diseases (including cardiovascular and peripheral artery disease) and microvascular complications (e.g. diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy and nephropathy) at baseline from the UK Biobank. The LE8 score comprised eight metrics: smoking, body mass index, physical activity, non‐high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood pressure, glycated haemoglobin, diet and sleep duration. Cox proportional hazards models were established to assess the associations of LE8 scores with incident macrovascular and microvascular complications. Results: During a median follow‐up of 12.1 years, we identified 1975 cases of incident macrovascular diseases and 1797 cases of incident microvascular complications. After adjusting for potential confounders, each 10‐point increase in the LE8 score was associated with an 18% lower risk of macrovascular diseases and a 15% lower risk of microvascular complications. Comparing individuals in the highest and lowest quartiles of LE8 scores revealed hazard ratios of 0.55 (95% confidence interval 0.47‐0.62) for incident macrovascular diseases, and 0.61 (95% confidence interval 0.53‐0.70) for incident microvascular complications. This association remained robust across a series of sensitivity analyses and nearly all subgroups. Conclusion: Higher LE8 scores were associated with a lower risk of incident macrovascular and microvascular complications among individuals with T2D. These findings underscore the significance of adopting fundamental strategies to maintain optimal cardiovascular health and curtail the risk of developing diabetic vascular complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of industrial production and aerospace, how to measure the plasma density has also developed rapidly. So a radio-frequency plasma transducer based on a three-layer dielectric substrate antenna with a high dielectric constant is introduced. The top and bottom layers are dielectric plates, which protect the internal antenna structure and improve the equivalent permittivity of the antenna. The middle layer is the structure layer of the designed antenna. And the antenna size is 3.8 × 2 × 1.8 mm3. When the plasma frequency changes from 0.3 GHz to 7 GHz, the corresponding dielectric substrate antenna resonant frequency (RF) changes from 4.076 to 5.213 GHz. The minimum unit is 0.1 GHz, and all the measurement accuracy is more than 90%. The method based on the effective dielectric constant of plasma will change under different plasma frequencies, so the RF of the antenna is different. In this paper, the radio-frequency plasma transducer is studied theoretically and analyzed numerically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the most widely used band in wireless communication systems, S-band is often used in many military and civil fields. In this paper, with the aid of the reconfigurability realized by the solid state plasma (SSP), a tunable metamaterial-based polarization converter is proposed and theoretically investigated. Through the premeditated excitation of the SSP resonators in the specific region, the linear-to-circular polarization conversions with two different operating states can be realized and switched to each other. The numerical results show that the polarization converter can obtain circularly polarized waves in two separate bands (2.15–2.63 GHz and 3.18–3.71 GHz) when our design is in State I, and the dual operating bands expands and merges into a consecutive ultra-wideband range (2.04–3.67 GHz) when our design is switched to State II. The total tunable working range of the presented polarization converter can essentially cover the whole S-band and the phenomenon of the isolation and fusion of the operating band possesses great potential application value in the fields of radar radomes, polarization separation, electromagnetic shielding, and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a broadband and polarization-insensitive metamaterial absorber (MA) operating in the visible light band based on a cascade structure is proposed, and the main structure of MA consists of three metal resonator layers (MRLs), a metal reflector at the bottom, and a dielectric substrate between them. Each MRL consists of four different resonators. The similar resonator is proportional to the size of the top view in the different MRLs. Through the different absorption effects generated by different MRLs, a MA working in the visible light band is obtained, which can cover 490–825 nm. Absorption bandwidth can be expanded by adding different MRLs and placing different resonators near the same layer. The center frequency of the absorption spectrum can be controlled by changing the layer distance between different MRLs. To better understand the physical mechanism of absorption, the electric and magnetic field intensity distributions, the power flows, and the power loss densities also are investigated. We also found that the better permanence can be obtained with the lower incident angle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a metastructure (MS) based on the metal micro-strip lines (MSL) is proposed to implement the dual-band broadband EIT phenomenon. In this MS, the MSL acts as a bright mode (BM), exhibiting strong resonance with electromagnetic wave (EMW), while the copper backplane with a split-ring hollowed is partially coupled with the MSL structure, which performs as a quasi-dark mode (QDM). Moreover, the structure with ten dielectric cylinders added on top of the MSL structure can be fully coupled with the MSL, thus behaving as a dark mode (DM). In the proposed MS, the EIT effect in two different frequency bands by coupling BM, QDM and DM is achieved. To further study, the structural parameters of the three modes are respectively discussed for the in-depth study of physical mechanisms. Simultaneously, a designed EIT structure is simulated and verified by experiments. The simulation shows that the structure forms two absorption peaks higher than 0.9 at 1.19 GHz and 2.15 GHz, and three transmission dips at 0.8 GHz, 1.56 GHz and 2.91 GHz respectively, that is, the dual-band EIT effect is generated. The experimental results are in good agreement with the simulation results. Generally speaking, the dual-frequency EIT effect of the proposed design is reliable and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the design of a frequency reconfigurable broadband THz antenna based on vanadium dioxide (VO2) is investigated. Instead of being fed by the microstrip line directly, a windmill-shaped feeding structure is designed to provide a proximity-coupled feeding method. Many modes with contiguous resonant frequencies can be excited to obtain the wideband performance. The proposed antenna combines gold with metamaterial VO2. Thanks to insulator-metal phase transition characteristic of VO2 at phase transition temperature (68 °C), we can change the length of the resonant branches to realize frequency reconfiguration by changing the external temperature (T). The simulated results illustrate that when T = 50 °C (State I), such an antenna has a bandwidth of 35.2% (7.01–10 THz) with S11 below − 10 dB, and a maximum gain of 6.62 dBic. When T = 80 °C (State II), it has a bandwidth of 21.8% (5.77–7.18 THz) with S11 below − 10 dB, and a maximum gain of 4.49 dBic. Thus, we realize a design of a proximity-coupled antenna with reconfigurable wideband over the THz band. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a multi-functional device by using the solid-state plasma, which can be called a plasma metamaterial absorber (PMA). The absorber can get tunable absorption spectrum by exciting different solid-state plasma resonance units. The common absorption frequency region of TE and TM waves can span from 1.7162 to 3.997 THz, whose absorption rate is is than 90%. The simulations also demonstrate that when the excited solid-state plasma resonance units are different, different operating states can be realized. The proposed PMA not only can be seen as an absorber but also can be considered as a reflector or a polarization splitter under different operating states. Moreover, by investigating the surface current, electric field, and energy loss, the physical mechanism of absorption of this PMA can be figured out, which is the magnetic resonance. Such a device also can potentially act as a space beam compiler. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconstructing complex networks and predicting the dynamics are particularly challenging in real-world applications because the available information and data are incomplete. We develop a unified collaborative deep-learning framework consisting of three modules: network inference, state estimation, and dynamical learning. The complete network structure is first inferred and the states of the unobserved nodes are estimated, based on which the dynamical learning module is activated to determine the dynamical evolution rules. An alternating parameter updating strategy is deployed to improve the inference and prediction accuracy. Our framework outperforms baseline methods for synthetic and empirical networks hosting a variety of dynamical processes. A reciprocity emerges between network inference and dynamical prediction: better inference of network structure improves the accuracy of dynamical prediction, and vice versa. We demonstrate the superior performance of our framework on an influenza dataset consisting of 37 US States and a PM 2.5 dataset covering 184 cities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel multifunctional polarization converter (PC) based on the solid-state plasma (SSP) is proposed, which can switch two functions and adjust the working band. By energizing different parts of SSP resonators, the presented PC can accomplish three different operating states. In the state 1, this PC can operate in 6.12-9.50 GHz and the relative bandwidth (RB) is 43.3%, which can achieve the aim of the linear-to-circular polarization conversion (LCPC). In the state 2, the cross-polarization conversion (CPC) can be achieved in 4.62-8.34 GHz (the RB is 57.4%). Besides, in the state 3, such a PC can be implemented within a 7.92-10.34 GHz working band of CPC (the RB is 26.5%). All in all, the proposed PC can realize the function switchover between LCPC and CPC, and the operating bands of the CPC can be shifted flexibly between the states 2 and 3. The proposed PC has great potential values in antennas, imaging systems, electromagnetic devices and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a novel gravity-tailored absorber to achieve two different absorption peaks at two different frequencies, whose improvement is based on the traditional sandwich structure. It is unusual that two dug grooves inside are filled with the liquid dielectrics. Since existing the gravity field, rotating this absorber in the xy plane will make the absorption peak change. In addition, this gravity-tailored absorber has a good stability of the incidence angle. The discussion of the power flow, the electric field, and structure parameters are also given to explain the physical mechanism. Compared with the existing manners of regulation, this regulation of presented absorber might be more convenient to achieve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a solid-state plasma metasurface (SSPM) for linear-to-circular polarization conversion is designed and investigated. The unit cell of such a SSPM consists of three layers from bottom to top, which are the copper coating, the dielectric layer, and the solid-state plasma resonators, respectively. By exciting solid-state plasma resonance units in different regions, we successfully achieved two operating modes (modes I and II). In mode I, the axial ratio band which is less than 3 dB (3 dB AR band) is mainly obtained in 14.34–19.61 GHz (the relative bandwidth is 31.25%). When the proposed SSPM is regulated to mode II, the 3 dB AR band is changed to 8.81–14.34 GHz (the relative bandwidth is 40.90%). The polarization conversion rate, phase difference, AR curves, and surface current diagrams are analyzed to explore the performances of the proposed SSPM. Our design promotes the potential applications of tunable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) linear-to-circular polarization converter (LCPC), innovatively tailored by the gravity field through the fluidity of liquid metal mercury (Hg), is designed and studied. The proposed LCPC is composed of a 3D glass cavity filled with Hg, a copper reflector, a trenched dielectric layer, and a copper patch. Due to the specially designed 3D glass cavity, Hg will flow in different parts of the glass cavity to form different resonant structures by means of rotation under the action of the gravity field. When the proposed LCPC is not rotated (is placed parallel to the xoy plane), the axial ratio band which is less than 3 dB (3-dB AR band) is obtained in the band of 32.42–42.82 GHz (the relative bandwidth is 27.64%). And when such a LCPC is rotated (is placed perpendicular to the xoy plane), the 3-dB AR band shifts to 18.88–32.86 GHz (the relative bandwidth is 54.04%). Besides, the surface current diagrams are investigated to explain the physics mechanism of the proposed LCPC, and relevant parameters are also discussed. In our design, the proposed LCPC has the advantages of wideband, tunable characteristics, and easy adjustment. In addition, it provides an innovative design idea of LCPC to promote potential applications of tunable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impairment of cardiac lymphatic vessels leads to cardiac lymphedema. Recent studies have suggested that stimulation of lymphangiogenesis may reduce cardiac lymphedema. However, effects of lymphatic endothelial progenitor cells (LEPCs) on cardiac lymphangiogenesis are poorly understood. Therefore, this study investigated effectiveness of LEPC transplantation and VEGF-C release with self-assembling peptide (SAP) on cardiac lymphangiogenesis after myocardial infarction (MI). CD34+VEGFR-3+ EPCs isolated from rat bone marrow differentiated into lymphatic endothelial cells after VEGF-C induction. VEGF-C also stimulated the cells to incorporate into the lymphatic capillary-like structures. The functionalized SAP could adhere with the cells and released VEGF-C sustainedly. In the condition of hypoxia and serum deprivation or abdominal pouch assay, the SAP hydrogel protected the cells from apoptosis and necrosis. At 4 weeks after intramyocardial transplantation of the cells and VEGF-C loaded with SAP hydrogel in rat MI models, cardiac lymphangiogenesis was increased, cardiac edema and reverse remodeling were reduced, and cardiac function was improved significantly. Delivery with SAP hydrogel favored survival of the engrafted cells. VEGF-C released from the hydrogel promoted differentiation and incorporation of the cells as well as growth of pre-existed lymphatic vessels. Cardiac lymphangiogenesis was beneficial for elimination of the inflammatory cells in the infarcted myocardium. Moreover, angiogenesis and myocardial regeneration were enhanced after reduction of lymphedema. These results demonstrate that the combined delivery of LEPCs and VEGF-C with the functionalized SAP promotes cardiac lymphangiogenesis and repair of the infarcted myocardium effectively. This study represents a novel therapy for relieving myocardial edema in cardiovascular diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose a three-dimensional tunable absorber to realize a controllable unidirectional absorption and unidirectional transmission based on the plasma metamaterial, which includes two metamaterial layers that are vertical to each other. Each side of the proposed absorber integrates two split-ring resonators, which are made in the solid-state plasma (SSP). Unidirectional absorption and unidirectional transmission can be achieved when the incident angle of the electromagnetic wave is 30°. Furthermore, the unidirectional absorption and unidirectional transmission can be manipulated through exciting the different SSP resonators and adjusting the positions of the corresponding gaps between the two SSP resonators. In addition, the tunable absorption and transmission spectra can be obtained when the different SSP resonators are excited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the metastructure absorbers (MSA) have opened up a new sensing approach, whereas the existing designs suffer from a short numerical measurement range and small sensitivity span. In this paper, a photoexcited MSA that enables a transition between three operating states in the terahertz (THz) regime is proposed. The MSA merges two kinds of photosensitive semiconductor materials embedded in the split ring structure. By adjusting the wavelength of the pump light, semiconductor materials can be excited thus realizing the mutual change of three states in absorption. The structure appears to dual peaks absorption at normal incidence with absorptivity of 95.32% at 0.9269 THz and 99.42% at 1.5586 THz without the illumination of the pump light. Furthermore, it is worth emphasizing that we introduce a novel idea to utilize this actively tunable MSA for refractive index sensing. Not only it has the advantage of large sensitivity variation from 0.0471 (THz/RIU) to 0.1239 (THz/RIU) but also it can be applied in five different refractive index numerical measurement ranges spanning from 1 to 4 with preferable performance. Finally, the absorption effect of the MSA is analyzed under different incidence and polarization angles. • Tunability of three states using two photosensitive materials can be achieved. • Refractive index sensing with large sensitivity variation in five different refractive index. • The design has superb tolerance of the angular stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this paper, the characteristics of the extraordinary mode in the 3D magnetized plasma photonic crystals containing the function dielectric with woodpile lattices are investigated in theory. Such photonic crystals are called the function dielectric magnetized plasma photonic crystals (FMPPCs), and only the magneto-optical Voigt effect of the magnetized plasma is considered. The configuration of such a FMPPC is that the function dielectric square columns are embedded into the magnetized plasma. The permittivity of the function dielectric is space-depended. The results which are calculated by the plane wave expansion method illustrate that a narrower photonic band gap can be achieved in the proposed FMPPCs compared with the conventional 3D woodpile PCs, which only contain the plasma or function dielectric. The studies also show that the better performance can be realized by optimizing the parameters of FMPPCs, and give us another alternative way to realize the reconfigurable applications with the 3D FMPPCs. Highlights • The features of extraordinary mode in 3D FMPPCs is investigated. • The formulas of PWE method are derived. • Compared to the PPCs and PCs, the narrower PBG can be obtained. • The PBG can be tuned by I , b , R, ω c and ω p. • The FBRs can be tailored by ω c and ω p. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the dispersion properties of three-dimensional function magnetized plasma photonic crystals (FMPPCs) are theoretically studied by a modified plane wave expansion method, when the magneto-optical Faraday effect is considered, and the directions of the electromagnetic wave vector and the extrinsic magnetic field are always parallel to each other. The arrangement of these FMPPCs is that the function dielectric square columns are embedded into the plasma background, and the inserted dielectric columns are arranged by woodpile lattices with face-centered-tetragonal symmetry. The relative permittivity of function square columns depends on the space coordinates. The relationships between the parameters of FMPPCs and the photonic bandgaps (PBGs) for the right and left circular polarization waves also are investigated. The calculated results demonstrate that those PBGs can be tailored by those parameters, and the right and left circular polarization waves can be split when the extrinsic magnetic field is large enough. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the properties of tunable unidirectional ultra-wideband absorption for one-dimensional (1D) plasma photonic crystals (PPCs) with the Thue-Morse sequence are theoretically investigated, which consist only of eight plasma layers with two different plasma frequencies. The computed results show that whether the incident electromagnetic wave is the TM wave or the TE wave, the unidirectional ultra-wideband absorption can be observed in the proposed 1D PPCs, and the largest relative bandwidths of unidirectional absorption regions (UARs) for TM and TE waves are 128.31% and 64.16%, respectively. To study the performance of UARs, the effects of the parameters of such PPCs on the UAR are also discussed. The obtained results indicate that the tuning effects of the incident angle on the UARs for TM and TE waves are different, but similar trends of UARs for TM and TE waves can be observed when the plasma frequency and filling factor are changed, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The formation of intracranial aneurysm (IA) is associated with the destruction of various cellular and structural components, which induces pathogenic inflammatory responses that further propagate tissue damage. The regulatory immune system can suppress exacerbated inflammation and offer tissue protection; however, previous studies by others and us have demonstrated that the regulatory T (Treg) cells were functionally impaired in IA patients. Hence, strategies that can improve Treg function in IA patients should be investigated. Based on our previous finding that IL-2 strongly elevated the expression of the checkpoint molecule Tim-3 in Treg cells, we examined the effect of IL-2 in the function of Treg cells from IA patients. External IL-2 significantly improved the proliferation of Treg cells, increased the expression of CTLA-4 and LAG-3, and enhanced Treg-mediated suppression of conventional T cell (Tconv) proliferation. Importantly, compared to the Tim-3− Treg cells, the Tim-3+ Treg cells presented comparable proliferation capacity, but significantly greater expressions of CTLA-4 and LAG-3 and significantly higher capacity to suppress Tconv proliferation. In addition, blocking Tim-3 abrogated IL-2-mediated enhancement of Tim-3+ Treg cells. We then investigated the IL-2 level in IA patients, and found that although IA patients and healthy controls presented similar serum IL-2 concentration, the concentrations of IL-1β and TNF-α were significantly higher in IA patients than in healthy controls, signaling a relative reduction in IL-2 abundance. Together, we found that IL-2 could significantly enhance the function of Treg cells from IA patients in a Tim-3-dependent manner. Highlights • IL-2 significantly improved the proliferation of Treg cells from IA patients. • IL-2 improved the expression of checkpoint inhibitors associated with Tregs. • IL-2 enhanced the suppressive capacity of Treg cells in a Tim-3-dependent manner. • The IL-2/TNF-α and IL-2/IL-1β ratio were significantly reduced in IA patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The features of three-dimensional (3D) photonic crystals (PCs) composed of air and space-depended dielectric constituent are theoretically investigated by the plane wave expansion method, and the formulas to compute dispersion curves are derived. The arrangement for the present PCs is that the space-depended dielectric spheres are surrounded by the air, and the embedded dielectric spheres are arranged according to the simple-cubic lattices. The relative permittivity of dielectric spheres is depend on the control parameters and space coordinates. The relationships between the parameters of proposed PCs and the band structures also are studied. The computed results demonstrate that the achieved photonic band gaps (PBGs) can be adjusted by those parameters as mentioned above. Compared to the conventional dielectric-air PCs with the same topology, the wider bandwidth of PBG can be observed in such PCs. The computed results also shows us another alternative away to realize the reconfigurable applications with the 3D PCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Pathogenic inflammation contributes to aneurysm formation by mediating the destruction of the endothelium and the extracellular matrix and promoting pathogenic proliferation of smooth muscle cells. In mouse models, tolerance-inducing T regulatory (Treg) cells could significantly reduce the incidence and severity of aneurysms. Hence, it should be investigated why in human intracranial aneurysm (IA) patients, Treg cells failed to provide protection against aneurysm formation. In this study, the frequency and function of Treg cells in IA patients were examined. The frequency of Foxp3+ Treg cells was significantly lower in IA patients than in healthy controls. This downregulation was only specific to the Treg subset of CD4+ T cells, as the frequency of total CD4+ T cell was increased in IA patients. Subsequently, we found that the expressions of Treg-associated molecules, including Foxp3, CTLA-4, TGF-β, and IL-10, were significantly lower in Foxp3+ Treg cells from IA patients than in Foxp3+ Treg cells from healthy controls. In both healthy controls and IA patients, Foxp3+ Treg cells were distinguished into a more potent Tim-3+ subset and a less potent Tim-3− subset. The Tim-3+ subset of Foxp3+ Treg cells was significantly reduced in IA patients. Signaling via IL-2, IL-7, IL-15 and IL-21 was shown to promote Tim-3 upregulation in CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Interestingly, we found that Tim-3 could be upregulated in Treg cells via the same mechanism, but compared to the Treg cells from healthy controls, the Treg cells from IA patients presented defects in Tim-3 upregulation upon cytokine stimulation. Together, our results demonstrated that Foxp3+ Treg cells in IA patients presented reduced function, which was associated with a defect in Tim-3 upregulation. Highlights • IA patients presented a reduction in the frequency of Treg cells. • Treg cells from IA patients presented lower Foxp3 and CTLA-4 expression. • Treg cells showed lower inhibitory cytokine expression in IA patients. • Treg cells presented reduced Tim-3 expression in IA patients. • Treg cells revealed impaired capacity to upregulate Tim-3 in IA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the properties of the photonic band gaps (PBGs) of three-dimensional (3D) nonlinear plasma photonic crystals (NPPCs) are theoretically investigated by a modified plane wave expansion (PWE) method, whose equations for calculations also are deduced. The configuration of NPPCs is the Kerr nonlinear dielectric spheres (Kerr effect is considered) inserted into the plasma background with simple-cubic (SC) lattices whose dielectric constant is a function of the external light intensity. One distribution of Kerr nonlinear dielectric is considered, which can be expressed as a function of space coordinates. The influences of the external light intensity and filling factor on the PBGs also are discussed. The calculated results show that the locations, bandwidths and number of PBGs can be tailored by the external light intensity and filling factor. Compared with the conventional 3D dielectric PCs and plasma photonic crystals (PPCs) with SC lattices, the more PBGs or larger PBG can be obtained in the 3D NPPCs. Those results provide a new way to design some novel reconfigurable devices based on the PPCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the investigation of the angular selective windows (ASWs) is realized by constructing multilayer ceramic photonic crystals 1 (MCPC1) containing superconductor films YaBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 and air layers, MCPC2 composed of dielectrics layers of gallium arsenide ceramic (GaAs), silicon dioxide (SiO 2), and aluminium nitride ceramic (AIN), and MCPC3 made up of GaAs and SiO 2 films. The epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) properties of the superconductor in MCPC1 and the extremely small dispersion edge regions (DERs) in MCPC2 and MCPC3 provide criteria for angle selection. Organic combinations of three MCPCs can be used to achieve single-channel, dual-channel, three-channel, and four-channel ASWs. At the same time, the applicable working frequency bands for various channels are also studied. In particular, thanks to the lossless ENZ characteristics of YaBa 2 Cu 3 O 7 , ultra-wideband single-channel ASWs of 220–1500 THz can be realized. In addition, the temperature change is also conducive to the control of ASWs position. As far as we know, there are few reports on the channel of ASWs at present, so we hope that the proposed design method will be beneficial to the research of improving the angular device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An electromagnetically induced transparency metamaterial (EITM) based on dielectric resonators is presented in this paper, which consists of a cut wire (CW) and ten dielectric columns. Destructive interference between the CW, which is a branch of the microstrip line, and the dielectric resonators causes the EIT phenomenon. The simulation results show that the dielectric‐based EITM designed can obtain a transmission peak of 0.938 at 2.17 GHz, and the two‐oscillator model is utilized to verify the effectiveness of the structure. In addition, samples of the dielectric‐based EITM are also fabricated and the effectiveness of the metamaterial is experimentally verified. The proposed metamaterial has several advantages, including high efficiency, low loss, a simple structure, and ease of manufacture, which has good prospects for application in the fields of electromagnetic switches, sensors, and nonlinear metamaterials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, theoretical derivation of band structures of electromagnetic waves in two-dimensional microplasma array has been induced by Osamu Sakai et al. [J. Appl. Phys. 101, 073304 (2007)] using a modified plane wave expansion (PWE) method and a frequency-dependent finite difference time-domain (FDTD) method. This report reveals band diagrams with the effects of plasma electron collision frequency, especially focuses on the TE wave by nonmagnetized plasma. Although the band diagrams of TE wave and formulas of calculation look correct at first glance, there are some mistakes in the report which are unfortunately ignored by the authors. The correct formulas of the modified PWE method and FDTD method will be proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the Mie resonance and dispersion properties in the two-dimensional (2D) superconductor photonic crystals (SPCs) with fractal structure under a transverse-magnetic (TM) wave are theoretically investigated by a modified plane wave expansion method, whose equations of calculations also are deduced. The configuration of 2D SPCs is the dielectric rods embedded into the superconductor Nb background with square lattices according to the iteration rule of Thue-Morse sequence (Th-MS). The calculated density of states and band structures are used to elaborate the Mie resonance in the proposed SPCs and the properties of photonic band gap (PBG) and defect mode, and the influences of configurational parameters on the dispersion properties are studied in detail as well. The calculated results demonstrate that the lower edge of PBG is flattened, which is originated from the Mie resonance, and two defect modes (quasi-localized states) appear in the PBG since Th-MS has the self-similarity and non-periodicity at the same time. The PBG and defect modes can be obviously trimmed off by changing those parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MicroRNAs (miRs) have been proposed as minimally invasive prognostic markers for various types of cancer, including liver cancer, which is one of the most common cancers worldwide. In the present study, the expression of miR‑34a in human liver cancer tissues and cell lines was evaluated and the effects of miR‑34a on cell proliferation, invasion and glycolysis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells were determined. The results indicated that miR‑34a was downregulated in human liver cancer tissues. Overexpression of miR‑34a significantly inhibited liver cancer cell proliferation and clone formation. In terms of the underlying mechanism, miR‑34a was indicated to negatively regulate the expression of lactate dehydrogenase A (LDHA), which consequently inhibited LDHA‑dependent glucose uptake in the cancer cells, as well as cell proliferation and invasion. Collectively, these data suggest that miR‑34a functions as a negative regulator of glucose metabolism and may serve as a novel marker for liver cancer prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Recent findings have identified thousands of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and reveal that lncRNAs play crucial roles in the regulation of tumor development and progression. However, the clinical significance and potentially functional value of LINC00261 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remain unknown. METHODS: Expression of LINC00261 was detected by qRT-PCR in HCC tissues and adjacent normal tissues. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to assess the relationship between LINC00261 expression and the overall survival (OS) time. Cell proliferation and invasion were evaluated using MTT assay, cell colony formation assay and transwell assay. The protein expression was determined by western blot analysis. RESULTS: In present study, we confirmed that LINC00261 was frequently lower in HCC tissues compared to adjacent normal tissues. Decreased LINC00261 expression associated with lager tumor size, TNM stage (III-IV) and poor overall survival time of HCC patients. The functional assays demonstrated that overexpression of LINC00261 in HCC cells inhibited cell proliferation, cell colony formation, cell invasion and EMT process in vitro. Moreover, we also demonstrated that upregulation of LINC00261 significantly inhibited Notch signaling by downregulating Notch1 and Hes-1 expression in HCC cells. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that LINC00261 may be a potential target of HCC treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Silybum marianum, a member of the Aster family, is a well-known Chinese herb and the source of a popular antioxidant that is extensively used in Asia. The abundant S. marianum straws are still underutilized and wastefully discarded to pollute the environment. Objective: To solve the above problem and better utilize S. marianum straws, the objective of this study was to optimize the conditions for extraction of silymarin from S. marianum straws. Materials and Methods: A combination of microwave-assisted extraction and response surface methodology (RSM) was used for silymarin from S. marianum straws and yield assessment by high-performance liquid chromatography method. The RSM was based on a five-level, four-variable central composite design (CCD). Results: The results indicated that the optimal conditions to obtain highest yields of silymarin were microwave power of 146 W, extraction time of 117 s, liquid-to-solid ratio of 16:1 mL/g, and ethanol concentration of 43% (v/v). Validation tests indicated that under the optimized conditions, the actual yield of silymarin was 6.83 ± 0.57 mg/g with relative standard deviation of 0.92% (n = 5), which was in good agreement with the predicted yield. Conclusions: The exploitation of the natural plant resources present very important impact for the economic development. The knowledge obtained from this work should be useful to further exploit and apply this material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the properties of the photonic band gaps (PBGs) of three-dimensional (3D) function photonic crystals (PCs) are theoretically investigated by a modified plane wave expansion (PWE) method, whose equations for computations are deduced. The configuration of 3D function PCs is the dielectric spheres inserted in the air background with simple-cubic (SC) lattices whose dielectric constants are the functions of space coordinates, which can be realized by the electro-optical or optical Kerr effect in the practice. The influences of the parameter for 3D function PCs on the PBGs also are discussed. The calculated results show that the bandwidths and number of PBGs can be tuned with different distributions of function dielectrics. Compared with the conventional 3D dielectric PCs with SC lattices, the larger and more PBGs can be obtained in the 3D function PCs. Those results provide a new way to design the novel practical devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dube, Georgiou, Megaritis and Moshokoa (2015) characterized the covering dimension of a finite lattice. The covering dimension is completely different from the order dimension. The covering dimension of a finite lattice L will be denoted by dim ( L ) in this paper. Dube, Georgiou, Megaritis and Moshokoa (2015) posed three open questions. In this paper we answer two of these three questions. Question 1 is that whether the relation dim ( L 1 × L 2 ) ≤ dim ( L 1 ) + dim ( L 2 ) + 1 holds for all finite lattices L 1 and L 2 . We give a positive answer for the above Question 1. Question 2 is that whether the relation dim ( L 1 ∘ L 2 ) ≤ dim ( L 1 ) + dim ( L 2 ) + 1 holds for all finite lattices L 1 and L 2 . We give a negative answer to the above Question 2 by an example. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, under the complex network framework, we study a seasonal influenza-like disease model by incorporating the interplay between subsidy policies and human behavioral responses. In the model a small proportion of individuals are freely vaccinated according to either the targeted or random subsidy policy in advance, while the remaining individuals choose to vaccinate (or not) based on voluntary principle and update their vaccination decision via an imitation rule. Our findings show that the targeted subsidy policy is only advantageous when individuals prefer to imitate the subsidized individuals’ strategy. Otherwise, the effectiveness of the targeted policy is worse than that of the random subsidy policy, since individuals preferentially select non-subsidized individuals as their potential imitation objects. More importantly, under the targeted subsidy policy, preferential imitation causes a non-trivial phenomenon: that the final epidemic size increases rather decreases with the proportion of subsidized individuals. We further define social cost as the sum of the costs of vaccination and infection, and study the impact of each subsidy policy on the social cost. Our result shows that there exist some optimal intermediate regions leading to the minimal social cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link prediction algorithm is one of the key technologies to reveal the inherent rule of network evolution. This paper proposes a novel link prediction algorithm based on the properties of the local community, which is composed of the common neighbor nodes of any two nodes in the network and the links between these nodes. By referring to the node degree and the condition of assortativity or disassortativity in a network, we comprehensively consider the effect of the shortest path and edge clustering coefficient within the local community on node similarity. We numerically show the proposed method provide good link prediction results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a refractive index (RI) sensor with superconducting photonic crystal in the terahertz regime is theoretically analyzed by the transfer matrix method. An asymmetric resonance cavity containing gradient thicknesses of the superconducting layer is employed to suppress the resonance absorption linewidth. We present the coupled wave theoretical model to give an optimization scheme for excellent sensing performance. The proposed sensing models can achieve an excellent single resonant peak when the temperature is over 80 K. When the incident angle varies between 50° and 70° in TE mode, the shift of a single resonant peak has a linear relationship with the incident angle. The simulation results report that the sensitivity and figure of merit in the optimal model can reach over 22.2 μm RIU−1 (RIU represents RI unit) and 265 at the ultralow temperature (85 K), respectively. Its performance indicators are dozens of times those of the traditional photonic crystal RI sensor. Our study provides theoretical guidance for the design of a low-temperature RI sensor with a high-performance indicator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an ultra‐wideband chirality selective metastructure absorber is proposed that enables differential absorption and reflection of circularly polarized waves in the terahertz (THz) range. The structure achieves circular dichroism (CD) by using asymmetrically split metal rings as fundamental meta‐atoms. Most critically, the high impedance surface and air‐resonant cavities are inserted separately in the meta‐atoms and dielectric substrate to enhance CD and broaden the bandwidth of absorption. The metastructure absorber can achieve more than 90% absorption of right circularly polarized waves at 0.675–1.244 THz, and it can maintain more than 90% reflection of left circularly polarized waves at 0.607–1.229 THz without changing the direction of rotation. Besides, its CD can reach more than 80% at 0.687–1.213 THz with a relative bandwidth of 55.3%. Spin‐selective absorption, which is closely related to breaking chiral symmetry, is investigated through power loss distribution, wide‐angle incidence, and scan parameter optimization. The proposed strategy is further validated in the THz band, and the polarization selection and manipulation techniques can be applied to chiral sensing/radio‐thermometry, circular polarization detectors/lasers, and molecular spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intracranial aneurysms (IAs) and potential IA rupture are one of the direct causes of permanent brain damage and mortality. Interestingly, the major risk factors of IA development, including hemodynamic stress, hypertension, smoking, and genetic predispositions, are closely associated with a proinflammatory immune status. Therefore, we examined the roles of CD4+ T cells in IA pathogenesis. IA patients exhibited peripheral CD4+ T-cell imbalance, with overrepresented T helper 1 (Th1) and Th17 activities and underrepresented Th2 and regulatory T (Treg) activities, including increased IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-17 production and decreased IL-10 production from total CD4+ T cells. Chemokine receptors CXCR3 and CCR6 were used to identify Th1, Th2, and Th17 cell subsets, and CD4+CD25hi was used to identify Treg cells. Based on these markers, the data then showed altered cytokine production by each cell type and shifted subpopulation frequency. Moreover, this shift in frequency was directly correlated with IA severity. To examine the underlying mechanism of CD4+ T cell skewing, we cocultured CD4+ T cells with autologous monocytes and found that coculture with monocytes could significantly increase IFN-γ and IL-17 production through contact-independent mechanisms, demonstrating that monocytes could potentially contribute to the altered CD4+ T cell composition in IA. Analyzing mRNA transcripts revealed significantly upregulated IL-1β and TNF-α expression by monocytes from IA patients. We found a loss of CD4+ T cell subset balance that was likely to promote a higher state of inflammation in IA, which may exacerbate the disease through a positive feedback loop. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor recurrence remains one major obstacle for further improving the prognosis of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients after curative liver resection. It has been widely reported that tumor size, positive surgical margin, macroscopic vascular invasion, tumor-node-metastasis stage and Edmondson's grade were significantly related to HCC recurrence. However, the association between HCC recurrence and important viral factors, including the HBV DNA levels, status of hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis B e-antigen, levels of cccDNA and hepatitis B core-related antigen, viral genotypes and specific viral sequence mutations remained controversial. Meanwhile, studies on the effect of postoperative adjuvant antiviral therapy on HCC recurrence have been relatively limited and have yielded conflicting results. Identification of certain viral risk factors for HCC recurrence and stratification of patient risk are very important to perform future surveillance programs. As a HBV hyperendemic region, the majority of HBV-related HCC patients develop in East Asia. In this article, we thus systematically reviewed the risk of important viral factors involved in recurrent carcinogenesis and the role of adjuvant antiviral therapy in preventing tumor recurrence in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The risk of anemia due to bevacizumab-based chemotherapy has not been well described, and new randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have been reported in recent years. We therefore conducted an up-to-date meta-analysis of RCTs to fully characterize the risk of anemia with bevacizumab. Methods: We carried out an electronic search of Medline, Embase, and The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials to investigate the effects of RCTs on bevacizumab treatment on cancer patients up to October 2014, and random or fixed-effect meta-analytical models were used to assess the risk ratio (RR) of anemia due to the use of bevacizumab according to the heterogeneity of included studies. Results: A total of 13,173 patients were included in this analysis from 18 RCTs. Among those patients receiving bevacizumab and chemotherapy, the incidences of all-grade and high-grade (grade 3 and above) anemia were 24 % (95 % confidence interval (CI) 13-41 %) and 4.0 % (95 % CI 3.0-6.0 %), respectively. Bevacizumab-containing therapy did not significantly decreased the risk of developing all-grade anemia (RR 0.872, 95 % CI 0.739-1.029, P = 0.104) and high-grade anemia (RR 0.850, 95 % CI 0.720-1.002, P = 0.053), which is not in agreement with previous meta-analysis. On subgroup analysis, we did not find significant risk differences based on bevacizumab dosage, tumor types, and concomitant drugs. When stratified by dose level, a significantly decreased risk of high-grade anemia with bevacizumab was obtained in a lower dose level (2.5 mg/kg/week, RR 0.773, 95 % CI 0.611-0.978, P = 0.031) compared to control group. Conclusions: Bevacizumab did not significantly reduce the risk of anemia with chemotherapy in cancer patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]