Multipartite entangled states are crucial for numerous applications in quantum information science. However, the generation and verification of multipartite entanglement on fully controllable and ...scalable quantum platforms remains an outstanding challenge. We report the deterministic generation of an 18-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state and multicomponent atomic Schrödinger cat states of up to 20 qubits on a quantum processor, which features 20 superconducting qubits, also referred to as artificial atoms, interconnected by a bus resonator. By engineering a one-axis twisting Hamiltonian, the system of qubits, once initialized, coherently evolves to multicomponent atomic Schrödinger cat states-that is, superpositions of atomic coherent states including the GHZ state-at specific time intervals as expected. Our approach on a solid-state platform should not only stimulate interest in exploring the fundamental physics of quantum many-body systems, but also enable the development of applications in practical quantum metrology and quantum information processing.
Inflammatory caspases cleave the gasdermin D (GSDMD) protein to trigger pyroptosis, a lytic form of cell death that is crucial for immune defences and diseases. GSDMD contains a functionally ...important gasdermin-N domain that is shared in the gasdermin family. The functional mechanism of action of gasdermin proteins is unknown. Here we show that the gasdermin-N domains of the gasdermin proteins GSDMD, GSDMA3 and GSDMA can bind membrane lipids, phosphoinositides and cardiolipin, and exhibit membrane-disrupting cytotoxicity in mammalian cells and artificially transformed bacteria. Gasdermin-N moved to the plasma membrane during pyroptosis. Purified gasdermin-N efficiently lysed phosphoinositide/cardiolipin-containing liposomes and formed pores on membranes made of artificial or natural phospholipid mixtures. Most gasdermin pores had an inner diameter of 10–14 nm and contained 16 symmetric protomers. The crystal structure of GSDMA3 showed an autoinhibited two-domain architecture that is conserved in the gasdermin family. Structure-guided mutagenesis demonstrated that the liposome-leakage and pore-forming activities of the gasdermin-N domain are required for pyroptosis. These findings reveal the mechanism for pyroptosis and provide insights into the roles of the gasdermin family in necrosis, immunity and diseases.
The primary cause of heart failure is the loss of cardiomyocytes in the diseased adult heart. Previously, we reported that the miR-17-92 cluster plays a key role in cardiomyocyte proliferation. Here, ...we report that expression of miR-19a/19b, members of the miR-17-92 cluster, is induced in heart failure patients. We show that intra-cardiac injection of miR-19a/19b mimics enhances cardiomyocyte proliferation and stimulates cardiac regeneration in response to myocardial infarction (MI) injury. miR-19a/19b protected the adult heart in two distinctive phases: an early phase immediately after MI and long-term protection. Genome-wide transcriptome analysis demonstrates that genes related to the immune response are repressed by miR-19a/19b. Using an adeno-associated virus approach, we validate that miR-19a/19b reduces MI-induced cardiac damage and protects cardiac function. Finally, we confirm the therapeutic potential of miR-19a/19b in protecting cardiac function by systemically delivering miR-19a/19b into mice post-MI. Our study establishes miR-19a/19b as potential therapeutic targets to treat heart failure.
Chlorine disinfection to drinking water plays an important role in preventing and controlling waterborne disease outbreaks globally. Nevertheless, little is known about why it enriches the antibiotic ...resistance genes (ARGs) in bacteria after chlorination. Here, ARGs released from killed antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB), and culturable chlorine-injured bacteria produced in the chlorination process as the recipient, were investigated to determine their contribution to the horizontal transfer of ARGs during disinfection treatment. We discovered Escherichia coli, Salmonella aberdeen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterococcus faecalis showed diverse resistance to sodium hypochlorite, and transferable RP4 could be released from killed sensitive donor consistently. Meanwhile, the survival of chlorine-tolerant injured bacteria with enhanced cell membrane permeabilisation and a strong oxidative stress-response demonstrated that a physiologically competent cell could be transferred by RP4 with an improved transformation frequency of up to 550 times compared with the corresponding untreated bacteria. Furthermore, the water quality factors involving chemical oxygen demand (COD
), ammonium nitrogen and metal ions (Ca
and K
) could significantly promote above transformation frequency of released RP4 into injured E. faecalis. Our findings demonstrated that the chlorination process promoted the horizontal transfer of plasmids by natural transformation, which resulted in the exchange of ARGs across bacterial genera and the emergence of new ARB, as well as the transfer of chlorine-injured opportunistic pathogen from non-ARB to ARB. Considering that the transfer elements were quite resistant to degradation through disinfection, this situation poses a potential risk to public health.
New Delhi metallo-β-lactamases (NDMs), the recent additions to metallo-β-lactamases (MBLs), pose a serious public health threat due to its highly efficient hydrolysis of β-lactam antibiotics and ...rapid worldwide dissemination. The MBL-hydrolyzing mechanism for carbapenems is less studied than that of penicillins and cephalosporins. Here, we report crystal structures of NDM-1 in complex with hydrolyzed imipenem and meropenem, at resolutions of 1.80-2.32 Å, together with NMR spectra monitoring meropenem hydrolysis. Three enzyme-intermediate/product derivatives, EI
, EI
, and EP, are trapped in these crystals. Our structural data reveal double-bond tautomerization from Δ
to Δ
, absence of a bridging water molecule and an exclusive β-diastereomeric product, all suggesting that the hydrolytic intermediates are protonated by a bulky water molecule incoming from the β-face. These results strongly suggest a distinct mechanism of NDM-1-catalyzed carbapenem hydrolysis from that of penicillin or cephalosporin hydrolysis, which may provide a novel rationale for design of mechanism-based inhibitors.
In the (Bi1 − xCex)VO4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) system, we found that the (Bi1 − xCex)VO4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1) belongs to the monoclinic scheelite phase and the (Bi1 − xCex)VO4 (0.7 ≤ x ≤ 1) belongs to the tetragonal ...zircon phase, while the (Bi1 − xCex)VO4 (0.1 < x < 0.7) belongs to the mixed phases of both monoclinic scheelite and tetragonal zircon structure. Interestingly, two components with near‐zero temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (TCF) appeared in this system. In our previous work, a near‐zero TCF of ~+15 ppm/°C was obtained in a (Bi0.75Ce0.25)VO4 ceramic with a permittivity (εr) of ~47.9 and a Qf (Q = quality factor = 1/dielectric loss; f = resonant frequency) value of ~18 000 GHz (at 7.6 GHz). Furthermore, in the present work, another temperature‐stable microwave dielectric ceramic was obtained in (Bi0.05Ce0.95)VO4 composition sintered at 950°C and exhibits good microwave dielectric properties with a εr of ~11.9, a Qf of ~22 360 GHz (at 10.6 GHz), and a near‐zero TCF of ~+6.6 ppm/°C. The results indicate that this system might be an interesting candidate for microwave device applications.
The first data release (DR1) of the LAMOST regular survey Zhao, Yong-Heng; Zhao, Gang; Deng, Li-Cai ...
Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics/Research in astronomy and astrophysics,
08/2015, Letnik:
15, Številka:
8
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The Large sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope (LAMOST) general survey is a spectroscopic survey that will eventually cover approximately half of the celestial sphere and collect 10 ...million spectra of stars, galaxies and QSOs. Objects in both the pilot survey and the first year regular survey are included in the LAMOST DR1. The pilot survey started in October 2011 and ended in June 2012, and the data have been released to the public as the LAMOST Pilot Data Release in August 2012. The regular survey started in September 2012, and completed its first year of operation in June 2013. The LAMOST DR1 includes a total of 1202 plates containing 2 955 336 spectra, of which 1 790 879 spectra have observed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) ≥ 10. All data with SNR ≥ 2 are formally released as LAMOST DR1 under the LAMOST data policy. This data release contains a total of 2 204 696 spectra, of which 1 944 329 are stellar spectra, 12 082 are galaxy spectra and 5017 are quasars. The DR1 not only includes spectra, but also three stellar catalogs with measured parameters: late A,FGK-type stars with high quality spectra (1061 918 entries), A-type stars (100 073 entries), and M-type stars (121 522 entries). This paper introduces the survey design, the observational and instrumental limitations, data reduction and analysis, and some caveats. A description of the FITS structure of spectral files and parameter catalogs is also provided.
Non‐precious Fe/N co‐modified carbon electrocatalysts have attracted great attention due to their high activity and stability in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). Compared to iron‐free N‐doped carbon ...electrocatalysts, Fe/N‐modified electrocatalysts show four‐electron selectivity with better activity in acid electrolytes. This is believed relevant to the unique Fe–N complexes, however, the Fe–N structure remains unknown. We used o,m,p‐phenylenediamine as nitrogen precursors to tailor the Fe–N structures in heterogeneous electrocatalysts which contain FeS and Fe3C phases. The electrocatalysts have been operated for 5000 cycles with a small 39 mV shift in half‐wave potential. By combining advanced electron microscopy and Mössbauer spectroscopy, we have identified the electrocatalytically active Fe–N6 complexes (FeN6, FeIII(porphyrin)(pyridine)2). We expect the understanding of the FeN6 structure will pave the way towards new advanced Fe–N based electrocatalysts.
The active FeNx sites in Fe/N/C catalysts were identified by electron microscopy and Mössbauer spectroscopy as the six‐coordinate FeIII species FeIII(porphyrin)(pyridine)2. The results lead the way to target‐specific synthesis of highly active and stable non‐precious metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction.
Zinc finger proteins are widely involved and play an important role in plant growth and abiotic stress. In this research,
, a gene encoding C2H2-type zinc finger protein, was cloned and investigated. ...The
was highly expressed in flower tissues by qRT-PCR analyses and GUS staining. Promoter analysis showed that
contained multiple response elements, and the expression levels of
were induced by various abiotic stress treatments. Overexpression of
in apple calli positively regulated anthocyanin accumulation by activating the expressions of anthocyanin biosynthesis-related genes. Overexpression of
in
also enhanced the accumulation of anthocyanin. In addition,
increased the sensitivity to salt stress in apple calli. Ectopic expression of
in
reduced the expression of salt-stress-related genes (
and
) and improved the sensitivity to salt stress. In conclusion, these results suggest that
plays a positive regulatory role in anthocyanin accumulation and negatively regulates salt resistance.
Electrochemical capacitors: A hierarchical porous graphitic carbon material, composed of macroporous ion‐buffering microreservoirs, ion‐transporting channels, and localized graphitic wall structures, ...is presented (see images; top: 3D skeleton, bottom: carbon platelet). The properties of this new material combine to overcome the electrode kinetic problems normally found in electrochemical capacitors, thus resulting in an excellent high‐rate energy‐storage performance.
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