Abstract
Variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) are widely applied in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum era and are expected to demonstrate quantum advantage. However, training VQAs faces ...difficulties, one of which is the so-called barren plateaus (BPs) phenomenon, where gradients of cost functions vanish exponentially with the number of qubits. In this paper, inspired by transfer learning, where knowledge of pre-solved tasks could be further used in a different but related work with training efficiency improved, we report a parameter initialization method to mitigate BP. In the method, a small-sized task is solved with a VQA. Then the ansatz and its optimum parameters are transferred to tasks with larger sizes. Numerical simulations show that this method could mitigate BP and improve training efficiency. A brief discussion on how this method can work well is also provided. This work provides a reference for mitigating BP, and therefore, VQAs could be applied to more practical problems.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized as a progressive and sustained increase in pulmonary vascular resistance, which may induce right ventricular failure. In 2014, the Working Group ...on Pulmonary Hypertension of the Taiwan Society of Cardiology (TSOC) conducted a review of data and developed a guideline for the management of PAH.4 In recent years, several advancements in diagnosis and treatment of PAH has occurred. Therefore, the Working Group on Pulmonary Hypertension of TSOC decided to come up with a focused update that addresses clinically important advances in PAH diagnosis and treatment. This 2018 focused update deals with: (1) the role of echocardiography in PAH; (2) new diagnostic algorithm for the evaluation of PAH; (3) comprehensive prognostic evaluation and risk assessment; (4) treatment goals and follow-up strategy; (5) updated PAH targeted therapy; (6) combination therapy and goal-orientated therapy; (7) updated treatment for PAH associated with congenital heart disease; (8) updated treatment for PAH associated with connective tissue disease; and (9) updated treatment for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.
•Adequate surgical margin for OSCC needs to be re-evaluated.•The study enrolled 15,654 patients with OSCC from the TCR database.•Advanced N stage and positive margin are major risk factors for poor ...CSS and OS.•Surgical margins <4 mm and <5 mm predict poor CSS and OS, respectively.
Margin status and lymph node metastasis are the most important prognostic factors for oral cancers. However, while adequate surgical resection is crucial for local control and prognosis, the definition of clear margins has long been a subject of debate. In this study, we analyzed data from a nationwide population-based cancer registry database and evaluated the impact of surgical margins on cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS) as well as the optimal cutoff of adequate surgical margins.
This analysis included all cases of oral cancer diagnosed from 2011 to 2017 that were reported to the Taiwan Cancer Registry database. The staging system was converted from American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) version 7 to AJCC version 8. Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox proportional-hazards regression were performed to identify covariates that were significantly associated with CSS and OS.
Between 2011 and 2017, 15,654 of a total of 36,091 cases diagnosed with oral cancers were included in the final analyses. Advanced N stage, positive margins, and advanced T stage are the leading risk factors for poor CSS and OS. When surgical margins were subdivided into 1-mm intervals from 5 mm to positive margin, we found that surgical margins <4 mm and <5 mm predict poor CSS and OS, respectively.
This is the first nationwide, population-based cohort to revisit the question of the adequate surgical margins for oral cancers. We conclude that surgical margins ≥4 mm and ≥5 mm are adequate for good CSS and OS, respectively.
Stereocontrolled chemical glycosylation remains a major challenge despite vast efforts reported over many decades and so far still mainly relies on trial and error. Now it is shown that the relative ...reactivity value (RRV) of thioglycosides is an indicator for revealing stereoselectivities according to four types of acceptors. Mechanistic studies show that the reaction is dominated by two distinct intermediates: glycosyl triflates and glycosyl halides from N‐halosuccinimide (NXS)/TfOH. The formation of glycosyl halide is highly correlated with the production of α‐glycoside. These findings enable glycosylation reactions to be foreseen by using RRVs as an α/β‐selectivity indicator and guidelines and rules to be developed for stereocontrolled glycosylation.
Selectivity rev‐counter: The relative reactivity value (RRV) of thioglycosides is an indicator for revealing stereoselectivities for chemical glycosylation.
Titanium dioxide （TiO2） thin film was deposited on the surface of the light addressable potentiometric sensor （LAPS） to modify the sensor surface for the non-labeled detection of DNA molecules. To ...evaluate the effect of ultraviolet （UV） treatment on the silanization level of TiO2 thin film by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane （APTS）, fluorescein isothiocyanate （FITC） was used to label the amine group on the end of APTS immobilized onto the TiO2 thin film. We found that, with UV irradiation, the silani- zation level of the irradiated area of the TiO2 film was improved compared with the non-irradiated area under well-controlled conditions. This result indicates that TiO2 can act as a coating material on the biosensor surface to improve the effect and effi- ciency of the covalent immobilization of biomolecules on the sensor surface. The artificially synthesized probe DNA molecules were covalently linked onto the surface of TiO2 film. The hybridization of probe DNA and target DNA was monitored by the recording of I-V curves that shift along the voltage axis during the process of reaction. A significant LAPS signal can be detected at 10 μmol/L of target DNA sample.
Targeting‐induced local lesions in genomes (TILLING) is a powerful reverse‐genetics tool that enables high‐throughput screening of genomic variations in plants. Although TILLING has been developed ...for many diploid plants, the technology has been used in very few polyploid species due to their genomic complexity. Here, we established an efficient capillary electrophoresis‐based TILLING platform for allotetraploid cultivated tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) using an ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)‐mutagenized population of 1,536 individuals. We optimized the procedures for endonuclease preparation, leaf tissue sampling, DNA extraction, normalization, pooling, PCR amplification, heteroduplex formation, and capillary electrophoresis. In a test screen using seven target genes with eight PCR fragments, we obtained 118 mutants. The mutation density was estimated to be approximately one mutation per 106 kb on average. Phenotypic analyses showed that mutations in two heavy metal transporter genes, HMA2S and HMA4T, led to reduced accumulation of cadmium and zinc, which was confirmed independently using CRISPR/Cas9 to generate knockout mutants. Our results demonstrate that this powerful TILLING platform (available at http://www.croptilling.org) can be used in tobacco to facilitate functional genomics applications.
Tobacco has long been used to investigate development and hormonal responses. However, now it is used rarely due to the lack of proper genetic tools. Here we report the establishment of an efficient TILLING platform for tetraploid tobacco, which would be a powerful tool to generate mutants and new traits in tobacco.
A global consensus meeting was held to review current evidence and knowledge gaps and propose collaborative studies on population-wide screening and eradication of
for prevention of gastric cancer ...(GC).
28 experts from 11 countries reviewed the evidence and modified the statements using the Delphi method, with consensus level predefined as ≥80% of agreement on each statement. The Grading of Recommendation Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach was followed.
Consensus was reached in 26 statements. At an individual level, eradication of
reduces the risk of GC in asymptomatic subjects and is recommended unless there are competing considerations. In cohorts of vulnerable subjects (eg, first-degree relatives of patients with GC), a screen-and-treat strategy is also beneficial.
eradication in patients with early GC after curative endoscopic resection reduces the risk of metachronous cancer and calls for a re-examination on the hypothesis of 'the point of no return'. At the general population level, the strategy of screen-and-treat for
infection is most cost-effective in young adults in regions with a high incidence of GC and is recommended preferably before the development of atrophic gastritis and intestinal metaplasia. However, such a strategy may still be effective in people aged over 50, and may be integrated or included into national healthcare priorities, such as colorectal cancer screening programmes, to optimise the resources. Reliable locally effective regimens based on the principles of antibiotic stewardship are recommended. Subjects at higher risk of GC, such as those with advanced gastric atrophy or intestinal metaplasia, should receive surveillance endoscopy after eradication of
.
Evidence supports the proposal that eradication therapy should be offered to all individuals infected with
. Vulnerable subjects should be tested, and treated if the test is positive. Mass screening and eradication of
should be considered in populations at higher risk of GC.
Quantum measurement remains a puzzle through its stormy history from the birth of quantum mechanics to state-of-the-art quantum technologies. Two complementary measurement schemes have been widely ...investigated in a variety of quantum systems: von Neumann’s projective ‘strong’ measurement and Aharonov’s weak measurement. Here, we report the observation of a weak-to-strong measurement transition in a single trapped 40Ca+ ion system. The transition is realized by tuning the interaction strength between the ion’s internal electronic state and its vibrational motion, which play the roles of the measured system and the measuring pointer, respectively. By pre- and post-selecting the internal state, a pointer state composed of two of the ion’s motional wavepackets is obtained, and its central-position shift, which corresponds to the measurement outcome, demonstrates the transition from the weak-value asymptotes to the expectation-value asymptotes. Quantitatively, the weak-to-strong measurement transition is characterized by a universal transition factor e−Γ2/2, where Γ is a dimensionless parameter related to the system–apparatus coupling. This transition, which continuously connects weak measurements and strong measurements, may open new experimental possibilities to test quantum foundations and prompt us to re-examine and improve the measurement schemes of related quantum technologies.A weak-to-strong quantum measurement transition has been observed in a single-trapped-ion system, where the ion’s internal electronic state and its vibrational motion play the roles of the measured system and the measuring pointer.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common diseases leading to physical disability, with age being the main risk factor, and degeneration of articular cartilage is the main focus for the ...pathogenesis of OA. Autophagy is a crucial intracellular homeostasis system recycling flawed macromolecules and cellular organelles to sustain the metabolism of cells. Growing evidences have revealed that autophagy is chondroprotective by regulating apoptosis and repairing the function of damaged chondrocytes. Then, OA is related to autophagy depending on different stages and models. In this review, we discuss the character of autophagy in OA and the process of the autophagy pathway, which can be modulated by some drugs, key molecules and non-coding RNAs (microRNAs, long non-coding RNAs and circular RNAs). More in-depth investigations of autophagy are needed to find therapeutic targets or diagnostic biomarkers through in vitro and in vivo situations, making autophagy a more effective way for OA treatment in the future. The aim of this review is to introduce the concept of autophagy and make readers realize its impact on OA. The database we searched in is PubMed and we used the keywords listed below to find appropriate article resources.
Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have received great attention due to their outstanding performance and their low processing costs. To boost their performance, one approach is to reinforce the built‐in ...electric field (BEF) to promote oriented carrier transport. The BEF is maximized by reinforcing the work function difference between cathode and anode (Δμ1) and increasing the work function difference between lower and upper surfaces of perovskite film (Δμ2) via introduction of electric dipole molecules, denoted as PTFCN and CF3BACl. The synergistic reinforcement of BEF improves charge transport and collection, and realizes markedly high photovoltaic performances with the best power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 21.5%, a growth of 15.6% as compared to the control device, which is higher than the superposition of improvements achieved by either raising Δμ1 or Δμ2. Importantly, dual‐functional CF3BACl not only supplies dipole effect for tuning the surface potential of perovskite but offers hydrophobic trifluoride group toward the long‐term stable unencapsulated PSCs retaining more than 95% PCE after storing 2000 h under ambient conditions. This work demonstrates the synergistic effect of Δμ1 and Δμ2, providing an effective strategy for the further development of PSC in terms of photovoltaic conversion and stability.
The built‐in electric field of a perovskite solar cell is reinforced by introducing electric dipole molecules, and the oriented charge transfer and collection are significantly improved. An efficiency of 21.5% is demonstrated and the average stability of the NMFL device retains 95% of the power conversion efficiency after storing over 2000 h under ambient conditions.
PDF
