Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) is a rare congenital defect manifesting with varying degrees of pituitary hormone deficiency. The signs and symptoms of PSIS during the neonatal period ...and infancy are often overlooked and therefore diagnosis is delayed. The typical manifestations of PSIS can be detected by magnetic resonance imaging. Several genes in the Wnt, Notch and Shh signalling pathways related to hypothalamic‐pituitary development, such as PIT1, PROP1, LHX3/LHX4, PROKR2, OTX2, TGIF and HESX1, have been found to be associated with PSIS. Nevertheless, the aetiology in the majority of cases still remains unknown. In the present review, we provide an overview of clinical features of PSIS and summarise our current understanding of the underlying pathogenic mechanisms for this rare syndrome. Furthermore, we propose future research directions that may help our understanding of the aetiology of PSIS.
Trapped ions constitute one of the most promising systems for implementing quantum computing and networking1,2. For large-scale ion-trap-based quantum computers and networks, it is critical to have ...two types of qubit: one for computation and storage, and another for auxiliary operations such as qubit detection3, sympathetic cooling4–7 and entanglement generation through photon links8,9. Although the two qubit types can be implemented using two different ion species3,10–13, this approach introduces substantial complexity into creating and controlling each qubit type14,15. Here we resolve these challenges by implementing two coherently convertible qubit types using one ion species. We encode the qubits into two pairs of clock states of the 171Yb+ ions, and achieve microsecond-level conversion rates between the two types with one-way fidelities of 99.5%. We further demonstrate that operations on one qubit type, including sympathetic laser cooling, single-qubit gates and qubit detection, have crosstalk errors less than 0.06% on the other type, which is below the best-known error threshold of ~1% for fault-tolerant quantum computing using the surface code1,16. Our work establishes the feasibility and advantages of using coherently convertible dual-type qubits with the same ion species for large-scale quantum computing and networking.Quantum computing with trapped ions requires qubits that can store and manipulate quantum information, and others that can be used for destructive incoherent operations. Different states of ytterbium-171 ions can be used to realize both qubit types
Parasitic wasps rely on olfaction to locate their hosts in complex chemical environments. Odorant receptors (ORs) function together with well‐conserved odorant coreceptors (ORcos) to determine the ...sensitivity and specificity of olfactory reception. Campoletis chlorideae (Hymenoptera: Ichneunmonidae) is a solitary larval endoparasitoid of the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, and some other noctuid species. To understand the molecular basis of C. chlorideae’s olfactory reception, we sequenced the transcriptome of adult male and female heads (including antennae) and identified 211 OR transcripts, with 95 being putatively full length. The tissue expression profiles, as assessed by reverse‐transcription PCR, showed that seven ORs were expressed only or more highly in female antennae. Their functions were analysed using the Xenopu slaevis oocyte expression system and two‐electrode voltage‐clamp recordings. CchlOR62 was tuned to cis‐jasmone, which was attractive to female C. chlorideae adults and H. armigera larvae in the subsequent behavioural assays. Further bioassays using caged plants showed that the parasitism rate of H. armigera larvae by C. chlorideae on cis‐jasmone‐treated tobacco plants was higher than on the control plants. Thus, cis‐jasmone appears to be an important infochemical involved in the interactions of plants, H. armigera and C. chlorideae, and CchlOR62 mediates the attractiveness of cis‐jasmone to C. chlorideae.
Medical imaging is playing a more and more important role in the new diagnosis and treatment service mode, which is being optimized under the promotion of multiple factors. Based on the concept of ...promoting the reconstruction of medical imaging with the theories and methods of system science, this paper proposes a new paradigm of systematic diagnosis called multi-factor associated diagnosis system, explains the background, key techniques, and inherent logic of the proposed system, and prospects the application scenarios of the system in the future.
Streptococcal infections cause significant mortality and high economic losses in the fish farm industry worldwide, including in the culture of golden pompano Trachinotus ovatus L., a species gaining ...popularity in China. A total of 9 streptococcal strains were isolated from cage-cultured diseased golden pompano in Beihai, Zhanjing, and Shenzhen, China, between 2012 and 2014. Conventional and rapid identification systems were used to determine that the isolates were Streptococcus agalactiae, S. iniae, and S. dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae. All isolates were gram-positive cocci cells in pairs or short-chain, non-motile, catalase negative, α or β hemolytic cocci. The results of multiplex PCR assays and 16S rRNA BLAST analysis also showed that the β hemolytic strains were S. agalactiae and S. iniae and the α hemolytic strain was S. dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae, respectively. Pathogenicity assays revealed that S. agalactiae (lethal dose LD50: 6.38 × 10(4) CFU ml(-1)) was more virulent for golden pompano than S. iniae (LD50: 1.47 × 10(7) CFU ml(-1)) and S. dysgalactiae subsp. dysgalactiae (LD50: 2.57 × 10(6) CFU ml(-1)) when they were challenged by intraperiotoneal (i.p.) injection. The results of antibiotic susceptibility showed that all strains were extremely susceptible to cefradine, erythromycin, and cefotaxime but resistant to gentamicin, penicillin G, novobiocin, neomycin, ciprofloxacin, roxithromycin, furazolidone, enrofloxacin, norfloxacin, kanamycin, ampicillin, tetracycline, and vancomycin This is the first report of a phenomenon of golden pompano coinfection with S. agalactiae and S. iniae, which will contribute to the diagnosis and prevention of streptococcicosis.
Context.
We investigate the use of saliency-map analysis to aid in searches for transient signals, such as fast radio bursts and individual pulses from radio pulsars.
Aims.
Our aim is to demonstrate ...that saliency maps provide the means to understand predictions from machine learning algorithms and can be implemented in pipelines used to search for transient events.
Methods.
We implemented a new deep learning methodology to predict whether any segment of the data contains a transient event. The algorithm was trained using real and simulated data sets. We demonstrate that the algorithm is able to identify such events. The output results are visually analysed via the use of saliency maps.
Results.
We find that saliency maps can produce an enhanced image of any transient feature without the need for de-dispersion or removal of radio frequency interference. The maps can be used to understand which features in the image were used in making the machine learning decision and to visualise the transient event. Even though the algorithm reported here was developed to demonstrate saliency-map analysis, we have detected a single burst event, in archival data, with dispersion measure of 41 cm
−3
pc that is not associated with any currently known pulsar.
Background
While increased levels of circulating inflammatory cytokines in chronologically aged humans have been linked to the development of ageing‐associated chronic disorders (e.g., cardiovascular ...disease, type II diabetes, osteoporosis and Alzheimer's disease), approaches that reduce circulating cytokines are not yet available. In chronologically aged mice, we recently demonstrated that epidermal dysfunction largely accounts for age‐associated elevations in circulating cytokine levels, and that improving epidermal function reduced circulating cytokine levels.
Objective
We performed a pilot study to determine whether improving epidermal function reduces circulating pro‐inflammatory cytokine levels in aged humans.
Methods
Thirty‐three aged humans were topically treated twice‐daily for 30 days, with ≈ 3 mL of an emollient, previously shown to improve epidermal function, while untreated, aged humans and a cohort of young volunteers served as controls. Changes in epidermal function and levels of three key, age‐related, plasma cytokines (IL‐1β, IL‐6 and TNFα) were measured at baseline and after treatment, using Luminex 200™ system.
Results
We also found significantly higher baseline levels of IL‐1β, IL‐6 and TNFα in aged vs. young humans (P < 0.001), as previously reported. Topical applications of the barrier repair emollient significantly enhanced epidermal permeability barrier function (P < 0.01) and stratum corneum hydration (P < 0.05). In parallel, circulating levels of IL‐1β and IL‐6 normalized, while TNFα levels declined substantially.
Conclusion
The results of this preliminary study suggest that a larger clinical trial should be performed to confirm whether improving epidermal function also can reduce circulating pro‐inflammatory cytokine levels in aged humans, while also possibly attenuating the downstream development of chronic inflammatory disorders in the aged humans.
van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures, which are produced by the precise assemblies of varieties of two-dimensional (2D) materials, have demonstrated many novel properties and functionalities. Here we ...report a nanoplasmonic study of vdW heterostructures that were produced by depositing ordered molecular layers of pentacene on top of graphene. We find through nanoinfrared (IR) imaging that surface plasmons formed due to the collective oscillations of Dirac Fermions in graphene are highly sensitive to the adjacent pentacene layers. In particular, the plasmon wavelength declines systematically but nonlinearly with increasing pentacene thickness. Further analysis and density functional theory (DFT) calculations indicate that the observed peculiar thickness dependence is mainly due to the tunneling-type electron transfer from pentacene to graphene. Our work unveils a new method for tailoring graphene plasmons and deepens our understanding of the intriguing nano-optical phenomena due to interlayer couplings in novel vdW heterostructures.
ABSTRACT
We studied the 2018 outburst of the black hole transient H 1743 − 322 with a series of Insight-HXMT, NICER, and NuSTAR observations, covering the 1–120 keV band. With our broad-band X-ray ...spectral modelling, we confirm that the source remained in the low/hard state throughout the month-long outburst, although it became marginally softer at peak flux. We detected Type-C quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) and followed the evolution of their properties. The QPO frequency increased from ∼0.1 to ∼0.4 Hz during the rising phase of the outburst and decreased again in the decline. Continuum X-ray flux, power-law photon index, QPO frequency, and QPO root-mean-square amplitude were positively correlated. The QPO amplitude was slightly higher in the soft X-ray band (typical values of 12–16 per cent, compared with 8–10 per cent in the hard band). Our spectral-timing results shed light on the initial rising phase in the low/hard state, which has rarely been monitored with such high cadence, time resolution, and broad-band coverage. Combining spectral and timing properties, we find that ‘failed’ (hard state only) and ‘successful’ outbursts follow the same initial evolutionary track, although the former class of outburst never reaches the threshold for a transition to softer (thermally dominated) accretion regimes.
The target backsheath field acceleration mechanism is one of the main mechanisms of laser-driven proton acceleration (LDPA) and strongly depends on the comprehensive performance of the ultrashort ...ultra-intense lasers used as the driving sources. The successful use of the SG-II Peta-watt (SG-II PW) laser facility for LDPA and its applications in radiographic diagnoses have been manifested by the good performance of the SG-II PW facility. Recently, the SG-II PW laser facility has undergone extensive maintenance and a comprehensive technical upgrade in terms of the seed source, laser contrast and terminal focus. LDPA experiments were performed using the maintained SG-II PW laser beam, and the highest cutoff energy of the proton beam was obviously increased. Accordingly, a double-film target structure was used, and the maximum cutoff energy of the proton beam was up to 70 MeV. These results demonstrate that the comprehensive performance of the SG-II PW laser facility was improved significantly.
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