Quantum key distribution (QKD)1,2 offers a long-term solution to secure key exchange. Due to photon loss in transmission, it was believed that the repeaterless key rate is bounded by a linear ...function of the transmittance, O(η) (refs. 3,4), limiting the maximal secure transmission distance5,6. Recently, a novel type of QKD scheme has been shown to beat the linear bound and achieve a key rate performance of O(η) (refs. 7–9). Here, by employing the laser injection technique and the phase post-compensation method, we match the modes of two independent lasers and overcome the phase fluctuation. As a result, the key rate surpasses the linear bound via 302 km and 402 km commercial-fibre channels, over four orders of magnitude higher than existing results5. Furthermore, our system yields a secret key rate of 0.118 bps with a 502 km ultralow-loss fibre. This new type of QKD pushes forward long-distance quantum communication for the future quantum internet.Phase-matching quantum key distribution is implemented with a 502 km ultralow-loss optical fibre. The fluctuations of the laser initial phases and frequencies are suppressed by the laser injection technique and the phase post-compensation method.
The brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens, the most destructive pest of rice, is a typical monophagous herbivore that feeds exclusively on rice sap, which migrates over long distances. Outbreaks of ...it have re-occurred approximately every three years in Asia. It has also been used as a model system for ecological studies and for developing effective pest management. To better understand how a monophagous sap-sucking arthropod herbivore has adapted to its exclusive host selection and to provide insights to improve pest control, we analyzed the genomes of the brown planthopper and its two endosymbionts.
We describe the 1.14 gigabase planthopper draft genome and the genomes of two microbial endosymbionts that permit the planthopper to forage exclusively on rice fields. Only 40.8% of the 27,571 identified Nilaparvata protein coding genes have detectable shared homology with the proteomes of the other 14 arthropods included in this study, reflecting large-scale gene losses including in evolutionarily conserved gene families and biochemical pathways. These unique genomic features are functionally associated with the animal's exclusive plant host selection. Genes missing from the insect in conserved biochemical pathways that are essential for its survival on the nutritionally imbalanced sap diet are present in the genomes of its microbial endosymbionts, which have evolved to complement the mutualistic nutritional needs of the host.
Our study reveals a series of complex adaptations of the brown planthopper involving a variety of biological processes, that result in its highly destructive impact on the exclusive host rice. All these findings highlight potential directions for effective pest control of the planthopper.
Gliomas are the most common form of malignant tumour in the central nervous system. However, the molecular mechanism of the tumorigenesis and progression of gliomas remains unclear. In this study, we ...used the GEO database to identify genes differentially expressed in gliomas and predict the prognosis of glioma. We observed that ASPM mRNA was increased obviously in glioma tissue, and higher ASPM mRNA expression predicted worse disease prognosis. ASPM was highly expressed in glioma cell lines U87‐MG and U251, and knockdown of ASPM expression in these cells significantly repressed the proliferation, migration and invasion ability and induced G0/G1 phase arrest. In addition, down‐regulation of ASPM suppressed the growth of glioma in nude mice. Five potential binding sites for transcription factor FoxM1 were predicted in the ASPM promoter. FoxM1 overexpression significantly increased the expression of ASPM and promoted the proliferation and migration of glioma cells, which was abolished by ASPM ablation. ChIP and dual‐luciferase reporter analysis confirmed that FoxM1 bound to the ASPM promoter at −236 to ‐230 bp and −1354 to ‐1348 bp and activated the transcription of ASPM directly. Collectively, our results demonstrated for the first time that aberrant ASPM expression mediated by transcriptional regulation of FoxM1 promotes the malignant properties of glioma cells.
Summary
The development of antibiotic resistance in Vibrio alginolyticus represents a threat to human health and fish farming. Environmental NaCl regulation of bacterial physiology is well ...documented, but whether the regulation contributes to antibiotic resistance remains unknown. To explore this, we compared minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of V. alginolyticus cultured in different media with 0.5%–10% NaCl, and found that the MIC increased as the NaCl concentration increased, especially for aminoglycoside antibiotics. Consistent with this finding, internal NaCl also increased, while intracellular gentamicin level decreased. GC–MS‐based metabolomics showed different distributions of pyruvate cycle intermediates among 0.5%, 4% and 10% NaCl. Differential activity of enzymes in the pyruvate cycle and altered expression of Na(+)‐NQR led to a reducing redox state, characterized by decreased levels of NADH, proton motive force (PMF) and ATP. Meanwhile, NaCl negatively regulated PMF as a consequence of the reducing redox state. These together are responsible for the decreased intracellular gentamicin level with the increased external level of NaCl. Our study reveals a previously unknown redox state‐dependent mechanism regulated by NaCl in V. alginolyticus that impacts antibiotic resistance.
Current therapies for pulmonary arterial hypertension have been adopted on the basis of short-term trials with exercise capacity as the primary end point. We assessed the efficacy of macitentan, a ...new dual endothelin-receptor antagonist, using a primary end point of morbidity and mortality in a long-term trial.
We randomly assigned patients with symptomatic pulmonary arterial hypertension to receive placebo once daily, macitentan at a once-daily dose of 3 mg, or macitentan at a once-daily dose of 10 mg. Stable use of oral or inhaled therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension, other than endothelin-receptor antagonists, was allowed at study entry. The primary end point was the time from the initiation of treatment to the first occurrence of a composite end point of death, atrial septostomy, lung transplantation, initiation of treatment with intravenous or subcutaneous prostanoids, or worsening of pulmonary arterial hypertension.
A total of 250 patients were randomly assigned to placebo, 250 to the 3-mg macitentan dose, and 242 to the 10-mg macitentan dose. The primary end point occurred in 46.4%, 38.0%, and 31.4% of the patients in these groups, respectively. The hazard ratio for the 3-mg macitentan dose as compared with placebo was 0.70 (97.5% confidence interval CI, 0.52 to 0.96; P=0.01), and the hazard ratio for the 10-mg macitentan dose as compared with placebo was 0.55 (97.5% CI, 0.39 to 0.76; P<0.001). Worsening of pulmonary arterial hypertension was the most frequent primary end-point event. The effect of macitentan on this end point was observed regardless of whether the patient was receiving therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension at baseline. Adverse events more frequently associated with macitentan than with placebo were headache, nasopharyngitis, and anemia.
Macitentan significantly reduced morbidity and mortality among patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension in this event-driven study. (Funded by Actelion Pharmaceuticals; SERAPHIN ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00660179.).
Single-atom catalysts (SACs) have obtained a great deal of attention in many catalytic fields due to the high atom utilization efficiency and high catalytic activity. Recently, great achievements on ...SACs have been made for thermocatalysis, electrocatalysis, and photocatalysis which play an important role in obtaining value-added products. However, it remains a great challenge to fabricate SACs with high metal loading and investigate their reaction mechanisms. Therefore, it is necessary to highlight the recent development of SACs in these fields to guide future research. In this review, we overviewed the thermocatalysis applications of SACs in CO oxidation, preferential oxidation of CO, water-gas shift reaction, methane conversion, methanol steam reforming, aqueous-phase reforming of methanol, hydrogenation of alkynes and dienes, hydrogenation of CO, and hydrogenation of substituted nitroarenes. Moreover, the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), hydrogen evolution reaction (HER), oxygen evolution reaction (OER), CO
2
reduction reaction (CO
2
RR), and N
2
reduction reaction (N
2
RR) for photocatalytic and electrocatalytic fields were also overviewed. Lastly, the opportunities and challenges of SACs were pointed out.
A tightly coupled integrated navigation system (TCINS) for hypersonic vehicles is proposed when the satellite signals are disturbed. Firstly, the architecture of the integrated navigation system for ...the hypersonic vehicle is introduced. This system applies fiber SINS, BeiDou satellite receiver (BDS) and System On a Parogrammable Chip (SOPC) missile-born computer. Subsequently, the SINS mechanization for hypersonic vehicle is presented. The J2 model is employed for the normal gravity of the near space. An algorithm for updating the attitude, velocity and position is designed. State equations and measurement equations of SINS/BDS tightly coupled integrated navigation for hypersonic vehicle are given, and a scheme of validity for satellite data is designed. Finally, the SINS/BDS tightly coupled vehicle field tests and hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) simulation tests are carried out. The vehicle field test and HWIL simulation results show that the heading angle error of tightly coupled integrated navigation is within 0.2°, the pitch and roll angle errors are within 0.05°, the maximum velocity error is 0.3 m/s, and the maximum position error is 10 m.
Chemical looping of bio-oil is a promising route to convert this low-quality fuel to pure hydrogen with inherent gas separation and low energy penalty. In that the oil is liable to form coke during ...the heating process, the current chemical looping cycles usually suffer from low hydrogen purity and poor OC recyclability. In this paper, we proposed a strategy of adding steam in FR to suppress coke formation and enhance the hydrogen purity. To perform the chemical looping cycles, we first built a dual fluidized bed and attained the optimal operating conditions. The results showed the higher hydrogen purity, yield and good recyclability at 950 °C. Afterward, we investigated effects of the steam to oil ratios on hydrogen purity, yield and the recyclability of oxygen carrier, and found adding steam in the fuel reactor was an efficiency way to enhance the hydrogen purity. The results suggested the hydrogen purity can reach 98%; nevertheless, it suppressed the hydrogen yield simultaneously. In terms of the redox performance of oxygen carrier, we also found the steam can weaken the reduction reactions, and therefore increased the particle recyclability. Our current study suggested the enhancement of the hydrogen purity was at the cost of the suppression in hydrogen yield, and we need to find a compromise between the hydrogen yield and the purity to pursue high system efficiency.
•Non-aqueous phase bio-oil is used to produce hydrogen.•Hydrogen purity is enhanced by adjusting the steam.•Hydrogen purity is in a competing relationship with hydrogen yield.
This meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors in patients with glioma.
PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane library were searched from inception to ...January 2023 without language restriction. Primary outcomes included overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), objective response rate (ORR), and adverse events (AEs). The risk of bias was assessed by subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, and publication bias, including funnel plot, Egger's test, and Begg's test.
A total of 20 studies involving 2,321 patients were included in this meta-analysis. In the analysis of the included phase III clinical trials, the forest plot showed that PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors did not improve the OS (HR=1.15, 95% CI: 1.03-1.29, P=0.02, I
= 14%) and PFS (HR=1.43, 95% CI: 1.03-1.99, P=0.03, I
= 87%). In the single-arm analysis, the forest plot demonstrated that the 6-month OS was 71% (95% CI: 57%-83%, I
= 92%), 1-year OS was 43% (95% CI: 33%-54%, I
= 93%), and the 2-year OS was 27% (95% CI: 13%-44%, I
= 97%). The pooled estimate of the median OS was 8.85 months (95% CI: 7.33-10.36, I
= 91%). Furthermore, the result indicated that the 6-month PFS was 28% (95% CI: 18%-40%, I
= 95%), 1-year PFS was 15% (95% CI: 8%-23%, I
= 92%), and the 18-month PFS was 10% (95% CI: 3%-20%, I
= 93%). The pooled estimate of the median PFS was 3.72 months (95% CI: 2.44-5.00, I
= 99%). For ORR, the pooled estimate of ORR was 10% (95% CI: 2%-20%, I
= 88%). We further analyzed the incidence of PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitor-related AEs, and the pooled incidence of AEs was 70% (95% CI: 58%-81%, I
= 94%). The incidence of AEs ≥ grade 3 was 19% (95% CI: 11%-30%, I
= 94%). The funnel plot for the median PFS and median OS was symmetric with no significant differences in Egger's test and Begg's test. The sensitivity analysis revealed that our results were stable and reliable.
The results of this meta-analysis suggest that anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapy is relatively safe but could not prolong survival in glioma. More randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm our results.
https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42023396057.
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