Parity-time symmetry enabled ultra-efficient nonlinear optical signal processing

Nonlinear optical signal processing (NOSP) has the potential to significantly improve the throughput, flexibility, and cost-efficiency of optical communication networks by exploiting the intrinsically ultrafast optical nonlinear wave mixing. It can support digital signal processing speeds of up to terabits per second, far exceeding the line rate of the electronic counterpart. In NOSP, high-intensity light fields are used to generate nonlinear optical responses, which can be used to process optical signals. Great efforts have been devoted to developing new materials and structures for NOSP. However, one of the challenges in implementing NOSP is the requirement of high-intensity light fields, which is difficult to generate and maintain. This has been a major roadblock to realize practical NOSP systems for high-speed, high-capacity optical communications. Here, we propose using a parity-time (PT) symmetric microresonator system to significantly enhance the light intensity and support high-speed operation by relieving the bandwidth-efficiency limit imposed on conventional single resonator systems. The design concept is the co-existence of a PT symmetry broken regime for a narrow-linewidth pump wave and near-exceptional point operation for broadband signal and idler waves. This enables us to achieve a new NOSP system with two orders of magnitude improvement in efficiency compared to a single resonator. With a highly nonlinear AlGaAs-on-Insulator platform, we demonstrate an NOSP at a data rate approaching 40 gigabits per second with a record low pump power of one milliwatt. These findings pave the way for the development of fully chip-scale NOSP devices with pump light sources integrated together, potentially leading to a wide range of applications in optical communication networks and classical or quantum computation. The combination of PT symmetry and NOSP may also open up opportunities for amplification, detection, and sensing, where response speed and efficiency are equally important.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43593-024-00062-w.

Octylammonium Iodide Induced in-situ Healing Behavior at Perovskite / Carbon Interface: the "Slow-Release Effect" Caused by Carbon Black Adsorption

"Perovskite / Carbon" interface has remained a key bottleneck for the hole-conductor-free perovskite solar cells based on carbon-electrode (CPSCs), due to problems like loose physics contact, defects, energy mismatch, poor chemical coupling, etc. A previous study shows that octylammonium iodide (OAI) blending in carbon paste induced a kind of "in-situ healing" effect for "perovskite / carbon" interface, and improved power conversion efficiency from ≈13% to >19%. Here the beneath mechanism is further explored by careful examination of the interaction between OAI molecule and carbon black (CB) nanoparticles. It comes to show that, the famous "CB adsorption" plays a key role during the "healing" processes. Due to CB adsorption behavior, the mass ratio between OAI and CB influences much on the healing effect. By suitably adjusting the mass ratio between OAI and CB, and increasing the light harvest of perovskite, an efficiency of 19.41% is achieved for the hole-conductor-free CPSCs. Device efficiency and the charge-extraction and recombination process are tracked with the storage period, continuous improvement appears for devices assembled by relatively higher CB mass. A kind of "slow-release effect" is revealed during the OAI-induced "in-situ healing" process, which is caused by the famous "CB adsorption" behavior.

Phylogenetic relationships and adaptation in deep-sea carideans revealed by mitogenomes

The deep-sea environment is characterized by extreme and inhospitable conditions, including oxygen depletion, low temperatures, high pressure, absence of light, and limited food availability. Mitochondria and mitogenomes play a crudial role in aerobic respiration to generate energy for eukaryotes. Here, using the Illumina Hiseq 4000 platform, we performed mitogenome sequencing for five deep-sea caridean species: Lebbeus shinkaiae, Lebbeus Formosus, Glyphocrangon regalis, Heterocarpus dorsalis, and Heterocarpus laevigatus, and five deep-sea caridean mitogenomes were assembled and identified. Each of the five mitogenomes contained 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rRNAs and 22 tRNAs. Specific elements, such as tandem repeats and AT-rich sequences, were observed in the control regions of Lebbeus formosus and Lebbeus shinkaiae, potentially take a role in regulating mitochondrial genome replication and transcription. The gene order of all obtained mitogenomes follows caridean ancestral type organization. Phylogenetic analysis shows a robustly supported phylogenetic tree for the infraorder Caridea. The monophyly of the families included in this study was strongly supported. This study supports the monophyly of Oplophoroidea, but rejects the monophyletic status of Nematocarcinoidea, Crangonoidea, and Alpheoidea. At the genus level, Plesionika is polyphyletic and Rimicaris is paraphyletic in our analysis. Furthermore, Paralebbeus may be considered invalid and synonymous with Lebbeus. Positive selection analysis reveals evidence for adaptive changes in the mitogenome of different deep-sea caridean lineages. Nine residues located in cox1, cox3, atp6, nad1, nad2, nad4, nad5, nad6 and cytb were determined to have undergone positive selection. Mitogenome of different deep-sea lineages experienced different positive selection, and the lineage represented by Alvinocarididae living in deep-sea hydrothermal vents experienced the strongest positive selection. This study provides valuable insights into the adaptive evolution of deep-sea shrimps at the mitochondrial, highlighting the mitogenomic strategy that contribute to their unique adaptations in the deep-sea environment.

Polyvinyl Pyrrolidone Induced "Confinement Effect" on PbI2 and the Improvement on Crystallization and Thermal Stability of Perovskite

Polyvinyl pyrrolidone is blended in PbI2 with varied concentration, so as to study the coarsening dynamics of perovskite during the two-step growth method. It is observed that polyvinyl pyrrolidone hinders the crystallization of PbI2 and helps to form a more amorphous PbI2 matrix, which then improves perovskite crystallization. As the blending concentration increases from 0 to 2 mM, average crystallite/grain size of perovskite increases from 40.29 nm/0.79 µm to 84.35 nm/1.02 µm while surface fluctuation decreases slightly from 25.64 to 23.96 nm. The observations are caused by the "confinement effect" brought by polyvinyl pyrrolidone on PbI2 . Elevating blending concentration of polyvinyl pyrrolidone results in smaller PbI2 crystallites and more amorphous PbI2 matrix, thus reducing the diffusion/reaction barrier between PbI2 and organic salt and favoring perovskite crystallization. As blending concentration increases from 0 to 2 mM, the device efficiency rises from 19.76 (± 0.60) % to 20.50 (± 0.89) %, with the optimized value up to 22.05%, which is further improved to 24.48% after n-Octylammonium iodide (OAI)-basing surface modification. The study enlarges the scope of "confinement effect" brought by polymer molecules, which is beneficial for efficient and stable perovskite solar cell fabrication.

Predicting preterm birth using auto-ML frameworks: a large observational study using electronic inpatient discharge data

Background

To develop and compare different AutoML frameworks and machine learning models to predict premature birth.

Methods

The study used a large electronic medical record database to include 715,962 participants who had the principal diagnosis code of childbirth. Three Automatic Machine Learning (AutoML) were used to construct machine learning models including tree-based models, ensembled models, and deep neural networks on the training sample (N = 536,971). The area under the curve (AUC) and training times were used to assess the performance of the prediction models, and feature importance was computed via permutation-shuffling.

Results

The H2O AutoML framework had the highest median AUC of 0.846, followed by AutoGluon (median AUC: 0.840) and Auto-sklearn (median AUC: 0.820), and the median training time was the lowest for H2O AutoML (0.14 min), followed by AutoGluon (0.16 min) and Auto-sklearn (4.33 min). Among different types of machine learning models, the Gradient Boosting Machines (GBM) or Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), stacked ensemble, and random forrest models had better predictive performance, with median AUC scores being 0.846, 0.846, and 0.842, respectively. Important features related to preterm birth included premature rupture of membrane (PROM), incompetent cervix, occupation, and preeclampsia.

Conclusions

Our study highlights the potential of machine learning models in predicting the risk of preterm birth using readily available electronic medical record data, which have significant implications for improving prenatal care and outcomes.

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus strain CH/HLJ/18 isolated in China: characterization and phylogenetic analysis

BACKGROUND

Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is an infectious disease of the digestive tract caused by the porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), characterized by vomiting, severe diarrhea, and high mortality rates in piglets. In recent years, the distribution of this disease in China has remarkably increased, and its pathogenicity has also increased. PEDV has been identified as the main cause of viral diarrhea in piglets. This study aimed to understand the genetic evolution and diversity of PEDV to provide a theoretical basis for the development of new vaccines and the prevention and treatment of PED.

METHODS

A PEDV strain was isolated from the small intestine of a diarrheal piglet using Vero cells. The virus was identified using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA), and transmission electron microscopy. The whole genome sequence was sequenced, phylogenetic analysis was conducted using MEGA (version 7.0), and recombination analysis was performed using RDP4 and SimPlot. The S protein amino acid sequence was aligned using Cluster X (version 2.0), and the S protein was modeled using SWISS-MODEL to compare differences in structure and antigenicity. Finally, the piglets were inoculated with PEDV to evaluate its pathogenicity in newborn piglets.

RESULT

PEDV strain CH/HLJ/18 was isolated. CH/HLJ/18 shared 89.4-99.2% homology with 52 reference strains of PEDV belonging to the GII-a subgroup. It was a recombinant strain of PEDV BJ-2011-1 and PEDV CH_hubei_2016 with a breakpoint located in ORF1b. Unique amino acid deletions and mutations were observed in the CH/HLJ/18 S protein. The piglets then developed severe watery diarrhea and died within 7 d of inoculation with CH/HLJ/18, suggesting that CH/HLJ/18 was highly pathogenic to newborn piglets.

CONCLUSION

A highly pathogenic recombinant PEDV GII-a strain, CH/HLJ/18, was identified in China, with unique deletion and mutation of amino acids in the S protein that may lead to changes in protein structure and antigenicity. These results will be crucial for understanding the prevalence and variation of PEDV and for preventing and controlling PED.

Risk Factors for Locoregional Recurrence and Distant Metastasis in 143 Patients with Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma of the External Auditory Canal

AIMS

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) grows slowly and is characterised by potential recurrence and metastasis to distant organs. This study aimed to evaluate the risk factors for locoregional recurrence (LRR) and distant metastasis in patients with ACC of the external auditory canal (EAC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Demographic, pathological, therapeutic and survival data of 143 patients with EAC ACC were reviewed in this study. Univariate and multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were carried out to determine the risk factors for LRR and distant metastasis. Factors associated with overall survival after LRR and distant metastasis were also analysed.

RESULTS

During a median follow-up of 49 months, 31 of 143 patients were observed with LRR and 34 developed distant metastasis. Bone invasion and histological subtype were independent risk factors for locoregional recurrence-free survival. T stage and LRR were independent risk factors for distant metastasis-free survival. Salvage surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy for LRR resulted in better survival, whereas extrapulmonary metastasis and LRR were associated with a higher risk of poor survival after distant metastasis.

CONCLUSION

Patients with distant metastases, especially those with LRR, are at significant risk of poor prognosis. Our findings emphasise the importance of long-term regular follow-up and recommend surgical intervention with radiotherapy for recurrent EAC ACC.

Series fusion of scatter correction techniques coupled with deep convolution neural network as a promising approach for NIR modeling

Deep convolution neural network (CNN) with one-dimensional (1D) convolution structure is a potential and effective nonlinear method for near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy analysis. However, it is also a challenge to build a reliable CNN calibration model since industrial NIR data present serious scattering effect which will seriously interfere with important information. Thus, this paper proposed a promising approach, namely series fusion of scatter correction technologies (SCSF), where CNN built on the series splicing data of normalized raw spectra, standard normal variable (SNV) spectra and first derivative (1d) spectra. Two real NIR cases (one is the identification of alcohols/diesel blends and the other is the prediction of methanol and ethanol content in alcohols/diesel blends) were introduced to explore the feasibility and effectiveness of the presented model. Through the comparative analysis with CNN based on raw spectra, SNV spectra and 1d spectra, as well as common support vector machine (SVM) and BP neural network, the proposed SCSF coupled with CNN cannot only achieve 97.73 % recognition rate for three types of diesel, but also significantly improve the prediction accuracy of methanol and ethanol. Satisfactory results show that SCSF approach can be regarded as series boosting of multiple scatter correction technologies to improve overall performance without mastering data prior information and professional knowledge. Further, the proposed SCSF applied to CNN deep learning is simple and efficient, and can be recommended for actual implementation in industrial NIR applications.

Abstract 577: ENPP1 inhibitor ZX-8177 in combination with chemotherapy or radiation exhibits synergistic anti-tumor effects via STING-mediated response

2’3’-cGAMP serves as a second messenger binding to the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) to induce the STING-dependent interferon response, triggering downstream antiviral and anti-tumor mechanism. Ecto-nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1 (ENPP1) hydrolyzes the extracellular 2’3’-cGAMP and attenuates the immune stimulatory tumor microenvironment, and thereby facilitates tumor progression. Inhibition of ENPP1 activity in tumors that produce a significant amount of 2’3’-cGAMP, potentially activates the anti-tumor immune response. We previously presented a selective ENPP1 inhibitor ZX-8177 with high potency in biochemical and MDA-MB-231 cell-based enzymatic assays (IC50 values are 9.5 nM and 11 nM, respectively). In multiple syngeneic mouse models, ZX-8177 alone (2mg/kg, i.p., BID) exhibited 37-60% tumor growth inhibition (TGI) and significantly increased NK cells, T cells (Granzyme B+CD8+), and M1/M2 macrophages ratio in the tumor microenvironment. Radiation and many chemotherapy regimens can result in DNA-damaging and activation of innate immunity. In this report, we further assessed the synergistic effect on tumor inhibition in combination of ZX-8177 with chemotherapies or radiation in multiple in vivo mouse models. Synergistic anti-tumor efficacy was observed in CT-26 model with the combination of Mitomycin C (0.5 mg/kg, BIW) and ZX-8177 (25 mg/kg, oral, BID), and in 4T1 and Pan02 models with the combination of Cisplatin (5 mg/kg, BIW) and ZX-8177 (25 mg/kg, oral, BID). Flow cytometry analysis demonstrated the increase of tumor infiltrating NK cells in the ZX-8177 treated tumor tissues. Meanwhile, tumor tissues showed a higher level of 2’3’-cGAMP and the increased gene expression of type I interferon (IFN) related genes, i.e. CCL5 and CXCL10. In Pan02 syngeneic mouse model, ZX-8177 (25 mg/kg, oral, BID) plus radiation at 20 Gy displayed an enhanced anti-tumor efficacy compared with radiation only treatment (100% TGI vs. 78.5% TGI, p < 0.005). Two of five mice achieved tumor free in the combination group at the end of treatment. Increased level of tumor p-STING, 2’3’-cGAMP, IFN-related genes (i.e., IFN-r, IFN-β, and CXCL10), and cytotoxic T cells-related markers (i.e., Perforin, Granzyme A and B) was observed in the combination group, correlated with the synergistic effect on tumor growth. These in vivo studies demonstrated the synergistic inhibition of tumor growth in combination of ZX-8177 with radiation or chemotherapies through activation of STING-mediated innate immunity. Currently, ZX-8177 is under IND-enabling pre-clinical evaluation. First-in-human study of ZX-8177 is in planning as a single agent and combination therapies.

Citation Format: Xiaoli Qin, Ying-ying Li, Shuaijun Sun, Xiaomin Li, Zhiyuan Peng, Deming Kong, Siyu Shui, Jinfu Yang, Xiaolin Alan Hao. ENPP1 inhibitor ZX-8177 in combination with chemotherapy or radiation exhibits synergistic anti-tumor effects via STING-mediated response [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 577.

Assessing the causal relationships between human blood metabolites and the risk of NAFLD: A comprehensive mendelian randomization study

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a liver disease associated with obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and metabolic syndrome. The risk factors for NAFLD have not been identified. Metabolic dysfunction has been found to be an important factor in the pathogenesis and progression of NAFLD. However, the causal impact of blood metabolites on NAFLD is unclear.

Methods: We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) with 7824 participants provided data on 486 human blood metabolites. Outcome information was obtained from a large-scale GWAS meta-analysis of NAFLD, which contained 8,434 cases and 770,180 controls of Europeans. The inverse variance weighted (IVW) model was chosen as the primary two-sample MR analysis approach, followed by sensitivity analyses such as the heterogeneity test, horizontal pleiotropy test, and leave-one-out analysis. In addition, we performed replication, meta-analysis, and metabolic pathway analysis. We further conducted colocalization analysis to deeply reflect the causality.

Results: After rigorous genetic variant selection, IVW, sensitivity analysis, replication, and meta-analysis, two known metabolites were identified as being associated with the development of NAFLD [biliverdin: OR = 1.45; 95% CI 1.20-1.75; p = 0.0001; myristoleate: OR = 0.57; 95% CI 0.39-0.83; p = 0.0030].

Conclusion: By combining genomics with metabolomics, our findings provide a new perspective on the underlying mechanisms of NAFLD and have important implications for the screening and prevention of NAFLD.

Multiphase holdup measurement of oil-gas-water flow using new dual receiver fiber-optical probe array multiphase logging tool

To solve the problem of multiphase holdup measurement, a new dual-receiver fiber-optical probe array multiphase logging tool (NDRFOPA_MLT) is designed and developed. This paper first constructed the mechanism model of an NDRFOP for phase holdup measurement by using the ray tracing method and theoretically analyzed the feasibility of NDRFOP to measure phase holdup; considering the shortcomings of NDRFOP local measurement, a NDRFOPA sensor for oil production three-phase flow is designed and developed. At the same time, the volume of fluid model was used to simulate the distribution characteristics of the medium in the NDRFOPA_MLT measurement pipeline under the working conditions of oil-gas-water flow with a total flow rate range of 0.42-1.25 m³/h, water holdup range of 50%-80%, oil holdup range of 10%-30%, and gas holdup range of 10%-40%. In addition, the NDRFOPA_MLT measurement models for different multiphase flow conditions were established by the ZEMAX ray tracing method, and the sensitivity distribution, response characteristics, and phase holdup measurement methods were studied to obtain the phase holdup measurement results under multiphase flow conditions. Finally, a multiphase flow experimental platform with a measurement pipe diameter of 20 mm and a measurement pipe length of 300 mm was established, and experiments were conducted under multiphase flow conditions, such as a gas flow rate range of 0.04-0.16 m³/h, oil flow rate range of 0.64-1.70 m³/h, and water flow rate range of 0.53-2.58 m³/h. The experimental results showed that phase holdup measurement error was mainly kept within 10%.

Guishaozichuan granules can attenuate asthma in rats via the MUC5AC/EGFR signaling pathway

Background: Guishaozichuan (GSZC) granules are a traditional Chinese medicine formulation created by Professor Li (Chinese-Japanese Friendship Hospital, Beijing, China) we studied the effect of GSZC granules in rats suffering from asthma. Methods: Specific pathogen-free Sprague-Dawley rats were divided randomly into seven groups. Ovalbumin (OVA) and Al (OH)₃ gel were used to create an asthma model. On day 1, rats were injected with OVA (10 mg) and an Al(OH)₃ gel suspension (100 mg). One week later, rats were sensitized again. On day 15, rats were given aerosolized OVA (1%) for 30 min/day for 10 days. Gastric administration of OVA was 1 h before nebulization. At 24 h after the last stimulation, changes in airway resistance (R_I) and dynamic compliance (C_dyn) in rat lungs were measured after challenge with methacholine at increasing concentrations. The contents of immunoglobulin (Ig)E, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, IL-13, and IL-17 in serum were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The percentage of eosinophils (EOS) and the white blood cell (WBC) count in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) were counted under an optical microscope. Pathologic alterations in lung tissue were evaluated by optical microscopy, and lung injury score calculated. Expression of mucin 5AC, oligomeric mucus/gel-forming (MUC5AC) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in lung tissue was measured by immunohistochemistry. mRNA expression of MUC5AC and EGFR in lung tissue was measured by real-time reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Results: GSZC granules reduced R_I markedly and improved C_dyn, decreased serum levels of IgE, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, IL-17, %EOS and the WBC count in BALF. GSZC granules alleviated lung-tissue damage, diminished the Inflammation Score, and reduced mRNA and protein expression of MUC5AC and EGFR in lung tissue. Conclusion: GSZC granules could improve bronchial hyperresponsiveness, bronchial inflammation, and histopathologic damage in the lungs of rats suffering from asthma. This phenomenon may be related to its regulation of cytokine levels and the MUC5AC/EGFR signaling pathway.

Rapid and accurate determination of diesel multiple properties through NIR data analysis assisted by machine learning

The rapid and accurate detection of diesel multiple properties is an important research topic in petrochemical industry that is conducive to diesel quality assessment and environmental pollution mitigation. To that end, this paper developed a new machine learning model for near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy capable of simultaneously determining diesel density, viscosity, freezing point, boiling point, cetane number and total aromatics. The model combined improved XY co-occurrence distance (ISPXY) and differential evolution-gray wolf optimization support vector machine (DEGWO-SVM) to attain the goal of rapidity and accuracy. Experimental results indicated that the average recovery, mean square error, mean absolute percentage error and determination coefficient of the presented method outperformed those of the existing machine learning methods. The proposed hybrid model provides superior solution to the problem of low efficiency and high cost of diesel quality detection, and has the potential to be utilized as a promising tool for diesel routine monitoring.

[Clinical value of a differentiation prediction model for invasive lung adenocarcinoma]

Objective: To investigate the value of predicting the degree of differentiation of pulmonary invasive adenocarcinoma (IAC) based on CT image radiomics model and the expression difference of immunohistochemical factors between different degrees of differentiation of lesions. Methods: The clinicopathological data of patients with pulmonary IAC confirmed by surgical pathology in the Affiliated Huai'an First People's Hospital to Nanjing Medical University from December 2017 to September 2018 were collected. High-throughput feature acquisition was performed for all outlined regions of interest, and prediction models were constructed after dimensionality reduction by the minimum absolute shrinkage operator. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to assess the predictive efficacy of clinical characteristic model, radiomics model and individualized prediction model combined with both to identify the degree of pulmonary IAC differentiation, and immunohistochemical expressions of Ki-67, NapsinA and TTF-1 were compared between groups with different degrees of IAC differentiation using rank sum test. Results: A total of 396 high-throughput features were extracted from all IAC lesions, and 10 features with high generalization ability and correlation with the degree of IAC differentiation were screened. The mean radiomics score of poorly differentiated IAC in the training group (1.206) was higher than that of patients with high and medium differentiation (0.969, P=0.001), and the mean radiomics score of poorly differentiated IAC in the test group (1.545) was higher than that of patients with high and medium differentiation (-0.815, P<0.001). The differences in gender (P<0.001), pleural stretch sign (P=0.005), and burr sign (P=0.033) were statistically significant between patients in the well and poorly differentiated IAC groups. Multifactorial logistic regression analysis showed that gender and pleural stretch sign were related to the degree of IAC differentiation (P<0.05). The clinical feature model consisted of age, gender, pleural stretch sign, burr sign, tumor vessel sign, and vacuolar sign, and the individualized prediction model consisted of gender, pleural stretch sign, and radiomic score, and was represented by a nomogram. The Akaike information standard values of the radiomics model, clinical feature model and individualized prediction model were 54.756, 82.214 and 53.282, respectively. The individualized prediction model was most effective in identifying the degree of differentiation of pulmonary IAC, and the area under the curves (AUC) of the individualized prediction model in the training group and the test group were 0.92 (95% CI: 0.86-0.99) and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.74-1.00, respectively). The AUCs of the radiomics group model for predicting the degree of differentiation of pulmonary IAC in the training group and the test group were 0.91 (95% CI: 0.83-0.98) and 0.87 (95% CI: 0.72-1.00), respectively. The AUCs of the clinical characteristics model for predicting the degree of differentiation of pulmonary IACs in the training and test groups were 0.75 (95% CI: 0.63-0.86) and 0.76 (95% CI: 0.59-0.94), respectively. The expression level of Ki-67 in poorly differentiated IAC was higher than that in well-differentiated IAC (P<0.001). The expression levels of NapsinA, TTF-1 in poorly differentiated IAC were higher than those in well-differentiated IAC (P<0.05). Conclusions: Individualized prediction model consisted of gender, pleural stretch sign and radiomics score can discriminate the differentiation degree of IAC with the best performance in comparison with clinical feature model and radiomics model. Ki-67, NapsinA and TTF-1 express differently in different degrees of differentiation of IAC.

Abstract 6240: A phase 1 study of selective PI3Kγ inhibitor ZX-4081 in patients with advanced solid tumors

ZX-4081 is a highly selective PI3Kγ inhibitor with an IC50 of 1.5 nM for PI3Kγ and 1000-fold selectivity over the other isoforms (α, β, and δ) in cell-based assays. PI3Kγ is predominantly expressed in leukocytes and plays a critical role in activation of myeloid cells at sites of inflammation and tumorigenesis, and in lymphocyte recruitment into tumor microenvironment. Previous studies reported that blockade of PI3Kγ-mediated signaling limits tumor growth and metastasis by activating CD8+ T cell and M1-like macrophage in the tumor milieu, and thereby overcome resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors. ZX-4081-101 (NCT05118841) is a phase 1 first-in-human, open-label, multi-center, multiple-dose ascending study to investigate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and preliminary antitumor activity of twice daily oral ZX-4081 in 28-day cycles in patients with advanced solid tumors. The study consists of 2 parts, Dose Escalation and Dose Expansion. Part 1 dose escalation is designed to determine the safety, tolerability, and recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) of ZX-4081. Part 2 dose expansion will evaluate ZX-4081 activity in a cohort of up to 40 patients with advanced solid tumors to obtain additional safety, tolerability, PK and PD at the RP2D dose. ZX-4081didn’t show significant inhibitory effects on solid tumor cell lines including 4T1 and CT-26 in in vitro cell proliferation assay. In contrast, in the 4T1 syngeneic mouse model, ZX-4081 treatment at 25 mg/kg BID, 50 mg/kg QD, and 50 mg/kg BID for 28 days reduced tumor growth by 34.6%, 21.2%, and 44.1% in size, respectively (p&lt; 0.0001). No body weight loss was observed in all treatment groups. The in vivo inhibitory effect of ZX-4081 on 4T1 tumor growth was attributed to its enhancement on the mouse anti-tumor immunity. In CT26 syngeneic mouse model, TGI of ZX-4081 at 5 mg/kg BID in combination with anti-PD1 antibody was 80.6% (p value &lt;0.01) in comparison with vehicle and anti-PD1 antibody alone groups. Flow Cytometry analysis illustrated that the combination of ZX-4081 and anti-PD1 treatment increased the ratio of CD8+ T cells to regulatory T cells relative to ZX-4081 alone and anti-PD1 alone treatment groups. Combination treatment also decreased M2-like macrophages (CD206+MHCII-) proportion in macrophages, consequently increased the ratio of M1-like to M2-like macrophages in comparison to ZX-4081 alone and anti-PD1 alone treatment groups. Overall, our studies suggest that ZX-4081 inhibits tumor growth by reprogramming tumor microenvironment via impairing PI3Kγ-AKT-mediated macrophage polarization to enhance anti-cancer immunity. Its absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) and safety profile, through a series of in vitro and in vivo studies, support the clinical development of ZX-4081. Inclusion of combination therapy is planned after obtaining the initial clinical assessment of ZX-4081 on its safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics.

Citation Format: Xiaoli Qin, Edgar Bautista, Ying-ying Li, Xiaomin Li, Zhiyuan Peng, Deming Kong, Jinfu Yang, Xiaolin Hao. A phase 1 study of selective PI3Kγ inhibitor ZX-4081 in patients with advanced solid tumors [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 6240.

Abstract 5486: ENPP1 inhibitor ZX-8177 enhances anti-tumor activity of conventional therapies by modulating tumor microenvironment

Emerging studies revealed that tumor derived 2’3’-cGAMP could act as an immune transmitter and directly trigger anti-tumor immunity. Damage associated molecular patterns, e.g. damaged genomic DNA, released from injured cancer cells can be converted into 2’, 3’-cGAMP by cGAS. Subsequently, cGAMP triggers STING pathway activation to produce type I interferons (IFNs) and other related innate immunity in the tumor microenvironment. Ecto-nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1 (ENPP1), a membrane-bound nucleotide hydrolase, has been discovered as the predominant enzyme hydrolyzing 2’3’-cGAMP (Li, et al). Hence, ENPP1 blockade in the tumor milieu is a potential strategy against tumors by improving innate immunity response. In this report, we present a potent ENPP1 inhibitor ZX-8177. ZX-8177 showed an IC50 of 9.5 nM in a biochemical assay and an IC50 of 11 nM in MDA-MB-231 cell-based enzymatic assay. In a functional assay for evaluating efficacy of ZX-8177, the production of IFN-β1 by THP-1 cells was measured after the cells were cultured in the conditioned medium collected from MDA-MB-231 cells treated with or without ZX-8177. The interferon production assay showed an EC50 of 15 pM, suggesting that ZX-8177 effectively facilitated IFN-β1 production via cGAMP-STING axis. In CT-26 syngeneic mouse model, ZX-8177 treatment at 2 mg/kg, BID for 14 days can achieve around 37-60% tumor growth inhibition (TGI). No body weight loss was observed during treatment. Flow cytometry analysis indicated that ZX-8177 treatment resulted in a 2-3-fold increase in tumor-infiltrating NK (CD314+CD335+) cells, cytotoxic CD8 T cells (GranzB+CD8+), and M1-macrophages (CD206-MHCII+); and a decrease in M2-macrophages (CD206+MHCII-) (p&lt; 0.05). Combination of Mitomycin C (0.5 mg/kg, i.p., BIW) and ZX-8177 (2 mg/kg, i.p., BID) in CT-26 model yielded synergistic anti-tumor efficacy (increased &gt;30% TGI). The level of cGAMP in tumor tissue harvested from the combination treatment group was around 2-fold higher than that in the vehicle group. Furthermore, synergistic tumor inhibition of ZX-8177 and anti-PD-L1 antibody was also observed in MC38 mouse model. TGI of anti-PD-L1 antibody vs. combo treatment is 53% vs. 75%, p &lt; 0.05. ZX-8177 has a favorable DMPK and safety pharmacology profile to support it as a clinical candidate for further development.

Citation Format: Ying-ying Li, Zhiyuan Peng, Shuaijun Sun, Kun Guo, Deming Kong, Xiaomin Li, Yuning Xie, Siyu Shui, Yin Wang, Jinfu Yang, Xiaolin Alan Hao, Xiaoli (Shelley) Qin. ENPP1 inhibitor ZX-8177 enhances anti-tumor activity of conventional therapies by modulating tumor microenvironment [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 5486.

Integrated dual-laser photonic chip for high-purity carrier generation enabling ultrafast terahertz wireless communications

Photonic generation of Terahertz (THz) carriers displays high potential for THz communications with a large tunable range and high modulation bandwidth. While many photonics-based THz generations have recently been demonstrated with discrete bulky components, their practical applications are significantly hindered by the large footprint and high energy consumption. Herein, we present an injection-locked heterodyne source based on generic foundry-fabricated photonic integrated circuits (PIC) attached to a uni-traveling carrier photodiode generating high-purity THz carriers. The generated THz carrier is tunable within the range of 0–1.4 THz, determined by the wavelength spacing between the two monolithically integrated distributed feedback (DFB) lasers. This scheme generates and transmits a 131 Gbits⁻¹ net rate signal over a 10.7-m distance with −24 dBm emitted power at 0.4 THz. This monolithic dual-DFB PIC-based THz generation approach is a significant step towards fully integrated, cost-effective, and energy-efficient THz transmitters.

A photonic Terahertz source based on injection-locking an integrated dual-laser chip generates and transmits a 131 Gbps THz signal over 10.7-m distance, showing great potential towards fully integrated and energy-efficient THz transmitters for 6G.

Differentiated activities of decorin and biglycan in the progression of post-traumatic osteoarthritis

OBJECTIVE

To delineate the activities of decorin and biglycan in the progression of post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA).

DESIGN

Three-month-old inducible biglycan (BgniKO) and decorin/biglycan compound (Dcn/BgniKO) knockout mice were subjected to the destabilization of the medial meniscus (DMM) surgery to induce PTOA. The OA phenotype was evaluated by assessing joint structure and sulfated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) staining via histology, surface collagen fibril nanostructure and calcium content via scanning electron microscopy, tissue modulus via atomic force microscopy-nanoindentation, as well as subchondral bone structure and meniscus ossification via micro-computed tomography. Outcomes were compared with previous findings in the inducible decorin (DcniKO) knockout mice.

RESULTS

In the DMM model, BgniKO mice developed similar degree of OA as the control (0.44 [-0.18 1.05] difference in modified Mankin score), different from the more severe OA phenotype observed in DcniKO mice (1.38 [0.91 1.85] difference). Dcn/BgniKO mice exhibited similar histological OA phenotype as DcniKO mice (1.51 [0.97 2.04] difference vs control), including aggravated loss of sGAGs, salient surface fibrillation and formation of osteophyte. Meanwhile, Dcn/BgniKO mice showed further cartilage thinning than DcniKO mice, resulting in the exposure of underlying calcified tissues and aberrantly high surface modulus. BgniKO and Dcn/BgniKO mice developed altered subchondral trabecular bone structure in both Sham and DMM groups, while DcniKO and control mice did not.

CONCLUSION

In PTOA, decorin plays a more crucial role than biglycan in regulating cartilage degeneration, while biglycan is more important in regulating subchondral bone structure. The two have distinct activities and modest synergy in the pathogenesis of PTOA.

Abstract 1383: A next-generation PI3Kδ/γ inhibitor, ZX-101A inhibiting solid tumor growth by enhancing anti-tumor immunity

PI3K signaling cascade plays a central role in the regulation of key cellular pathways including growth, proliferation, differentiation, migration and survival. Previous studies suggested that both PI3Kδ and γ activities exert immunosuppression by targeting regulatory T cells (Treg) and myeloid cells. ZX-101A is an inhibitor of PI3K with predominant activity against the PI3Kδ and PI3Kγ isoforms, whose expressions are largely restricted to hematopoietic cells. Dual inhibition of PI3Kδ and PI3Kγ by ZX-101A may potentially restore the immune surveillance to limit tumor growth.The inhibitory effect of ZX-101A on PI3K activity was evaluated by blocking of AKT phosphorylation at T308 and S473 in human B-cell lymphoma DOHH2 cells and stimulated THP1 monocyte cells. ZX-101A significantly decreased the phosphorylation of AKT at S473 site in comparison to DMSO treated DOHH2 cells, but no difference on p-AKT level between the two concentrations of ZX-101A and the three treatment time points. In contrast, ZX-101A blocked the p-AKT on S473 in LPS-stimulated THP-1 cell line in both dose- and time-dependent manner. In vitro cell proliferation assay demonstrated ZX-101A potently inhibited cell proliferation of B-cell and T-cell lymphoma cell lines, but without potent effect on cells (e.g. 4T1 and CT26) derived from solid tumors. In contrast, ZX-101A inhibited tumor growth in CT26 syngeneic mouse model after 21-day treatment with TGI at 76.9% (1mg/kg QD), 79.5% (3mg/kg QD) and 90.0% (12mg/kg), which was attributed to enhanced anti-tumor immunity by ZX-101A treatment. Flow cytometry study on CT 26 tumors demonstrated that ZX-101A decreased Treg and increased M1/M2 macrophage polarization in the tumor microenvironment. Ex vivo T-cell differentiation assay using mouse spleen T cells and M1/M2 polarization assay using human PBMC cells confirmed the effect of ZX-101A on decreasing Treg differentiation and enhancing M1 macrophage function. Similarly, in vivo anti-tumor growth was observed in 4T1 and A20 syngeneic models. In A20 syngeneic model, ZX-101A in combination of anti-PD1 antibody achieved 99.7% TGI after 18 days of treatment, while anti-PD1 antibody alone only had TGI at 11.7%. Safety assessment on the mouse spleen, thymus and colon organs indicated minimal side effects by the treatment of the ZX-101A alone and in combination with anti-PD1. Its absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) and safety profile, through a series of preclinical in vitro and in vivo studies, supported the ZX-101A clinical development. These results suggested ZX-101A as a potential immunotherapeutic agent to appropriate solid tumor types.

Citation Format: Xiaolin Hao, Zhiyuan Peng, Kun Guo, Ying-Ying Li, Deming Kong, Jinfu Yang, Xiaoli (Shelley) Qin. A next-generation PI3Kδ/γ inhibitor, ZX-101A inhibiting solid tumor growth by enhancing anti-tumor immunity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1383.

Abstract 1384: Selective PI3Kγ inhibitor ZX-4081 reprograms the tumor microenvironment to facilitate anti-cancer immunity

PI3Kγ is highly expressed in leukocytes and also known to play a critical role in activation of myeloid cells at sites of inflammation and tumorigenesis, T cell recruitment into tumor microenvironment, and chemokine-mediated chemotaxis as well as growth factor signaling. Previous studies reported that blockade of PI3Kγ-AKT signaling is able to inhibit tumor growth and metastasis by increasing CD8+T cell activation and M1(anti-tumoral)-like macrophage appearance in the tumor milieu, and thereby overcome resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors (e.g., anti-PD1 antibody). In this report, we present a highly selective PI3Kγ inhibitor ZX-4081 with an IC50 of 1.5 nM for PI3Kγ- and over 1000-fold selectivity over the other isoform (α, β, and δ) in biochemical assay. To confirm inhibitory effect of ZX-4081 on PI3Kγ-AKT activation, LPS-stimulated THP-1 cells (monocytic cells) were treated with 10 nM or 500 nM ZX-4081, and their AKT phosphorylation (at T308 and S473 sites) were examined by immunoblotting. The immunoblot result indicated that both T308 and S473 phosphorylation was down-regulated by ZX-4081 in a time-dependent and dose-dependent manner. Next, to verify whether ZX-4081 can alter macrophage polarization, M-CSF-stimulated human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were subsequently either induced into M1-like macrophages with LPS and IFN-γ or induced into M2-like macrophages with IL-4 and IL-13 in the absence (vehicle) or presence of ZX4081 (from 1.52 to1000 nM). The flow cytometry result exhibited that ZX-4081 effectively facilitated macrophage polarization toward M1-like phenotype, evidenced by an increase (a 2.5-fold increase at 10 nM compared to vehicle) in iNOS and CD86 expressions of M1-like macrophages; however, CD206 expression (M2-like phenotype) was not changed by ZX-4081 treatment in M2-like macrophages. Additionally, ZX-4081 could reduce both IL-10 protein and mRNA levels in M2-like macrophages (2-5 times lower than vehicle). The cell proliferation assessment showed that ZX-4081(&lt; 5μM) did not exert potent growth inhibitory effects on solid tumor cell lines including HT-29, HT-1197, 4T1, B16-F10, and CT-26 cells. In the 4T1 syngeneic mouse model, ZX-4081 treatment at 25 mg/kg (p.o, BID), 50 mg/kg (p.o., QD), and 50 mg/kg (p.o., BID) for 28 days gave rise to a reduction in tumor growth by 34.6%, 21.2%, and 44.1% in size, respectively (p&lt; 0.0001). Therefore, the in vivo inhibitory effect of ZX-4081 on 4T1 tumor growth was attributed to its modulation on the mouse anti-tumor immunity. Overall, our data suggest that ZX-4081 possesses ability of tumor growth inhibition by reprogramming tumor microenvironment via impairing PI3Kγ-AKT-mediated macrophage polarization to enhance anti-cancer immunity.

Citation Format: Ying-Ying Li, Kun Guo, Zhiyuan Peng, Deming Kong, Xiaolin Hao, Jinfu Yang, Xiaoli (Shelley) Qin. Selective PI3Kγ inhibitor ZX-4081 reprograms the tumor microenvironment to facilitate anti-cancer immunity [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1384.

Abstract 1275: Potent ENPP1 inhibitors activating STING pathway in tumor microenvironment

Cyclic GMP-AMP synthase (cGAS) recognizes and binds double-stranded DNA (dsDNA) in the cytosol to generate 2′3′-cGAMP, a cyclic dinucleotide and an activator of STING-dependent innate immunity. Emerging studies revealed that tumor derived 2′3′-cGAMP could act as an immune transmitter and directly trigger anti-tumor immunity. Up to date, Ecto-nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase-1 (ENPP1/NPP1), a membrane-bound nucleotide hydrolase, was discovered as the predominant enzyme hydrolyzing 2'3'cGAMP. The breakdown of 2'3' cGAMP by ENPP1 may dampen STING-dependent anti-tumor innate immune response. Employing genomic approach, we found that ENPP1 expression varies dramatically among different tumor tissues. Interestingly, ENPP1 expression in breast cancer tissues is overall double the level in normal breast tissues. These results made ENPP1 an attractive cancer immunotherapy target, to enhance STING-dependent innate immunity in tumor microenvironment.We have discovered a novel class of potent ENPP1 inhibitors with pico-molar IC50 in rhENPP1 enzymatic assay. In a cell-based enzymatic assay, compound ZXP-8202 showed an EC50 of 20 nM. To further assess its efficacy on STING-dependent interferon production, 2'3'-cGAMP was added to the culture medium of a high ENPP1-expressing cell line MDA-MB-231 in the absence and presence of ZXP-8202. IFNB1 production in THP1 monocyte was induced when THP-1 cells were incubated with the conditioned medium from MDA-MB-231 cells. In this IFNB1 assay, ZXP-8202 had an EC50 of 10nM. To confirm the ZXP-8202 potency in this culture system reflecting cellular ENPP1 activity, MDA-MB-231 was also treated with 2'3'-cGAMP(PS)2(Rp/Sp), a potent activator of STING but resistant to ENPP1 hydrolysis. The presence of ZXP-8202 showed no effect on 2'3'-cGAMP(PS)2(Rp/Sp) stimulated IFNB1 production in THP-1 cells when cultured in conditioned medium. These results demonstrated ZXP-8202 as a potent ENPP1 inhibitor, blocking 2'3-cGAMP hydrolysis by ENPP1, subsequently activating STING pathway. ZXP-8202 was dosed in CT26 syngeneic mouse model for 14 days and achieved about 70% tumor growth inhibition. No body weight loss was observed at this efficacious dose during treatment. The studies on further characterization of ENPP1 inhibitors and their mechanism of actions are ongoing and the results will be reported in due course.

Citation Format: Zhiyuan Peng, Kun Guo, Ying-Ying Li, Deming Kong, Jinfu Yang, Xiaoli (Shelley) Qin, Xiaolin Hao. Potent ENPP1 inhibitors activating STING pathway in tumor microenvironment [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 1275.

Analysis of fluorescence simulation and experiments for sea surface oil film based on LIF

In order to effectively analyze the fluorescence distribution of sea surface oil film detected by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), a novel, to the best of our knowledge, simulation model of the oil film fluorescence was established based on the Monte Carlo method. Using this simulation model, the fluorescence distribution of oil film with different thickness in emission direction and spatial distribution were analyzed. Based on the fluorescence mechanism model of oil film detected by LIF, a criterion for the LIF system calibration, i.e., the fluorescence intensity ratio between oil film and clean seawater (FIR) using the fluorescence collected from clean seawater as a reference was proposed. The validity of the fluorescence simulation model was verified by using the FIR results of theory and simulation. The fluorescence spectra of oil films with different thickness and FIR parameters of corresponding thickness were obtained by experiments. By analyzing the fluorescence spectra of different oil products and oil film thickness, the fluorescence influencing factors of oil film detected by LIF were obtained. The results show that the fluorescence coverage area increases gradually with the increase of oil film thickness. When the incident light is in the same direction as the fluorescence receiving direction, the obtained fluorescence intensity is larger. Moreover, the FIR used as the calibration criterion of the LIF monitoring system can effectively characterize the thickness of oil film on the sea surface for LIF to detect sea surface oil film in real applications.

Self-paired dumbbell DNA -assisted simple preparation of stable circular DNAzyme and its application in Pb2+ sensor

During its development in recent decades, DNAzyme has become a promising candidate for application in biosensor field. However, it still suffers from the problem of thermodynamic and biological instability such as nuclease digestion, which limits its applications in complex samples. Here we have presented a simple and common strategy to resolve this problem by engineering the linear DNAzyme into a circular shape DNAzyme based on the integration of substrate and enzyme parts into one single-stranded sequence. This circular DNAzyme system is indeed endowed with excellent stability due to the stable intramolecular double-stranded formation and extraordinary resistance to nuclease digestion due to the closed structure. We demonstrated that this circular DNAzyme system gained excellent stability and could active under conditions across a broader range of temperature, salt concentrations, and pH. Depending on this circular DNAzyme, combing with Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT)-generated G-quadruplexes, a label free colorimetric sensing platform for Pb²⁺ quantitation was developed, and a detection limit of 0.085 nM was achieved. Then the enzyme digestion cycle amplification was introduced to further improve the sensitivity of the sensing system, an ultralow detection limit of 0.0015 nM for this fluorescence method was achieved. Based on the two sensing platforms, ultrasensitive analysis of Pb²⁺ in environmental water and food samples was successfully realized. It is anticipated that this stable circular DNAzyme design will be helpful for trace detection in complex samples.

Excitation emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy and parallel factor framework-clustering analysis for oil pollutants identification

Serious ecological damage can be caused due to increased oil pollution. Identifying the source of oil can inform effective mitigation strategies and policies. A novel method for oil pollutants identification has been presented based on excitation emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy and parallel factor framework-clustering analysis (PFFCA). First, the EEM spectroscopy of the oil samples was measured by a FS920 steady-state fluorescence spectrometer. Second, EEM was analyzed and characterized by PFFCA. A total 90 EEM were decomposed into six components using excitation wavelengths from 260 to 400 nm and emission wavelengths from 280 to 450 nm. Finally, oil samples were classified and matched by using concentration vectors. The results were compared with those obtained by using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) employing parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) scores, and partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA). The best classification result was obtained by using LDA employing concentration vectors with 96.7% accuracy. The results indicate that PFFCA-LDA offers a robust approach for the oil samples, which is of great significance in discrimination of oil pollutants.

Ultrasensitive ratiometric detection of Pb2+ using DNA tetrahedron-mediated hyperbranched hybridization chain reaction

A fluorescent sensing strategy was developed for rapid, highly sensitive and specific detection of lead (II) ion (Pb²⁺) on the basis of Pb²⁺ DNAzyme-controlled tetrahedral DNA nanostructure (TDN)-mediated hyper-branched hybridization chain reaction (hHCR). In this strategy, DNA hairpins used for HCR amplification are modified on the four vertexes of TDN, which are then used to perform rapid TDN-hHCR in the presence of an initiator strand, producing large-sized cross-linked reaction products and thus giving greatly improved fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) signal output. Pb²⁺ DNAzyme catalyzes the cleavage of the initiator strand, inhibiting the initiation of TDN-hHCR and giving decreased FRET signal. Synergetic signal amplification of Pb²⁺ DNAzyme-catalyzed cleavage reaction and subsequent TDN-hHCR confers the sensing platform with ultrahigh sensitivity. As low as 0.25 pM Pb²⁺ can be detected by using either signal "turn-on" or "turn-off" mode. The whole detection process can be finished within 20 min. Strong anti-interference capacity of FRET-based ratiometric detection and high specificity of Pb²⁺ DNAzyme endow the sensing platform with great practical application potential, which was demonstrated by the accurate detection of Pb²⁺ in real river water, fruit, vegetable and grain samples.

Distribution and sources of DDT and its metabolites in porewater and sediment from a typical tropical bay in the South China Sea

Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is well known for its harmful effects and has been banned around the world. However, DDT is still frequently detected in natural environments, particularly in aquaculture and harbor sediments. In this study, 15 surface sediment samples were collected from a typical tropical bay (Zhanjiang Bay) in the South China Sea, and the levels of DDT and its metabolites in sediment and porewater samples were investigated. The results showed that concentrations of DDXs (i.e., DDT and its metabolites) in bulk sediments were 1.58-51.0 ng g^-1 (mean, 11.5 ng g^-1). DDTs (DDT and its primary metabolites, dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane (DDD) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE)) were the most prominent, accounting for 73.2%-98.3% (86.1% ± 12.8%) of the DDXs. Additionally, high-order metabolites (i.e., 1-chloro-2,2-bis(4'-chlorophenyl)ethylene (p,p'-DDMU), 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethylene (p,p'-DDNU), 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)ethanol (p,p'-DDOH), 2,2-bis(p-chlorophenyl)methane (p,p'-DDM), and 4,4'-dichlorobenzophenone (p,p'-DBP)) were also detected in most of the sediment and porewater samples, with DDMU and DBP being predominant. The DDTs concentration differed among the sampling sites, with relatively high DDTs concentrations in the samples from the aquaculture zone and an area near the shipping channel and the Haibin shipyard. The DDD/DDE ratios indicated a reductive dichlorination of DDT to DDD under anaerobic conditions at most of the sampling sites of Zhanjiang Bay. The possible DDT degradation pathway in the surface sediments of Zhanjiang Bay was p,p'-DDT/p,p'-DDD(p,p'-DDE)/p,p'-DDMU/p,p'-DDNU/ … /p,p'-DBP. The DDXs in the sediments of Zhanjiang Bay were mainly introduced via mixed sources of industrial DDT and dicofol, including fresh input and historical residue. The concentrations of DDXs in porewater samples varied from 66.3 to 250 ng L^-1, exhibiting a distribution similar to that in the accompanying sediments. However, the content of high-order metabolites was relatively lower in porewater than in sediment, indicating that high-order degradation mainly occurs in particles. Overall, this study helps in understanding the distribution, source, and degradation of DDT in a typical tropical bay.

Genetic polymorphisms and cardiovascular outcomes in Chinese patients undergoing PCI and treated with clopidogrel and aspirin

Background

Genetic polymorphisms of key proteins involved in clopidogrel absorption, metabolism, and action may contribute to variability in platelet inhibition in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), but their impacts on cardiovascular outcomes remain unclear.

Purpose

To examine the associations between genetic polymorphisms and cardiovascular outcomes in Chinese patients undergoing PCI and treated with clopidogrel and aspirin.

Methods

This prospective cohort study consecutively enrolled 2,453 post-PCI patients treated with clopidogrel and aspirin. Adenosine diphosphate-induced platelet aggregation was measured by light transmission aggregometry. A total of 40 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of 18 genes selected according to published studies were investigated using an improved multiplex ligation detection reaction technique. The primary outcome was major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), the composite of cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), and ischemic stroke within one year after PCI.

Results

We restricted the analyses to the first 1,452 patients who had finished one-year follow-up and complete data on genotyping and platelet aggregation. 44 (3.03%) patients suffered MACE. Among the 40 SNPs, only the A-allele carriers of CYP2C19*2 had a significant higher risk of MACE (adjusted HR 2.05; 95% CI, 1.01–4.19; p=0.048) and platelet aggregation than non-A-carriers after adjusting age, sex, MI presentation, and left ventricular ejection fraction. CYP2C19*3, CYP2B6 rs3745274, and PEAR1 rs12041331 variants were also significantly associated with platelet aggregation (all p&lt;0.05) but not with MACE at 1 year.

Conclusion

About 54.2% of Chinese patients with PCI were A-allele carriers of CYP2C19*2, who face a two-fold higher risk of MACE than non-A-allele carriers in Chinese patients after PCI. It would help identify low clopidogrel responders and optimize antiplatelet therapy before drug administration.

Figure 1

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): National Natural Science Funding of China

Energy-efficient thermo-optic silicon phase shifter with well-balanced overall performance

Silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs) show great potential for many applications. The phase tuning technique is indispensable and of great importance in silicon PICs. An optical phase shifter with balanced overall performance on power consumption, insertion loss, footprint, and modulation bandwidth is essential for harnessing large-scale integrated photonics. However, few proposed phase shifter schemes on various platforms have achieved a well-balanced performance. In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate a thermo-optic phase shifter based on a densely distributed silicon spiral waveguide on a silicon-on-insulator platform. The phase shifter shows a well-balanced performance in all aspects. The electrical power consumption is as low as 3 mW to achieve a π phase shift, the optical insertion loss is 0.9 dB per phase shifter, the footprint is 67×28µm² under a standard silicon photonics fabrication process without silicon air trench or undercut process, and the modulation bandwidth is measured to be 39 kHz.

224-Gbps single-photodiode PAM-4 transmission with extended transmitter bandwidth based on optical time-and-polarization interleaving

We have proposed and demonstrated the optical time-and-polarization interleaving (OTPI) technique, which can effectively extend the transmitter bandwidth for an intensity modulation and direct detection (IM/DD) optical system. The 224-Gbit/s line-rate OTPI-PAM-4 signal is successfully transmitted over a 500-m standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) in the C band, using the transmitter with a bandwidth of 25 GHz and the receiver with a single photodiode. By using a 33%-return-to-zero (RZ) pulse train, a bit-error ratio (BER) below 7% hard-decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) threshold is achieved. BER below 20% soft-decision forward error correction (SD-FEC) threshold is also realized using a carrier suppressed return-to-zero (CSRZ) pulse train. The OTPI technique can also be used for more higher-order pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) formats, making it a promising technique for next-generation high-speed optical interconnects.

Feasibility study on prediction of gasoline octane number using NIR spectroscopy combined with manifold learning and neural network

Octane number is an anti-knock index of fuel gasoline, which has an important impact on the service life of engine components and the safety of vehicles. Therefore, it is a basic work involving safety to predict the gasoline octane number accurately. This work was aimed to predict the octane number of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy by combining dimension reduction algorithm with neural network. Covariance matrix estimation (CME), known as a mathematical statistic tool, was applied to estimating the intrinsic dimensions of octane spectrum dataset. Landmark-Isometric feature mapping (L-Isomap), as a novel manifold learning algorithm, was used for dimensionality reduction of spectral data. A new method, beetle antennae search optimization BP neural network (BAS-BP), was proposed to realize the prediction of octane number. In order to verify the performance of CME-L-Isomap-BAS-BP model presented in this paper, it is compared with other models. The results showed that when CME-L-Isomap was combined with BAS-BP, the average recovery rate (AR), mean square error (MSE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), correlation coefficient (R) and running time were superior than other models. The satisfying results demonstrated that the CME-L-Isomap-BAS-BP model is more suitable for prediction of gasoline octane number.

Classification of oil pollutants based on excitation-emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy and two-dimensional discriminant analysis

Excitation-Emission Matrix (EEM) Fluorescence spectroscopy and two-dimensional (2D) discriminant analysis were used to classify oil pollutants. Firstly, the EEM fluorescence spectroscopy of the oil samples was collected using the FS920 steady-state fluorescence spectrometer, and EEM was preprocessed by removing scattering and normalization. Secondly, EEM was analyzed and characterized by parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC). Finally, all the collected samples were divided into training and test sets by the Kennard-Stone algorithm. The classification models of the training set samples were established by using 2D-PCA, 2D-LDA, PARAFAC-2DPCA, PARAFAC-2DLDA, PARAFAC-LDA and NPLS-DA algorithms, respectively. These models were then used to classify test set samples. The classification performance of the used models was assessed by accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. The best classification results in the used models were obtained by using 2D-PCA and 2D-LDA with 95% and 95% accuracy, respectively. These results provide an important reference for classification of oil pollutants.

Computationally efficient 104 Gb/s PWL-Volterra equalized 2D-TCM-PAM8 in dispersion unmanaged DML-DD system

Two-dimensional eight-level pulse amplitude modulation with trellis-coded modulation (2D-TCM-PAM8) is proposed to overcome the bandwidth limitation for high-speed signal transmission due to its high spectral efficiency. However, the high coding gain of the TCM can only be achieved in bandlimited additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels and cannot be achieved in nonlinear channels without any equalizers. In the directly modulated laser and direct detection (DML-DD) transmission system, the transceiver nonlinearities and the interaction between DML chirp and fiber dispersion will introduce nonlinear distortion. To compensate for the nonlinear distortion, we propose a computationally efficient piecewise linear (PWL)-Volterra equalizer. In this equalizer, we first use the PWL to correct the skewed eye diagram and then employ a simple 2^nd order Volterra to compensate for the residual nonlinear distortions. By using the PWL-Volterra equalizer prior to the Viterbi decoder, the high coding gain of TCM can be achieved. In the experiment, a 104 Gb/s 8-state 2D-TCM-PAM8 signal generated in a ∼ 20 GHz DML is successfully transmitted over 10 km standard single-mode fiber (SSMF) in C band, with the bit error ratio (BER) below the HD-FEC limit of 3.8 × 10^-3. Compared to only using the conventional 2^nd order Volterra equalizer with a similar BER performance, the PWL-Volterra equalizer shows 29% computational complexity reduction.

744-nm wavelength conversion of PAM-4 signal using an AlGaAsOI nanowaveguide

Exploring new frequency bands for optical transmission is essential to overcome the capacity crunch. The 2-µm band is becoming a research spotlight due to available broadband thulium-doped fiber amplifiers as well as low-latency, low-loss hollow-core fibers. Yet most of the 2-µm band devices designed for optical communication are still in their infancy. In this Letter, we propose wavelength conversion based on four-wave mixing in a highly nonlinear AlGaAsOI nanowaveguide to bridge the 2-µm band and the conventional bands. Due to the strong light confinement of the AlGaAsOI nanowaveguide, high-order phase match is enabled by dispersion engineering to achieve a large synergetic conversion bandwidth with high conversion efficiency. Simulation results show a possible conversion bandwidth over an octave. An AlGaAsOI nanowaveguide with 3-mm length and a nominal cross-section dimension of $ 320\;{\rm nm} \times 680\;{\rm nm} $320nm×680nm is used for the wavelength conversion of a 10 Gbit/s non-return-to-zero on-off keying signal and a 10 Gbit/s Nyquist-shaped four-level pulse-amplitude modulation signal. A conversion efficiency of $ - {28}\;{\rm dB}$-28dB is achieved using a 17.5-dBm continuous-wave pump in the C band, with 744 nm conversion from 1999.65 to 1255.35 nm.

Recognition of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using fluorescence spectrometry combined with bird swarm algorithm optimization support vector machine

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), known as a widespread toxic pollutants in aquatic environments, have caused enormous harm to human society and even the earth's ecology. Therefore, it is necessary to identify PAHs pollutants accurately and efficiently. In this work, the binary mixed solvents Acenaphthylene and Fluorene (ANP-FLU), Acenaphthylene and Naphthalene (ANP-NAP), FLU-NAP representing typical PAHs mixtures in aqueous solution were identified by using three-dimensional fluorescence spectroscopy and machine learning intelligent algorithm. The fluorescence spectroscopy was used to analyze the similarity and difference of ANP, FLU, NAP and the mixtures of two above compounds. What's more, bird swarm algorithm optimization support vector machine (BSA-SVM), introduced as a new method, was proposed to identify PAHs. In order to verify the accuracy of the BSA-SVM algorithm, the BSA-SVM, particle swarm optimization support vector machine (PSO-SVM), genetic optimization support vector machine (GA-SVM) and SVM algorithms were test by processing the same spectral data. The test set classification accuracy of BSA-SVM can reach 100%, which was higher than that of PSO-SVM, GA-SVM and SVM. Moreover, with the exception of the original SVM model, the training speed of BSA-SVM was the fastest among the three optimization algorithms. The satisfying results demonstrated that the BSA-SVM was more suitable for qualitative analysis of PAHs.

Optical sampling to enhance Nyquist-shaped signal detection under limited receiver bandwidth

Insufficient receiver bandwidth destroys the orthogonality of Nyquist-shaped pulses, generating inter-symbol interference (ISI). We propose using an optical pre-sampler to alleviate the requirement on the receiver bandwidth through pulse re-shaping. Experiments and simulations using an optically shaped 40-Gbaud Nyquist-shaped on-off-keying signal (N-OOK) show receiver sensitivity improvements of 4- and 7.1-dB under 18- and 11-GHz receiver electrical bandwidths, respectively.

Nonlinear Tomlinson-Harashima precoding for direct-detected double sideband PAM-4 transmission without dispersion compensation

In this paper, we propose a nonlinear Tomlinson-Harashima pre-coding (THP) scheme for nonlinear distortion suppression in direct-detected double sideband (DSB) PAM-4 transmission systems. Based on the traditional THP, the feedback term is modified by introducing nonlinear components. In this way, more accurate feedback can be obtained to mitigate the signal distortions, especially the nonlinear distortions including the signal-to-signal beating interference and nonlinear power series caused by chromatic dispersion and square-law detection. Meanwhile, we also propose to only reserve the nonlinear kernels with adjacent tap products in nonlinear THP, for the purpose of computation complexity reduction. To verify the effectiveness, transmissions of double sideband (DSB) PAM-4 signal in 1550nm window are experimentally demonstrated. Volterra FFE is adopted on the receiver side to suppress linear and nonlinear pre-cursors. We optimize various parameters of hardware and apply appropriate simplification to the nonlinear THP kernels. The results indicate that, the proposed nonlinear THP can lead to up to three folds BER reduction, compared to the conventional linear THP. Finally, with the combination of proposed nonlinear THP and conventional Volterra FFE, we successfully transmit 84-Gbps PAM-4 and 107-Gbps PAM-4 respectively over 80 km and 40 km under the hard decision forward error correction (HD-FEC) threshold of 3.8 × 10^-3.

Effect of activated carbon nanoparticles on lymph node harvest in patients with colorectal cancer

AIM

The aim was to examine the effect of activated carbon nanoparticles (ACNs) on lymph node retrieval in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.

METHODS

This prospective randomized study of 80 subjects was performed between March 2016 and December 2016. Eighty patients with CRC were randomly divided into two groups, the ACN group and a control group. The patients in the ACN group were subjected to 1 ml of ACN injection in the subserosa around the tumour before colectomy and D3 lymphadenectomy. The patients in the control group received the same procedure without the injection of ACNs. After surgery, lymph nodes were isolated, and the greatest dimensions were measured by the same pathologist.

RESULTS

The average number of lymph nodes harvested from each patient was markedly more in the ACN group (31.3 ± 8.1) than in the control group (21.9 ± 5.3; P < 0.001), and the average number of lymph nodes less than 5 mm in greatest dimension was significantly more in the ACN group (11.9 ± 4.9) than in the control group (4.1 ± 2.4; P < 0.001). The ACN group (15/40) had a higher rate of Stage III patients compared to the control group (6/39; P = 0.026). Besides, the greatest dimension of 32.8% metastatic lymph nodes was less than 5 mm.

CONCLUSION

There is significant upstaging following the use of ACNs, which could find more involved nodes. Therefore, ACNs can be used as a tracer to harvest more lymph nodes in CRC patients, with improvement in the accuracy of pathological staging.

A study on molecular mechanisms of adiposis induced by long-term treatment of high-fat and high-sucrose in C57BL/6J mice

Adiposis is reputed as a twin disease of type 2 diabetes and greatly harmful to human health. In order to understand the molecular mechanisms of adiposis, the changes of physiological, pathological, epigenetic and correlative gene expression were investigated during the adiposis development of C57BL/6J mice induced by long time (9 months) high-fat and high-sucrose diet (HFSD) sustainably. The results showed that mRNA transcription level of the Leptin, Glut4 and Glut2 genes have been obviously changed, which exhibit a negative correlation with methylation on their promoter DNA. The results also revealed that HFSD induced higher level of DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) in fat tissue might play important role in regulating the changes of methylation pattern on Glut4 and Leptin genes, and which might be one of the molecular mechanisms for the adiposis development.

All-optical OFDM demultiplexing with optical partial Fourier transform and coherent sampling

We propose a novel scheme with a "time-lens"-based partial optical Fourier transform (OFT) and coherent sampling for high-speed complex orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal detection. Compared with all-optical OFDM demultiplexing with a matched optical filter, our proposed method replaces specialized optical filters with commercially available equipment, which relaxes stringent manufacturing and operational requirements. Our simulation shows that even with a partial OFT, theoretically, close to inter-channel interference-free performance is possible. In addition, we performed a proof-of-concept experiment of 16×10  Gbaud quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK) all-optical OFDM detection, with all the bit error rates far below the 7% hard-overhead forward error correction limit.

Development of small molecule biosensors by coupling the recognition of the bacterial allosteric transcription factor with isothermal strand displacement amplification

Here, we demonstrate an easy-to-implement and general biosensing strategy by coupling the small-molecule recognition of the bacterial allosteric transcription factor (aTF) with isothermal strand displacement amplification (SDA) in vitro. Based on this strategy, we developed two biosensors for the detection of an antiseptic, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and a disease marker, uric acid, using bacterial aTF HosA and HucR, respectively, highlighting the great potential of this strategy for the development of small-molecule biosensors.

All-optical digital-to-analog converter based on cross-phase modulation with temporal integration

We propose and experimentally demonstrate an all-optical digital-to-analog converter based on cross-phase modulation with temporal integration. The scheme is robust for driving signal noise due to the low-pass filtering feature of the temporal integrator. The proof-of-concept experiment demonstrates the generation of pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) sequences up to eight levels. The performance of random PAM 2 and PAM 4 signals with different optical signal-to-noise ratios of the binary driving signal is also investigated. The scheme is scalable for high-speed operation with an appropriate dispersion profile of the nonlinear medium.