Experimental Test of Tracking the King Problem

In quantum theory, the retrodiction problem is not as clear as its classical counterpart because of the uncertainty principle of quantum mechanics. In classical physics, the measurement outcomes of the present state can be used directly for predicting the future events and inferring the past events which is known as retrodiction. However, as a probabilistic theory, quantum-mechanical retrodiction is a nontrivial problem that has been investigated for a long time, of which the Mean King Problem is one of the most extensively studied issues. Here, we present the first experimental test of a variant of the Mean King Problem, which has a more stringent regulation and is termed "Tracking the King". We demonstrate that Alice, by harnessing the shared entanglement and controlled-not gate, can successfully retrodict the choice of King's measurement without knowing any measurement outcome. Our results also provide a counterintuitive quantum communication to deliver information hidden in the choice of measurement.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Periodontal Disease and Breast Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of 1,73,162 Participants

Objective: To investigate the correlation between periodontal disease and breast cancer.Materials and Methods: PubMed and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases were searched up to February 8, 2018 for observational studies examining the association between periodontal disease and breast cancer. Study selection was conducted according to predesigned eligibility criteria, and two authors independently extracted data from included studies. Meta-analysis was performed using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis v2 software and risk estimates were calculated as relative risks (RRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs).Results: A total of 11 study were included. Meta-analysis indicated that periodontal disease significantly increased the risk of breast cancer by 1.22-fold (RR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.06–1.40). Amongst participants with periodontal patients and a history of periodontal therapy, the risk of developing breast cancer was not significant (RR = 1.23; 95% CI = 0.95–1.60). The association results between periodontal diseases and breast cancer were found to be robust, as evident in the leave-one-out sensitivity analysis.Conclusions: Periodontal disease may be a potential risk factor for the development of breast cancer among women, and thus effective periodontal therapy may present as a valuable preventive measure against breast cancer

Diaqua­bis(2-methyl-1H-imidazol-3-ium-4,5-dicarboxyl­ato-κ2 O,O′)magnesium

The title compound, [Mg(C6H5N2O4)2(H2O)2], was prepared by reaction of Mg(NO3)2 and 2-methyl-1H-imidazole-4,5-dicarboxylic acid under hydro­thermal conditions. The MgII atom lies on an inversion centre and displays a distorted octa­hedral coordination geometry. An extended three-dimensional network of inter­molecular O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds stabilizes the crystal structure

Type-II antiferromagnetic ordering in double perovskite oxide Sr2_2NiWO6_6

Magnetic double perovskite compounds provide a fertile playground to explore interesting electronic and magnetic properties. By complementary macroscopic characterizations, neutron powder diffraction measurements and first-principles calculations, we have performed comprehensive studies on the magnetic ordering in the double perovskite compound Sr$_2$NiWO$_6$. It is found by neutron diffraction to order magnetically in a collinear type-II antiferromagnetic structure in a tetragonal lattice with $k$ = (0.5, 0, 0.5) below $T\rm_N$ = 56 K. In the ground state, the ordered moment of the spin-1 Ni$^{2+}$ ions is determined to be 1.9(2) $\mu\rm_{B}$, indicating a significant quenching of the orbital moment. The Ni$^{2+}$ moments in Sr$_2$NiWO$_6$ are revealed to cant off the $c$ axis by 29.2$^{\circ}$, which is well supported by the first-principles magnetic anisotropy energy calculations. Furthermore, the in-plane and out-of-plane next-nearest-neighbor superexchange couplings ($J\rm_2$ and $J\rm_{2c}$) are found to play a dominant role in the spin Hamiltonian of Sr$_2$NiWO$_6$, which accounts for the stabilization of the type-II AFM structure as its magnetic ground state.Comment: 10 Pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Influencing factors of IgA nephropathy combined with hyperuricemia and a nomogram to predict the risk of hyperuricemia in IgA nephropathy patients

ObjectiveTo investigate the factors influencing the complication of hyperuricemia （HUA） in patients with immunoglobulin A nephropathy （IgAN） and to construct a nomogram to predict it.MethodsFrom December 1， 2020 to December 1， 2023， 332 IgAN patients admitted to Shenzhen University General Hospital were regarded as the observation subjects. They were randomly grouped into a modeling group （233 cases） and a validation group （99 cases） at a ratio of 7∶3 using a random number table method. According to the presence of HUA， patients in the modeling group were assigned into HUA group and non-HUA group. Multivariate logistic regression was applied to analyze the risk factors for HUA in IgAN patients. R software was applied to construct a nomogram to predict the occurrence of HUA in IgAN patients. The receiver operating characteristic （ROC） curve was plotted to evaluate the discriminability of the nomogram in predicting HUA in IgAN patients. Calibration curves were plotted to assess the consistency of the nomogram. The value of the clinical application of the model was assessed using clinical decision curve analysis （DCA）.ResultsHUA occurred in 79 out of 233 IgAN patients in the modelling group， with an incidence rate of 33.91%. There were significant differences in the male proportion （65.82% vs 47.40%）， body mass index ［BMI， （24.67 ± 4.52）kg/m2 vs （22.28 ± 3.17）kg/m2］， hypertension （43.04% vs 23.38%）， triglyceride ［TG， （2.16 ± 0.61）mmol/L vs （1.72 ± 0.30）mmol/L］， white blood cell count ［WBC， （7.28 ± 2.06）×109L vs （5.75 ± 1.52）×109L］， estimated glomerular filtration rate ［eGFR，（66.93 ± 19.85）mL·min-1·（1.73 m2）-1 vs （86.42 ± 22.37）mL·min-1·（1.73 m2）-1］ and IgA/C3 ［（3.07 ± 0.96） vs （2.35 ± 0.62）］ between HUA group and non-HUA group （P<0.05）. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that male gender （OR=6.147， 95%CI： 2.303-16.411）， BMI （OR=4.201， 95%CI： 2.740-6.440）， hypertension （OR=12.935， 95%CI： 3.589-46.615）， TG （OR=3.057， 95%CI： 1.097-8.521）， WBC （OR=4.876， 95%CI： 2.500-9.510）， and IgA/C3 （OR=2.657， 95%CI： 1.473-4.793） were the risk factors for the development of HUA in patients with IgAN （P<0.05）， and eGFR （OR=0.547， 95 %CI： 0.303-0.987） was a protective factor （P<0.05）. The area under curve （AUC） of the ROC curve in the modelling group was 0.912 （95%CI： 0.872-0.952）， and the slope of the calibration curve was close to 1. The H-L test showed a chi-square statistic （χ2） of 6.579 （P=0.654）， with good agreement. The internal validation AUC was 0.913 （95%CI： 0.855-0.971）， the slope of the calibration curve was close to 1， and the H-L test showed χ2 of 6.486 （P=0.723）， with good agreement. DCA curve showed the high risk threshold of 0.04 to 0.84， suggesting that the nomogram had a high clinical use value in predicting the occurrence of HUA in IgAN patients.ConclusionMale， BMI， hypertension， TG， WBC， and IgA/C3 are risk factors for HUA in IgAN patients， and eGFR is a protective factor. The nomogram constructed based on the above factors has good discrimination and consistency， and it can predict the risk of HUA in IgAN patients， and guide the interventions earlier to reduce the risk of HUA

Kernel-based nonlinear discriminant analysis using minimum squared errors criterion for multiclass and undersampled problems

It is well known that there exist two fundamental limitations in the linear discriminant analysis (LDA). One is that it cannot be applied when the within-class scatter matrix is singular, which is caused by the undersampled problem. The other is that it lacks the capability to capture the nonlinearly clustered structure of the data due to its linear nature. In this paper, a new kernel-based nonlinear discriminant analysis algorithm using minimum squared errors criterion (KDA-MSE) is proposed to solve these two problems. After mapping the original data into a higher-dimensional feature space using kernel function, the MSE criterion is used as the discriminant rule and the corresponding dimension reducing transformation is derived. Since the MSE solution does not require the scatter matrices to be nonsingular, the proposed KDA-MSE algorithm is applicable to the undersampled problem. Moreover, the new KDA-MSE algorithm can be applied to multiclass problem, whereas the existing MSE-based kernel discriminant methods are limited to handle twoclass data only. Extensive experiments, including object recognition and face recognition on three benchmark databases, are performed and the results demonstrate that our algorithm is competitive in comparison with other kernel-based discriminant techniques in terms of recognition accuracy. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.National Natural Science Foundation of China [60672046, 60675002]; Fujian Province Science and Technology Foundation [2008H0036]; Specialized Research Fund for the Doctorol Program of Higher Educatio

RingMo-lite: A Remote Sensing Multi-task Lightweight Network with CNN-Transformer Hybrid Framework

In recent years, remote sensing (RS) vision foundation models such as RingMo have emerged and achieved excellent performance in various downstream tasks. However, the high demand for computing resources limits the application of these models on edge devices. It is necessary to design a more lightweight foundation model to support on-orbit RS image interpretation. Existing methods face challenges in achieving lightweight solutions while retaining generalization in RS image interpretation. This is due to the complex high and low-frequency spectral components in RS images, which make traditional single CNN or Vision Transformer methods unsuitable for the task. Therefore, this paper proposes RingMo-lite, an RS multi-task lightweight network with a CNN-Transformer hybrid framework, which effectively exploits the frequency-domain properties of RS to optimize the interpretation process. It is combined by the Transformer module as a low-pass filter to extract global features of RS images through a dual-branch structure, and the CNN module as a stacked high-pass filter to extract fine-grained details effectively. Furthermore, in the pretraining stage, the designed frequency-domain masked image modeling (FD-MIM) combines each image patch's high-frequency and low-frequency characteristics, effectively capturing the latent feature representation in RS data. As shown in Fig. 1, compared with RingMo, the proposed RingMo-lite reduces the parameters over 60% in various RS image interpretation tasks, the average accuracy drops by less than 2% in most of the scenes and achieves SOTA performance compared to models of the similar size. In addition, our work will be integrated into the MindSpore computing platform in the near future

Aberrant GSTP1 promoter methylation is associated with increased risk and advanced stage of breast cancer: a meta-analysis of 19 case-control studies

BACKGROUND: Glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) has been reported to function as a tumor suppressor gene in various types of human cancers. Aberrant methylation of tumor-related genes at the promoter regions can inactivate genes, which is important in the carcinogenesis of breast cancer. However, the role of GSTP1 promoter methylation in the occurrence of breast cancer and its relationship with tumor stage and histological grade has not been fully elucidated. Thus, we carried out a meta-analysis to yield a more accurate association. METHODS: A systematically literature search was made on PubMed, EMBASE and Web of Science databases for eligible studies. The odds ratio (OR) and 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI) were calculated by RevMan 5.2 software. Subgroup and sensitivity analyses were conducted to explore the source of heterogeneity. RESULTS: Eventually, 17 articles involving 19 case–control studies were included in the present meta-analysis. Overall, the pooled results indicated that aberrant GSTP1 promoter methylation was significantly associated with the risk of breast cancer (OR = 7.85, 95 % CI = 5.12–12.01; Caucasians OR = 7.23, 95 % CI = 3.76–13.90 and Asians OR = 11.71, 95 % CI = 5.69–24.07). Furthermore, our results revealed that GSTP1 promoter methylation was more often observed in late-stage breast cancer patients compared with early-stage ones (OR = 1.84, 95 % CI = 1.32–2.58). However, no significant association was identified between GSTP1 promoter methylation and histological grade (OR = 0.74, 95 % CI = 0.43–1.26). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated that GSTP1 promoter methylation probably plays an important role in breast carcinogenesis, which could serve as an effective biomarker for the diagnosis and monitor of breast cancer. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-015-1926-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Evodiamine Augments NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation and Anti-bacterial Responses Through Inducing α-Tubulin Acetylation

Evodiamine is a major ingredient of the plant Evodia rutaecarpa, which has long been used for treating infection-related diseases including diarrhea, beriberi and oral ulcer, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. Here we aimed to explore whether evodiamine influenced NLRP3 (NLR family, pyrin containing domain 3) inflammasome activation in macrophages, which is a critical mechanism for defending the host against pathogenic infections. We uncovered that evodiamine dose-dependently enhanced NLRP3 inflammasome activation in lipopolysaccharide-primed macrophages, as indicated by increased interleukin (IL)-1β production and caspase-1 cleavage, accompanied by increased ASC speck formation and pyroptosis. Mechanistically, evodiamine induced acetylation of α-tubulin around the microtubule organization center (indicated by γ-tubulin) in lipopolysaccharide-primed macrophages. Such evodiamine-mediated increases in NLRP3 activation and pyroptosis were attenuated by activators of α-tubulin deacetylase, resveratrol and NAD+, or dynein-specific inhibitor ciliobrevin A. Small interfering RNA knockdown of αTAT1 (the gene encoding α-tubulin N-acetyltransferase) expression, which reduced α-tubulin acetylation, also diminished evodiamine-mediated augmentation of NLRP3 activation and pyroptosis. Evodiamine also enhanced NLRP3-mediated production of IL-1β and neutrophil recruitment in vivo. Moreover, evodiamine administration evidently improved survival of mice with lethal bacterial infection, accompanied by increased production of IL-1β and interferon-γ, decreased bacterial load, and dampened liver inflammation. Resveratrol treatment reversed evodiamine-induced increases of IL-1β and interferon-γ, and decreased bacterial clearance in mice. Collectively, our results indicated that evodiamine augmented the NLRP3 inflammasome activation through inducing α-tubulin acetylation, thereby conferring intensified innate immunity against bacterial infection