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Objective: The incidence of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) ruptures has been increasing annually. However, clinical surgeons have overlooked the impaction fractures of the posterolateral tibial plateau and lateral femoral condyle in patients with ACL ruptures. The purpose of the present study was to report the detection rate of the posterolateral tibial plateau impaction fractures in patients with ACL ruptures, and to evaluate the functional outcomes of patients following ACL reconstruction (ACLR) without treatment of the tibial fractures at a 2-year postoperative follow-up., Methods: Four hundred eighty-eight patients treated for ACL ruptures between January 2016 and June 2020 were retrospectively reviewed, and the posterolateral tibial plateau impaction fractures were classified based on MRI assessment. The detection rate of the posterolateral tibial plateau impaction fractures was calculated, and the functional outcomes (SF-12 Mental Component Summaries, SF-12 Physical Component Summaries, Tegner, Lysholm, IKDC, and KOOS) were evaluated at a 2-year postoperative follow-up., Results: The detection rate of posterolateral tibial plateau impaction fractures was 41.6% among ACL ruptures. Of these, 285 cases (58.4%) had no fractures, 98 cases (20.1%) had type I impaction fractures, 41 cases (8.4%) had type IIA impaction fractures, 15 cases (3.1%) had type IIB impaction fractures, 22 cases (4.5%) had type IIIA impaction fractures, and 27 cases (5.5%) had type IIIB impaction fractures. Patients with type IIIA or IIIB impaction fractures showed an increased detection rate of contact mechanism compared to the other subgroups. Significant differences in Tegner (postoperation) and KOOS (QOL) were found between no fracture and type IIIB impaction fractures in patients following ACLR., Conclusions: The detection rate of posterolateral tibial plateau impaction fractures in patients with ACL ruptures was high. Patients with type IIIB impaction fractures following ACLR had poor functional outcomes., (© 2025 The Author(s). Orthopaedic Surgery published by Tianjin Hospital and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Low ambient temperature become the limiting factor of composting in cold regions, thus hindering the recycle of agricultural and forestry wastes. In this study, the composting of mushroom residue and wood chips (MRWC) under low temperature was successfully implemented with inoculation of psychrotolerant cellulolytic microbial agent. Composting entered thermophilic stage on third day and the peak temperature reached to 66.25 °C. After 84 days of composting, the degradation rate of cellulose and hemicellulose was 40.85% and 100%, respectively and the compost product was completely mature and met the requirements of organic fertilizer. Metagenomic and transcriptome sequencing were applied to reveal the microbial composition and their substrates conversion functions and adaptation mechanisms through low to high temperatures. Streptomyces, Mesorhizobium, Devosia, Aspergillus and Mucor were dominant genera in the microbial community that were rich in genes of lignocellulose degradation. Various genes related to low temperature adaptation (fatty acid, trehalose, mannitol, betaine metabolism and cold shock mechanism) and high temperature tolerance (heat shock and antioxidant) were detected during MRWC composting. These results indicated that microbes during composting constituted a high-efficiency lignocellulosic ultilization system in cold conditions. Besides, the microbes of microbial agent, especially Streptomyces and Aspergillus, possessed numerous genes involving in lignocellulose degradation and temperature adaptation and quite different temperature response patterns were found to perform in bacteria and fungi. The transcription levels of most these genes in Aspergillus exhibited significant differences under different substrates and temperature conditions, suggesting that the inoculum was crucial to the composting process and beneficial to maintain the temperature of piles. This study demonstrated that the application of psychrotolerant microbes was a promising strategy to increase the efficiency of composting in cold regions and these results could also provided the guidance for optimizing microbial agent., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Fast adversarial training (FAT) is an efficient method to improve robustness in white-box attack scenarios. However, the original FAT suffers from catastrophic overfitting, which dramatically and suddenly reduces robustness after a few training epochs. Although various FAT variants have been proposed to prevent overfitting, they require high training time. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between adversarial example quality and catastrophic overfitting by comparing the training processes of standard adversarial training and FAT. We find that catastrophic overfitting occurs when the attack success rate of adversarial examples becomes worse. Based on this observation, we propose a positive prior-guided adversarial initialization to prevent overfitting by improving adversarial example quality without extra training time. This initialization is generated by using high-quality adversarial perturbations from the historical training process. We provide theoretical analysis for the proposed initialization and propose a prior-guided regularization method that boosts the smoothness of the loss function. Additionally, we design a prior-guided ensemble FAT method that averages the different model weights of historical models using different decay rates. Our proposed method, called FGSM-PGK, assembles the prior-guided knowledge, i.e., the prior-guided initialization and model weights, acquired during the historical training process. The proposed method can effectively improve the model's adversarial robustness in white-box attack scenarios. Evaluations of four datasets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method.

Quantum teleportation is a building block in quantum computation and quantum communication. The continuous-variable polarization squeezed state is a key resource in quantum networks, offering advantages for long-distance distribution and direct interfacing of quantum nodes. Although polarization squeezed state has been generated and distributed between remote users, it is a long-standing goal to implement controlled quantum teleportation of the polarization squeezed state with multiple remote users. Here, we propose a feasible scheme to teleport a polarization squeezed state among multiple remote users under control. The polarization state is transferred between different remote quantum networks, and the controlled quantum teleportation of the polarization state can be implemented in one quantum network involving multiple remote users. The results show that such a controlled quantum teleportation can be realized with 36 users through about 6-km free-space or fiber quantum channels, where the fidelity of 0.352 is achieved beyond the classical limit of 0.349 with an input squeezing variance of 0.25. This scheme provides a direct reference for the experimental implementation of remote and controlled quantum teleportation of polarization states, thus enabling more teleportation-based quantum network protocols.

Quantum random numbers play a crucial role in diverse applications, including cryptography, simulation, and artificial intelligence. In contrast to predictable algorithm-based pseudo-random numbers, quantum physics provides new avenues for generating theoretically true random numbers by exploiting the inherent uncertainty contained in quantum phenomena. Here, we propose and demonstrate a quantum random number generator (QRNG) using a prepared broadband squeezed state of light, where the randomness of the generated numbers entirely originates from the quantum noise introduced by squeezing operation rather than vacuum noise. The relationship between entropy rate and squeezing level is analyzed. Furthermore, we employ a source-independent quantum random number protocol to enhance the security of the random number generator.

Quantum dense coding (QDC) means to transmit two classical bits by only transferring one quantum bit, which has enabled high-capacity information transmission and strengthened system security. Continuous-variable QDC offers a promising solution to increase communication rates while achieving seamless integration with classical communication systems. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a high-speed quantum radio-frequency-over-light (RFOL) communication scheme based on QDC with an entangled state, and achieve a practical rate of 20 Mbps through digital modulation and RFOL communication. This scheme bridges the gap between quantum technology and real-world communication systems, which bring QDC closer to practical applications and offer prospects for further enhancement of metropolitan communication networks.

Background and Objective: Pathological whole slide image (WSI) prediction and region of interest (ROI) localization are important issues in computer-aided diagnosis and postoperative analysis in clinical applications. Existing computer-aided methods for predicting WSI are mainly based on multiple instance learning (MIL) and its variants. However, most of the methods are based on instance independence and identical distribution assumption and performed at a single scale, which not fully exploit the hierarchical multiscale heterogeneous information contained in WSI., Methods: Heterogeneous Subgraph-Guided Multiscale Graph Attention Fusion Network (HSG-MGAF Net) is proposed to build the topology of critical image patches at two scales for adaptive WSI prediction and lesion localization. The HSG-MGAF Net simulates the hierarchical heterogeneous information of WSI through graph and hypergraph at two scales, respectively. This framework not only fully exploits the low-order and potential high-order correlations of image patches at each scale, but also leverages the heterogeneous information of the two scales for adaptive WSI prediction., Results: We validate the superiority of the proposed method on the CAMELYON16 and the TCGA- NSCLC, and the results show that HSG-MGAF Net outperforms the state-of-the-art method on both datasets. The average ACC, AUC and F 1 score of HSG-MGAF Net can reach 92.7 %/0.951/0.892 and 92.2 %/0.957/0.919, respectively. The obtained heatmaps can also localize the positive regions more accurately, which have great consistency with the pixel-level labels., Conclusions: The results demonstrate that HSG-MGAF Net outperforms existing weakly supervised learning methods by introducing critical heterogeneous information between the two scales. This approach paves the way for further research on light weighted heterogeneous graph-based WSI prediction and ROI localization., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declared that they have no conflicts of interest in this work., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The escalating challenge of municipal solid waste (MSW) critically tests the sustainable development capacities of urban centers. In response, China initiated pilot policies in 2017 aimed at bolstering MSW management. The effectiveness of these initiatives, however, necessitates empirical scrutiny. This study leverages panel data spanning 95 cities at the prefectural level or higher, covering the period from 2006 to 2020, to assess the impact of the MSW sorting pilot policy on urban sustainable development using a difference-in-differences approach. The research found that the MSW sorting pilot policy has significantly increased the processing volume of MSW, thereby enhancing the sustainable development capabilities of cities. Further, the study identifies augmented fixed asset investments as a key mechanism through which pilot cities have enhanced their MSW management capabilities. Notably, the policy's stimulative effects are more pronounced in less densely populated and economically lagging regions. These findings provide critical insights for developing nations in shaping MSW sorting strategies and advancing urban sustainability., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Mao et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Digital pathology images are treated as the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of colorectal lesions, especially colon cancer. Real-time, objective and accurate inspection results will assist clinicians to choose symptomatic treatment in a timely manner, which is of great significance in clinical medicine. However, Manual methods suffers from long inspection cycle and serious reliance on subjective interpretation. It is also a challenging task for existing computer-aided diagnosis methods to obtain models that are both accurate and interpretable. Models that exhibit high accuracy are always more complex and opaque, while interpretable models may lack the necessary accuracy. Therefore, the framework of ensemble adaptive boosting prototype tree is proposed to predict the colorectal pathology images and provide interpretable inference by visualizing the decision-making process in each base learner. The results showed that the proposed method could effectively address the "accuracy-interpretability trade-off" issue by ensemble of m adaptive boosting neural prototype trees. The superior performance of the framework provides a novel paradigm for interpretable inference and high-precision prediction of pathology image patches in computational pathology.

Quantum teleportation has been developed to simultaneously realize the Hertz rate and the 64-km distance through fiber channels, which is essential to real-world application of quantum network., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Maternal exposure to ambient fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) during pregnancy has been associated with impaired neurobehavioral development in children. However, the specific mechanism remains unclear. Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is an important growth factor in the nervous system. We evaluated the associations of maternal PM 2.5 exposures with fetal BDNF in the umbilical cord blood in a prospective cohort study. A total of 711 eligible mother-infant pairs from the Shanghai Birth Cohort were included in the current study. Daily maternal exposures to ambient PM 2.5 were assessed with a gap-filling approach at 1 * 1 km 2 resolution based on self-reported home addresses. The concentrations of BDNF in the cord blood were measured by ELISA. A linear regression model was applied to evaluate the association of maternal ambient PM 2.5 exposure with fetal BDNF level at birth. The median concentration of BDNF was 13,403 pg/ml. Vaginal deliveries and female infants had higher BDNF levels than cesarean deliveries and male infants. One natural log (ln) unit increase in maternal PM 2.5 exposure during the second trimester was significantly associated with - 0.20 (95% CI: -0.36, -0.05) ln-unit decrease in BDNF level in all births. These effects were stronger and more significant in vaginal deliveries and in male infants. Our study suggests that BDNF in the cord blood may serve as a potential biomarker in assessing the neurodevelopmental effects of maternal PM 2.5 exposure., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Multipartite Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering is a key resource in a quantum network. Although EPR steering between spatially separated regions of ultracold atomic systems has been observed, deterministic manipulation of steering between distant quantum network nodes is required for a secure quantum communication network. Here, we propose a feasible scheme to deterministically generate, store, and manipulate one-way EPR steering between distant atomic cells by a cavity-enhanced quantum memory approach. While optical cavities effectively suppress the unavoidable noises in electromagnetically induced transparency, three atomic cells are in a strong Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state by faithfully storing three spatially separated entangled optical modes. In this way, the strong quantum correlation of atomic cells guarantees one-to-two node EPR steering is achieved, and can perserve the stored EPR steering in these quantum nodes. Furthermore, the steerability can be actively manipulated by the temperature of the atomic cell. This scheme provides the direct reference for experimental implementation for one-way multipartite steerable states, which enables an asymmetric quantum network protocol.

Grapevine fabavirus (GFabV) is a novel member of the Fabavirus genus associated with chlorotic mottling and deformation symptoms in grapevines. To gain insights into the interaction between GFabV and grapevines, V. vinifera cv. 'Summer Black' infected with GFabV was investigated under field conditions through physiological, agronomic, and multi-omics approaches. GFabV induced significant symptoms on 'Summer Black', and caused a moderate decrease in physiological efficiency. In GFabV-infected plants, alterations in carbohydrate- and photosynthesis-related genes might trigger some defense responses. In addition, secondary metabolism involved in plant defense was progressively induced by GFabV. Jasmonic acid and ethylene signaling were down-regulated in GFabV-infected leaves and berries along with the expression of proteins related to LRR and protein kinases, suggesting that GFabV can block the defense in healthy leaves and berries. Furthermore, this study provided biomarkers for early monitoring of GFabV infection in grapevines, and contributed to a better understanding of the complex grapevine-virus interaction.

Background: Despite the availability of guidelines and official policies, antibiotic prophylaxis in clean surgery remains suboptimal., Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical effects and cost-effectiveness of pharmacist-led intervention in the perioperative anti-infection prophylaxis of patients undergoing orthopedic internal fixation., Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis based on the medical records of internal fixation surgery in a tertiary hospital from July 2019 to June 2020. Data were divided into two groups based on whether a full-time pharmacist participated in the treatment. The research parameters included use of antibiotics, rationality of medication, postoperative complications, and related cost. To deal with selection bias, propensity score matching method was employed at a ratio of 1:1. Meanwhile, a cost-effectiveness analysis was used to evaluate the impact of pharmacist intervention on antibiotic prevention in internal fixation surgery., Results: A total of 537 participants were included in this study. After matching, 236 patients were comparable in each group. During the pharmacist intervention period, less pharmacologic prophylaxis (96.6% vs 100.0%, p = 0.007) and shorter prophylaxis duration (1.60 vs 2.28 days, p < 0.001) were observed. The reasonable rate increased dramatically in usage and dosage (96.6% vs 83.9%, p < 0.001), timing of administration (94.5% vs 78.4%, p < 0.001) and medication duration (64.4% vs 37.7%, p < 0.001). In addition, pharmacist intervention yielded net economic benefits. A remarkable reduction was observed in average length of stay (10.43 vs 11.14 days, p = 0.012), drug cost ($610.57 vs $706.60, p = 0.001) and defined daily doses (2.31 vs 3.27, p < 0.001). The cost-effectiveness ratios, divided drug cost savings by cost of pharmacist time, were 28:1 for drug and 2:1 for antibiotics, respectively., Conclusion: Pharmacist-driven antibiotic stewardship for orthopedic internal fixation patients improved compliance with peri-procedure antibiotic prophylaxis, and reduced the cost and utilization of antibiotics. This helped to bring significant clinical and economic benefits., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

High-precision cavity locking is crucial for squeezing optical fields. Here, a bootstrapped low-noise photodetector is utilized in the generation process of the squeezed state of light. This process is based on a combination of a modified trans-impedance amplifier (TIA) circuit and a two-stage bootstrap amplifier circuit. This not only achieves high-precision and long-term stable locking of the optical cavity, but it also improves the degree to which the light field is squeezed. The experiment results show that the detector has a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 26.7 dB at the analysis frequency of 3 MHz when measuring the shot noise with an injection optical power of 800 µW, and the equivalent optical power noise level is lower than 2.4 pW/Hz in the frequency range of 1-30 MHz. Moreover, the squeezing degree of the quadrature amplitude squeezed state light field can be improved by more than 34.9% when the detector is used for optical cavity locking. The photodetector is useful in continuous variable (CV) quantum information research.

Locking plate (LP) re-fixation is mainly used to treat postoperative implant periprosthetic refractures; however, the extensive trauma and the fixation form of LP make the operation difficult. The bridge combined fixation system (BCFS) is a new clip-rod internal fixation system, and its clinical application is in its infancy. To compare the clinical effect of BCFS and LP in the treatment of geriatric postoperative implant periprosthetic refracture following proximal femoral fracture surgery. Thirty-two patients (14 with BCFS and 18 with LP) with postoperative implant periprosthetic refracture following proximal femoral fracture surgery, who underwent surgery in our hospital, were analyzed retrospectively. The incision length, operation time, intraoperative bleeding volume, postoperative drainage volume, postoperative hospital stay, fracture healing time and complications of each patient were recorded. Regular radiographs were taken after the operation to evaluate the fracture reduction and fixation. All the patients were followed for 12 months to evaluate their limb function by Johner-Wruhs scoring criteria. The patients were followed for an average of 24.1 months, and all achieved bony union, with no complications such as infection, nonunion, and internal fixation instrument falling off and loosening after the operation. Delayed healing occurred in two cases in the LP group. The average value of surgical incision length, operation time, postoperative hospitalization time and fracture healing time in the BCFS group were significantly smaller than those in the LP group, accompanied by a decrease in intraoperative bleeding and postoperative drainage volumes (P < .05). The rate of limb function in the BCFS group (85.7%) was higher than that in the LP group (83.3%), with no significance (P > .05). The BCFS in the refracture around the implant of the proximal femoral fracture exhibited many advantages such as simple operation, strong plasticity, effective reduction of surgical trauma, promotion of fracture healing and early functional rehabilitation, etc, making it an advantageous clinical application., Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

P2P lending is an important part of Internet finance, which is popular among users because of its efficiency, low cost, wide range, and ease of operation. The problem of predicting loan defaults is affected by many factors, such as the linear and nonlinear nature of the data itself and time dependence and multiple external factors, which have not been well captured in the previous work. In this paper, we propose a multiattention mechanism to capture the different effects of various time slices and various external factors on the results, introduce ARIMA and LSTM to capture the linear and nonlinear characteristics of the lending data respectively, and establish a Time Series Multiattention Prediction Model (MAT-ALSTM) based on LSTM and ARIMA. This paper uses the Lending Club dataset from the United States to prove that our model is superior to ANN, SVM, LSTM, GRU, and ARIMA models in the prediction effect of MAE, RMSE, and DA., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zixuan Zhang et al.)

High-performance quantum memory for quantized states of light is a prerequisite building block of quantum information technology. Despite great progresses of optical quantum memories based on interactions of light and atoms, physical features of these memories still cannot satisfy requirements for applications in practical quantum information systems, since all of them suffer from trade-off between memory efficiency and excess noise. Here, we report a high-performance cavity-enhanced electromagnetically-induced-transparency memory with warm atomic cell in which a scheme of optimizing the spatial and temporal modes based on the time-reversal approach is applied. The memory efficiency up to 67 ± 1% is directly measured and a noise level close to quantum noise limit is simultaneously reached. It has been experimentally demonstrated that the average fidelities for a set of input coherent states with different phases and amplitudes within a Gaussian distribution have exceeded the classical benchmark fidelities. Thus the realized quantum memory platform has been capable of preserving quantized optical states, and is ready to be applied in quantum information systems, such as distributed quantum logic gates and quantum-enhanced atomic magnetometry., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Quantum network plays a vitally important role in the practical application of quantum information, which requires the deterministic entanglement distribution among multiple remote users. Here, we propose a feasible scheme to deterministically distribute quadripartite entanglement by continuous-variable (CV) polarization states. The quantum server prepares the quadripartite CV polarization entanglement and distributes them to four remote users via optical fiber. In this way, the measurement of CV polarization entanglement is local oscillation free, which makes the long distance entanglement distribution in commercial optical fiber communication networks possible. Furthermore, both the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-like (GHZ-like) and cluster-like polarization entangled states can be distributed among four users by controlling the beam splitter network in quantum server, which are confirmed by the extended criteria for polarization entanglement of multipartite optical modes. The protocol provides the direct reference for experimental implementation and can be directly extended to quantum network with more users, which is essential for a metropolitan quantum network.

Neonatal hypoxic-ischemic brain damage (HIBD) is one of the main causes of neonatal acute death and chronic nervous system impairment, but still lacks effective treatments. ZNF580/ZFP580, reported in our previous studies, may be a newly identified member of the Krüppel-like factor (KLF) family, and has anti-apoptotic effects during ischemic myocardial injury. In the present study, we showed that the expression levels of both ZFP580/ZNF580 mRNA and protein increased significantly in neonatal HIBD rats and oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD) SH-SY5Y cell models. ZNF580 overexpression promoted neuron survival and suppressed neuron apoptosis after OGD in neuron-like SH-SY5Y cells, while interference with ZNF580 resulted in the opposite results. RNA-seq analysis identified 248 differentially-expressed genes (DEGs) between ZNF580 overexpression SH-SY5Y cells and interference-expressed SH-SY5Y cells. Gene Ontology functional enrichment analysis showed that these DEGs played significant roles in the growth, development, and regeneration of axons, DNA biosynthetic processes, DNA replication, and apoptosis. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis indicated that these DEGs were found in some pathways, including ferroptosis, glutamatergic synapses, protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum, estrogen signaling pathways, the TGF-beta signaling pathway, and the longevity regulating pathway. The qRT-PCR validation results were consistent with RNA-seq results, which showed that HSPA5, IGFBP3, NTN4, and KLF9 increased in ZNF580-overexpressed SH-SY5Y cells and decreased in interference-expressed SH-SY5Y cells, when compared with normal cells. Together, the results suggested that ZNF580 targeted these genes to inhibit neuronal apoptosis., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Adversarial training (AT) has been demonstrated to be effective in improving model robustness by leveraging adversarial examples for training. However, most AT methods are in face of expensive time and computational cost for calculating gradients at multiple steps in generating adversarial examples. To boost training efficiency, fast gradient sign method (FGSM) is adopted in fast AT methods by calculating gradient only once. Unfortunately, the robustness is far from satisfactory. One reason may arise from the initialization fashion. Existing fast AT generally uses a random sample-agnostic initialization, which facilitates the efficiency yet hinders a further robustness improvement. Up to now, the initialization in fast AT is still not extensively explored. In this paper, focusing on image classification, we boost fast AT with a sample-dependent adversarial initialization, i.e., an output from a generative network conditioned on a benign image and its gradient information from the target network. As the generative network and the target network are optimized jointly in the training phase, the former can adaptively generate an effective initialization with respect to the latter, which motivates gradually improved robustness. Experimental evaluations on four benchmark databases demonstrate the superiority of our proposed method over state-of-the-art fast AT methods, as well as comparable robustness to advanced multi-step AT methods. The code is released at https://github.com//jiaxiaojunQAQ//FGSM-SDI.

What Is Known and Objective: Prolonged antibiotic prophylaxis after total joint arthroplasty (TJA) may not assist in minimizing postoperative complications, however, data based on the Chinese population have been limited. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of antibiotic prophylaxis on postoperative complications after TJA in Chinese patients., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 990 patients undergoing elective primary TJA surgery from January 2016 to June 2019. Patients who received a short course (≤3 days) of antibiotic prophylaxis were compared with those who received a longer course (>3 days). Logistic regression analysis and subgroup analysis were performed to control for potential confounders. Beyond that, survival analysis was used to determine the cumulative incidence of postoperative complications., Results and Discussion: Follow-up to 12 months after surgery, the prevalence of system complications in the longer course group and the short course group were 5.1% and 3.9%, respectively (p = 0.451). Similarly, no statistical differences in incisional complications (1.5% vs. 1.8%, p > 0.999) and periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) (1.0% vs. 1.0%, p > 0.999) were observed between the two groups. After performing logistic regression analysis and survival analysis, no potential association was found between the course of antibiotic prophylaxis and postoperative complications. In addition, prolonged antibiotic prophylaxis conferred no benefit for high-risk obese patients., What Is New and Conclusion: Extended antibiotic prophylaxis did not result in a statistically significant and clinically meaningful reduction in postoperative complications. Therefore, we recommended that the duration of antibiotic prophylaxis in TJA should be shortened to 3 days or less in the Chinese population., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Objectively measured differences in physical activity (PA) and sleep have been documented among people with osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) compared to non-arthritic controls. However, it is not clear whether OA and RA subgroups also differ on these indexes or the extent to which distinct arthritis subgroups versus controls can be accurately identified on the basis of objective PA and sleep indexes compared to self-report responses on questionnaires. This study addressed these gaps., Methods: This case-control study comprised Chinese adults with OA (N = 40) or RA (N = 40) diagnoses based on physician assessments as well as a control group of adults without chronic pain (N = 40). All participants wore a Sensewear Armband (SWA) for consecutive 7 days and completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire Short Form-Chinese as well as Pittsburgh Sleep Diary to obtain objective and subjective PA and sleep data, respectively., Results: There were no differences between the three groups on any self-report indexes of PA or sleep. Conversely, OA and RA subgroups displayed significantly lower PA levels and more sleep problems than controls did on a majority of SWA indexes, though arthritis subgroups were not differentiated from one another on these measures. Logistic regression analyses indicated four non-multicollinear SWA indexes (i.e., steps, active energy expenditure, vigorous activity, time awake after sleep onset) correctly identified the subgroup membership of 75.0-82.5% of participants with RA or OA while classification accuracy results were attenuated for controls., Conclusions: Where possible, objective measures should be used to assess PA and sleep of adults with OA and RA while particular self-report PA questionnaires should be used sparingly., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

In February 2020, an inpatient in Peking University People's Hospital (PKUPH), China, was confirmed positive for the novel coronavirus. In this case, 143 hemodialysis patients were labeled as close contacts and required to be placed under the hospital-based group medical quarantine (HB-GMQ) for 2 weeks by the authorities. After the case was reported, false or misleading information about the case flourished on social media platforms, which led to infodemic. Under this context, PKUPH adopted patient-centered humanistic care to implement the HB-GMQ, through the synergy of administrative, healthcare, logistical, and other measures under the model of patient-centered care of the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS). As a result, all the patients tided over the HB-GMQ with no COVID-19 infection and no unanticipated adverse events, and all met the criteria for lifting the HB-GMQ. According to the questionnaires taken during the HB-GMQ, a high level of satisfaction was found among the quarantined and no symptomatic increase of anxiety and depression in the patients before and during the HB-GMQ, by comparing the Zung self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS) conducted in December 2019 and on the 12th day of the HB-GMQ. This article is to brief on PKUPH's experience in implementing patient-centered humanistic care tailored to hemodialysis patients under the HB-GMQ, and to validate the hypothesis that patient-centered humanistic care is effective and helpful to help them tide over the HB-GMQ, so as to shed light on how to implement the HB-GMQ and cope with the HB-GMQ-induced problems in other hospitals., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Zhang, Gan, Li, Shao, Zuo, Gao, Huang, Jia, Liang, Hou, Wang, Wang, Gao, Wang and Chen.)

What Is Known and Objective: Even if total joint arthroplasty (TJA) patients have received conventional antithrombotic therapy, the incidence of thrombosis remains high. Clinical pharmacists have been involved in the multidisciplinary team of orthopaedics, but their roles and functions are not yet defined. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of clinical pharmacist services on the use of anticoagulant drugs, the rationality of medication and the incidence of thrombosis in patients with TJA., Methods: This retrospective, observational cohort study was conducted for patients undergoing TJA procedures. Study variables were collected for a baseline period of 1 January 2016 to 30 June 2017 and an intervention period of 1 January 2018 to 30 June 2019, allowing for a 6-month run-in period. For demographic characteristics, the use of anticoagulant drugs and the incidence of thrombosis between the baseline and intervention periods, the data were statistically analysed., Results and Discussion: During the 36-month study timeframe, a total of 591 TJA procedures were performed. A total of 577 participants were included in the study (240 in the baseline group and 377 in the intervention group). After clinical pharmacist participation, the prevention rate of anticoagulant drugs (p < 0.05), the proportion of oral anticoagulants (p = 0.000) and the course of preventive treatment (p = 0.004) increased significantly. The time of administration was shortened from after 24 h to within 24 h post-surgery (p = 0.000). Although the incidence of symptomatic DVT reduced in the intervention period, there was no statistical difference in either the hospital, 1-month follow-up, or 3-month follow-up after surgery (all p > 0.05)., What Is New and Conclusion: Within the limitations of a retrospective study, clinical pharmacist intervention was associated with improvements in anticoagulation management of TJA procedures, likely conferring beneficial effects., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Glioma is a prevalent primary brain tumor. Temozolomide (TMZ) has been used to treat glioma. However, the resistance of TMZ to glioma poses heavy burden to glioma treatment. In this study, the effects of glioma resistance to TMZ and underlying mechanism were revealed. The expression levels of circ-VPS18, microRNA-370 (miR-370) and runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) were detected by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). The protein expression of RUNX1, multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (MRP1), and multi-drug resistance gene-1 (MDR1) was determined by western blot. The functional effects of circ-VPS18 knockdown on TMZ sensitivity and glioma progression were revealed by cell counting kit-8 proliferation (CCK-8), flow cytometry, and transwell assays. The impacts of circ-VPS18 deletion on TMZ sensitivity in vivo were illustrated by in vivo tumor formation assay. The binding relationship between miR-370 and circ-VPS18 or RUNX1 was predicted by starBase v2.0 online database and identified by dual-luciferase reporter assay. Circ-VPS18 expression and the mRNA and protein levels of RUNX1 were dramatically upregulated, and miR-370 expression was significantly downregulated in glioma cells, TMZ-resistant glioma tissues, or tissue compared with control groups. Functionally, circ-VPS18 knockdown improved TMZ sensitivity, induced cell apoptosis, whereas repressed cell viability, migration and invasion in U251/TR and LN229/TR cells, which was reversed by miR-370 inhibitor. Additionally, RUNX1 overexpression hindered the effects of miR-370 on TMZ sensitivity and glioma progression. Circ-VPS18 knockdown enhanced TMZ sensitivity in vivo. Mechanistically, circ-VPS18 functioned as a sponge of miR-370 and miR-370 targeted RUNX1. Circ-VPS18 knockdown improved TMZ sensitivity and repressed glioma progression by sponging miR-370 to downregulate RUNX1 expression, which provided a new insight in further studying glioma resistance to TMZ.

High precision interferometers are the building blocks of precision metrology and the ultimate interferometric sensitivity is limited by the quantum noise. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a compact quantum interferometer involving two optical parametric amplifiers and the squeezed states generated within the interferometer are directly used for the phase-sensing quantum state. By both squeezing shot noise and amplifying phase-sensing intensity the sensitivity improvement of 4.86±0.24  dB beyond the standard quantum limit is deterministically realized and a minimum detectable phase smaller than that of all present interferometers under the same phase-sensing intensity is achieved. This interferometric system has significantly potential applications in a variety of measurements for tiny variances of physical quantities.

Objectives: The Arthritis Self-Efficacy Scale (ASES) is a widely used self-report measure of beliefs reflecting confidence in one's capacity to function despite pain and control pain or other symptoms of arthritis. Despite evidence linking higher ASES scores to lower levels of impairment, pain and emotional distress, numerous modest, non-significant associations have also been observed. In this meta-analysis, we evaluated overall associations between ASES scores and adjustment in RA and OA samples as well as potential moderators that may explain the heterogeneity in these associations., Method: Data from 48 samples that met all 10 inclusion criteria (N = 9222 patients) were subject to analyses., Results: ASES scores had significant medium average effect sizes with functional impairment, pain severity and emotional distress but substantial heterogeneity was evident for each association. ASES-impairment associations were moderated by the diagnosis, ASES version and ASES subscale content: significantly larger effect sizes were found for studies that included RA patients, used the original 20-item ASES and assessed subscale content reflecting the pursuit of daily activities despite pain (i.e. functional self-efficacy) than for studies based exclusively on OA patients, the eight-item ASES and ASES pain control and other symptom subscales. Relations of ASES scores with pain severity and emotional distress were moderated by ASES version and subscale content, respectively., Conclusion: The ASES has significant overall associations with key areas of functioning. Moderator analyses of the measure provide empirically grounded suggestions for optimal use of the ASES within OA and RA patient samples., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Continuous-wave, single-frequency, solid-state lasers with long-term frequency stability and low-intensity noise are an essential resource to generate squeezed and entangled states of light. In order to obtain the stable, nonclassical states of light, the frequency of the laser has to be stabilized with a stable reference. Due to the zero expansion property at a certain temperature, an ultra-low expansion (ULE) Fabry-Perot (F-P) cavity with a high finesse can be used as one of the best candidates of the frequency reference. We perform a detailed analysis of an extraordinarily high-frequency stability and ultra-low-intensity noise laser based on an improved cascade Pound-Drever-Hall frequency stabilization to a ULE F-P cavity. The frequency drift of the laser is suppressed to 7.72 MHz in 4 hours, and the noise level of the laser is simultaneously reduced to the quantum noise limit in the frequency below 300 kHz, which provides the possibility for the direct generation of a stable, high-level squeezed state in a lower-frequency region.

Quantum teleportation, which is the transfer of an unknown quantum state from one station to another over a certain distance with the help of nonlocal entanglement shared by a sender and a receiver, has been widely used as a fundamental element in quantum communication and quantum computation. Optical fibers are crucial information channels, but teleportation of continuous variable optical modes through fibers has not been realized so far. Here, we experimentally demonstrate deterministic quantum teleportation of an optical coherent state through fiber channels. Two sub-modes of an Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entangled state are distributed to a sender and a receiver through a 3.0-km fiber, which acts as a quantum resource. The deterministic teleportation of optical modes over a fiber channel of 6.0 km is realized. A fidelity of 0.62 ± 0.03 is achieved for the retrieved quantum state, which breaks through the classical limit of 1 / 2 . Our work provides a feasible scheme to implement deterministic quantum teleportation in communication networks.

Secret sharing is a conventional technique for realizing secure communications in information networks, where a dealer distributes to n players a secret, which can only be decoded through the cooperation of k (n/2

Using a nondegenerate four-wave mixing (FWM) process based on a double-Λ scheme in hot cesium vapor, we demonstrate a compact diode-laser-pumped quantum light source for the generation of quantum correlated twin beams with a maximum squeezing of 6.5 dB. The squeezing is observed at a Fourier frequency in the audio band down to 0.7 kHz which, to the best of our knowledge, is the first observation of sub-kilohertz intensity-difference squeezing in an atomic system so far. A phase-matching condition is also investigated in our system, which confirms the spatial-multi-mode characteristics of the FWM process. Our compact low-frequency squeezed light source may find applications in quantum imaging, quantum metrology, and the transfer of optical squeezing onto a matter wave.

The fungal community and the population of 16S rRNA, 18S rRNA and cellulose-degrading genes during the 30-day composting process of Chinese medicinal herbal residues were investigated using Illumina MiSeq and quantitative real-time PCR. An obvious succession of fungal communities occurred during the composting process. Unidentified fungi predominated in the raw materials. As composting progressed, Ascomycota became the most dominant phylum, with Aspergillus being the most dominant genus, and Aspergillus fumigatus making up 99.65% of that genus. Because of the inoculation of cellulolytic fungi in the mature stage, the cellulose degradation rate in inoculation groups was faster and the relative abundances of Aspergillus and the glycoside hydrolase family 7 genes were significantly higher than those in the control groups. These indicated that the fungal inoculants facilitated the degradation of cellulose, increased cellulolytic fungi and optimized the community structure., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

It is crucial for the physical realization of quantum information networks to first establish entanglement among multiple space-separated quantum memories and then, at a user-controlled moment, to transfer the stored entanglement to quantum channels for distribution and conveyance of information. Here we present an experimental demonstration on generation, storage, and transfer of deterministic quantum entanglement among three spatially separated atomic ensembles. The off-line prepared multipartite entanglement of optical modes is mapped into three distant atomic ensembles to establish entanglement of atomic spin waves via electromagnetically induced transparency light-matter interaction. Then the stored atomic entanglement is transferred into a tripartite quadrature entangled state of light, which is space-separated and can be dynamically allocated to three quantum channels for conveying quantum information. The existence of entanglement among three released optical modes verifies that the system has the capacity to preserve multipartite entanglement. The presented protocol can be directly extended to larger quantum networks with more nodes.Continuous-variable encoding is a promising approach for quantum information and communication networks. Here, the authors show how to map entanglement from three spatial optical modes to three separated atomic samples via electromagnetically induced transparency, releasing it later on demand.

In this meta-analysis, we evaluated overall strengths of relation between beliefs about pain, health, or illness and problems in functioning (i.e., functional impairment, affective distress, pain severity) in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis samples as well as moderators of these associations. In sum, 111 samples (N = 17,365 patients) met inclusion criteria. On average, highly significant, medium effect sizes were observed for associations between beliefs and problems in functioning but heterogeneity was also inflated. Effect sizes were not affected by arthritis subtype, gender, or age. However, pain belief content emerged as a significant moderator, with larger effect sizes for studies in which personal incapacity or ineffectiveness in controlling pain was a content theme of belief indices (i.e., pain catastrophizing, helplessness, self-efficacy) compared to those examining locus of control and fear/threat/harm beliefs. Furthermore, analyses of longitudinal study subsets supported the status of pain beliefs risk factors for later problems in functioning in these groups.

Entanglement of two distant macroscopic objects is a key element for implementing large-scale quantum networks consisting of quantum channels and quantum nodes. Entanglement swapping can entangle two spatially separated quantum systems without direct interaction. Here we propose a scheme of deterministically entangling two remote atomic ensembles via continuous-variable entanglement swapping between two independent quantum systems involving light and atoms. Each of two stationary atomic ensembles placed at two remote nodes in a quantum network is prepared to a mixed entangled state of light and atoms respectively. Then, the entanglement swapping is unconditionally implemented between the two prepared quantum systems by means of the balanced homodyne detection of light and the feedback of the measured results. Finally, the established entanglement between two macroscopic atomic ensembles is verified by the inseparability criterion of correlation variances between two anti-Stokes optical beams respectively coming from the two atomic ensembles.

The non-measurement based coherent feedback control (CFC) is a control method without introducing any backaction noise into the controlled system, thus is specially suitable to manipulate various quantum optical systems for preparing nonclassical states of light. By simply tuning the transmissivity of an optical controller in a CFC loop attached to a non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier (NOPA), the quantum entanglement degree of the output optical entangled state of the system is improved. At the same time, the threshold pump power of the NOPA is reduced also. The experimental results are in reasonable agreement with the theoretical expectation.

Entangled state of light is one of the essential quantum resources in quantum information science and technology. Especially, when the fundamental principle experiments have been achieved in labs and the applications of continuous variable quantum information in the real world are considered, it is crucial to design and construct the generation devices of entangled states with high entanglement and compact configuration. We have designed and built an efficient and compact light source of entangled state, which is a non-degenerate optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) with the triple resonance of the pump and two subharmonic modes. A wedged type-II KTP crystal inside the NOPA is used for implementing frequency-down-conversion of the pump field to generate the optical entangled state and achieving the dispersion compensation between the pump and the subharmonic waves. The EPR entangled state of light with quantum correlations of 8.4 dB for both amplitude and phase quadratures are experimentally produced by a single NOPA under the pump power of 75 mW.

Entangled states of light including low-loss optical fiber transmission and atomic resonance frequencies are essential resources for future quantum information networks. We present the experimental achievement on the three-color entanglement generation at 852, 1550, and 1440 nm wavelengths for optical continuous variables. The entanglement generation system consists of two cascaded nondegenerated optical parametric oscillators (NOPOs). The flexible selectivity of nonlinear crystals in the two NOPOs and the tunable property of NOPO provide large freedom for the frequency selection of three entangled optical beams. The presented system will hopefully be developed as a practical entangled source to be used in quantum-information networks with atomic storage units and long fiber transmission lines.

The preparation of multipartite entangled states is the prerequisite for exploring quantum information networks and quantum computation. In this Letter, we present what we believe is the first experimental demonstration of an eight-partite spatially separated continuous variable (CV) cluster state of optical modes. Via the linearly optical transformation of eight squeezed states of light, the eight-partite cluster entangled state with amplitude and phase quadrature correlations are prepared. The generated eight entangled photonic qumodes are spatially separated, which provides valuable quantum resources for implementing CV quantum information protocols.

Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is a common nosocomial device-associated infection. It is now recognized that the high infection rates were caused by the formation of biofilm on the surface of the catheters that decreases the susceptibility to antibiotics and results in anti-microbial resistance.In this study, we performed an in vitro test to explore the mechanism of biofilm formation and subsequently conducted a multi-center clinical trial to investigate the efficacy of CAUTI prevention with the application of JUC, a nanotechnology antimicrobial spray., Methods: Siliconized latex urinary catheters were cut into fragments and sterilized by autoclaving. The sterilized sample fragments were randomly divided into the therapy and control group, whereby they were sprayed with JUC and distilled water respectively and dried before use.The experimental standard strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) were isolated from the urine samples of patients. At 16 hours and 7 days of incubation, the samples were extracted for confocal laser scanning microscopy.A total of 1,150 patients were accrued in the clinical study. Patients were randomized according to the order of surgical treatment. The odd array of patients was assigned as the therapy group (JUC), and the even array of patients was assigned as the control group (normal saline)., Results: After 16 hours of culture, bacterial biofilm formed on the surface of sample fragments from the control group. In the therapy group, no bacterial biofilm formation was observed on the sample fragments. No significant increase in bacterial colony count was observed in the therapy group after 7 days of incubation.On the 7th day of catheterization, urine samples were collected for bacterial culture before extubation. Significant difference was observed in the incidence of bacteriuria between the therapy group and control group (4.52% vs. 13.04%, p < 0.001)., Conclusions: In this study, the effectiveness of JUC in preventing CAUTI in a hospital setting was demonstrated in both in vitro and clinical studies.

From early May 2009, the novel influenza A (H1N1) pandemic affected mainland China. Of those infected, a small proportion of patients developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) so rapidly and severely that conventional ventilation treatment was ineffective. As an alternative treatment, the effect of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was evaluated. From November 2009 to January 2010, all patients suffering from influenza A (H1N1)-associated ARDS referred to Beijing Anzhen Hospital for treatment with ECMO were enrolled. We describe the characteristics, treatment, and outcomes of these patients at 1- and 3-month follow-up. Nine patients (four females; mean age, 31.2 [21-59] years) from four centers were enrolled. All females had a history of recent pregnancy or had recently given birth. Before ECMO, patients had severe respiratory failure despite advanced mechanical ventilatory support with a mean partial pressure of arterial oxygen/fraction of inspired oxygen of 52.9 ± 5.1 (45.0-63.8) mm Hg, positive end-expiratory pressure of 17.2 ± 4.2 cmH(2) O, and a Murray Lung Score of 3.6 (3.25-3.75). All nine patients were treated with veno-venous ECMO via percutaneous access. The mean duration of ECMO support was 436.6 ± 652.1 h (67.0-2160.0). At the end of 1-year follow-up, five patients (55.7%) were weaned from ECMO. Five patients (55.7%) survived to hospital discharge. Four patients (44.4%) died while undergoing ECMO. The mean length of intensive care unit and hospital stay was 4-204 days (median, 32) and 4-234 days (median, 38), respectively. There was no significant difference between survivors and nonsurvivors in the screened parameters. Use of ECMO for critically ill patients with 2009 influenza A (H1N1)-related ARDS is feasible and effective. However, this treatment is technically demanding. For success, careful selection of patients is crucial., (© 2012, Copyright the Authors. Artificial Organs © 2012, International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The superactivation of multipartite bound entanglement (BE) is a special protocol proposed by Shor et al. in 2003, which can distill Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) entanglement states between two subsystems of two multipartite BE states. Here we present the first experimental realization of the superactivation of the BE state, in which two copies of the four-partite unlockable BE state in a continuous-variable regime are used. Coupling two thermal states with Gaussian noises into two submodes of an EPR entangled state on two 50-50 beam splitters respectively, the four output optical modes form a four-partite unlocklable BE state. Using two EPR entangled states, we experimentally produce two BE states first. Then through a superactivation operation involving measurements and feedback on the two BE states, an EPR entangled state is distilled out between two designated parties of the two four-partite BE states. The experiment demonstrates the superadditivity of quantum entanglement as the individual BE state cannot be distilled, only two BE states together can be distilled.

The key role of the hypothalamic neuropeptides orexins in maintenance and promotion of arousal has been well established in normal mammalian animals, but whether orexins exert arousal effects under pathological condition such as coma was little studied. In this study, a model of unconscious rats induced by acute alcohol intoxication was used to examine the effects of orexins through intracerebroventricular injection. The results revealed that either orexin A or orexin B induced decrease of duration of loss of right reflex in alcohol-induced unconscious rats. In the presence of the selective orexin receptor 1 antagonist SB 334867 and orexin receptor 2 antagonist TCS OX2 29, the excitatory action of orexin A was completely blocked. Our data further presented that orexin A also induced reduction of delta power in EEG in these rats. Single-unit recording experiment in vivo demonstrated that orexin A could evoke increase of firing activity of prefrontal cortex neurons in unconscious rats. This excitation was completely inhibited by an H(1) receptor antagonist, pyrilamine, whereas application of α(1)-adrenoreceptor antagonist prazosin or 5-HT(2) selective receptor antagonist ritanserin partially attenuated the excitatory effects of orexin A on these neurons. Consistently, the results of EEG recordings showed that microinjection of pyrilamine, prazosin, or ritanserin suppressed reduction of delta power in EEG induced by orexin A on unconscious rats. Thus, these data suggest that orexins exert arousal effects on alcohol-induced unconscious rats by the promotion of cortical activity through activation of histaminergic, noradrenergic and serotonergic systems. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder'., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

We experimentally demonstrate that the quantum entanglement between amplitude and phase quadratures of optical modes produced from a nondegenerate optical parametric amplifier (NOPA) can be enhanced and manipulated phase sensitively by means of another NOPA. When both NOPAs operate at deamplification, the entanglement degree is increased at the cavity resonance of the second NOPA. When the first NOPA operates at deamplification and the second one at amplification, the spectral features of the correlation variances are significantly changed. The experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical expectation.

We report the experimental generation of squeezed light at 852 nm, locked on the Cesium D(2) line. 50% of noise reduction down to 50 kHz has been obtained with a doubly resonant optical parametric oscillator operating below threshold, using a periodically-poled KTP crystal. This light is directly utilizable with Cesium atomic ensembles for quantum networking applications.

The cluster states and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states are two different types of multipartite quantum entangled states. We present the first experimental results generating continuous variable quadripartite cluster and GHZ entangled states of electromagnetic fields. Utilizing two amplitude-quadrature and two phase-quadrature squeezed states of light and linearly optical transformations, the two types of entangled states for amplitude and phase quadratures of light are experimentally produced. The combinations of the measured quadrature variances prove the full inseparability of the generated four subsystems. The presented experimental schemes show that the multipartite entanglement of continuous variables can be deterministically generated with the relatively simple implementation.

The quantum entanglement of amplitude and phase quadratures between two intense optical beams with a total intensity of 22 mW and a frequency difference of 1 nm, which are produced from an optical parametric oscillator operating above threshold, is experimentally demonstrated with two sets of unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometers. The measured quantum correlations of intensity and phase are in reasonable agreement with the results calculated based on a semiclassical analysis of the noise characteristics given by Fabre et al. [J. Phys. (France) 50, 1209 (1989)].

The unconditional entanglement swapping for continuous variables is experimentally demonstrated. Two initial entangled states are produced from two nondegenerate optical parametric amplifiers operating at de-amplification. Through implementing the direct measurement of the Bell-state between two optical beams from each amplifier the remaining two optical beams, which have never directly interacted with each other, are entangled. The quantum correlation degrees of 1.23 and 1.12 dB below the shot noise limit for the amplitude and phase quadratures resulting from the entanglement swapping are measured straightly.