Search

Flour is an essential ingredient in human daily diet, thus it is crucial to measure its moisture content. However, current detection methods are time‐consuming and labor‐intensive, hindering quick measurement. Here we demonstrate the measurement of moisture content in flour via gas in the scattering media absorption spectroscopy (GASMAS) technique. A compact sensor that includes distributed feedback laser driver, cuvette, photodetector, analog lock‐in amplifier, and analysis processing module is developed. We measure the equivalent mean path length of various flour samples, and verify the measurement sensitivity of GASMAS by studying its dependence on moisture content. A linear relationship between path length and moisture content is established by least‐squares curve fitting, corresponding to a correlation coefficient of 0.996. Compared to the drying method, our method shows a maximum error range of 6.1% for all samples, providing a highly accurate and reliable measurement of water content in flour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temperature measurement of Sulfur dioxide (SO2) is a crucial parameter for accurately determining its concentration, particularly in high‐temperature environment. Herein, it is realized by using three different techniques, which are direct absorption spectroscopy, wavelength modulation spectroscopy and non‐calibration wavelength modulation spectroscopy based on the bispectral lines temperature measurement method. The bispectral lines of SO2 locates at 1396.844 and 1396.921 cm−1, respectively. The gas temperature in the absorption cell was also measured with K‐type thermocouple and compared with these three spectral measurements. The linearities corresponding to these three techniques are 99.71%, 99.8%, and 99.88%, respectively. Their average relative error between the spectral measurement results and the linear fitting value of the three techniques is 1.15%, 0.86%, and 0.57%, respectively. It is illustrated the feasibility of the bispectral lines method for high‐temperature measurement. These investigations provide methods for temperature measurement in high‐temperature coal‐fired boilers, potentially for investigating other sulfide gas molecules such as SO3 and H2S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Squeezing transformation as an essential component of quantum information processing, gives rise to the possibility to perform various tasks such as distributed quantum computation and the quantum‐logic gate. However, the reported squeezing gate with best performance so far is realized with low success probability, while the performance of the deterministic ones is currently circumscribed by the limited squeezing degree of the nonclassical ancilla. To address this issue, a new scheme of deterministic and universal quantum squeezing gate with the property of nonlocal operation owing to the teleportation‐like protocol is developed and demonstrated. A high‐fidelity squeezing operation, even when the level of target squeezing being up to 10 dB, is demonstrated where a squeezed state with nonclassical noise reduction of 6.5 dB is directly observed. Moreover, a high‐fidelity complex operation including a Fourier transformation and a phase squeezing gate are performed, exploring the potential of implementing the complex task of quantum information processing with the presented functional unit. The method can be applied to distributed quantum processor, the creation of exotic nonclassical states, and quantum error correction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Septic cardiomyopathy (SCM) is an acute cardiac dysfunction involving myocardial cell pyroptosis. TREM‐1 is a known receptor on cell membrane that can amplify the inflammatory response. Our previous studies have shown that TREM‐1 in cardiomyocytes is involved in the activation of NLRP3 through the SMC4/NEMO pathway. Here, we aimed to use Trem‐1 and Nlrp3 knockout mice to verify the effect of TREM‐1 through NLRP3 on cardiac function in septic mice. The results showed that TREM‐1 knockout resulted in a decrease in the release of downstream cell signals, including SMC4 and NLRP3, resulting in a decrease in cytokine release and improvement of cardiac dysfunction. Knockout of NLRP3 also reduced cardiomyocyte pyroptosis and increased survival rate. The therapeutic targeting of TREM‐1 activation of NLRP3 and its pathway may contribute to the treatment or prevention of SCM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the accuracy and reproducibility of diaphragmatic excursion (DE) measurements through hepato-renal/spleno-renal section as a novel method for assessing diaphragmatic function., Methods: Twelve healthy participants were recruited. Each participant underwent DE measurements performed by four operators with varying levels of experience using traditional methods (liver/spleen section) and novel methods (hepato-renal/spleno-renal section), respectively. Among them, two experienced operators were critical care clinicians, and diaphragmatic ultrasound was performed in more than 50 cases. The other two inexperienced operators were respiratory therapists, with less than 10 cases of diaphragmatic ultrasound operations, who received a 2-hour theoretical and operational training before the study. Operators initially used the conventional method with a 1.5-6.0 MHz convex probe in M-mode, placing the sampling line perpendicular to the diaphragm at the point of maximum excursion, and the liver/spleen section DE was determined during normal breathing of participant. Then, they used the novel method with a 1.6-4.5 MHz phased array probe to observe diaphragmatic movement cranio-caudally along the mid-axillary line, employing anatomic M-mode with the sampling line placed perpendicular to the diaphragm at the level of the renal midpoint, and the DE of the hepato-renal/spleno-renal section was measured during normal breathing. The liver and hepato-renal sections were used to assess the right diaphragm, and spleen and spleno-renal sections were used to assess the left diaphragm. Correlation analysis of DE measurements from different sections was conducted using the Deming method, while consistency was assessed using the Bland-Altman method. The consistency of clinical acceptability was defined as the absence of fixed and proportional bias, with a difference of two standard deviations less than 40% of the mean measurement value. Percentage consistency limit = two standard deviations of the differences between measurements/mean measurement value×100%., Results: Four operators performed image scans of DE in all four sections for each of the twelve subjects, with a high DE acquisition rate of 100% (48/48) for hepato-renal and spleno-renal sections, followed by the liver section [91.7% (44/48)] and the spleen section [66.7% (32/48)], particularly for the left diaphragm assessment, where the DE acquisition rate of spleno-renal section was significantly higher than that of traditional spleen section (P < 0.01). The overall measurement results showed that no significant difference was found in DE determined via the hepato-renal and spleno-renal sections using the novel method (cm: 1.64±0.10 vs. 1.55±0.14, P > 0.05), and they were significantly higher than those determined via the conventional liver and spleen sections (cm: hepato-renal section vs. liver section was 1.64±0.10 vs. 1.44±0.09, spleno-renal section vs. spleen section was 1.55±0.14 vs. 1.09±0.14, both P < 0.01). Correlation analysis revealed good correlations of DE between hepato-renal section and spleno-renal section, between liver section and hepato-renal section, between liver section and spleno-renal section (r values were 0.62, 0.59, and 0.42, all P < 0.01). Consistency analysis showed that the consistency in DE between hepato-renal section and spleno-renal section, as well as between liver section and hepato-renal section was good (both % consistency limits < 40%). However, the DE measured in the spleen section were not correlated with the other three sections, and there was no inconsistency (all % consistency limits > 40%). There was no statistically significant difference in DE measured by the four operators in the liver, spleen, hepato-renal, and spleno-renal sections (cm: 1.49±0.34, 1.44±0.37, 1.43±0.30, and 1.40±0.27 in liver section; 1.10±0.36, 1.05±0.18, 1.09±0.22, and 1.06±0.26 in spleen section; 1.67±0.43, 1.57±0.34, 1.63±0.32, and 1.66±0.36 in hepato-renal section; 1.45±0.33, 1.48±0.34, 1.50±0.24, and 1.65±0.26 in spleno-renal section; all P > 0.05). According to the clinically acceptable range of consistency limits, the DE measured by the four operators in all four sections showed good consistency (all % consistency limits < 40%)., Conclusions: The novel method of measuring DE through hepato-renal/spleno-renal sections is accurate, highly reproducible, and has a high acquisition rate, serving as a viable alternative to the conventional method involving the liver/spleen section.

Objective: To investigate the correlation between programmed death ligand 1(PD-L1), tumor mutation burden (TMB) and the short-term efficacy and clinical characteristics of anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor combination chemotherapy in NSCLC patients. The efficacy of the prediction model was evaluated., Methods: A total of 220 NSCLC patients receiving first-line treatment with anti-PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor combined with chemotherapy were retrospectively collected. The primary endpoint was short-term efficacy ORR. The correlation between short-term efficacy, PD-L1, TMB, and clinical characteristics using χ2 test or t-test was evaluated. Screen the independent prognostic factors using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses, and construct a nomogram prediction model using the "rms" package in R software. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis to evaluate the independent Prognostic factors and the prediction model. Using decision curve analysis (DCA) to verify the superiority of the prediction model., Results: The mean values of PD-L1, TMB, neutrophils, lymphocytes, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, and albumin were the highest in the ORR group, PD-L1 expression and TMB correlated with epidermal growth factor receptor expression. Multivariate analyses showed that PD-L1, TMB, and neutrophil were independent prognostic factors for ORR. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) values of the ROC constructed based on these three indicators were 0.7104, 0.7139, and 0.7131, respectively. The AUC value under the ROC of the nomogram model was 0.813. The DCA of the model showed that all three indicators used together to build the prediction model of the net return were higher than those of the single indicator prediction model., Conclusion: PD-L1, TMB, and neutrophils are independent prognostic factors for short-term efficacy. The nomogram prediction model constructed using these three indicators can further improve predictive efficacy of ICIs in patients with NSCLC., 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 © 2024 Shi, Wang, Wu, Zha, Li, Liu, Yang, Kong, Gao, Cui, Huangfu, Sun, Li, Liang, Zheng and Yang.)