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Background: Differential diagnosis of wide QRS tachycardia (WQCT) has been a challenging issue. Published algorithms to distinguish ventricular tachycardia (VT) and supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) have limited diagnostic capabilities. Methods: A total of 278 patients with WQCT from January 2010 to March 2022 were enrolled. The electrophysiological study confirmed SVT in 154 patients and VT in 65 ones. Two hundred nineteen WQCT 12-lead ECGs were randomly divided into development cohort (n = 165) and testing cohort (n = 54) data sets. The development cohort was split into a training group (n = 115) and an internal validation group (n = 50). Forty ECG features extracted from the 219 WQCT ECGs are fed into 9 iteratively trained ML algorithms. This novel ML algorithm was also compared with four published algorithms. Results: In the development cohort, the Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM) model displayed the maximum area under curve (AUC) (0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.81–1.00). In the testing cohort, the GBM model had a higher AUC of 0.97 compared to 4 validated ECG algorithms, namely, Brugada (0.68), avR (0.62), RWPTII (0.72), and LLA algorithms (0.70). Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, and positive predictive value of the GBM model were 0.94, 0.97, 0.90, 0.94, and 0.95, respectively. Conclusions: A GBM ML model contributes to distinguishing SVT from VT based on surface ECG features. In addition, we were able to identify important indicators for distinguishing WQCT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are various challenges facing quantum watermarking, of which the most significant one is that unlike classical watermarking, there remain few achievements made to build a complete system. Allowing for this, a two-domain quantum color image watermarking scheme based on least significant bit (LSB) algorithm is proposed in this paper. For the purpose of image representation, the image of the carrier and that of the watermark are represented through the novel quantum representation of color digital images (NCQI) (Sang et al. in Quantum Inf Process 16:1–14, 2017), the size of which is 2 n × 2 n and 2 n - 1 × 2 n - 1 , respectively. Firstly, the watermark image is scrambled by conducting operation on the color and position of the image. Through this simultaneous scrambling of color and position, the privacy of watermark images is better protected. Secondly, the scrambled watermark image is embedded into the spatial domain of the carrier image using the LSB algorithm. Additionally, the scrambled watermark image is embedded into the frequency domain of the carrier image through quantum Fourier transform and LSB algorithm, thus improving the capability to withstand illegal attacks. Lastly, both simulation experiment and comparative analysis are conducted to demonstrate the satisfactory visual quality of the proposed scheme and its strong robustness to the salt and pepper noises. These positive findings contributed to enriching the existing theory of color quantum image watermarking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing free-standing and mechanical robust membrane materials capable of superior enrichment of phosphopeptides for analyzing and identifying the specific phosphoproteome of cancer cells is significant in understanding the molecular mechanisms of cancer development and exploring new therapeutic approaches, but still a significant challenge in materials design. To this end, we firstly constructed highly flexible ZrTiO4 nanofibrous membranes (NFMs) with excellent mechanical stability through a cost-effective and scalable electrospinning and subsequent calcination technique. Then, to further increase the enrichment capacity of the phosphopeptide, the biomimetic TiO2@ZrTiO4 NFMs with root hair or leaf like branch microstructure are developed by the hydrothermal post-synthetic modification of ZrTiO4 NFMs through growing unfurling TiO2 nanosheets onto the ZrTiO4 nanofibers. Importantly, remarkable flexibility and mechanical stability enable the resulting TiO2@ZrTiO4 NFMs excellent practicability, while the biomimetic microstructure allows it outstanding enrichment ability of the phosphopeptide and identification ability of the specific phosphoproteins in the digest of cervical cancer cells. Specifically, 6770 phosphopeptides can be enriched by TiO2@ZrTiO4 NFMs (2205 corresponding phosphoproteins can be identified), and the value is much higher than that of ZrTiO4 NFMs (6399 phosphopeptides and 2132 identified phosphoproteins) and commercial high-performance TiO2 particles (4525 phosphopeptides and 1811 identified phosphoproteins). These results demonstrate the super ability of TiO2@ZrTiO4 NFMs in phosphopeptide enrichment and great potential for exploring the pathogenesis of cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of semi-quantum protocols reduces the conditions for the implementation of quantum signatures, so that users without quantum capabilities can communicate securely. As a kind of quantum signature, ring signature has been widely concerned in recent years because of its excellent characteristics such as unconditional anonymity. Combining the conception of semi-quantum with the characteristics of ring signature scheme, a semi-quantum ring signature protocol based on multi-particle GHZ state is proposed in this paper. It is achieved through the correlation between particles in GHZ state. In this protocol, only the trusted third-party arbitrator Trent has full quantum ability, called quantum party. The other users are classical parties with specific quantum capabilities, and there is no need for direct communication between the signer and the verifier, which makes the protocol has lower complexity and greatly reduces the dependence on quantum resources. In addition, the results of security analysis show that the proposed semi-quantum ring protocol scheme has the ability to reliably resist various attacks and has good security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a four-participant scheme for the asymmetric circular controlled quantum states transmission. David is the controller, Alice, Bob and Charlie can complete the transmission of single-qubit, two-qubit and three-qubit states respectively. The scheme is discussed in ideal and noisy environments respectively. In an ideal environment, we first construct a quantum channel by using quantum gate operations. Secondly, the senders and controller choose an appropriate measurement basis to measure their own particles, and the receiver can use appropriate unitary operations to restore the quantum state according to the measurement results. All the measurement results and corresponding recovery operations are given. In the noise environment, we calculate the fidelities of the output states in the amplitude damping and phase damping noise environments, and observe the effect of noise according to the different values of the quantum state coefficient and noise factor. Finally, through the analysis of the scheme performance, it can be seen that our scheme has obvious advantages in quantum state transmission, including increasing the number of quantum state particles transmitted, reducing the consumption of classical communication and higher communication efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atherosclerosis is the most common arterial disease and is closely related to vascular calcification. CircHIPK3 has been implicated in atherosclerosis development, but the possible downstream regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. The levels of circHIPK3, miR-106a and MFN2 in tissues and blood samples of patients with atherosclerosis were detected by RT-qPCR. The levels of circHIPK3, miR-106a and MFN2 were detected by RT-qPCR and the expression levels of MFN2, osteogenic and cartilage differentiation marker proteins were detected by western blot in vitro. ALP staining, Alizarin Red staining, and calcium content detection evaluated the degree of osteogenic differentiation of cells. Alcian blue staining detected the level of cell cartilage differentiation. Luciferase detected the targeting relationship between circHIPK3 and miR-106a-5p, as well as miR-106a-5p and MFN2. CircHIPK3 and MFN2 were low expressed and miR-106a-5p was highly expressed in tissues and blood samples of patients with atherosclerosis, as well as vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) with osteogenic and cartilage differentiation. Overexpression of circHIPK3 reduced the cell mineralization and calcium content. Overexpression of circHIPK3 inhibited osteogenic differentiation by decreasing ALP activity, RUNX2, and OPG expression, and increasing SM22α and SMA level. What's more, overexpression of circHIPK3 decreased the chondrogenic differentiation by inhibiting the protein level of SOX9, aggrecan, and collagen II. CircHIPK3 targeted miR-106a-5p and miR-106a-5p targeted MFN2. MiR-106a-5p overexpression or MFN2 depletion repressed the effect of circHIPK3 overexpression on VSMC calcification. CircHIPK3 regulated osteogenic and cartilage differentiation of VSMC via miR-106a-5p/MFN2 axis, indicating a target for treating vascular calcification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies reveal that metabolism dysfunction contributes to the development of pathological cardiac hypertrophy. While the abnormal lipid and glucose utilization in cardiomyocytes responding to hypertrophic stimuli have been extensively studied, the alteration and implication of glutaminolysis are rarely discussed. In the present work, we provide the first evidence that glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH), an enzyme that catalyzes conversion of glutamate into ɑ-ketoglutarate (AKG), participates in isoprenaline (ISO)-induced cardiac hypertrophy through activating mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling. The expression and activity of GDH were enhanced in cultured cardiomyocytes and rat hearts following ISO treatment. Overexpression of GDH, but not its enzymatically inactive mutant, provoked cardiac hypertrophy. In contrast, GDH knockdown could relieve ISO-triggered hypertrophic responses. The intracellular AKG level was elevated by ISO or GDH overexpression, which led to increased phosphorylation of mTOR and downstream effector ribosomal protein S6 kinase (S6K). Exogenous supplement of AKG also resulted in mTOR activation and cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. However, incubation with rapamycin, an mTOR inhibitor, attenuated hypertrophic responses in cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, GDH silencing protected rats from ISO-induced cardiac hypertrophy. These findings give a further insight into the role of GDH in cardiac hypertrophy and suggest it as a potential target for hypertrophy-related cardiomyopathy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A quantum sealed-bid auction (QSA) with post-confirmation can realize the public verification of the honesty of bidders. In this paper, we apply the quantum secret sharing (QSS) into the post-confirmation. Surprisingly, it shows that a QSS protocol with information leakage can better ensure the security of the protocol when applied to a quantum auction. We consider a QSS scheme based on quantum state discrimination, and use the stabilizer operation of quantum state to prevent bidders from tampering his/her bids. Moreover, an improved QSA protocol based on Bell states is present, which can resist all types of collusion attack. Compared with the previous protocol whose post-confirmation realized by quantum properties, the proposed protocol has the advantages of secure and efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Characterized by integrity and non-repudiation, digital signatures play an essential role in real life. Quantum digital signatures, which outperform classical types generally in safety, have been widely used in secure communications. In this paper, a novel quantum signature scheme based on quantum encryption, XOR encryption and secret sharing without entanglement is designed. Furthermore, it can be extended to a quantum multi-signature scheme. Unlike existing schemes, it is more efficient in guaranteeing safety, more practical and does not need to prepare a large number of entanglements or operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different from traditional digital signatures, quantum blind signatures can implement a signature without knowing the specific content, and their security is guaranteed by the basic principles of quantum mechanics with unconditional security. Based on the blind signature, multi-proxy signature can avoid internal attacks efficiently by dispersing the authority of proxy signers. In this paper, we propose a new quantum multi-proxy blind signature scheme based on cluster states. We apply the quantum teleportation to transmit data using the four-particle cluster state as a channel. Then, a quantum multi-proxy blind signature scheme is designed. According to the security analysis, blindness, undeniability and unforgeability are all equipped in our scheme. Meanwhile, compared with existing schemes, four-particle cluster states are required as quantum channels in our scheme which uses fewer resources to transmit data and has higher efficiency of signatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tweety-homolog 1 (Ttyh1) is expressed in neural tissue and has been implicated in the generation of several brain diseases. However, its functional significance in pain processing is not understood. By disrupting the gene encoding Ttyh1, we found a loss of Ttyh1 in nociceptors and their central terminals in Ttyh1-deficient mice, along with a reduction in nociceptor excitability and synaptic transmission at identified synapses between nociceptors and spinal neurons projecting to the periaqueductal grey (PAG) in the basal state. More importantly, the peripheral inflammation-evoked nociceptor hyperexcitability and spinal synaptic potentiation recorded in spinal-PAG projection neurons were compromised in Ttyh1-deficient mice. Analysis of the paired-pulse ratio and miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents indicated a role of presynaptic Ttyh1 from spinal nociceptor terminals in the regulation of neurotransmitter release. Interfering with Ttyh1 specifically in nociceptors produces a comparable pain relief. Thus, in this study we demonstrated that Ttyh1 is a critical determinant of acute nociception and pain sensitization caused by peripheral inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that CCL2 (C–C motif chemokine ligand 2) induces chronic pain, but the exact mechanisms are still unknown. Here, we established models to explore the potential mechanisms. Behavioral experiments revealed that an antagonist of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) inhibited not only CCL2-induced inflammatory pain, but also pain responses induced by complete Freund's adjuvant. We posed the question of the intracellular signaling cascade involved. Subsequent experiments showed that CCL2 up-regulated the expression of phosphorylated ERK (pERK) and N-methyl D-aspartate receptor [NMDAR] subtype 2B (GluN2B); meanwhile, antagonists of CCR2 and ERK effectively reversed these phenomena. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings revealed that CCL2 enhanced the NMDAR-induced currents via activating the pERK pathway, which was blocked by antagonists of GluN2B and ERK. In summary, we demonstrate that CCL2 directly interacts with CCR2 to enhance NMDAR-induced currents, eventually leading to inflammatory pain mainly through the CCL2–CCR2–pERK–GluN2B pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep learning models have achieved state-of-the-art performance in named entity recognition (NER); the good performance, however, relies heavily on substantial amounts of labeled data. In some specific areas such as medical, financial, and military domains, labeled data is very scarce, while unlabeled data is readily available. Previous studies have used unlabeled data to enrich word representations, but a large amount of entity information in unlabeled data is neglected, which may be beneficial to the NER task. In this study, we propose a semi-supervised method for NER tasks, which learns to create high-quality labeled data by applying a pre-trained module to filter out erroneous pseudo labels. Pseudo labels are automatically generated for unlabeled data and used as if they were true labels. Our semi-supervised framework includes three steps: constructing an optimal single neural model for a specific NER task, learning a module that evaluates pseudo labels, and creating new labeled data and improving the NER model iteratively. Experimental results on two English NER tasks and one Chinese clinical NER task demonstrate that our method further improves the performance of the best single neural model. Even when we use only pre-trained static word embeddings and do not rely on any external knowledge, our method achieves comparable performance to those state-of-the-art models on the CoNLL-2003 and OntoNotes 5.0 English NER tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider a new mixed finite element scheme of the elasticity problem in two and three dimensions, and the new scheme can impose Neumann boundary condition directly. A new stabilized method is proposed for this scheme, in which the equal order linear element pair is employed to approximate the stress and displacement, and an abstract operator is used to characterize the lack of the inf-sup condition. The new stabilized method is locking free. Numerical results show the excellent stability and accuracy of the new method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dopaminergic (DA) neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) are vulnerable to excitotoxicity in Parkinson's disease (PD). Neurotoxic stimuli may alter the firing patterns of DA neurons. However, whether firing pattern change underlies neurotoxic stress-induced death of DA neurons remains unknown. In this study, we established long-term cultures of SNc organotypic slices and used this model to evaluate the neurotoxic effects on firing mode and DA neuronal viability following chronic treatment with neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Using whole-cell patch clamp to explore the intrinsic membrane properties and firing mode, we showed that chronic exposure to 6-OHDA raised the resting membrane potential of SNc DA neurons and altered their firing pattern, causing it to switch from a regular rhythmic pacemaking firing to an irregular bursting. This firing pattern change correlated with increased death of SNc DA neurons. The 6-OHDA-induced firing pattern change correlated with an increase in the activity of the small conductance calcium-activated potassium channel (SK channel) and with an increase in both the level and activity of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). Activation of the SK channel by its agonist 1-EBIO attenuated 6-OHDA-induced firing irregularity and death, while the SK channel antagonist apamin exacerbated the toxic effects of 6-OHDA. Thus, SK channel current is a substantial element in sustaining the SNc DA neuronal rhythmic pacemaking and homeostasis and perturbing SK channel activity underlies 6-OHDA-induced neurotoxicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Renal aquaporins (AQP1-4) concentration is downregulated and is in proportion to the degree of hydronephrosis graded by ultrasound in pediatric congenital hydronephrosis (CH). However, the relationship between the expression of AQP1-4 with the changes of renal function impairment (RFI) evaluated by Tc-DTPA renal dynamic imaging is still unclear. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between AQP1-4 expression and degree of RFI in children with CH. Methods: The expression of AQP1-4 was evaluated in 45 children with unilateral ureteropelvic junction obstruction (28 boys and 17 girls, average age: 28±10 months) and 15 children undergoing nephrectomy for nephroblastoma (8 boys and 7 girls, average age: 26±8 months) by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry. Renal function was graded into mild and severe RFI by Tc-DTPA renal dynamic imaging. Results: One-way analysis of variance with Bonferonni's correction showed a significantly reduced protein expression of AQP1-4 in the severe RFI group compared with those in both mild RFI group and controls (AQP1: 0.52±0.09 vs. 0.91±0.06 vs. 1.23±0.033; AQP2: 0.68±0.12 vs. 1.09±0.06 vs. 1.52±0.08; AQP3: 0.59±0.16 vs. 0.94±0.08 vs. 1.31±0.07; AQP4: 0.64±0.06 vs. 1.14±0.07 vs. 1.61±0.07; P<0.001, respectively). In kidneys with severe RFI, there was a reduction in the protein concentration of all four AQP isoforms which was more pronounced compared with those seen in kidneys with mild RFI and in the controls. Conclusion: AQP1-4 expression is reduced in proportion with the impairment degree of renal function graded by Tc-DTPA renal dynamic imaging in human CH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the principal security threat, pollution attacks also seriously affect the security of quantum network coding, just like they do for the classical network coding. Based on this, we first propose two secure quantum homomorphic message authentication schemes based on quantum circuit, which well resist the pollution attacks launched by outside attackers and the attackers including inside untrusted nodes over the general quantum network. Then, we apply this authentication method into our extended quantum network coding scheme over the multi-unicast network N, solving the quantum k-pair problem securely and perfectly. Analysis results show that our proposed quantum network coding scheme has higher security and higher quantum communication rate, compared with the existing secure scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Susceptibility to motion sickness (MS) varies considerably among humans. However, the cause of such variation is unclear. Here, we used a classical genetic approach to obtain mouse strains highly sensitive and resistant to MS (SMS and RMS). Proteomics analysis revealed substantially lower swiprosin-1 expression in SMS mouse brains. Inducing MS via rotary stimulation decreased swiprosin-1 in the mouse brains. Swiprosin-1 knockout mice were much more sensitive to motion disturbance. Immunohistochemistry revealed strong swiprosin-1 expression in the vestibular nuclei (VN). Over-expressing swiprosin-1 in the VN of SMS mice decreased MS susceptibility. Down-regulating swiprosin-1 in the VN of RMS mice by RNAi increased MS susceptibility. Additional in vivo experiments revealed decreased swiprosin-1 expression by glutamate via the NMDA receptor. Glutamate increased neuronal excitability in SMS or swiprosin-1 knockout mice more prominently than in RMS or wild-type mice. These results indicate that swiprosin-1 in the VN is a critical determinant of the susceptibility to MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]