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We use pulse shaping to investigate the temporal coherence of frequency combs generated in microresonators pumped by a strong CW laser. We observe that different groups of comb lines have different mutual coherence.

The current study was carried out using data of the Nucleus Herd and Community Herd of Red Chittagong Cattle (RCC) established through USDA funded Red Chittagong Cattle project under the Department of Animal Breeding and Genetics, BAU, Mymensingh. Data on 151 calves and 75 lactating cows were analyzed. The estimated heritability values were 0.45 ± 0.05 for birth weight, 0.48 ± 0.05 for weaning weight, 0.41 ± 0.08 for pre-weaning daily gain, 0.47 ± 0.06 for lactation length, 0.43 ± 0.07 for lactation milk yield and 0.35 ± 0.09 for average daily milk yield. The highest Breeding Value (BV) were for birth weight (3.2 kg), weaning weight (24.46 kg), pre-weaning daily gain (82.39g), lactation length (52.25 days), lactation milk yield (186.04 kg) and average daily milk yield (0.66 kg). The minimum and maximum phenotypic index values by using phenotypic parameters were for growth traits (1196.24 and 4713.24) and milk production traits (8573.93 and 40670.81). The minimum and maximum genetic index values by using breeding values were for growth traits (1812.49 and 2870.21) and milk production traits (-1812.49 and 2870.21). All the estimated index values can be used in animal selection and breeding programs for RCC improvement and similar index selection can be applied for other indigenous cattle development programs in Bangladesh or elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of redistribution of elastic strain relaxation on the energy band structures of GaInAsP/InP compressively strained membrane quantum wires fabricated by electron-beam lithography, reactive-ion etching and two-step epitaxial growth is theoretically studied using an 8-band k·p method. Anisotropic strain analysis by the finite element method shows that due to etching away the top and the bottom InP clad layers in membrane structures, redistribution of strain occurs. It is found that strain redistribution increases the effective bandgap of membrane quantum wire structures causing a blueshift of the emission frequency. Comparison with effective bandgap calculations neglecting confinement and band mixing demonstrates that neglect of these effects leads to an overestimation of the change in the bandgap. We have also investigated the effect of variation of wire width, barrier strain compensation, number of stacked quantum wire layers, and thickness of the top and the bottom residual InP layers in membrane structures on the change in the effective bandgap of membrane structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This work studies fractional temporal evolution of oblique resonant optical solitons in (3+1)-dimensions with Kerr- and parabolic-law nonlinearities. The generalized exp(− Φ (ξ))-expansion method along with the Khalil's conformable fractional derivatives is implemented to locate several forms of oblique resonant solitons. It is observed that obliqueness significantly modified resonant wave dynamics. The obtained results are very useful for understanding the dynamics of obliquely propagating resonant optical solitons and optical bullets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early-life conditions influence organ growth patterns and their functions, as well as subsequent risk for non-communicable chronic diseases in later life. A limited number of studies have determined that in Bangladesh, kidney size relates to its function among children as a consequence of the maternal and postnatal conditions. The present study objectives were to determine early-life conditions in relation to childhood kidney size and to compare their influences on kidney function. The study was embedded in a population-based prospective cohort of 1067 full-term singleton live births followed from fetal life onward. Kidney volume was measured by ultrasound in children at the age of 4.5 years (range 45–64 months), and the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was assessed at the age of 9 years (range 96–116 months). The mean (s.d.) kidney volume of children at 4.5 years was 64.2 (11.3) cm3, with a significant mean difference observed between low birth weight and normal birth weight children (P <0.001). The multivariable model showed, changes in status from low birth weight to normal birth weight children, with kidney volume increases of 2.92 cm3/m2, after adjusting for the child’s age, sex, maternal age and early pregnancy body mass index, and socio-economic index variables. One-unit change in kidney volume (cm3/m2) improved the eGFR to 0.18 ml/min/1.73 m2. The eGFR in low birth weight children was 5.44 ml/min/1.73 m2 less than that in normal birth weight children after adjustments. Low birth weight leads to adverse effects on kidney size and function in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human cardiomyocytes (CMs) have potential for use in therapeutic cell therapy and high-throughput drug screening. Because of the inability to expand adult CMs, their large-scale production from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) has been suggested. Significant improvements have been made in understanding directed differentiation processes of CMs from hPSCs and their suspension culture-based production at chemically defined conditions. However, optimization experiments are costly, time-consuming, and highly variable, leading to challenges in developing reliable and consistent protocols for the generation of large CM numbers at high purity. This study examined the ability of data-driven modeling with machine learning for identifying key experimental conditions and predicting final CM content using data collected during hPSC-cardiac differentiation in advanced stirred tank bioreactors (STBRs). Through feature selection, we identified process conditions, features, and patterns that are the most influential on and predictive of the CM content at the process endpoint, on differentiation day 10 (dd10). Process-related features were extracted from experimental data collected from 58 differentiation experiments by feature engineering. These features included data continuously collected online by the bioreactor system, such as dissolved oxygen concentration and pH patterns, as well as offline determined data, including the cell density, cell aggregate size, and nutrient concentrations. The selected features were used as inputs to construct models to classify the resulting CM content as being “sufficient” or “insufficient” regarding pre-defined thresholds. The models built using random forests and Gaussian process modeling predicted insufficient CM content for a differentiation process with 90% accuracy and precision on dd7 of the protocol and with 85% accuracy and 82% precision at a substantially earlier stage: dd5. These models provide insight into potential key factors affecting hPSC cardiac differentiation to aid in selecting future experimental conditions and can predict the final CM content at earlier process timepoints, providing cost and time savings. This study suggests that data-driven models and machine learning techniques can be employed using existing data for understanding and improving production of a specific cell type, which is potentially applicable to other lineages and critical for realization of their therapeutic applications.

Background: The implementation of CAR T therapy in the real-world setting is hindered by logistical and financial barriers, impacting timely access to this life-saving treatment. Clinical trials have reported the time from leukapheresis to CAR T cell infusion (vein-to-vein time) but not the time from CAR T referral to infusion (decision-to-vein time)., Objective: Herein, we report the barriers to CAR T therapy in a real-world setting. We evaluated the factors influencing the decision-to-vein time and explored the association with clinical outcomes in patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL who received CAR T therapy., Study Design: We conducted a retrospective study of adult patients with R/R DLBCL who underwent consultation for CAR T cell therapy at Levine Cancer Institute and Wake Forest Comprehensive Cancer Center and collected information regarding demographic data, referral type, insurance type, CAR T product and survival outcomes. The effects of variables on decision-to-vein time were analyzed by Fisher's exact test for categorial variables and Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables. Survival analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox Proportional Hazard models., Results: The study included 142 patients who were referred for CAR T of which 99 patients received CAR T. Median decision-to-vein time was 62 days compared to median vein-to-vein time of 32 days. Patients with private insurance took longer to obtain financial clearance compared to patients with government insurance (median 25 vs. 9 days, p < .001). Of those with private insurance (n=63), 35% needed a single case agreement (SCA) which led to significant delay in receiving financial clearance (median 50.5 vs.19 days, p < .001) and increased decision-to-vein time (median 75 vs. 55 days, p < .001) compared to those who did not need SCA. Decision-to-vein time was significantly different among various products, clinical trial being the shortest (median 47 days, n = 9) and non-conforming products being the longest (median 94.5 days, n = 6) (p< .001). Axi-cel had the shortest median decision-to-vein time at 61 days compared to 81 days with tisa-cel and 85 days with liso-cel. Although delays in receiving CAR T therapy did not impact survival, the median overall survival for patients who were referred for CAR T therapy but did not receive it, was significantly lower than those who received CAR T cell therapy (9.0 vs. 21.0 months, p < .001)., Conclusion: Decision-to-vein time is a major cause of delay in receiving CAR T therapy. SCAs lead to significant increase in 'decision-to-vein' time leading to delays in CAR T therapy in a real-world setting. Patients who were referred for CAR T but are not able to receive it, have inferior survival compared to CAR T recipients. Our findings underscore the significance of addressing administrative hurdles, such as SCAs and insurance approvals, for timely access to CAR T therapy for patients with DLBCL., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

In this investigation, moisture-stable CsSnBr 2 Cl nanoparticles were synthesized by incorporating Cl into CsSnBr 3 halide perovskite using the hot injection method. Various analyses including XRD, XPS, UV-vis absorbance, photoluminescence, and Mott-Schottky have confirmed that the structural properties, chemical states, optical properties, and electronic band structure of CsSnBr 2 Cl nanoparticles remain intact even after 75 days of water immersion, thereby conclusively demonstrating their moisture stability. In a three-electrode system, the comparative electrochemical performance of pristine CsSnBr 3 nanoparticles and moisture-stable Cl-incorporated CsSnBr 2 Cl nanoparticles was evaluated in various aqueous electrolytes, including HCl, Na 2 SO 4 , and KOH. The results indicate that the CsSnBr 2 Cl electrode material exhibits superior electrochemical properties, such as a larger integrated cyclic voltammetry (CV) area, a wider potential window, longer charge-discharge times, and lower impedance parameters compared to the pristine CsSnBr 3 nanoparticles. The electrochemical performance of CsSnBr 2 Cl nanoparticles was evaluated for potential applications in batteries, supercapacitors, fuel cells, and water splitting, with a focus on reaction kinetics, charge storage mechanisms, and impedance parameters. The electrochemical properties of the nanoparticles were assessed using a three-electrode configuration across various 0.5 M aqueous electrolytes (HCl, Na 2 SO 4 , and KOH). In HCl, the nanoparticles demonstrated impressive charge storage capability, achieving a capacitance of 474 F g -1 at 1 A g -1 , affirming their suitability for energy storage devices. In Na 2 SO 4 (aq.), the nanoparticles exhibited excellent stability for supercapacitors, operating up to 1.6 V without significant oxygen evolution. Notably, in KOH, they demonstrated potential as effective water-splitting electrodes. The practical applicability of the nanoparticles was evaluated using a symmetric two-electrode configuration with HCl and Na 2 SO 4 electrolytes. The capacitance values were 117 F g -1 in HCl and 70 F g -1 in Na 2 SO 4 at 1 A g -1 . Notably, after 5000 GCD cycles in HCl(aq.), the nanoparticles retained 93% of their capacitance and maintained 91% Coulombic efficiency. They also demonstrated stable operation across a temperature range of 3 to 60 °C, achieving an energy density of 5.83 W h kg -1 at a power density of 600 W kg -1 . This study emphasizes the considerable potential of CsSnBr 2 Cl nanoparticles in advancing electrochemical energy storage technologies and sets a solid foundation for future research and development in metal halide perovskites.

LiDAR sensors have been shown to generate data with various common corruptions, which seriously affect their applications in 3D vision tasks, particularly object detection. At the same time, it has been demonstrated that traditional defense strategies, including adversarial training, are prone to suffering from gradient confusion during training. Moreover, they can only improve their robustness against specific types of data corruption. In this work, we propose LiDARPure, which leverages the powerful generation ability of diffusion models to purify corruption in the LiDAR scene data. By dividing the entire scene into voxels to facilitate the processes of diffusion and reverse diffusion, LiDARPure overcomes challenges induced from adversarial training, such as sparse point clouds in large-scale LiDAR data and gradient confusion. In addition, we utilize the latent geometric features of a scene as a condition to assist the generation of diffusion models. Detailed experiments show that LiDARPure can effectively purify 19 common types of LiDAR data corruption. Further evaluation results demonstrate that it can improve the average precision of 3D object detectors to an extent of 20% in the face of data corruption, much higher than existing defence strategies.

A recent industry perspective published in this journal describes the benefits received by drug companies from participation in the MIDD Pilot Program. Along with the primary objectives of supporting good decision-making in drug development, there were substantial savings in time and development costs. Furthermore, many sponsors reported qualitative benefits such as new learnings and clarity on MIDD strategies and methodology that could be applied to other development programs. Based on the success of the Pilot Program, the FDA recently announced the continuation of the MIDD Paired Meeting Program as part of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA VII). In this report, we describe the collective experiences of industry participants in the MIDD Program to date, including all aspects of the process from meeting request submission to follow-up actions. The purpose is to provide future participants with information to optimize the value of the MIDD Program., (© 2024 The Authors. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.)