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Cotton breeding for the development of early-maturing varieties is an effective way to improve multiple cropping indexes and alleviate the conflict between grains and cotton in the cultivated fields in China. In the present study, we aimed to identify upland cotton quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and candidate genes related to early-maturity traits, including whole growth period (WGP), flowering timing (FT), node of the first fruiting branch (NFFB), height of the node of the first fruiting branch (HNFFB), and plant height (PH). An early-maturing variety, CCRI50, and a late-maturing variety, Guoxinmian 11, were crossed to obtain biparental populations. These populations were used to map QTLs for the early-maturity traits for two years (2020 and 2021). With BSA-seq analysis based on the data of population 2020, the candidate regions related to early maturity were found to be located on chromosome D03. We then developed 22 polymorphic insertions or deletions (InDel) markers to further narrow down the candidate regions, resulting in the detection of five and four QTLs in the 2020 and 2021 populations, respectively. According to the results of QTL mapping, two candidate regions (InDel_G286-InDel_G144 and InDel_G24-InDel_G43) were detected. In these regions, three genes (GH_D03G0451, GH_D03G0649, and GH_D03G1180) have non-synonymous mutations in their exons and one gene (GH_D03G0450) has SNP variations in the upstream sequence between CCRI50 and Guoxinmian 11. These four genes also showed dominant expression in the floral organs. The expression levels of GH_D03G0451, GH_D03G0649 and GH_D03G1180 were significantly higher in CCRI50 than in Guoxinmian 11 during the bud differentiation stages, while GH_D03G0450 showed the opposite trend. Further functional verification of GH_D03G0451 indicated that the GH_D03G0451-silenced plants showed a delay in the flowering time. The results suggest that these are the candidate genes for cotton early maturity, and they may be used for breeding early-maturity cotton varieties.

Abstract Background Cotton, being extensively cultivated, holds immense economic significance as one of the most prominent crops globally. The SET (Su(var), E, and Trithorax) domain-containing protein is of significant importance in plant development, growth, and response to abiotic stress by modifying the lysine methylation status of histone. However, the comprehensive identification of SET domain genes (SDG) have not been conducted in upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.). Results A total of 229 SDGs were identified in four Gossypium species, including G. arboretum, G. raimondii, G. hirsutum, and G. barbadense. These genes could distinctly be divided into eight groups. The analysis of gene structure and protein motif revealed a high degree of conservation among the SDGs within the same group. Collinearity analysis suggested that the SDGs of Gossypium species and most of the other selected plants were mainly expanded by dispersed duplication events and whole genome duplication (WGD) events. The allopolyploidization event also has a significant impact on the expansion of SDGs in tetraploid Gossypium species. Furthermore, the characteristics of these genes have been relatively conserved during the evolution. Cis-element analysis revealed that GhSDGs play a role in resistance to abiotic stresses and growth development. Furthermore, the qRT-PCR results have indicated the ability of GhSDGs to respond to salt stress. Co-expression analysis revealed that GhSDG51 might co-express with genes associated with salt stress. In addition, the silencing of GhSDG51 in cotton by the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) method suggested a potential positive regulatory role of GhSDG51 in salt stress. Conclusions The results of this study comprehensively analyze the SDGs in cotton and provide a basis for understanding the biological role of SDGs in the stress resistance in upland cotton.

Abstract Background Phloem protein 2 (PP2) proteins play a vital role in the Phloem-based defense (PBD) and participate in many abiotic and biotic stress. However, research on PP2 proteins in cotton is still lacking. Results A total of 25, 23, 43, and 47 PP2 genes were comprehensively identified and characterized in G.arboretum, G.raimondii, G.barbadense, and G.hirsutum. The whole genome duplication (WGD) and allopolyploidization events play essential roles in the expansion of PP2 genes. The promoter regions of GhPP2 genes contain many cis-acting elements related to abiotic stress and the weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) analysis displayed that GhPP2s could be related to salt stress. The qRT-PCR assays further confirmed that GhPP2-33 could be dramatically upregulated during the salt treatment. And the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) experiment proved that the silencing of GhPP2-33 could decrease salt tolerance. Conclusions The results in this study not only offer new perspectives for understanding the evolution of PP2 genes in cotton but also further explore their function under salt stress.

The membrane attack complex/perforin (MACPF) domain-containing proteins are involved in the various developmental processes and in responding to diverse abiotic stress. The function and regulatory network of the MACPF genes are rarely reported in Gossypium spp. We study the detailed identification and partial functional verification of the members of the MACPF family. Totally, 100 putative MACPF proteins containing complete MACPF domain were identified from the four cotton species. They were classified into three phylogenetic groups and underwent multifold pressure indicating that selection produced new functional differentiation. Cotton MACPF gene family members expanded mainly through the whole-genome duplication (WGD)/segmental followed by the dispersed. Expression and cis-acting elements analysis revealed that MACPFs play a role in resistance to abiotic stresses, and some selected GhMACPFs were able to respond to the PEG and cold stresses. Co-expression analysis showed that GhMACPFs might interact with valine-glutamine (VQ), WRKY, and Apetala 2 (AP2)/ethylene responsive factor (ERF) domain-containing genes under cold stress. In addition, silencing endogenous GhMACPF26 in cotton by the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) method indicated that GhMACPF26 negatively regulates cold tolerance. Our data provided a comprehensive phylogenetic evolutionary view of Gossypium MACPFs. The MACPFs may work together with multiple transcriptional factors and play roles in acclimation to abiotic stress, especially cold stress in cotton.

Soil salinization conditions seriously restrict cotton yield and quality. Related studies have shown that the DUF4228 proteins are pivotal in plant resistance to abiotic stress. However, there has been no systematic identification and analysis of the DUF4228 gene family in cotton and their role in abiotic stress. In this study, a total of 308 DUF4228 genes were identified in four Gossypium species, which were divided into five subfamilies. Gene structure and protein motifs analysis showed that the GhDUF4228 proteins were conserved in each subfamily. In addition, whole genome duplication (WGD) events and allopolyploidization might play an essential role in the expansion of the DUF4228 genes. Besides, many stress-responsive (MYB, MYC) and hormone-responsive (ABA, MeJA) related cis-elements were detected in the promoters of the DUF4228 genes. The qRT-PCR results showed that GhDUF4228 genes might be involved in the response to abiotic stress. VIGS assays and the measurement of relative water content (RWC), Proline content, POD activity, and malondialdehyde (MDA) content indicated that GhDUF4228-67 might be a positive regulator of cotton response to salt stress. The results in this study systematically characterized the DUF4228s in Gossypium species and will provide helpful information to further research the role of DUF4228s in salt tolerance.

Abiotic stress, such as drought and salinity stress, seriously inhibit the growth and development of plants. Therefore, it is vital to understand the drought and salinity resistance mechanisms to enable cotton to provide more production under drought and salt conditions. In this study, we identified 8806 and 9108 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) through a comprehensive analysis of transcriptomic data related to the PEG-induced osmotic and salt stress in cotton. By performing weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), we identified four co-expression modules in PEG treatment and five co-expression modules in salinity stress, which included 346 and 324 predicted transcription factors (TFs) in these modules, respectively. Correspondingly, whole genome duplication (WGD) events mainly contribute to the expansion of those TFs. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and gene ontology (GO) analyses revealed those different modules were associated with stress resistance, including regulating macromolecule metabolic process, peptidase activity, transporter activity, lipid metabolic process, and responses to stimulus. Quantitative RT-PCR analysis was used to confirm the expression levels of 15 hub TFs in PEG6000 and salinity treatments. We found that the hub gene GhWRKY46 could alter salt and PEG-induced drought resistance in cotton through the virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) method. Our results provide a preliminary framework for further investigation of the cotton response to salt and drought stress, which is significant to breeding salt- and drought-tolerant cotton varieties.

As one of the most important factors in alternative splicing (AS) events, serine/arginine-rich (SR) proteins not only participate in the growth and development of plants but also play pivotal roles in abiotic stresses. However, the research about SR proteins in cotton is still lacking. In this study, we performed an extensive comparative analysis of SR proteins and determined their phylogeny in the plant lineage. A total of 169 SR family members were identified from four Gossypium species, and these genes could be divided into eight distinct subfamilies. The domain, motif distribution and gene structure of cotton SR proteins are conserved within each subfamily. The expansion of SR genes is mainly contributed by WGD and allopolyploidization events in cotton. The selection pressure analysis showed that all the paralogous gene pairs were under purifying selection pressure. Many cis-elements responding to abiotic stress and phytohormones were identified in the upstream sequences of the GhSR genes. Expression profiling suggested that some GhSR genes may involve in the pathways of plant resistance to abiotic stresses. The WGCNA analysis showed that GhSCL-8 co-expressed with many abiotic responding related genes in a salt-responding network. The Y2H assays showed that GhSCL-8 could interact with GhSRs in other subfamilies. The subcellular location analysis showed that GhSCL-8 is expressed in the nucleus. The further VIGS assays showed that the silencing of GhSCL-8 could decrease salt tolerance in cotton. These results expand our knowledge of the evolution of the SR gene family in plants, and they will also contribute to the elucidation of the biological functions of SR genes in the future.

Abstract We ask when it is possible to construct arbitrary unitary multiplets of the superconformal algebra with eight Poincaré supercharges that are compatible with locality from (continuous deformations of) representations in free field theories. We answer this question in two, three, and five dimensions. In four dimensions, we resort to an intricate but self-consistent web of conjectures. If correct, these conjectures imply various new non-perturbative constraints on short multiplets in any local unitary 4d N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 superconformal field theory and on an unusual set of related vertex algebras. Throughout, we connect our results with properties of deformations in the space of theories.

Abstract We consider a 1 2 $$ \frac{1}{2} $$ -BPS solution for a D3 brane probe in AdS5 × S 5 that has world-volume geometry of AdS3 × S 1. It intersects the boundary over a surface that represents a dimension 2 defect in the boundary N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 SYM theory. The effective action of the probe brane is proportional to the logarithmically divergent volume of AdS3 and may thus be interpreted as computing conformal anomaly of supersymmetric S 2 defect. The classical action scales as N. We compute the 1-loop correction to it due to quantum fluctuations of the D3 brane world-volume fields and compare the result to an earlier suggested expression for the defect anomaly. We also perform a similar analysis of a 1 2 $$ \frac{1}{2} $$ -BPS M5 brane probe solution in AdS7 × S 4 with the world-volume geometry of AdS5 × S 1 that represents a dimension 4 defect in the boundary (2,0) 6d theory. Here the classical M5 brane action computes the leading order N 2 term in a-anomaly of the supersymmetric S 4 defect. We perform a detailed computation of the 1-loop correction to the M5 brane effective action and thus provide a prediction for the subleading constant in the S 4 defect a-anomaly coefficient.

Abstract We consider a family of Argyres-Douglas theories, which are 4D N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 strongly coupled superconformal field theories (SCFTs) but share many features with 4D N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 super-Yang-Mills theories. In particular, the two central charges of these theories are the same, namely a = c. We derive a simple and illuminating formula for the Schur index of these theories, which factorizes into the product of a Casimir term and a term referred to as the Schur partition function. While the former is controlled by the anomaly, the latter is identified with the vacuum character of the corresponding chiral algebra and is expected to satisfy the modular linear differential equation. Our simple expression for the Schur partition function, which can be regarded as the generalization of MacMahon’s generalized sum-of-divisor function, allows one to numerically compute the series expansions efficiently, and furthermore find the corresponding modular linear differential equation. In a special case where the chiral algebra is known, we are able to derive the corresponding modular linear differential equation using Zhu’s recursion relation. We further study the solutions to the modular linear differential equations and discuss their modular transformations. As an application, we study the high temperature limit or the Cardy-like limit of the Schur index using its simple expression and modular properties, thus shedding light on the 1/4-BPS microstates of genuine N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 SCFTs with a = c and their dual quantum gravity via the AdS/CFT correspondence.

Abstract Background Patients with severe thalassemia may experience adverse effects from transfusion such as fever, rash, and iron overload after long-term transfusion therapy. Severe headaches as a side effect of blood transfusion in patients with thalassemia are not commonly observed, especially when combined with superficial siderosis of the central nervous system, which is easily misdiagnosed and requires excessive examination and treatment. Case Presentation A 31-year-old woman was admitted with severe headache and vomiting over 3 days following blood transfusion. She was diagnosed with intermediate α-thalassemia at 2 years of age and had a history of irregular blood transfusions. Physical examination revealed horizontal nystagmus with no other abnormal neurological signs. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, MR venography, MR arteriography, and cerebrospinal fluid analysis were normal. However, susceptibility-weighted imaging showed abnormal signals in the bilateral and fourth ventricles. Initial antibiotics, antivirals, decompression of intracranial pressure, iron chelation, and symptomatic treatments were administered; subsequently, small intermittent blood transfusions were cautiously administered for severe anemia. The patient’s headache was gradually relieved, and she was discharged on day 9. At the 5-month follow-up, the patient’s headache recurred following another transfusion. Conclusions Severe post-transfusion headache in patients with thalassemia has not been fully recognized and is easily misdiagnosed, leading to excessive examination and treatment. Understanding the clinical features of transfusion-related headaches can help identify this complication, but the exact pathophysiological mechanism requires further research.

Predictive maintenance of wind turbines plays a crucial part in directing power grid dispatching and maintaining power grid security. In this paper, a way of ultra-short term wind power prediction relied on digital twin technology is proposed, which realizes actual time and accurate wind power prediction by building a digital model. Firstly, BP neural network (back propagation neutral network) was used to predict the wind power, and the initial predicted value of wind power was obtained. Then the meteorological data was substituted into the historical meteorological database to find similar meteorological conditions data, and the BP neural network predicted value was weighted to get the final digital twin predicted value. The simulation results indicate that this method can effectively enhance prediction accuracy of wind power.

Electrocatalytic upgrading of biomass-derived platform molecules has emerged as a sustainable and environmentally benign route to produce high-value chemicals. The main challenge lies in developing efficient catalysts for the selective activation of designated chemical bonds in the presence of various reducible groups. This work demonstrated a high-efficiency electrochemical conversion of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) to 2,5-bis(hydroxymethyl)furan (BHMF), an important industrial synthetic reagent. A highly porous Cu-based catalyst was developed that achieved nearly 100% BHMF selectivity and long-term stability. Through comprehensive operando and ex-situ structural characterizations, an electrochemically generated catalyst with abundant Cu/Cu2O interfaces was identified as a catalytically active phase for HMF conversion. Deuterated BHMF, with the potential to produce deuterated drugs, was also synthesized using D2O as the deuterium source. Density functional theory calculations show that the Cu/Cu2O interface structure exhibits relatively low energy barriers for the hydrogenation of HMF to BHMF. This work provides insights into the origin of electrocatalytic hydrogenation activity and highlights the promising potential of the electrocatalytic synthesis of high-value chemicals.

Abstract We study ultraviolet (UV) incarnations of deep infrared (IR) physics on the Coulomb branch of the simplest interacting 4D N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 superconformal field theory: the minimal Argyres-Douglas (MAD) theory. One of the most basic properties of the Coulomb branch is an emergent infinite-dimensional higher-spin symmetry. While the MAD theory is interacting and therefore does not have such a symmetry, we find UV operators that encode the emergent complex higher-spin symmetry on the Coulomb branch. Moreover, we show that cousins of these UV operators give rise to cousins of the IR higher-spin multiplets. In terms of superconformal representation theory, we are led to a conjecture on the exact spectrum of C ¯ R , r j j ¯ $$ {\overline{\mathcal{C}}}_{R,r\left(j,\overline{j}\right)} $$ multiplets in the MAD theory for all R, r, j, and j ¯ $$ \overline{j} $$ satisfying R + j ¯ − j + 1 = 0 $$ R+\overline{j}-j+1=0 $$ , thereby making progress towards a full characterization of the protected spectrum. Along the way, we give a geometrical interpretation of these operators and include them in an extension of the Coulomb branch / N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 chiral operator correspondence.

Defect-engineered carbon materials have been emerged as promising electrocatalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in metal-air batteries. Developing a facile strategy for the preparation of highly active nanocarbon electrocatalysts remains challenging. Herein, a low-cost and simple route is developed to synthesize defective graphene by pyrolyzing the mixture of glucose and carbon nitride. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the graphene formation is ascribed to two-dimensional layered feature of carbon nitride, and high compatibility of carbon nitride/glucose systems. Structural measurements suggest that the graphene possesses rich edge and topological defects. The graphene catalyst exhibits higher power density than commercial Pt/C catalyst in a primary Zn-air battery. Combining experimental results and theoretical thermodynamic analysis, it is identified that graphitic nitrogen-modified topological defects at carbon framework edges are responsible for the decent ORR performance. The strategy presented in this work can be can be scaled up readily to fabricate defective carbon materials.

Abstract Celestial holography provides a promising avenue to studying bulk scattering in flat spacetime from the perspective of boundary celestial conformal field theory (CCFT). A key ingredient in connecting the two sides is the celestial amplitude, which is given by the Mellin transform of momentum space scattering amplitude in energy. As such, celestial amplitudes can be identified with the correlation functions in celestial conformal field theory. In this paper, we introduce the further notion of celestial Mellin amplitude, which is given by the Mellin transform of celestial amplitude in coordinate. For technical reasons, we focus on the celestial Mellin amplitudes for scalar fields in three dimensional flat spacetime dual to 1D CCFT, and discuss the celestial Mellin block expansion. In particular, the poles of the celestial Mellin amplitude encode the scaling dimensions of the possible exchanged operators, while the residues there are related to the OPE coefficient squares in a linear and explicit way. We also compare the celestial Mellin amplitudes with the coefficient functions which can be obtained using inversion formulae. Finally, we make some comments about the possible generalizations of celestial Mellin amplitudes to higher dimensions.

Understanding the role of active sites in electrooxidation reactions is important yet challenging. Here, the authors use operando spectroscopies to monitor the effect of methanol concentration on Ni3B/Ni heterostructures during formate production.

Abstract Despite the power of supersymmetry, finding exact closed-form expressions for the protected operator spectra of interacting superconformal field theories (SCFTs) is difficult. In this paper, we take a step towards a solution for the “simplest” interacting 4D N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 SCFT: the minimal Argyres-Douglas (MAD) theory. We present two results that go beyond the well-understood Coulomb branch and Schur sectors. First, we find the exact closed-form spectrum of multiplets containing operators that are chiral with respect to any N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 ⊂ N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 superconformal subalgebra. We argue that this “full” chiral sector (FCS) is as simple as allowed by unitarity for a theory with a Coulomb branch and that, up to a rescaling of U(1) r quantum numbers and the vanishing of a finite number of states, the MAD FCS is isospectral to the FCS of the free N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 Abelian gauge theory. In the language of superconformal representation theory, this leaves only the spectrum of the poorly understood C ¯ R , r j j ¯ $$ {\overline{\mathcal{C}}}_{R,{r}_{\left(j,\overline{j}\right)}} $$ multiplets to be determined. Our second result sheds light on these observables: we find an exact closed-form answer for the number of C ¯ 0 , r j 0 $$ {\overline{\mathcal{C}}}_{0,{r}_{\left(j,0\right)}} $$ multiplets, for any r and j, in the MAD theory. We argue that this sub-sector is also as simple as allowed by unitarity for a theory with a Coulomb branch and that there is a natural map to the corresponding sector of the free N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 Abelian gauge theory. These results motivate a conjecture on the full local operator algebra of the MAD theory.

Background: Exosomes are essential for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) progression and have garnered significant interest as novel targets for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic approaches. This study aims to identify potential exosome-related biomarkers for the development of useful strategies for HCC diagnosis and therapy. Methods: Three datasets obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were utilized to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in HCC. Through Gene Ontology (GO) analysis and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network, overall survival (OS) analysis, Cox analyses, and diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced HCC mouse model detection, exosome-related hub gene was screened out, followed by a prognostic value assessment and immune-correlates analysis based on the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) dataset. The hub gene-containing exosomes derived from Hepa1-6 cells were isolated and characterized using differential ultracentrifugation, transmission electron microscopy scanning, and Western blot. Ultrasound-guided intrahepatic injection, cell co-culture, CCK-8, and flow cytometry were performed to investigate the effects of the hub gene on macrophage infiltration and polarization in HCC. Results: A total of 83 DEGs enriched in the extracellular exosome term, among which, FTCD, HRA, and C8B showed the strongest association with the progression of HCC. FTCD was independently associated with a protective effect in HCC and selected as the hub gene. The presence of FTCD in exosomes was confirmed. FTCD-stimulated macrophages were polarized towards the M1 type and suppressed HCC cells proliferation. Conclusions: FTCD is a potential exosome-related biomarker for HCC diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. The crosstalk between FTCD-containing exosomes and macrophages in HCC progression deserves further investigation.

Abstract It was recently shown that the N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 string topological amplitudes in the heterotic weak coupling limit generate a six-dimensional Melvin space, providing a description of the Ω-background in string theory, where string propagation can be exactly studied. In this work, we generalise the analysis to the refined case of the Ω-background with two independent deformation parameters. The Melvin space is now ten-dimensional and is extended by an action on the internal K3 compactification manifold of the heterotic superstring, corresponding to an SU(2) R rotation in the field theory description. We identify the class of heterotic topological amplitudes realising this background as the scattering of two anti-self-dual gravitons and arbitrary numbers of anti-self-dual graviphotons, self-dual vector fields of the dilaton multiplet, together with self-dual magnetic fluxes along the K3. In the field theory limit, our result correctly reproduces the perturbative part of the Nekrasov free energy in the case where both equivariant parameters are turned on.

Abstract Celestial operator product expansions (OPEs) arise from the collinear limit of scattering amplitudes and play a vital role in celestial holography. In this paper, we derive the celestial OPEs of massless fields in string theory from the worldsheet. By studying the worldsheet OPEs of vertex operators in worldsheet CFT and further examining their behaviors in the collinear limit, we find that new vertex operators for the massless fields in string theory are generated and become dominant in the collinear limit. Mellin transforming to the conformal basis yields exactly the celestial OPEs in celestial CFT. We also derive the celestial OPEs from the collinear factorization of string amplitudes and the results derived in these two different methods are in perfect agreement with each other. Our final formulae of celestial OPEs are applicable to general dimensions, corresponding to Einstein-Yang-Mills theory supplemented by some possible higher derivative interactions. Specializing to 4D, we reproduce all the celestial OPEs for gluon and graviton in the literature. We consider various string theories, including the open and closed bosonic string, as well as the closed superstring theory with N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 and N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 worldsheet supersymmetry. In the case of N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 string, we also derive all the SL 2 ℝ ¯ $$ \overline{\mathrm{SL}\left(2,\mathbb{R}\right)} $$ descendant contributions in the celestial OPE; the soft sector of such OPE just yields the w 1+∞ algebra after rewriting in terms of chiral modes. Our stringy derivation of celestial OPEs thus initiates the first step towards the microscopic realization of celestial CFT dual to string theory in flat spacetime.

Abstract Celestial holography promisingly reformulates the scattering amplitude holographically in terms of celestial conformal field theory living at null infinity. Recently, an infinite-dimensional symmetry algebra was discovered in Einstein-Yang-Mills theory. The starting point in the derivation is the celestial OPE of two soft currents, and the key ingredient is the summation of SL 2 ℝ ¯ $$ \overline{\mathrm{SL}\left(2,\mathbb{R}\right)} $$ descendants in OPE. In this paper, we consider the supersymmetric Einstein-Yang-Mills theory and obtain the supersymmetric extension of the holographic symmetry algebra. Furthermore, we derive infinitely many Ward identities associated with the infinite soft currents which generate the holographic symmetry algebra. This is realized by considering the OPE between a soft symmetry current and a hard operator, and then summing over its SL 2 ℝ ¯ $$ \overline{\mathrm{SL}\left(2,\mathbb{R}\right)} $$ descendants. These Ward identities reproduce the known Ward identities corresponding to the leading, sub-leading, and sub-sub-leading soft graviton theorems as well as the leading and sub-leading soft gluon theorems. By performing shadow transformations, we also obtain infinitely many shadow Ward identities, including the stress tensor Ward identities for sub-leading soft graviton. Finally, we use our procedure to discuss the corrections to Ward identities in effective field theory (EFT), and reproduce the corrections to soft theorems at sub-sub-leading order for graviton and sub-leading order for photon. For this aim, we derive general formulae for the celestial OPE and its corresponding Ward identities arising from a cubic interaction of three spinning massless particles. Our formalism thus provides a unified framework for understanding the Ward identities in celestial conformal field theory, or equivalently the soft theorems in scattering amplitude.

Groove is widely used in the wicks of heat pipes. In this paper, a laser texture deposition (LTD) process was proposed to texture deposit SiO2 in rectangular aluminum groove. Both the SEM and XPS analysis revealed that a fluffy SiO2 layer was deposited on the surface of alumina fluff, which increased the fluff density. Statistically, the density of fluff on the surface of LTD was 1.12 times higher than that on the laser texture (LT) surface, leading to an increase in porosity and decrease in effective capillary radius. This significantly improved the capillary performance of the LTD groove. The results showed that, compared to the Raw and LTD grooves, the increase in height of the LTD groove was enhanced by 2.42 and 1.07 times, respectively, in 5 s, while the capillary performance factor (M) was increased by 2.83 and 1.04 times, respectively, in 1 s. This study introduces a novel process for enhancing the capillary performance of aluminum groove.

Abstract We systematically study 4D N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 superconformal field theories (SCFTs) that can be constructed via type IIB string theory on isolated hypersurface singularities (IHSs) embedded in ℂ4. We show that if a theory in this class has no N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2-preserving exactly marginal deformation (i.e., the theory is isolated as an N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 SCFT), then it has no 1-form symmetry. This situation is somewhat reminiscent of 1-form symmetry and decomposition in 2D quantum field theory. Moreover, our result suggests that, for theories arising from IHSs, 1-form symmetries originate from gauge groups (with vanishing beta functions). One corollary of our discussion is that there is no 1-form symmetry in IHS theories that have all Coulomb branch chiral ring generators of scaling dimension less than two. In terms of the a and c central charges, this condition implies that IHS theories satisfying a < 1 24 15 r + 2 f $$ a

Abstract Celestial amplitude is a new reformulation of momentum space scattering amplitudes and offers a promising way for flat holography. In this paper, we study the celestial amplitudes in N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 Super-Yang-Mills (SYM) theory aiming at understanding the role of superconformal symmetry in celestial holography. We first construct the superconformal generators acting on the celestial superfield which assembles all the on-shell fields in the multiplet together in terms of celestial variables and Grassmann parameters. These generators satisfy the superconformal algebra of N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 SYM theory. We also compute the three-point and four-point celestial super-amplitudes explicitly. They can be identified as the conformal correlation functions of the celestial superfields living at the celestial sphere. We further study the soft and collinear limits which give rise to the super-Ward identity and super-OPE on the celestial sphere, respectively. Our results initiate a new perspective of understanding the well-studied N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 4 SYM amplitudes via 2D celestial conformal field theory.

Alismatis Rhizoma (AR) is widely used in Chinese medicine, and its major bioactive components, triterpenes, reportedly possess various pharmacological activities. Therefore, it is very important to study the metabolism of triterpenes in vivo. However, the metabolism of AR triterpene extract has not been comprehensively elucidated due to its complex chemical components and metabolic pathways. In this study, an ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry method, which was based on the characteristic ions from an established database of known triterpenes, was used to analyze the major metabolites in rats following the oral administration of Alismatis Rhizoma extracts (ARE). As a result, a total of 233 constituents, with 85 prototype compounds and 148 metabolites, were identified for the first time. Hydrogenation, oxidation, sulfate and glucuronidation conjugation were the major metabolic pathways for triterpenes in AR. In addition, the mutual in vivo transformation of known ARE triterpenes was discovered and confirmed for the first time. Those results provide comprehensive insights into the metabolism of AR in vivo, which will be useful for future studies on its pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. Moreover, this established strategy may be useful in metabolic studies of similar compounds.

Radiation-induced lung injury (RILI), a potentially fatal and dose-limiting complication of radiotherapy for thoracic tumors, is divided into early reversible pneumonitis and irreversible advanced-stage fibrosis. Early detection and intervention contribute to improving clinical outcomes of patients. However, there is still a lack of reliable biomarkers for early prediction and clinical diagnosis of RILI. Given the central role of inflammation in the initiation and progression of RILI, we explored specific inflammation-related biomarkers during the development of RILI in this study. Two expression profiles from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database were downloaded, in which 75 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened out. Combining Gene Oncology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis and protein–protein interaction (PPI) network analysis, we identified four inflammation-related hub genes in the progression of RILI—MMP9, IL-1β, CCR1 and S100A9. The expression levels of the hub genes were verified in RILI mouse models, with S100A9 showing the highest level of overexpression. The level of S100A9 in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and the expression of S100A9 in lung tissues were positively correlated with the degree of inflammation in RILI. The results above indicate that S100A9 is a potential biomarker for the early prediction and diagnosis of the development of RILI.

Abstract We propose a holographic entanglement entropy prescription for general states and regions in two models of holography beyond AdS/CFT known as flat3/BMSFT and (W)AdS3/WCFT. Flat3/BMSFT is a candidate of holography for asymptotically flat three- dimensional spacetimes, while (W)AdS3/WCFT is relevant in the study of black holes in the real world. In particular, the boundary theories are examples of quantum field theories that feature an infinite dimensional symmetry group but break Lorentz invariance. Our holographic entanglement entropy proposal is given by the area of a swing surface that consists of ropes, which are null geodesics emanating from the entangling surface at the boundary, and a bench, which is a spacelike geodesic connecting the ropes. The proposal is supported by an extension of the Lewkowycz-Maldacena argument, reproduces previous results based on the Rindler method, and satisfies the first law of entanglement entropy.

To solve the instability problem of wind turbine power output, the wind power was predicted, and a wind power prediction algorithm optimized by the backpropagation neural network based on the CSO (cat swarm optimization) algorithm was studied, and a wind farm energy storage system model was built on this basis. By collecting the wind power plant’s historical wind speed, power, and other parameters, the short-term wind farm output power was predicted, and the operation of the wind farm energy storage system was controlled to suppress the output power of the wind farm when the wind farm was connected to the grid so as to improve the stability of the output power of the wind farm. At the same time, typical wind farm data were taken as an example to verify the feasibility of the proposed method.

Abstract We study several aspects of holographic entanglement in two models known as flat3/BMSFT and (W)AdS3/WCFT. These are two examples of holography beyond AdS/CFT where the boundary field theories are not Lorentz invariant but still feature an infinite set of local symmetries. In the first example, BMS-invariant field theories (BMSFTs) are conjectured to provide a holographic description of quantum gravity in asymptotically flat three-dimensional spacetimes; while in the second example, warped conformal field theories (WCFTs) are proposed to describe quantum gravity in warped AdS3 or AdS3 backgrounds with Dirichlet-Neumann boundary conditions. In particular, we derive the modular Hamiltonian for single intervals in both BMSFTs and WCFTs and find the holographic duals in the bulk using the covariant formulation of gravitational charges. We also extend the first law of entanglement entropy to these models of non-AdS holography and discuss the bound on “modular chaos” introduced recently in the context of the AdS/CFT correspondence.

Abstract A necessary condition for partial breaking of N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 global supersymmetry is the presence of nonlinear deformations of the field transformations which cannot be generated by background values of auxiliary fields. This work studies the simplest of these deformations which already occurs in N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 global supersymmetry, and its coupling to supergravity. It can be viewed as an imaginary constant shift of the D-auxiliary real field of an abelian gauge multiplet. We show how this deformation describes the magnetic dual of a Fayet-Iliopoulos term, a result that remains valid in supergravity, using its new-minimal formulation. Local supersymmetry and the deformation induce a positive cosmological constant. Moreover, the deformed U(1) Maxwell theory coupled to supergravity describes upon elimination of the auxiliary fields the gauging of R-symmetry, realised by the Freedman model of 1976. To this end, we construct the chiral spinor multiplet in superconformal tensor calculus by working out explicitly its transformation rules and use it for an alternative description of the new-minimal supergravity coupled to a U(1) multiplet. We also discuss the deformed Maxwell theory in curved superspace.

Abstract Boundary correlators of elementary fields in some 2d conformal field theories defined on AdS2 have a particularly simple structure. For example, the correlators of the Liouville scalar happen to be the same as the correlators of the chiral component of the stress tensor on a plane restricted to the real line. Here we show that an analogous relation is true also in the WZW model: boundary correlators of the WZW scalars have the same structure as the correlators of chiral Kac-Moody currents. This is checked at the level of the tree and one-loop Witten diagrams in AdS2. We also compute some tree-level correlators in a generic σ-model defined on AdS2 and show that they simplify only in the WZW case where an extra Kac-Moody symmetry appears. In particular, the terms in 4- point correlators having logarithmic dependence on 1d cross-ratio cancel only at the WZW point. One motivation behind this work is to learn how to compute AdS2 loop corrections in 2d models with derivative interactions related to the study of correlators of operators on Wilson loops in string theory in AdS.

Abstract We study the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) action with one linear and one nonlinear supersymmetry in the presence of a constant Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) D-term added explicitly or through a deformation of supersymmetry transformations. The linear supersymmetry appears to be spontaneously broken since the D auxiliary field gets a non- vanishing vacuum expectation value and an extra term proportional to the FI parameter involving fermions emerges in the non-linear formulation of the action written recently. However in this note, we show that on-shell this action is equivalent to a standard supersymmetric DBI action without FI term but with redefined tension, at least up to order of mass-dimension 12 effective interactions.

Abstract We explore the J T ¯ $$ \overline{T} $$ and T J ¯ $$ \overline{J} $$ deformations of two-dimensional field theories possessing N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = (0, 1), (1, 1) and (0, 2) supersymmetry. Based on the stress-tensor and flavor current multiplets, we construct various bilinear supersymmetric primary operators that induce the J T ¯ $$ \overline{T} $$ /T J ¯ $$ \overline{J} $$ deformation in a manifestly supersymmetric way. Moreover, their supersymmetric descendants are shown to agree with the conventional J T ¯ $$ \overline{T} $$ /T J ¯ $$ \overline{J} $$ operator on-shell. We also present some examples of J T ¯ $$ \overline{T} $$ /T J ¯ $$ \overline{J} $$ flows arising from the supersymmetric deformation of free theories. Finally, we observe that all the deformation operators fit into a general pattern which generalizes the Smirnov-Zamolodchikov type composite operators.

Abstract The T T ¯ $$ T\overline{T} $$ deformation of a supersymmetric two-dimensional theory preserves the original supersymmetry. Moreover, in several interesting cases the deformed theory possesses additional non-linearly realized supersymmetries. We show this for certain N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = (2, 2) models in two dimensions, where we observe an intriguing similarity with known N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 models in four dimensions. This suggests that higher-dimensional models with non-linearly realized supersymmetries might also be obtained from T T ¯ $$ T\overline{T} $$ -like flow equations. We show that in four dimensions this is indeed the case for N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 Born-Infeld theory, as well as for the Goldstino action for spontaneously broken N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 supersymmetry.

Radio frequency fingerprint identification is a non-password authentication method based on the physical layer hardware of the communication device. Deep learning methods provide new ideas and techniques for radio frequency fingerprint identification. As a bridge between electromagnetic signal recognition and deep learning, the electromagnetic signal recognition method based on statistical constellation still needs to go through data preprocessing and feature engineering, which is contrary to the end-to-end learning method emphasized by deep learning. Moreover, in the process of converting electromagnetic signal waveform data into images, there is inevitably information loss. Establishing a universal radio frequency fingerprint recognition model suitable for wireless communication scenarios is not only conducive to optimizing the communication system, but also can reduce the cost and time of model selection. Therefore, how to design a deep learning radio frequency fingerprint recognition model suitable for wireless communication is an important problem for researchers. Aiming at the problem that the existing radio frequency fingerprint extraction and identification methods have low recognition rate of communication radiation source individuals, a radio frequency fingerprint identification method based on deep complex residual network is proposed. Through the deep complex residual network, the radio frequency fingerprint feature extraction of the communication radiation source individual is integrated with the recognition process, and an end-to-end deep learning model suitable for wireless communication is established, which greatly improves the identification accuracy of the communication radiation source individuals compared with typical constellation based methods.

Abstract In a series of recent papers, a special kind of AdS2/CFT1 duality was observed: the boundary correlators of elementary fields that appear in the Lagrangian of a 2d conformal theory in rigid AdS2 background are the same as the correlators of the corresponding primary operators in the chiral half of that 2d CFT in flat space restricted to the real line. The examples considered were: (i) the Liouville theory where the operator dual to the Liouville scalar in AdS2 is the stress tensor; (ii) the abelian Toda theory where the operators dual to the Toda scalars are the W $$ \mathcal{W} $$ -algebra generators; (iii) the non-abelian Toda theory where the Liouville field is dual to the stress tensor while the extra gauged WZW theory scalars are dual to non-abelian parafermionic operators. By direct Witten diagram com- putations in AdS2 one can check that the structure of the boundary correlators is indeed consistent with the Virasoro (or higher) symmetry. Here we consider a supersymmetric generalization: the N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 superconformal Liouville theory in AdS2. We start with the super Liouville theory coupled to 2d supergravity and show that a consistent restriction to rigid AdS2 background requires a non-zero value of the supergravity auxiliary field and thus a modification of the Liouville potential from its familiar flat-space form. We show that the Liouville scalar and its fermionic partner are dual to the chiral half of the stress tensor and the supercurrent of the super Liouville theory on the plane. We perform tests supporting the duality by explicitly computing AdS2 Witten diagrams with bosonic and fermionic loops.

Abstract We explore the emergence of gravitation from entanglement in holographic CFTs with gravitational anomalies. More specifically, the holographic correspondence between topologically massive gravity (TMG) with gravitational Chern-Simons term in the 3D bulk and its dual CFT with unbalanced left and right moving central charges on the 2D boundary, is studied from the quantum entanglement perspective. Using the first law of entanglement, we derive the holographic dictionary of the energy-momentum tensor in TMG, including the chiral case with logarithmic mode. Furthermore, we show that the linearized equation of motion of TMG can also be obtained from entanglement using the Wald-Tachikawa covariant phase space formalism. Finally, we identify a quasi-local gravitational energy in the entanglement wedge as the holographic dual of relative entropy in gravitationally anomalous CFTs. The positivity and monotonicity of relative entropy imply that such a gravitational energy should be positive definite and become larger when increasing the size of the entanglement wedge. These constraints from quantum information may be potentially used to discuss the UV inconsistent issues of TMG.

CYP-mediated fast metabolism may lead to poor bioavailability, fast drug clearance and significant drug interaction. Thus, metabolic stability screening in human liver microsomes (HLM) followed by metabolic soft-spot identification (MSSID) is routinely conducted in drug discovery. Liver microsomal incubations of testing compounds with fixed single or multiple incubation time(s) and quantitative and qualitative analysis of metabolites using high-resolution mass spectrometry are routinely employed in MSSID assays. The major objective of this study was to develop and validate a simple, effective, and high-throughput assay for determining metabolic soft-spots of testing compounds in liver microsomes using a single variable incubation time and LC/UV/MS. Model compounds (verapamil, dextromethorphan, buspirone, mirtazapine, saquinavir, midazolam, amodiaquine) were incubated at 3 or 5 µM with HLM for a single variable incubation time between 1 and 60 min based on predetermined metabolic stability data. As a result, disappearances of the parents were around 20–40%, and only one or a few primary metabolites were generated as major metabolite(s) without notable formation of secondary metabolites. The unique metabolite profiles generated from the optimal incubation conditions enabled LC/UV to perform direct quantitative estimation for identifying major metabolites. Consequently, structural characterization by LC/MS focused on one or a few major primary metabolite(s) rather than many metabolites including secondary metabolites. Furthermore, generic data-dependent acquisition methods were utilized to enable Q-TOF and Qtrap to continuously record full MS and MS/MS spectral data of major metabolites for post-acquisition data-mining and interpretation. Results from analyzing metabolic soft-spots of the seven model compounds demonstrated that the novel MSSID assay can substantially simplify metabolic soft-spot identification and is well suited for high-throughput analysis in lead optimization.

Macrophages, a major subset of innate immune cells, are main infiltrating cells in the kidney in lupus nephritis. Macrophages with different phenotypes exert diverse or even opposite effects on the development of lupus nephritis. Substantial evidence has shown that macrophage M2 polarization is beneficial to individuals with chronic kidney disease. Further, it has been reported that PD-1 ligands (PD-Ls) contribute to M2 polarization of macrophages and their immunosuppressive effects. Total glucosides of paeony (TGP), originally extracted from Radix Paeoniae Alba, has been approved in China to treat some autoimmune diseases. Here, we investigated the potentially therapeutic effects of TGP on lupus nephritis in a pristane-induced murine model and explored the molecular mechanisms regulating macrophage phenotypes. We found that TGP treatment significantly improved renal function by decreasing the urinary protein and serum creatinine, reducing serum anti-ds-DNA level and ameliorating renal immunopathology. TGP increased the frequency of splenic and peritoneal F4/80+CD11b+CD206+ M2-like macrophages with no any significant effect on F4/80+CD11b+CD86+ M1-like macrophages. Immunofluorescence double-stainings of the renal tissue showed that TGP treatment increased the frequency of F4/80+Arg1+ subset while decreasing the percentage of F4/80+iNOS+ subset. Importantly, TGP treatment increased the percentage of both F4/80+CD11b+PD-L1+ and F4/80+CD11b+PD-L2+ subsets in spleen and peritoneal lavage fluid as well as the kidney. Furthermore, TGP augmented the expressions of CD206, PD-L2 and phosphorylated STAT6 in IL-4-treated Raw264.7 macrophages in vitro while its effects on PD-L2 were abolished by pretreatment of the cells with an inhibitor of STAT6, AS1517499. However, TGP treatment did not affect the expressions of STAT1 and PD-L1 in Raw264.7 macrophages treated with LPS/IFN-γ in vitro, indicating a possibly indirect effect of TGP on PD-L1 expression on macrophages in vivo. Thus, for the first time, we demonstrated that TGP may be a potent drug to treat lupus nephritis by inducing F4/80+CD11b+CD206+ and F4/80+CD11b+PD-L2+ macrophages through IL-4/STAT6/PD-L2 signaling pathway.

Abstract It was recently observed that boundary correlators of the elementary scalar field of the Liouville theory on AdS2 background are the same (up to a non-trivial proportionality coefficient) as the correlators of the chiral stress tensor of the Liouville CFT on the complex plane restricted to the real line. The same relation generalizes to the conformal abelian Toda theory: boundary correlators of Toda scalars on AdS2 are directly related to the correlation functions of the chiral W $$ \mathcal{W} $$ -symmetry generators in the Toda CFT and thus are essentially controlled by the underlying infinite-dimensional symmetry. These may be viewed as examples of AdS2/CFT1 duality where the CFT1 is the chiral half of a 2d CFT; we shall to this as AdS 2 / CFT 2 1 2 $$ {\mathrm{AdS}}_2/{\mathrm{CFT}}_2^{\raisebox{1ex}{$1$}\!\left/ \!\raisebox{-1ex}{$2$}\right.} $$ . In this paper we demonstrate that this duality applies also to the non-abelian Toda theory containing a Liouville scalar coupled to a 2d σ-model originating from the SL(2, ℝ)/U(1) gauged WZW model. Here the Liouville scalar is again dual to the chiral stress tensor T while the other two scalars are dual to the parafermionic operators V ± of the non-abelian Toda CFT. We explicitly check the duality at the next-to-leading order in the large central charge expansion by matching the chiral CFT correlators of (T, V +, V −) (computed using a free field representation) with the boundary correlators of the three Toda scalars given by the tree-level and one-loop Witten diagrams in AdS2.

Abstract We study the general deformation of N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 supersymmetry transformations of a vector multiplet that forms a (constant) triplet under the SU(2) R-symmetry corresponding to the magnetic dual of the triplet of the Fayet-Iliopoulos (FI) parameters. We show that in the presence of both triplets, the induced scalar potential of a vector multiplet with generic prepotential has always a minimum that realises partial breaking of N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 → N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 1 supersymmetry. We then consider the impact of the deformation in the Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) action where one supersymmetry is non-linearly realised, described by a nilpotent constraint on the deformed N $$ \mathcal{N} $$ = 2 chiral-chiral superfield. We show that the generic magnetic deformation induces an ordinary FI D-term along the linear supersymmetry via the theta-angle. Moreover, we argue that the resulting action differs on-shell from the standard one (DBI+FI) by fermionic contributions.

To evaluate the biodistribution of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) in cynomolgus macaques and receive dynamic quantitative relationship between plasma, blood, and lung tissue concentration using the population pharmacokinetic modeling method, seventeen cynomolgus macaques were divided into six groups according to different HCQ dosing regimens over 5 days. The monkeys were euthanized, and blood, plasma, urine, feces and ten tissues were collected. All the samples were prepared by protein precipitation and analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS detection. The population pharmacokinetics of HCQ in the plasma, red blood cells, and lung tissue was conducted and simulated via ADAPT program. Results demonstrated that the maximum concentration (Cmax) of HCQ was 292.33 ng/mL in blood and 36.90 ng/mL in plasma after single dose of 3 mg/kg. The value of area under curve (AUC0–∞) was determined as 5,978.94 and 363.31 h* ng/mL for the blood and plasma, respectively. The descending order of the tissue-to-plasma concentration ratio was liver > spleen > kidney > lung > heart > subcutaneous fat > brain. The tissue-to-plasma concentration ratio and the tissue-to-blood concentration ratio for lung were found to be time-dependent with 267.38 and 5.55 at 120 h postdose, respectively. A five-compartment model with first-order oral absorption and elimination best described the plasma, blood, and lung tissue pharmacokinetics. The estimated elimination rate constant (ke) for a typical monkey was 0.236 h−1. The volume of distribution in central (Vc/F) and other two peripheral compartments (Vb/F and Vl/F) were 114, 2.68, and 5.55 L, respectively. Model-based simulation with PK parameters from cynomolgus macaques showed that the ratio of the blood or plasma to lung tissue was a dynamic change course, which suggested that the rate of HCQ concentration decrease in the blood or plasma was faster than that in the lung tissue. HCQ was found to be accumulated in tissues, especially in the liver, kidney, lung, and spleen. Also, the tissue-to-plasma concentration ratio increased over time. The population pharmacokinetic model developed could allow for the assessment of pharmacokinetics–pharmacodynamics relationships, especially relevant tissue concentration-response for HCQ. Determining appropriate treatment regimens in animals allows translation of these to clinical studies.

Neurolisteriosis is a foodborne infection of the central nervous system that is easily misdiagnosed, especially in healthy adults with atypical symptoms. A 50-year-old man presented with a 3-day history of distortion of the oral commissure. Facial neuritis was diagnosed and treated with intravenous dexamethasone. His condition deteriorated rapidly, and he presented with a slow pharyngeal reflex, stiff neck, and signs of peripheral facial paralysis. Brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed multiple ring-enhanced foci in the brainstem. Routine and biochemical cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analyses showed increased white blood cells and microproteins. Blood culture and high-throughput genome sequencing revealed Listeria monocytogenes DNA in the CSF. Ampicillin, amikacin, and meropenem were administered, and the patient was transferred from the intensive care unit to a standard medical ward after 2 months. The patient could walk and eat normally; however, he required intermittent mechanical ventilation at 11 months after discharge. Although L. monocytogenes meningitis is rare in healthy immunocompetent adults, it must be considered as a differential diagnosis, especially in adults whose conditions do not improve with cephalosporin antibiotic administration. L. monocytogenes rhombencephalitis mimics facial neuritis and develops quickly. Prompt diagnosis is essential for rapid initiation of antibiotic therapy to achieve the best outcome.

Nucleocapsid proteins (NCp) are zinc finger (ZF) proteins, and they play a central role in HIV virus replication, mainly by interacting with nucleic acids. Therefore, they are potential targets for anti-HIV therapy. Natural products have been shown to be able to inhibit HIV, such as turmeric and licorice, which is widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. Liquiritin (LQ), isoliquiritin (ILQ), glycyrrhizic acid (GL), glycyrrhetinic acid (GA) and curcumin (CUR), which were the major active components, were herein chosen to study their interactions with HIV-NCp7 C-terminal zinc finger, aiming to find the potential active compounds and reveal the mechanism involved. The stacking interaction between NCp7 tryptophan and natural compounds was evaluated by fluorescence. To elucidate the binding mode, mass spectrometry was used to characterize the reaction mixture between zinc finger proteins and active compounds. Subsequently, circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy and molecular docking were used to validate and reveal the binding mode from a structural perspective. The results showed that ILQ has the strongest binding ability among the tested compounds, followed by curcumin, and the interaction between ILQ and the NCp7 zinc finger peptide was mediated by a noncovalent interaction. This study provided a scientific basis for the antiviral activity of turmeric and licorice.

Abstract BMS symmetry, which is the asymptotic symmetry at null infinity of flat spacetime, is an important input for flat holography. In this paper, we give a holographic calculation of entanglement entropy and Rényi entropy in three dimensional Einstein gravity and Topologically Massive Gravity. The geometric picture for the entanglement entropy is the length of a spacelike geodesic which is connected to the interval at null infinity by two null geodesics. The spacelike geodesic is the fixed points of replica symmetry, and the null geodesics are along the modular flow. Our strategy is to first reformulate the Rindler method for calculating entanglement entropy in a general setup, and apply it for BMS invariant field theories, and finally extend the calculation to the bulk.

Cosmological phase transitions (CPTs), such as the Grand Unified Theory (GUT) and the electroweak (EW) ones, play a significant role in both particle physics and cosmology. In this letter, we propose to probe the first-order CPTs, by detecting gravitational waves (GWs) which are generated during the phase transitions through the cosmic microwave background (CMB). If happened around the inflation era, the first-order CPTs may yield low-frequency GWs due to bubble dynamics, leaving imprints on the CMB. In contrast to the nearly scale-invariant primordial GWs caused by vacuum fluctuation, these bubble-generated GWs are scale dependent and have non-trivial B-mode spectra. If decoupled from inflaton, the EWPT during inflation may serve as a probe for the one after reheating where the baryon asymmetry could be generated via EW baryogenesis (EWBG). The CMB thus provides a potential way to test the feasibility of the EWBG, complementary to the collider measurements of Higgs potential and the direct detection of GWs generated during EWPT.

Cisplatin and its analogues are widely used as chemotherapeutic agents in clinical practice. After being intravenously administrated, a substantial amount of platinum will bind with proteins in the blood. This binding is vital for the transport, distribution, and metabolism of drugs; however, toxicity can also occur from the irreversible binding between biologically active proteins and platinum drugs. Therefore, it is very important to study the protein-binding behavior of platinum drugs in blood. This review summarizes mass spectrometry-based strategies to identify and quantitate the proteins binding with platinum anticancer drugs in blood, such as offline high-performance liquid chromatography/inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HPLC–ICP-MS) combined with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) and multidimensional LC–ESI-MS/MS. The identification of in vivo targets in blood cannot be accomplished without first studying the protein-binding behavior of platinum drugs in vitro; therefore, relevant studies are also summarized. This knowledge will further our understanding of the pharmacokinetics and toxicity of platinum anticancer drugs, and it will be beneficial for the rational design of metal-based anticancer drugs.

There have been long debates about the initial conditions of inflationary perturbations. In this work we explicitly show the decay of excited states during inflation via interactions from the renormalization group point of view. For this purpose, we note that the folded shape non-Gaussianity can be interpreted as the decay of the non-Bunch–Davies initial condition. The one loop diagrams with non-Bunch–Davies propagators are calculated to uncover the decay of such excited states. We find that the decay of amplitude is contributed by the folded shape of loop momentum and is irrelevant to the UV part. The conformal decay rate is related to the strength of non-Gaussianity via Γ∼(fNLλ)2Pζk5O(τ4,τ04). The observed smallness of non-Gaussianity keeps the window open for probing inflationary initial conditions and trans-Planckian physics.