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Mechanical oscillators can be implemented to store and transfer information or to build hybrid systems. In order to couple a mechanical oscillator to a superconducting qubit, we fabricate a superconducting capacitor, in which diluted photoresist or electron beam photoresist is used as sacrificial layers. The upper plate of the capacitor, a suspended membrane, acts as a mechanical oscillator. We obtain its mechanical resonant frequency and response to the input microwave. Such mechanical oscillators can be used as the capacitor of a superconducting qubit to form a coupled system. In order to control the resonant frequency of the mechanical oscillator and the microwave resonator, we introduce a dc voltage bias between the upper and lower plates of the capacitor. We analyze the electromechanical coupling such as pull-in effect and experimentally demonstrate the dependence of the resonant frequency on the applied dc voltage. These results will contribute to the design and fabrication of hybrid systems comprising voltage-controlled mechanical oscillators and other systems.

Background. Increasing evidence has suggested that obesity affects the occurrence and progression of osteoarthritis (OA). However, the underlying molecular mechanism that obesity affects the course of OA is not fully understood and remains to be studied. Methods. The gene expression profiles of the GSE117999 and GSE98460 datasets were derived from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. Firstly, we explored the correlation between obesity and OA using chi-square test. Next, weighted gene coexpression network analysis (WGCNA) was executed to identify obesity patients with OA- (obesity OA-) related genes in the GSE117999 dataset by “WGCNA” package. Moreover, differential expression analysis was performed to select the hub genes by “limma” package. Furthermore, ingenuity pathway analysis (IPA) and functional enrichment analysis (“clusterProfiler” package) were conducted to investigate the functions of genes. Finally, the regulatory networks of hub genes and protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were created by the Cytoscape 3.5.1 software and STRING. Results. A total of 15 differentially expressed obesity OA-related genes, including 9 lncRNAs and 6 protein coding genes, were detected by overlapping 66 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between normal BMI samples and obesity OA samples and 451 obesity OA-related genes. Moreover, CCR10, LENG8, QRFPR, UHRF1BP1, and HLA-DRB4 were identified as hub genes. IPA results indicated that the hub genes were noticeably enriched in antimicrobial response, inflammatory response, and humoral immune response. PPI network showed that CCR10 interacted more with other proteins. Gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) indicated that the hub genes were related to protein translation, cancer, chromatin modification, antigen processing, and presentation. Conclusion. Our results further demonstrated the role of obesity in OA and might provide new targets for the treatment of obesity OA.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the study was to assess the effects of elastic taping on pain, physical function, range of motion, and muscle strength in patients with knee osteoarthritis. DESIGN We searched the PubMed, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Web of Science, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, Scopus, EMBASE, OVID, CNKI, and WANFANG to identify relevant randomized controlled trials. The primary outcome measures were pain and physical function. The secondary outcome measures were range of motion and muscle strength. RESULTS Eleven randomized controlled trials involving 490 patients with knee osteoarthritis were included. A statistically significant difference was detected in pain (standardized mean difference = -0.78, 95% confidence interval = 1.07 to -0.50, P < 0.00001), physical function (standardized mean difference = 0.73, 95% confidence interval = -1.03 to -0.43, P < 0.00001), range of motion (mean difference = 2.04, 95% confidence interval = 0.14 to 3.94, P = 0.04), and quadriceps muscle strength (mean difference = 2.42, 95% confidence interval = 1.09 to 3.74, P = 0.0004). No significant differences were found for the hamstring muscle strength. CONCLUSIONS Elastic taping has significant effects on pain, physical function, range of motion, and quadriceps muscle strength in patients with knee osteoarthritis. The current evidence is insufficient to draw conclusions on the effects of elastic taping combined with other physiotherapy for knee osteoarthritis. Further studies are needed to investigate the long-term effects of elastic taping combined with other physiotherapy compared with elastic taping alone for knee osteoarthritis.

Mechanical oscillators can be implemented to store and/or transfer information. In order to couple a mechanical oscillator to a superconducting qubit, we fabricate a superconducting capacitor using the diluted photoresist or electron beam photoresist as a sacrificial layer. The upper plate of the capacitor, a suspended membrane, acts as a mechanical oscillator. We obtain its mechanical resonant frequency and response to the input microwave. Such mechanical oscillator can be used as the capacitor of a superconducting qubit to form a coupled system. Another way to transfer information between a mechanical oscillator and a superconducting qubit is to take advantage of a superconducting microwave resonator such as a coplanar waveguide resonator. In order to control the resonant frequency of the resonators, we introduce a DC voltage bias between the upper and lower plates of the capacitor. We demonstrate the dependence of the resonant frequency on the applied DC voltage.

We fabricate a microscale electromechanical system, in which a suspended superconducting membrane, treated as a mechanical oscillator, capacitively couples to a superconducting microwave resonator. As the microwave driving power increases, nonmonotonic dependence of the resonance frequency of the mechanical oscillator on the driving power has been observed. We also demonstrate the optical switching of the resonance frequency of the mechanical oscillator. Theoretical models for qualitative understanding of our experimental observations are presented. Our experiment may pave the way for the application of a mechanical oscillator with its resonance frequency controlled by the electromagnetic and/or optical fields, such as a microwave-optical interface and a controllable element in a superqubit-mechanical oscillator hybrid system., 8 pages,4 figures

An impedance matched parametric amplifier (IMPA) with Josephson junctions is fabricated and characterized. A hybrid structure containing coplanar and strip structures is implemented to realize an impedance taper line and a plate capacitor in an LC nonlinear resonator based on Josephson junctions. The upper plate of the capacitor is isolated with SiN x without grounding as well as the strips. Such easily-prepared designs greatly reduce the requirements for lithography alignment and precision, which makes the fabrication process more reliable. The experimental results show that in such IMPA a gain higher than 25 dB with a bandwidth of about 100 MHz can be obtained. This broadband amplifier operates close to the quantum limit. By adjusting the working point, a higher bandwidth of about 400 MHz can be obtained with a gain of about 17 dB.

We design and fabricate λ/2 coplanar waveguide NbN resonators, the thickness and length of which are only several nanometers and hundred microns, respectively. The quality factor of such compact resonators can reach up to 7.5 × 104 at single photon power level at 30 mK with the resonance frequency around 6.835 GHz. In order to tune the resonant frequency, the resonator is terminated to the ground with a dc-SQUID. By tuning the magnetic flux in the dc-SQUID, the effective inductance of the dc-SQUID is varied, which leads to the change in the resonant frequency of the resonator. The tunability range is more than 30 MHz and the quality factor is about 3 × 103. These compact and tunable NbN resonators have potential applications in the quantum information processing, such as in the precision measurement, coupling and/or reading out the quantum states of qubits.

To explore the therapeutic effect of Neurac training on patients with cervical radiculopathy (CR).Sixty patients with CR were enrolled and randomly assigned into control group (CG) and Neurac training group (NG) with 30 patients for each group. The patients in CG group received conventional treatments for 2 weeks, including cervical traction, manual therapy and electrical therapy. The patients in NG group received Neurac training as well as conservative treatments for 2 weeks. The pain level and it impact on daily life were assessed by the numerical pain rating scale (NPRS) and the neck disability index (NDI) before the treatments and at the time of 1 week, 2 weeks after the treatments, respectively.Following the treatment, significant improvements for NPRS and NDI were observed in both the two groups at the end of the first and second week. The improvements for both NPRS and NDI were higher in the NG than those in the CG, with P0.05.The results of this study indicate that Neurac training can bring additional therapeutic benefits to conventional treatments for patients with CR.