Predicting Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Burden Based on Thromboelastography in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the coagulation function measured by thromboelastography (TEG) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) and total burden of cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD), to further establish a nomogram tool based on regular clinical risk factors and TEG, to conveniently predict the risk of high-grade white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and CSVD burden in AIS patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS A cross-sectional study included 143 AIS patients who underwent TEG tests and 3.0T head MRI scans after admission.

A new angiographic scoring for grading the difficulty of recanalization for symptomatic non-acute middle cerebral artery occlusions.

Background: Endovascular recanalization is a feasible option for treating symptomatic non-acute middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) patients. Hence, we aimed to establish a new angiographic scoring to grade the recanalization difficulty of MCAO to determine the suitable patients for endovascular treatment.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed a total of 113 consecutive recurrent symptomatic non-acute MCAO patients who underwent endovascular recanalization from July 2015 to August 2021 in four Chinese comprehensive stroke centers.

Giant nonlocal Kerr nonlinearity and polaritonic solitons in a Rydberg-dressed Bose-Einstein condensate.

We present a scheme to generate nonlocal optical Kerr nonlinearity and polaritonic solitons via matter-wave superradiance in a Rydberg-dressed Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). We show that the polariton spectrum of the scattered field generated by the superradiance is changed significantly due to the existence of the long-range Rydberg-Rydberg interaction between atoms, i.e.

Matter-wave solitons in an array of spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates.

We investigate matter-wave solitons in a binary Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with spin-orbit (SO) coupling, loaded in a one-dimensional (1D) deep optical lattice and a three-dimensional anisotropic magnetic trap, which creates an array of elongated sub-BECs with transverse tunneling. We show that the system supports 1D continuous and discrete solitons localized in the longitudinal (along the array) and the transverse (across the array) directions, respectively. In addition, such solitons are always unpolarized in the zero-momentum state but polarized in finite-momentum states.

Circ_0011373 promotes papillary thyroid carcinoma progression by regulating miR-1271/LRP6 axis.

Purpose: This research aimed to explore the regulatory molecular mechanism among circular RNA (circ)_0011373, microRNA (miR)-1271, and lipoprotein receptor-related protein 6 (LRP6) in papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC).

Methods: Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) assay was adopted to measure the expression of circ_0011373, miR-1271, and LRP6 mRNA. Furthermore, cell cycle distribution, apoptosis, migration and invasion were investigated by flow cytometry and transwell assay, respectively.

Correlations between NLR, NHR, and clinicopathological characteristics, and prognosis of acute ischemic stroke.

Neuroinflammation plays an essential role in the process of acute ischemic stroke (AIS) injury repair. The current study seeks to investigate the relationship between the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and neutrophil/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (NHR) and AIS disease severity and short-term prognosis. As such, the primary aim of this study is to improve AIS diagnosis and treatment.

Stern-Gerlach effect of vector light bullets in a nonlocal Rydberg medium.

We show that stable (3+1)-dimensional vector light bullets with ultraslow propagating velocity and extreme low generation power can be realized in a cold Rydberg atomic gas. They can also be actively controlled by using a nonuniform magnetic field; especially, trajectories of their two polarization components can have significant Stern-Gerlach deflections. The results obtained are useful for revealing the nonlocal nonlinear optical property of Rydberg media and for measuring weak magnetic fields.

Matter-wave dromions in a disk-shaped dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate with the Lee-Huang-Yang correction.

We investigate, both analytically and numerically, the nonlinear dynamics of (2+1)-dimensional [(2+1)D] matter waves excited in a disk-shaped dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) when quantum fluctuations described by the Lee-Huang-Yang (LHY) correction are taken into consideration. By using a method of multiple scales, we derive Davey-Stewartson I equations that govern the nonlinear evolution of matter-wave envelopes. We demonstrate that the system supports (2+1)D matter-wave dromions, which are superpositions of a short-wavelength excitation and a long-wavelength mean flow.

Quantum reflection of single photons in a cold Rydberg atomic gas.

We propose a scheme for realizing the quantum reflection of single photons in a cold Rydberg atomic gas via electromagnetically induced transparency, by which a deep and tunable attractive potential can be prepared by using stored gate photons. Such a scheme is promising for designing dispersion-type single-photon switches, and may be taken as a quantum device for observing the wave and particle natures of photons simultaneously.

Selection and cloning of periodic optical patterns with a cold Rydberg atomic gas.

We show that periodic optical patterns formed in a cold Rydberg atomic gas via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) can be selected by using a weakly modulated control laser field. We also show that the (hexagonal, stripe, square, etc.) patterns prepared in one probe laser field can be cloned onto another one with high fidelity via a double EIT.

Photon storage and routing in quantum dots with spin-orbit coupling.

As an essential element for quantum information processing and quantum communication, efficient quantum memory based on solid-state platforms is imperative for practical applications but remains a challenge. Here we propose a scheme to realize a highly efficient and controllable storage and routing of single photons based on quantum dots (QDs) with a Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC). We show that the SOC in the QDs can provide a flexible built-up of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) for single-photon propagation, and storage, retrieval, as well as routing of single-photon wavepackets can also be implemented through the EIT.

Self-Induced Transparency in Warm and Strongly Interacting Rydberg Gases.

We study dispersive optical nonlinearities of short pulses propagating in high number density, warm atomic vapors where the laser resonantly excites atoms to Rydberg P states via a single-photon transition. Three different regimes of the light-atom interaction, dominated by either Doppler broadening, Rydberg atom interactions, or decay due to thermal collisions between ground state and Rydberg atoms, are found. We show that using fast Rabi flopping and strong Rydberg atom interactions, both in the order of gigahertz, can overcome the Doppler effect as well as collisional decay, leading to a sizable dispersive optical nonlinearity on nanosecond timescales.

Relationships between accelerometer-measured and multiple sclerosis: a 2-sample Mendelian randomization study.

Background: Observational studies suggest that physical activity (PA) can independently modify the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS).

Objective: To investigate the causal effect of PA on MS by Mendelian randomization (MR) approaches.

Methods: Through a genome-wide association study including 91,105 participants from UK Biobank, we obtained 5 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with accelerometer-measured PA (P < 5 × 10).

Storage and retrieval of slow-light dark solitons.

We show that stable slow-light dark solitons with finite continuous-wave background can be generated in a -type atomic system via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We also show that such dark solitons can be stored and retrieved with high efficiency and fidelity. Moreover, an optical routing of them can be realized via EIT in the system with a double--type level configuration.

Sleep Duration and Stroke: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

To clarify the effects of sleep duration on stroke and stroke subtypes, we adopted a Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to evaluate their causal relationship. A genome-wide association study including 446,118 participants from UK biobank was used to identify instruments for short sleep, long sleep and sleep duration. Summary-level data for all stroke, ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, and their subtypes were obtained from meta-analyses conducted by the MEGASTROKE consortium.

Plum-blossom needle for coronavirus disease 2019-related headache: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Assessing the effectiveness and safety of plum-blossom needle for (COVID-19) related headache is the main purpose of this systematic review protocol.

Methods: We will search the following sources for the identification of trials: The Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure Database (CNKI), Chinese Science and Technique Journals Database (VIP), and the Wanfang Database. The searches were limited to articles published in 2020, but no language restrictions were imposed.

Aberrantly expressed long noncoding RNAs and genes in Parkinson's disease.

Purpose: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative movement disorder, but the pathogenesis remains elusive. This study was aimed to explore key genes and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) associated with PD.

Materials And Methods: Three patients with PD and three normal controls were enrolled in the present study from July 12, 2017, to August 29, 2017.

Association between Cystatin C and SVD in Chinese population.

Leukoaraiosis is an important clinical feature of cerebral small vessel disease. To date, there is no reliable biomarker to reflect the degree of cerebral small vessel disease and white matter damage. This study aimed to explore the relationship between cystatin C levels and the degree of white matter damage in order to assess whether cystatin C could serve as a biomarker for white matter damage.

Weak-light vector rogue waves, breathers, and their Stern-Gerlach deflection via electromagnetically induced transparency.

We propose a scheme for generating and manipulating vector (or two-component) optical rogue waves using Akhmediev and Kuznetsov-Ma breathers in a coherent atomic system with an M-type five-level configuration via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We show that the propagation velocity of these nonlinear excitations can be reduced to 10c and their generation power can be lowered to microwatts. We also show that the motion trajectories of the two polarization components in these excitations can be deflected significantly by using a transversal gradient magnetic field, similar to the Stern-Gerlach effect of an atomic beam.

Analogue of double-Λ-type atomic medium and vector plasmonic dromions in a metamaterial.

We consider an array of the meta-atom consisting of two cut-wires and a split-ring resonator coupled with an electromagnetic field with two polarization components. We show that the system can be taken as a classical analogue of the atomic medium of a double-Λ-type four-level configuration coupled with four laser fields and working under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency, exhibits an effect of plasmon induced transparency (PIT), and displays a similar behavior of atomic four-wave mixing (FWM). We show also that with the PIT and FWM effects the system can support vector plasmonic dromions when a nonlinear varactor is mounted onto the each gap of the split-ring resonator.

Ultraslow weak-light solitons and their storage and retrieval in a kagome-structured hollow-core photonic crystal fiber.

We investigate the formation and propagation of ultraslow weak-light solitons and their memory in the atomic gas filled in a kagome-structured hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (HC-PCF) via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We show that, due to the strong light-atom coupling contributed by the transverse confinement of the HC-PCF, the EIT and hence the optical Kerr nonlinearity of the system can be largely enhanced, and hence optical solitons with very short formation distance, ultraslow propagation velocity, and extremely low generation power can be realized. We also show that the optical solitons obtained can not only be robust during propagation, but also be stored and retrieved with high efficiency through the switching off and on of a control laser field.

Storage and retrieval of electromagnetic waves with orbital angular momentum via plasmon-induced transparency.

We propose a scheme to realize the storage and retrieval of high-dimensional electromagnetic waves with orbital angular momentum (OAM) via plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) in a metamaterial, which consists of an array of meta-atoms constructed by a metallic structure loaded with two varactors. We show that due to PIT effect the system allows the existence of shape-preserving dark-mode plasmonic polaritons, which are mixture of electromagnetic-wave modes and dark oscillatory modes of the meta-atoms and may carry various OAMs. We demonstrate that the slowdown, storage and retrieval of multi-mode electromagnetic waves with OAMs can be achieved through the active manipulation of a control field.

Association between serum cystatin C levels and the severity or potential risk factors of acute ischemic stroke.

Objective: We sought to investigate whether serum cystatin C levels are correlated with either stroke severity or with potential risk factors of acute ischemic stroke.

Methods: 171 patients with acute ischemic stroke and 99 control subjects with minor, unrelated diseases with stroke were included in this retrospective study. Serum cystatin C levels were determined in all subjects.

Enhanced third-order and fifth-order Kerr nonlinearities in a cold atomic system via Rydberg-Rydberg interaction.

We investigate the optical Kerr nonlinearities of an ensemble of cold Rydberg atoms under the condition of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). By using an approach beyond mean-field theory, we show that the system possesses not only enhanced third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility, but also giant fifth-order nonlinear optical susceptibility, which has a cubic dependence on atomic density. Our results demonstrate that both the third-order and the fifth-order nonlinear optical susceptibilities consist of two parts, contributed respectively by photon-atom interaction and Rydberg-Rydberg interaction.

Lossless Airy Surface Polaritons in a Metamaterial via Active Raman Gain.

We propose a scheme to realize a lossless propagation of linear and nonlinear Airy surface polaritons (SPs) via active Raman gain (ARG). The system we suggest is a planar interface superposed by a negative index metamaterial (NIMM) and a dielectric, where three-level quantum emitters are doped. By using the ARG from the quantum emitters and the destructive interference effect between the electric and magnetic responses from the NIMM, we show that not only the Ohmic loss of the NIMM but also the light absorption of the quantum emitters can be completely eliminated.