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Landauer’s principle asserts that any computation has an unavoidable energy cost that grows proportionally to its degree of logical irreversibility. But even a logically reversible operation, when run on a physical processor that operates on different energy levels, requires energy. Here we quantify this energy requirement, providing upper and lower bounds that coincide up to a constant factor. We derive these bounds from a general quantum resource-theoretic argument, which implies that the initial resource requirement for implementing a unitary operation within an errorεgrows like1/εtimes the amount of resource generated by the operation. Applying these results to quantum circuits, we find that their energy requirement can, by an appropriate design, be made independent of their time complexity.

Light quality regulates plant morphogenesis and physiological processes. Colored plastic film mulching (CPFM) may be used to improve light quality and crop quality. Here, we investigated how different CPFMs regulate light quality and affect sucrose metabolism in wine grapes. Plastic film mulching with four color schemes was used as treatments: red (PMr), blue (PMb), red alternating with blue (PMrb), and silver (CK). Spectral distribution of sunlight was significantly affected by different CPFMs. PMr and PMb increased the proportion of red and blue light respectively while PMrb increased both red and blue light below plant canopy. Photosynthetic rate (Pn) was the highest in PMrb in all treatments caused by the highest contents of leaf photosynthetic pigments (Chl a, Chl b, and Chl a + b). The activities of both sucrose synthase and invertase (acid invertase and neutral invertase) in leaves were significantly increased in PMrb, which led to higher total soluble solids (TSS) and same level of reducing sugars (RS) relative to the CK treatment. In addition, the highest Chl a/b in PMrb maybe the other reason for the highest TSS in all treatments. Grape yields did not differ among treatments, but treatments exhibited a decreasing trend for TSS, RS, and sugar acid ratio in wine grapes in the order of: PMrb, PMr, CK, and PMb. Relative to monochrome plastic mulching, PMrb can be an efficient method to enhance light quality below plant canopy, thereby improving fruit carbohydrate contents and components by regulating leaf photosynthetic pigments and sucrose metabolism enzyme activities.

The Arctic, Antarctica and the Tibetan Plateau in the high mountains of Asia are called the Earth’s three poles and have exhibited the most intense warming worldwide in recent decades. The Arctic Oscillation (AO), Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) and South Asia High (SAH) are the most influential and stable large-scale systems affecting the three poles. The global carbon neutrality targets (1.5 °C/2°C), which promote sustainable development, and the future evolution of these large-scale systems will have implications for global climate projections at the three poles. In this study, our evaluation revealed the satisfactory performance of the multi-initial-value ensemble mean of the Community Earth System Model (CESM) in capturing the observed AO, AAO and SAH patterns. Based on the simulations derived from the CESM Low Warming Experiment, the warming in the three poles will be significantly greater than the global mean when the global warming reaches 1.5 °C/2°C. Under the 1.5 °C global warming level (GWL), a stronger center of action over the North Atlantic will lead to an enhanced influence of the AO on the surface air temperature (SAT) in northern Europe. However, all of the centers of action for the AO and its remote influence on the SAT in the Northern Hemisphere will be weaker when global warming reaches 2 °C. For the AAO, the pair of centers of action in the southern pole and Southern Ocean will weaken under the 1.5 °C scenario, leading to a stronger influence of the AAO on the SAT in the Antarctic Peninsula and a weaker effect in East Antarctica and its surrounding seas. In contrast, the eastward movement of the centers of action over the Southern Ocean under the 2 °C scenario will weaken the teleconnection between the AAO and summer SAT across the Antarctic. During the 21st century, over the third pole, the SAH will move southeastward with significantly increased interannual variability. The change in the SAH at the 1.5 °C GWL will contribute to a warmer summer and less precipitation in Northeast China. Under the 2 °C scenario, the greater movement and strengthening of the SAH will lead to more precipitation and cooler summers in the Yangtze River. Our results suggest that the AO/AAO/SAH are related to the regional climate in a carbon-neutral world. This study has important implications for decadal climate predictions in a future 1.5 °C/2°C warmer world, offering insights into the associated climate risks across the three poles.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) has become an emerging cancer treatment method. Choosing the photosensitizer (PS) compounds is one of the essential factors that can influence the PDT effect and action. Carbon dots (CDs) have shown great potential as photosensitizers in PDT of cancers due to their excellent biocompatibility and high generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Here, we used tea polyphenol as raw material for synthesized tea polyphenol carbon dots (T−CDs) that show dual emission bands of red and blue fluorescence and can efficiently generate hydroxyl radicals (OH) under mildly visible irradiation with a LED light (400–500 nm, 15 mW cm−2). The extremely low cytotoxicity and excellent biocompatibility of T−CDs without light irradiation were tested using MTT and hemolytic assay. Further, T−CDs have been shown by in vivo experiments, using a mouse breast cancer cell line (4T1) subcutaneously injected in the back of the mouse buttock as a model, to effectively inhibit the tumor cell proliferation in solid tumors and show an excellent PDT effect. In addition, pathological sections of the mice tissues after further treatment showed that the T−CDs had no apparent impact on the major organs of the mice and did not produce any side effect lesions. This work demonstrates that the as−synthesized T−CDs has the potential to be used as a PS in cancer treatment.

Although significant advances have been made in synthetic nerve conduits and surgical techniques, complete regeneration following peripheral nerve injury (PNI) remains far from optimized. The repair of PNI is a highly heterogeneous process involving changes in Schwann cell phenotypes, the activation of macrophages, and the reconstruction of the vascular network. At present, the efficacy of MSC-based therapeutic strategies for PNI can be attributed to paracrine secretion. Exosomes, as a product of paracrine secretion, are considered to be an important regulatory mediator. Furthermore, accumulating evidence has demonstrated that exosomes from mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) can shuttle bioactive components (proteins, lipids, mRNA, miRNA, lncRNA, circRNA, and DNA) that participate in almost all of the abovementioned processes. Thus, MSC exosomes may represent a novel therapeutic tool for PNI. In this review, we discuss the current understanding of MSC exosomes related to peripheral nerve repair and provide insights for developing a cell-free MSC therapeutic strategy for PNI.

Autophagy, originally found in liver experiments, is a cellular process that degrades damaged organelle or protein aggregation. This process frees cells from various stress states is a cell survival mechanism under stress stimulation. It is now known that dysregulation of autophagy can cause many liver diseases. Therefore, how to properly regulate autophagy is the key to the treatment of liver injury. mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR)is the core hub regulating autophagy, which is subject to different upstream signaling pathways to regulate autophagy. This review summarizes three upstream pathways of mTOR: the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase (AKT) signaling pathway, the adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway, and the rat sarcoma (Ras)/rapidly accelerated fibrosarcoma (Raf)/mitogen-extracellular activated protein kinase kinase (MEK)/ extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway, specifically explored their role in liver fibrosis, hepatitis B, non-alcoholic fatty liver, liver cancer, hepatic ischemia reperfusion and other liver diseases through the regulation of mTOR-mediated autophagy. Moreover, we also analyzed the crosstalk between these three pathways, aiming to find new targets for the treatment of human liver disease based on autophagy.

The study aimed to evaluate the effects of early antibiotic intervention (EAI) on bacterial fermentation patterns and mucosal immune markers in the colon of pigs with different protein level diets. Eighteen litters of piglets at day (d) 7 were fed creep feed without or with growth promoting antibiotics until d 42. At d 42, pigs within each group were further randomly assigned to a normal- or low-crude protein (CP) diet. At d 77 and d 120, five pigs per group were slaughtered for analyzing colonic bacteria, metabolites, and mucosal gene expressions. Results showed that low-CP diet increased propionate and butyrate concentrations at d 77 but reduced ammonia and phenol concentrations ( P  < 0.05). EAI increased p -cresol and indole concentrations under normal-CP diet at d 77 ( P  < 0.05). Low-CP diet significantly affected ( P  < 0.05) some bacteria groups ( Firmicutes , Clostridium cluster IV, Clostridium cluster XIVa, Escherichia coli , and Lactobacillus ), but EAI showed limited effects. Low-CP diet down-regulated gene expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines, toll-like receptor (TLR4), myeloid differentiating factor 88 (MyD88), and nuclear factor-κB p65 (NF-κB p65) ( P  < 0.05). EAI up-regulated mRNA expressions of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) under normal-CP diet at d 77 ( P  < 0.05). Furthermore, reductions of E. coli and ammonia under low-CP diet were positively correlated with down-regulated gene expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which were positively correlated with the down-regulated TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB signaling pathway. In conclusion, EAI had short-term effects under normal-CP diet with increased aromatic amino acid fermentation and gene expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Low-CP diet markedly reduced protein fermentation, modified microbial communities, and down-regulated gene expressions of pro-inflammatory cytokines possibly via down-regulating TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB signaling pathway.

The misuse of many types of broad-spectrum antibiotics leads to increased antimicrobial resistance. As a result, the development of a novel antibacterial agent is essential. Photodynamic antimicrobial chemotherapy (PACT) is becoming more popular due to its advantages in eliminating drug-resistant strains and providing broad-spectrum antibacterial resistance. Carbon dots (CDs), zero-dimensional nanomaterials with diameters smaller than 10 nm, offer a green and cost-effective alternative to PACT photosensitizers. This article reviewed the synthesis methods of antibacterial CDs as well as the recent progress of CDs and their nanocomposites in photodynamic sterilization, focusing on maximizing the bactericidal impact of CDs photosensitizers. This review establishes the base for future CDs development in the PACT field.

Metallic lithium (Li) is considered the “Holy Grail” anode material for the next‐generation of Li batteries with high energy density owing to the extraordinary theoretical specific capacity and the lowest negative electrochemical potential. However, owing to inhomogeneous Li‐ion flux, Li anodes undergo uncontrollable Li deposition, leading to limited power output and practical applications. Carbon materials and their composites with controllable structures and properties have received extensive attention to guide the homogeneous growth of Li to achieve high‐performance Li anodes. In this review, the correlation between the behavior of Li anode and the properties of carbon materials is proposed. Subsequently, we review emerging strategies for rationally designing high‐performance Li anodes with carbon materials, including interface engineering (stabilizing solid electrolyte interphase layer and other functionalized interfacial layer) and architecture design of host carbon (constructing three‐dimension structure, preparing hollow structure, introducing lithiophilic sites, optimizing geometric effects, and compositing with Li). Based on the insights, some prospects on critical challenges and possible future research directions in this field are concluded. It is anticipated that further innovative works on the fundamental chemistry and theoretical research of Li anodes are needed. The emerging strategies for rationally designing high‐performance Li anodes with carbon materials, including interface engineering (stabilizing solid electrolyte interphase layer and other functionalized interfacial layer) and architecture design (three‐dimensional carbon structure, introducing lithiophilic sites, geometric effects, hollow structure, and composite Li anodes) are reviewed. Some prospects on critical challenges and possible future research directions in this field are concluded.

Background: Greater adherence of Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) or the Mediterranean dietary pattern were reported to be beneficial for blood pressure. However, both were established based on Western populations. Our current study aimed to explore a dietary pattern which might be suitable for hypertension prevention and control among Chinese adults nationwide. Methods: A total of 61,747 Chinese adults aged over 18 years from China Nutrition and Health Surveillance 2015–2017 was included in this study. Using reduced-rank regression (RRR) method, a dietary pattern with higher intakes of those nutrients which are inversely associated with the risk of hypertension was identified. DASH-score was also calculated for each participant for further validate the dietary pattern derived by RRR method. Multi-adjustment logistic regression was applied to examine the association between above two dietary patterns and hypertension prevention and control. Results: Dietary pattern named Beneficial for Blood Pressure (BBP) diet was characterized by higher fresh vegetables and fruits, mushrooms/edible fungi, dairy products, seaweeds, fresh eggs, nuts and seeds, legumes and related products, aquatic products, coarse cereals, and less refined grains and alcohol consumption. After multiple adjustment, protective effects showed on both hypertension prevention and control (for prevention: Q5 vs. Q1, OR = 0.842, 95% CI = 0.791–0.896; for control: Q5 vs. Q1, OR = 0.762, 95% CI = 0.629–0.924). For the DASH-diet, significant results were also observed (for prevention: Q5 vs. Q1, OR = 0.912, 95% CI = 0.854–0.973; for control: Q5 vs. Q1, OR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.616–0.938). Conclusions: BBP-diet derived from Chinese adults has high conformity with the DASH-diet, and it might serve as an adjuvant method for both hypertension prevention and control.