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The flash vacuum pyrolysis (FVP) technique is useful for preparing curved polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs) and caged nanocarbon molecules, such as the well-known corannulene and fullerene C60. However, the operating temperature of the traditional FVP apparatus is limited to ~1250 °C, which is not sufficient to overcome the high energy barriers of some reactions. Herein, we report an ultrahigh-temperature FVP (UT-FVP) apparatus with a controllable operating temperature of up to 2500 °C to synthesize fullerene C60 from a nonaromatic single carbon reactant, i.e., chloroform, at 1350 °C or above. Fullerene C60 cannot be obtained from CHCl3 using the traditional FVP apparatus because of the limitation of the reaction temperature. The significant improvements in the UT-FVP apparatus, compared to the traditional FVP apparatus, were the replacement of the quartz tube with a graphite tube and the direct heating of the graphite tube by impedance heating instead of indirect heating of the quartz tube using an electric furnace. Because of the higher temperature range, UT-FVP can not only synthesize fullerene C60 from single carbon nonaromatic reactants but sublimate some high-molecular-weight compounds to synthesize larger curved PAHs in the future.

The exceptional point has presented considerably interesting and counterintuitive phenomena associated with nonreciprocity, precision measurement, and topological dynamics. The Liouvillian exceptional point (LEP), involving the interplay of energy loss and decoherence inherently relevant to quantum jumps, has recently drawn much attention due to capability to fully capture quantum system dynamics and naturally facilitate non-Hermitian quantum investigations. It was also predicted that quantum jumps could give rise to third-order LEPs in two-level quantum systems for its high dimensional Liouvillian superoperator, which, however, has never been experimentally confirmed until now. Here we report the observation of the third-order LEPs emerging from quantum jumps in an ultracold two-level trapped-ion system. Moreover, by combining decay with dephasing processes, we present the experimental exploration of LEPs involving combinatorial effect of decay and dephasing. In particular, due to non-commutativity between the Lindblad superoperators governing LEPs for decay and dephasing, we witness the movement of LEPs driven by the competition between decay and dephasing occurring in an open quantum system. This unique feature of non-Hermitian quantum systems paves a new avenue for modifying nonreciprocity, enhancing precision measurement, and manipulating topological dynamics by tuning the LEPs. Recent studies have shown the potential of higher-order exceptional points originating from the Liouvillian dynamics as opposed to their Hamiltonian counterparts. Here, the authors explore different classes of third-order Liouvillian exceptional points in a two-level system realised in a single trapped ion.

Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase 1 (SHP1), encoded by the protein tyrosine phosphatase nonreceptor type 6 ( ptpn6 ) gene, belongs to the family of protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) and participates in multiple signaling pathways of immune cells. However, the mechanism of SHP1 in regulating fish immunity is largely unknown. In this study, we first identified two gibel carp ( Carassius gibelio ) ptpn6 homeologs ( Cgptpn6-A and Cgptpn6-B ), each of which had three alleles with high identities. Then, relative to Cgptpn6-B , dominant expression in adult tissues and higher upregulated expression of Cgptpn6-A induced by polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly I:C), poly deoxyadenylic-deoxythymidylic (dA:dT) acid and spring viremia of carp virus (SVCV) were uncovered. Finally, we demonstrated that Cg SHP1-A (encoded by the Cgptpn6-A gene) and Cg SHP1-B (encoded by the Cgptpn6-B gene) act as negative regulators of the RIG-I-like receptor (RLR)-mediated interferon (IFN) response via two mechanisms: the inhibition of Ca TBK1-induced phosphorylation of Ca MITA shared by Cg SHP1-A and Cg SHP1-B, and the autophagic degradation of Ca MITA exclusively by Cg SHP1-A. Meanwhile, the data support that Cg SHP1-A and Cg SHP1-B have sub-functionalized and that Cg SHP1-A overwhelmingly dominates Cg SHP1-B in the process of RLR-mediated IFN response. The current study not only sheds light on the regulative mechanism of SHP1 in fish immunity, but also provides a typical case of duplicated gene evolutionary fates.

Pierid species of the Aporia agathon group are among the largest Sino-Himalayan members of genus Aporia, with four conventionally recognised species, namely A. agathon, A. largeteaui, A. gigantea, and A. lemoulti. Recent publications indicated that some of these species may contain more than one species despite their similar morphological characters. The present research analysed this group of butterflies using mitogenomic data, and proved that A. japfuensis stat. nov., A. bifurcata stat. nov., A. moltrechti reinst. stat., A. kuangtungensis stat. nov. and A. omotoi stat. nov. should be recognised as distinct species, while lemoultistat. rev., gigantea stat. nov. and fanjinensis stat. rev. should be subspecies of A. largeteaui. Two new subspecies, namely A. kuangtungensis yufeii ssp. nov. and A. kuangtungensis josephi ssp. nov. were described. Illustrations of specimens and male and female genitalia of each taxon were provided in this article with an updated classification system. Variable melanism and yellow tinge are two major factors causing historical taxonomic confusion; thus, such characters should be less crucial for this species group. Future research is still necessary to elucidate the evolutionary history of these species along with other Aporia taxa, as well as the mechanism of variable melanism and yellow coloration.

In the present study, the complete mitogenome of Theretrajaponica was sequenced and compared with other sequenced mitogenomes of Sphingidae species. The mitogenome of T.japonica , containing 37 genes (13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, and two rRNA genes) and a region rich in adenine and thymine (AT-rich region), is a circular molecule with 15,399 base pairs (bp) in length. The order and orientation of the genes in the mitogenome are similar to those of other sequenced mitogenomes of Sphingidae species. All 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) are initiated by ATN codons except for the cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 gene ( cox1 ) which is initiated by the codon CGA as observed in other lepidopteran insects. Cytochrome C oxidase subunit 2 gene ( cox2 ) has the incomplete termination codon T and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 gene ( nad1 ) terminates with TAG while the remainder terminates with TAA. Additionally, the codon distributions of the 13 PCGs revealed that Ile and Leu2 are the most frequently used codon families and codons CGG, CGC, CCG, CAG, and AGG are absent. The 431 bp AT-rich region includes the motif ATAGA followed by a 23 bp poly-T stretch, short tandem repeats (STRs) of TC and TA, two copies of a 28 bp repeat ‘ATTAAATTAATAAATTAA TATATTAATA’ and a poly-A element. Phylogenetic analyses within Sphingidae confirmed that T.japonica belongs to the Macroglossinae and showed that the phylogenetic relationship of T.japonica is closer to Ampelophagarubiginosa than Daphnisnerii . Phylogenetic analyses within Theretra demonstrate that T.japonica , T.jugurtha , T.suffusa , and T.capensis are clustered into one clade.

In the present study, the complete mitogenome of Theretra japonica was sequenced and compared with other sequenced mitogenomes of Sphingidae species. The mitogenome of T. japonica, containing 37 genes (13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, and two rRNA genes) and a region rich in adenine and thymine (AT-rich region), is a circular molecule with 15,399 base pairs (bp) in length. The order and orientation of the genes in the mitogenome are similar to those of other sequenced mitogenomes of Sphingidae species. All 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs) are initiated by ATN codons except for the cytochrome C oxidase subunit 1 gene (cox1) which is initiated by the codon CGA as observed in other lepidopteran insects. Cytochrome C oxidase subunit 2 gene (cox2) has the incomplete termination codon T and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 gene (nad1) terminates with TAG while the remainder terminates with TAA. Additionally, the codon distributions of the 13 PCGs revealed that Ile and Leu2 are the most frequently used codon families and codons CGG, CGC, CCG, CAG, and AGG are absent. The 431 bp AT-rich region includes the motif ATAGA followed by a 23 bp poly-T stretch, short tandem repeats (STRs) of TC and TA, two copies of a 28 bp repeat ‘ATTAAATTAATAAATTAA TATATTAATA’ and a poly-A element. Phylogenetic analyses within Sphingidae confirmed that T. japonica belongs to the Macroglossinae and showed that the phylogenetic relationship of T. japonica is closer to Ampelophaga rubiginosa than Daphnis nerii. Phylogenetic analyses within Theretra demonstrate that T. japonica, T. jugurtha, T. suffusa, and T. capensis are clustered into one clade.

Stochastic resonance (SR) could amplify weak electric-field signals in nonlinear systems by means of the externally injected noises. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate a modified SR method, termed squeezing-induced SR, implemented in the system involving a trapped ion behaving as a Duffing oscillator. We find that squeezing the phase noise of the oscillator results in amplified fluctuation of the corresponding amplitude, which helps achieve the SR. Since no auxiliary noise source is needed, the squeezing-induced SR may enhance the signal-to-noise ratio by 4.28 \\(\\) 0.39 dB compared to the conventional noise-induced SR under identical conditions of the electric-field detection. This technique offers a promising approach for developing atomic ion sensors for detecting weak electric-field signals.

The exceptional point has presented considerably interesting and counterintuitive phenomena associated with nonreciprocity, precision measurement, and topological dynamics. The Liouvillian exceptional point (LEP), involving the interplay of energy loss and decoherence inherently relevant to quantum jumps, has recently drawn much attention due to capability to fully capture quantum system dynamics and naturally facilitate non-Hermitian quantum investigations. It was also predicted that quantum jumps could give rise to third-order LEPs in two-level quantum systems for its high dimensional Liouvillian superoperator, which, however, has never been experimentally confirmed until now. Here we report the first observation of the third-order LEPs emerging from quantum jumps in an ultracold two-level trapped-ion system. Moreover, by combining decay with dephasing processes, we present the first experimental exploration of LEPs involving combinatorial effect of decay and dephasing. In particular, due to non-commutativity between the Lindblad superoperators governing LEPs for decay and dephasing, we witness the movement of LEPs driven by the competition between decay and dephasing occurring in an open quantum system. This unique feature of non-Hermitian quantum systems paves a new avenue for modifying nonreciprocity, enhancing precision measurement, and manipulating topological dynamics by tuning the LEPs.

Epalrestat is a noncompetitive and reversible aldose reductase inhibitor used for the treatment of diabetic neuropathy. This study assumed that epalrestat had a protective effect on diabetic peripheral nerve injury by suppressing the expression of aldose reductase in peripheral nerves of diabetes mellitus rats. The high-fat and high-carbohydrate model rats were established by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. Peripheral neuropathy occurred in these rats after sustaining high blood glucose for 8 weeks. At 12 weeks after streptozotocin injection, rats were intragastrically administered epalrestat 100 mg/kg daily for 6 weeks. Transmission electron microscope revealed that the injuries to myelinated nerve fibers, non-myelinated nerve fibers and Schwann cells of rat sciatic nerves had reduced compared to rats without epalrestat administuation. Western blot assay and immunohistochemical results demonstrated that after intervention with epalrestat, the activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase gradually increased, but aldose reductase protein expression gradually diminished. Results confirmed that epalrestat could protect against diabetic peripheral neuropathy by relieving oxidative stress and suppressing the polyol pathway.