A pure quantum state of N subsystems, each with d levels, is said to be k-uniform if all of its reductions to k qudits are maximally mixed. Only the uniform states obtained from orthogonal arrays (OAs) are considered throughout this work. The Hamming distances of OAs are specially applied to the theory of quantum information. By using difference schemes and orthogonal partitions, we construct a series of infinite classes of irredundant orthogonal arrays (IrOAs), then answer the open questions of whether there exist 3-uniform states of N qubits and 2-uniform states of N qutrits, and whether 3-uniform states of qudits (d > 2) for high values of N can be explicitly constructed. In fact, we obtain 3-uniform states for an arbitrary number of N ≥ 8 qubits and 2uniform states of N qutrits for every N ≥ 4. Additionally, we provide explicit constructions of the 3-uniform states of N ≥ 8 qutrits, N = 6 and N ≥ 8 ququarts and ququints, N ≥ 6 qudits having d levels for any prime power d > 6, and N = 8 and N ≥ 12 qudits having d levels for non-prime-power d ≥ 6. Moreover, we describe an explicit construction scheme for the 2-uniform states of qudits having d ≥ 4 levels. The proofs of existence of the 2-uniform states of N ≥ 6 qubits are simplified by using a class of OAs. Two special 3uniform states are obtained from IrOA(32, 10, 2, 3) and IrOA(32, 11, 2, 3) using the interaction column property of OAs.

Bovine mastitis caused by Streptococcus dysgalactiae (S. dysgalactiae) is usually treated with antibiotics, which may potentially increase drug resistance as the abuse. NZ2114, a variant of fungal defensin plectasin, displayed a potent antibacterial activity against S. dysgalactiae. The inhibition/eradication effect of the antimicrobial peptide NZ2114 on the early/mature biofilm of S. dysgalactiae CVCC 3938 was evaluated, as well as the elimination of bacteria in mature biofilms. In this study, NZ2114 displayed potent antibacterial activity against S. dysgalactiae CVCC 3938 and three clinical isolated S. dysgalactiae strains (0.11-0.45 μM). The early biofilm inhibition of S. dysgalactiae CVCC 3938 was 55.5–85.9% after treatment with NZ2114 at concentrations of 1–16 × MIC, which was better than that of vancomycin at the same concentration. The mature biofilm eradication rate was up to 92.7–97.6% with the increasing concentration (2–16 × MIC) of NZ2114, and the eradication rate did not change significantly with further increase of NZ2114 concentration, while the biofilm eradication rate of vancomycin-treated group at the same concentration remained at 92.5%. NZ2114 reduced the number of persister bacteria in biofilm. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) further demonstrated that NZ2114 could effectively reduce the biofilm thickness and bacterial number of S. dysgalactiae CVCC 3938. In vivo therapeutic effect of NZ2114 on murine mastitis model showed that NZ2114 was better than vancomycin in alleviating mammary gland inflammation by regulating cytokines production, inhibiting bacterial proliferation, and reducing the number of mammary gland bacteria. These data suggested that NZ2114 is a potential peptide candidate for the treatment of mastitis.

Source of materialAsolution of phenanthroline (phen, 90 mg, 0.5 mmol) in 10 ml ethanol was slowly added to asolution of CrCl 3 ·6H 2 O(133 mg, 0.5 mmol) in 30 ml water. The reaction mixture was stirred for 3 hours with refluxing and then filtered. The resulting blue filtrate was allowed to stand at room temperature. After two weeks, gray prism-shaped crystals suitable for X-ray analysis were obtained. Experimental detailsAll the hydrogen atoms of the water molecules were found in difference Fourier maps. And the other Hatoms were treated as riding-model for phenanthroline with alkylene d(C-H) =0.93 Å, and their U iso =1.2U eq (carrier atom). DiscussionChromium complexes containing phenanthroline (phen) were rarely reported compared to that of other transitional metals, and most of chromium complexes were concerned because of their magnetic properties [1][2][3]. The title complex has been synthesized in aconvenient approach previously [4] and its bioactivity was investigated, but no crystal structural characterization was reported in the literature [5]. Astructure of chromium complex coordinated by phen, H 2 Oand Cl − together has not been reported yet, and the other transitional metal complexes with the similar composition to the title complex were also seldom reported [6][7][8][9] + cation possesses a C 2v symmetry, in which the central chromium ion adopts a trans-octahedral coordination CrN 2O2Cl2 with two Natoms of phen and two Oatoms of coordinate waters locating at equatorial planeand two Cl − anions occupying two apical positions. The Cr-N, Cr-Cl and Cr-O bond length with 2.059(2), 2.3160(8) and 1.975(2) Å,respectively, are close to those in the similar chromium complexes [10,11]. The Cl − acts as acounter anion and plays an important role in the formation of hydrogen-bonded two-dimensional network. Each Cl − ion links two coordinate and two crystal waters with O1-H1A···Cl2 [3.024(2) Å,160(3)°] and O2-H2B···Cl2 [3.208(3) Å,102(4)°], respectively, resulting in four O-H···Cl hydrogen bonds. There are also O1-H1B···O2 [2.617(3) Å, 180(4)°] hydrogen bonds between the coordinate and crystal waters, which connect the cations and crystal waters to at wodimensional layer structure together with O-H···Cl hydrogen bonds ( figure, bottom). The phen ligands lie the both sides of the layer shaped as hackle. The two-dimensional layers are further aggregated by the p-p packing interaction between the phen ligands from the adjacent layers, resulting in at hree-dimensional supramolecular structure.

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