Boundary behaviour of the unique solution to a singular Dirichlet problem with a convection term

AbstractBy Karamata regular variation theory and constructing comparison functions, we derive that the boundary behaviour of the unique solution to a singular Dirichlet problem −Δu=b(x)g(u)+λ|∇u|q, u>0, x∈Ω, u|∂Ω=0, which is independent of λ|∇uλ|q, where Ω is a bounded domain with smooth boundary in RN, λ∈R, q∈(0,2], lims→0+g(s)=+∞, and b is non-negative on Ω, which may be vanishing on the boundary

Correlation between Internet Addiction Disorder and Mental Health of Junior Middle School Students in Chengdu

Objective: To study the prevalence and main influencing factors of Internet addiction among junior middle school students in Chengdu, and to provide scientific basis for the prevention and intervention of Internet addiction. Methods: From September to December 2017, 3,607 junior middle school students were randomly selected from 8 middle schools in Chengdu by stratified cluster sampling, and investigated by selfmade questionnaire. SPSS 19.0 software was used for χ 2 test and multiple linear regression analysis. Results: 174 of 3,607 junior middle school students in Chengdu were diagnosed with Internet addiction, and the detection rate of Internet addiction was 4.8%. There were significant differences in the scores of mental health, learning pressure, parent-child relationship and peer relationship between Internet addiction and non-internet addiction junior middle school students (P < 0.05). The results of multiple linear regression showed that family economic status, learning pressure, depression and anxiety were positively correlated with internet addiction, while parent-child relationship, peer relationship and social support were negatively correlated with Internet addiction (P < 0.05, P < 0.01). Conclusion: The detection rate of Internet addiction among junior middle school students in Chengdu is at a low level. Junior middle school students with low social support and high depression and anxiety have a higher risk of Internet addiction, which can be reduced by improving their mental health

Editorial: Engineering probiotics for multiple interventions on intestinal diseases

No abstract available

Real-time study of rapid spread of antibiotic resistance plasmid in biofilm using microfluidics

Gene transfer in biofilms is known to play an important role in antibiotic resistance dissemination. However, the process remains poorly understood. In this study, microfluidics with time-lapse imaging was used for real-time monitoring of plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in biofilms. Pseudomonas putida KT2440 harboring an antibiotic resistance plasmid RP4 was chosen as the donor while Escherichia coli and activated sludge bacteria were used as the recipient cells. Dynamic features of the transfer process, including the transfer rate, cell growth rate and kinetic changes of the transfer frequency, were determined. It was found that the routes for gene transfer strongly depend on the structure and composition of a biofilm. While intraspecies HGT is essential to initiate a transfer event, the secondary retransfer from transconjugants to the same species is more efficient and can cause cascading gene spread in single-strain biofilms. For the activated sludge biofilm, only small and scattered colonies formed and vertical gene transfer appears to be the dominant route after initial intraspecies transfer. Furthermore, more than 46% of genera in the activated sludge were permissive to plasmid RP4, many of which are associated with human pathogens. These phenomena imply early prevention and interruptions to biofilm structure could provide an effect way to inhibit rapid antibiotic resistance gene spread and reduce the likelihood of catastrophic events associated with antibiotic resistance

Enhanced baseline activity in the left ventromedial putamen predicts individual treatment response in drug-naive, first-episode schizophrenia: Results from two independent study samples

BACKGROUND: Antipsychotic medications are the common treatment for schizophrenia. However, reliable biomarkers that can predict individual treatment response are still lacking. The present study aimed to examine whether baseline putamen activity can predict individual treatment response in schizophrenia. METHODS: Two independent samples of patients with drug-naive, first-episode schizophrenia (32 patients in sample 1 and 44 in sample 2) and matched healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at baseline. Patients were treated with olanzapine for 8 weeks; symptom severity was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) at baseline and week 8. Fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (fALFF) and pattern classification techniques were used to analyze the data. FINDINGS: Univariate analysis shows an elevated pre-treatment fALFF in the left ventromedial putamen in both patient samples compared to healthy controls (p\u27s \u3c 0.001). The support vector regression (SVR) analysis suggests a positive relationship between baseline pre-treatment fALFF in the left ventromedial putamen and improvement in positive symptom at week 8 in each patient group using a cross-validated method (r=0.452, p=.002; r=0.511, p=.003, respectively). INTERPRETATION: Our study suggests that elevated pre-treatment mean fALFF in the left ventromedial putamen may predict individual therapeutic response to olanzapine treatment in drug-naive, first-episode patients with schizophrenia. Future studies are needed to confirm whether this finding is generalizable to patients with schizophrenia treated with other antipsychotic medications. FUND: The National Key RandD Program of China and the National Natural Science Foundation of China

Precise and label-free tumour cell recognition based on a black phosphorus nanoquenching platform

Breast cancer is a type of heterogeneous disease, which manifests as different molecular subtypes due to the complex nature of tumour initiation, progression, and metastasis. Accurate identification of a breast cancer subtype plays crucial roles in breast cancer management. Herein, taking advantage of the efficient quenching properties of black phosphorus nanosheets (BPNSs), in combination with the high specificity of ssDNA (or RNA) aptamer, a fluorometric duplexed assay that is capable of the simultaneous detection of two tumour markers within one run is developed. When mixed with BPNSs, the fluorescence of both FAM and Cy3 labelled aptamers was quenched. The presence of different subtypes of breast cancer cells restored the FAM and Cy3 fluorescence in distinct patterns according to their intrinsic features. The proposed assay can precisely recognise label-free breast cancer subtypes, providing an efficient method for cell type identification and guidance for subsequent breast cancer treatment. The significance of the proposed study is two-fold. First, we provide a simple method for sensitive and specific tumour cell detection; secondly, and more importantly, the proposed dual assay allows precise recognition of tumour cells and thus opens a door for rapid characterization and sorting of a wide range of tumours without using expensive instruments