Four infinite families of ternary cyclic codes with a square-root-like lower bound

Cyclic codes are an interesting type of linear codes and have wide applications in communication and storage systems due to their efficient encoding and decoding algorithms. Inspired by the recent work on binary cyclic codes published in IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 68, no. 12, pp. 7842-7849, 2022, and the arXiv paper arXiv:2301.06446, the objectives of this paper are the construction and analyses of four infinite families of ternary cyclic codes with length $n=3^m-1$ for odd $m$ and dimension $k \in \{n/2, (n + 2)/2\}$ whose minimum distances have a square-root-like lower bound. Their duals have parameters $[n, k^\perp, d^\perp]$, where $k^\perp \in \{n/2, (n- 2)/2\}$ and $d^\perp$ also has a square-root-like lower bound. These families of codes and their duals contain distance-optimal cyclic codes

Prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety and stress among clinical therapists in China in the context of early COVID-19 pandemic

ObjectivesTo study the socio-demographic characteristics and the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among clinical therapists in China during the early Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and to identify associated factors.MethodThis cross-sectional study was part of a multicenter, nationally representative survey conducted through WeChat from January 2021 to March 2021. Data, including socio-demographics, health-related behaviors, and information on whether they participated in the frontline work of treating COVID-19, were collected anonymously. Respondents also completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21).ResultsIn total, 396 clinical therapists in the selected hospitals completed the questionnaires, with a response rate of 89.0%. Respondents were predominantly female (77.3%). About 6.6% of the participants were current tobacco users, and 20.7% had participated in the frontline work of treating COVID-19. Overall, 22.0%, 17.9%, and 8.8% of participants were classified as having clinically meaningful depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively, based on DASS-21 scores. Multiple logistic regression in Model 1 and Model 2 showed that depression, anxiety, and stress were associated with regular physical activity and frequent insomnia (all, p < 0.05). In anxiety model 2, the associated factors for anxiety during the pandemic were identified as education (master’s degree or more, OR=0.520; 95% CI=0.283-0.955), marital status (single, OR=2.064; 95% CI=1.022-4.168), tobacco use (OR=4.265; 95% CI=1.352-13.454), regular physical activity (OR=0.357; 95% CI=0.192-0.663), frequent insomnia (OR=6.298; 95% CI =2.522-15.729), and participation in the frontline work of treating COVID-19 (OR=3.179; 95% CI=1.697-5.954). The COVID-19 epidemic did not significantly increase the depression and stress levels among clinical therapists, but it did significantly increase anxiety levels.ConclusionDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, depression, anxiety and stress were relatively common among clinical therapists in China. Regular physical activity and good sleep were important protective factors against emotional problems. Therefore, encouraging regular physical activity and actively addressing clinical therapists’ sleep problems is beneficial to improving the ability to cope with negative emotions. The COVID-19 epidemic significantly increased anxiety, and awareness and interventions should be recommended to reduce anxiety among clinical therapists during the COVID-19 pandemic

Molecular epidemiological characteristics of Mycobacterium leprae in highly endemic areas of China during the COVID-19 epidemic

ObjectivesThe present study analyzed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence and incidence of new leprosy cases, as well as the diversity, distribution, and temporal transmission of Mycobacterium leprae strains at the county level in leprae-endemic provinces in Southwest China.MethodsA total of 219 new leprosy cases during two periods, 2018–2019 and 2020–2021, were compared. We genetically characterized 83 clinical isolates of M. leprae in Guizhou using variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs) and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The obtained genetic profiles and cluster consequences of M. leprae were compared between the two periods.ResultsThere was an 18.97% decrease in the number of counties and districts reporting cases. Considering the initial months (January–March) of virus emergence, the number of new cases in 2021 increased by 167% compared to 2020. The number of patients with a delay of >12 months before COVID-19 (63.56%) was significantly higher than that during COVID-19 (48.51%). Eighty-one clinical isolates (97.60%) were positive for all 17 VNTR types, whereas two (2.40%) clinical isolates were positive for 16 VNTR types. The (GTA)9, (TA)18, (TTC)21 and (TA)10 loci showed higher polymorphism than the other loci. The VNTR profile of these clinical isolates generated five clusters, among which the counties where the patients were located were adjacent or relatively close to each other. SNP typing revealed that all clinical isolates possessed the single SNP3K.ConclusionCOVID-19 may have a negative/imbalanced impact on the prevention and control measures of leprosy, which could be a considerable fact for official health departments. Isolates formed clusters among counties in Guizhou, indicating that the transmission chain remained during the epidemic and was less influenced by COVID-19 preventative policies

PRIMPOL competes with RAD51 to resolve G-quadruplex-induced replication stress via its interaction with RPA

PRIMPOL (primase-polymerase) is a recently discovered DNA primase-polymerase involved in DNA damage tolerance and replication stress response in eukaryotic cells. However, the detailed mechanism of the PRIMPOL response to replication stress remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate that replication-related factors, including replication protein A (RPA), regulate the accumulation of PRIMPOL in subnuclear foci in response to replication stress induced by replication inhibitors. Moreover, PRIMPOL works at G-quadruplexes (G4s) in human cells to resolve the replication stress induced by G4s. The formation of PRIMPOL foci persists throughout the cell cycle. We further demonstrate that PRIMPOL competes with RAD51 to resolve G4-induced replication stress. In conclusion, our results provide novel insight into the mechanism of PRIMPOL in G4s to resolve replication stress and competition between PRIMPOL (repriming)- and RAD51 (fork reversal)-mediated pathways, which indicates a new strategy to improve the tumor response to DNA-damaging chemotherapy by targeting the PRIMPOL pathway

Investigation of contrarian strategies in the China market.

This study investigates the existence of contrarian profits in China stock markets when we buy losers and sell winners. The findings show that in the absence of transaction costs, short-term contrarian strategies do not generate significant profits, whereas significant intermediate and long-term contrarian profits exist. We carry out a two-stage regression to control for risks identified by the Fama and French three-factor model and establish that past returns are predictive of future returns. Our results are robust when using Fama and MacBeth regression. Taken together, our findings suggest that long-term contrarian profits exist in the China stock markets.BUSINES

The Solution of a Class of Singularly Perturbed Two-Point Boundary Value Problems by the Iterative Reproducing Kernel Method

In (Wang et al., 2011), we give an iterative reproducing kernel method (IRKM). The main contribution of this paper is to use an IRKM (Wang et al., 2011), in singular perturbation problems with boundary layers. Two numerical examples are studied to demonstrate the accuracy of the present method. Results obtained by the method indicate that the method is simple and effective

Emodin Ameliorates High Glucose Induced-Podocyte Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition In-Vitro and In-Vivo

Background: Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a potential pathway leading to podocyte depletion and proteinuria in diabetic kidney disease (DKD). Here, we investigated the protective effects of Emodin (EMO) on high glucose (HG) induced-podocyte EMT in-vitro and in-vivo. Methods: Conditionally immortalized mouse podocytes were exposed to HG with 30μg /ml of EMO and 1μmol/ml of integrin-linked kinase (ILK) inhibitor QLT0267 for 24 h. Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats were treated with EMO at 20 mg· kg-1· d-1 and QLT0267 at 10 mg· kg-1· w-1 p.o., for 12 weeks. Albuminuria and blood glucose level were measured. Immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, western blotting and real-time PCR were used to detect expression of ILK, the epithelial marker of nephrin and the mesenchymal marker of desmin in-vitro and in-vivo. Results: HG increased podocyte ILK and desmin expression while decreased nephrin expression. However, EMO significantly inhibited ILK and desmin expression and partially restored nephrin expression in HG-stimulated podocytes. These in-vitro observations were further confirmed in-vivo. Treatment with EMO for 12 weeks attenuated albuminuria, renal histopathology and podocyte foot process effacement in diabetic rats. EMO also repressed renal ILK and desmin expression, preserved nephrin expression, as well as ameliorated albuminuria in STZ-induced diabetic rats. Conclusion: EMO ameliorated glucose-induced EMT and subsequent podocyte dysfunction partly through ILK and desmin inhibition as well as nephrin upregulatiotion, which might provide a potential novel therapeutic option for DKD