Dynamical topology and statistical properties of spatiotemporal chaos

For spatiotemporal chaos described by partial differential equations, there are generally locations where the dynamical variable achieves its local extremum or where the time partial derivative of the variable vanishes instantaneously. To a large extent, the location and movement of these topologically special points determine the qualitative structure of the disordered states. We analyze numerically statistical properties of the topologically special points in one-dimensional spatiotemporal chaos. The probability distribution functions for the number of point, the lifespan, and the distance covered during their lifetime are obtained from numerical simulations. Mathematically, we establish a probabilistic model to describe the dynamics of these topologically special points. In despite of the different definitions in different spatiotemporal chaos, the dynamics of these special points can be described in a uniform approach.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Analysis of Demographic Characteristics and Psychological Factors of Opioid Addicts in Zhengzhou Area

Objective: To explore the demographic characteristics and psychological factors of patients with opioid addiction. Methods: A random number method was used to select 200 opioid-addicted patients admitted to the 7th People’s Hospital of Zhengzhou from January 2019 to February 2020. Demographic characteristics and psychosocial factors were analyzed. Result: The proportion of opioid addicts aged 21 ~ 30 was the highest; the proportion of men was significantly higher; the proportion of people who is between jobs/unemployed is the highest; the proportion of junior middle school was the highest, and the proportion of unmarried was relatively high; the proportion of opioid addicts with ignorance/curiosity for the cause of first addiction was the highest; the use of suction is snorting, accounting for the highest proportion. According to the analysis of relevant social and psychological factors, the proportion of single parent family group is the highest, the proportion of parent tension is the highest, and the proportion of bad life coping style is relatively high. At the same time, dependent psychology occupies the highest proportion in psychological factors of relapse patients. Conclusion: By analyzing the demographic characteristics of opioid addicts and the psychosocial factors of their addiction, we can strengthen prevention and management for specific groups to reduce the new addition and relapse of opioid addicts

The ectomycorrhizal fungus Scleroderma bovista improves growth of hazelnut seedlings and plays a role in auxin signaling and transport

IntroductionScleroderma bovista can form symbiotic ectomycorrhizal fungi with hazel roots. The mechanism through which S. bovista promotes hazelnut growth remains unclear.MethodsThis study aimed to evaluate the effect of ectomycorrhizal fungus S. bovista on the growth and development of hazel roots and gene expression changes through comparative transcriptome analysis.ResultsAfter inoculation with S. bovista, the fungus symbiotically formed ectomycorrhiza with hazel roots. The fresh weights of the aboveground and underground parts of My treatment (inoculated with S. bovista and formed mycorrhiza) were much higher than those of the control, respectively. The length, project area, surface area, volume, forks, and diameter of the inoculated seedlings root were 1.13 to 2.48 times higher than those of the control. In the paired comparison, 3,265 upregulated and 1,916 downregulated genes were identified. The most significantly enriched Gene Ontology term for the upregulated Differentially Expressed Genes was GO:0005215 (transporter activity). Immunohistochemical analysis suggested that the expression levels of auxin and Auxin Response Factor9 were significantly increased by S. bovista after the formation of mycorrhizal fungi in hazelnut root tips.DiscussionThese results indicate that genes related to auxin biosynthesis, transport and signaling, and transport of nutrients may contribute to root development regulation in hazel ectomycorrhiza

Management of prolactinoma: a survey of endocrinologists in China

Objective: To assess the current management of prolactinoma among endocrinologists in China. Methods: An online survey of a large sample of endocrinologists was conducted in China. The questionnaire included 21 questions related to controversial issues about the management of prolactinomas. Doctors in the endocrinology department of a university-affiliated hospital or a comprehensive secondary hospital in 12 cities from East, West, South, North and Middle China were surveyed. Results: A total of 290 valid questionnaires were collected, and the response rate was 40%. When hyperprolactinemia occurred, 97% of the respondents would test thyroid-stimulating hormone routinely. 22% of the respondents considered that prolactin levels 250 ng/mL could occur in all the following situations as macroprolactinoma, mircoprolactinoma, macroprolactinemia and drug-induced hyperprolactinemia. Surgery was not recommended by 272 (94%) endocrinologists as the first choice for treating microprolactinomas. 58% and 92% of endocrinologists would start drug treatment for microprolactinomas and macroprolactinomas at diagnosis. 70% and 40% chose to withdraw treatment after 2–3 years of prolactin normalization in microprolactinomas and macroprolactinomas. In case of pregnancy, 57% of the respondents considered bromocriptine as choice for women patients. Drug discontinuation after pregnancy was advocated in 63% and 27% for microprolactinoma and macroprolactinoma. Moreover, 44% of endocrinologists believed that breastfeeding was allowable in both micro- and macroprolactinoma. Conclusion: This is the first study to investigate the management of prolactinomas among endocrinologists in China. We found that the current clinical treatment was not uniform. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the training of endocrinologists to improve clinical diagnosis and treatment practices

The indirect efficacy comparison of DNA methylation in sputum for early screening and auxiliary detection of lung cancer: A meta-analysis

Background: DNA methylation in sputum has been an attractive candidate biomarker for the non-invasive screening and detection of lung cancer. Materials and Methods: Databases including PubMed, Ovid, Cochrane library, Web of Science databases, Chinese Biological Medicine (CBM), Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang, Vip Databases and Google Scholar were searched to collect the diagnostic trials on aberrant DNA methylation in the screening and detection of lung cancer published until 1 December 2016. Indirect comparison meta-analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of the included candidate genes. Results: The systematic literature search yielded a total of 33 studies including a total of 4801 subjects (2238 patients with lung cancer and 2563 controls) and covering 32 genes. We identified that methylated genes in sputum samples for the early screening and auxiliary detection of lung cancer yielded an overall sensitivity of 0.46 (0.41–0.50) and specificity of 0.83 (0.80–0.86). Combined indirect comparisons identified the superior gene of SOX17 (sensitivity: 0.84, specificity: 0.88), CDO1 (sensitivity: 0.78, specificity: 0.67), ZFP42 (sensitivity: 0.87, specificity: 0.63) and TAC1 (sensitivity: 0.86, specificity: 0.75). Conclusions: The present meta-analysis demonstrates that methylated SOX17, CDO1, ZFP42, TAC1, FAM19A4, FHIT, MGMT, p16, and RASSF1A are potential superior biomarkers for the screening and auxiliary detection of lung cancer

Novel Genetic Risk and Metabolic Signatures of Insulin Signaling and Androgenesis in the Anovulation of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

Funding Information: The authors are grateful to all staff in the PCOSAct group for their effort in the collection of blood samples and clinical dataset which used in current study. Special thanks to Prof. Attila Toth from Institute of Physiological Chemistry, Dresden, Germany for the REC114 antibody. This study was supported by the National key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFC1709500); the National Collaboration Project of Critical Illness by Integrating Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine; the Project of Heilongjiang Province Innovation Team “TouYan;” the Yi-Xun Liu and Xiao-Ke Wu Academician Workstation; the Innovation Team of Reproductive Technique with Integrative Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine in Xuzhou City, China; Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine from the National Clinical Trial Base; Heilongjiang Provincial Clinical Research Center for Ovary Diseases; the Research Grant Council (T13-602/21-N, C5045-20EF, and 14122021); and Food and Health Bureau in Hong Kong, China (06171026). Ben Willem J. Mol is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator grant (GNT1176437). Ben Willem J. Mol reports consultancy for ObsEva and Merck and travel support from Merck. Xiaoke Wu, Yongyong Shi, and Chi Chiu Wang developed the research question and designed the study. Xiaoke Wu, Yongyong Shi, Yijuan Cao, and Chi Chiu Wang designed the analysis. Yongyong Shi and Zhiqiang Li contributed to the design of the experiment of whole-exome plus targeted SNP sequencing and the analysis, and interpreted the results. Jingshu Gao, Hui Chang, Duojia Zhang, Jing Cong, Yu Wang, Qi Wu, Xiaoxiao Han, Pui Wah Jacqueline Chung, Yiran Li, and Lin Zeng contributed to the experiment of metabolic profile and immunofluorescent staining and the analysis, and interpreted the results. Astrid Borchert and Hartmut Kuhn provided antibody support and advice. Xu Zheng and Lingxi Chen contributed to create the predictive model with deep machine learning. Jian Li, Qi Wu, Hongli Ma, Xu Zheng, and Lingxi Chen contributed to the analysis of the clinical characteristics and interpreted the results. Jian Li, Hongli Ma, Hui Chang, Jing Cong, and Chi Chiu Wang drafted the manuscript. All authors reviewed and revised the manuscript. Xiaoke Wu is the guarantor of this work and, as such, had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Xiaoke Wu, Chi Chiu Wang, Yijuan Cao, Jian Li, Zhiqiang Li, Hongli Ma, Jingshu Gao, Hui Chang, Duojia Zhang, Jing Cong, Yu Wang, Qi Wu, Xiaoxiao Han, Pui Wah Jacqueline Chung, Yiran Li, Xu Zheng, Lingxi Chen, Lin Zeng, Astrid Borchert, Hartmut Kuhn, Zijiang Chen, Ernest Hung Yu Ng, Elisabet Stener-Victorin, Heping Zhang, Richard S. Legro, Ben Willem J. Mol, and Yongyong Shi declare that they have no conflict of interest or financial conflicts to disclose. Funding Information: This study was supported by the National key Research and Development Program of China ( 2019YFC1709500 ); the National Collaboration Project of Critical Illness by Integrating Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine ; the Project of Heilongjiang Province Innovation Team “TouYan;” the Yi-Xun Liu and Xiao-Ke Wu Academician Workstation; the Innovation Team of Reproductive Technique with Integrative Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine in Xuzhou City , China; Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine from the National Clinical Trial Base ; Heilongjiang Provincial Clinical Research Center for Ovary Diseases ; the Research Grant Council ( T13-602/21-N , C5045-20EF , and 14122021 ); and Food and Health Bureau in Hong Kong, China ( 06171026 ). Publisher Copyright: © 2023Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dose-Response Aligned Circuits in Signaling Systems

Cells use biological signal transduction pathways to respond to environmental stimuli and the behavior of many cell types depends on precise sensing and transmission of external information. A notable property of signal transduction that was characterized in the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast cell and many mammalian cells is the alignment of dose-response curves. It was found that the dose response of the receptor matches closely the dose responses of the downstream. This dose-response alignment (DoRA) renders equal sensitivities and concordant responses in different parts of signaling system and guarantees a faithful information transmission. The experimental observations raise interesting questions about the nature of the information transmission through DoRA signaling networks and design principles of signaling systems with this function. Here, we performed an exhaustive computational analysis on network architectures that underlie the DoRA function in simple regulatory networks composed of two and three enzymes. The minimal circuits capable of DoRA were examined with Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Several motifs that are essential for the dynamical function of DoRA were identified. Systematic analysis of the topology space of robust DoRA circuits revealed that, rather than fine-tuning the network's parameters, the function is primarily realized by enzymatic regulations on the controlled node that are constrained in limiting regions of saturation or linearity

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead