Variational principle for unsteady heat conduction equation

The semi-inverse method is used to establish a variational principle for an unsteady heat conduction equation

Expressions of Carbohydrate Response Element Binding Protein and Glucose Transporters in Liver Cancer and Clinical Significance

Carbohydrate response element binding protein (ChREBP) is a glucose-sensing transcription factor that mediates the induction of glycolytic and lipogenic genes in response to glucose. We investigated the expression patterns of ChREBP and glucose transporters (GLUTs) in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and their association with HCC progression. ChREBP, GLUT2 and GLUT1 immunohistochemistry were performed on liver tissue array containing normal liver tissue, HCC adjacent tissue and cancer tissue of different HCC stages. The effect of HCC malignancy on protein expression was analyzed with one-way ANOVA. The correlations between protein expressions were analyzed with Pearson Correlation test. We found that ChREBP protein expression tended to be positively correlated to liver malignancy. GLUT2 protein expression was significantly reduced in human HCC as compared to normal liver tissue and its expression in HCC was inversely associated to malignancy (p <0.001). In contrast, GLUT1 was significantly increased in cancer cells and its expression was positively correlated to malignancy (p <0.001). Furthermore, GLUT1 expression was positively associated to ChREBP expression (r = 0.481, p <0.0001, n = 70) but negatively correlated to GLUT2 expression (r = -0.320, p = 0.007, n = 70). Notably, ChREBP-expressing hepatocytes did not express GLUT2 but GLUT1. This is the first report unveiling expressions of ChREBP and GLUT2/GLUT1 and their relations in HCC. The expression patterns are related to malignancy and this information would facilitate evaluation of clinical behavior and treatment of HCC

InternEvo: Efficient Long-sequence Large Language Model Training via Hybrid Parallelism and Redundant Sharding

Large language models (LLMs) with long sequences begin to power more and more fundamentally new applications we use every day. Existing methods for long-sequence LLM training are neither efficient nor compatible with commonly-used training algorithms such as FlashAttention. We design InternEvo to address these issues. InternEvo decouples all of the sharding dimensions into a new hierarchical space, and systematically analyzes the memory and communication cost of LLM training. Then, it generates an effective hybrid parallelism strategy. We design a new selective overlap mechanism to mitigate the communication overhead introduced by the hybrid parallelism. We also implement memory management techniques to reduce GPU memory fragmentation. Evaluation results show that InternEvo generates parallelization strategies that match or outperform existing methods in model FLOPs utilization

Altered dynamic functional network connectivity in drug-naïve Parkinson’s disease patients with excessive daytime sleepiness

BackgroundExcessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a frequent nonmotor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), which seriously affects the quality of life of PD patients and exacerbates other nonmotor symptoms. Previous studies have used static analyses of these resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data were measured under the assumption that the intrinsic fluctuations during MRI scans are stationary. However, dynamic functional network connectivity (dFNC) analysis captures time-varying connectivity over short time scales and may reveal complex functional tissues in the brain.PurposeTo identify dynamic functional connectivity characteristics in PD-EDS patients in order to explain the underlying neuropathological mechanisms.MethodsBased on rs-fMRI data from 16 PD patients with EDS and 41 PD patients without EDS, we applied the sliding window approach, k-means clustering and independent component analysis to estimate the inherent dynamic connectivity states associated with EDS in PD patients and investigated the differences between groups. Furthermore, to assess the correlations between the altered temporal properties and the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) scores.ResultsWe found four distinct functional connectivity states in PD patients. The patients in the PD-EDS group showed increased fractional time and mean dwell time in state IV, which was characterized by strong connectivity in the sensorimotor (SMN) and visual (VIS) networks, and reduced fractional time in state I, which was characterized by strong positive connectivity intranetwork of the default mode network (DMN) and VIS, while negative connectivity internetwork between the DMN and VIS. Moreover, the ESS scores were positively correlated with fraction time in state IV.ConclusionOur results indicated that the strong connectivity within and between the SMN and VIS was characteristic of EDS in PD patients, which may be a potential marker of pathophysiological features related to EDS in PD patients

Respiratory Syncytial Virus Exacerbates Kidney Damages in IgA Nephropathy Mice via the C5a-C5aR1 Axis Orchestrating Th17 Cell Responses

Respiratory viral infections can directly lead to kidney damage such as IgA nephropathy (IgAN), partly due to mucosal immune system dysfunction. Although the activated C5a-C5aR1 axis results in increased Th1 and Th17 frequencies but reduced Treg frequencies in Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection, how this axis affects Th cell disorders in RSV-induced IgAN exacerbation remains unknown. Here, we used a mouse model to dissect the activation of C5a-C5aR1 by RSV and the consequences on the regulation of Th1, Th17, and Treg immune responses in IgA nephropathy. RSV fusion protein was clearly deposited not only in the pulmonary interstitium but also in the glomerulus in RSV-IgAN mice, and RSV infection led to more severe pathological changes in the kidneys in IgAN mice. Blocking the C5a-C5aR1 axis resulted in a decrease in the albumin-to-creatinine ratio, and the attenuation of kidney damage in IgAN and RSV-IgAN mice might be partly attributed to the inhibition of Th cell and cytokine dysfunction. Th1, Th17 and Treg immune responses and their corelative cytokines were disrupted by RSV infection and rescued by C5aR1 inhibition. Moreover, we constructed a coculture system of human mesangial cells and CD4+ T cells and found that RSV infection might lead to CD4+ T cell production via human mesangial cells-enhanced CD4+ T cell proliferation, consequently increasing IL-17 levels. These pathological behaviors were augmented by C5a stimulation and decreased by C5aR1 inhibition. Thus, C5aR1 inhibition alters both kidney damage and Th1, Th17, and Treg cell dysfunction in RSV-induced IgAN exacerbation and locally regulates HMC antigen presentation function in the kidney. Taken together, our data offer profound evidence that blocking the C5a-C5aR1 axis might be a potential therapy for RSV-induced IgAN

Existence Results of Periodic Solutions to First-Order Neutral Differential Equations on Time Scales

The purpose of this paper is to study the existence of periodic solutions for the first-order nonlinear neutral differential equation on time scales. Burton–Krasnoselskii’s fixed point theorem will be sufficiently general for application to the considered equation. An example has been carried out to show our results. It should be pointed out that the problem of periodic solutions is one of the current hot topics in the study of dynamic equations, which contains rich symmetry ideas and methods

Chitin Fiber and Chitosan 3D Composite Rods

Chitin fiber (CHF) and chitosan (CS) 3D composite rods with layer-by-layer structure were constructed by in situ precipitation method. CHF could not be dissolved in acetic acid aqueous solution, but CS could be dissolved due to the different deacetylation degree (D.D) between CHF and CS. CHF with undulate surfaces could be observed using SEM to demonstrate that the sufficiently rough surfaces and edges of the fiber could enhance the mechanical combining stress between fiber and matrix. XRD indicated that the crystallinity of CHF/CS composites decreased and CS crystal plane d-spacing of CHF/CS composites became larger than that of pure CS rod. TG analysis showed that mixing a little amount of CHF could enhance thermal stability of CS rod, but when the content of CHF was higher than the optimum amount, its thermal stability decreased. When 0.5% CHF was added into CS matrix, the bending strength and bending modulus of the composite rods arrived at 114.2 MPa and 5.2 GPa, respectively, increased by 23.6% and 26.8% compared with pure CS rods, indicating that CHF/CS composite rods could be a better candidate for bone fracture internal fixation