Unraveling the Relationship between Co-Authorship and Research Interest

Co-authorship in scientific research is increasing in the past decades. There are lots of researches focusing on the pattern of co-authorship by using social network analysis. However, most of them merely concentrated on the properties of graphs or networks rather than take the contribution of authors to publications and the semantic information of publications into consideration. In this paper, we employ a contribution index to weight word vectors generated from publications so as to represent authors’ research interest, and try to explore the relationship between research interest and co-authorship. Result of curve estimation indicates that research interest couldn’t be employed to predict co-authorship. Therefore, graph-based researcher recommendation needs further examination

A combined approximating and interpolating subdivision scheme with C2 continuity

AbstractIn this paper a combined approximating and interpolating subdivision scheme is presented. The relationship between approximating subdivision and interpolating subdivision is derived by directly performing operations on geometric rules. The behavior of the limit curve produced by our combined subdivision scheme is analyzed by the Laurent polynomial and attains C2 degree of smoothness. Furthermore, a non-uniform combined subdivision with shape control parameters is introduced, which allows a different tension value for every edge of the original control polygon

Revise thermal winds of remnant neutron stars in gamma-ray bursts

It seems that the wealth of information revealed by the multi-messenger observations of the binary neutron star (NS) merger event, GW170817/GRB 170817A/kilonova AT2017gfo, places irreconcilable constraints to models of the prompt emission of this gamma-ray burst (GRB). The observed time delay between the merger of the two NSs and the trigger of the GRB and the thermal tail of the prompt emission can hardly be reproduced by these models simultaneously. We argue that the merger remnant should be an NS (last for, at least, a large fraction of 1s), and that the difficulty can be alleviated by the delayed formation of the accretion disk due to the absorption of high-energy neutrinos emitted by the NS and the delayed emergence of an effective viscous in the disk. Further, we extend the consideration of the effect of the energy deposition of neutrinos emitted from the NS. If the NS is the central object of a GRB with a distance and duration similar to that of GRB 170817A, thermal emission of the thermal bubble inflated by the NS after the termination of accretion may be detectable. If our scenario is verified, it would be of interest to investigate the cooling of nascent NSs.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, RAA accepte

To investigate the magnetic-field-induced distortion of NSs through GRB X-ray plateaus

Magnetic field may distort neutron stars (NSs), but the effect has not been robustly tested through gravitational-wave observation yet due to the absence of a fast rotating Galactic magnetar. The central objects of Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) could be millisecond magnetars. Under the magnetar scenario on the X-ray plateaus of GRB afterglows,the spindown evolution modulated by the gravitational-wave radiation may be inferred from some special samples, so that the magnetically-induced distorting can be further estimated. According to two samples, GRB 060807 and GRB 070521, we found that the correlation between the effective ellipticity, $\varepsilon_{\rm B,eff}$, and effective dipole magnetic field strength on a neutron star (NS) surface, $B_{\rm eff}$, is $\varepsilon_{\rm B,eff}\sim 10^{-4} (\frac{B_{\rm eff}}{10^{14}\;\rm G})^{2}$. This result demands that $B_{\rm eff}\sim 0.01 B_{\rm t}$ with $B_{\rm t}$ being the internal toroidal magnetic field strength of NSs. We suggested that the torque generated during few unsymmetrical massive-star collapses may induce differential rotations in proto-NSs to amplify the internal toroidal fields.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, RAA submitte

Biochemical Characterization and Phylogenetic Analysis of the Virulence Factor Lysine Decarboxylase From Vibrio vulnificus

Cadaverine is produced in organisms from the amino acid lysine in a decarboxylation reaction catalyzed by lysine decarboxylase (EC 4.1.1.18). The inducible lysine decarboxylase CadA plays a vital role in acid stress response for enteric bacteria. Vibrio vulnificus is an extremely virulent human pathogen causing gastroenteritis when the acid conditions that prevent survival of V. vulnificus in the stomach or small intestine are overcome. A gene encoding CadA was identified from V. vulnificus. Subsequent analyses showed that CadA from V. vulnificus (VvCadA) is a decamer with a 82-kDa subunit. Homogenous VvCadA was purified from Escherichia coli and used for lysine decarboxylation with an optimal pH of 6.0 and optimal temperature of 37°C. The apparent Vmax and Km for lysine were 9.45 ± 0.24 μM/min and 0.45 ± 0.05 mM, respectively. Mutation analysis suggested that the amino-acid-binding pyridoxal phosphate, the cofactor of the enzyme, plays a vital role in the reaction. Mutation of the negatively charged residues interacting with lysine also affected the activity of the enzyme to some extent. Quantitative RT-PCR showed that expression of VvcadA was up-regulated under low pH, low salinity, and oxidative stresses. Furthermore, the concentration of cadaverine released to the cell exterior also increased under these stresses. Protein sequence similarity network (SSN) analysis indicated that lysine decarboxylases with ornithine decarboxylases and arginine decarboxylases shared a common ancestor, and that lysine decarboxylases are more conserved during evolution. Our data provide evidence for the biochemical characteristics and important roles of VvCadA under stress conditions

Clinical diagnostic biomarker “circulating tumor cells” in breast cancer - a meta-analysis

ObjectiveUsing meta-analysis, we evaluate circulating tumor cells(CTCs) as a potential diagnostic tool for breast cancer.MethodsA document search was conducted using publicly available databases up to May 2021. Specific inclusion and exclusion criteria were formulated and summarize relevant data through literature types, research types, case populations, samples, etc. Subgroup analysis of documents based on regions, enrichment methods, and detection methods. The included research projects were evaluated using DeeKs’ bias, and evaluation indicators such as specificity (SPE), sensitivity (SEN), diagnosis odds ratio (DOR) were used as evaluation indicators.Results16 studies on the use of circulating tumor cells to diagnose breast cancer were included in our meta-analysis. Overall sensitivity value was 0.50 (95%CI:0.48-0.52), specificity value was 0.93 (95%CI:0.92- 0.95), DOR value was 33.41 (95%CI:12.47-89.51), and AUC value was 0.8129.ConclusionIn meta-regressions and subgroup analysis, potential heterogeneity factors were analyzed, but the source of heterogeneity is still unclear. CTCs, as a novel tumor marker, have a good diagnostic value, but its enrichment and detection methods still need to continue to be developed to improve detection accuracy. Therefore, CTCs can be used as an auxiliary means of early detection, which is helpful to the diagnosis and screening of breast cancer

Roles of a CCR4–NOT complex component GmNOT4-1 in regulating soybean nodulation

Legume-rhizobial symbiotic nitrogen fixation is the most efficient nitrogen assimilation system in the ecosystem. In the special interaction between organ–root nodules, legumes supply rhizobial carbohydrates for their proliferation, while rhizobials provide host plants with absorbable nitrogen. Nodule initiation and formation require a complex molecular dialogue between legumes and rhizobia, which involves the accurate regulation of a series of legume genes. The CCR4–NOT complex is a conserved multi-subunit complex with functions regulating gene expression in many cellular processes. However, the functions of the CCR4–NOT complex in rhizobia–host interactions remain unclear. In this study, we identified seven members of the NOT4 family in soybean and further classified them into three subgroups. Bioinformatic analysis showed that NOT4s shared relatively conserved motifs and gene structures in each subgroup, while there were significant differences between NOT4s in the different subgroups. Expression profile analysis indicated that NOT4s may be involved in nodulation in soybean, as most of them were induced by Rhizobium infection and highly expressed in nodules. We further selected GmNOT4-1 to clarify the biological function of these genes in soybean nodulation. Interestingly, we found that either GmNOT4-1 overexpression or down-regulation of GmNOT4-1 by RNAi or CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing would suppress the number of nodules in soybean. Intriguingly, alterations in the expression of GmNOT4-1 repressed the expression of genes in the Nod factor signaling pathway. This research provides new insight into the function of the CCR4–NOT family in legumes and reveals GmNOT4-1 to be a potent gene for regulating symbiotic nodulation

Microbial-Driven Butyrate Regulates Jejunal Homeostasis in Piglets During the Weaning Stage

Microbe-derived butyrate plays an important role in the gut health of young mammals during the weaning stage. A greater understanding of how butyrate regulates intestinal development is necessary for overcoming post-weaning diarrheal diseases. We aimed to investigate whether jejunal microbial metabolite butyrate modulates the apoptosis/proliferation balance and immune response in piglets during the post-weaning period of the first 3 weeks of life. On the one hand, during the first week post-weaning, the relative abundances of the dominant bacterial families Erysipelotrichaceae (P < 0.01) and Lachnospiraceae (P < 0.01) were increased, which induced decreases in both butyrate production (P < 0.05) and its receptor (G-protein coupled receptor 43) expression (P < 0.01). The resulting intestinal inflammation (inferred from increased TNF-α and IFN-γ expression) contributed to the onset of cell apoptosis and the inhibition of cell-proliferation along the crypt-villus axis, which were followed by impaired jejunal morphology (i.e., increased crypt-depth) (P < 0.05) and intestinal dysfunction (i.e., decreased creatine kinase, and lactate dehydrogenase) (P < 0.05). On the other hand, during the second week post-weaning, the relative abundances of Lactobacillaceae (P < 0.01) and Ruminococcaceae (P < 0.05) were increased. The increases were accompanied by increased butyrate production (P < 0.05) and its receptor expression (P < 0.01), leading to the inhibition of cell apoptosis and the stimulation of cell proliferation via decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines and thereby the improvement of intestinal development and function. Herein, this study demonstrates that microbial-driven butyrate might be a key modulator in the maintenance of intestinal homeostasis after weaning. The findings suggest that strategies to promote butyrate production can maintain the apoptosis/proliferation balance via minimizing intestinal inflammation, and thereby improving post-weaning jejunal adaptation toward gut health