Temperature Dependence of the Effective Bag Constant and the Radius of a Nucleon in the Global Color Symmetry Model of QCD

We study the temperature dependence of the effective bag constant, the mass, and the radius of a nucleon in the formalism of the simple global color symmetry model in the Dyson-Schwinger equation approach of QCD with a Gaussian-type effective gluon propagator. We obtain that, as the temperature is lower than a critical value, the effective bag constant and the mass decrease and the radius increases with the temperature increasing. As the critical temperature is reached, the effective bag constant and the mass vanish and the radius tends to infinity. At the same time, the chiral quark condensate disappears. These phenomena indicate that the deconfinement and the chiral symmetry restoration phase transitions can take place at high temperature. The dependence of the critical temperature on the interaction strength parameter in the effective gluon propagator of the approach is given.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure

Dyson-Schwinger Equations with a Parameterized Metric

We construct and solve the Dyson-Schwinger equation (DSE) of quark propagator with a parameterized metric, which connects the Euclidean metric with the Minkowskian one. We show, in some models, the Minkowskian vacuum is different from the Euclidean vacuum. The usual analytic continuation of Green function does not make sense in these cases. While with the algorithm we proposed and the quark-gluon vertex ansatz which preserves the Ward-Takahashi identity, the vacuum keeps being unchanged in the evolution of the metric. In this case, analytic continuation becomes meaningful and can be fully carried out.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. To appear in Physical Review

Seroprevalence and Risk Factors of Chlamydia abortus

Chlamydia abortus, an important pathogen in a variety of animals, is associated with abortion in sheep. In the present study, 1732 blood samples, collected from Tibetan sheep between June 2013 and April 2014, were examined by the indirect hemagglutination (IHA) test, aiming to evaluate the seroprevalence and risk factors of C. abortus infection in Tibetan sheep. 323 of 1732 (18.65%) samples were seropositive for C. abortus antibodies at the cut-off of 1 : 16. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the risk factors associated with seroprevalence, which could provide foundation to prevent and control C. abortus infection in Tibetan sheep. Gender of Tibetan sheep was left out of the final model because it is not significant in the logistic regression analysis (P>0.05). Region, season, and age were considered as major risk factors associated with C. abortus infection in Tibetan sheep. Our study revealed a widespread and high prevalence of C. abortus infection in Tibetan sheep in Gansu province, northwest China, with higher exposure risk in different seasons and ages and distinct geographical distribution

Spike in transient photocurrent of organic solar cell: Exciton dissociation at interface

The effect of exciton interfacial dissociation on transient photocurrent (TPC) in a single-layer organic solar cell is investigated within a time-dependent device model. The spike observed in TPC experiments is attributed to exciton dissociation at the electrode/organic interface. In comparison with the observed negative signal of transient photovoltage (TPV), the spike more directly reflects the charge processes at the interface. Moreover, numerical results show that the spike of TPC is sensitive to the voltage applied on the device and the hole mobility of the organic semiconductor. Further investigation on the spike by the favorable TPC technique is suggested to provide details about the exciton and carrier processes at the interface

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of medication and its influencing factors among residents in western China: a large-scale cross-sectional study

BackgroundThis study aimed to understand the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of drug use among residents in western China and its influencing factors for accurately designing the knowledge, contents, and methods of popular science activities for safe drug use among residents to provide a reference for conducting rational drug use educational activities and improving residents’ level of safe drug use.MethodsA cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the KAP of medication among western China residents and its influencing factors from March to April 2023. Each question option was assigned a score according to logic, and the risk factors for resident medication safety KAP were explored through univariate and logistic regression analyses.ResultsA total of 7,557 valid questionnaires were collected, with an effective recovery rate of 96.7%. The average scores of KAP were 72.77 ± 22.91, 32.89 ± 10.64, and 71.27 ± 19.09, respectively. In the evaluation criteria of the questionnaire, the score of medication knowledge reached “good,” and the score of attitude and practice was “average.” Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that male sex and low education level were significant factors affecting the lack of drug knowledge among residents. Old age and low education level were the factors of poor attitude toward medication. The low condition of medical security was a factor in residents’ irregular drug use behavior.ConclusionThe overall level of rational drug use among residents in western China is good, but there are still some inconsistencies. Rational drug use education should be conducted according to the risk points of residents in drug safety KAP to further improve the level of rational drug use of residents

CXCL9 Is a Potential Biomarker of Immune Infiltration Associated With Favorable Prognosis in ER-Negative Breast Cancer

The chemokine CXCL9 (C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 9) has been reported to be required for antitumour immune responses following immune checkpoint blockade. In this study, we sought to investigate the potential value of CXCL9 according to immune responses in patients with breast cancer (BC). A variety of open-source databases and online tools were used to explore the expression features and prognostic significance of CXCL9 in BC and its correlation with immune-related biomarkers followed by subsequent verification with immunohistochemistry experiments. The CXCL9 mRNA level was found to be significantly higher in BC than in normal tissue and was associated with better survival outcomes in patients with ER-negative tumours. Moreover, CXCL9 is significantly correlated with immune cell infiltration and immune-related biomarkers, including CTLA4, GZMB, LAG3, PDCD1 and HAVCR2. Finally, we performed immunohistochemistry with breast cancer tissue samples and observed that CXCL9 is highly expressed in the ER-negative subgroup and positively correlated with the immune-related factors LAG3, PD1, PDL1 and CTLA4 to varying degrees. These findings suggest that CXCL9 is an underlying biomarker for predicting the status of immune infiltration in ER-negative breast cancer

Current Mathematical Methods Used in QSAR/QSPR Studies

This paper gives an overview of the mathematical methods currently used in quantitative structure-activity/property relationship (QASR/QSPR) studies. Recently, the mathematical methods applied to the regression of QASR/QSPR models are developing very fast, and new methods, such as Gene Expression Programming (GEP), Project Pursuit Regression (PPR) and Local Lazy Regression (LLR) have appeared on the QASR/QSPR stage. At the same time, the earlier methods, including Multiple Linear Regression (MLR), Partial Least Squares (PLS), Neural Networks (NN), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and so on, are being upgraded to improve their performance in QASR/QSPR studies. These new and upgraded methods and algorithms are described in detail, and their advantages and disadvantages are evaluated and discussed, to show their application potential in QASR/QSPR studies in the future

First report on identification and genomic analysis of a novel porcine circovirus (porcine circovirus 4) in cats

Porcine circovirus type 4 (PCV4) is an emerging circovirus, which has been detected in domestic pigs across various provinces in China and Korea. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether cats are susceptible to PCV4. For this purpose, we collected 116 cat samples from animal hospitals in Sichuan Province, China, between 2021 and 2022. Using a SYBR Green-based real-time PCR assay, we detected PCV4 in 5 out of the 116 clinical samples, indicating a positive rate of 4.31% (5/116) and confirming the presence of PCV4 in cats from Sichuan Province, China. Moreover, we successfully sequenced and analyzed the complete genome of one PCV4 strain (SCGA-Cat) along with 60 reference sequences deposited in the GenBank database. SCGA-Cat exhibited high nucleotide homology (98.2–99.0%) with PCV4 strains from other species, including dogs, pigs, dairy cows, and fur animals. Notably, the SCGA-Cat strain from cats clustered closely with a PCV4 strain derived from a pig collected in Fujian Province, China. To the best of our knowledge, this study represents the first report on the molecular detection of PCV4 in cats worldwide, which prompted us to understand the genetic diversity and cross-species transmission of the ongoing PCV4 cases. However, further investigations are needed to explore the association between PCV4 infection and clinical syndromes in cats

Effect of Size-Dependent Thermal Instability on Synthesis of Zn2 SiO4-SiOx Core–Shell Nanotube Arrays and Their Cathodoluminescence Properties

Vertically aligned Zn2SiO4-SiOx(x < 2) core–shell nanotube arrays consisting of Zn2SiO4-nanoparticle chains encapsulated into SiOx nanotubes and SiOx-coated Zn2SiO4 coaxial nanotubes were synthesized via one-step thermal annealing process using ZnO nanowire (ZNW) arrays as templates. The appearance of different nanotube morphologies was due to size-dependent thermal instability and specific melting of ZNWs. With an increase in ZNW diameter, the formation mechanism changed from decomposition of “etching” to Rayleigh instability and then to Kirkendall effect, consequently resulting in polycrystalline Zn2SiO4-SiOx coaxial nanotubes, single-crystalline Zn2SiO4-nanoparticle-chain-embedded SiOx nanotubes, and single-crystalline Zn2SiO4-SiOx coaxial nanotubes. The difference in spatially resolved optical properties related to a particular morphology was efficiently documented by means of cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy using a middle-ultraviolet emission at 310 nm from the Zn2SiO4 phase