Bis[2-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)­phenolato]­dimethanol­manganese(III) chloride

In the title compound, [Mn(C13H9N2O)2(CH3OH)2]Cl, the MnIII atom (site symmetry ) is coordinated by two N,O-bidentate 2-(1H-benzimidazol-2-yl)phenolate ligands and two methanol mol­ecules, to generate a distorted trans-MnN2O4 octa­hedral geometry for the metal ion. The dihedral angle between the aromatic ring systems in the ligand is 16.0 (3)°. In the crystal structure, the complex cations and chloride anions are linked by O—H⋯Cl and N—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds. The chloride ion lies on a crystallographic twofold axis

Hexakis(dimethyl­ammonium) di-μ6-oxido-tetra-μ3-oxido-tetra­deca-μ2-oxido-octa­oxidodeca­vanadate(V) monohydrate

In the title compound, (C2H8N)6[V10O28]·H2O, the [V10O28]6− polymetalate anion has crystallographic mirror symmetry with six V atoms and 12 O atoms lying on the mirror plane. Each of the VV atoms adopts a distorted octa­hedral geometry. Eight terminal O atoms are bonded to VV atoms with double bonds and the others act as bridging atoms. In the crystal structure, a network of N—H⋯O and O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds helps to establish the packing

Tris[2-(1H-imidazol-2-yl)imidazol-1-ido]cobalt(III)

In the title compound, [Co(C6H5N4)3], the CoIII atom adopts a distorted octa­hedral CoN6 coordination geometry, arising from three N,N′-bidentate deprotonated 2,2′-biimidazole ligands. The dihedral angles between the five-membered rings of the ligands are 4.1 (2), 9.4 (2) and 10.5 (2)°. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked by N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, generating a layered network lying in (11)

Molecular characterization and functional analysis of plant WRKY genes

WRKY genes are widely distributed in higher plants, and constitute one of the largest transcription factor families. Over recent decades, molecular characterization and functional analysis of WRKY have been extensively studied and reported to be involved in many physiological and biochemical processes. This review describes the current knowledge about their molecular, structural and functional characteristics, including the alternative splicing, the response to biotic and abiotic stress, the senescence, the morphological architecture and the evolution. It shows that WRKY transcription factors play a crucial role in plants’ developmental and physiological processes. Furthermore, the group-I WRKY genes may represent the ancestral form and the WRKY genes not only limited in the plant kingdom.Keywords: WRKY, structure characteristic, biotic and abiotic stress, senescence, development, evolutio

Multi-assets Asian rainbow options pricing with stochastic interest rates obeying the Vasicek model

Asian rainbow options provide investors with a new option solution as an effective tool for asset allocation and risk management. In this paper, we address the pricing problem of Asian rainbow options with stochastic interest rates that obey the Vasicek model. By introducing the Vasicek model as the change process of the stochastic interest rate, based on the non-arbitrage principle and the stochastic differential equation, the number of assets of the Asian rainbow option is expanded to n dimensions, and the pricing formulas of the Asian rainbow option with multiple (n) assets under the Vasicek interest rate model are obtained. The multi-asset pricing results under stochastic interest rates provide more possibilities for Asian rainbow options. Furthermore, Monte Carlo simulation experiments show that the pricing formula is accurate and efficient under double stochastic errors. Finally, we perform parameter sensitivity analysis to further justify the pricing model

Sleepy Consensus in the Known Participation Model

We study sleepy consensus in the known participation model, where replicas are aware of the minimum number of awake honest replicas. Compared to prior works that almost all assume the unknown participation model, we provide a fine-grained treatment of sleepy consensus in the known participation model and show some interesting results. First, we present a synchronous atomic broadcast protocol with $5\Delta+2\delta$ expected latency and $2\Delta+2\delta$ best-case latency, where $\Delta$ is the bound on network delay and $\delta$ is the actual network delay. In contrast, the best-known result in the unknown participation model (MMR, CCS 2023) achieves $14\Delta$ latency, more than twice the latency of our protocol. Second, in the partially synchronous network (the value of $\Delta$ is unknown), we show that without changing the conventional $n \geq 3f+1$ assumption, one can only obtain a secure sleepy consensus by making the stable storage assumption (where replicas need to store intermediate consensus parameters in stable storage). Finally, still in the partially synchronous network but not assuming stable storage, we prove the bounds on $n \geq 3f+2s+1$ without the global awake time (GAT) assumption (all honest replicas become awake after GAT) and $n \geq 3f+s+1$ with the GAT assumption, where $s$ is the maximum number of honest replicas that may become asleep simultaneously. Using these bounds, we transform HotStuff (PODC 2019) into a sleepy consensus protocol via a timeoutQC mechanism and a low-cost recovery protocol

Effect of Shi-Zhen-An-Shen herbal formula granule in the treatment of young people at ultra-high risk for psychosis: a pilot study

IntroductionTo date, there is no conclusive evidence for early interventions on ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis. The Chinese herbal medicine is confirmed to be beneficial in improving psychiatric symptoms and cognitive impairments for schizophrenia patients. However, the effect of Chinese herbal medicine on treating UHR patients remains unknown.MethodsEighty UHR patients were recruited from the outpatient department. They were randomly assigned to receive either Shi-Zhen-An-Shen herbal formula granule (SZAS-HFG) combined with aripiprazole placebo or aripiprazole combined with SZAS-HFG placebo for a 12-week treatment. The psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS). The Trail Making Test part A (TMT-A), Brief Visuospatial Memory Test (BVMT), Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT), and Continuous Performance Test (CPT) were used to assess cognitive functions. we also employed the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) to evaluate social functioning. The linear mixed-effects models were performed to detect the difference in effectiveness between the two groups.ResultsAfter 12-week treatment, both groups showed significant effects of time on SIPS, TMT-A, HVLT, BVMT, and GAF. There was a significant effect of group only on CPT. Moreover, we also found a significant interaction effect on GAF.ConclusionSZAS-HFG can effectively alleviate psychosis symptoms, and improve cognitive impairments and overall functioning as well as aripiprazole.Clinical trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR-IOR-17013513

The altered intrinsic functional connectivity after acupuncture at shenmen (HT7) in acute sleep deprivation

IntroductionAccumulating evidence has shown that acupuncture could significantly improve the sleep quality and cognitive function of individuals suffering from insufficient sleep. Numerous animal studies have confirmed the effects and mechanisms of acupuncture on acute sleep deprivation (SD). However, the role of acupuncture on individuals after acute SD remains unclear.MethodsIn the current study, we recruited 30 healthy subjects with regular sleep. All subjects received resting-state fMRI scans during the rested wakefulness (RW) state and after 24 h of total SD. The scan after 24 h of total SD included two resting-state fMRI sessions before and after needling at Shenmen (HT7). Both edge-based and large-scale network FCs were calculated.ResultsThe edge-based results showed the suprathreshold edges with abnormal between-network FC involving all paired networks except somatosensory motor network (SMN)-SCN between the SD and RW state, while both decreased and increased between-network FC of edges involving all paired networks except frontoparietal network (FPN)-subcortical network (SCN) between before and after acupuncture at HT7. Compared with the RW state, the large-scale brain network results showed decreased between-network FC in SMN-Default Mode Network (DMN), SMN-FPN, and SMN-ventral attention network (VAN), and increased between-network FC in Dorsal Attention Network (DAN)-VAN, DAN-SMN between the RW state and after 24 h of total SD. After acupuncture at HT7, the large-scale brain network results showed decreased between-network FC in DAN-VAN and increased between-network FC in SMN-VAN.ConclusionAcupuncture could widely modulate extensive brain networks and reverse the specific between-network FC. The altered FC after acupuncture at HT7 may provide new evidence to interpret neuroimaging mechanisms of the acupuncture effect on acute SD

Sensitization of Glioma Cells to Tamoxifen-Induced Apoptosis by Pl3-Kinase Inhibitor through the GSK-3β/β-Catenin Signaling Pathway

Malignant gliomas represent one of the most aggressive types of cancers and their recurrence is closely linked to acquired therapeutic resistance. A combination of chemotherapy is considered a promising therapeutic model in overcoming therapeutic resistance and enhancing treatment efficacy. Herein, we show by colony formation, Hochest 33342 and TUNEL staining, as well as by flow cytometric analysis, that LY294002, a specific phosphatidylinositide-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor, enhanced significantly the sensitization of a traditional cytotoxic chemotherapeutic agent, tamoxifen-induced apoptosis in C6 glioma cells. Activation of PI3K signaling pathway by IGF-1 protected U251 cells from apoptosis induced by combination treatment of LY294002 and tamoxifen. Interference of PI3K signaling pathway by PI3K subunit P85 siRNA enhanced the sensitization of U251 glioma cells to tamoxifen -induced apoptosis. By Western blotting, we found that combination treatment showed lower levels of phosphorylated AktSer473 and GSK-3βSer9 than a single treatment of LY294002. Further, we showed a significant decrease of nuclear β-catenin by combination treatment. In response to the inhibition of β-catenin signaling, mRNA and protein levels of Survivin and the other three antiapoptotic genes Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and Mcl-1 were significantly decreased by combination treatment. Our results indicated that the synergistic cytotoxic effect of LY294002 and tamoxifen is achieved by the inhibition of GSK-3β/β-catenin signaling pathway