A brief chronological and bibliographic guide to the history of Chinese mathematics

AbstractThe history of Chinese mathematics remains largely unknown in the West. This situation is the result of several factors: geographic, political, and linguistic. Few Western scholars possess the necessary facility in the Classical Chinese language to seek information about Chinese mathematics from primary sources. Yet despite the deficiency, there does exist a rich, albeit dispersed, literature on the history of Chinese mathematics in Western languages. The purpose of this contribution in to call the reader's attention to this literature and to the history of Chinese mathematics in general

A Genome-Wide Association Study of Diabetic Kidney Disease in Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes

dentification of sequence variants robustly associated with predisposition to diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has the potential to provide insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of DKD in type 2 diabetes (T2D) using eight complementary dichotomous and quantitative DKD phenotypes: the principal dichotomous analysis involved 5,717 T2D subjects, 3,345 with DKD. Promising association signals were evaluated in up to 26,827 subjects with T2D (12,710 with DKD). A combined T1D+T2D GWAS was performed using complementary data available for subjects with T1D, which, with replication samples, involved up to 40,340 subjects with diabetes (18,582 with DKD). Analysis of specific DKD phenotypes identified a novel signal near GABRR1 (rs9942471, P = 4.5 x 10(-8)) associated with microalbuminuria in European T2D case subjects. However, no replication of this signal was observed in Asian subjects with T2D or in the equivalent T1D analysis. There was only limited support, in this substantially enlarged analysis, for association at previously reported DKD signals, except for those at UMOD and PRKAG2, both associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate. We conclude that, despite challenges in addressing phenotypic heterogeneity, access to increased sample sizes will continue to provide more robust inference regarding risk variant discovery for DKD.Peer reviewe

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts

Fleeting footsteps: tracing the conception of arithmetic and algebra in ancient China

The Hindu-Arabic numeral system (1, 2, 3,...) is one of mankind''sgreatest achievements and one of its most commonly usedinventions. How did it originate? Those who have written about thenumeral system have hypothesized that it originated in India; however,there is little evidence to support this claim. This book provides considerable evidence to show that theHindu-Arabic numeral system, despite its commonly accepted name,has its origins in the Chinese rod numeral system. This system waswidely used in China from antiquity till the 16th century. It was usedby officials, astronomers, traders and others to perform addition,subtraction, multiplication, division and other arithmetic operations,and also used by mathematicians to develop arithmetic andalgebra. Based on this system, numerous mathematical treatises werewritten

Circle measurements in ancient China

AbstractThis paper discusses the method of Liu Hui (3rd century) for evaluating the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, now known as π. A translation of Liu's method is given in the Appendix. Also examined are the values for π given by Zu Chongzhi (429–500) and unsurpassed for a millenium. Although the method used by Zu is not extant, it is almost certain that the applied Liu's method. With the help of an electronic computer, a table of computations adhering to Liu's method is given to show the derivation of Zu's results. The paper concludes with a survey of circle measurements in China

A Chinese mathematical classic of the third century: The sea island mathematical manual of Liu Hui

AbstractThe Haidao suanjing [Sea island mathematical manual], written by the Chinese mathematician Liu Hui in 263 a.d., consists of nine surveying problems whose solution schemes involve the use of right triangle theory and result in a variety of techniques and formulas for determining distances to inaccessible points. Liu's results were obtained through the use of a prototrigonometry based on the concept of chong cha. This paper presents a translation of the Haidao's mathematical exercises and solution formulas and considers some of the implications of this early mathematical work

Problematic Internet Use and Loneliness: How Complex Is the Relationship? A Short Literature Review

Purpose The Internet has become embedded into the life of billions of people worldwide. In some individuals, excessive Internet use impacts negatively on psychological and social functioning. Several studies over the last decades have focused on the relationship between Problematic Internet Use (PIU) and loneliness. The present review aims to provide an overview of the recent literature in this field and to suggest some critical questions. Recent Findings A small-medium positive association between loneliness and PIU has been reported in several cross-sectional studies. However, the association becomes weaker when other variables are controlled for. Longitudinal studies suggest a dynamic relationship between PIU and loneliness. Summary There is ample evidence that PIU and loneliness are positively associated, but care should be taken to control for other related variables (e.g., depression). Over time, PIU and loneliness seem to be linked in a vicious cycle, with PIU as a possible starting point