Genetic Evolution and Molecular Selection of the HE Gene of Influenza C Virus

Influenza C virus (ICV) was first identified in humans and swine, but recently also in cattle, indicating a wider host range and potential threat to both the livestock industry and public health than was originally anticipated. The ICV hemagglutinin-esterase (HE) glycoprotein has multiple functions in the viral replication cycle and is the major determinant of antigenicity. Here, we developed a comparative approach integrating genetics, molecular selection analysis, and structural biology to identify the codon usage and adaptive evolution of ICV. We show that ICV can be classified into six lineages, consistent with previous studies. The HE gene has a low codon usage bias, which may facilitate ICV replication by reducing competition during evolution. Natural selection, dinucleotide composition, and mutation pressure shape the codon usage patterns of the ICV HE gene, with natural selection being the most important factor. Codon adaptation index (CAI) and relative codon deoptimization index (RCDI) analysis revealed that the greatest adaption of ICV was to humans, followed by cattle and swine. Additionally, similarity index (SiD) analysis revealed that swine exerted a stronger evolutionary pressure on ICV than humans, which is considered the primary reservoir. Furthermore, a similar tendency was also observed in the M gene. Of note, we found HE residues 176, 194, and 198 to be under positive selection, which may be the result of escape from antibody responses. Our study provides useful information on the genetic evolution of ICV from a new perspective that can help devise prevention and control strategies

Macrophage inhibits the osteogenesis of fibroblasts in ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) wear particle-induced osteolysis

Background In the ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) prosthetic environment, fibroblasts affected by wear particles have the capacity of osteogenesis to reduce osteolysis. We aimed to assess the effects of macrophages on the osteogenic capability of fibroblasts treated with UHMWPE wear particles. Methods The effect of different concentrations of UHMWPE (0, 0.01, 0.1, and 1 mg/ml, respectively) on macrophage proliferation were validated by MTT assay to determine the optimum one. The fibroblasts viability was further determined in the co-culture system of UHMWPE particles and macrophage supernatants. The experiment was designed as seven groups: (A) fibroblasts only; (B) fibroblasts + 1 mg/ml UHMWPE particles; and (C1–C5) fibroblasts + 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1/1 supernatants of macrophage cultures stimulated by 1 mg/ml UHMWPE particles vs. fibroblast complete media, respectively. Alizarin red staining was used to detect calcium accumulation. The expression levels of osteogenic proteins were detected by Western blot and ELISA, including alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and osteocalcin (OCN). Results The concentration of 0.1 mg/ml was considered as the optimum concentration for macrophage proliferation due to the survival rate and was highest among the four concentrations. Fibroblast viability was better in the group of fibroblasts + 1/16 ratio of macrophage supernatants stimulated by 1 mg/ml of UHMWPE particles than the other groups (1:8, 1:4, 1:2, 1:1). ALP and OCN expressions were significantly decreased in the group of fibroblasts + 1/4, 1/2, and 1/1 supernatants stimulated by 1 mg/ml of UHMWPE particles compared with other groups (1/8, 1/16) and the group of fibroblasts + 1 mg/ml UHMWPE (p < 0.5). Conclusions Macrophages are potentially involved in the periprosthetic osteolysis by reducing the osteogenic capability of fibroblasts treated with wear particles generated from UHMWPE materials in total hip arthroplasty.China Sholarship Council (Grant 201506370173)China. National Natural Science Foundation (Grant 31200739)China. National Natural Science Foundation (Grant 31470948

Understanding Distributed Leadership and Insights for Chinese Educational Institutions in the Context of Digital Transformation: A Literature Review

When education across all levels, is no exception for meeting the needs of industry 4.0 and the new demand of the digital economy and society, distributed leadership is an effective reform strategy for organization's transition to digital transformation. 174 articles related to distributed leadership were selected from eight core-international journals in the field of educational leadership and management with an average h-index of 45, and 64 articles with the keywords of distributed leadership published in the CSSCI and core journals were found. The 248 articles in total were reviewed for analysis with three aspects (research themes and theories; research methodology and analytical methods; discovery and revelation) which were synthesized from the systematic conceptual framework of literature review by Hallinger (2013,2014), the research conclusion frameworks by Bennett et al. (2003) and Tian et al. (2016). The literature review was conducted on four aspects (who, why, what and how) for knowing which most scholars are concerned and for informing educational institutions with insights on distributed leadership for future development

Análisis de los factores de riesgo en el seguro de automóvil mediante la regresión cuantílica y expected shortfall

Treballs Finals del Màster de Ciències Actuarials i Financeres, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2022-2023, Tutor: Miguel SantolinoEste trabajo se enfoca en el estudio de las técnicas de regresión cuantílica y regresión conjunta de regresión cuantílica con expected shortfall. El objetivo principal es superar las limitaciones de la regresión lineal estándar en un contexto de datos con colas pesadas. Con este fin, se aplicarán ambas regresiones en una base de datos de seguros de automóviles, con el propósito de mejorar la comprensión de las relaciones entre variables en diferentes puntos de la distribución de la variable dependiente, que en este caso es el coste total de siniestros, y realizar predicciones más precisas

Three-way Imbalanced Learning based on Fuzzy Twin SVM

Three-way decision (3WD) is a powerful tool for granular computing to deal with uncertain data, commonly used in information systems, decision-making, and medical care. Three-way decision gets much research in traditional rough set models. However, three-way decision is rarely combined with the currently popular field of machine learning to expand its research. In this paper, three-way decision is connected with SVM, a standard binary classification model in machine learning, for solving imbalanced classification problems that SVM needs to improve. A new three-way fuzzy membership function and a new fuzzy twin support vector machine with three-way membership (TWFTSVM) are proposed. The new three-way fuzzy membership function is defined to increase the certainty of uncertain data in both input space and feature space, which assigns higher fuzzy membership to minority samples compared with majority samples. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed model, comparative experiments are designed for forty-seven different datasets with varying imbalance ratios. In addition, datasets with different imbalance ratios are derived from the same dataset to further assess the proposed model's performance. The results show that the proposed model significantly outperforms other traditional SVM-based methods

Polysaccharides isolated from Morinda officinalis How roots inhibits cyclophosphamide-induced leukopenia in mice

Purpose: To investigate the optimum parameters for extracting polysaccharides from Morinda officinalis How (MOP), and explore their inhibitory effects on leukopenia in mice.Methods: Orthogonal design was performed to investigate the optimum parameters for extracting MOP. A leukopenia mouse model was established by injection of cyclophosphamide (CTX) for three days. Thereafter, MOP (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) was administered orally for 10 days. Furthermore, blood cells (leukocytes, neutrophil, lymphocyte and mononuclear cell) were analyzed, while serum IL-3 and IL- 6 were determined by ELISA. The thymus and spleen of the mice were separated and weighed to determine viscera indices.Results: Orthogonal design showed that the influence order of the four factors was extraction times (C) &gt; ratio of water to raw material (RWM, D) &gt; extraction time (B) &gt; extraction temperature (A). The optimum extraction parameters for MOP were: extraction temperature (80 °C), extraction duration (2 h), no. of extractions (3), and ratio of water to raw material (30 mL/g). Furthermore, the results indicate that MOP (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) elevated the levels of leukocyte (p &lt; 0.01), neutrophil (p &lt; 0.01), lymphocyte (p &lt; 0.01) and mononuclear cell (p &lt; 0.01) in leukopenia mice. Besides, MOP (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) also increased thymus (p &lt; 0.01) and spleen (p &lt; 0.05) indices and serum levels of IL-3 (p &lt; 0.05) and IL-6 (p &lt; 0.01).Conclusion: Orthogonal design is a good strategy for optimizing extraction parameters of MOP. Furthermore, MOP stimulated synthesis of leukocytes in CTX-induced leukopenia in mice. Thus, MOP is a potential adjunct for the treatment of tumors/cancers.Keywords: Morinda officinalis, Polyscacharide, Orthogonal design, Leukopenia, Thymus index, Spleen inde

Altitude-Driven Variations in Chrysophycean Stomatocyst Assemblages: Implications for Climate Reconstructions in the Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Area, China

The Three Parallel Rivers of Yunnan Protected Area (TPRYPA) is in the core area of the Hengduan Mountains, characterized by paralleling alternately high mountains and canyons that led to significant vertical temperature variation. Developing a climate transfer function for this region is crucial for both biodiversity protection and enhancing our understanding of feedback mechanisms between low-latitude and high-altitude areas in the context of global climate change. We investigated the chrysophycean stomatocyst assemblages from surface sediments of 46 high mountain lakes (altitude: 3244 to 5043 m) in the TPRYPA to assess the suitability of cysts in prediction of climate variability in high mountains. A total of 194 morphotypes were identified. Gradient forest (GF) model identified that altitude is the key environmental gradient with relation to cyst assemblages and cyst assemblages changed the composition substantially at altitude of 3200 and 4400 m, respectively. Cyst-based inference model for altitude using weighted-averaging method resulted in cross-validated jack-knifed-R2 of 0.60. The cyst-altitude transfer functions suggest that chrysophycean stomatocysts have a great potential as a powerful tool for climate reconstructions in alpine regions of the Hengduan Mountains