Web of scholars : a scholar knowledge graph

In this work, we demonstrate a novel system, namely Web of Scholars, which integrates state-of-the-art mining techniques to search, mine, and visualize complex networks behind scholars in the field of Computer Science. Relying on the knowledge graph, it provides services for fast, accurate, and intelligent semantic querying as well as powerful recommendations. In addition, in order to realize information sharing, it provides open API to be served as the underlying architecture for advanced functions. Web of Scholars takes advantage of knowledge graph, which means that it will be able to access more knowledge if more search exist. It can be served as a useful and interoperable tool for scholars to conduct in-depth analysis within Science of Science. © 2020 ACM

Plasma Clusterin and the CLU Gene rs11136000 Variant Are Associated with Mild Cognitive Impairment in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Objective: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is related to an elevated risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Plasma clusterin is reported associated with the early pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and longitudinal brain atrophy in subjects with MCI. The rs11136000 single nucleotide polymorphism within the clusterin (CLU) gene is also associated with the risk of AD. We aimed to investigate the associations among plasma clusterin, rs11136000 genotype and T2DM-associated MCI. Methods: A total of 231 T2DM patients, including 126 MCI and 105 cognitively healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Demographic parameters were collected and neuropsychological tests were conducted. Plasma clusterin and CLU rs11136000 genotype were examined.Results: Plasma clusterin was significantly higher in MCI patients than in control group (p=0.007). In subjects with MCI, plasma clusterin level was negatively correlated with Montreal cognitive assessment and auditory verbal learning test_delayed recall scores (p=0.027 and p=0.020, respectively). After adjustment for age, educational attainment, and gender, carriers of rs11136000 TT genotype demonstrated reduced risk for MCI compared with the CC genotype carriers (OR=0.158, χ2=4.113, p=0.043). Multivariable regression model showed that educational attainment, duration of diabetes, HDL-c, and plasma clusterin levels are associated with MCI in T2DM patients.Conclusions: Plasma clusterin was associated with MCI and may reflect a protective response in T2DM patients. TT genotype exhibited a reduced risk of MCI compared to CC genotype. Further investigations should be conducted to determine the role of clusterin in cognitive decline

Dynamic experimental investigation on the volatilization behavior of lead and cadmium in the simulated Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) influenced by sulfur compounds during incineration

In China, coal, often with a high level of sulfur, is always mixed with municipal solid waste (MSW) in waste incineration plants due to the low heating value and high moisture content of MSW. The influence of sulfur compounds on the volatilization of heavy metals in MSW is of great concern for China’s waste incineration plants. In this study, the continuous dynamic volatilization process of Pb and Cd is investigated by adding different forms of sulfur compounds, elemental sulfur (S), and sodium sulfate (Na2SO4), to the simulated MSW in a laboratory incinerator, at both 1 and 3 wt %, respectively. The experimental results show that the added S begins to affect the volatilization of Pb and Cd at about 700 °C; adding S can lead up to 49.6% reduction in the volatilization of Pb, as the produced sulfur dioxide is promoting the formation of a condensed sulfate phase, and part of Pb is fixed in the form of PbS in the bottom ash. But for Cd, adding S causes up to 15.9% increase in its volatilization as S seizes part of O2 in the air, which is conducive to forming the reducing atmosphere. In the reducing atmosphere, CdO can be easily reduced to Cd, which volatilizes more easily than CdO at high temperatures. In fact, in the reducing atmosphere, the volatilization of Cd far outweighs the volatilization of Pb at 700–800 °C. On the other hand, adding Na2SO4 almost has no influence on the volatilization of lead and cadmium below 900 °C

Application of RNAi-Induced Gene Expression Profiles for Prognostic Prediction in Breast Cancer

Homologous recombination (HR) is the primary pathway for repairing double-strand DNA breaks implicating in the development of cancer. RNAi-based knockdowns of BRCA1 and RAD51 in this pathway have been performed to investigate the resulting transcriptomic profiles. Here we propose a computational framework to utilize these profiles to calculate a score, named RNA-Interference derived Proliferation Score (RIPS), which reflects cell proliferation ability in individual breast tumors. RIPS is predictive of breast cancer classes, prognosis, genome instability, and neoadjuvant chemosensitivity. This framework directly translates the readout of knockdown experiments into potential clinical applications and generates a robust biomarker in breast cancer

Decreased Spontaneous Brain Activity and Functional Connectivity in Type 1 Diabetic Patients Without Microvascular Complications

Background/Aims: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) has been proven to be associated with an increased risk of cognitive dysfunction. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether disrupted spontaneous activity and functional connectivity (FC) exist in T1DM patients using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and to detect the relationships of these parameters with cognitive impairment. Methods: T1DM patients (n=35) were compared with age-, sex-, and education level-matched healthy controls (n=50) through rs-fMRI. Using rs-fMRI professional software, we calculated the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and seed-based FC in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) to measure the spontaneous neural activity in the groups. The relationship between rs-fMRI data and cognitive performance was further investigated. Results: Compared with the healthy controls, T1DM patients showed significantly decreased ALFF values in the PCC and right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), decreased ReHo values in the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and reduced FC between the PCC and the right MFG. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between decreased ALFF values in the PCC and Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (CFT)-delay scores in T1DM patients (r=0.394, p=0.026). Moreover, the Trail Making Test-B (TMT-B) scores showed negative correlations with decreased ReHo values in the right MFG (r=-0.468, p=0.007) and reduced FC between the PCC and right MFG (r=-0.425, p=0.015). Conclusion: Our combined analyses revealed decreased spontaneous activity and FC mainly within the default mode network, which was correlated with specific impaired cognitive functioning in T1DM. This study thus elucidates the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying T1DM-related cognitive impairment and may serve as a reference for future clinical diagnosis

Coseismic and early postseismic deformation of the 2020 Nima Mw 6.4 earthquake, central Tibet, from InSAR and GNSS observations

The 2020 Mw6.4 Nima earthquake is one of the largest normal-faulting earthquakes recently occurring north of the Banggong suture zone in remote central Tibet, where geologic investigation of active faults is extremely limited. We analyze jointly InSAR and GNSS observations over 9 months after the Nima earthquake and calculate the coseismic and postseismic displacement. The optimal coseismic slip model suggests this event is the result of moderate-angle down-dip slip on a complex reversed “S-shape” three-segmented structure at fault junctions of the West Yibu-Chaka fault, the Heishi fault, and an unmapped blind fault, with a small component of left-lateral slip. The superposition of seismic waves from faults with different strikes and dips accounted for a large non-double-couple component in the long-period point-source solutions. The geodetic moment released by the mainshock is 6.4 × 1018 N⋅m, equivalent to Mw 6.42. Coseismic rupture concentrated at a depth of 4–15 km, with a peak slip of 1.36 m at 8.5 km depth. The cumulative afterslip moment within 9 months after the mainshock is 1 × 1018 N m, about 15.6% of that released by the mainshock coseismic slip. The afterslips contributed largely to the release of additional strain energy. In addition, shallow creep on the northern part of the blind fault, and deep uplift on the east normal fault system are promoted by stress perturbations. A significant proportion of down-dip coseismic slip spreading to more than 20 km beneath the surface, and deep up-slip afterslip have implications for the rheology of down-dip extension of the dipping faults in northern Tibet. Two obvious stress loading zones of more than 1 bar highlight seismic hazards in the region, especially in the junction between normal faults and ends of the large-size sinistral Riganpei-Co and Jiangai-Zangbu faults. It is necessary to forecast accurately by longer-term afterslip observation over timescales of years for the faults. Compared with previous studies, our results suggest a more complex subsurface fault geometry linking the normal and strike-slip faults and dynamic stress adjustment in this poorly-known region of Tibet