Fast time-stepping discontinuous Galerkin method for the subdiffusion equation

The nonlocality of the fractional operator causes numerical difficulties for long time computation of the time-fractional evolution equations. This paper develops a high-order fast time-stepping discontinuous Galerkin finite element method for the time-fractional diffusion equations, which saves storage and computational time. The optimal error estimate $O(N^{-p-1} + h^{m+1} + \varepsilon N^{r\alpha})$ of the current time-stepping discontinuous Galerkin method is rigorous proved, where $N$ denotes the number of time intervals, $p$ is the degree of polynomial approximation on each time subinterval, $h$ is the maximum space step, $r\ge1$, $m$ is the order of finite element space, and $\varepsilon>0$ can be arbitrarily small. Numerical simulations verify the theoretical analysis.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure,4 table

Correlation between serum cystatin C, thrombomodulin and T lymphocyte subsets in children with Henoch-Schonlein purpura

19-24Henoch-Schönlein Purpura (HSP) is a systemic small vessel, leucocytoclastic vasculitis disease affecting children, and the abdominal pain and joint pain are its classic triad. Here, we studied the correlation between serum cystatin C (CysC), thrombomodulin (TM), and T lymphocyte subsets in HSP cases, and the diagnostic values of these indices. A total of 120 HSP children treated at The 940th Hospital of Joint Logistics Support Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army from January 2019 to May 2020 participated in this study. Another 64 healthy children receiving routine physical examination in the same time range were enrolled as a control group. In the early morning of the next day after admission, the cubital venous blood was collected. The serum levels of CysC were measured by immunoturbidimetry, the TM was detected using ELISA, while the T lymphocyte subsets were detected by flow cytometry. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the susceptibility factors. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to evaluate the predictive values of CysC, TM and T lymphocyte subset alone and their combination for HSP. The serum levels of CysC, TM, and cluster of differentiation 8 (CD8+) of HSP children significantly increased and their CD3+, CD4+ levels and CD4+/CD8+ ratio significantly decreased compared with those of control group (P+, CD4+ levels and CD4+/CD8+, whereas positively with CD8+ level (P<0.05). Diet, infection, drugs, exercise-induced tiredness, air pollution, family environment, family inheritance, age, winter and spring were the susceptibility factors for children with HSP. The diagnosis using CysC, TM and T lymphocyte subsets had an AUC of 0.901, sensitivity of 93.1%, and specificity of 90.2%. In conclusion, the combined monitoring of serum CysC, TM, and T lymphocyte subsets in children with HSP can raise the accurate diagnosis rate

Correlation between serum cystatin C, thrombomodulin and T lymphocyte subsets in children with Henoch-Schonlein purpura

Henoch-Schönlein Purpura (HSP) is a systemic small vessel, leucocytoclastic vasculitis disease affecting children, and the abdominal pain and joint pain are its classic triad. Here, we studied the correlation between serum cystatin C (CysC), thrombomodulin (TM), and T lymphocyte subsets in HSP cases, and the diagnostic values of these indices. A total of 120 HSP children treated at The 940th Hospital of Joint Logistics Support Force of the Chinese People's Liberation Army from January 2019 to May 2020 participated in this study. Another 64 healthy children receiving routine physical examination in the same time range were enrolled as a control group. In the early morning of the next day after admission, the cubital venous blood was collected. The serum levels of CysC were measured by immunoturbidimetry, the TM was detected using ELISA, while the T lymphocyte subsets were detected by flow cytometry. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to determine the susceptibility factors. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were plotted to evaluate the predictive values of CysC, TM and T lymphocyte subset alone and their combination for HSP. The serum levels of CysC, TM, and cluster of differentiation 8 (CD8+) of HSP children significantly increased and their CD3+, CD4+ levels and CD4+/CD8+ ratio significantly decreased compared with those of control group (P&lt;0.05). The serum levels of CysC and TM were significantly correlated negatively with CD3+, CD4+ levels and CD4+/CD8+, whereas positively with CD8+ level (P&lt;0.05). Diet, infection, drugs, exercise-induced tiredness, air pollution, family environment, family inheritance, age, winter and spring were the susceptibility factors for children with HSP. The diagnosis using CysC, TM and T lymphocyte subsets had an AUC of 0.901, sensitivity of 93.1%, and specificity of 90.2%. In conclusion, the combined monitoring of serum CysC, TM, and T lymphocyte subsets in children with HSP can raise the accurate diagnosis rate

The Cassiopeia Filament: A Blown Spur of the Local Arm

We present wide-field and high-sensitivity CO(1-0) molecular line observations toward the Cassiopeia region, using the 13.7m millimeter telescope of the Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO). The CO observations reveal a large-scale highly filamentary molecular cloud within the Galactic region of 132\fdg0\,$\geq$\,$l$\,$\geq$\,122\fdg0 and -1\fdg0\,$\leq$\,$b$\,$\leq$\,3\fdg0 and the velocity range from approximately +1 to +4 km/s. The measured length of the large-scale filament, referred to as the Cassiopeia Filament, is about 390 pc. The observed properties of the Cassiopeia Filament, such as length, column density, and velocity gradient, are consistent with those synthetic large-scale filaments in the inter-arm regions. Based on its observed properties and location on the Galactic plane, we suggest that the Cassiopeia Filament is a spur of the Local arm, which is formed due to the galactic shear. The western end of the Cassiopeia Filament shows a giant arc-like molecular gas shell, which is extending in the velocity range from roughly -1 to +7 km/s. Finger-like structures, with systematic velocity gradients, are detected in the shell. The CO kinematics suggest that the large shell is expanding at a velocity of ~6.5 km/s. Both the shell and finger-like structures outline a giant bubble with a radius of ~16 pc, which is likely produced by stellar wind from the progenitor star of a supernova remnant. The observed spectral linewidths suggest that the whole Cassiopeia Filament was quiescent initially until its west part was blown by stellar wind and became supersonically turbulent.Comment: 46 pages, 19 figures, to be published by the A

Molecular mechanisms for the adaptive switching between the OAS/RNase L and OASL/RIG-I pathways in birds and mammals:Adaptive exchanging of the OAS/RNase L and OASL/RIG-I pathway

Host cells develop the OAS/RNase L [2′–5′–oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS)/ribonuclease L] system to degrade cellular and viral RNA, and/or the OASL/RIG-I (2′–5′–OAS like/retinoic acid inducible protein I) system to enhance RIG-I-mediated IFN induction, thus providing the first line of defense against viral infection. The 2′–5′–OAS-like (OASL) protein may activate the OAS/RNase L system using its typical OAS-like domain (OLD) or mimic the K63-linked pUb to enhance antiviral activity of the OASL/RIG-I system using its two tandem ubiquitin-like domains (UBLs). We first describe that divergent avian (duck and ostrich) OASL inhibit the replication of a broad range of RNA viruses by activating and magnifying the OAS/RNase L pathway in a UBL-dependent manner. This is in sharp contrast to mammalian enzymatic OASL, which activates and magnifies the OAS/RNase L pathway in a UBL-independent manner, similar to 2′–5′–oligoadenylate synthetase 1 (OAS1). We further show that both avian and mammalian OASL can reversibly exchange to activate and magnify the OAS/RNase L and OASL/RIG-I system by introducing only three key residues, suggesting that ancient OASL possess 2–5A [px5′A(2′p5′A)n; x = 1-3; n ≥ 2] activity and has functionally switched to the OASL/RIG-I pathway recently. Our findings indicate the molecular mechanisms involved in the switching of avian and mammalian OASL molecules to activate and enhance the OAS/RNase L and OASL/RIG-I pathways in response to infection by RNA viruses

Expression and Functional Analysis of the BCL2-Associated Agonist of Cell Death (BAD) Gene in the Sheep Ovary During the Reproductive Cycle

Most ewes in China are seasonally polyestrous with normal ovulatory cycles, which is controlled by photoperiod (length of the daily light phase). These ewes are estrous in the short-day season and anestrus in the long-day season and cannot mate during anestrus. Thus seasonal breeding limits both diversification and intensification of production. If sheep can estrus all round year, it can be mated twice per year, which can greatly improve the economic benefits. To change seasonal estrus at the genetic level and cultivating new sheep breeds, it is important to understand the molecular mechanisms of seasonal breeding trait in sheep. The BCL2-associated agonist of cell death (BAD) gene being a regulator of cellular apoptosis was identified by our previous RNA-Seq, which is associated with follicular development in mammalian ovaries. However, the mechanism how BAD can regulate estrus in sheep was poorly understood. In this study, we characterized ovine BAD, including full-length mRNA cloning and protein sequence prediction, as well as BAD expression profile in Small-tailed Han (STH) sheep. The highest expression levels of BAD were observed in sheep hypothalamus, lung, and pituitary, while the lowest expression was in liver. Functional analysis of BAD was performed in primary granulosa cells of sheep. The concentration of P4 was significantly increased after RNAi interference of BAD, while P4 level was shown to be opposite after BAD overexpression in vitro. It has been found that BAD can reduce progesterone levels by promoting ovarian GC apoptosis, which might be involved in regulating the estrus cycle in sheep

Cervical HPV infection in Yueyang, China: a cross-sectional study of 125,604 women from 2019 to 2022

ObjectiveHuman papillomavirus (HPV) infection is currently the main cause of cervical cancer and precancerous lesions in women. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiological characteristics of HPV genotypes among women in Yueyang city and to provide a basis for the prevention and treatment of cervical cancer in this city.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on 125,604 women who had received treatment from eight hospitals in Yueyang city from September 2019 to September 2022. Analysis of the prevalence of HPV in patients.ResultsThe prevalence of HPV was 20.5% (95%CI: 20.2–20.7%), of which the high-risk type (HR-HPV) accounted for 17.5% (95%CI: 17.3–17.7%) and the low-risk type (LR-HPV) accounted for 5.0% (95%CI: 4.9–5.1%). Among the HR-HPV subtypes, the top five in prevalence, from the highest to the lowest, were HPV52 (5.1%), HPV16(2.7%), HPV58 (2.6%), HPV53 (2.4%), and HPV51 (1.7%). The main LR-HPV infection types were HPV81 (2,676 cases, OR = 2.1%; 95%CI, 2.0–2.1%). Among the infected patients, 19,203 cases (OR = 74.3%; 95%CI, 73.8–74.9%) had a single subtype, 4,673 cases (OR = 18.1%; 95%CI, 17.6–18.6%) had two subtypes, and 1957 cases (OR = 7.6%; 95%CI, 7.3–7.9%) had three or more subtypes. HPV prevalence is highest among women &lt;25 years, 55–64 years and ≥ 65 years of age.ConclusionThe prevalence of HPV in women in Yueyang city was 20.5%, with HR-HPV being dominant. As women aged &lt;25 years, 55–64 years, and ≥ 65 years are at a relatively higher risk, more attention should be paid to them for prevention and control of HPV infections