Solutions of a Quadratic Inverse Eigenvalue Problem for Damped Gyroscopic Second-Order Systems

Given k pairs of complex numbers and vectors (closed under conjugation), we consider the inverse quadratic eigenvalue problem of constructing n×n real matrices M, D, G, and K, where M>0, K and D are symmetric, and G is skew-symmetric, so that the quadratic pencil Q(λ)=λ2M+λ(D+G)+K has the given k pairs as eigenpairs. First, we construct a general solution to this problem with k≤n. Then, with the special properties D=0 and K<0, we construct a particular solution. Numerical results illustrate these solutions

The Research of Biology Coupling Characteristics on the Shells of Haliotis discus hannai Ino

The surface morphologies, structures and materials of Haliotis discus hannai Ino shells were qualitatively studied by means of a stereoscopic microscope，a field emission scanning electronic microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer and X-ray diffractometer, and abrasive particle wear was qualitatively and quantitatively studied by means of a pin-on-disc apparatus. The results showed that the outer layer surface of Haliotis discus hannai Ino shells was non-smooth and had some strumae or similar parallel convex wave. The shells of Haliotis discus hannai Ino are polycrystalline composites of calcium carbonate and proteins and glycoproteins and consist of the periostracum, prismatic and nacreous layers with calcite in the outer prismatic layer and aragonite in the inner nacreous layer. Nacreous layer is a natural composite comprised of calcium carbonate in the aragonite polymorph with organic macromolecules sandwiched in between, and the coupling of platelet interlocks and organic materials makes nacreous layer to be strong and tough.The abrasive particle wear tests showed that the abrasion resistance was different on the different parts of the shells, and the left of the shells possessed the highest abrasion resistance and the abrasion resistance of the shells was the lowest on the edge of the right. The nacreous layer possessed higher abrasion resistance than prismatic layer because of the coupling of structure and materials of nacreous layer. Key words: Haliotis discus hannai Ino shells; morphology; structure; materials; anti-wear; biological character; couplin

Effect of abscisic acid on rice defense mechanism against Fusarium oxysporum

Fusarium oxysporum is one of the most destructive pathogens which causes rice seedling blight. ABA is part of a large signaling system that provides an effective system against microbial and environmental manipulations. The role of ABA in plant defense mechanisms is not clear. In this experiment, we prove the role of abscisic acid (ABA) in boosting rice plant resistance against F. oxysporum and optimizing ABA concentrations against F. oxysporum. This study is divided into two experiments. In the first experiment, we used various ABA concentrations of 0.0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.25 mmol/L under F. oxysporum stress. In the second experiment, we use Fluridone FLD as an ABA inhibitor with the following treatments, (F) is only applied with F. oxysporum (ABA+F), abscisic acid with F. oxysporum (ABAI+F), ABA inhibitor Fluridone with F. oxysporum (ABAI), where only ABA inhibitor Fluridone was applied and CK was used as a control. The results revealed that all the plants treated with ABA exhibit better performance against F. oxysporum, except those treated without ABA. ABA concentrations of 0.2 mmol/L effectively decreased the disease index and disease incidence rate as well as improved the quality of seedlings. ABA effectively increased the activity of defense-related enzymes like PPO, POD, PAL and SOD. ABA also lowers down the MDA content which proves its effectiveness against F. oxysporum. ABA resistance was also proved by plants treated with the abscisic acid inhibitor ABAI (Fluridone FLD). The ABA inhibitor reduced the rice resistance to F. oxysporum, by conforming the expression of defense-related genes PRB1-3, PRBI-2 and Xa39(t). These gene expressions indicate the involvement of ABA in plant defense system

The Clinical Features of FLAIR-Hyperintense Lesions in Anti-MOG Antibody Associated Cerebral Cortical Encephalitis with Seizures: Case Reports and Literature Review

BackgroundThe presence of fluid attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR)-hyperintense lesions in anti-myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) antibody-associated cerebral cortical encephalitis with seizures (FLAMCES) was recently reported. However, the clinical characteristics and outcome of this rare clinico-radiographic syndrome remain unclear.MethodsThe present study reported two new cases. In addition, cases in the literature were systematically reviewed to investigate the clinical symptoms, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities, treatments and prognosis for this rare clinico-radiographic syndrome.ResultsA total of 21 cases were identified during a literature review, with a mean patient age at onset of 26.8 years. The primary clinicopathological characteristics included seizures (100%), headache (71.4%), fever (52.3%) and other cortical symptoms associated with the encephalitis location (61.9%). The common seizure types were focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures (28.6%) and unknown-onset tonic-clonic seizures (38.1%). The cortical abnormalities on MRI FLAIR imaging were commonly located in the frontal (58.8%), parietal (70.6%) and temporal (64.7%) lobes. In addition, pleocytosis in the cerebrospinal fluid was reported in the majority of the patients (95.2%). All patients received a treatment regimen of corticosteroids and 9 patients received anti-epileptic drugs. Clinical improvement was achieved in all patients; however, one-third of the patients reported relapse following recovery from cortical encephalitis.ConclusionsFLAMCES is a rare phenotype of MOG-associated disease. Thus, the wider recognition of this rare syndrome may enable timely diagnosis and the development of suitable treatment regimens

High persistence rate of hepatitis B virus in a hydrodynamic injection-based transfection model in C3H/HeN mice

AIM: To optimize the viral persistence rate in a hydrodynamic injection (HI) based hepatitis B virus (HBV) transfection mouse model.METHODS: (1) 5-6-wk-old male C3H/HeN and C57BL/6 mice were hydrodynamically injected with 10 μg endotoxin-free pAAV/HBV1.2 plasmid DNA via the tail vein. Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and HBV DNA, both in the serum and liver, were detected at different time points post HI by ELISA, immunohistochemical staining or quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR); (2) male C3H/HeN and C57BL/6 mice, either hydrodynamically injected mice at 10 wk post HI or naïve mice, were all immunized subcutaneously with 5 μg HBsAg formulated in complete Freund's adjuvant three times at a 2-wk interval. Two weeks after the final immunization, splenocytes were isolated for T cell function analysis by ELISPOT assay; and (3) five weeks post HI, C3H/HeN mice were intragastrically administered 0.1 mg/kg entecavir once a day for 14 d, or were intraperitoneally injected with 1 mg/kg interferon (IFN)-α twice a week for 2 wk, or were treated with PBS as controls. The sera were collected and assayed for HBV DNA on days 0, 7 and 14 after drug treatment.RESULTS: (1) Approximately 90% (22/25) of the injected C3H/HeN mice were still HBsAg-positive at 46 wk post HI, whereas HBsAg in C57BL/6 mice were completely cleared at 24 wk. Serum levels of HBeAg in C3H/HeN mice were higher than those in C57BL/6 mice from 4 wk to 46 wk. HBV DNA levels in the hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice were higher than those in the C57BL/6 mice, both in the serum (from 4 wk to 46 wk) and in the liver (detected at 8 wk and 46 wk post HI). Histology showed that hepatitis B core antigen and HBsAg were expressed longer in the liver of C3H/HeN mice than in C57BL/6; (2) HBsAg specific T cell responses after HBsAg vaccination in hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN and C57BL/6 mice, or naive control mice were detected by ELISPOT assay. After stimulation with HBsAg, the frequencies of IFN-γ producing splenocytes in the hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice were significantly lower than those in hydrodynamically injected C57BL/6 mice, control C3H/HeN and control C57BL/6 mice, which were 0, 17 ± 7, 18 ± 10, and 41 ± 10 SFCs/10(6) splenocytes, respectively, and the mean spot sizes showed the same pattern. Even just stimulated with PMA and ionomysin, T-cell responses elicited in the vaccinated control C3H/HeN were much higher than those in hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice; and (3) For drug treatment experiments on the hydrodynamically injected C3H/HeN mice, serum HBV DNA levels in the entecavir treatment group declined (131.2 folds, P &lt; 0.01) on day 7 after treatment and kept going down. In the group of IFN-α treatment, serum HBV DNA levels declined to a lowest point (6.42 folds, P &lt; 0.05) on 7 d after treatment and then rebounded.CONCLUSION: We have developed a novel HI-based HBV transfection model using C3H/HeN mice, which had a higher HBV persistence rate than the classic C57BL/6 mouse model.</p

Posterior scleral application of a mitomycin C-soaked sponge during trabeculectomy

AIM: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of posterior scleral application (a modified technique) of an antimetabolite mitomycin C-soaked sponge in trabeculectomy for patients with glaucoma. METHODS: This retrospective study included 101 patients (115 eyes) with glaucoma (aged 12–83y) who underwent trabeculectomy using a modified mitomycin C-soaked sponge placement method. A piece of 3.5×10 mm2 sponge was placed vertically and posteriorly with the long side perpendicular to the limbus. The mitomycin C concentration and exposure time were 0.2–0.5 mg/mL and 1–5min, respectively. Intraocular pressure, best-corrected visual acuity, and hypotensive medications were recorded at baseline and at the final visit. Complications, interventions required, and bleb morphology were recorded postoperatively. The primary outcome was trabeculectomy safety, including complications and bleb morphology; the secondary outcome was the trabeculectomy success rate. RESULTS: At the final follow-up [median 28mo, range 7–67mo and interquartile range (IQR) 13mo], the qualified (cumulative) success rate was 93.0% and the complete success rate was 60.0%. No bleb-related complications were observed. The mean height, extent, and vascularity grades were 0.6±0.9, 1.1±0.4, and 2.4±0.9, respectively. All Seidel tests were negative. The mean posteriority grade was 0.8±0.4. CONCLUSION: Trabeculectomy with the long side of a mitomycin C-soaked sponge placed perpendicular to the corneal limbus is safe and effective

Engineered endolysin of Klebsiella pneumoniae phage is a potent and broad-spectrum bactericidal agent against “ESKAPEE” pathogens

The rise of antimicrobial resistance in ESKAPEE pathogens poses significant clinical challenges, especially in polymicrobial infections. Bacteriophage-derived endolysins offer promise in combating this crisis, but face practical hurdles. Our study focuses on engineering endolysins from a Klebsiella pneumoniae phage, fusing them with ApoE23 and COG133 peptides. We assessed the resulting chimeric proteins’ bactericidal activity against ESKAPEE pathogens in vitro. ApoE23-Kp84B (CHU-1) reduced over 3 log units of CFU for A. baumannii, E. faecalis, K. pneumoniae within 1 h, while COG133-Kp84B (CHU-2) showed significant efficacy against S. aureus. COG133-L1-Kp84B, with a GS linker insertion in CHU-2, exhibited outstanding bactericidal activity against E. cloacae and P. aeruginosa. Scanning electron microscopy revealed alterations in bacterial morphology after treatment with engineered endolysins. Notably, CHU-1 demonstrated promising anti-biofilm and anti-persister cell activity against A. baumannii and E. faecalis but had limited efficacy in a bacteremia mouse model of their coinfection. Our findings advance the field of endolysin engineering, facilitating the customization of these proteins to target specific bacterial pathogens. This approach holds promise for the development of personalized therapies tailored to combat ESKAPEE infections effectively

A simulation study on the measurement of D0-D0bar mixing parameter y at BES-III

We established a method on measuring the \dzdzb mixing parameter $y$ for BESIII experiment at the BEPCII $e^+e^-$ collider. In this method, the doubly tagged $\psi(3770) \to D^0 \overline{D^0}$ events, with one $D$ decays to CP-eigenstates and the other $D$ decays semileptonically, are used to reconstruct the signals. Since this analysis requires good $e/\pi$ separation, a likelihood approach, which combines the $dE/dx$, time of flight and the electromagnetic shower detectors information, is used for particle identification. We estimate the sensitivity of the measurement of $y$ to be 0.007 based on a $20fb^{-1}$ fully simulated MC sample.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Association between systolic blood pressure and diabetic retinopathy in both hypertensive and normotensive patients with type 2 diabetes: risk factors and healthcare implications

A common diabetes-related microvascular complication is diabetic retinopathy (DR), yet associations between blood pressure (BP) and risks for DR in diabetic patients with normal BP received inadequate attention. This may lead to ‘clinical inertia’ in early DR prevention. We aimed to assess whether the extent to which systolic BP levels were associated with DR in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and normal BP were similar to that in those with concurrent hypertension. Data were collected from patients with T2DM attending ophthalmic check-up with primary care referral (n = 2510). BP measurements, clinical laboratory tests, and dilated fundus examination were conducted according to gold standard of diagnosis and routine clinical procedure. Of all subjects, over 40% were normotensive and one fifth were clinically diagnosed with DR. Systolic BP levels increased across DR categories of escalated severity irrespective of the coexistence of hypertension. Ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that an increased systolic BP was independently and significantly associated with DR (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.020, p &lt; 0.001 for hypertensives; aOR = 1.019, p = 0.018 for normotensives), after adjusting for diabetes duration, sex, lifestyles, and haemoglobin A1c levels. Regular monitoring of systolic BP should not be neglected in routine diabetes management even when BP falls within the normal range