Spleen-Yang-deficiency patients with polycystic ovary syndrome have higher levels of visfatin

AbstractObjectiveTo study serum visfatin levels in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) grouped by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) patterns. To study the correlations of serum visfatin levels with homeostatic model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), fasting insulin (FINS), body mass index (BMI), testosterone (T), total cholesterol (TC), and triglycerides (TG).MethodsTwo hundred and twelve PCOS patients were placed into the following TCM pattern subgroups: Kidney-Yang deficiency (KYD) group, Spleen-Yang deficiency (SYD) group, stagnant Liver-Qi transforming into heat (SLQTH) group, and Kidney-Yin deficiency (KYIND) group. The correlations between serum visfatin levels and HOMA-IR, FPG, FINS, BMI, T, TC, and TG were analyzed.ResultsOf all patients with PCOS, there were 82 in the KYD group (38.6%), 67 in the SYD group (31.6%), 37 in the SLQTH group (17.5%), and 26 in the KYIND group (12.3%). Visfatin levels in all PCOS subgroups were higher than those in the control group (P<0.01 or P<0.05). Among these subgroups, the visfatin levels in the SYD group were significantly higher than those in the other three TCM pattern groups (P<0.05). There were no statistical differences among the remaining three pattern groups. The levels of BMI, FINS, HOMA-IR, T, and TG were significantly higher in all subgroups than those in the control group (P<0.05). There were no significant differences in FPG and TC between all PCOS subgroups and the control group (P>0.05). The SYD group had higher levels of FINS and HOMA-IR compared with the KYD, SLQTH, and KYIND groups (P<0.05). In all subgroups, after controlling for BMI, TG, TC, and age, visfatin was positively correlated with FINS (r= 0.197, P=0.015) and HOMA-IR (r=0.173, P=0.033), and was not correlated with T.ConclusionKYD and SYD patterns are most common in PCOS patients. Increased visfatin is a common pathophysiologic manifestation in PCOS patients. The SYD group had the highest levels of visfatin, and visfatin was positively correlated with FINS and HOMA-IR

Magic ratios for connectivity-driven electrical conductance of graphene-like molecules

Experiments using a mechanically-controlled break junction and calculations based on density functional theory demonstrate a new magic ratio rule (MRR),which captures the contribution of connectivity to the electrical conductance of graphene-like aromatic molecules. When one electrode is connected to a site i and the other is connected to a site i' of a particular molecule, we assign the molecule a magic integer Mii'. Two molecules with the same aromatic core, but different pairs of electrode connection sites (i,i' and j,j' respectively) possess different magic integers Mii' and Mjj'. Based on connectivity alone, we predict that when the coupling to electrodes is weak and the Fermi energy of the electrodes lies close to the centre of the HOMO-LUMO gap, the ratio of their conductances is equal to (Mii' /Mjj')2. The MRR is exact for a tight binding representation of a molecule and a qualitative guide for real molecules

Tetra­aqua­bis­(1,10-phenanthroline-κ2 N,N′)strontium 5,5′-diazene­diyl­ditetra­zolide

The title complex, [Sr(C12H8N2)2(H2O)4](C2N10), contains an [Sr(phen)2(H2O)4]2+ cation (phen is 1,10-phenanthroline) and a 5,5′-diazenediylditetra­zolide anion (site symmetry 2). The Sr2+ cation (site symmetry 2) is coordinated by four N atoms from two chelating phen and four water mol­ecules. In the crystal structure, the water mol­ecules and the N atoms in the tetra­zolide rings form an extensive range of O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds which link the complex into a two-dimensional structure. An adjacent layer further yields a three-dimensional supramolecular network by offset face-to-face π–π stacking inter­actions of the phen ligands [with centroid–centroid distances of 3.915 (2) and 4.012 (2) Å]. The two bridging N atoms of the anion are equally disordered about the twofold rotation axis

Multi-Receiver Quantum Dense Coding with Non-Symmetric Quantum Channel

A two-receiver quantum dense coding scheme and an $N$-receiver quantum dense coding scheme, in the case of non-symmetric Hilbert spaces of the particles of the quantum channel, are investigated in this paper. A sender can send his messages to many receivers simultaneously. The scheme can be applied to quantum secret sharing and controlled quantum dense coding.Comment: To appear in Journal of the Korean Physical Societ

Eggs from Blue Peafowl and Hen

Abstract The study was undertaken to compare the quality and nutritional components of eggs from blue peafowl and Jingbai hen. The results showed that the average egg weight, eggshell thickness and egg yolk relative weight of blue peafowl eggs were significantly bigger than those of hen eggs (p &lt; 0.01). Blue peafowl eggs contained significantly higher protein (p &lt; 0.01), higher carbohydrate (p &lt; 0.01), total amino acid and essential amino acid (p &lt; 0.01), Zn (p &lt; 0.01), Ca (p &lt; 0.05) but lower fat (p &lt; 0.01) and water (p &lt; 0.05) than those in hen eggs. Amino acid content of blue peafowl eggs was in accordance with the ideals of the FAO mode. Blue peafowl eggs contained significantly higher V C and V B2 (p &lt; 0.01) but lower V A and V E (p &lt; 0.01) than hen eggs. 47 volatile compounds were found in raw blue peafowl eggs while only 30 in raw hen eggs; 60 volatile compounds were found in cooked blue peafowl eggs while only 41 in cooked hen eggs. Overall, most indices of qualities and nutrient components of blue peafowl eggs were not inferior to hen eggs

Entanglement control in one-dimensional s=1/2s=1/2 random XY spin chain

The entanglement in one-dimensional random XY spin systems where the impurities of exchange couplings and the external magnetic fields are considered as random variables is investigated by solving the different spin-spin correlation functions and the average magnetization per spin. The entanglement dynamics near particular locations of the system is also studied when the exchange couplings (or the external magnetic fields) satisfy three different distributions(the Gaussian distribution, double-Gaussian distribution, and bimodal distribution). We find that the entanglement can be controlled by varying the strength of external magnetic field and the different distributions of impurities. Moreover, the entanglement of some nearest-neighboring qubits can be increased for certain parameter values of the three different distributions.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

First-principles calculation of topological invariants Z2 within the FP-LAPW formalism

In this paper, we report the implementation of first-principles calculations of topological invariants Z2 within the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave (FP-LAPW) formalism. In systems with both time-reversal and spatial inversion symmetry (centrosymmetric), one can use the parity analysis of Bloch functions at time-reversal invariant momenta to determine the Z2 invariants. In systems without spatial inversion symmetry (noncentrosymmetric), however, a more complex and systematic method in terms of the Berry gauge potential and the Berry curvature is required to identify the band topology. We show in detail how both methods are implemented in FP-LAPW formalism and applied to several classes of materials including centrosymmetric compounds Bi2Se3 and Sb2Se3 and noncentrosymmetric compounds LuPtBi, AuTlS2 and CdSnAs2. Our work provides an accurate and effective implementation of first-principles calculations to speed up the search of new topological insulators