Dynamic Structure in Four-strategy Game: Theory and Experiment

Game dynamics theory, as a field of science, the consistency of theory and experiment is essential. In the past 10 years, important progress has been made in the merging of the theory and experiment in this field, in which dynamics cycle is the presentation. However, the merging works have not got rid of the constraints of Euclidean two-dimensional cycle so far. This paper uses a classic four-strategy game to study the dynamic structure (non-Euclidean superplane cycle). The consistency is in significant between the three ways: (1) the analytical results from evolutionary dynamics equations, (2) agent-based simulation results from learning models and (3) laboratory results from human subjects game experiments. The consistency suggests that, game dynamic structure could be quantitatively predictable, observable and controllable in general.Comment: game theory; laboratory game experiment; eigenvector; dynamics system theor

VFDB: a reference database for bacterial virulence factors

Bacterial pathogens continue to impose a major threat to public health worldwide in the 21st century. Intensified studies on bacterial pathogenesis have greatly expanded our knowledge about the mechanisms of the disease processes at the molecular level over the last decades. To facilitate future research, it becomes necessary to form a database collectively presenting the virulence factors (VFs) of various medical significant bacterial pathogens. The aim of virulence factor database (VFDB) (http://www.mgc.ac.cn/VFs/) is to provide such a source for scientists to rapidly access to current knowledge about VFs from various bacterial pathogens. VFDB is comprehensive and user-friendly. One can search VFDB by browsing each genus or by typing keywords. Furthermore, a BLAST search tool against all known VF-related genes is also available. VFDB provides a unified gateway to store, search, retrieve and update information about VFs from various bacterial pathogens

Abnormal Alterations of Regional Spontaneous Neuronal Activity in Inferior Frontal Orbital Gyrus and Corresponding Brain Circuit Alterations: A Resting-State fMRI Study in Somatic Depression

Background: Major depressive disorders often involve somatic symptoms and have been found to have fundamental differences from non-somatic depression (NSD). However, the neural basis of this type of somatic depression (SD) is unclear. The aim of this study is to use the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and functional connectivity (FC) analyses to examine the abnormal, regional, spontaneous, neuronal activity and the corresponding brain circuits in SD patients.Methods: 35 SD patients, 25 NSD patients, and 27 matched healthy controls were selected to complete this study. The ALFF and seed-based FC analyses were employed, and the Pearson correlation was determined to observe possible clinical relevance.Results: Compared with NSD, the SD group showed a significant ALFF increase in the right inferior temporal gyrus; a significant ALFF decrease in left hippocampus, right inferior frontal orbital gyrus and left thalamus; and a significant decrease in the FC value between the right inferior frontal orbital gyrus and the left inferior parietal cortex (p < 0.05, corrected). Within the SD group, the mean ALFF value of the right inferior frontal orbital gyrus was associated with the anxiety factor scores (r = –0.431, p = 0.010, corrected).Conclusions: Our findings suggest that abnormal differences in the regional spontaneous neuronal activity of the right inferior frontal orbital gyrus were associated with dysfunction patterns of the corresponding brain circuits during rest in SD patients, including the limbic-cortical systems and the default mode network. This may be an important aspect of the underlying mechanisms for pathogenesis of SD at the neural level

TPH-2 Gene Polymorphism in Major Depressive Disorder Patients With Early-Wakening Symptom

Background: Sleep disturbances, such as early wakening, are frequently observed in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). The suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN), which controls circadian rhythm, is innervated by the raphe nucleus, a region where Tryptophan hydroxylase-2 (TPH-2) gene is primarily expressed. Although TPH-2 is often implicated in the pathophysiology of depression, few studies have applied a genetic and imaging technique to investigate the mechanism of early wakening symptom in MDD. We hypothesized that TPH-2 variants could influence the function of SCN in MDD patients with early wakening symptom.Methods: One hundred and eighty five MDD patients (62 patients without early wakening and 123 patients with early wakening) and 64 healthy controls participated in this study. Blood samples were collected and genotyping of rs4290270, rs4570625, rs11178998, rs7305115, rs41317118, and rs17110747 were performed by next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology. Logistic regression model was employed for genetic data analysis using the PLINK software. Based on the allele type, rs4290270, which was significant in the early wakening MDD group, participants were categorized into two groups (A allele and T carrier). All patients underwent whole brain resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scanning and a voxel-wise functional connectivity comparison was performed between the groups.Results: rs4290270 was significantly linked to MDD patients who exhibited early wakening symptom. The functional connectivities of the right SCN with the right fusiform gyrus and right middle frontal gyrus were increased in the T carrier group compared to the A allele group. In addition, the functional connectivities of the left SCN with the right lingual gyrus and left calcarine sulcus were decreased in the T carrier group compared to the A allele group.Conclusion: These findings suggested that the TPH-2 gene variant, rs4290270, affected the circadian regulating function of SCN. The altered functional connectivities, observed between the SCN and right fusiform gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, the right lingual gyrus and left calcarine sulcus, could highlight the neural mechanism by which SCN induces sleep-related circadian disruption in T carrier MDD patients. Hence, rs4290270 could potentially serve as a reliable biomarker to identify MDD patients with early wakening symptom

Giant Enhancement of Magnonic Frequency Combs by Exceptional Points

With their incomparable time-frequency accuracy, frequency combs have significantly advanced precision spectroscopy, ultra-sensitive detection, and atomic clocks. Traditional methods to create photonic, phononic, and magnonic frequency combs hinge on material nonlinearities which are often weak, necessitating high power densities to surpass their initiation thresholds, which subsequently limits their applications. Here, we introduce a novel nonlinear process to efficiently generate magnonic frequency combs (MFCs) by exploiting exceptional points (EPs) in a coupled system comprising a pump-induced magnon mode and a Kittel mode. Even without any cavity, our method greatly improves the efficiency of nonlinear frequency conversion and achieves optimal MFCs at low pump power. Additionally, our novel nonlinear process enables excellent tunability of EPs using the polarization and power of the pump, simplifying MFC generation and manipulation. Our work establishes a synergistic relationship between non-Hermitian physics and MFCs, which is advantages for coherent/quantum information processing and ultra-sensitive detection.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure