Interconnecting bilayer networks

A typical complex system should be described by a supernetwork or a network of networks, in which the networks are coupled to some other networks. As the first step to understanding the complex systems on such more systematic level, scientists studied interdependent multilayer networks. In this letter, we introduce a new kind of interdependent multilayer networks, i.e., interconnecting networks, for which the component networks are coupled each other by sharing some common nodes. Based on the empirical investigations, we revealed a common feature of such interconnecting networks, namely, the networks with smaller averaged topological differences of the interconnecting nodes tend to share more nodes. A very simple node sharing mechanism is proposed to analytically explain the observed feature of the interconnecting networks.Comment: 9 page

(E)-N′-[(2-Hydroxynaphthalen-1-yl)methylidene]nicotinohydrazide

In the mol­ecule of the title compound, C17H13N3O2, the naphthyl ring system and the pyridine ring form a dihedral angle of 12.2 (3)°. An intra­molecular O—H⋯N hydrogen bond generates a six-membered ring with an S(6) ring motif. This also contributes to the relative overall near planarity of the mol­ecule [r.m.s. deviation of all 22 non-H atoms = 0.107 (5) Å]. In the crystal, mol­ecules are linked through inter­molecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds, forming chains along the a axis

Quantitative spectroscopic analysis of heterogeneous mixtures: the correction of multiplicative effects caused by variations in physical properties of samples

Spectral measurements of complex heterogeneous types of mixture samples are often affected by significant multiplicative effects resulting from light scattering, due to physical variations (e.g. particle size and shape, sample packing and sample surface, etc.) inherent within the individual samples. Therefore, the separation of the spectral contributions due to variations in chemical compositions from those caused by physical variations is crucial to accurate quantitative spectroscopic analysis of heterogeneous samples. In this work, an improved strategy has been proposed to estimate the multiplicative parameters accounting for multiplicative effects in each measured spectrum, and hence mitigate the detrimental influence of multiplicative effects on the quantitative spectroscopic analysis of heterogeneous samples. The basic assumption of the proposed method is that light scattering due to physical variations has the same effects on the spectral contributions of each of the spectroscopically active chemical component in the same sample mixture. Based on this underlying assumption, the proposed method realizes the efficient estimation of the multiplicative parameters by solving a simple quadratic programming problem. The performance of the proposed method has been tested on two publicly available benchmark data sets (i.e. near-infrared total diffuse transmittance spectra of four-component suspension samples and near infrared spectral data of meat samples) and compared with some empirical approaches designed for the same purpose. It was found that the proposed method provided appreciable improvement in quantitative spectroscopic analysis of heterogeneous mixture samples. The study indicates that accurate quantitative spectroscopic analysis of heterogeneous mixture samples can be achieved through the combination of spectroscopic techniques with smart modeling methodology

Expressions of toll-like receptors 2 and 4, and relative cellular factors in HIV patients with tuberculosis infection

Purpose: To investigate the expressions of toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2), toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), IFN-γ (IFN- gamma), interleukin 2 (IL-2), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and interleukin 10 (IL-10) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients with tuberculosis (TB) infection.Methods: Two groups of HIV patients (68 in each group) were used for this study. These were HIV with TB (HIV/TB) group and HIV without TB group. A third group (68 healthy people) served as control. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) was adopted to measure TLR-2 and TLR-4 expressions in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), while the serum levels of TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-6 and IL-10 were determined by ELISA.Results: The △Ct values of TLR-2 and TLR-4 in HIV/TB and HIV groups were significantly lower than those in the control group (p < 0.05). Compared to control group, the serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10 significantly increased, while IFN-γ and IL-2 in HIV/TB and HIV groups significantly decreased (p < 0.05). However, IFN-γ and IL-2 decreased significantly in HIV/TB group (p < 0.05). Expression of TLR2 correlated positively with serum levels of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10, but negatively with IFN-γ and IL-2 (p < 0.05).Conclusion: TLR2 signal pathway plays a role in HIV patients with TB infection by promoting the expressions of TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-10, while inhibiting IFN-γ and IL-2 cellular factors, and thus may provide a new pathway for the treatment of patients with HIV/TB.Keywords: HIV, Tuberculosis, Toll-like receptor, Cellular factors, Tumor necrosis factor, Interleuki

Molecular cloning, expression profiling, and yeast complementation of 19 β-tubulin cDNAs from developing cotton ovules

Microtubules are a major structural component of the cytoskeleton and participate in cell division, intracellular transport, and cell morphogenesis. In the present study, 795 cotton tubulin expressed sequence tags were analysed and 19 β-tubulin genes (TUB) cloned from a cotton cDNA library. Among the group, 12 cotton TUBs (GhTUBs) are reported for the first time here. Transcription profiling revealed that nine GhTUBs were highly expressed in elongating fibre cells as compared with fuzzless-lintless mutant ovules. Treating cultured wild-type cotton ovules with exogenous phytohormones showed that individual genes can be induced by different agents. Gibberellin induced expression of GhTUB1 and GhTUB3, ethylene induced expression of GhTUB5, GhTUB9, and GhTUB12, brassinosteroids induced expression of GhTUB1, GhTUB3, GhTUB9, and GhTUB12, and lignoceric acid induced expression of GhTUB1, GhTUB3, and GhTUB12. When GhTUBs were transformed into the Saccharomyces cerevisiae inviable mutant, tub2, which is deficient in β-tubulin, one ovule-specific and eight of nine fibre-preferential GhTUBs rescued this lethality. This study suggests that the proteins encoded by cotton GhTUBs are involved during cotton fibre development

Analysis on the Risk and Supervision of P2P Online Financing Platforms in China

Microcredit is a vital breakthrough to solve the financial problems of low-income groups and small and medium-sized enterprises, while traditional microfinance providers can only meet a small proportion of their capital needs. By using internet technology, P2P online financing extends the innovative development of microcredit with the aim of solving traditional micro-credit problems. This paper mainly explores the existing online financing operation model of P2P in China, and summarizes the relevant problems, such as low entry barriers for P2P online financing enterprises and lack of supervision, Lack of verification on the qualification of borrowers and poor management of the platform, imperfect information revealed or providing false information by platform, etc. Finally, the article put forward some suggestions concerning the healthy development for the P2P online financing platform, including the establishing entry audit system and strengthening the supervision of the P2P platform, strengthening the management of borrowers and improving the credit collection system, and strengthening the disclosure of information by platform

On the Abundance of Potassium in Metal-Poor Stars

Based on extensive statistical-equilibrium calculations, we performed a non-LTE analysis of the K {\sc i} 7699 equivalent-width data of metal-deficient stars for the purpose of clarifying the behavior of the photospheric potassium abundance in disk/halo stars. While the resulting non-LTE abundance corrections turned out to be considerably large, amounting to 0.2--0.7 dex, their effect on the [K/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] relation is not very important, since these corrections do not show any significant metallicity dependence. Hence, we again confirmed the results of previous LTE studies, that [K/Fe] shows a gradual systematic increase toward a lowered metallicity up to [K/Fe] $\sim$ 0.3--0.5 at [Fe/H] $\sim$ -1 to -2, such as in the case of $\alpha$ elements.Comment: 16 pages (including 2 tables and 4 figures), to appear in PASJ, Vol.54, No.2 (using the style file pasj00.cls

Studies on the protective effect of total flavonoids from Cichorium glandulosum roots against carbon tetrachloride-induced liver fibrosis in rats

Purpose: To study the protective influence of total flavonoids from Cichorium glandulosum roots (TFCG) against carbon tetrachloride-mediated hepatic fibrosis in rats, and the probable mechanism of action involved.Methods: Rats with liver fibrosis were orally administered TFCG (50, 100 or 200 mg/kg) once a day for 13 weeks. Liver index and liver injury indices in serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (AKP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT), hydroxyproline (HYP), albumin (ALB) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were determined using electronic balance or corresponding assay kits, as appropriate. Following staining with hematoxylin and eosin and Van Gieson, histopathological changes in liver tissues were examined by light microscopy. TGF-β/Smad pathway-related protein expressions in liver tissues, viz, transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1), mothers against decapentaplegic homolog 3 (Smad3), Smad7, toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were determined using immunohistochemical techniques.Results: Exposure to TFCG significantly reversed abnormal serum levels of ALT, AST, AKP, LDH, γ- GT, HYP, ALB and MDA rats with liver fibrosis to normal levels, and also decreased their liver index values (p < 0.01). Moreover, TFCG improved histopathological changes in the liver tissues of fibrotic rats, and significantly reversed abnormal TGF-β1, Smad3, Smad7, TLR4 and α-SMA protein expressions in the liver tissues of fibrotic rats to normal levels (p < 0.05 or 0.01).Conclusion: These results indicate that TFCG exerts protective effect against liver fibrosis via a mechanism related to inactivation of TGF-β/Smad pathway. Thus, TFCG may find application in liver fibrosis therapy.Keywords: Cichorium glandulosum, Flavonoids, Liver, Fibrosis, TGF-β/Smad pathwa

Prognostic value of vitamin D in patients with pneumonia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose: To investigate the prognostic role of vitamin D in pneumonia patients  through meta-analysis.Methods: PubMed and Embase were systematically searched for relevant studies that assessed the impact of vitamin D on the risk of adverse outcomes among patients with pneumonia. Risk ratios (RR) with 95 % confidence intervals (95 % CI) were pooled using meta-analysis. Q-test and I2 statistics were used to evaluate between-study heterogeneity.Results: Six studies were finally included in the meta-analysis. The results of meta-analysis of these studies indicated that low vitamin D status was associated with higher risk of mortality among pneumonia patients (RR = 2.59, 95 % CI = 1.32-5.08; p = 0.005). Results from meta-analysis of studies with adjusted estimates suggest that low vitamin D status was independently associated with higher risk of mortality among pneumonia patients (RR = 3.15, 95 % CI 1.54-6.44, p = 0.002). There was no significant risk of bias in the meta-analysis.Conclusion: This study demonstrates that low vitamin D level is associated with a higher risk of adverse outcomes in patients with pneumonia.Keywords: Pneumonia, Vitamin D, Prognosis, Meta-analysis, Systematic revie