Deep Imaging of the HCG 95 Field.I.Ultra-diffuse Galaxies

We present a detection of 89 candidates of ultra-diffuse galaxies (UDGs) in a 4.9 degree$^2$ field centered on the Hickson Compact Group 95 (HCG 95) using deep $g$- and $r$-band images taken with the Chinese Near Object Survey Telescope. This field contains one rich galaxy cluster (Abell 2588 at $z$=0.199) and two poor clusters (Pegasus I at $z$=0.013 and Pegasus II at $z$=0.040). The 89 candidates are likely associated with the two poor clusters, giving about 50 $-$ 60 true UDGs with a half-light radius $r_{\rm e} > 1.5$ kpc and a central surface brightness $\mu(g,0) > 24.0$ mag arcsec$^{-2}$. Deep $z$'-band images are available for 84 of the 89 galaxies from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS), confirming that these galaxies have an extremely low central surface brightness. Moreover, our UDG candidates are spread over a wide range in $g-r$ color, and $\sim$26% are as blue as normal star-forming galaxies, which is suggestive of young UDGs that are still in formation. Interestingly, we find that one UDG linked with HCG 95 is a gas-rich galaxy with H I mass $1.1 \times 10^{9} M_{\odot}$ detected by the Very Large Array, and has a stellar mass of $M_\star \sim 1.8 \times 10^{8}$ $M_{\odot}$. This indicates that UDGs at least partially overlap with the population of nearly dark galaxies found in deep H I surveys. Our results show that the high abundance of blue UDGs in the HCG 95 field is favored by the environment of poor galaxy clusters residing in H I-rich large-scale structures.Comment: Published in Ap

Thermomechanical property of rice kernels studied by DMA

The thermomechanical property of the rice kernels was investigated using a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA). The length change of rice kernels with a loaded constant force along the major axis direction was detected during temperature scanning. The thermomechanical transition occurred in rice kernels when heated. The transition temperatures were determined as 47°C, 50°C and 56°C for the medium-grain rice with the moisture contents of 18.1%, 16.0% and 12.5% (wet basis), respectively. Length change of the rice kernels increased with the increase of the temperature and moisture content. Among the four rice varieties investigated, the results showed that the thermomechanical property was not significantly affected by variety

Reactive Oxygen Species Affect the Tenderness of Bovine Muscle by Regulating Glycolysis during the Early Stage of Postmortem Cold Storage

This study was conducted to investigate the regulatory mechanism of reactive oxygen species (ROS) on the glycolysis pathway of bovine muscle and its impact on meat tenderness at the early stage of postmortem cold storage. Fresh beef was treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a major ROS, N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC) as an ROS scavenger, or physiological saline as a control before being stored at 4 ℃. After 0.5, 6, 12, 24, and 48 hours, the glycolysis level and tenderness indices were assessed. In addition, tandem mass tag (TMT)-labeled quantitative proteomics was used for protein identification and quantitative analysis of the samples after 24 hours and for screening of differential proteins in the glycolysis pathway. The findings showed that the glycolysis level increased significantly in the H2O2-treated group, and glycogenolysis and lactic acid accumulation were significantly higher than those in the other two groups (P < 0.05). In contrast, the glycolysis process was significantly suppressed by NAC treatment. The H2O2-treated group reached the ultimate pH after 12 hours, 12 and 36 hours earlier than the control and NAC groups, respectively. The shear force of the H2O2-treated group reached its maximum after 12 hours, and the myofibrillar fragmentation index (MFI) was significantly greater than that of the other two groups after 6–48 hours (P < 0.05), indicating that a higher ROS level can accelerate the tenderization of bovine muscle by enhancing the glycolysis capacity during postmortem refrigeration. Totally eight up-regulated proteins and two down-regulated proteins in the glycolysis pathway were identified in the H2O2-treated versus control groups after 24 hours of refrigeration. Among these proteins, the up-regulated core proteins of phosphoglycerate mutase (PGAM), enolase (ENO), and pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 subunit beta (PDHB) coordinated with the down-regulated pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 subunit alpha (PDHA) to accelerate the glycolysis process. In conclusion, ROS can speed up glycolysis and consequently improve meat tenderness by regulating the expression of key proteins in the glycolysis pathway

The predictive values of monocyte–lymphocyte ratio in postoperative acute kidney injury and prognosis of patients with Stanford type A aortic dissection

ObjectivesPostoperative acute kidney injury (pAKI) is a serious complication of Stanford type A aortic dissection (TAAD) surgery, which is significantly associated with the inflammatory response. This study aimed to explore the relationship between blood count-derived inflammatory markers (BCDIMs) and pAKI and to construct a predictive model for pAKI.MethodsPatients who underwent TAAD surgery were obtained from our center and the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care (MIMIC)-IV database. The differences in preoperative BCDIMs and clinical outcomes of patients with and without pAKI were analyzed. Logistic regression was used to construct predictive models based on preoperative BCDIMs or white cell counts (WCCs). The performance of the BCDIMs and WCCs models was evaluated and compared using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, area under the ROC curve (AUC), Hosmer–Lemeshow test, calibration plot, net reclassification index (NRI), integrated discrimination improvement index (IDI), and decision curve analysis (DCA). The Kaplan–Meier curves were applied to compare the survival rate between different groups.ResultsThe overall incidence of pAKI in patients who underwent TAAD surgery from our center was 48.63% (124/255). The presence of pAKI was associated with longer ventilation time, higher incidence of cerebral complications and postoperative hepatic dysfunction, and higher in-hospital mortality. The results of the logistic regression indicated that the monocyte–lymphocyte ratio (MLR) was an independent risk factor for pAKI. The BCDIMs model had good discriminating ability, predictive ability, and clinical utility. In addition, the performance of the BCDIMs model was significantly better than that of the WCCs model. Analysis of data from the MIMIC-IV database validated that MLR was an independent risk factor for pAKI and had predictive value for pAKI. Finally, data from the MIMIC-IV database demonstrated that patients with a high MLR had a significantly poor 28-day survival rate when compared to patients with a low MLR.ConclusionOur study suggested that the MLR is an independent risk factor for pAKI. A predictive model based on BCDIMs had good discriminating ability, predictive ability, and clinical utility. Moreover, the performance of the BCDIMs model was significantly better than that of the WCCs model. Finally, a high MLR was significantly associated with poor short-term survival of patients who underwent TAAD surgery

Improved Model for Beam-Wave Interaction with Ohmic Losses and Reflections of Sheet Beam Traveling Wave Tubes

In this article, an improved model for the beam-wave interaction of sheet beam in traveling wave tubes (TWTs) considering ohmic losses and reflections is presented. The ohmic losses are obtained by field analysis and equivalent method. The space charge magnetic field is derived from the active Helmholtz's equation. An algorithm to obtain the S-matrix by the equivalent circuit method is presented. The relativistic Boris method is applied to accelerate macroparticles. The exchanged power is computed by the work the electromagnetic field applied to the macroparticles. The theoretical model is applied for validation to a G-band staggered double vane TWT and validated in comparison with CST Particle Studio and simulations without losses and reflections. The convergence of this algorithm is also discussed. The simulation time of the model is substantial faster than 3-D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals &lt;1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Correction of High-Order Lk Approximation for Subdiffusion

This version of the article has been accepted for publication, after peer review (when applicable) and is subject to Springer Nature’s AM terms of use, but is not the Version of Record and does not reflect post-acceptance improvements, or any corrections. The Version of Record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10915-022-01984-8The subdiffusion equations with a Caputo fractional derivative of order $\alpha \in (0, 1)$ arise in a wide variety of practical problems, which describe the transport processes, in the force-free limit, slower than Brownian diffusion. In this work, we derive the correction schemes of the Lagrange interpolation with degree $k ( \leq 6)$ convolution quadrature, called $L_{k}$ approximation, for the subdiffusion. The key step of designing correction algorithm is to calculate the explicit form of the coefficients of $L_{k}$ approximation by the polylogarithm function or Bose-Einstein integral. To construct a $\tau_{8}$ approximation of Bose-Einstein integral, the desired $(k+1-\alpha)$th-order convergence rate can be proved for the correction $L_{k}$ scheme with nonsmooth data, which is higher than kth-order BDFk method in [Jin, Li, and Zhou, SIAM J. Sci. Comput., 39 (2017), A3129–A3152; Shi and Chen, J. Sci. Comput., (2020) 85:28]. The numerical experiments with spectral method are given to illustrate theoretical results