Analytical controllability of deterministic scale-free networks and Cayley trees

According to the exact controllability theory, the controllability is investigated analytically for two typical types of self-similar bipartite networks, i.e., the classic deterministic scale-free networks and Cayley trees. Due to their self-similarity, the analytical results of the exact controllability are obtained, and the minimum sets of driver nodes (drivers) are also identified by elementary transformations on adjacency matrices. For these two types of undirected networks, no matter their links are unweighted or (nonzero) weighted, the controllability of networks and the configuration of drivers remain the same, showing a robustness to the link weights. These results have implications for the control of real networked systems with self-similarity.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; revised manuscript; added discussion about the general case of DSFN; added 3 reference

Global and partitioned reconstructions of undirected complex networks

It is a significant challenge to predict the network topology from a small amount of dynamical observations. Different from the usual framework of the node-based reconstruction, two optimization approaches (i.e., the global and partitioned reconstructions) are proposed to infer the structure of undirected networks from dynamics. These approaches are applied to evolutionary games occurring on both homogeneous and heterogeneous networks via compressed sensing, which can more efficiently achieve higher reconstruction accuracy with relatively small amounts of data. Our approaches provide different perspectives on effectively reconstructing complex networks.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; revised version; added numerical results of the PR in Table 1 and expanded Section 4; added 7 reference

Ovarian cancer initially presenting with isolated ipsilateral superficial inguinal lymph node metastasis: a case study and review of the literature

Isolated superficial inguinal metastases without any extended intra-abdominal spread is a rare event in patients with ovarian carcinoma. Here we report an isolated superficial inguinal metastasis in a patient with primary ovarian cancer. A 54-year-old Chinese patient with primary ovarian cancer, had an isolated painless enlarged right groin swelling (3×2cm) as the only manifestation, preoperative pathology confirmed metastatic adenocarcinoma. Gynecologic examination, transvaginal ultrasonography of the abdominopelvic cavity revealed a 5-cm mixed, right adnexal mass. At exploratory laparotomy, there was little intra-abdominal tumor dissemination but 100 ml of faint yellow peritoneal fluid and a 5-cm right ovarian tumor with intact capsule. Staging operation was performed and postoperative pathology confirmed adenocarcinoma located within right ovarian, with no evidence of involvement of other sites. Then the patient received adjuvant chemotherapy for Stage IVB. Five years later, the patient is currently still alive without evidence of recurrent disease. This case indicate that ovarian carcinoma isn’t a disease localized only within the intra-peritoneal cavity, isolated superficial inguinal lymph node metastasis might occur in rare cases via potential lymphatic and (or) hematogenous route under special conditions. We propose the need to investigate the possible mechanisms, risk factors, metastatic patterns, the biology and natural history of such patients in a large-scale and multicenter analysis. Furthermore, efforts should be made for earlier and differential diagnosis and finally prolong survival time for such patients

Molecular cloning and antibacterial activity of hepcidin from Chinese rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus)

AbstractBackgroundHepcidins, a kind of cysteine-rich antimicrobial peptides, play important roles in host immunological processes and iron regulation, which have been identified from several fish species. The rare minnow (Gobiocypris rarus), an endemic cyprinid fish in China, has been used extensively as model animal in laboratory. However, little is known about its hepcidin. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of a hepcidin gene from the liver of Chinese rare minnow.ResultsThe full-length cDNA of rare minnow hepcidin is 662bp, which contains an ORF of 273bp encoding a prepropeptide of 90 amino acid residues. The predicted prepropeptide contains three domains: a signal peptide of 24 amino acids, a prodomain of 41 amino acids, and a mature peptide of 25 amino acids. Sequence alignment showed eight conserved cysteine residues in the mature peptide, which formed four disulfide bonds in spatial structure. The deduced structure of mature peptide showed a high degree of homology to the human hepcidin. Phylogenetic analysis showed that it had a close relationship with zebrafish hepcidin, and clustered in a clade with these from Cyprinidae. Synthetic peptide of rare minnow hepcidin could inhibit the growth of Gram positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus and Gram negative bacteria Escherichia coli and Aeromonas hydrophila.ConclusionThese results suggested that rare minnow hepcidin had typical structure of hepcidins and antibacterial activity. It could participate in innate immune response as an antibacterial agent and be used as antibiotic substance

Dimensional crossover of thermal conductance in graphene nanoribbons: A first-principles approach

First-principles density-functional calculations are performed to investigate the thermal transport properties in graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). The dimensional crossover of thermal conductance from one to two dimensions (2D) is clearly demonstrated with increasing ribbon width. The thermal conductance of GNRs in a few nanometer width already exhibits an approximate low-temperature dependence of $T^{1.5}$, like that of 2D graphene sheet which is attributed to the quadratic nature of dispersion relation for the out-of-plane acoustic phonon modes. Using a zone-folding method, we heuristically derive the dimensional crossover of thermal conductance with the increase of ribbon width. Combining our calculations with the experimental phonon mean-free path, some typical values of thermal conductivity at room temperature are estimated for GNRs and for 2D graphene sheet, respectively. Our findings clarify the issue of low-temperature dependence of thermal transport in GNRs and suggest a calibration range of thermal conductivity for experimental measurements in graphene-based materials.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

A generalized public goods game with coupling of individual ability and project benefit

Facing a heavy task, any single person can only make a limited contribution and team cooperation is needed. As one enjoys the benefit of the public goods, the potential benefits of the project are not always maximized and may be partly wasted. By incorporating individual ability and project benefit into the original public goods game, we study the coupling effect of the four parameters, the upper limit of individual contribution, the upper limit of individual benefit, the needed project cost and the upper limit of project benefit on the evolution of cooperation. Coevolving with the individual-level group size preferences, an increase in the upper limit of individual benefit promotes cooperation while an increase in the upper limit of individual contribution inhibits cooperation. The coupling of the upper limit of individual contribution and the needed project cost determines the critical point of the upper limit of project benefit, where the equilibrium frequency of cooperators reaches its highest level. Above the critical point, an increase in the upper limit of project benefit inhibits cooperation. The evolution of cooperation is closely related to the preferred group-size distribution. A functional relation between the frequency of cooperators and the dominant group size is found

Neuroprotective Effect of Modified Xijiao Dihuang Decoction against Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation and Reoxygenation-Induced Injury in PC12 Cells: Involvement of TLR4-MyD88/NF- κ

Modified Xijiao Dihuang (XJDH) decoction has been shown to exert powerful neuroprotective properties in clinical ischemic stroke treatment. It consists of 4 Chinese herbs: Buffalo Horn, Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews, Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaertn.) DC, and Paeonia lactiflora Pall. In the present study, the neuroprotective effect and specific mechanisms of XJDH in protecting PC12 cells from oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced injury were investigated. It was found that OGD/R significantly decreased the cell viability and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity and increased the release of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in PC12 cells, and these effects were suppressed by XJDH and one of its major active constituents, paeoniflorin. Additionally, XJDH inhibited caspase-3 activity and reduced cleaved caspase-3 level. Mechanistic studies showed that the expressions of TLR4, MyD88, TRAF6, and NF-κB p65 and phosphorylation of IκBα and p65 were significantly lower in the XJDH-treated group than in the OGD/R control group. Additionally, XJDH reversed the OGD/R-induced increases in p-JNK and p-ERK1/2 expression. These results suggest that XJDH protects PC12 cells from oxygen-glucose deprivation-induced injury, which may be associated with the inhibition of the TLR4-MyD88/NF-κB signaling pathway. As an anti-inflammation factor, XJDH might be used as a neuronal protection strategy for the ischemia injury and related diseases