Lower Bound on Translative Covering Density of Tetrahedra

In this paper, we present the first nontrivial lower bound on the translative covering density of tetrahedra. To this end, we show the lower bound, in any translative covering of tetrahedra, on the density relative to a given cube. The resulting lower bound on the translative covering density of tetrahedra is $1+1.227\times10^{-3}$

Results on monochromatic vertex disconnection of graphs

Let $G$ be a vertex-colored graph. A vertex cut $S$ of $G$ is called a monochromatic vertex cut if the vertices of $S$ are colored with the same color. A graph $G$ is monochromatically vertex-disconnected if any two nonadjacent vertices of $G$ have a monochromatic vertex cut separating them. The monochromatic vertex disconnection number of $G$, denoted by $mvd(G)$, is the maximum number of colors that are used to make $G$ monochromatically vertex-disconnected. In this paper, the connection between the graph parameters are studied: $mvd(G)$, connectivity and block decomposition. We determine the value of $mvd(G)$ for some well-known graphs, and then characterize $G$ when $n-5\leq mvd(G)\leq n$ and all blocks of $G$ are minimally 2-connected triangle-free graphs. We obtain the maximum size of a graph $G$ with $mvd(G) = k$ for any $k$. Finally, we study the Erdős-Gallai-type results for $mvd(G)$, and completely solve them

Development of Interface-Specific Two-Dimensional Vibrational-Electronic (i2D-VE) Spectroscopy for Vibronic Couplings at Interfaces

Bulk 2D electronic–vibrational (2D-EV) and 2D vibrational–electronic spectroscopies (2D-VE) were previously developed to correlate the electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom simultaneously, which allow for the study of couplings between electronic and vibrational transitions in photo-chemical systems. Such bulk-dominated methods have been used to extensively study molecular systems, providing unique information such as coherence sensitivity, molecular configurations, enhanced resolution, and correlated states and their dynamics. However, the analogy of interfacial 2D spectroscopy has fallen behind. Our recent work presented interface-specific 2D-EV spectroscopy (i2D-EV). In this work, we develop interface-specific two-dimensional vibrational–electronic spectroscopy (i2D-VE). The fourth-order spectroscopy is based on a Mach–Zehnder IR interferometer that accurately controls the time delay of an IR pump pulse pair for vibrational transitions, followed by broadband interface second-harmonic generation to probe electronic transitions. We demonstrate step-by-step how a fourth-order i2D-VE spectrum of AP3 molecules at the air/water interface was collected and analyzed. The line shape and signatures of i2D-VE peaks reveal solvent correlations and the spectral nature of vibronic couplings. Together, i2D-VE and i2D-EV spectroscopy provide coupling of different behaviors of the vibrational ground state or excited states with electronic states of molecules at interfaces and surfaces. The methodology presented here could also probe dynamic couplings of electronic and vibrational motions at interfaces and surfaces, extending the usefulness of the rich data that are obtained

Huaiqihuang may protect from proteinuria by resisting MPC5 podocyte damage via targeting p-ERK/CHOP pathway

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential effects of Huaiqihuang (HQH) granule, a Chinese herbal medicine, in treating proteinuria and to reveal its possible mechanism. MPC5 podocytes were cultured in vitro at 37°C and induced with tunicamycin (TM). The TM-induced cells were treated with HQH at different concentrations. The cell proliferation was detected using the MTT assay. The optimal effective dose of HQH for MPC5 cells was determined by the MTT assay and LDH assay respectively. The influences of HQH on the proteinuria-related protein expression and the signaling pathway associated protein expression were also detected using quantitative reverse transcription PCR and Western blotting analysis. The results showed that the MPC5 cell model was successfully constructed in vitro. The HQH application could improve the harmful effects induced by TM on the MPC5 cells, including promoted cell proliferation and suppressed cell apoptosis. Furthermore, the protein expression, including podocin, nephrin, and synaptopodin was down-regulated by the TM treatment in the MPC5 cells. On contrary, the expression of these proteins was up-regulated after the HQH application. Also, the effect of TM on integrin α3 and integrin β1 expressions was also reversed by the HQH treatment. Moreover, the HQH application decreased the expression of p-ERK and DNA-damage-inducible transcript 3 (DDIT3 or CHOP) in the MPC5 cells, which was opposite to the effect observed in the cells treated with TM. Taken together, our study suggest that HQH application may protect podocytes from TM damage by suppressing the p-ERK/CHOP signaling pathway

The role of echocardiography in prognosis for dysfunction and abandonment of radiocephalic arteriovenous fistula in elderly Chinese patients on hemodialysis

The objective of this study was to examine the impact of cardiac structure and function at baseline on the outcomes associated with arteriovenous fistula (AVF) in patients on hemodialysis (HD). Patients who initiated HD aged ≥70 years and received a mature AVF creation were included retrospectively. Echocardiographic parameters measured within 1 week before AVF creation were acquired. The observational period for each patient was from the point of AVF creation to the last time of follow‐up unless AVF abandonment or death occurred. Kaplan‐Meier and Cox proportional hazard regression analyses were conducted. A total of 82 elderly Chinese HD patients with mature radiocephalic AVF (RCAVF) and EF ≥50% were analyzed. During the median study period of 26.8 (12‐40) months, 42 (51.2%) experienced RCAVF dysfunction and 34 (41.5%) progressed to abandonment. Primary and cumulative patencies at 6, 12, 24, and 36 months were 81%, 73%, 48%, 38%, and 84%, 81%, 68%, 55%, respectively. Left ventricle end‐diastolic volume (LVEDV) ≤103.5 mL (HR = 2.5, P = .019) and the right side of RCAVF (HR = 3.59, P = .003) significantly predicted RCAVF dysfunction. The main pulmonary artery internal diameter (MPAID) ≤21.5 mm (HR = 4.3, P = .001) as well as the right side (HR = 2.95, P = .047) were the independent predictors for RCAVF abandonment. In conclusion, LVEDV, MPAID assessed by echocardiography and the right side of RCAVF, showed significant predictive implications for the outcomes of RCAVF. Disparities among nationalities in the areas of utilization and patency of AVFs necessitate additional studies.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156158/2/sdi12871.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/156158/1/sdi12871_am.pd

Effect of peripheral blood lymphocyte count on the efficacy of immunotherapy combined with TKI in the treatment of advanced liver cancer

Background and aimsCompared with tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) monotherapy, TKI combined with PD1 can improve the therapeutic effect of liver cancer and has been widely used in clinical practice. However, there is a lack of effective biomarkers to identify patients who would benefit more from this combination therapy. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate whether baseline lymphocyte counts can identify patients with liver cancer who would benefit from targeted immune combination therapy.MethodsData from patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who received TKIs or TKIs in combination with PD1 between June 2018 and June 2020 were retrospectively collected. The patients were divided into high and low groups based on the median absolute count of peripheral lymphocytes before systemic therapy and differences in overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) between TKI and TKI+PD1 were compared between the two groups.ResultsIn total, 72 patients were included in this study, with a median follow-up of 1.5 years. Both PFS and OS in the TKI+PD1 group showed a good prognostic trend (p = 0.058 and p = 0.077, respectively). Subgroup analyses based on peripheral blood lymphocyte counts showed that the combination regimen had a significant PFS and OS advantage only in patients with high peripheral blood lymphocyte counts (p = 0.036 and p = 0.031, respectively), but not in patients with low absolute peripheral blood lymphocyte counts (p = 0.819 and p = 0.913, respectively).ConclusionsPeripheral blood lymphocyte count is a simple and effective biomarker that can be used to identify patients with liver cancer who will benefit more from TKI+PD-1 combination therapy

Irreversible dual inhibitory mode: the novel Btk inhibitor PLS-123 demonstrates promising anti-tumor activity in human B-cell lymphoma.

The B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling pathway has gained significant attention as a therapeutic target in B-cell malignancies. Recently, several drugs that target the BCR signaling pathway, especially the Btk inhibitor ibrutinib, have demonstrated notable therapeutic effects in relapsed/refractory patients, which indicates that pharmacological inhibition of BCR pathway holds promise in B-cell lymphoma treatment. Here we present a novel covalent irreversible Btk inhibitor PLS-123 with more potent anti-proliferative activity compared with ibrutinib in multiple cellular and in vivo models through effective apoptosis induction and dual-action inhibitory mode of Btk activation. The phosphorylation of BCR downstream activating AKT/mTOR and MAPK signal pathways was also more significantly reduced after treatment with PLS-123 than ibrutinib. Gene expression profile analysis further suggested that the different selectivity profile of PLS-123 led to significant downregulation of oncogenic gene PTPN11 expression, which might also offer new opportunities beyond what ibrutinib has achieved. In addition, PLS-123 dose-dependently attenuated BCR- and chemokine-mediated lymphoma cell adhesion and migration. Taken together, Btk inhibitor PLS-123 suggested a new direction to pharmacologically modulate Btk function and develop novel therapeutic drug for B-cell lymphoma treatment

The Effect of Heat-Moisture Treatment Changed the Binding of Starch, Protein and Lipid in Rice Flour to Affect Its Hierarchical Structure and Physicochemical Properties

Highlights HMT promoted the binding between starch, protein and lipid. • The gelatinization viscosity of HMT rice flour was sharply increased when the proteins were removed. • Proteins played a critical role in the physicochemical changes of HMT rice flour. This study investigated the effect of removing proteins, lipids and starch on the structure, physicochemical properties and digestion properties of rice flour (with 30% moisture) treated with heat moisture treatment (HMT). According to the results, HMT caused the adhesion and agglomeration of the rice flour, promoted the binding between starch, protein and lipid molecular chains and led to the formation of complexes (especially starch-lipid complexes), which hindered the removal of non-starch components. Compared to the untreated rice flour, the HMT treated lipid-removal rice flour had small changes in their crystallinity, gelatinization temperature and viscosity property. After removing protein, the crystallinity, peak viscosity, final viscosity, breakdown and starch digestibility were sharply increased. In particular, the peak viscosity increased from 811 cP to 1746 cP and the enthalpy change increased from 5.33 J/g to 10.18 J/g. These findings are helpful in understanding the contribution of removing endogenous proteins and lipids to the physicochemical changes of HMT treated rice flour during its heating process and thus can be helpful in controlling the quality of rice flour through HMT

Performance analysis and optimization for coverage classes updating mechanism of narrow-band internet of things

A Markov chain model with coverage classes as state variables was established to describe the dynamics of the coverage classes updating mechanism of narrow-band internet of things (NB-IoT).An optimization model to minimize average probability of access failure as well as average power consumption was formulated,with which the effects of preamble repetition number,system load and global maximum transmission number on the optimal configuration of maximum transmission number of each coverage class was analyzed.Numerical analysis results show that the maximum transmission number of normal coverage and extended coverage have a great influence on the system performance and their value ranges should be set within[1,5]and[1,7]respectively.However,the maximum transmission number of extreme coverage has little influence on the system performance,its value could be any one in[1,10]but the recommended value is 1.In addition,the average power consumption of the model that introduced coverage classes’ rollback mechanism is about 95% lower than the model proposed by 3GPP