Spotlight on nociceptin/orphanin FQ receptor in the treatment of pain

In our society today, pain has become a main source of strain on most individuals. It is crucial to develop novel treatments against pain while focusing on decreasing their adverse effects. Throughout the extent of development for new pain therapies, the nociceptin/orphanin FQ receptor (NOP receptor) has appeared to be an encouraging focal point. Concentrating on NOP receptor to treat chronic pain with limited range of unwanted effects serves as a suitable alternative to prototypical opioid morphine that could potentially lead to life-threatening effects caused by respiratory depression in overdose, as well as generate abuse and addiction. In addition to these harmful effects, the uprising opioid epidemic is responsible for becoming one of the most disastrous public health issues in the US. In this article, the contributing molecular and cellular structure in controlling the cellular trafficking of NOP receptor and studies that support the role of NOP receptor and its ligands in pain management are reviewed

Degree correlation effect of bipartite network on personalized recommendation

In this paper, by introducing a new user similarity index base on the diffusion process, we propose a modified collaborative filtering (MCF) algorithm, which has remarkably higher accuracy than the standard collaborative filtering. In the proposed algorithm, the degree correlation between users and objects is taken into account and embedded into the similarity index by a tunable parameter. The numerical simulation on a benchmark data set shows that the algorithmic accuracy of the MCF, measured by the average ranking score, is further improved by 18.19% in the optimal case. In addition, two significant criteria of algorithmic performance, diversity and popularity, are also taken into account. Numerical results show that the presented algorithm can provide more diverse and less popular recommendations, for example, when the recommendation list contains 10 objects, the diversity, measured by the hamming distance, is improved by 21.90%.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Prevalence and Associated Metabolic Factors of Gallstone Disease in the Elderly Agricultural and Fishing Population of Taiwan

Purpose. To evaluate sex-related differences in the prevalence of and cardiovascular risk factors related to gallstone disease (GSD) in an elderly agricultural and fishing population of Taipei, Taiwan. Methods. The study sample consisted of 6511 healthy elderly participants (3971 men and 2540 women) who were voluntarily admitted to a teaching hospital for a physical checkup in 2010. The participants’ blood samples and real-time ultrasound fatty liver results were collected. Results. The prevalence of GSD in the study population was 13.2%, which increased significantly with population age (P<.0001). Women were associated with significantly higher GSD prevalence than men (14.8% versus 12.2%; for the chi-square test, P=.003). In a multiple logistic regression analysis, female sex, older age, and metabolic syndrome (MetS) were significantly associated with GSD. Multiple logistic regression analysis also revealed that obesity (odds ratio OR=1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.09–1.44) and metabolic factors (one or 2 versus none, OR=1.48, 95% CI: 1.08–1.76) were significantly associated with GSD in women but not in men. Conclusion. In the study population, female sex, older age, and MetS were associated with higher GSD prevalence. The population exhibited other sex-related differences

Study of the Effect of a Novel Dimensionless Parameter -- the Centrifugal Work Number(CW), on Spanwise Rotating channel Low-speed Compressible Flow

In the study of similarity of rotating channel flow, we found that the flow obtained from the enlarged model under the theory of incompressible rotation similarity (maintaining geometric similarity and the same Reynolds number, rotation number, Prandtl number and buoyancy number) differs significantly from the flow inside the original channel. Through theoretical derivation and dimensional analysis, we discovered another significant parameter -- the centrifugal work number(CW), which characterizes the ratio of centrifugal work to gas enthalpy in the rotating channel and is an important parameter for measuring the compressibility of fluids inside the rotating channel. Moreover, we have verified the effect of the centrifugal work ratio on the flow state of the rotating channel using numerical methods, further improving the similarity theory of rotating channel compressible flow.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure