Browse Articles

Linear programming-based stabilization and synchronization of positive complex networks with dynamic link subsystems

This paper investigates the stabilization and synchronization of positive complex networks with dynamic links. A class of positive complex networks is constructed by introducing dynamic link between nodes. A controller and the corresponding coupling term with respect to links are designed to achieve the positivity and stability of complex networks and link systems, respectively. Then, a synchronization controller and the corresponding coupling term with respect to links and node states are proposed, respectively. The main contributions are as follows: (i) A novel coupling term is constructed to achieve stability and synchronization of positive complex networks, (ii) A stabilization and synchronization framework is constructed by designing two classes of controllers and coupling terms, and (iii) A tractable design, analysis, and computation method is introduced by virtue of linear programming and copositive Lyapunov function. Finally, a simulation example is provided to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed approaches.

Predicting fall risk through step width variability at increased gait speed in community dwelling older adults

Immune checkpoint TIM-3 regulates microglia and Alzheimer’s disease

Synergistic effect of westerly circulation and western North Pacific anticyclone on interannual variation of mid-spring rainfall in southeastern China

The spring rainfall in southeastern China (SEC) is a unique climatic phenomenon and has important impacts on local socio-economics. In this study, the climatological characteristics of the SEC mid-spring (mid-March to early May) rainfall and the causes of its interannual variations are systematically analyzed using precipitation observations from 1961 to 2022. The results show that the interannual variations of SEC rainfall are mainly influenced by the westerly circulation (WC) south of the Tibetan Plateau, the western North Pacific anomalous anticyclone (WNPAC), and their synergistic effects. The WC is modulated by the mid-latitude Eurasian atmospheric wave train (AWT) and the thermal effects of the Tibetan Plateau. When the AWT is in a positive (negative) phase or the Tibetan Plateau experiences a cold (warm) spring, the WC and the bypassing flow on the plateau’s southeastern side strengthen (weaken), leading to excessive (deficient) SEC rainfall. During El Niño (La Niña) events in winter or spring, the warmer (cooler) tropical eastern Pacific forces Rossby waves to propagate westward, triggering an anomalous anticyclone (cyclone) in the northwest Pacific. This intensifies (weakens) the southwesterly flow on its western flank, ultimately enhancing (suppressing) SEC rainfall. More importantly, when these factors simultaneously exhibit simultaneous anomalous signals, the synergistic effect of the WC and WNPAC may become a key factor in forming extreme events of mid-spring rainfall in the SEC. This study helps deepen our understanding of the regional rainfall variation mechanisms and has the potential to be applied to short-term climate prediction.

Electrochemical surface plasmon resonance based biosensor for α-fetoprotein detection via different coupling strategies

Engineering of long-acting human growth hormone-Fc fusion proteins: Effects of valency, fusion position, and linker design on pharmacokinetics and efficacy

Fc fusion proteins, formed by fusing an active protein to the Fc region of immunoglobulin G, are a validated strategy for extending the half-life of therapeutic proteins. Human growth hormone (hGH) Fc fusion proteins exhibit longer circulation half-lives than hGH, reducing injection frequency and improving convenience for hGH replacement therapy. Most approved Fc fusion proteins involve directly attaching the active protein to the hinge region of IgG Fc; however, few reports have described the effects of structural variations on these characteristics in detail. We analyzed pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of various hGH-Fc fusion constructs differing in linker type, hGH valency, and fusion position to investigate the structure-function relationships of these proteins in cell-based assays and animal models, including normal and hypophysectomized rats. Monovalent hGH-Fc fusion variants and those with hGH fused to the C-terminal of IgG Fc exhibited higher in vitro and in vivo activity than bivalent hGH-Fc. However, these variants also exhibited accelerated clearance in rat pharmacokinetic experiments. The linker connecting the hGH moiety to the Fc domain significantly influenced in vitro activity and pharmacokinetics. Constructs with a rigid alpha-helical A(EAAAK)5A linker showed greater in vitro activity than those with a flexible (GGGGS)3 linker but exhibited accelerated clearance in rats. To a lesser extent, linker length influenced activity and pharmacokinetics. Bivalent hGH-Fc constructs with shorter linkers (0–1 GGGGS repeats) exhibited higher in vivo exposure (AUC) but lower in vitro activity than those with longer linkers (2–3 repeats). In vitro activity did not correlate linearly with linker length, as constructs with no linker (n = 0) showed reduced activity, while no consistent trend was observed for n = 1–3. These findings provide valuable insights into the design of hGH-Fc fusion proteins, offering a framework for systematically improving their potency and longevity and supporting the development of long-acting hGH therapies.

Bio-sensing applications of a 2:1 photonic crystal multiplexer

Timing of eye removal influences low-vision quality of life and self-perception of facial appearance in people with one eye

Purpose The loss of one eye early compared to late in life coincides with critical periods of postnatal visual development and is associated with sensory adaptations which may lead to different psychosocial experiences throughout life. This study investigates the impact of age at enucleation on psychosocial health factors, namely low-vision quality of life, self-perception of facial appearance, anxiety, and depression. Methods Twenty-two participants with early or late eye removal and twenty-seven binocular viewing controls completed the Low-Vision Quality of Life questionnaire, Facial Appearance sub-scale of the Negative Physical Self-Scale and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale. Results Low-vision quality of life was lower for people who had their eye removed late in life compared to binocular viewing controls. Further, within this group, lower self-perception of facial appearance was associated with lower low-vision quality of life. Moreover, experience with binocularity and time since enucleation were not associated with psychosocial health factors. Conclusion Developmental factors rather than experiential factors appear to influence psychosocial health since binocular experience and time since enucleation were not related to any psychosocial factor. These findings suggest that people who have had their eye removed early in life, during the critical periods of visual development may benefit from better psychosocial outcomes.

Impact of built environment on commuting carbon emissions using big data: a case study of Jinan’s main urban area

Research on the mechanical properties of hybrid Steel Fiber-Reinforced Self-Compacting Concrete based on the DIC method

To investigate the influence of hybrid steel fibers on the mechanical properties of self-compacting concrete, this study systematically compared the mechanical performance of ordinary self-compacting concrete, single steel fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete, and three types of hybrid steel fiber-reinforced self-compacting concrete through cube compression tests, four-point bending tests, and elastic modulus tests. The digital image correlation (DIC) method was employed to accurately measure the surface displacement and strain of the specimens. The results indicate that the self-compacting hybrid steel fiber concrete specimens exhibited excellent flexural-tensile performance. The incorporation of steel fibers significantly inhibited the development of macroscopic cracks, enhanced the crack resistance of the concrete, and effectively improved its brittleness. Particularly, when the fiber content was 1% 6mm + 1% 13mm + 1% 25mm, the compressive strength increased by 41.15%, the flexural strength increased by 266.41%, and the elastic modulus reached 40.82 MPa. Using the DIC method, this study successfully captured the full-field strain evolution during the failure process of the specimens. Based on the evolution of the maximum principal strain, the dynamic evolution characteristics of macroscopic and microscopic cracks on the specimen surface were thoroughly analyzed. The study found that the enhancement effect of hybrid steel fibers (HF) on concrete is primarily manifested in hindering the propagation of macroscopic cracks. This research provides important theoretical foundations and practical guidance for the engineering application of self-compacting concrete.

Exploring potential diagnostic markers and therapeutic targets for type 2 diabetes mellitus with major depressive disorder through bioinformatics and in vivo experiments

A combined risk model shows viability for personalized breast cancer risk assessment in the Indonesian population: A case/control study

Breast cancer remains a significant concern worldwide, with a rising incidence in Indonesia. This study aims to evaluate the applicability of risk-based screening approaches in the Indonesian demographic through a case-control study involving 305 women. We developed a personalized breast cancer risk assessment workflow that integrates multiple risk factors, including clinical (Gail) and polygenic (Mavaddat) risk predictions, into a consolidated risk category. By evaluating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of each single-factor risk model, we demonstrated that they retained their predictive accuracy in the Indonesian context (AUC for clinical risk: 0.67 [0.61,0.74]; AUC for genetic risk: 0.67 [0.61,0.73]). Notably, our combined risk approach enhanced the AUC to 0.70 [0.64,0.76], highlighting the advantages of a multifaceted model. Our findings demonstrate for the first time the applicability of the Mavaddat and Gail models to Indonesian populations, and show that within this demographic, combined risk models provide a superior predictive framework compared to single-factor approaches.

Wind induced structural response analysis of photovoltaic tracking supports by unidirectional fluid structure coupling

A comparative analysis of large language models versus traditional information extraction methods for real-world evidence of patient symptomatology in acute and post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2

Background Patient symptoms, crucial for disease progression and diagnosis, are often captured in unstructured clinical notes. Large language models (LLMs) offer potential advantages in extracting patient symptoms compared to traditional rule-based information extraction (IE) systems. Methods This study compared fine-tuned LLMs (LLaMA2-13B and LLaMA3-8B) against BioMedICUS, a rule-based IE system, for extracting symptoms related to acute and post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 from clinical notes. The study utilized three corpora: UMN-COVID, UMN-PASC, and N3C-COVID. Prevalence, keyword and fairness analyses were conducted to assess symptom distribution and model equity across demographics. Results BioMedICUS outperformed fine-tuned LLMs in most cases. On the UMN PASC dataset, BioMedICUS achieved a macro-averaged F1-score of 0.70 for positive mention detection, compared to 0.66 for LLaMA2-13B and 0.62 for LLaMA3-8B. For the N3C COVID dataset, BioMedICUS scored 0.75, while LLaMA2-13B and LLaMA3-8B scored 0.53 and 0.68, respectively for positive mention detection. However, LLMs performed better in specific instances, such as detecting positive mentions of change in sleep in the UMN PASC dataset, where LLaMA2-13B (0.79) and LLaMA3-8B (0.65) outperformed BioMedICUS (0.60). For fairness analysis, BioMedICUS generally showed stronger performance across patient demographics. Keyword analysis using ANOVA on symptom distributions across all three corpora showed that both corpus (df = 2, p < 0.001) and symptom (df = 79, p < 0.001) have a statistically significant effect on log-transformed term frequency-inverse document frequency (TF-IDF) values such that corpus accounts for 52% of the variance in log_tfidf values and symptom accounts for 35%. Conclusion While BioMedICUS generally outperformed the LLMs, the latter showed promising results in specific areas, particularly LLaMA3-8B, in identifying negative symptom mentions. However, both LLaMA models faced challenges in demographic fairness and generalizability. These findings underscore the need for diverse, high-quality training datasets and robust annotation processes to enhance LLMs’ performance and reliability in clinical applications.

The p.R321C mutation in the p62 protein is associated with abnormalities in the central nervous system

PhD students in STEM: Nature wants to hear from you

Matrix-producing neutrophils populate and shield the skin

Performance improvement of an HVAC system using water and ethylene glycol-based ternary hybrid nanofluids with green-synthesized Fe-Cu-Fe2O3 nanoparticles

This study investigates the potential of water and ethylene glycol-based ternary nanofluids, enhanced with both chemically and green synthesized Fe-Cu-Fe2O3 nanoparticles, to improve the performance of a heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. It also compares the effectiveness of the two synthesis methods, addressing the current research gap in the practical application of green-synthesized nanofluids in HVAC systems. Two sets of nanoparticles were synthesized using chemical and eco-friendly methods and dispersed in a base fluid of water and ethylene glycol (EG) at varying concentrations of 0%, 50%, and 75% EG with various nanoparticle mixture ratios. The prepared ternary nanofluids were used to evaluate the thermal performance of the heater in an air-handling unit (AHU). Experimental data on the thermophysical properties of the nanofluid at the different mixture ratios were incorporated into a numerical model simulating the AHU operating in a Mediterranean climate. Results show that the nanofluids significantly enhance system performance, with the 1Fe: 2Cu: 1Fe2O3 nanoparticle mixture ratio offering the best balance between efficiency and operational stability. The heat transfer rates were improved by up to 20% in summer and 15% in winter compared to the base fluid. In addition, the mixture ratio achieved optimal exergy efficiency, peaking at 98% during winter operation and 96% during summer. Comparative analysis also shows that the ternary nanofluids containing the chemical-synthesized nanoparticles (CSNTNF) perform only slightly better than the nanofluids containing the green-synthesized nanoparticles (GSNTNF). This suggests that GSNTNF is a suitable replacement for the CSNTNF, considering the environmental benefits.

Machine learning for grading prediction and survival analysis in high grade glioma

Network pharmacology and experimental validation to investigate the mechanism of action of Zhilong Huoxue Tongyu capsule in the prevention and treatment of diabetic cardiomyopathy

Background Diabetes cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a prevalent complication of diabetes, characterized by a multifaceted pathogenesis. Zhilong Huoxue Tongyu Capsule (ZL), a traditional Chinese medicine, is extensively employed for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Thus, this study aimed to comprehensively explore the mechanism of action of ZL on DCM. Method Network pharmacology approaches were applied to predict the potential pathways and targets of ZL on DCM. Then, a DCM model mouse was constructed and divided into a control group, DCM group, DCM + ZL group, SB203580 group, and DCM + R group. The DCM + ZL group was administered 6.24g/kg/d ZL via gavage, the SB203580 group was given 1 mg/kg/d SB203580 (p38MAPK inhibitor) via intraperitoneal injection, the DCM + R group received 4 mg/kg/d rosiglitazone via gavage, and the control group and DCM group were given equal volume of physiological saline by gavage. The intervention period lasted for 6 weeks to verify these key targets. Result Network pharmacology analyses identified 45 active ingredients in ZL linked to 719 potential targets, forming an herbal compound-target network. Screening of databases revealed 1032 DCM-related targets, with MAPK14, TNF, FOS, AKT1, and IL-10 emerging as key hub genes from PPI network analysis. Additionally, enrichment analysis indicated that the candidate targets were enriched in response to the MAPK signaling pathway. Finally, in vivo studies in DCM mice demonstrated that ZL significantly mitigated myocardial fibrosis and down-regulated the expression of p-P38MAPK, TNF-α, α-SMA, and Collagen-I proteins in myocardial tissue. Conclusion Our results collectively indicated that ZL can effectively ameliorate diabetes cardiomyopathy, possibly by modulating the P38MAPK signaling pathway.