Search

Discoveries of tetraquarks not only enrich the hadronic spectrum but also provide more platforms to understand quantum chromodynamics. We study the production processes of hidden-charm and open-charm tetraquarks in B decays by analyzing their topological amplitudes. Relations between different channels are found, which confront tests by experiments to probe the nature of the tetraquarks. Furthermore, promising channels to find more tetraquarks are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By constructing a suitable projection scheme and using the coincidence degree theory of Mawhin, we study the existence of solutions for conjugate boundary value problems with functional boundary conditions at resonance with dim Ker L = 1 . Examples are given to illustrate our main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differential abundance of allelic transcripts in a diploid organism, commonly referred to as allele specific expression (ASE), is a biologically significant phenomenon and can be examined using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from RNA-seq. Quantifying ASE aids in our ability to identify and understand cis-regulatory mechanisms that influence gene expression, and thereby assist in identifying causal mutations. This study examines ASE in breast muscle, abdominal fat, and liver of commercial broiler chickens using variants called from a large sub-set of the samples (n = 68). ASE analysis was performed using a custom software called VCF ASE Detection Tool (VADT), which detects ASE of biallelic SNPs using a binomial test. On average ~ 174,000 SNPs in each tissue passed our filtering criteria and were considered informative, of which ~ 24,000 (~ 14%) showed ASE. Of all ASE SNPs, only 3.7% exhibited ASE in all three tissues, with ~ 83% showing ASE specific to a single tissue. When ASE genes (genes containing ASE SNPs) were compared between tissues, the overlap among all three tissues increased to 20.1%. Our results indicate that ASE genes show tissue-specific enrichment patterns, but all three tissues showed enrichment for pathways involved in translation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fastest route recommendation (FRR) is an important task in urban computing. Despite some efforts are made to integrate A∗ algorithm with neural networks to learn cost functions by a data driven approach, they suffer from inaccuracy of travel time estimation and admissibility of model, resulting sub-optimal results accordingly. In this paper, we propose an ASNN-FRR model that contains two powerful predictors for g(⋅) and h(⋅) functions of A* algorithm respectively. Specifically, an adaptive graph convolutional recurrent network is used to accurately estimate the travel time of the observed path in g(⋅). Toward h(⋅), the model adopts a multi-task representation learning method to support origin-destination (OD) based travel time estimation, which can achieve high accuracy without the actual path information. Besides, we further consider the admissibility of A* algorithm, and utilize a rational setting of the loss function for h(⋅) estimator, which is likely to return a lower bound value without overestimation. At last, the two predictors are fused into the A∗ algorithm in a seamlessly way to help us find the real-time fastest route. We conduct extensive experiments on two real-world large scale trip datasets. The proposed approach clearly outperforms state-of-the-art methods for FRR task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coping with the outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), many countries have implemented public-health measures and movement restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus. However, the strict mobility control also brought about production stagnation and market disruption, resulting in a severe worldwide economic crisis. Quantifying the economic stagnation and predicting post-pandemic recovery are imperative issues. Besides, it is significant to examine how the impact of COVID-19 on economic activities varied with industries. As a reflection of enterprises' production output, high-frequency electricity-consumption data is an intuitive and effective tool for evaluating the economic impact of COVID-19 on different industries. In this paper, we quantify and compare economic impacts on the electricity consumption of different industries in eastern China. In order to address this problem, we conduct causal analysis using a difference-in-difference (DID) estimation model to analyze the effects of multi-phase public-health measures. Our model employs the electricity-consumption data ranging from 2019 to 2020 of 96 counties in the Eastern China region, which covers three main economic sectors and their 53 sub-sectors. The results indicate that electricity demand of all industries (other than information transfer industry) rebounded after the initial shock, and is back to pre-pandemic trends after easing the control measures at the end of May 2020. Emergency response, the combination of all countermeasures to COVID-19 in a certain period, affected all industries, and the higher level of emergency response with stricter movement control resulted in a greater decrease in electricity consumption and production. The pandemic outbreak has a negative-lag effect on industries, and there is greater resilience in industries that are less dependent on human mobility for economic production and activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium is widely used in implant materials, while excessive fluoride may have negative effects on the osseointegration between the titanium and osteoblasts. Although the underlying mechanisms are still not clear, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) or Yes-associated protein (YAP) signaling pathways are thought to be involved. This study evaluated the role of Hippo/YAP and MAPK signaling pathway in osteoblast behaviors under excessive fluoride exposure in vitro and in vivo. Commercially pure Ti (cp-Ti) samples were exposed to fluoride (0, 0.1, and 1.0 mM NaF) for 7 days. Cell adhesion was observed using a laser scanning confocal microscope. Cell viability and apoptosis were evaluated by CCK-8 assay and flow cytometry, respectively. The expressions of osteoblast markers and key molecules in MAPK and YAP pathway were detected by Western blot. In vivo studies were evaluated by histology methods in C57/BL6 mice model. Our results showed that 1.0 mM NaF destroyed the passivation film on cp-Ti surface, which further inhibited the osteoblast adhesion and spreading. Meanwhile, compared to other groups, 1.0 mM NaF led to a remarkable reduction in cell viability (P < 0.05), as well as increased apoptosis (P < 0.05) and downregulation of osteogenesis protein expression (P < 0.05). MAPK and YAP signaling pathways were also activated under 1.0 mM NaF exposure, and JNK seemed to regulate YAP phosphorylation in response to NaF impacts on osteoblasts. In vivo fluorosis mouse model further indicated that 100 ppm NaF group (high fluoride group) increased bone resorption and inhibited the nuclear translocation of YAP. The osteoblast behaviors were negatively altered under excessive fluoride, and MAPK/JNK axis contributed to YAP signaling activation in regulating NaF-induced osteoblast behaviors. Key messages: • Excessive fluoride inhibited osteoblast behaviors and bone formation. • YAP and MAPK signaling pathways were activated in osteoblasts under fluoride exposure. • Fluoride regulated osteoblast behaviors via the cross-talk between YAP and MAPK. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A sensitive method for simultaneous determination of amantadine and rimantadine in feed was developed using an ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-triple quadrupole linear ion trap mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Qtrap-MS) in the multiple reaction monitoring information-dependent acquisition-enhanced product ion (MRM-IDA-EPI) mode, and employing the mixed cation exchange (MCX) solid-phase extraction column as sample cleanup and amantadine-d15 and rimantadine-d4 as internal standards, respectively. Compared to traditional MRM mode, for the targeted drugs in feed simultaneously both the secondary mass spectra and MRM information can be obtained using UHPLC-Qtrap-MS with MRM-IDA-EPI mode, and thus more accurate qualitative confirmation results achieved even at lower concentration of 0.2 μg/L in acceptable purity fit values. After optimization of sample preparation, good linearities (R > 0.9994) were obtained over the concentration range from 1 to 200 μg/L for amantadine and rimantadine. The precision was validated by intra-day and inter-day, and the relative standard deviations were all within 9.61%. Mean recoveries ranged from 76.1 to 112% at spiked concentrations of 0.5-100 μg/kg in three types of feed samples, including formula feed and complex concentrated feed for pigs and premix feed for chicken. The limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) were 0.2 and 0.5 μg/kg for both drugs, respectively. The application in real feed samples further proved the accuracy and reliability of the developed method. This method provides an important tool to detect illegal uses of amantadine and rimantadine in feed.Simultaneous quantitation and qualitative confirmation of amantadine and rimantadine in feed by MRM-IDA-EPI [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown associations of fetuin-A (alpha 2-Heremans-Schmid glycoprotein, AHSG) with various disorders, including insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, metabolic syndrome, and atherosclerosis. In this study, genotype and allele frequencies of the rs4918 SNP in the AHSG gene were examined in 380 patients with ischemic stroke and 350 healthy controls from a Northern Han Chinese population via the PCR-RFLP technique. Frequencies of the GG genotype and the G allele in AHSG (rs4918) were significantly higher in patients with ischemic stroke or atherosclerotic cerebral infarction than those in the control group ( P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated the significance of rs4918 in these patients, after adjustment for confounding factors ( P < 0.05). These findings suggest that rs4918 SNPs of the AHSG gene are associated with a risk for ischemic stroke in a Northern Han Chinese population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]