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The objective of this study is to characterize the association between platelet to albumin ratio (PAR) and disease activity in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and axial psoriatic arthritis (axPsA). Baseline platelet count, albumin, PAR, C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), Bath ankylosing spondylitis disease index (BASDAI), Bath ankylosing spondylitis functional index (BASFI), and ankylosing spondylitis disease activity score (ASDAS) were collected from patients with a definitive diagnosis of AS or axPsA. Spearman's correlation analysis, quantile regression, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were performed. Four hundred forty-six patients with AS and 68 patients with axPsA were included. AS patients had higher CRP, ASDAS-CRP, and ASDAS-ESR than axPsA patients (median: CRP, 6.8 vs. 3.5 mg/L, p = 0.02; ASDAS-CRP, 2.32 vs.1.93, p = 0.001; ASDAS-ESR, 2.57 vs.1.97, p = 0.007; respectively). Platelet count, albumin, PAR, ESR, BASDAI, and BASFI did not significantly differ between the two populations (all p > 0.05). In AS patients, PAR was positively correlated with BASDAI (r = 0.204, p < 0.01), BASFI (r = 0.24, p < 0.01), ASDAS-CRP (r = 0.475, p < 0.01), and ASDAS-ESR (r = 0.483, p < 0.01), while these coefficients were not significant in axPsA patients. The quantile regression further confirmed that, in AS patients, PAR was independently associated with BASDAI, BASFI, ASDAS-CRP, and ASDAS-ESR at their individual quantiles (all p < 0.01). However, in axPsA patients, PAR was not significantly associated with these disease activities. The optimal cut-off value of PAR for AS disease activity was 5.87, with an AUC of 0.745, a sensitivity of 72.4%, and a specificity of 71%. PAR could serve as an alternative indicator for AS disease activity. Key Points • Platelet to albumin ratio is independently associated with ankylosing spondylitis disease activity. • Platelet to albumin ratio could serve as an alternative indicator for ankylosing spondylitis disease activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chemotaxis-Navier—Stokes system { n t + u ⋅ ∇ n = Δ n − ∇ ⋅ (n ∇ c) , c t + u ⋅ ∇ c = Δ c − n c , u t + (u ⋅ ∇) u = Δ u + ∇ P + n ∇ ϕ , ∇ ⋅ u = 0 is considered in a smoothly bounded planar domain Ω under the boundary conditions (∇ n − n ∇ c) ⋅ ν = 0 , c = c ∗ , u = 0 , x ∈ ∂ Ω , t > 0 , with a given nonnegative constant C✭. It is shown that if (n0, c0, u0) is sufficiently regular and such that the product ‖ n 0 ‖ L 1 (Ω) ‖ c 0 ‖ L ∞ (Ω) 2 is suitably small, an associated initial value problem possesses a bounded classical solution with (n, c, u)|t=0 = (n0, c0, u0). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to solve the partial differential equation has been attached importance to by all kinds of fields. The exact solution to a class of partial differential equation with variable-coefficient is obtained in reproducing kernel space. For getting the approximate solution, give an iterative method, convergence of the iterative method is proved. The numerical example shows that our method is effective and good practicability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although Butylphthalide (BP) has protective effects that reduce ischemia-induced brain damage and neuronal cell death, little is known about the precise mechanisms occurring during cerebral ischemia/reperfusion (I/R). Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the neuroprotective mechanisms of BP against ischemic brain injury induced by cerebral I/R through inhibition of the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)-Caspase3 signaling pathway. BP in distilled non-genetically modified Soybean oil was administered intragastrically three times a day at a dosage of 15 mg/(kg day) beginning at 20 min after I/R in Sprague-Dawley rats. Immunohistochemical staining and Western blotting were performed to examine the expression of related proteins, and TUNEL-staining was used to detect the percentage of neuronal apoptosis in the hippocampal CA1 region. The results showed that BP could significantly protect neurons against cerebral I/R-induced damage. Furthermore, the expression of p-JNK, p-Bcl2, p-c-Jun, FasL, and cleaved-caspase3 was also decreased in the rats treated with BP. In summary, our results imply that BP could remarkably improve the survival of CA1 pyramidal neurons in I/R-induced brain injury and inhibit the JNK-Caspase3 signaling pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]