Beyond Boolean: Ternary networks and dynamics.

Boolean networks introduced by Kauffman, originally intended as a prototypical model for gaining insights into gene regulatory dynamics, have become a paradigm for understanding a variety of complex systems described by binary state variables. However, there are situations, e.g., in biology, where a binary state description of the underlying dynamical system is inadequate. We propose random ternary networks and investigate the general dynamical properties associated with the ternary discretization of the variables. We find that the ternary dynamics can be either ordered or disordered with a positive Lyapunov exponent, and the boundary between them in the parameter space can be determined analytically. A dynamical event that is key to determining the boundary is the emergence of an additional fixed point for which we provide numerical verification. We also find that the nodes playing a pivotal role in shaping the system dynamics have characteristically distinct behaviors in different regions of the parameter space, and, remarkably, the boundary between these regions coincides with that separating the ordered and disordered dynamics. Overall, our framework of ternary networks significantly broadens the classical Boolean paradigm by enabling a quantitative description of richer and more complex dynamical behaviors.

Dynamical network analysis reveals key microRNAs in progressive stages of lung cancer.

Non-coding RNAs are fundamental to the competing endogenous RNA (CeRNA) hypothesis in oncology. Previous work focused on static CeRNA networks. We construct and analyze CeRNA networks for four sequential stages of lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) based on multi-omics data of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), microRNAs and mRNAs. We find that the networks possess a two-level bipartite structure: common competing endogenous network (CCEN) composed of an invariant set of microRNAs over all the stages and stage-dependent, unique competing endogenous networks (UCENs). A systematic enrichment analysis of the pathways of the mRNAs in CCEN reveals that they are strongly associated with cancer development. We also find that the microRNA-linked mRNAs from UCENs have a higher enrichment efficiency. A key finding is six microRNAs from CCEN that impact patient survival at all stages, and four microRNAs that affect the survival from a specific stage. The ten microRNAs can then serve as potential biomarkers and prognostic tools for LUAD.

A network approach to quantifying radiotherapy effect on cancer: Radiosensitive gene group centrality.

Radiotherapy plays a vital role in cancer treatment, for which accurate prognosis is important for guiding sequential treatment and improving the curative effect for patients. An issue of great significance in radiotherapy is to assess tumor radiosensitivity for devising the optimal treatment strategy. Previous studies focused on gene expression in cells closely associated with radiosensitivity, but factors such as the response of a cancer patient to irradiation and the patient survival time are largely ignored. For clinical cancer treatment, a specific pre-treatment indicator taking into account cancer cell type and patient radiosensitivity is of great value but it has been missing. Here, we propose an effective indicator for radiosensitivity: radiosensitive gene group centrality (RSGGC), which characterizes the importance of the group of genes that are radiosensitive in the whole gene correlation network. We demonstrate, using both clinical patient data and experimental cancer cell lines, which RSGGC can provide a quantitative estimate of the effect of radiotherapy, with factors such as the patient survival time and the survived fraction of cancer cell lines under radiotherapy fully taken into account. Our main finding is that, for patients with a higher RSGGC score before radiotherapy, cancer treatment tends to be more effective. The RSGGC can have significant applications in clinical prognosis, serving as a key measure to classifying radiosensitive and radioresistant patients.

Determination of hexabromocyclododecane enantiomers in chicken whole blood by a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe method with liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry.

A rapid and simple analytical method has been developed for the determination of hexabromocyclododecane enantiomers in chicken whole blood, based on a modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe approach before liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. The factors influencing performance of method were investigated by single factor experiment, and further optimized by the response surface methodology based on Box-Behnken design. The matrix effects were also evaluated by the isotopic dilution method. Under the optimal conditions, the proposed method showed good linearity within the range of 1-500 µg/L and good repeatability with relative standard deviation less than 9.5% (n = 5). The limits of detection (S/N = 3) were 0.03-0.19 µg/L. The developed method was successfully applied for the analysis of hexabromocyclododecane enantiomers in real chicken blood samples. The satisfactory recoveries ranging of 83.6-115.0% were obtained (at spiked levels of 5, 20, and 100 µg/L). The results demonstrated that the proposed method would be a practical value method for the determination of hexabromocyclododecane enantiomers in animal blood. It would be further developed with confidence to analyze other lipophilic organic pollutants in blood sample.

Expedient access to polysubstituted acrylamides via strain-release-driven dual phosphine and palladium catalysis.

Polysubstituted acrylamides are ubiquitous in bioactive molecules and natural products. However, synthetic methods for the assembly of these important motifs remain underdeveloped. Herein, we report the expedient synthesis of structurally diverse and synthetically challenging polysubstituted acrylamides from readily available aromatic amines, cyclopropenones (CpOs), and aryl halides via the synergistic merging of nucleophilic phosphine-mediated amidation and palladium-catalyzed C-H arylation. The reaction is scalable, and some obtained acrylamides proved to be solid state luminogens with obvious aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties, demonstrating the synthetic potential in drug discovery and material development.

Rapid determination of hexabromocyclododecane enantiomers in animal meat by matrix solid phase dispersion coupled with LC-MS/MS.

A rapid and sensitive method was developed based on matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD) for the determination of hexabromocyclododecane enantiomers (±α, ±ß and ± Î³-HBCD) in animal meat. The instrumental analysis was employed with liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) at trace level (ng g-1). To obtain excellent efficiency, the key parameters, including the type of dispersive adsorbent and elution solvent, were investigated by single-factor experiments. The volume of elution solvent and amount of dispersive adsorbent were optimized by the Box-Behnken design through response surface methodology. Under optimized conditions, the developed method exhibited excellent methodologic characteristics and was applied to the determination of HBCD enantiomers in real chicken and pork meat. Experimental results indicated that the proposed method would be an efficient, rapid and application method for the determination of lipophilic organic pollutants in animal meat.

Titanium Elastic Bone Nail in Treatment of 45 Cases of Children Unstable Double Radius and Ulna Fracture / 昆明医科大学学报

Objective To evaluate the clinical outcome and discuss the method of treatment both-bone forearm fracture in children (4 to 15 years old) with elastic intramedullary nail (EIN).Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical result of forty-five cases to treat both-bone forearm fracture in children (4 to 15 years old) with elastic intramedullary nail from April,2008 to June,2014.Then we Discussed and analyzed the complication,surgery technique,limb function.Patients were followed up for more than 24 to 30 months after the surgery to continuously evaluate the limb function and fracture healing by physical examination and x-ray image.Results There were 38 children with excellent recovery,7 good and no fair by followed up for 24 to 30 months,9 cases with observed complication due by prominent nail ends,3 patients slightly declined after the surgery,1 patient was observed with ulna fracture delayed recovery during 3 to 8 months of fracture healing.Apposition rate in all cases was ＞50％ in anterior-posterior view and the apposition rate ＞90％ in lateral view.No fracture of ESIN,Nerve injuries,severe displacement were observed during this study.Conclusion The elastic intramedullary nail is a good method to treat children both-bone forearm fracture with lower surgery technique,minimall invasion,if less complications,does not interfere with growth,has good forearm function recovery.