Dynamics of the threshold model on hypergraphs.

The threshold model has been widely adopted as a prototype for studying contagion processes on social networks. In this paper, we consider individual interactions in groups of three or more vertices and study the threshold model on hypergraphs. To understand how high-order interactions affect the breakdown of the system, we develop a theoretical framework based on generating function technology to derive the cascade condition and the giant component of vulnerable vertices, which depend on both hyperedges and hyperdegrees. First, we find a dual role of the hyperedge in propagation: when the average hyperdegree is small, increasing the size of the hyperedges may make the system fragile, while the average hyperdegree is relatively large, the increase of the hyperedges causes the system to be robust. Then, we identify the effects of threshold, hyperdegree, and hyperedge heterogeneities. The heterogeneity of individual thresholds causes the system to be more fragile, while the heterogeneity of individual hyperdegrees or hyperedges increases the robustness of the system. Finally, we show that the higher hyperdegree a vertex has, the larger possibility and faster speed it will get activated. We verify these results by simulating meme spreading on both random hypergraph models and hypergraphs constructed from empirical data.

Computed tomography-guided coil localization for scapular-blocked lung nodules.

PURPOSE: To investigate the clinical efficacy, feasibility, and safety of the preoperative computed tomography (CT)-guided coil localization (CL) approach for scapula-blocked lung nodules (SBLNs). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 123 patients with LNs were treated via CT-guided CL and subsequent VATS-guided wedge resection from January 2015 to June 2020. Of these patients, 12 (9.8%) exhibited SBLNs and underwent CT-guided CL. Technical success of localization and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS)-guided wedge resection, and localization-related complications were recorded and analyzed. RESULTS: The technical success rate of CT-guided CL was 100%. Each patient was placed with one coil. The mean duration of CT-guided CL was 14.7 ± 2.7 min. One patient (8.3%) developed asymptomatic pneumothorax, which has not impacted the subsequent VATS procedure. Successful VATS-guided wedge resection of these SBLNs was achieved in all patients, with no instances of conversion to thoracotomy. Additional lobectomy was performed in three patients. The mean duration of the VATS procedure and blood loss were 143.8 ± 95.5 min and 110.0 ± 82.0 ml, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The approach of CT-guided CL could be safely and easily utilized to facilitate high rates of success when conducting the VATS-guided wedge resection of SBLNs.

An updated meta-analysis of prostatic arterial embolization versus transurethral resection of the prostate in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether prostatic arterial embolization (PAE) could be recommended as a routine therapy for benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), we conducted an updated meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of PAE compared with transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). METHODS: Systematic literature retrieval by searching data from Web of science, Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane Library, ClinicalTrial.gov, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP databases was carried out to identify all related trials from the inception dates to June 2019. We also conducted subgroup analyses depending on the kind of study design, kind of PAE and kind of TURP. RESULTS: Nine studies comparing PAE with TURP involving a total of 860 BPH patients were selected. Postoperative reduced IPSS score (MD 2.50; 95% CI 0.78-4.21; P = 0.004), postoperative reduced QOL score (MD 0.40; 95% CI 0.09-0.71; P = 0.01), postoperative reduced PV (MD 8.59; 95% CI 4.74-12.44; P < 0.00001) and postoperative increased Qmax (MD 2.54; 95% CI 1.02-4.05; P = 0.001) were better in TURP than in PAE; however, PAE was associated with lower sexual dysfunction rate (OR 0.24; 95% CI 0.15-0.39; P < 0.00001) compared with TURP. Meanwhile, no significant difference in postoperative reduced PVR (MD 0.46; 95% CI - 2.08 to 3.00; P = 0.72) and complication (OR 0.57; 95% CI 0.21-1.55; P = 0.27) between PAE and TURP group was demonstrated. CONCLUSION: PAE was inferior to TURP in the improvement of postoperative IPSS, QOL, PV, Qmax and TURP still remained the gold standard. However, PAE may be a valuable alternative to TURP in the treatment of BPH patients who refuse surgery or with surgery contraindication.

Contribution of DNA repair xeroderma pigmentosum group D genotypes to pancreatic cancer risk in the Chinese Han population.

This study aimed to determine the association between the polymorphisms and haplotypes in the xeroderma pigmentosum group D (XPD) gene and the risk of pancreatic cancer in the Chinese Han population. SNaPshot was used for genotyping six SNP sites of the XPD gene. Comparisons of the correlations between different genotypes in combination with smoking and the susceptibility to pancreatic cancer were performed. Individual pancreatic cancer risk in patients who carry mutant C alleles (AC, CC, and AC+CC) at rs13181 increased (p < 0.05). Taking non-smoking individuals who carry the AA genotype as a reference, and non-smoking individuals who carry mutant allele C (AC+CC), the risk of pancreatic cancer increased by 3.343 times in individuals who smoked ≥ 20 cigarettes daily, 3.309 times in individuals who smoked ≥ 14 packs per year, 5.011 times in individuals who smoked ≥ 24 packs per year, and 4.013 times in the individuals who smoked ≥ 37 packs per year (P < 0.05). In addition, haplotype analysis revealed that haplotype AGG, which comprised rs13181, rs3916874 and rs238415, was associated with a 1.401-fold increase in pancreatic cancer risk (p < 0.05). We conclude that the polymorphism of XPD Lys751Gln (rs13181) in combination with smoking contributes to increased risk of pancreatic cancer in the Chinese Han population. Haplotype AGG might be a susceptibility haplotype for pancreatic cancer.

PPIM: A Protein-Protein Interaction Database for Maize.

Maize (Zea mays) is one of the most important crops worldwide. To understand the biological processes underlying various traits of the crop (e.g. yield and response to stress), a detailed protein-protein interaction (PPI) network is highly demanded. Unfortunately, there are very few such PPIs available in the literature. Therefore, in this work, we present the Protein-Protein Interaction Database for Maize (PPIM), which covers 2,762,560 interactions among 14,000 proteins. The PPIM contains not only accurately predicted PPIs but also those molecular interactions collected from the literature. The database is freely available at http://comp-sysbio.org/ppim with a user-friendly powerful interface. We believe that the PPIM resource can help biologists better understand the maize crop.

Prevention of infectious diseases by public vaccination and individual protection.

In the face of serious infectious diseases, governments endeavour to implement containment measures such as public vaccination at a macroscopic level. Meanwhile, individuals tend to protect themselves by avoiding contacts with infections at a microscopic level. However, a comprehensive understanding of how such combined strategy influences epidemic dynamics is still lacking. We study a susceptible-infected-susceptible epidemic model with imperfect vaccination on dynamic contact networks, where the macroscopic intervention is represented by random vaccination of the population and the microscopic protection is characterised by susceptible individuals rewiring contacts from infective neighbours. In particular, the model is formulated both in populations without and then with demographic effects (births, deaths, and migration). Using the pairwise approximation and the probability generating function approach, we investigate both dynamics of the epidemic and the underlying network. For populations without demography, the emerging degree correlations, bistable states, and oscillations demonstrate the combined effects of the public vaccination program and individual protective behavior. Compared to either strategy in isolation, the combination of public vaccination and individual protection is more effective in preventing and controlling the spread of infectious diseases by increasing both the invasion threshold and the persistence threshold. For populations with additional demographic factors, we investigate temporal evolution of infected individuals and infectious contacts, as well as degree distributions of nodes in each class. It is found that the disease spreads faster but is more restricted in scale-free networks than in the Erdös-Rényi ones. The integration between vaccination intervention and individual rewiring may promote epidemic spreading due to the birth effect. Moreover, the degree distributions of both networks in the steady state is closely related to the degree distribution of newborns, which leads to uncorrelated connectivity. All the results demonstrate the importance of both local protection and global intervention, as well as the demographic effects. Our work thus offers a more comprehensive description of disease containment.

Pylephlebitis combined with septic shock secondary to acute nonperforated appendicitis: a case report.

Pylephlebitis, which is a type of septic thrombophlebitis of the portal vein, is a rare and life-threatening complication that commonly occurs following appendicitis. However, nonspecific abdominal complaints and fever can impede the diagnosis of pylephlebitis. Timely use of appropriate antibiotics and anticoagulants is paramount for treating this condition. We present a case of pylephlebitis and septic shock caused by acute nonperforated appendicitis. A 32-year-old man presented with migratory right lower abdominal pain. Blood cultures showed the presence of Escherichia coli. Blood test results showed increased bilirubin concentrations and coagulation factor abnormalities. A computed tomographic abdominal scan showed that the portal vein had a widened intrinsic diameter. After intensive care treatment with antibiotics, antishock therapy, anticoagulants, and other supportive treatments, the infection was monitored, the abdominal pain disappeared, and the jaundice subsided. Laparoscopic appendectomy was performed. Histopathology showed acute suppurative appendicitis, and no abnormalities were observed during the follow-up period after discharge. A multidisciplinary approach is mandatory for the decision-making process in the presence of pylephlebitis caused by appendicitis to obtain a correct diagnosis and prompt treatment. Similarly, the timing of appendectomy is important for minimizing intra- and postoperative complications.

Epidemic spreading on contact networks with adaptive weights.

The heterogeneous patterns of interactions within a population are often described by contact networks, but the variety and adaptivity of contact strengths are usually ignored. This paper proposes a modified epidemic SIS model with a birth-death process and nonlinear infectivity on an adaptive and weighted contact network. The links' weights, named as 'adaptive weights', which indicate the intimacy or familiarity between two connected individuals, will reduce as the disease develops. Through mathematical and numerical analyses, conditions are established for population extermination, disease extinction and infection persistence. Particularly, it is found that the fixed weights setting can trigger the epidemic incidence, and that the adaptivity of weights cannot change the epidemic threshold but it can accelerate the disease decay and lower the endemic level. Finally, some corresponding control measures are suggested.

[Relationship between single nucleotide polymorphisms and its haplotype of X-ray repair cross complementing group 1 and susceptibility of pancreatic carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of XRCCl gene polymorphisms and its haplotype on the susceptibility of pancreatic carcinoma. METHODS: Peripheral blood DNA was extracted from 210 pancreatic carcinoma patients and 213 control subjects. SNaPshot technique was used for genotyping seven SNP sites of the XRCCl gene (rs3213403, rs25487, rs1799782, rs731420, rs1001581, rs12611088, and rs3213282). Logistic regression model was performed to analyze the relationship of different genotypes or haplotype and the susceptibility of pancreatic carcinoma. RESULTS: The frequency for allele A at site rs25487 in the case group was significantly higher than that in the control group (P < 0.05). The frequency of GG, GA and AA genotype between the case group and control group had statistically significant differences (P < 0.05). Compared with GG genotype, the risk of pancreatic carcinoma in the subjects carrying mutated allele A (GA+AA) was increased by 0.648 times (P < 0.05). Among them the pancreatic carcinoma risk of individuals carrying A allele was increased by 0.552 times compared with the individuals carrying G allele. The frequency of allele and genotype at site rs1799782 in the case group and control group had a significant difference (P < 0.05). Compared with the CC genotype, the risk of pancreatic carcinoma in the subjects carrying mutated allele T (CT+TT) was increased by 0.683 times. Among them the pancreatic carcinoma risk of individuals carrying T allele was increased by 0.549 times compared with the individuals carrying C allele. Significant differences were observed in linkage disequilibrium between any two of the seven SNPs (P < 0.05), the frequency of H4-AGCCCGC, H6-GGCCCGG or H7-AGCCTAG haplotypes was significantly lower in the case group than that in the control group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The single nucleotide polymorphisms of rs25487 and rs1799782 for XRCC1 gene may be correlated with the occurrence of pancreatic carcinoma. The haplotypes of H4-AGCCCGC, H6-GGCCCGG and H7-AGCCTAG might be a potential genetic protective factor for the occurrence of pancreatic carcinoma.

[Study on clinical features and etiology of primary Budd-Chiari Syndrome].

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively study clinical features and etiology in patients with incident Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) in China. METHODS: Taking consecutive case series of patients with incident BCS as who were diagnosed in our hospital, enrolled from September 2010 to January 2012 as the object of research, and the follow-up was lasting until June 2012. Taking records for all patients' symptoms, signs, laboratory findings, radiology findings, treatment, interventional treatment survival and symptom-free period. RESULTS: There are total 149 incident cases of BCS. In which, the median age was 46 years old (range 10 to 82); 61.7% of them were male patients, 38.3% were female patients; 85.9% of them were chronic, the other patients (14.1%) were diagnosed during acute or subacute periods; the median duration of symptoms before diagnosis was 96 months (range 1 day to 360 months). In terms of causes, 30.9% of the patients caused by hepatic venous block, 5.4% of them resulted from inferior vena cava block, and the rest 63.8% were suffered from combined hepatic venous and inferior vena cava block. 80.5% patients have at least one etiological factor, Furthermore, the most common cause was the web (61.1%), only 4.8% have myeloproliferative diseases (JAK2 V617F mutation), and none Factor V Leiden mutation cases was found. 144 patients were treated by percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, the technical success rate was 95.1%, and took oral anticoagulation therapy for 12 months. At 18 months, The survival rate and the symptom-free survival rate after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty were 97.8% and respectively. CONCLUSION: Web is the most prevalent etiological factor for BCS in China. It is different in western countries; the common reasons of BCS are risk factors related to thrombosis, such as myeloproliferative disease and Factor V Leiden mutation, etc., which are seldom found in Chinese BCS patients. In China, most chronic BCS patients were treated with percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and have excellent clinical outcome.

Adaptive synchronization and pinning control of colored networks.

A colored network model, corresponding to a colored graph in mathematics, is used for describing the complexity of some inter-connected physical systems. A colored network is consisted of colored nodes and edges. Colored nodes may have identical or nonidentical local dynamics. Colored edges between any pair of nodes denote not only the outer coupling topology but also the inner interactions. In this paper, first, synchronization of edge-colored networks is studied from adaptive control and pinning control approaches. Then, synchronization of general colored networks is considered. To achieve synchronization of a colored network to an arbitrarily given orbit, open-loop control, pinning control and adaptive coupling strength methods are proposed and tested, with some synchronization criteria derived. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate theoretical results.

The impact of awareness on epidemic spreading in networks.

We explore the impact of awareness on epidemic spreading through a population represented by a scale-free network. Using a network mean-field approach, a mathematical model for epidemic spreading with awareness reactions is proposed and analyzed. We focus on the role of three forms of awareness including local, global, and contact awareness. By theoretical analysis and simulation, we show that the global awareness cannot decrease the likelihood of an epidemic outbreak while both the local awareness and the contact awareness can. Also, the influence degree of the local awareness on disease dynamics is closely related with the contact awareness.

Identifying Tumor-Associated Genes from Bilayer Networks of DNA Methylation Sites and RNAs.

Network theory has attracted much attention from the biological community because of its high efficacy in identifying tumor-associated genes. However, most researchers have focused on single networks of single omics, which have less predictive power. With the available multiomics data, multilayer networks can now be used in molecular research. In this study, we achieved this with the construction of a bilayer network of DNA methylation sites and RNAs. We applied the network model to five types of tumor data to identify key genes associated with tumors. Compared with the single network, the proposed bilayer network resulted in more tumor-associated DNA methylation sites and genes, which we verified with prognostic and KEGG enrichment analyses.

A stent with radioactive seed strand insertion for inoperable malignant biliary obstruction: A meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to assess the relative clinical effectiveness of stent insertion with or without radioactive seed strand (RSS) insertion in patients suffering from malignant biliary obstruction (MBO). METHODS AND MATERIALS: Relevant articles published as of November 2020 in the Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane Library databases were identified and analyzed. Primary study endpoints for this meta-analysis were stent dysfunction, stent patency, and overall survival (OS), whereas secondary endpoints were rates of clinical success and complications. RevMan v5.3 was used to perform all meta-analyses. RESULTS: In total, there were nine studies incorporating 643 patients (280 and 363 who underwent stent insertion with and without RSS, respectively). No differences were observed between these groups with respect to pooled rates of clinical success (p = 0.25), stent dysfunction (p = 0.47), cholangitis (p = 0.97), cholecystitis (p = 0.95), or pancreatitis (p = 0.66). However, stent patency duration (p < 0.00001) and patients' OS (p < 0.00001) were significantly increased in patients in the stent + RSS group. No heterogeneity was detected for any of these endpoints, nor did funnel plots yield any publication bias. A subgroup analysis of patients with hilar MBO similarly exhibited stent + RSS insertion to be associated with longer stent patency and OS as compared with stent insertion alone. CONCLUSIONS: These findings showed that relative to stent insertion, stent + RSS insertion is associated with longer OS and stent patency in patients with inoperable MBO.

Stent insertion for inoperable hilar cholangiocarcinoma: Comparison of radioactive and normal stenting.

ABSTRACT: To assess effectiveness and safety associated with radioactive stenting for hilar cholangiocarcinoma (HCCA) patients.This single-center retrospective study compared baseline and treatment data of recruited consecutive patients with HCCA underwent either normal or radioactive stenting between January 2016 and December 2019. Clinical success was defined by total bilirubin (TBIL) levels falling below 70% of the preoperative baseline within 2 weeks post stent insertion.Sixty-five patients with inoperable HCCA underwent normal (n = 35) or radioactive (n = 30) stenting at our center. Technical success of both types of the normal and radioactive stent insertion was 100%. Each patient received 1 stent. In the radioactive stent group, each patient received 1 radioactive seed strand (RSS), containing 10 to 12 radioactive seeds. Clinical success rates were 86.8% and 100% in normal and radioactive groups, respectively (P = .495). We observed stent dysfunction in 9 patients (normal group) and 7 patients (radioactive group) (P = .824). Median duration of stent patency was 165 days (normal group) and 226 days (radioactive group) (P < .001). During follow-up, all patients died from tumor progression, with respective median survival of 198 days (normal group) and 256 days (radioactive group) (P < .001). Seven and 5 patients in the normal and radioactive groups suffered from stent-related complications (P = .730).Radioactive stenting is effective and safe for inoperable HCCA patient and may prolong stent patency and survival.

The catalytic activity of PtnCum (n = 1-3, m = 0-2) clusters for methanol dehydrogenation to CO.

A large number of experiments show that PtCu catalyst has a good catalytic effect on methanol decomposition. Therefore, density functional theory (DFT) was used to further study the dehydrogenation of methanol catalyzed by PtnCum (n = 1-3, m = 0-2). The energy diagrams of O-adsorption path and H-adsorption path were drawn. By calculation, the Pt is the active site of the whole reaction process, and the barrier energy of the rate-determining step is 11.09 kcal mol-1 by Pt2Cu, which is lower than that of Pt3 and PtCu2. However, the complete dehydrogenation product of methanol, CO, is easier to dissociate from PtCu2 clusters than from Pt3 and Pt2Cu clusters. Therefore, Cu doping can improve the catalytic activity and anti-CO toxicity of Pt to a certain extent.

An Integrating Immune-Related Signature to Improve Prognosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Growing evidence suggests that the superiority of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs) could act as biomarkers for cancer prognosis. However, the prognostic marker for hepatocellular carcinoma with high accuracy and sensitivity is still lacking. In this research, a retrospective, cohort-based study of genome-wide RNA-seq data of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma was carried out, and two protein-coding genes (GTPBP4, TREM-1) and one lncRNA (LINC00426) were sorted out to construct an integrative signature to predict the prognosis of patients. The results show that both the AUC and the C-index of this model perform well in TCGA validation dataset, cross-platform GEO validation dataset, and different subsets divided by gender, stage, and grade. The expression pattern and functional analysis show that all three genes contained in the model are associated with immune infiltration, cell proliferation, invasion, and metastasis, providing further confirmation of this model. In summary, the proposed model can effectively distinguish the high- and low-risk groups of hepatocellular carcinoma patients and is expected to shed light on the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma and greatly improve the patients' prognosis.

A comparative study of online communities and popularity of BBS in four Chinese universities.

Online forums in Chinese universities play an important role in understanding collective behavior of college students. Of particular interest are community and popularity. We address these two issues by examining data from Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) of four Chinese universities. To characterize users' behavior, we introduce a hypothesis test to infer individual preferred boards, which yields a polarization of users. We also perform a multilevel algorithm to detect communities of each BBS network. We measure the similarity between the board-preferred polarization and the algorithmically identified community structure by quantitative and visual tools. The resulting discrepancy indicates that board labels are inadequate to represent underlying communities. To reveal online popularity, we employ latent Dirichlet allocation to mine topics from threads to compare popularity in different universities. Based on which, we implement the Cox-Stuart test to explore the change in popularity over time and reproduce significantly ascending and descending topics around a decade. Finally, we devise a two-step model based on users' preference and interests to reproduce the observed connectivity patterns.

Dynamics of opinion formation under majority rules on complex social networks.

We study opinion dynamics on complex social networks where each individual holding a binary opinion on a certain subject may change her/his mind to match the opinion of the majority. Two rules of interactions between individuals, termed as classic majority and influence majority rules, respectively, are imposed on the social networks. The former rule allows each individual to adopt an opinion following a simple majority of her/his immediate neighbors, while the latter one lets each individual calculate the influence of each opinion and choose to follow the more influential one. In this calculation, the influences of different opinions are counted as the sum of the influences of their respective opinion holders in neighborhood area, where the influence of each individual is conveniently estimated as the number of social connections s/he has. Our study reveals that in densely-connected social networks, all individuals tend to converge to having a single global consensus. In sparsely-connected networks, however, the systems may exhibit rich properties where coexistence of different opinions, and more interestingly, multiple steady states of coexistence can be observed. Further studies reveal that low-degree and high-degree nodes may play different roles in formulating the final steady state, including multi-steady states, of the systems under different opinion evolution rules. Such observations would help understand the complex dynamics of opinion evolution and coexistence in social systems.