Cauchy matrix approach for the discrete Ablowitz-Kaup-Newell-Segur equations is reconsidered, where two ‘proper’ discrete Ablowitz-Kaup-Newell-Segur equations and two ‘unproper’ discrete Ablowitz-Kaup-Newell-Segur equations are derived. The ‘proper’ equations admit local reduction, while the ‘unproper’ equations admit nonlocal reduction. By imposing the local and nonlocal complex reductions on the obtained discrete Ablowitz-Kaup-Newell-Segur equations, two local and nonlocal discrete complex modified Korteweg-de Vries equations are constructed. For the obtained local and nonlocal discrete complex modified Korteweg-de Vries equations, soliton solutions and Jordan-block solutions are presented by solving the determining equation set. The dynamical behaviors of 1-soliton solution are analyzed and illustrated. Continuum limits of the resulting local and nonlocal discrete complex modified Korteweg-de Vries equations are discussed.

A document by mei yang. Click on the document to view its contents.

This study introduces a novel workflow, HAND-RAS, designed for the generation of synthetic rating curves (SRCs) utilizing the Height-Above-the-Nearest-Drainage (HAND) method. The HAND-RAS workflow proposed in this study advances tra- ditional methods for generating SRCs by incorporating the application of the sophisticated hydrodynamic computation from the HEC-RAS model to capture detailed hydraulic fea- tures, thereby enhancing the accuracy of the stage-discharge relationship. The performance of the HAND-RAS workflow is tested in a regional-scale river basin located in central Tai- wan. The analysis results indicate that the generated HAND- based SRCs exhibit strong agreement with gauge observa- tions, with r 2 > 0 . 8 5 and RMSE<0.509m. The performance of HAND-RAS is also validated with the physically simulated H-Q ratings from field topographic surveys. The comparison between HAND-SRCs generated using both conventional meth- ods (Manning’s equation) and the proposed HAND-RAS work- flow is also conducted in this study. The comparison results show that HAND-RAS can produce comparable results in steep channels dominated by gravitational force and demonstrates better capability in capturing hydraulic behaviors in chan- nels characterized by milder slopes, where pressure gradi- ent plays a significant role. The workflow proposed in this study offers a modified method for generating reach-scale representative synthetic rating curves with hydraulic prop- erties derived from the HAND method, thereby enhancing accuracy and avoiding erroneous calibration processes.

A document by Rohil Chauhan. Click on the document to view its contents.

The efficacy and reliability of super-resolution (SR) imaging for evaluating urethral vasculature (UV) in females remains uncertain. This study evaluates the Super Resolution for Greater Accuracy and Resolution (SUGAR) method, an SR modality, for visualizing UV in female pigs within clinical ultrasound settings, aiming to establish its clinical feasibility and accuracy for potential human application. Female pigs (40-45 kg) were used to investigate UV blood flow dynamics, with data collected via a handheld ultrasound probe at 100 fps. The images were processed using SUGAR to achieve a resolution of 30 μm and validated against computed tomography angiography (CTA) and histopathological analyses. SUGAR demonstrated superior capability in visualizing urethral blood flow compared to CTA, allowing for detailed multiparametric analysis of UV, including fractal dimension, vessel density, tortuosity, diameter, and blood flow velocity. Strong correlations between SUGAR imaging and histopathological findings underscore its potential clinical applicability for diagnosing and managing urological conditions in humans.

ANINTERNSHIP REPORT

Ablation of Persistent Left Superior Vena Cava in Atrial Fibrillation CaseKey clinical message:This case report discusses the successful ablation of a persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC) as a trigger for atrial fibrillation. Following cryoballoon ablation and subsequent radiofrequency ablation, the patient experienced no recurrence of atrial fibrillation over a six-month follow-up period, confirmed by monthly ECG and Holter monitoring.Introduction:We report a case of persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) with a persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC). The patient underwent cryoballoon ablation, improving cardiac function. Six months later, the patient experienced paroxysmal AF and underwent radiofrequency ablation. Intracardiac echocardiography and mapping confirmed PLSVC as the AF trigger. Isolation of the PLSVC successfully terminated AF. No AF episodes occurred during the six-month follow-up.Case Presentation：A 58-year-old female patient was admitted to the hospital on February 22, 2023, due to recurrent palpitations accompanied by shortness of breath that she had experienced for more than three years. The initial electrocardiogram (ECG) indicated atrial fibrillation (AF), and an echocardiogram revealed enlargement of both the left and right atria, along with a decreased ejection fraction (Left Atrial Size [LAS] 50mm, Left Ventricular Diameter [LVD] 55mm, Right Atrial Size [RAS] 39mm, Right Ventricular Diameter [RVD] 35mm, Ejection Fraction [EF] 33%). She underwent her first cryoballoon ablation procedure, after which her heart rhythm returned to normal sinus rhythm.On November 23, 2023, she was readmitted to the hospital due to persistent palpitations that had lasted for over three months. During these episodes, the ECG again showed atrial fibrillation. A follow-up echocardiogram indicated a reduction in the size of both the left and right atria, and the ejection fraction had improved to normal (LAS 39mm, LVD 45mm, RAS 34mm, RVD 29mm, EF 61%).Methods ( Electrophysiological Study and Ablation Procedure )：The patient underwent her first surgery with considerations for heart failure, as her ejection fraction (EF) had decreased, making it difficult for her to tolerate lengthy radiofrequency ablation procedures and intraprocedural saline infusion. Therefore, cryoablation was chosen for treatment. After the procedure, the patient maintained sinus rhythm for six months before experiencing a recurrence of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.During the patient’s second radiofrequency ablation procedure, pre-operative assessments showed she was in sinus rhythm (Figure 1A). Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) revealed the presence of a Persistent Left Superior Vena Cava (PLSVC) (Figure 1B). The intracardiac three-dimensional mapping using the Carto 3 system demonstrated electrical reconnection in the left and right pulmonary veins (Figures 1C-F).The ablation steps began with gap ablation within the pulmonary veins, followed by an expansion of the ablation area and linear ablation at the roof (Figure 1G).

A document by Seong-Beom Park. Click on the document to view its contents.

Evolutionary biology is poised for a third major synthesis. The first presented Darwin’s evidence from natural history. The second incorporated genetic mechanisms. The third will be based on energy and biophysical processes. It should include the equal fitness paradigm (EFP), which quantifies how organisms convert biomass into surviving offspring. Natural selection tends to maximize energetic fitness, E=P_coh GFQ, where P_coh is mass-specific rate of cohort biomass production, G is generation time, F is fraction of cohort production that is passed to surviving offspring, and Q is energy density of biomas. At steady state, parents replace themselves with an exactly equal mass-specific energy content, E ≈ 22.4 kJ/g, and biomass, M ≈ 1 g/g, of offspring. The EFP highlights: i) the energetic basis of survival and reproduction; ii) how natural selection acts directly on the parameters of M; iii) why there is no inherent intrinsic fitness advantage for higher metabolic power, ontogenetic or population growth rate, fecundity, longevity, or resource use efficiency; and iv) the role of energy in animals with a variety of life histories. Underlying the spectacular diversity of living things is pervasive similarity in how energy is acquired from the environment and used to leave descendants offspring in future generations.

Spontaneous resolution of three hepatic artery aneurysms due to segmental arterial mediolysis in a patient with Sjögren’s syndrome

Among 1550 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/Hepatitis B virus (HBV) coinfected individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) over three years in Guangzhou, China, individuals (8.2%) achieved HBsAg loss. HBsAg loss was positively associated with a longer treatment (median 6.57 years) and a lower HBsAg level (median 645.2 COI) at the baseline. However, HBV pre-genomic RNA (pgRNA), a promising viral biomarker for asserting HBV functional cure, was still detected in 43.9% (44/98) of them, implying an active HBV replication in the HBsAg loss individuals. Our observation suggested that HBsAg loss alone could not reliably predict HBV functional cure in HIV/HBV coinfection.

A document by Earl Asante. Click on the document to view its contents.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a common chronic metabolic liver disease worldwide, and it has become a major public health issue. Perillaldehyde (PA), a type of terpenoid compound, has unique pharmacological activities. Purpose: This study aims to explore the pharmacological effects of PA on NAFLD and its potential mechanisms using network pharmacology, molecular docking, and in vitro animal experiments. Experimental approach: Firstly, network pharmacology and molecular docking identified the core targets and related signaling pathways for PA treatment of NAFLD. Subsequently, H&E and Masson staining, immunofluorescence, immunohistochemistry, and Western blotting experiments were conducted to validate the results predicted by network pharmacology. Key Results: Network pharmacology analysis indicated that PPAR-α might be the core target of PA intervention in NAFLD. H&E and Masson staining showed that after low-dose (50mg/kg) PA treatment, the fat deposition in the livers of NAFLD mice significantly improved, and liver tissue fibrosis was reduced. Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence analysis demonstrated that after low-dose (50mg/kg) PA treatment, the content of pro-apoptotic protein Bax dramatically decreased. In contrast, the expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 prominently increased, thereby inhibiting liver cell apoptosis in NAFLD mice. Western blot results directly confirmed that low-dose (50mg/kg) PA could increase the expression of PPAR-α in the body and inhibit the expression of NF-κB. Conclusions &Implications: Based on these findings, we concluded that PA targets the activation of PPAR-α, inhibits NF-κB, promotes lipid metabolism in liver cells of NAFLD mice, and inhibits liver cell apoptosis in NAFLD mice.

In recent years, attention has been focused on the role of INSL3 and its receptor RXFP2 in bone metabolism in clinical disorders such as hypogonadism and Klinefelter syndrome, where a reduction or absence of INSL3 is often accompanied by bone loss. In addition, INSL3 has been associated with postmenopausal osteoporosis in women. The purpose of this review is to summarize the mechanism of action of INSL3 in regulating bone formation by comparing the differences between INSL3 and sex hormones. We discuss the role of INSL3 in bone metabolism, especially its effects on osteoblasts and bone-associated proteins. Due to the many side effects of testosterone replacement therapy, we propose the use of INSL3 receptor agonist as a potential treatment to improve osteoporosis.

AN INTERNSHIP REPORT

Fjord systems in the Norwegian Arctic are experiencing an increasing frequency and magnitude of marine heatwaves. These episodic heat stress events can have varying degrees of acute impacts on primary production and nutrient uptake of mixed kelp communities, as well as modifying the biogeochemical cycling in nearshore systems where vast areas of kelp create structural habitat. To assess the impact of future marine heatwaves on kelp communities, we conducted a 23 d mesocosm experiment exposing mixed kelp communities to warming and heatwave scenarios projected for the year 2100. Three treatments were considered: a constant warming (+1.8C from the control), a medium magnitude and long duration heatwave event (+2.8C from the control for 13 d), and two short-term, more intense, heatwaves (5 d long scenarios with peaks at +3.9C from the control). The results show that both marine heatwave treatments reduced net community production whereas the constant warm temperature treatment displayed no difference from the control. The long marine heatwave scenario resulted in reduced accumulated net community production, indicating that prolonged exposure had a greater severity than two high magnitude, short-term heatwave events. We estimated an 11C temperature threshold at which negative effects to primary production appeared present. We highlight that marine heatwaves can induce sublethal effects on kelp communities by depressing net community production. These results are placed in the context of potential physiological resilience of kelp communities and implications of reduced net community production to future Arctic fjord environmental conditions.

From a mathematical perspective, randomly assembled species-rich competitive communities exhibit a high degree of instability, as described by May’s stability theorem. This suggests that actual ecological communities should possess a significant level of organization in their competitive network structure, perhaps with a modular topology, to withstand May’s instability. It is also known that a species-saturated ecological community driven by competitive Lotka–Volterra equations, following a path of competitive exclusion, lingers in a long-term state with species congregated in niche space into well-separated clusters, thereby competing in a modular manner. Other factors shaping a community network structure in a modular way might involve evolution and co-evolution. Without regard to origin, we characterize the modular network topology of interspecific competition in such a community as a hierarchical one, representing interspecific competition and the associated fragmentation of niche space among community species as a two-tiered process. That is, in pairs between species within individual groups (clusters) of ecologically related species, on the one hand, and collectively between these groups as holistic ecological units – ecological species, on the other hand. To illustrate this hierarchical organization, we introduce a generalized multi-resource multi-species competition model that recognizes this topology at the basis of its own network structure of interrelated governing equations of species dynamics. This kind of generalization substantially reduces the competitive constraints on species coexistence, offering promising potential for a conceptual resolution of the plankton paradox.

Climate change and biodiversity loss are severe and intertwined global threats. Land-based efforts to address both require an understanding of the spatial relationships between carbon storage and biodiversity. Here, we present a systematic review and meta-analysis of the strength of these spatial relationships across the literature. We synthesize the estimated spatial correlations and infer how different factors (spatial scale, metrics, biome, human pressure) impact these strengths using linear mixed-effect models. Our results show that spatial scale is a significant factor, and the combination of metrics used to express carbon storage and biodiversity plays a more important role. While relationships are moderately positive across all conditions, the strength of the relationships decreases significantly from global to local scales. We find large variations in the strength for different metrics, across different biomes, and in the presence or absence of human pressure. We find a stronger relationship in natural rather than human-dominated landscapes for temperate forests, grasslands and deserts, but the opposite for tropical and subtropical forests. Ecosystem-level biodiversity proxies (habitat quality) show strong relationships to the total carbon pool, while taxonomic metrics (species richness) show a weaker relationship. The largest negative relationship is between total carbon and flora & fauna species richness. Our results suggest different synergies for different dimensions of carbon storage and biodiversity and shed light on where further effort is needed.

Soil infiltration is a hydrological process dramatically affected by land use/cover changes. Taking the miscellaneous woody forest (MWF), a natural vegetation cover in the Dabie mountainous area, China, as the reference (control), this study aimed to evaluate the effect of litter, root traits, and soil properties on soil infiltrability and quantify the characteristics of soil infiltration processes of four intensively-managed sloping economic forests, including Castanea Mollissima forest (CMF), Castanea Mollissima-tea inter-planting forest (CMTF), Camellia Oleifera forest (COF), and Camellia Oleifera-tea inter-planting forest (COTF). The results showed that significant differences in soil water infiltration under different land use and management types (p < 0.05). Soil initial infiltration rate (IIR), average infiltration (AIR) and steady infiltration rate (SIR) decreased 39.63%-60.88%, 46.11%-67.39% and 49.88%-72.8%, respectively after the native forests were developed to economic forests, following the order: MWF > CMTF > COTF > CMF > COTF, but no significant difference was found between CMTF and COTF (p > 0.05). Soil water infiltration characteristics measured by IIR, AIR, and SIR were positively correlated to litter coverage, litter thickness, the maximum water-holding capacity of the litter, effective water-retention capacity, maximum water-retention capacity, root traits, capillary porosity, non-capillary porosity, total porosity, soil organic matter, and clay and silt content (p < 0.05), but negatively correlated with the bulk density, and sand and gravel content (p < 0.05). Variation partitioning analysis showed that soil water infiltration was more susceptible to soil properties than litter characteristics or root traits. The redundancy analysis explained 99.97 % of the variation to explore the relationship between litter characteristics, root traits, soil properties, and soil water infiltration characteristics, and the clay content is the main factor affecting soil water infiltration. The structural equation model suggested that land use and management indirectly affect soil infiltrability by modulating soil properties through affecting litter and root traits, with clay content having a higher contribution.

Podophyllum hexandrum Royle, commonly known as Himalayan May apple is a perennial herb with high medicinal significance. In Nepal, its survival is threatened by extensive harvesting for trade. Therefore, the plant has been listed in CITES appendix II. To prioritize any threatened species for conservation, first the suitable regions of its occurrence must be known. However, information on the suitable habitats of P. hexandrum is less in Nepal. Therefore, present study dealt with the modelling of suitable habitats of P. hexandrum under current and future climate change scenario using MaxEnt probabilistic modelling. Nine bioclimatic and two topographic variables with 36 occurrences of P. hexandrum were used in the model. The model output revealed about 24.36 % of total area of Nepal is suitable for the occurrence of P. hexandrum at present. Of the total current suitable area, 2.31% constitute high, 6.14 % mid and 15.91% constitute low probability regions. The highest potential distribution was predicted in the eastern and central highlands of Nepal, whereas; western region has low suitability under current and future climatic scenario. Jackknife test identified elevation and precipitation seasonality (Bio 15) as most important environmental factors affecting the spatial distribution. In addition, the future suitability projection revealed that the suitable range of distribution would decline in 2050 and 2070 respectively under SSP-245 and SSP-585. Overall, this study identified the potential habitats for P. hexandrum under the current and future climatic scenario in Nepal and generated a baseline data for making framework for the conservation planning, monitoring and habitat management of target species.

A mysterious umbilical swelling: Primary Umbilical Endometriosis

Successful birth of monochorionic monoamniotic twin after single morula transfer: case report from SyriaMohammad Alghazawi1 - Rami Alnasser1- Ibrahim Alghazawi21British- Syrian IVF medicine centre – AL-Rasheed hospital - Damascus – Syria.2Faculty of Medicine, Damascus University, Damascus Syria.

The Buckmaster equation, integral to the study of flat fluid plates and their substantial deformation and dynamics, has long intrigued researchers. Despite this, its complexity has confined solution attempts to numerical methods, leaving a gap for an analytical approach. Addressing this challenge, our study applies the Elzaki Projected Differential Transform Method (EPDTM), which is a semi-analytic method, to the nonlinear partial differential Buckmaster equation. This innovative method stands out from previous numerical attempts with its precision, efficiency, and minimal computational demand. Through the EPDTM, we present approximate solutions for two specific cases and extend our analysis to the general form of the Buckmaster equation. Comparative visualizations against the exact solutions, supplemented by tabular and graphical analyses, confirm the negligibility of absolute errors. Crucially, convergence plots verify the EPDTM’s efficacy, showcasing the solutions’ progressive alignment with the exact solution. This study not only demonstrates the EPDTM’s potential in solving complex equations with greater simplicity and speed but also opens avenues for its application in broader mathematical and scientific disciplines.

Introduction:Avascular necrosis arises as a consequence of vascular disruption, primarily affecting the blood supply to the femoral head and potentially leading to degenerative alterations within the hip joint. This condition can be attributed to a wide array of causes and risk factors, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), post-transplant complications, certain medications like glucocorticoids and bisphosphonates, as well as genetic hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease(1,2). Hemophilia, characterized by hemarthrosis, where joint bleeding may occur spontaneously or following minor trauma, is known to give rise to subsequent degenerative changes. Patients with hemophilia face an elevated risk of developing hemophilic arthropathy and are susceptible to avascular necrosis(3).This case report highlights the occurrence of avascular necrosis in the left hip joint of a patient who already manifests hemophilic arthropathy in multiple other joints. Importantly, due to the presence of recurrent small-scale hemarthrosis in the hip joint, even in the absence of trauma, the likelihood of silent avascular necrosis increases, placing them at significant risk.