Definition of spatial positions within foraging Greater White-fronted Geese flocks from an individual's perspective:Cost-benefit dynamics change with the distance to flock edge

The costs and benefits of group living are not evenly distributed among individuals that occupy different spatial positions within a group(central or peripheral).However,the definitions of central and peripheral positions may artificially mask the true dynamics of cost and benefit of individuals.Using wintering foraging Greater Whitefronted Geese(Anser albifrons)flocks as our study system,we measured individual spatial position within a flock as distance to the flock edge.First,we tested the effects of distance to edge on the antipredation cost and foraging benefit of individual goose using generalized linear mixed models(GLMMs).Flock size and number of neighbors and their interactions with distance to edge were included as fixed effects in GLMMs.Then we used piecewise regression to determine the threshold value of distance to edge to classify central and peripheral individuals.Our results indicated distance to edge significantly affected percent of time spent on vigilance(vigilance time),percent of time spent on foraging(foraging time)and intake rate(pecks/min),whereas other factors had no effects.We found that the critical distance that predicted changes in behavior was around 2.5 m.Birds 2.5 m or less from the edge of the group were more vigilant,and had less efficient foraging than more central individuals.Behavioral differences between central and peripheral individuals were more easily detected when the birds were classified by the method introduced in this study than by the traditional minimum convex polygon method.Our research provides researchers a dichotomous classification scheme that places individuals into peripheral and central positions from an individual's perspective.

Clinical characteristics and prognostic significance of immunoglobulin isotype switch in patients with multiple myeloma

Immunoglobulin(Ig)isotype switching in multiple myeloma(MM)is a rare form of clonal evolution.The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical features and prognostic significance of Ig isotype switching by observing Ig transformation in patients with relapse.A retrospective analysis was performed on 506 patients with newly diagnosed MM who were treated at our hospital from February 2005 to February 2020.The patients who experienced relapse were divided into the following four groups according to Ig phenotype:original paraprotein,complete isotype switching,light chain escape(LCE),and non-secretory clinical relapse.For comparative purposes with the original paraprotein group,the last three groups were pooled as the transformation group.Among the 506 included patients,376(74.3%)relapsed.Among them,13/376(3.5%)patients exhibited Ig isotype switching,including 3 with complete isotype switching,3 with LCE,and 7 with non-secretory clinical relapse.Eleven remained sensitive to therapy,exhibiting at least a partial response.Seven patients survived for at least 20 months after relapse.The median overall survival time of the LCE,clinical relapse,and complete isotype switching groups were 6,20,and 76 months,respectively,after recurrence.The clinical manifestations and Ig phenotypes of MM recurrence were different from those at the initial diagnosis in the 13 patients exhibiting Ig isotype switching.These differences vividly conveyed the heterogeneity of the clonal populations and provides direct clinical evidence for MM clonal evolution.

Pre-mobilization platelet count predicts stem cell yield during mobilization in patients with multiple myeloma

Background Autologous hematopoietic stem cell(HSC)transplantation remains the recommended treatment for eligible patients with multiple myeloma(MM).Increasing the number of transplanted CD34^(+)cells shorten the time to hematopoietic reconstitution and increases the overall survival of patients.With the harvest of a sufficient CD34^(+)cell number being crucial,this study aimed to predict the factors that affect stem cell collection.Methods We conducted a retrospective study of 110 patients who were newly diagnosed with MM and underwent autologous HSC collection at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital between March 2016 and July 2022.Multiple factors were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U tests for between-group comparisons.Differences were considered statistically significant at P<0.05.Results We found that patient age affected stem cell collection significantly;for patients younger than 55 years,the number of CD34^(+)cells harvested may be≥2×10^(6)/L,is unlikely to reach 5×10^(6)/L.Platelet count at initial mobilization was a predictor of the number of CD34^(+)cells collected.Collection may fail when the platelet count at initial mobilization is below 17×10^(9)/L and may be excellent when it is higher than 199×10^(9)/L.Conclusions This finding could guide us to predict the approximate number of CD34^(+)cells collected in advance during autologous transplant mobilization for MM and to decide in advance whether to apply plerixafor to improve the number of HSCs collected.

A novel method to test particle ordering and final state alignment in helicity formalism

In this study,the non-trival effect of the selection of reference particles for decay angle definitions is demonstrated when constructing the partial-wave amplitude of multi-body decays using helicity formalism.This issue is often ignored in the standard use case of helicity formalism.A new technique is proposed to test the selection of the particle ordering,and it can also be used as a generalized method to calculate the rotation operators that are used for the final-state alignment between different decay chains.Moreover,numerical validations are performed to support the arguments and to verify the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

Gene mutations in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients detected by next-generation sequencing technology

Background:Multiple myeloma(MM)is a heterogeneous plasma-derived hematopoietic malignancy with complex genetic mutation contributing to the pathogenesis.Though gene sequencing has been applied in MM,genetic features from Chinese MM patients are reported less.We investigated the genetic mutation of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma(NDMM)patients and explore its correlation with cytogenetic abnormalities detected by fluorescence in situ hybridization(FISH).Methods:A total of 206 patients with NDMM were enrolled.After enriching plasma cells with CD138 magnetic beads,92 MM-related target gene mutations were detected by the Illumina sequencing platform,and six common genetic abnormalities were detected by FISH.Results:162 cases(78.6%)had at least one gene mutation detected by NDMM.The top 5 mutated genes were KRAS,NRAS,TRAF3,BRAF,and TP53.Cytogenetic abnormalities detected by FISH have a certain correlation with gene mutations,t(11;14)translocations are often accompanied by CCND1 and TP53 mutations,KLHL6 in t(4;14),SP140,CDKN1B and PRKD2 in t(14;16)and t(14;20)translocations.The mutation ratio was higher for EGR1,while lower of CCND1 in patients with gain 1q21.The TP53 mutation was more likely in patients with 17p deletion.The gene mutation affects the pathway of the RNA process is more frequently occurring in males and age less than 70 years patients.The International Staging System(ISS)Stage Ⅲ correlated with gene mutations in the NK-κB pathway while Revised ISS(R-ISS)Stage Ⅲ correlated with the DNA damage repair pathway.Conclusions:There are various gene mutations in NDMM patients,mainly RAS/MAPK and NF-κB pathway gene pathways.