Application of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and red blood cell distribution width in diabetes mellitus complicated with heart failure

BACKGROUND Accumulating clinical evidence has shown that diabetes mellitus(DM)is a serious risk factor for cardiovascular disorders and an important factor for adverse cardiovascular events.AIM To explore the value of the combined determination of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR)and red blood cell distribution width(RDW)in the early diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of DM complicated with heart failure(HF).METHODS We retrospectively analyzed clinical data on 65 patients with type 2 DM(T2DM)complicated with HF(research group,Res)and 60 concurrent patients with uncomplicated T2DM(control group,Con)diagnosed at Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital between January 2019 and December 2021.The NLR and RDW values were determined and comparatively analyzed,and their levels in T2DM+HF patients with different cardiac function grades were recorded.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curves were plotted to determine the NLR and RDW values(alone and in combination)for the early diagnosis of HF.The correlation between NLR and RDW with the presence or absence of cardiac events was also investigated.RESULTS Higher NLR and RDW levels were identified in the Res vs the Con groups(P<0.05).The NLR and RDW increased gradually and synchronously with the deterioration of cardiac function in the Res group,with marked differences in their levels among patients with grade II,III,and IV HF(P<0.05).ROC curve analysis revealed that NLR combined with RDW detection had an area under the curve of 0.915,a sensitivity of 76.9%,and a specificity of 100%for the early diagnosis of HF.Furthermore,HF patients with cardiac events showed higher NLR and RDW values compared with HF patients without cardiac events.CONCLUSION NLR and RDW were useful laboratory indicators for the early diagnosis of DM complicated with HF,and their joint detection was beneficial for improving diagnostic efficiency.Additionally,NLR and RDW values were directly proportional to patient outcomes.

Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index (SII) and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR) as Systemic Inflammatory Predictors in the Diagnosis of Bullous Pemphigoid and Pemphigus Vulgaris

Introduction: Autoimmune blistering skin disorders such as Bullous Pemphigoid and Pemphigus Vulgaris present diagnostic challenges. The Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index (SII) and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), are inflammatory markers used to assess the body’s immune-inflammatory response. Objectives: The study aims to evaluate the significance of hematologic markers, specifically the Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index (SII) and Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR), as diagnostic predictors of bullous pemphigoid (BP) and pemphigus vulgaris (PV). Methods: A retrospective study of 64 patients (36 with BP and 28 with PV). Patient clinical data: age, gender, complete blood count, autoimmune antibody levels (Dsg1, 3 and BP180, 230), IgE and C-reactive protein, and history of hypertension, diabetes, brain infarction, and coronary heart disease. The data was analyzed using SPSS. Results: The study involved 36 (56.3%) diagnosed with bullous pemphigoid (BP) and 28 (43.75%) with pemphigus vulgaris (PV). The average age in BP was 71 ± 8 and 52 ± 13 in PV. Laboratory findings showed high levels of Dsg1, Dsg3, neutrophil count, and lymphocyte count in PV, while high levels of eosinophils with a significant increase in C-reactive protein (CRP) in BP. Blood biomarkers, including NLR, PLR, SII, MPV, CRP, and IgE, proved an overall of 84.4% in disease prediction. Dsg1, Dsg3, BP180, and BP230 showed an overall of 88.1%. No significant relationship was noted between NLR, SII, and patients with comorbidities. Conclusion: The study highlights the diagnostic potential of SII and NLR in addition to hematologic markers in BP and PV, emphasizing their role in early diagnosis and therapeutic interventions, requiring further validation in larger patient cohorts.

Clinical significance of the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio as an early predictive marker for adverse outcomes in patients with acute pancreatitis

AIM To investigated the prognostic value of the neutrophillymphocyte ratio(NLR) in patients with acute pancreatitis and determined an optimal cut-off value for the prediction of adverse outcomes in these patients.METHODS We retrospectively analyzed 490 patients with acute pancreatitis diagnosed between March 2007 and December 2012. NLRs were calculated at admission and 24, 48, and 72 h after admission. Patients were grouped according to acute pancreatitis severity and organ failure occurrence, and a comparative analysis was performed to compare the NLR between groups. RESULTS Among the 490 patients, 70 had severe acute pancreatitis with 31 experiencing organ failure. The severe acute pancreatitis group had a significantly higher NLR than the mild acute pancreatitis group on all 4 d(median, 6.14, 6.71, 5.70, and 4.00 vs 4.74, 4.47, 3.20, and 3.30, respectively, P < 0.05). The organ failure group had a significantly higher NLR than the group without organ failure on all 4 d(median, 7.09, 6.72, 6.27, and 6.24 vs 4.85, 4.49, 3.35, and 2.34, respectively, P < 0.05). The optimal cut-off value for baseline NLR was 4.76 in predicting severity and 4.88in predicting organ failure in acute pancreatitis. CONCLUSION Elevated baseline NLR correlates with severe acute pancreatitis and organ failure.

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio predicts the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after liver transplantation

AIM:To determine whether an elevated neutrophillymphocyte ratio(NLR)is negatively associated with tumor recurrence in patients with hepatitis B virus(HBV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)after liver transplantation(LT),and to determine the optimal predictive NLR cut-off value.METHODS:The data of HCC patients who had undergone LT came from the China Liver Transplant Registry database.We collected data from 326 liver cancer patients who had undergone LT at our medical center.We divided the patients into groups based on their NLRs(3,4 or 5).We then compared the clinicopathological data and long-time survival between these groups.Meanwhile,we used receiver operating characteristic analysis to determine the optimal NLR cut-off.RESULTS:Of 280 HCC patients included in this study,263 were HBV positive.Patients with an NLR<3 and patients with an NLR≥3 but<4 showed no significant differences in overall survival(OS)(P=0.212)or disease-free survival(DFS)(P=0.601).Patients with an NLR≥4 but<5 and patients with an NLR≥5also showed no significant differences in OS(P=0.208)or DFS(P=0.618).The 1-,3-and 5-year OS rates of patients with an NLR<4 vs an NLR≥4 were 87.8%,63.8%and 61.5%vs 73.9%,36.7%and 30.3%,respectively(P<0.001).The 1-,3-and 5-year DFS rates of patients with an NLR<4 vs NLR≥4 were 83.9%,62.9%and 60.7%vs 64.9%,30.1%and 30.1%,respectively(P<0.001).Univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated that three factors,including NLR≥4(P=0.002),were significant predictors of tumor recurrence in HCC patients after LT.CONCLUSION:A preoperative elevated NLR significantly increased the risk for tumor recurrence in HCC patients after LT.

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio is useful for the prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

There is increasing evidence that neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) may play a role in predicting recurrence in patients with hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver transplantation. In the original study by Yan et al, it was aimed to determine whether an elevated NLR is associated with tumor recurrence. Total tumor size (&#x0003e; 9 cm) and macro-vascular invasion were found to be more significant than NLR according to the multivariate logistic regression analysis. Therefore, substantive significance should be emphasized rather than NLR because total tumor size and macro-vascular invasion are easier and more expressive than NLR in assessing HCC recurrence. NLR and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) are markers which are easy to obtain and can be used as inflammation indicators. Moreover, assessment of both NLR and PLR may add some value as a good predictor of risk for post-liver transplantation HCC recurrence. However, while the study was constructed on whole blood analysis, further details about the features and performance characteristics of the whole-blood analyzer, and preanalytical/analytical variables should also be mentioned.

Comparison of prognostic factors in different age groups and prognostic significance of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in patients with gastric cancer

BACKGROUND Gastric cancer(GC)is one of the most common malignant tumors in the world.Although in recent years tremendous progress has been made in its early detection,the postoperative overall survival(OS)of GC patients remains extremely low.A number of studies have shown that age,to varying degrees,affects the prognosis of patients with GC.Therefore,this study retrospectively analyzed the clinical and pathologic data of patients with GC to explore the differences in the clinical characteristics and prognostic factors in different age groups.AIM To explore the difference in clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors in GC patients in different age groups.METHODS In this retrospective study,we analyzed 1037 GC patients admitted to Renji Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from May 2010 to January 2013.The patients were divided into two groups based on age:Younger group(less than 70 years old)and older group(no less than 70 years old).In the younger group,we subdivided the patients in two subgroups by a cutoff value of 45 years.The clinical features and prognostic factors were analyzed in both groups.Subsequently,we retrieved studies that evaluated the predictive role of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR)by searching two medical databases,PubMed and EMBASE,to conduct a meta-analysis.Random-effects model was used to pool the data.RESULTS In the retrospective study,the mean OS time of the younger group(64.7 mo)was significantly longer than that of the older group(48.1 mo)(P<0.001).Among patients under 70 years of age,hospitalization time,tumor–node–metastasis(TNM)stage,vascular invasion,and preoperative low pre-albumin were independently associated with OS(P<0.005).In patients aged 70 years and above,TNM stage,esophageal invasion,histological type,and preoperative NLR were independent factors for OS(P<0.05).The OS of these older patients was also significantly shorter(P<0.05).In the meta-analysis,19 retrieved studies included a total of 8312 patients,among whom 3558 had elevated NLR values.The results showed that high NLR value was a risk factor for the prognosis of GC(P<0.01).CONCLUSION The OS of elderly patients is significantly worse than that of younger patients.There are significant differences in clinicopathological characteristics and prognostic factors between younger and older patients.NLR is a convenient,inexpensive,and reproducible marker that can be used as an important predictor of the prognosis of GC.

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio:A prognostic tool in patients with inhospital cardiac arrest

BACKGROUND In-hospital cardiac arrest(IHCA) portends a poor prognosis and survival to discharge rate. Prognostic markers such as interleukin-6, S-100 protein and high sensitivity C reactive protein have been studied as predictors of adverse outcomes after return of spontaneous circulation(ROSC); however; these variables are not routine laboratory tests and incur additional cost making them difficult to incorporate and less attractive in assessing patient's prognosis. The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR) is a marker of adverse prognosis for many cardiovascular conditions and certain types of cancers and sepsis. We hypothesize that an elevated NLR is associated with poor outcomes including mortality at discharge in patients with IHCA.AIM To determine the prognostic significance of NLR in patients suffering IHCA who achieve ROSC.METHODS A retrospective study was performed on all patients who had IHCA with the advanced cardiac life support protocol administered in a large urban community United States hospital over a one-year period. Patients were divided into two groups based on their NLR value(NLR < 4.5 or NLR ≥ 4.5). This cutpoint was derived from receiving operator characteristic curve analysis(area under the curve = 0.66) and provided 73% positive predictive value, 82% sensitivity and42% specificity for predicting in-hospital death after IHCA. The primary outcome was death or discharge at 30 d, whichever came first.RESULTS We reviewed 153 patients with a mean age of 66.1 ± 16.3 years; 48% were female.In-hospital mortality occurred in 65%. The median NLR in survivors was 4.9(range 0.6-46.5) compared with 8.9(0.28-96) in non-survivors(P = 0.001). A multivariable logistic regression model demonstrated that an NLR above 4.55[odds ratio(OR) = 5.20, confidence interval(CI): 1.5-18.3, P = 0.01], older age(OR= 1.03, CI: 1.00-1.07, P = 0.05), and elevated serum lactate level(OR = 1.20, CI:1.03-1.40, P = 0.02) were independent predictors of death.CONCLUSION An NLR ≥ 4.5 may be a useful marker of increased risk of death in patients with IHCA.

Value of neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in evaluating response to percutaneous catheter drainage in patients with acute pancreatitis

BACKGROUND Early prediction of response to percutaneous catheter drainage(PCD)of necrotic collections in acute pancreatitis(AP)using simple and objective tests is critical as it may determine patient prognosis.The role of white blood cell(WBC)count and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR)has not been assessed as a tool of early prediction of PCD success and is the focus of this study.AIM To assess the value of WBC and NLR in predicting response to PCD in AP.METHODS This retrospective study comprised consecutive patients with AP who underwent PCD between June 2018 and December 2019.Severity and fluid collections were classified according to the revised Atlanta classification and organ failure was defined according to the modified Marshall Score.WBC and NLR were monitored 24 h prior PCD(WBC-0/NLR-0)and 24 h(WBC-1/NLR-1),48 h(WBC-2/NLR-2)and 72 h(WBC-3/NLR-3)after PCD.NLR was calculated by dividing the number of neutrophils by the number of lymphocytes.The association of success of PCD(defined as survival without the need for surgery)with WBC and NLR was assessed.The trend of WBC and NLR was also assessed post PCD.RESULTS One hundred fifty-five patients[median age 40±13.6(SD),64.5%males,53.5%severe AP]were included in the final analysis.PCD was done for acute necrotic collection in 99(63.8%)patients and walled-off necrosis in 56(36.1%)patients.Median pain to PCD interval was 24±69.89 d.PCD was successful in 109 patients(group 1)and 46 patients(group 2)who failed to respond.There was no significant difference in the baseline characteristics between the two groups except the severity of AP and frequency of organ failure.Both WBC and NLR showed an overall decreasing trend.There was a significant difference between WBC-0 and WBC-1(P=0.0001).WBC-1 and NLR-1 were significantly different between the two groups(P=0.048 and 0.003,respectively).The area under the curve of WBC-1 and NLR-1 for predicting the success of PCD was 0.602 and 0.682,respectively.At a cut-off value of 9.87 for NLR-1,the sensitivity and specificity for predicting the success of PCD were calculated to be 75%and 65.4%respectively.CONCLUSION WBC and NLR can be used as simple tests for predicting response to PCD in patients with acute necrotizing pancreatitis.

Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio as a Prognostic Factor in Incurable Stage IV Colorectal Cancer

Objectives: Our aim is investigating the predictive potential of these available and convenient laboratory dates in stage IV colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Methods: We identified the cases of 114 consecutive patients who underwent the surgery at our Hospital between January 2006 and December 2012 by using the multivariate analysis, the Cox proportional-hazard regression model. Results: Multivariate analysis for the predictors of survival showed metastatic lesion resection [hazard ratio (HR) = 3.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6 - 6.6;p = 0.007] and only primary lesion resection (HR = 1.9, 95% CI 1.1 - 4.0;p = 0.045) remained independently significant prognostic factors. Therefore, we divided in 3 groups, 1) metastatic lesion resection group with primary lesion resection (n = 52 in the Met/Prim lesion group), 2) primary lesion resection without metastatic lesion resection (n = 38 in the Primary lesion group) and 3) palliative operation (n = 24 in the Palliative group). Age was the only independent risk factor in the Met/Prim lesion group. In the Primary lesion group, Neutrophil lymphocyte ratio (NLR) > 5, elevated Alanine aminotransferase and patients without chemotherapy were correlated with poor survival. In the Palliative group, NLR > 5 and patients who could not be treated with chemotherapy remained independent predictors of worse survival. Conclusions: NLR is not only simple and convenient for classification of patients, but also one of the important predictors of mortality for stage IV incurable CRC patients.

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in the management and prediction of outcomes in renal cell carcinoma

Renal cell carcinoma(RCC) is one of the ten most common malignancies.The prognosis of RCC is poor when the disease is in advanced stages,with five-year survival of less than 10%.However current assessment approaches are limited in their ability to prognosticate and guide therapeutic decision-making.Cellular-mediated inflammatory response is increasingly being recognised to have an important role in carcinogenesis of RCC.Various inflammatory markers have been found to identify patients with RCC at high risk of recurrence and predict survival.Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR) is a simple and inexpensive inflammatory marker that has been shown to be of value in the assessment of patients with RCC.An elevated pretreatment NLR has been found to be associated with reduced overall survival,recurrence-free survival and progress-free survival and risk of recurrence in localized RCC.In addition,lower pretreatment NLR has been demonstrated to be associated with better clinical response to systemic therapy including vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors,among patients with metastatic RCC.However,NLR has not been found to differentiate whether small renal masses of less than 40 mm are benign or malignant.Further research is needed to determine the cut-offs for NLR to predict different clinical outcomes and how post-treatment NLR can be used.In addition,more work is also needed to evaluate combining NLR with other biomarkers in a model to predict patients' clinical outcome or response to treatment for RCC.

Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in pregnancy-associated maternal complications: A review

Pregnancy associated diseases/disorders are associated with significant maternal and neonatal morbidities and mortalities.Devising/validating cost effective and easily accessible predictive,diagnostic and risk stratification markers are critical to the management and improved outcome in these diseases.Inflammation forms the backbone of most of the routinely encountered maternal complications of pregnancy.Hematological markers can be considered as a direct reflection of the systemic inflammatory milieu.Recently,the neutrophil lymphocyte ratio has been explored for its potential to assess the severity of inflammation and thus the severity of the underlying disorder.The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio has gained scientific attention as a potential prognostic/predictive marker of acute as well as chronic inflammatory diseases including gynecological and reproductive disorders.This present study reviews the mechanistic role of neutrophils and lymphocytes in fueling or propagating the inflammatory cascades in the three most common maternal complications of pregnancy and the evidence of clinical importance of the neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in predicting,diagnosing,and prognosticating pregnancy-associated complications.

Baseline neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and platelet-lymphocyte ratio appear predictive of immune treatment related toxicity in hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND A well-recognized class effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors(ICI)is immune-related adverse events(IrAEs)ranging from low grade toxicities to life-threatening end organ damage requiring permanent discontinuation of ICI.Deaths are reported in<5%of patients treated with ICI.There are,however,no reliable markers to predict the onset and severity of IrAEs.We tested the association between neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR)and platelet-lymphocyte ratio(PLR)at baseline with development of clinically significant IrAEs(grade≥2)in hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)patients treated with ICI.AIM To test the association between NLR and PLR at baseline with development of clinically significant IrAEs(grade≥2)in HCC patients treated with ICI.METHODS Data was extracted from an international database from a consortium of 11 tertiary-care referral centers.NLR=absolute neutrophil count/absolute lymphocyte count(ALC)and PLR=platelet count/ALC.Cutoff of 5 was used for NLR and 300 for PLR based on literature.We also tested the association between RESULTS Data was collected from 361 patients treated between 2016-2020 across the United States(67%),Asia(14%)and Europe(19%).Most patients received Nivolumab(n=255,71%).One hundred sixty-seven(46%)patients developed at least one IrAE,highest grade 1 in 80(48%),grade≥2 in 87(52%)patients.In a univariable regression model PLR>300 was significantly associated with a lower incidence of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=0.40;P=0.044).Similarly,a trend was observed between NLR>5 and lower incidence of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=0.58;P=0.097).Multivariate analyses confirmed PLR>300 as an independent predictive marker of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=0.26;P=0.011),in addition to treatment with programmed cell death ligand 1(PD-1)/cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated protein-4(OR=2.57;P=0.037)and PD-1/tyrosine kinase inhibitor(OR=3.39;P=0.01)combinations.Antibiotic use was not associated with IrAE incidence(OR=1.02;P=0.954).Patients treated with steroids had a>2-fold higher incidence of grade≥2 IrAEs(OR=2.74;P<0.001),although 74%were prescribed steroids for the treatment of IrAEs.CONCLUSION Given that high baseline NLR and PLR are associated with a decreased incidence of IrAEs,lower baseline NLR and PLR may be predictive biomarkers for the appearance of IrAEs in HCC treated with ICI.This finding is in keeping with several studies in solid tumors that have shown that baseline NLR and PLR appear predictive of IrAEs.

Significance of preoperative peripheral blood neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio in predicting postoperative survival in patients with multiple myeloma bone disease

BACKGROUND The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio(NLR)is often used to predict a poor prognosis in patients with tumors.This study investigated the preoperative peripheral blood NLR in predicting postoperative survival(POS)in patients with multiple myeloma bone disease(MMBD).AIM To evaluate whether NLR can be used to predict the prognosis of MMBD patients after surgery.METHODS The clinical data of 82 MMBD patients who underwent surgical treatments in Beijing Chao-yang Hospital were collected.The NLR was obtained from the absolute number of neutrophils and lymphocytes,calculated by the number of neutrophils and divided by the number of lymphocytes.The peripheral blood lymphocyte percentage was used as the major marker to analyze the change in characteristics of the immune statuses of multiple myeloma patients.RESULTS The NLR cut-off values of NLR≥3 patients and NLR≥4 patients were significantly correlated with POS.The 3-and 5-year cumulative survival rates of the high NLR group(NLR≥3 patients)were 19.1%and 0.0%,respectively,which were lower than those of the low NLR group(NLR<3 patients)(67.2%and 48.3%)(P=0.000).In the high NLR group,POS(14.86±14.28)was significantly shorter than that in the low NLR group(32.68±21.76).Univariate analysis showed that the lymphocyte percentage 1 wk after the operation(19.33±9.08)was significantly lower than that before the operation(25.72±11.02).Survival analysis showed that postoperative chemotherapy,preoperative performance status and preoperative peripheral blood NLR≥3 were independent risk factors for POS.CONCLUSION The preoperative peripheral blood NLR can predict POS in MMBD patients.MMBD patients with a high preoperative NLR(NLR≥3)showed poor prognosis.

Smoking of Carica papaya in Nigeria:The rationale,the public health effects and policies for intervention

Psychoactive substance use is characterized by the habitual use of substances that have significant effects in altering the activities of neurotransmitters in certain regions of the brain.Consequently,these alterations manifest as cognitive,emotional,perceptual and behavioural changes in affected individuals[1].

Erratum regarding Declaration of Competing Interest statements in previously published articles

Declaration of Competing Interest statements were incorrectly included in the published version of the following articles that appeared in previous issues of Materials Reports:Energy.The appropriate Declaration of Competing Interest statements,provided by the authors,are included below.

Rational Engineering of Secondary Metabolic Pathways in a Heterologous Host to Enable the Biosynthesis of Hibarimicin Derivatives with Enhanced Anti-Melanomic Activity

A 61-kb biosynthetic gene cluster(BGC),which is accountable for the biosynthesis of hibarimicin(HBM)B from Microbispora rosea subsp.hibaria TP-A0121,was heterologously expressed in Streptomyces coelicolor M1154,which generated a trace of the target products but accumulated a large amount of shunt products.Based on rational analysis of the relevant secondary metabolism,directed engineering of the biosynthetic pathways resulted in the high production of HBM B,as well as new HBM derivates with improved antitumor activity.These results not only establish a biosynthetic system to effectively synthesize HBMs-a class of the largest and most complex Type-Ⅱpolyketides,with a unique pseudo-dimeric structure-but also set the stage for further engineering and deep investigation of this complex biosynthetic pathway toward potent anticancer drugs.

Blockchain-Based Key Management Scheme Using Rational Secret Sharing

Traditional blockchain key management schemes store private keys in the same location,which can easily lead to security issues such as a single point of failure.Therefore,decentralized threshold key management schemes have become a research focus for blockchain private key protection.The security of private keys for blockchain user wallet is highly related to user identity authentication and digital asset security.The threshold blockchain private key management schemes based on verifiable secret sharing have made some progress,but these schemes do not consider participants’self-interested behavior,and require trusted nodes to keep private key fragments,resulting in a narrow application scope and low deployment efficiency,which cannot meet the needs of personal wallet private key escrow and recovery in public blockchains.We design a private key management scheme based on rational secret sharing that considers the self-interest of participants in secret sharing protocols,and constrains the behavior of rational participants through reasonable mechanism design,making it more suitable in distributed scenarios such as the public blockchain.The proposed scheme achieves the escrow and recovery of personal wallet private keys without the participation of trusted nodes,and simulate its implementation on smart contracts.Compared to other existing threshold wallet solutions and keymanagement schemes based on password-protected secret sharing(PPSS),the proposed scheme has a wide range of applications,verifiable private key recovery,low communication overhead,higher computational efficiency when users perform one-time multi-key escrow,no need for trusted nodes,and personal rational constraints and anti-collusion attack capabilities.

Approximate solution of Volterra-Fredholm integral equations using generalized barycentric rational interpolant

It is well-known that interpolation by rational functions results in a more accurate approximation than the polynomials interpolation.However,classical rational interpolation has some deficiencies such as uncontrollable poles and low convergence order.In contrast with the classical rational interpolants,the generalized barycentric rational interpolants which depend linearly on the interpolated values,yield infinite smooth approximation with no poles in real numbers.In this paper,a numerical collocation approach,based on the generalized barycentric rational interpolation and Gaussian quadrature formula,was introduced to approximate the solution of Volterra-Fredholm integral equations.Three types of points in the solution domain are used as interpolation nodes.The obtained numerical results confirm that the barycentric rational interpolants are efficient tools for solving Volterra-Fredholm integral equations.Moreover,integral equations with Runge’s function as an exact solution,no oscillation occurrs in the obtained approximate solutions so that the Runge’s phenomenon is avoided.

Experimental study of core MHD behavior and a novel algorithm for rational surface detection based on profile reflectometry in EAST

Microwave reflectometry is a powerful diagnostic that can measure the density profile and localized turbulence with high spatial and temporal resolution and will be used in ITER,so understanding the influence of plasma perturbations on the reflect signal is important.The characteristics of the reflect signal from profile reflectometry,the time-of-flight(TOF)signal associated with the MHD instabilities,are investigated in EAST.Using a 1D full-wave simulation code by the Finite-DifferenceTime-Domain(FDTD)method,it is well validated that the local density flattening could induce the discontinuity of the simulated TOF signal and an obvious change of reflect amplitude.Experimental TOF signals under different types of MHD instabilities(sawtooth,sawtooth precursors and tearing mode)are studied in detail and show agreement with the simulation.Two new improved algorithms for detecting and localizing the radial positions of the low-order rational surface,the cross-correlation and gradient threshold(CGT)method and the 2D convolutional neural network approach(CNN)are presented for the first time.It is concluded that TOF signal analysis from profile reflectometry can provide a straightforward and localized measurement of the plasma perturbation from the edge to the core simultaneously and may be a complement or correction to the q-profile control,which will be beneficial for the advanced tokamak operation.

The Global Security Initiative: Its Relevance, Rationale and Delivery

Today,our world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century.Global security landscape is becoming ever more unstable and uncertain.In the face of growing deficits in security,Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward the Global Security Initiative(GSI),offering a clear answer to the question of the times:what kind of security concept does the world need,and how can we achieve common security?It is of great significance to fully grasp the relevance of and the rationale for the GSI,and push for its strategic delivery,so as to contribute to the long-term peace and stability of the world.