Characterization of distinct microbiota associated with androgenetic alopecia patients treated and untreated with platelet-rich plasma(PRP)

Background:Androgenic alopecia(AGA)is the most common type of hair loss in men,and there are many studies on the treatment of hair loss by platelet-rich plasma(PRP).The human scalp contains a huge microbiome,but its role in the process of hair loss remains unclear,and the relationship between PRP and the microbiome needs further study.Therefore,the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of PRP treatment on scalp microbiota composition.Methods:We performed PRP treatment on 14 patients with AGA,observed their clinical efficacy,and collected scalp swab samples before and after treatment.The scalp microflora of AGA patients before and after treatment was characterized by amplifying the V3-V4 region of the 16 s RNA gene and sequencing for bacterial identification.Results:The results showed that PRP was effective in the treatment of AGA patients,and the hair growth increased significantly.The results of relative abundance analysis of microbiota showed that after treatment,g_Cutibacterium increased and g_Staphylococcus decreased,which played a stable role in scalp microbiota.In addition,g_Lawsonella decreased,indicating that the scalp oil production decreased after treatment.Conclusions:The findings suggest that PRP may play a role in treating AGA through scalp microbiome rebalancing.

Highly sensitive and stable probe refractometer based on configurable plasmonic resonance with nano-modified fiber core

A dispersion model is developed to provide a generic tool for configuring plasmonic resonance spectral characteristics.The customized design of the resonance curve aiming at specific detection requirements can be achieved.According to the model,a probe-type nano-modified fiber optic configurable plasmonic resonance(NMF-CPR)sensor with tip hot spot enhancement is demonstrated for the measurement of the refractive index in the range of 1.3332-1.3432 corresponding to the low-concentration biomarker solution.The new-type sensing structure avoids excessive broadening and redshift of the resonance dip,which provides more possibilities for the surface modification of other functional nanomaterials.The tip hot spots in nanogaps between the Au layer and Au nanostars(AuNSs),the tip electric field enhancement of AuNSs,and the high carrier mobility of the WSe_(2)layer synergistically and significantly enhance the sensitivity of the sensor.Ex-perimental results show that the sensitivity and the figure of merit of the tip hot spot enhanced fiber NMF-CPR sensor can achieve up to 2995.70 nm/RIU and 25.04 RIU^(−1),respectively,which are 1.68 times and 1.29 times higher than those of the conventional fiber plasmonic resonance sensor.The results achieve good agreements with numerical simulations,demonstrate a better level compared to similar reported studies,and verify the correctness of the dispersion model.The detection resolution of the sensor reaches up to 2.00×10^(−5)RIU,which is obviously higher than that of the conventional side-polished fiber plasmonic resonance sensor.This indicates a high detection accuracy of the sensor.The dense Au layer effectively prevents the intermediate nanomaterials from shedding and chemical degradation,which enables the sensor with high stability.Furthermore,the terminal reflective sensing structure can be used as a practical probe and can allow a more convenient operation.

An Application of Canny Edge Detection Algorithm to Rail Thermal Image Fault Detection

The paper discusses an application for rail track thermal image fault detection. In order to get better results from the Canny edge detection algorithm, the image needs to be processed in advance. The histogram equalization method is proposed to enhance the contrast of the image. Since a thermal image contains multiple parallel rail tracks, an algorithm has been developed to locate and separate the tracks that we are interested in. This is accomplished by applying the least squares linear fitting technique to represent the surface of a track. The performance of the application is evaluated by using a number of images provided by a specialised company and the results are essentially favourable.

Achievable information rate optimization in C‑band optical fber communication system

Optical fber communication networks play an important role in the global telecommunication network.However,nonlinear efects in the optical fber and transceiver noise greatly limit the performance of fber communication systems.In this paper,the product of mutual information(MI)and communication bandwidth is used as the metric of the achievable information rate(AIR).The MI loss caused by the transceiver is also considered in this work,and the bit-wise MI,generalized mutual information(GMI),is used to calculate the AIR.This loss is more signifcant in the use of higher-order modulation formats.The AIR analysis is carried out in the QPSK,16QAM,64QAM and 256QAM modulation formats for the communication systems with diferent communication bandwidths and transmission distances based on the enhanced Gaussian noise(EGN)model.The paper provides suggestions for the selection of the optimal modulation format in diferent transmission scenarios.

Obesity-related glomerulopathy： pathogenesis, pathologic, clinical characteristics and treatment

n light of the rapid increase in the number of obesity incidences worldwide, obesity has become an independent risk factor for chronic kidney disease. Obesity-related giomerulopathy （ORG） is characterized by glomerulomegaly in the presence or absence of focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis lesions. IgM and complement 3 （C3） nonspeciflcally deposit in lesions without immune-complex-type deposits during ORG immunofluorescence. ORG-associated glomerulomegaly and focal and segmental glomerulosclerosis can superimpose on other renal pathologies. The mechanisms under ORG are complex, especially hemodynamic changes, inflammation, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and reduced functioning nephrons. These mechanisms synergize with obesity to induce end-stage renal disease. A slow increase of subnephrotic proteinuria （ 〈 3.5 g/d） is the most common clinical manifestation of ORG. Several treatment methods for ORG have been developed. Of these methods, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system blockade and weight loss are proven effective. Targeting mitochondria may offer a novel strategy for ORG therapy. Nevertheless, more research is needed to further understand ORG.

Phase demodulation method based on a dual-identical-chirped-pulse and weak fiber Bragg gratings for quasi-distributed acoustic sensing

A phase demodulation method for quasi-distributed acoustic sensing(DAS)systems based on a dual-identicalchirped-pulse and weak fiber Bragg gratings(WFBGs)is proposed.Compared to the use of Rayleigh backscattering light in optical fibers,the implementation of WFBGs can contribute to obtaining an optical signal with a higher signal-to-noise ratio(SNR).The dual-identical-chirped-pulse is generated by a time-delay fiber,and the sinusoidal carrier is generated by the interference between the two chirped pulses reflected by adjacent WFBGs.The phase of the sinusoidal carrier represents the dynamic strain change posed on the sensing fiber.Discrete Fourier transform is used to directly retrieve the phase information.The performance of the phase demodulation from interference signals under different sinusoidal carrier frequencies and SNRs is numerically investigated.The piezoelectric transducer is employed to emulate the sound in the experiment to verify the effectiveness of our method.It is shown that the dynamic strain can be well reconstructed at the end of a 101.64 km fiber when the signal SNR is down to 3.234 d B.Our proposed method enables the application of the long-distance sensing in quasi-DAS systems.

Low‐intensity pulsed ultrasound ameliorates angiotensin II-induced cardiac fibrosis by alleviating inflammation via a caveolin-1-dependent pathway

Objective:Cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis are major pathological manifestations observed in left ventricular remodeling induced by angiotensin II(AngII).Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound(LIPUS)has been reported to ameliorate cardiac dysfunction and myocardial fibrosis in myocardial infarction(MI)through mechano-transduction and its downstream pathways.In this study,we aimed to investigate whether LIPUS could exert a protective effect by ameliorating AngII-induced cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis and if so,to further elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms.Methods:We used AngII to mimic animal and cell culture models of cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis.LIPUS irradiation was applied in vivo for 20 min every 2 d from one week before mini-pump implantation to four weeks after mini-pump implantation,and in vitro for 20 min on each of two occasions 6 h apart.Cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis levels were then evaluated by echocardiographic,histopathological,and molecular biological methods.Results:Our results showed that LIPUS could ameliorate left ventricular remodeling in vivo and cardiac fibrosis in vitro by reducing AngII-induced release of inflammatory cytokines,but the protective effects on cardiac hypertrophy were limited in vitro.Given that LIPUS increased the expression of caveolin-1 in response to mechanical stimulation,we inhibited caveolin-1 activity with pyrazolopyrimidine 2(pp2)in vivo and in vitro.LIPUS-induced downregulation of inflammation was reversed and the anti-fibrotic effects of LIPUS were absent.Conclusions:These results indicated that LIPUS could ameliorate AngII-induced cardiac fibrosis by alleviating inflammation via a caveolin-1-dependent pathway,providing new insights for the development of novel therapeutic apparatus in clinical practice.

Performance improvement approaches for optical fiber SPR sensors and their sensing applications

Optical fiber surface plasmon resonance(SPR) sensors point toward promising application potential in the fields of biomarker detection,food allergen screening,and environmental monitoring due to their unique advantages.This review outlines approaches in improving the fiber SPR sensing performance,e.g.,sensitivity,detection accuracy,reliability,cross-sensitivity,selectivity,convenience and efficiency,and corresponding sensing applications.The sensing principles of SPR sensors,especially the performance indicators and their influencing factors,have been introduced.Current technologies for improving the fiber SPR performance and their application scenarios are then reviewed from the aspects of fiber substrate,intrinsic layer(metal layer),and surface nanomaterial modification.Reasonable design of the substrate can strengthen the evanescent electromagnetic field and realize the multi-parameter sensing,and can introduce the in situ sensing self-compensation,which allows corrections for errors induced by temperature fluctuation,non-specific binding,and external disturbances.The change of the intrinsic layer can adjust the column number,the penetration depth,and the propagation distance of surface plasmon polaritons.This can thereby promote the capability of sensors to detect the large-size analytes and can reduce the full width at half-maximum of SPR curves.The modification of various-dimensionality nanomaterials on the sensor surfaces can heighten the overlap integral of the electromagnetic field intensity in the analyte region and can strengthen interactions between plasmons and excitons as well as interactions between analyte molecules and metal surfaces.Moreover,future directions of fiber SPR sensors are prospected based on the important and challenging problems in the development of fiber SPR sensors.

Self-copy-shift-based differential phase extracting method for fiber distributed acoustic sensing

A differential phase extracting method based on self-copy-shift for distributed acoustic sensing is proposed.Heterodyne and optical hybrids are used to realize high signal-to-noise ratio in-phase and quadrature-phase(IQ)signal measurement.The measured signals are self-copied and shifted for certain data points,and then they are digitally mixed with the original signals to construct the differential phase.The four produced signals are then combined to carry out IQ demodulation.An experiment with strain having an amplitude modulation waveform is carried out.The results showed that waveform information can be recovered well,and the signal-tonoise ratio achieves 32.8 dB.

Erratum to: Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound ameliorates angiotensin II-induced cardiac fibrosis by alleviating inflammation via a caveolin-1-dependent pathway

The original version of this article(Zhao et al.,2021)unfortunately contained two mistakes.(1)In p.826,the hematoxylin eosin(HE)staining figure of the fourth panel(the Ang Ⅱ+LIPUS group)in Fig.3a was incorrect.