Ultrasonographic measurement of median nerve cross-sectional area reference values in a healthy Han population from Guiyang,China

High-resolution ultrasonography was used to analyze the nerve cross-sectional area （CSA） of the median nerve at 7 sites： the wrist crease, pisiform bone, hamate bone, 6 cm proximal to the tip of the wrist crease, proximal forearm （where the nerve enters the pronator teres muscle）, 4 cm proximal to the tip of the medial epicondyle, and mid-humerus （mid-point between elbow crease and axilla） in 200 healthy volunteers from Guiyang, China. Results showed similar CSA values between the left and right sides, but the CSA 6 cm proximal to the tip of the wrist crease, proximal forearm, 4 cm proximal to tip of the medial epicondyle, and mid-humerus in males was greater than that of females. Moreover, CSA values at the wrist crease, pisiform bone, and hamate bone were greater in the middle-aged and old groups when compared to the young group, and correlated with body mass and height. Thus, reference values of median nerve CSA of the upper limbs can facilitate the analysis of abnormal nerve conditions.

Side-stream smoking reduces intestinal inflammation and increases expression of tight junction proteins

AIM:To investigate the effect of side-stream smoking on gut microflora composition,intestinal inflammation and expression of tight junction proteins.METHODS:C57BL/6 mice were exposed to side-stream cigarette smoking for one hour daily over eight weeks.Cecal contents were collected for microbial composition analysis.Large intestine was collected for immunoblotting and quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analyses of the inflammatory pathway and tight junction proteins.RESULTS:Side-stream smoking induced significant changes in the gut microbiota with increased mouse intestinal bacteria,Clostridium but decreased Fermicutes(Lactoccoci and Ruminococcus),Enterobacteriaceae family and Segmented filamentous baceteria compared to the control mice.Meanwhile,side-stream smoking inhibited the nuclear factor-κB pathway with reduced phosphorylation of p65 and IκBα,accompanied with unchanged mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor-α or interleukin-6.The contents of tight junction proteins,claudin3 and ZO2 were up-regulated in the large intestine of mice exposed side-stream smoking.In addition,side-stream smoking increased c-Jun N-terminal kinase and p38 MAPK kinase signaling,while inhibiting AMPactivated protein kinase in the large intestine.CONCLUSION:Side-stream smoking altered gut microflora composition and reduced the inflammatory response,which was associated with increased expression of tight junction proteins.

Phase Ⅲ Clinical Trials of the Cell Differentiation Agent-2 （CDA-2）： Therapeutic Efficacy on Breast Cancer, Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer and Primary Hepatoma

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to explore the effect of CDA-2, a selective inhibitor of abnormal methylation enzymes in cancer cells, on the therapeutic efficacy of cytotoxic chemotherapy. METHODS Advanced cancer patients, all of whom had previously undergone chemotherapy, were randomly divided into 2 groups, one receiving chemotherapy only as the control group, and the other receiving CDA-2 in addition to chemotherapy as the combination group. The therapeutic efficacies and the toxic maniestations of the 2 groups were compared based on the WHO criteria. RESULTS Of 454 cancer patients enrolled in phase Ⅲ clinical trials of CDA-2, 80, 188, and 186 were breast cancer, NSCLC, and primary hepatoma patients, respectively. Among them 378 patients completed treatments according to the protocols. The results showed that the overall effective rate of the combination group was 2.6 fold that of the control group, 4.8 fold in the case of breast cancer, 2.3 fold in the case of primary hepatoma, and 2.2 fold in the case of NSCLC. Surprisingly, the combination therapy appeared to work better for stage Ⅳ than stage Ⅲ patients. CDA-2 did not contribute additional toxicity. On the contrary, it reduced toxic manifestations of chemotherapy, particularly regarding white blood cells, nausea and vomiting. CONCLUSION Modulation of abnormal methylation enzymes by CDA-2 is definitely helpful to supplement chemotherapy. It significantly increased the therapeutic efficacy and reduced the toxic manifestation of cytotoxic chemotherapy on breast cancer and NSCLC.

Ultrasonographic reference values for assessing normal radial nerve ultrasonography in the normal population

High-resolution ultrasound has been used recently to characterize median and ulnar nerves, but is seldom used to characterize radial nerves. The radial nerve is more frequently involved in en- trapment syndromes than the ulnar and median nerves. However, the reference standard for normal radial nerves has not been established. Thus, this study measured the cross-sectional areas of radial nerves of 200 healthy male or female volunteers, aged 18 to 75, using high-resolution ultrasound. The results showed that mean cross-sectional areas of radial nerves at 4 cm upon the lateral epicondyle of the humerus and mid-humerus （midpoint between the elbow crease and axilla） were 5.14± 1.24 and 5.08 ± 1.23 mm2, respectively. The age and the dominant side did not affect the results, but the above-mentioned cross-sectional areas were larger in males （5.31± 1.25 and 5.19 ±1.23 mm2） than in females （4.93 ± 1.21 and 4.93 ± 1.23 mm2, respectively）. In addition, the cross-sectional areas of radial nerves were positively correlated with height and weight （r = 0.38, 0.36, respectively, both P 〈 0.05）. These data provide basic clinical data for the use of high-resolution ultrasound for the future diagnosis, treatment, and prognostic evalua- tion of peripheral neuropathies.

Breeding and Seed Reproduction Techniques of a New Tetraploid Common Buckwheat Variety‘Pintianqiao 3’

[Objectives]This study was conducted to actively carry out the breeding of new tetraploid common buckwheat varieties and its supporting breeding techniques.[Methods]Pintianqiao 3 is a new tetraploid common buckwheat variety developed by College of Agriculture of Shanxi Agricultural University and Agricultural Genetic Resources Center of Shanxi Agricultural University,using‘Pintianqiao 1’as the parent,through mutation treatment with 0.2%colchicine aqueous solution,grain selection,plant selection,isolation and identification,variety comparison,regional test and field investigation.The variety has chromosomes 2n=4X=32,and shows a spring sowing period of 101 d and a summer sowing period of 80 d,large flowers and seeds(with a 1000-grain weight of 41.4 g),and good resistance to lodging.[Results]From 2021 to 2022,Pintianqiao 3 participated in the independent joint regional test of common buckwheat varieties in Shanxi Province,and the average yield in 10 test positions was 1.8 kg,equivalent to 1800 kg/hm^(2),which was 8.4%higher than the control.It passed the field investigation conducted by Shanxi provincial expert group for identification of non-major crop varieties in Dongyang and Kelan experimental sites on September 2-3,2022.On January 4,2024,it passed the preliminary examination of Shanxi Provincial Crop Variety Approval Committee.The seed reproduction technique of Pintianqiao 3 including land selection,preparation before sowing,sowing,field management and timely harvesting has been developed.[Conclusions]This study provides technical support for the demonstration and popularization of this new variety.

Resonant Energy Transfer, with Creation of Hyper-Excited Atoms, and Molecular Auto-Ionization in a Cold Rydberg Gas

A cold Rydberg gas, with its atoms prepared initially all in the excited state |n0> , with n0 »1, contains an excessive amount of energy, and presumably is to relax by the Penning-type molecular auto-ionization (MAI), in which a portion of excess energy of one atom is given to another near-by atom and ionizing it. Its complementary process, the resonant energy transfer (RET), is discussed, in which the excess energy of one atom is used on another to form a hyper-excited atomic state |na> with na»n0. This process is always present, provided certain resonance energy conditions are satisfied. In this report, the n0 and density dependences of the RET rates are studied in detail, employing a simple model: 1) at low densities, the RET is mediated by the dipole-dipole coupling Vdd and its rates are generally much smaller than that of MAI, especially for small n0. But 2) as the density increases, our model shows that the rates become of comparable magnitude or even larger than the MAI rates. The Vdd is no longer adequate. We, then construct a semi-empirical potential to describe the RET process. 3) At high densities, we show that the atomic orbital of |na> overlaps with that of neighboring atoms, and the electron-electron potential becomes prominent, resulting in much higher rates.

Effect of subsoil tillage depth on nutrient accumulation, root distribution, and grain yield in spring maize

A four-year field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of subsoiling depth on root morphology, nitrogen(N), phosphorus(P), and potassium(K) uptake, and grain yield of spring maize. The results indicated that subsoil tillage promoted root development,increased nutrient accumulation, and increased yield. Compared with conventional soil management(CK), root length, root surface area, and root dry weight at 0–80 cm soil depth under subsoil tillage to 30 cm(T1) and subsoil tillage to 50 cm(T2) were significantly increased, especially the proportions of roots in deeper soil. Root length, surface area, and dry weight differed significantly among three treatments in the order of T2 > T1 > CK at the12-leaf and early filling stages. The range of variation of root diameter in different soil layers in T2 treatment was the smallest, suggesting that roots were more likely to grow downwards with deeper subsoil tillage in soil. The accumulation of N, P, and K in subsoil tillage treatment was significantly increased, but the proportions of kernel and straw were different. In a comparison of T1 with T2, the grain accumulated more N and P, while K accumulation in kernel and straw varied in different years. Grain yield and biomass were increased by 12.8% and 14.6% on average in subsoil tillage treatments compared to conventional soil treatment. Although no significant differences between different subsoil tillage depths were observed for nutrient accumulation and grain yield, lodging resistance of plants was significantly improved in subsoil tillage to 50 cm, a characteristic that favors a high and stable yield under extreme environments.

Activation of sonic hedgehog signaling pathway is an independent potential prognosis predictor in human hepatocellular carcinoma patients

Objective： The activation of hedgehog （HH） pathway is implicated in the development of human malignancies including hepatocellular carcinoma （HCC）. However, the clinical impact of HH activation in HCC patients is still unclear. This study was conducted to confirm whether the expression of HH pathway components was associated with HCC progression and clinical outcome. Methods： This study was a sample-expanded and prolonged follow up of one of our previous studies. It included 46 HCC patients who underwent surgical treatment from 2002 to 2005. The expression of sonic HH （SHIq）, patched-1 （PTCHI）, smoothened （SMOH） and glioma-associated oncogene-1 （GLI1） genes in tumor and adjacent normal tissues extracted from the patients were examined by reverse transcription- polymerase chain reaction （RT-PCR） to explore the relationship between these genes and the clinical prognosis of HCC. Results： The expression levels ofSHH, PTCH1, SMOH and GLI1 in HCC tissues were 60.87%, 50.00%, 32.61% and 54.35%, respectively. The expression levels of SHH-related molecules were relatively intense in cancer tissue, but insignificantly correlated with any clinicopathological factors of tumor. Transcriptional factor GLI1 was the only molecule associated with poor prognosis among the HCC patients. The expression of GLI1 gene in tumor tissues was significantly related with disease-free survival （DFS） （P=0.042） and overall survival （OS） （P=0.030）. The simultaneous expression of GLI1 in tumor and adjacent normal liver tissues correlated with DFS （P〈0.029） and OS （P〈0.025）. Conclusions： HH signaling activation is an important event in the development of human HCC. The expression of GLI1 in SHH pathway is possibly involved in HCC progression, which may be a useful prognostic indicator of HCC.

Electric-Field-Treated Ni/Co_(3)O_(4) Film as High-Performance Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Efficient Overall Water Splitting

Rational design of bifunctional electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction(OER)and hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)with excellent activity and stability is of great significance,since overall water splitting is a promising technology for sustainable conversion of clean energy.However,most electrocatalysts do not simultaneously possess optimal HER/OER activities and their electrical conductivities are intrinsically low,which limit the development of overall water splitting.In this paper,a strategy of electric field treatment is proposed and applied to Ni/Co_(3)O_(4) film to develop a novel bifunctional electrocatalyst.After treated by electric field,the conductive channels consisting of oxygen vacancies are formed in the Co_(3)O_(4) film,which remarkably reduces the resistance of the system by almost 2×10^(4) times.Meanwhile,the surface Ni metal electrode is partially oxidized to nickel oxide,which enhances the catalytic activity.The electric-field-treated Ni/Co_(3)O_(4) material exhibits super outstanding performance of HER,OER,and overall water splitting,and the catalytic activity is significantly superior to the state-of-the-art noble metal catalysts(Pt/C,RuO_(2),and RuO_(2)‖Pt/C couple).This work provides an effective and feasible method for the development of novel and efficient bifunctional electrocatalyst,which is also promising for wide use in the field of catalysis.

三种不同手术对屈光不正患者术后视觉质量及高阶像差的比较

目的:探讨飞秒激光制瓣的准分子激光原位角膜磨镶术(FS-LASIK)、角膜地形图引导LASIK(TG-LASIK)和飞秒激光小切口角膜基质透镜取出术(SMILE)对屈光不正患者术后视觉质量及高阶像差的效果。方法:纳入2019-12/2020-02本院屈光中心收治的296例586眼单纯近视或近视散光患者。在明确手术适应证的前提下,患者自行选择接受FS-LASIK、TG-LASIK、SMILE手术,其中FS-LASIK组95例189眼,TG-LASIK组104例205眼,SMILE组97例192眼。收集患者术前及术后6、12mo时视力、屈光度、角膜地形图、高阶像差及对比敏感度。结果:术后6、12mo各组患者裸眼视力、最佳矫正视力及球镜度数、柱镜度数、等效球镜度数均优于术前(P<0.05),组间比较均无差异(P>0.05)。术后6、12mo TG-LASIK组角膜表面规则指数、表面非对称指数均显著低于SMILE组、FS-LASIK组(P<0.05);SMILE组、FS-LASIK组组间比较无差异(P>0.05)。术后6、12mo时FS-LASIK组总高阶像差、彗差、球差及术后6mo时三叶草像差高于TG-LASIK组、SMILE组(P<0.05);术后6、12mo时SMILE组球差显著低于其他两组(P<0.05)。术后6、12mo时TG-LASIK组在无眩光及有眩光时12.0、18.0c/d频率下对比敏感度显著高于SMILE组、FS-LASIK组(P<0.05)。结论:FS-LASIK、TG-LASIK、SMILE三种手术均可获得较为满意的治疗效果,但TG-LASIK术后像差增加较小,角膜形态更规则,视觉质量更高。

Effect of oridonin-mediated hallmark changes on inflammatory pathways in human pancreatic cancer(BxPC-3) cells

AIM: To investigate the effect of oridonin on nuclear transcription factors and to study the relationship between biological behavior and inflammatory factors in human pancreatic cancer (BxPC-3) cells.

Tumor suppressor role of mi R-133a in gastric cancer by repressing IGF1R

AIM:To investigate the function and mechanism of mi R-133a in gastric cancer(GC)and its relationship with clinicopathological characteristics of GC.METHODS:A total of 105 GC patients who underwent surgical resection as primary treatment were selected for this study.Real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain(q RT-PCR)was used to examine the expression levels of mi R-133a in human GC and adjacent non-tumor tissues,as well as in GC cell lines(SGC-7901,BGC-823,MGC-803,and AGS)and a human gastric mucosal epithelial cell line(GES-1).The biological role of mi RNA(mi R)-133a was assessed in the GC cell lines using MTT,apoptosis,migration and invasion,and colony formation assays,and xenograft tumorigenesis.q RT-PCR and western blot analyses were used to evaluate the potential target gene expression of mi R-133a.Pearson’s correlation was calculated to evaluate the correlation between mi R-133a and insulinlike growth factor 1 receptor(IGF1R)expression.The regulation of IGF1R by mi R-133a was verified using the luciferase reporter assay.RESULTS:In 80%of the 105 GC patients,the mean expression of mi R-133a was significantly downregulated in tumor tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues(1.215±0.1477 vs 3.093±0.4104,P<0.0001).Downregulation of mi R-133a was significantly correlated with the degree of differentiation(P=0.01),local invasion(P=0.001)and TNM stage(P=0.02)in GC patients.Compared with a control construct,forced expression of mi R-133a in GC cell lines inhibited proliferation(0.4787±0.0219 vs 0.7050±0.0147,P=0.0013 in SGC-7901 cells;and 0.5448±0.0085vs 0.7270±0.0084,P=0.001 in MGC-803 cells);migration(0.6333±0.0233 vs 1.037±0.0584,P=0.003 in SGC-7901 cells;0.6126±0.0311 vs 1.024±0.0456,P=0.0017 in MGC-803 cells);and invasion(0.613±0.0399 vs 1.033±0.0278,P=0.0013 in SGC-7901 cells;0.7433±0.0221 vs 1.017±0.0311,P=0.002 in MGC-803 cells).It also induced apoptosis(18.19%±0.2483%vs 5.887%±0.3837%,P<0.0001 in SGC-7901 cells;22.69%±0.7846%vs9.347%±0.3012%,P<0.0001 in MGC-803 cells).Furthermore,mi R-133a inhibited tumor growth and xenograft tumorigenesis of SGC-7901 cells in vivo.In addition,we identified IGF1R as a regulatory target of mi R-133a in GC.CONCLUSION:This study suggests that mi R-133a is downregulated in GC and functions as a tumor suppressor in vitro and in vivo partly by repressing IGF1R.

HER2-Specific T Lymphocytes Kill both Trastuzumab-Resistant and Trastuzumab-Sensitive Breast Cell Lines In Vitro

Objective： Although the development of trastuzumab has improved the outlook for women with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 （HER2）-positive breast cancer, the resistance to anti-HER2 therapy is a growing clinical dilemma. We aim to determine whether HER2-specific T cells generated from dendritic cells （DCs） modified with HER2 gene could effectively kill the HER2-positive breast cancer cells, especially the trastuzumab-resistant cells. Methods： The peripheral blood mononuclear cells （PBMCs） from healthy donors, whose HLA haplotypes were compatible with the tumor cell lines, were transfected with reconstructive human adeno-association virus （rhAAV/HER2） to obtain the specific killing activities of T cells, and were evaluated by lactate dehydrogenase （LDH） releasing assay. Results： Trastuzumab produced a significant inhibiting effect on SK-BR-3, the IC50 was 100ng/ml. MDA-MB-453 was resistant to trastuzumab even at a concentration of 10,000 ng/ml in vitro. HER2-specific T lymphocytes killed effectively SK-BR-3 [（69.86±13.41）%] and MDA-MB-453 [（78.36±10.68）%] at 40：1 （effector：target ratio, E：T）, but had no significant cytotoxicity against HER2-negative breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 or MCF-7 （less than 10%）. Conclusion： The study showed that HER2-specific T lymphocytes generated from DCs modified by rhAAV/HER2 could kill HER2-positive breast cancer cell lines in a HER2-dependent manner, and result in significantly high inhibition rates on the intrinsic trastuzumab-resistant cell line MDA-MB-453 and the tastuzumab-sensitive cell line SK-BR-3. These results imply that this immunotherapy might be a potential treatment to HER2-positive breast cancer.

Comparison of DUS testing and SNP fingerprinting for variety identification in cucumber

Variety identification plays an important role in protecting the intellectual property of varieties,ensuring seed quality,and encouraging breeding innovation.Currently,morphological evaluation in the field,such as distinctness,uniformity,and stability(DUS)testing,and DNA fingerprinting in the laboratory using molecular markers are two dominant methods used for variety identification.Few studies have compared the results of these approaches,and the relationship between the two methods is obscure.In this study,134 dominant cucumber varieties were evaluated using 50 DUS testing traits and genotyped by 40 single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs).The 40 SNPs were developed in our previous study and arewell suited for variety identification.In the DUS testing,significant positive or negative correlations among 50 DUS traits were observed,and 20 core traits,including 15 fruit traits,were further selected to increase field inspection efficiency.This suggested that fruit shape plays an important role in variety identification.The ratio of fruit length/diameter was themost important trait,explaining 9.2%of the phenotypic variation.In the DNA fingerprinting test,the 40 SNPs were highly polymorphic and could distinguish all of the 134 cucumber varieties,and 14 core SNPs were selected to improve the identification rate.Interestingly,the population structure analysis of 134 cucumber varieties by phenotypic data in the DUS test was in accordance with the genotypic data from the DNA fingerprinting,indicating that all varieties could be divided into the same four subgroups:European type,North China type,South China type,and hybrids of the North China and South China types.Moreover,linear correlativity of distinguishment for each pair of varieties was observed between the DUS test and the DNA fingerprinting.These results indicated that these two methods have good application in future research,especially for the scaled-up analysis of hundreds of varieties.

Mobilization of Peripheral Blood Stem Cells Using Regimen Combining Docetaxel with Granulocyte Colony-stimulating Factor in Breast Cancer Patients

Objective：To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the mobilization of peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells by combining docetaxel with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor（G-CSF） in breast cancer patients.Methods：A total of 57 breast cancer patients were treated with docetaxel 120 mg/m2.When the white blood cell（WBC） count decreased to 1.0×109/L,patients were given G-CSF 5-g/kg daily by subcutaneous injection until the end of apheresis.Peripheral blood mononuclear cells（MNC） were isolated by Cobe Spectra Apheresis System.The percentage of CD34＋ cell was assayed by flow cytometry.Results：At a median 6 of days（range 3-8） after the administration of docetaxel,the median WBC count decreased to 1.08×109/L（range 0.20-2.31）.The median duration of G-CSF mobilization was 3 days（range 2-7）.The MNC collection was conducted 8-12 days（median 10 days） after docetaxel treatment.The median MNC was 5.35×108/kg（range 0.59-14.07）,the median CD34＋ cell count was 2.43×106/kg（range 0.16-16.69）.The CD34＋ cell count was higher than 1.00×106/kg in 47 of 57 cases（82.46%） and higher than 2.00×106/kg in 36 cases（63.16%）.The CD34＋ cell count was higher than 2.00×106/kg in 27 collections（23.68%）.The MNC count and the CD34＋ cell count were correlated with the bottom of WBC after docetaxel chemotherapy（r=0.364,0.502,P=0.005,0.000）.The CD34＋ cell count was correlated with the MNC count（r=0.597,P=0.000）.The mobilization and apheresis were well tolerated in all patients.Mild perioral numbness and numbness of hand or feet were observed in 3 cases.No serious adverse events were reported.Conclusion：Mobilization of peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cell by combining docetaxel with G-CSF was effective and safety in breast cancer patients.

Circulating Tumor Cells in Metastatic Breast Cancer:Monitoring Response to Chemotherapy and Predicting Progression-Free Survival

Objective:The purpose of this study is to explore RT-PCR method to set up the examination platform for detecting circulating tumor cells(CTC) in peripheral blood from metastatic breast cancer patients.The primary endpoint is to find out the correlation of existence of CTC with clinical responses and progression-free survival(PFS).Methods:The breast cancer cell line MCF-7 was serially diluted into the peripheral blood from 45 healthy donors to set up the sensitivity of RT-PCR assay.The expression of CK19 mRNA was amplified from both 49 patients and 45 healthy donors respectively.The CK19 protein quantity from plasma was measured by competitive inhibition ELISA assay.Results:The sensitivity of RT-PCR could reach 1/106?107 white blood cells with specificity of 95.6%.The objective response rate(ORR) of patients with CK19 mRNA-negative undertaken one cycle chemotherapy was significantly higher than those with positive(P0.0001).PFS among CK19 mRNA-negative patients was also increased,although there was no significance(P=0.098).The results of ELISA assay showed that CK19 protein was decreased significantly after one cycle chemotherapy,which gave rise to a little higher ORR(P=0.015) and increased PFS(P=0.016).Conclusion:Patients with unamplified CK19 mRNA after one cycle chemotherapy could achieve better radiographic evaluation and increased PFS,which was showed to be of consistency with the CK19 protein assay among the patients treated.

Scribble-Supervised Video Object Segmentation

Recently,video object segmentation has received great attention in the computer vision community.Most of the existing methods heavily rely on the pixel-wise human annotations,which are expensive and time-consuming to obtain.To tackle this problem,we make an early attempt to achieve video object segmentation with scribble-level supervision,which can alleviate large amounts of human labor for collecting the manual annotation.However,using conventional network architectures and learning objective functions under this scenario cannot work well as the supervision information is highly sparse and incomplete.To address this issue,this paper introduces two novel elements to learn the video object segmentation model.The first one is the scribble attention module,which captures more accurate context information and learns an effective attention map to enhance the contrast between foreground and background.The other one is the scribble-supervised loss,which can optimize the unlabeled pixels and dynamically correct inaccurate segmented areas during the training stage.To evaluate the proposed method,we implement experiments on two video object segmentation benchmark datasets,You Tube-video object segmentation(VOS),and densely annotated video segmentation(DAVIS)-2017.We first generate the scribble annotations from the original per-pixel annotations.Then,we train our model and compare its test performance with the baseline models and other existing works.Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed method can work effectively and approach to the methods requiring the dense per-pixel annotations.

Proteome Analysis of Neisseria meningitidis Serogroup Strains C Associated with Outbreaks in China

Objective During 2003-2005, an outbreak of meningitis due to Neisseria meningitidis serogroup C occurred in China. With the aim to find strain clues result in the final epidemics, the ancestral strain 053442, a clinical isolate, and a carrier strain 053426 with different gene type were analyzed. Methods Clinical strain 053442 and carrier strain 053426 were cultured on GC agar plates under the same condition. Two-dimensional electrophoresis was performed using the pH 3–10 nonlinear IPG strips of 24 cm length, and all the protein spots were identified by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight spectrometry. Results 502 and 380 protein spots were identified in 053426 and 053442 respectively, relating to 266 and 202 different genes covering a wide range of cellular functions. The express volume and number of proteins involved in energy metabolism, protein synthesis and amino acid biosynthesis in 053426 were higher than in 053442. Virulence factor Opa, Opc and a series of proteins involved in pilus assembly and retraction were identified in 053442, which appear to be of primary importance in colonization and invasion of human cells. Compared to 053442, virulence protein species were less in 053426, with lower express volumes too. No Opa and Opc were detected in 053426. Conclusion The different protein expression profiles of the clinical strain 053442 and carrier strain 053426 in the present study provide some clues of the different pathogenicity of the two strains, which may account for result in the final epidemics.

BMPR-IB gene disruption causes severe limb deformities in pigs

In an attempt to generate g.A746G substitution in the BMPR-IB gene,we unexpectedly obtained BMPR-IB homozygous knockout piglets(BMPR-IB^(-/-))and heterogeneous knockout piglets with one copy of the A746G mutation(BMPR-IB-/746G)via CRISPR/Cas9 editing.Polymerase chain reaction(PCR)and sequencing revealed complex genomic rearrangements in the target region.All BMPR-IBdisrupted piglets showed an inability to stand and walk normally.Both BMPR-IB^(-/-)and BMPR-IB-/746G piglets exhibited severe skeletal dysplasia characterized by distorted and truncated forearms(ulna,radius)and disordered carpal,metacarpal,and phalangeal bones in the forelimbs.The piglets displayed more severe deformities in the hindlimbs by visual inspection,including fibular hemimelia,enlarged tarsal bone,and disordered toe joint bones.Limb deformities were more profound in BMPR-IB^(-/-)piglets than in the BMPR-IB-/746G piglets.Proteomic analysis identified 139 differentially expressed proteins(DEPs)in the hindlimb fibula of BMPR-IB-/746G piglets compared to the wild-type(WT)controls.Most DEPs are involved in skeletal or embryonic development and/or the TGF-βpathway and tumor progression.Gene Ontology(GO)and protein domain enrichment analysis suggested alterations in these processes.Of the top 50 DEPs,a large proportion,e.g.,C1QA,MYO1H,SRSF1,P3H1,GJA1,TCOF1,RBM10,SPP2,MMP13,and PHAX,were significantly associated with skeletal development.Our study provides novel findings on the role of BMPR-IB in mammalian limb development.

Ultra-fast 3D printing of assembly——free complex optics with sub-nanometer surface quality at mesoscale

Complex-shaped optical lenses are of great interest in the areas of laser processing,machine vision,and optical communications.Traditionally,the processing of complex optical lenses is usually achieved by precision machining combined with post-grinding or polishing,which is expensive,labor-intensive and difficult in the processing of ultra-complex optical lenses.Additive manufacturing is an emerging technology that provides significant advantages in producing highly intricate optical devices.However,the layer-by-layer method employed in such manufacturing processes has resulted in low printing speeds,as well as limitations in surface quality.To address these challenges,we apply tomographic volumetric printing(TVP)in this work,which can realize the integrated printing of complex structural models without layering.By coordinating the TVP and the meniscus equilibrium post-curing methods,ultra-fast fabrication of complex-shaped lenses with sub-nanometric roughness has been achieved.A2.5 mm high,outer diameter 9 mm spherical lens with a roughness value of RMS=0.3340 nm is printed at a speed of 3.1×10^(4)mm^(3)h^(-1).As a further demonstration,a complex-shaped fly-eye lens is fabricated without any part assembly.The designed spherical lens is mounted on a smartphone’s camera,and the precise alignments above the circuit board are captured.Upon further optimization,this new technology demonstrates the potential for rapid fabrication of ultra-smooth complex optical devices or systems.