Non-coherent sequence detection scheme for satellite-based automatic identification system

The satellite-based automatic identification system (AIS) receiver has to encounter the frequency offset caused by the Doppler effect and the oscillator instability. This paper proposes a non-coherent sequence detection scheme for the satellite-based AIS signal transmitted over the white Gaussian noise channel. Based on the maximum likelihood estimation and a Viterbi decoder, the proposed scheme is capable of tolerating a frequency offset up to 5% of the symbol rate. The complexity of the proposed scheme is reduced by the state-complexity reduction, which is based on per-survivor processing. Simulation results prove that the proposed non-coherent sequence detection scheme has high robustness to frequency offset compared to the relative scheme when messages collision exists.

Multicenter Evaluation of the Molecular Line Probe Assay for Multidrug Resistant Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Detection in China

In order to evaluate the performance of a molecular Hain line probe assay （Hain LPA） for rapid detection of rifampicin and isoniazid resistance of Mycobocterium tuberculosis in China, 1612 smear positive patients were consecutively enrolled in this study. Smear positive sputum specimens were collected for Hain LPA and conventional drug susceptibility testing （DST）. The sensitivity and specificity of Hain LPA were analyzed by using conventional DST as golden reference. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value {PPV） and negative predictive value （NPV） for rifampicin resistance detection were 88.33%, 97.66%, 81.54%, and 98.62%, respectively. The sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV for isoniazid resistance detection were 80.25%, 98.07%, 87.25%, and 96.78%, respectively. These findings suggested that Hain LPA can be an effective method worthy of broader use in China.

Scanning electron microscopy coupled with energydispersive X-ray spectrometry for quick detection of sulfuroxidizing bacteria in environmental water samples

Detection of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria has largely been dependent on targeted gene sequencing technology or traditional cell cultivation, which usually takes from days to months to carry out. This clearly does not meet the requirements of analysis for time-sensitive samples and/or complicated environmental samples. Since energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry(EDS) can be used to simultaneously detect multiple elements in a sample, including sulfur, with minimal sample treatment, this technology was applied to detect sulfur-oxidizing bacteria using their high sulfur content within the cell. This article describes the application of scanning electron microscopy imaging coupled with EDS mapping for quick detection of sulfur oxidizers in contaminated environmental water samples, with minimal sample handling. Scanning electron microscopy imaging revealed the existence of dense granules within the bacterial cells, while EDS identified large amounts of sulfur within them. EDS mapping localized the sulfur to these granules. Subsequent 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed that the bacteria detected in our samples belonged to the genus Chromatium, which are sulfur oxidizers. Thus, EDS mapping made it possible to identify sulfur oxidizers in environmental samples based on localized sulfur within their cells, within a short time(within 24 h of sampling). This technique has wide ranging applications for detection of sulfur bacteria in environmental water samples.

Residual current compensation for single-phase grounding fault in coal mine power network

The way of neutral point to earth via full compensation arc suppression coil can solve the problem of residual current compensation in coal mine power network effectively. Based on the analysis on the grounding current detection results of Xieqiao coal mine, the conclusion that harmonic component of grounding current is dominated by higher harmonics with complex harmonic sources in coal mine power network system was obtained. The influences of harmonic source type and fault point position on harmonic voltage and harmonic current were analyzed theoretically. The influences of earthed fault feeder detection result and the estimation errors of parameters to earth on residual current compensation were analyzed. A new thought of residual current prediction and the selections of model method and control method were proposed on this basis. The simulation results prove that harmonic amplitudes of zero sequence voltage and zero sequence current are determined by harmonic source type as well as fault point position in coal mine power network, and also prove that zero sequence voltage detection can avoid the unstable problem of coal mine power network system caused by undercompensation of capacitive current. Finally, the experimental device of full compensation arc suppression coil is introduced.

Genetic Analysis of the PKHD1 Gene with Long-rang PCR Sequencing

PKHD1 gene mutations are found responsible for autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease（ARPKD）. However, it is inconvenient to detect the mutations by common polymerase chain reaction（PCR） because the open reading frame of PKHD1 is very long. Recently, long-range（LR） PCR is demonstrated to be a more sensitive mutation screening method for PKHD1 by directly sequencing. In this study, the entire PKHD1 coding region was amplified by 29 reactions to avoid the specific PCR amplification of individual exons, which generated the size of 1 to 7 kb products by LR PCR. This method was compared to the screening method with standard direct sequencing of each individual exon of the gene by a reference laboratory in 15 patients with ARPKD. The results showed that a total of 37 genetic changes were detected with LR PCR sequencing, which included 33 variations identified by the reference laboratory with standard direct sequencing. LR PCR sequencing had 100% sensitivity, 96% specificity, and 97.0% accuracy, which were higher than those with standard direct sequencing method. In conclusion, LR PCR sequencing is a reliable method with high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy for detecting genetic variations. It also has more intronic coverage and lower cost, and is an applicable clinical method for complex genetic analyses.

An efficient and rapid method to detect and verify natural antisense transcripts of animal genes

High-throughput sequencing has identified a large number of sense-antisense transcriptional pairs, which indicates that these genes were transcribed from both directions. Recent reports have demonstrated that many antisense RNAs, especially lnc RNA（long non-coding RNA）, can interact with the sense RNA by forming an RNA duplex. Many methods, such as RNA-sequencing, Northern blotting, RNase protection assays and strand-specific PCR, can be used to detect the antisense transcript and gene transcriptional orientation. However, the applications of these methods have been constrained, to some extent, because of the high cost, difficult operation or inaccuracy, especially regarding the analysis of substantial amounts of data. Thus, we developed an easy method to detect and validate these complicated RNAs. We primarily took advantage of the strand specificity of RT-PCR and the single-strand specificity of S1 endonuclease to analyze sense and antisense transcripts. Four known genes, including mouse β-actin and Tsix（Xist antisense RNA）, chicken LXN（latexin） and GFM1（Gelongation factor, mitochondrial 1）, were used to establish the method. These four genes were well studied and transcribed from positive strand, negative strand or both strands of DNA, respectively, which represented all possible cases. The results indicated that the method can easily distinguish sense, antisense and sense-antisense transcriptional pairs. In addition, it can be used to verify the results of high-throughput sequencing, as well as to analyze the regulatory mechanisms between RNAs. This method can improve the accuracy of detection and can be mainly used in analyzing single gene and was low cost.

CNN demodulation model with cascade parallel crossing for CPM signals

The continuous phase modulation(CPM)technique is widely used in range telemetry due to its high spectral efficiency and power efficiency.However,the demodulation performance of the traditional maximum likelihood sequence detection(MLSD)algorithm significantly deteriorates in non-ideal synchronization or fading channels.To address this issue,this work proposes a convolutional neural network(CNN)called the cascade parallel crossing network(CPCNet)to enhance the robustness of CPM signals demodulation.The CPCNet model employs a multiple parallel structure and feature fusion to extract richer features from CPM signals.This approach constructs feature maps at different levels,resulting in a more comprehensive training of the model and improved demodulation performance.Simulation results show that under Gaussian channel,the proposed CPCNet achieves the same bit error rate(BER)performance as MLSD method when there is no timing error,but with 1/4 symbol period timing error,the proposed method has 2 dB demodulation gain compared with CNN and convolutional long short-term memory deep neural network(CLDNN).In addition,under Rayleigh channel,the BER of the proposed method is reduced by 5%-87%compared to that of MLSD in the wide signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)region.

Clinical utility of whole genome sequencing for the detection of mitochondrial genome mutations

Genetic mitochondrial disorders are a heterogenous group of multi-system disorders caused by an imbalance in mitochondrial function(Moggio et al.,2014;Wallace,2018).In contrast to the nuclear genome,each cell contains hundreds,or even thousands,of mtDNA molecules(Veltri et al.,1990;Calvo et al.,2006).Thus,a mixture of different mtDNA sequences can co-exist within the same individual,a situation referred to as he terop las my.The level of heteroplasmy in an individual often affects the penetrance and phenotypic severity of the diseases.Consequently,detection of sequence heteroplasmy is essential for the proper clinical interpretation of mitochondrial diseases(Stewart and Chinnery,2015).