Feeding Study with Bt Corn (MON810: Ajeeb YG) on Rats: Biochemical Analysis and Liver Histopathology

Bt corn “MON810: Ajeeb YG” produces delta endotoxins in the whole plant due to the genetic modification process. The chemical analysis of this variety showed significant differences from its conventional counterpart “Ajeeb”. Further, feeding studies on rats were designed to complete assessing the safety of “MON810: Ajeeb YG”. Three groups of rats (6 males and 6 females’ rats/group) were fed on control diet, non-Bt corn and Bt corn for 1.5 months and 3 months. After 1.5 months, 3 males and 3 females from each group were sacrificed, and after another 1.5 months, 3 males and 3 females from each group and their offspring were sacrificed. Histopathological examination, blood haematology and serum biochemical analysis were determined. Results indicated significant differences among the tested parameters in the three groups especially Bt group. Severe changes in the liver of Bt group after 3 months were observed.

Histopathology and TB-PCR kit analysis in differentiating the diagnosis of intestinal tuberculosis and Crohn’s disease

AIM: To compare the histopathologic features of intestinal tuberculosis (ITB) and Crohn’s disease (CD) and to identify whether polymerase chain reaction for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB-PCR) would be helpful for differential diagnosis between ITB and CD.METHODS: We selected 97 patients with established diagnoses (55 cases of ITB and 42 cases of CD) who underwent colonoscopic biopsies.Microscopic features of ITB and CD were reviewed,and eight pathologic parameters were evaluated.Nine cases of acid fast bacilli culture-positive specimens and 10 normal colonic tissue specimens were evaluated as the positive and negative control of the TB-PCR test,respectively.PCR assays were done using two commercial kits: kit <A> detected IS6110 and MPB64,and kit <B> detected IS6110 only;a manual in-house PCR method was also performed on formalin-fi xed,paraffi n-embedded colonoscopic biopsy specimens.RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were noted between ITB and CD with regard histopathologic criteria: size of granulomas (P = 0.000),giant cells (P = 0.015),caseation necrosis (P = 0.003),confluent granulomas (P = 0.001),discrete granulomas (P = 0.000),and granulomas with lymphoid cuffs (P = 0.037).However,29 cases (52.7%) of ITB showed less than fi ve kinds of pathologic parameters,resulting in confusion with CD.The sensitivities and specificities of the TB-PCR test by kit <A>,kit <B>,and the in-house PCR method were 88.9% and 100%,88.9% and 100%,and 66.7% and 100% in positive and negative controls,respectively.The PCR test done on endoscopic biopsy specimens of ITB and CD were signifi cantly different with kit <A> (P = 0.000) and kit <B> (P = 0.000).The sensitivities and specifi cities of TB-PCR were 45.5% and 88.1%,36.4% and 100%,and 5.8% and 100%,for kit <A> and kit <B> and inhouse PCR method on endoscopic biopsy specimens.Among the 29 cases of histopathologically confusing CD,10 cases assayed using kit <A> and 6 cases assayed using kit <B> were TB-PCR positive.A combination of histologic fi ndings and TB-PCR testing led to an increase of diagnostic sensitivity and the increase (from 47.3% to 58.2) was statistically signifi cant with kit <B> (P = 0.000).CONCLUSION: The TB-PCR test combined with histopathologic factors appears to be a helpful technique in formulating the differential diagnosis of ITB and CD in endoscopic biopsy samples.

Incidental non-benign gallbladder histopathology after cholecystectomy in an United Kingdom population: Need for routine histological analysis?

AIM To analyse the range of histopathology detected in the largest published United Kingdom series of cholecystectomy specimens and to evaluate the rational for selective histopathological analysis.METHODS Incidental gallbladder malignancy is rare in the United Kingdom with recent literature supporting selective histological assessment of gallbladders after routine cholecystectomy.All cholecystectomy gallbladder specimens examined by the histopathology department at our hospital during a five year period between March 2008 and March 2013 were retrospectively analysed.Further data was collected on all specimens demonstrating carcinoma,dysplasia and polypoid growths.RESULTS The study included 4027 patients.The majority(97%) of specimens exhibited gallstone or cholecystitis related disease.Polyps were demonstrated in 44(1.09%),the majority of which were cholesterol based(41/44).Dysplasia,ranging from low to multifocal high-grade was demonstrated in 55(1.37%).Incidental primary gallbladder adenocarcinoma was detected in 6 specimens(0.15%,5 female and 1 male),and a single gallbladder revealed carcinoma in situ(0.02%).This large single centre study demonstrated a full range of gallbladder disease from cholecystectomy specimens,including more than 1% neoplastic histology and two cases of macroscopically occult gallbladder malignancies.CONCLUSION Routine histological evaluation of all elective and emergency cholecystectomies is justified in a United Kingdom population as selective analysis has potential to miss potentially curable life threatening pathology.

Analysis of the Employment Situation of Non Private Enterprises in Various Regions of China

In the past 30 years, Chinese enterprises have been a hot topic of discussion and concern among the general public in terms of economic and social status, ownership structure, business mechanism, and management level. Solving the problem of employment for the people is an important prerequisite for their peaceful living and work, as well as a prerequisite and foundation for building a harmonious society. The employment situation of private enterprises has always been of great concern to the outside world, and these two major jobs have always occupied an important position in the employment field of China that cannot be ignored. With the establishment of the market economy system, individual and private enterprises have become important components of the socialist economy, making significant contributions to economic development and social progress. The rapid development of China’s economy, on the one hand, is the embodiment of the superiority of China’s socialist market economic system, and on the other hand, it is the role of the tertiary industry and private enterprises in promoting the national economy. Since the 1990s, China’s private enterprises have become a new economic growth point for local and even national countries, and are one of the important ways to arrange employment and achieve social stability. This paper studies the employment of private enterprises and individuals from the perspective of statistics, extracts relevant data from China statistical Yearbook, uses the relevant knowledge of statistics to process the data, obtains the conclusion and puts forward relevant constructive suggestions.

Application of Isogeometric Analysis Method in Three-Dimensional Gear Contact Analysis

Gears are pivotal in mechanical drives,and gear contact analysis is a typically difficult problem to solve.Emerging isogeometric analysis(IGA)methods have developed new ideas to solve this problem.In this paper,a threedimensional body parametric gear model of IGA is established,and a theoretical formula is derived to realize single-tooth contact analysis.Results were benchmarked against those obtained from commercial software utilizing the finite element analysis(FEA)method to validate the accuracy of our approach.Our findings indicate that the IGA-based contact algorithmsuccessfullymet theHertz contact test.When juxtaposed with the FEA approach,the IGAmethod demonstrated fewer node degrees of freedomand reduced computational units,all whilemaintaining comparable accuracy.Notably,the IGA method appeared to exhibit consistency in analysis accuracy irrespective of computational unit density,and also significantlymitigated non-physical oscillations in contact stress across the tooth width.This underscores the prowess of IGA in contact analysis.In conclusion,IGA emerges as a potent tool for addressing contact analysis challenges and holds significant promise for 3D gear modeling,simulation,and optimization of various mechanical components.

Screening biomarkers for spinal cord injury using weighted gene co-expression network analysis and machine learning

Immune changes and inflammatory responses have been identified as central events in the pathological process of spinal co rd injury.They can greatly affect nerve regeneration and functional recovery.However,there is still limited understanding of the peripheral immune inflammato ry response in spinal cord inju ry.In this study.we obtained microRNA expression profiles from the peripheral blood of patients with spinal co rd injury using high-throughput sequencing.We also obtained the mRNA expression profile of spinal cord injury patients from the Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO)database(GSE151371).We identified 54 differentially expressed microRNAs and 1656 diffe rentially expressed genes using bioinformatics approaches.Functional enrichment analysis revealed that various common immune and inflammation-related signaling pathways,such as neutrophil extracellular trap formation pathway,T cell receptor signaling pathway,and nuclear factor-κB signal pathway,we re abnormally activated or inhibited in spinal cord inju ry patient samples.We applied an integrated strategy that combines weighted gene co-expression network analysis,LASSO logistic regression,and SVM-RFE algorithm and identified three biomarke rs associated with spinal cord injury:ANO10,BST1,and ZFP36L2.We verified the expression levels and diagnostic perfo rmance of these three genes in the original training dataset and clinical samples through the receiver operating characteristic curve.Quantitative polymerase chain reaction results showed that ANO20 and BST1 mRNA levels were increased and ZFP36L2 mRNA was decreased in the peripheral blood of spinal cord injury patients.We also constructed a small RNA-mRNA interaction network using Cytoscape.Additionally,we evaluated the proportion of 22 types of immune cells in the peripheral blood of spinal co rd injury patients using the CIBERSORT tool.The proportions of naive B cells,plasma cells,monocytes,and neutrophils were increased while the proportions of memory B cells,CD8^(+)T cells,resting natural killer cells,resting dendritic cells,and eosinophils were markedly decreased in spinal cord injury patients increased compared with healthy subjects,and ANO10,BST1 and ZFP26L2we re closely related to the proportion of certain immune cell types.The findings from this study provide new directions for the development of treatment strategies related to immune inflammation in spinal co rd inju ry and suggest that ANO10,BST2,and ZFP36L2 are potential biomarkers for spinal cord injury.The study was registe red in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry(registration No.ChiCTR2200066985,December 12,2022).

Advances in microfluidic-based DNA methylation analysis

DNA methylation has been extensively investigated in recent years,not least because of its known relationship with various diseases.Progress in analytical methods can greatly increase the relevance of DNA methylation studies to both clinical medicine and scientific research.Microflu-idic chips are excellent carriers for molecular analysis,and their use can provide improvements from multiple aspects.On-chip molecular analysis has received extensive attention owing to its advantages of portability,high throughput,low cost,and high efficiency.In recent years,the use of novel microfluidic chips for DNA methylation analysis has been widely reported and has shown obvious superiority to conventional methods.In this review,wefirst focus on DNA methylation and its applications.Then,we discuss advanced microfluidic-based methods for DNA methylation analysis and describe the great progress that has been made in recent years.Finally,we summarize the advantages that microfluidic technology brings to DNA methylation analysis and describe several challenges and perspectives for on-chip DNA methylation analysis.This review should help researchers improve their understanding and make progress in developing microfluidic-based methods for DNA methylation analysis.

Bibliometric analysis of microphthalmos and anophthalmos over 20 years:from 2004 to 2023

AIM:To conduct a bibliometric analysis of studies on microphthalmos and anophthalmos(M/A),explore research hotspots,and provide information on future research interests in this field to benefit clinicians and researchers.METHODS:Totally 751 publications related to M/A from the year 2004 to 2023 were collected from the Web of Science Core Collection database.These publications consist of both original and review articles,that are composed in English.The contributions of different countries,institutions,journals,and authors were analyzed,and network analysis was conducted by using Microsoft Excel 2021,VOSviewer,and R Studio to visualize research hotspots.RESULTS:Among all publications included,the highest number of publications came from USA(218,29.03%).China followed with 99 publications(13.18%),and England with 86 publications(11.45%).The publications from the USA had the highest frequency of citations,with 16699 citations,and the highest H-index of 49.The American Journal of Medical Genetics Part A(43,5.73%)published the largest number of papers,and the University of London had the most publications(41,5.46%).The genetic and molecular mechanisms of M/A were still unclear and the clinical intervention for M/A had gained a lot of attention as an emerging area of interest.CONCLUSION:Data have been gathered on the yearly count of published materials and citations,as well as the rise in publication trends,the efficiency of regions or countries,authors,journals,and organizations,along with the high-cited publications in M/A.The recent trend of research has shifted from genetic mechanisms to different clinical phenotypes and corresponding clinical interventions,which can give direction to future research.

Preliminary electromagnetic analysis of the COOL blanket for CFETR

The supercritical CO_(2)cOoled Lithium-Lead(COOL)blanket has been designed as one advanced blanket candidate for the Chinese Fusion Engineering Test Reactor(CFETR).This work focuses on the electromagnetic(EM)loads(Maxwell force and Lorentz force)acting on the COOL blanket,which are important mechanical loads in further structural analysis of the COOL blanket.A 3D electromagnetic analysis is performed using the ANSYS finite element method to obtain EM loads on the COOL blanket in this study.At first,the magnetic scalar potential(MSP)method is used to obtain the magnetic field and the Maxwell force on the COOL blanket.Then,the magnetic vector potential(MVP)method is performed during a plasma disruption event to get the eddy current distribution.At last,a multi-step method is adopted for the calculation of the Lorentz force and the torque.The maximum Lorentz forces of inboard and outboard blanket structural components are 5624 kN and 2360 kN respectively.

SFGA-CPA: A Novel Screening Correlation Power Analysis Framework Based on Genetic Algorithm

Correlation power analysis(CPA)combined with genetic algorithms(GA)now achieves greater attack efficiency and can recover all subkeys simultaneously.However,two issues in GA-based CPA still need to be addressed:key degeneration and slow evolution within populations.These challenges significantly hinder key recovery efforts.This paper proposes a screening correlation power analysis framework combined with a genetic algorithm,named SFGA-CPA,to address these issues.SFGA-CPA introduces three operations designed to exploit CPA characteris-tics:propagative operation,constrained crossover,and constrained mutation.Firstly,the propagative operation accelerates population evolution by maximizing the number of correct bytes in each individual.Secondly,the constrained crossover and mutation operations effectively address key degeneration by preventing the compromise of correct bytes.Finally,an intelligent search method is proposed to identify optimal parameters,further improving attack efficiency.Experiments were conducted on both simulated environments and real power traces collected from the SAKURA-G platform.In the case of simulation,SFGA-CPA reduces the number of traces by 27.3%and 60%compared to CPA based on multiple screening methods(MS-CPA)and CPA based on simple GA method(SGA-CPA)when the success rate reaches 90%.Moreover,real experimental results on the SAKURA-G platform demonstrate that our approach outperforms other methods.

Geometric prior guided hybrid deep neural network for facial beauty analysis

Facial beauty analysis is an important topic in human society.It may be used as a guidance for face beautification applications such as cosmetic surgery.Deep neural networks(DNNs)have recently been adopted for facial beauty analysis and have achieved remarkable performance.However,most existing DNN-based models regard facial beauty analysis as a normal classification task.They ignore important prior knowledge in traditional machine learning models which illustrate the significant contribution of the geometric features in facial beauty analysis.To be specific,landmarks of the whole face and facial organs are introduced to extract geometric features to make the decision.Inspired by this,we introduce a novel dual-branch network for facial beauty analysis:one branch takes the Swin Transformer as the backbone to model the full face and global patterns,and another branch focuses on the masked facial organs with the residual network to model the local patterns of certain facial parts.Additionally,the designed multi-scale feature fusion module can further facilitate our network to learn complementary semantic information between the two branches.In model optimisation,we propose a hybrid loss function,where especially geometric regulation is introduced by regressing the facial landmarks and it can force the extracted features to convey facial geometric features.Experiments performed on the SCUT-FBP5500 dataset and the SCUT-FBP dataset demonstrate that our model outperforms the state-of-the-art convolutional neural networks models,which proves the effectiveness of the proposed geometric regularisation and dual-branch structure with the hybrid network.To the best of our knowledge,this is the first study to introduce a Vision Transformer into the facial beauty analysis task.

Automatic area estimation of algal blooms in water bodies from UAV images using texture analysis

Algal blooms,the spread of algae on the surface of water bodies,have adverse effects not only on aquatic ecosystems but also on human life.The adverse effects of harmful algal blooms(HABs)necessitate a convenient solution for detection and monitoring.Unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs)have recently emerged as a tool for algal bloom detection,efficiently providing on-demand images at high spatiotemporal resolutions.This study developed an image processing method for algal bloom area estimation from the aerial images(obtained from the internet)captured using UAVs.As a remote sensing method of HAB detection,analysis,and monitoring,a combination of histogram and texture analyses was used to efficiently estimate the area of HABs.Statistical features like entropy(using the Kullback-Leibler method)were emphasized with the aid of a gray-level co-occurrence matrix.The results showed that the orthogonal images demonstrated fewer errors,and the morphological filter best detected algal blooms in real time,with a precision of 80%.This study provided efficient image processing approaches using on-board UAVs for HAB monitoring.

Evaluation of the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete structures with flat slab-column gravity frame and shear walls through nonlinear analysis methods

This paper presents an investigation of the seismic behavior of reinforced concrete(RC)structures in which shear walls are the main lateral load-resisting elements and the participation of flat slab floor systems is not considered in the seismic design procedure.In this regard,the behavior of six prototype structures(with different heights and plan layouts)is investigated through nonlinear static and time history analyses,implemented in the OpenSees platform.The results of the analyses are presented in terms of the behavior of the slab-column connections and their mode of failure at different loading stages.Moreover,the global response of the buildings is discussed in terms of some parameters,such as lateral overstrength due to the gravity flat slab-column frames.According to the nonlinear static analyses,in structures in which the slab-column connections were designed only for gravity loads,the slab-column connections exhibited a punching mode of failure even in the early stages of loading.However,the punching failure was eliminated in structures in which a minimum transverse reinforcement recommended in ACI 318(2019)was provided in the slabs at joint regions.Furthermore,despite neglecting the contribution of gravity flat slab-column frames in the lateral load resistance of the structures,a relatively significant overstrength was imposed on the structures by the gravity frames.

Numerical Analysis of Steady Smoldering of Biomass Rods

Understanding the steady mechanism of biomass smoldering plays a great role in the utilization of smoldering technology.In this study numerical analysis of steady smoldering of biomass rods was performed.A two-dimensional(2D)steady model taking into account both char oxidation and pyrolysis was developed on the basis of a calculated propagation velocity according to empirical correlation.The model was validated against the smoldering experiment of biomass rods under natural conditions,and the maximum error was smaller than 31%.Parameter sensitivity analysis found that propagation velocity decreases significantly while oxidation area and pyrolysis zone increase significantly with the increasing diameter of rod fuel.

Stability Analysis of Inverse Lax-Wendroff Procedure for a High order Compact Finite Difference Schemes

This paper considers the finite difference(FD)approximations of diffusion operators and the boundary treatments for different boundary conditions.The proposed schemes have the compact form and could achieve arbitrary even order of accuracy.The main idea is to make use of the lower order compact schemes recursively,so as to obtain the high order compact schemes formally.Moreover,the schemes can be implemented efficiently by solving a series of tridiagonal systems recursively or the fast Fourier transform(FFT).With mathematical induction,the eigenvalues of the proposed differencing operators are shown to be bounded away from zero,which indicates the positive definiteness of the operators.To obtain numerical boundary conditions for the high order schemes,the simplified inverse Lax-Wendroff(SILW)procedure is adopted and the stability analysis is performed by the Godunov-Ryabenkii method and the eigenvalue spectrum visualization method.Various numerical experiments are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our algorithms.

Trends and hotspots in gastrointestinal neoplasms risk assessment: A bibliometric analysis from 1984 to 2022

BACKGROUND Gastrointestinal neoplasm(GN)significantly impact the global cancer burden and mortality,necessitating early detection and treatment.Understanding the evolution and current state of research in this field is vital.AIM To conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of publications from 1984 to 2022 to elucidate the trends and hotspots in the GN risk assessment research,focusing on key contributors,institutions,and thematic evolution.METHODS This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of data from the Web of Science Core Collection database using the"bibliometrix"R package,VOSviewer,and CiteSpace.The analysis focused on the distribution of publications,contributions by institutions and countries,and trends in keywords.The methods included data synthesis,network analysis,and visualization of international collaboration networks.RESULTS This analysis of 1371 articles on GN risk assessment revealed a notable evolution in terms of research focus and collaboration.It highlights the United States'critical role in advancing this field,with significant contributions from institutions such as Brigham and Women's Hospital and the National Cancer Institute.The last five years,substantial advancements have been made,representing nearly 45%of the examined literature.Publication rates have dramatically increased,from 20 articles in 2002 to 112 in 2022,reflecting intensified research efforts.This study underscores a growing trend toward interdisciplinary and international collaboration,with the Journal of Clinical Oncology standing out as a key publication outlet.This shift toward more comprehensive and collaborative research methods marks a significant step in addressing GN risks.CONCLUSION This study underscores advancements in GN risk assessment through genetic analyses and machine learning and reveals significant geographical disparities in research emphasis.This calls for enhanced global collaboration and integration of artificial intelligence to improve cancer prevention and treatment accuracy,ultimately enhancing worldwide patient care.

Molecular cloning,characterization and promoter analysis of LbgCWIN1 and its expression profiles in response to exogenous sucrose during in vitro bulblet initiation in lily

Lily(Lilium spp.) is an important ornamental flower, which is mainly propagated by bulbs. Cell wall invertases(CWINs), which catalyze the irreversibly conversion of sucrose into glucose and fructose in the extracellular space, are key enzymes participating in sucrose allocation in higher plants. Previous studies have shown that CWINs play an essential role in bulblet initiation process in bulbous crops, but the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Here, a CWIN gene of Lilium brownii var. giganteum(Lbg) was identified and amplified from genomic DNA. Quantitative RT-PCR assays revealed that the expression level of LbgCWIN1 was highly upregulated exactly when the endogenous starch degraded in non-sucrose medium during in vitro bulblet initiation in Lbg. Phylogenetic relationship, motif, and domain analysis of LbgCWIN1 protein and CWINs in other plant species showed that all sequences of these CWIN proteins were highly conserved. The promoter sequence of LbgCWIN1 possessed a number of alpha-amylase-, phytohormone-, light-and stress-responsive cis-elements. Meanwhile, β-glucuronidase(GUS) assay showed that the 459 bp upstream fragment from the translational start site displayed maximal promoter activity. These results revealed that LbgCWIN1 might function in the process of in vitro bulblet initiation and be in the response to degradation of endogenous starch.

Preliminary safety analysis for heavy water-moderated molten salt reactor

The heavy water-moderated molten salt reactor(HWMSR)is a newly proposed reactor concept,in which heavy water is adopted as the moderator and molten salt dissolved with fissile and fertile elements is used as the fuel.Issues arising from graphite in traditional molten salt reactors,including the positive temperature coefficient and management of highly radio-active spent graphite waste,can be addressed using the HWMSR.Until now,research on the HWMSR has been centered on the core design and nuclear fuel cycle to explore the viability of the HWMSR and its advantages in fuel utilization.However,the core safety of the HWMSR has not been extensively studied.Therefore,we evaluate typical accidents in a small modular HWMSR,including fuel salt inlet temperature overcooling and overheating accidents,fuel salt inlet flow rate decrease,heavy water inlet temperature overcooling accidents,and heavy water inlet mass flow rate decrease accidents,based on a neutronics and thermal-hydraulics coupled code.The results demonstrated that the core maintained safety during the investigated accidents.

Spectral and statistical analysis of bow wave breaking characteristics of KCS ship

Bow wave breaking is a common phenomenon during ship navigation,especially at a high speed,involving complex physical mechanism such as interface mixing,air entrainment,and jet splashing.This study uses the delayed detached eddy simulation(DDES)turbulence model on the OpenFOAM platform to simulate flow around a KRISO Container Ship(KCS)model for a Froude number of 0.35,examining trim angles of 0°,0.5°,1°.This paper analyzes the statistical and power spectral density(PSD)characteristics of bow wave heights.The analysis shows root mean square(rms)and mean difference between top and bottom views indicate wave breaking.As the trim angle increases,peaks of rms in the bottom view become much higher than that in the top view,reaching 38%at 1°.PSD analysis reveals that resistance and wave height periods differ by no more than 5%,with small-scale structures like jetting and splashing causing non-dominant periodic and high-frequency wave height variations.

Harnessing the Market Potential of the Bamboo Industry in Central Luzon, Philippines: An Analysis of the Internal and External Environment

The bamboo industry in Central Luzon holds significant promise for economic development and environmental sustainability. This study aims to analyze the internal and external factors influencing the bamboo industry in the region through SWOT and PESTLE analyses. Based on a focus group discussion involving key industry players, the study explores the industry’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental factors. Findings reveal the importance of comprehensive strategies that address political stability, economic growth, consumer awareness, technological advancement, legal compliance, and environmental sustainability. Recommendations include capacity-building for production and marketing, the establishment of bamboo treatment facilities, and advocacy for supportive policies. By addressing these factors, the bamboo industry in Central Luzon can realize its potential for socio-economic development and environmental stewardship.