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Evidence suggests that the microRNA-181 (miR-181) family performs various roles in the pathophysiology of cerebral ischemia and reperfusion injury (CIRI). MiR-181a has been identified as a critical determinant of neuronal survival. Moreover, the significance of miR-181a in controlling neuronal death after CIRI has received little attention. The objective of this study was to assess the role of miR-181a in neuronal cell injury after CIRI. To mimic the in-vitro and in-vivo CIRI, we developed an oxygen-glucose deficiency/reoxygenation (OGD/R) model in SH-SY5Y cells and a transient middle cerebral artery occlusion model in rats. MiR-181a expression was significantly higher in both in-vivo and in-vitro CIRI models. The overexpression of miR-181a increased cell damage and oxidative stress caused by OGD/R, whereas inhibition of miR-181a reduced both. PTEN has also been found to be a direct miR-181a target. PTEN overexpression reduced cell apoptosis and oxidative stress induced by miR-181a upregulation under an OGD/R condition. Furthermore, we found that the rs322931 A allele was related to increased miR-181a levels in IS peripheral blood and higher susceptibility to IS. The current results offer new insights into the understanding of the molecular pathophysiology of CIRI, as well as possible new treatment candidates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we propose an underwater target perception architecture, which adopts the three-stage processing including underwater scene acoustic imaging, local high-order statistics (HOS) space conversion, and region-of-interest (ROI) detection. After analysing the problem of the underwater targets represented by the acoustic images, the unique cube structure of the target in local skewness space is noticed, which is used as a clue to develop the ROI detection of underwater scenes. In order to restore the actual appearance of the ROI as much as possible, the focus processing is explored to achieve the target reconstruction. When the target size and number are unknown, using an uncertain theoretical template can achieve a better target reconstruction effect. The performance of the proposed method in terms of SNR, detection rate, and false alarm rate is verified by experiments with several acoustic image sequences. Moreover, target perception architecture is general and can be generalized to a wider range of underwater applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emerging evidence suggests that the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) growth arrest special 5 (GAS5) plays crucial roles in the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke (IS). The current research is aimed at assessing the correlation between two functional GAS5 variants (rs145204276 and rs55829688) and susceptibility to IS in a Han Chinese population. This study genotyped the two GAS5 variants in 1086 IS patients as well as 1045 age-matched healthy controls by using an improved multitemperature ligase detection reaction (iMLDR-TM) genotyping technology. We observed a considerable change in the frequencies of the rs145204276 allele and genotype among the IS patients and healthy control group. The del-T haplotype was substantially more prevalent in the IS cases compared to the control individuals. When study participants were stratified according to environmental factors, we found that the rs145204276 del allele was correlated with a higher risk of IS in male, smokers, hypertensive, and those ≥65 years old. Additional stratification conforming to IS subtypes exhibited that individuals carrying the rs145204276 del allele conferred a higher risk of expanding a larger artery atherosclerosis stroke subset. Moreover, there was a significant association between the rs145204276 del allele and elevated expression of GAS5 in IS patients. In contrast, the frequency of the allele related to rs55829688 was not statistically correlated with IS in all analysis. Our study supports a model wherein the rs145204276 variant in the GAS5 lncRNA is associated with IS risk, thus representing a potentially viable biomarker for IS prevention and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Na-ion Batteries have been considered as promising alternatives to Li-ion batteries due to the natural abundance of sodium resources. Searching for high-performance anode materials currently becomes a hot topic and also a great challenge for developing Na-ion batteries. In this work, a novel hybrid anode is synthesized consisting of ultrafine, few-layered SnS2 anchored on few-layered reduced graphene oxide (rGO) by a facile solvothermal route. The SnS2/rGO hybrid exhibits a high capacity, ultralong cycle life, and superior rate capability. The hybrid can deliver a high charge capacity of 649 mAh g−1 at 100 mA g−1. At 800 mA g−1 (1.8 C), it can yield an initial charge capacity of 469 mAh g−1, which can be maintained at 89% and 61%, respectively, after 400 and 1000 cycles. The hybrid can also sustain a current density up to 12.8 A g−1 (≈28 C) where the charge process can be completed in only 1.3 min while still delivering a charge capacity of 337 mAh g−1. The fast and stable Na-storage ability of SnS2/rGO makes it a promising anode for Na-ion batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fast, portable, nondestructive, and simple‐to‐operate method for determination of water cane shoot quality via an electronic nose (E‐nose) system is presented. The responses of E‐nose sensors to cane shoot samples during storage time are measured. Considering that one of the most common problems with fresh aquatic vegetables is the nearly negligible change in volatile organic compounds, a novel swarm clustering based on particle swarm optimization (SWC) algorithm is proposed to extract the effective features of the sensors responses. In SWC, the number of clusters is automatically estimated based on the neighborhood radius of the particles, which reduces the difficulty in determining the number of cluster. Traditional clustering algorithms, such as K‐means clustering (KMC) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA), are used for the purposes of comparison, and the changes in quality of cane shoot samples are quantitatively determined according to the hardness and pH. The results suggest that the E‐nose‐based SWC methodology is capable of accurately classifying the cane shoots freshness during the 20‐day storage time, which is much better than that of the comparative KMC and HCA methods. Additionally，quantitative analysis of the sensory evaluation, hardness, and pH is shown to have good agreement with the E‐nose system analysis results. Validation experiments show that unknown samples are successfully grouped into several different categories with a high correlation (R2 =.982) between unknown and known samples, demonstrating the potential use of E‐nose system to predict the freshness of the cane shoots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It has been demonstrated that optical spectroscopy is a powerful tool for the quantitative monitoring of the main chemical components in food. However, portable spectrometer for on-site food quality assessment has rarely been reported. Here, a low-cost and portable hyperspectral scanner is developed. Utilizing this hyperspectral scanner by handheld push-broom scanning, reflectance spectra of meat samples can be obtained non-invasively and rapidly. Support vector regression (SVR) model is used to predict the pH value. The prediction accuracy rate of the model is close to 90%, and the coefficient of determination is about 0.93, which shows the feasibility of this system in on-site monitoring pH of meat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: To reliably analyze multi-cell motion in a series of low-contrast image sequences, we present a novel heuristically restrictive ant system, which operates in a non-optimization way, to adaptively estimate multiple parameters of multiple cells. First, the local intensity variation measure on each pixel of image is defined to generate ant colony initial distribution positions, which are further treated as boundary markers to restrict ant searching behavior. Afterwards, to speed up the ant searching process, both location and contour ant decision behaviors are modeled appropriately to acquire cell position and edge estimates on their individual pheromone fields, which are formed by restrictive pheromone deposits but operate independently and in parallel. Finally, the stability of our proposed pheromone control mechanism is proven to guarantee reliable multi-parameter extraction. Experiment results show that our algorithm could automatically and accurately track numerous cells in various scenarios, and it shows considerable robustness against other popular tracking methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper focuses on presenting a new identification algorithm to estimate the parameters and state variables for two‐input two‐output dynamic systems with time delay based on canonical state space models. First, the related input‐output equation is determined and transformed into an identification oriented model, which does not involve in the unmeasurable states, and then a residual based least squares identification algorithm is presented for the estimations. After the parameters being estimated, the system states are subsequently estimated by using the estimated parameters. Through theoretical analysis, the convergence of the algorithm is derived to provide assurance for applicability. Finally, a selected simulation example is given for a meaningful case study to show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a recently discovered noncoding RNA isoform capable of regulating neurological disease incidence. The present study was designed to characterize the circRNA expression profiles present in large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA)-type acute ischemic stroke patients and to detect biomarkers suitable for LAA-stroke detection. Using a RNA-seq-based approach, we characterized circRNA expression profiles in five LAA-stroke patients and four controls. We confirmed the differential expression of target circRNAs through quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and used Gene Ontology and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses to explore their functional roles. The diagnostic value of specific circRNAs was evaluated through a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. We identified 182 upregulated and 176 downregulated circRNAs in LAA-stroke patients and confirmed the differential expression of six circRNAs through qRT-PCR. These differentially expressed circRNAs are primarily associated with chromatin modification, autophagy, platelet activation, and neural precursor cell proliferation. The hsa_circRNA_0001599 expression levels were positively correlated with the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale scores and infarct volumes, with an ROC analysis of hsa_circRNA_0001599 in LAA-stroke, yielding an area under the curve of 0.805 (95% confidence interval: 0.748–0.862; p < 0.001), consistent with sensitivity and specificity values of 64.41% and 89.93%, respectively, for the diagnosis of LAA-stroke. A transcriptome-wide survey of differential circRNA expression in LAA-stroke patients revealed hsa_circRNA_0001599 as a putative circRNA biomarker of LAA-stroke diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing evidence suggesting that dysregulation of miR-155 and its target angiotensin receptor type 1 (AT1R) are linked to the incidence of ischemic stroke (IS), but the underlying mechanisms remain to be clarified. In this study, we therefore sought to investigate how miR-155 and AT1R polymorphisms affect IS risk. We included 579 IS patients and 509 age-matched controls in the present analysis, genotyping individuals for the rs767649 polymorphism in miR-155, as well as for the rs1492099 and rs275653 polymorphisms in AT1R via iMLDR-TM genotyping technology. The allele and genotype frequencies for the assessed polymorphisms were comparable in IS patients and controls, without any detectable association between AT1R haplotype and IS risk. We conducted additional trial of ORG 10172 in acute stroke treatment-mediated stratification, which indicated that the AT1R rs1492099 T allele was linked to a decreased risk of large-artery atherosclerosis (LAA) stroke. We further found that those with the AT1R rs275653 AA genotype had a decreased risk of small-artery occlusion (SAO) strokes. We further confirmed elevated miR-155 expression in IS patients, but observed no link between the rs767649 polymorphism and expression of this microRNA. Similarly, rs1492099 and rs275653 polymorphisms did not impact AT1R expression levels. The miR-155 rs767649 polymorphism does not seem to be a key determinant of IS risk, whereas the AT1R rs1492099 polymorphism is linked to reduced LAA-stroke risk, and the rs275653 AA genotype is potentially protective against SAO strokes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Visual tracking of cells has many challenges due to complex situations such as varying cell population densities, intricate motion patterns and sophisticated interactions with other cells. This paper focuses on an efficient and effective ant-based method with working modes updated to track multiple cells over varying densities in the presence of occlusion or clustering situations. To overcome these challenges, the proposed Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithm models two types of ant working modes, namely, cooperation mode and interactive competition mode, whereas the classical ACO algorithms use only one type of mode which performs poor in clutter situations. Moreover, mode update strategies based on ant colony pheromone is used to adjust pheromone field to obtain accurate state vector of cells. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method robustly tracks multiple cells in various scenarios. The averaged LSR, LTR and FTR of our method can be only 1.43, 1.71 and 1.37 %, respectively. Our experimental results also show that our tracking method is competitive with state-of-the-art multi-cell tracking methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to develop a general framework for accurately tracking and quantitatively characterizing multiple cells (objects) when collision and division between cells arise. Through introducing three types of interaction events among cells, namely, independence, collision, and division, the corresponding dynamic models are defined and an augmented interacting multiple model particle filter tracking algorithm is first proposed for spatially adjacent cells with varying size. In addition, to reduce the ambiguity of correspondence between frames, both the estimated cell dynamic parameters and cell size are further utilized to identify cells of interest. The experiments have been conducted on two real cell image sequences characterized with cells collision, division, or number variation, and the resulting dynamic parameters such as instant velocity, turn rate were obtained and analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Na-ion Battery is attractive alternative to Li-ion battery due to the natural abundance of sodium resource. Searching for suitable anode materials is one of the critical issues for Na-ion battery due to the low Na-storage activity of carbon materials. In this work, we synthesized a nanohybrid anode consisting of ultrafine SnO 2 anchored on few-layered reduced graphene oxide (rGO) by a facile hydrothermal route. The SnO 2 /rGO hybrid exhibits a high capacity, long cycle life and good rate capability. The hybrid can deliver a high charge capacity of 324 mAh g SnO2 −1 at 50 mA g −1 . At 1600 mA g −1 (2.4C), it can still yield a charge capacity of 200 mAh g SnO2 −1 . After 100 cycles at 100 mA g −1 , the hybrid can retain a high charge capacity of 369 mAh g SnO2 −1 . X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ex situ transmission electron microscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy were used to investigate the origin of the excellent electrochemical Na-storage properties of SnO 2 /rGO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Potentials of ultrasound (US) in food fermentation and maturation are reviewed. • US stimulates growth of microorganisms, promotes enzyme activities and metabolisms. • US promotes Maillard reaction, esterification, and proteolysis during food maturation. • Texture, sensory, and functional properties of fermented foods are improved by US. • US has a great potential to improve fermentation efficacy and fermented foods quality. Conventional food fermentation is time-consuming, and maturation of fermented foods normally requires a huge space for long-term storage. Ultrasound is a technology that emerged in the food industry to improve the efficacy of food fermentation and presents great potentials in maturation of fermented foods to produce fermented foods with high quality. Proliferation of microorganisms was observed along with promoted enzyme activities and metabolic performance when treated by a short-term ultrasonication (<30 min) at a relatively low-power (≤100 W). Additionally, ultrasound at a high-power level (≥100 W) was highlighted to promote the maturation of fermented foods through promoting Maillard reaction, oxidation, esterification, and proteolysis. As a result of promoted fermentation and maturation, texture, color, flavor and taste of fermented foods were improved. All the reviewed studies have indicated that ultrasound at the proper conditions would be a promising technique to produce fermented foods with high-quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]