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We report the case of a woman in her 30s who was referred to the ear, nose and throat department with sudden onset left-sided sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), left anterior uveitis and erythematous lower limb lesions with bilateral pitting oedema. Based on her symptoms, an underlying inflammatory systemic disease was suspected. Autoantibodies were negative but an X-ray and high-resolution CT scan of the chest were suggestive of sarcoidosis, which was confirmed on endoscopic bronchial biopsy. Following treatment with a course of oral steroids, the patient’s hearing has improved but she still suffers from episodes of uveitis. While immune-mediated inner ear disorders are a recognised cause of SNHL, sarcoidosis is a very rare cause. This case demonstrates the importance of screening for systemic autoimmune aetiology in SNHL and highlights the importance of an effective multidisciplinary team in the diagnosis and management of these patients.

Recently, the number of diagnosed esophageal basaloid squamous cell carcinoma (EBSCC) has gradually increased. However, available data on EBSCC are limited to date.A total of 165 EBSCC (Cohort 1) and 515 conventional esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) (Cohort 2) were retrospectively analyzed.In Cohort 1, 70 cases only had invasive EBSCC component (42.4%, defined as Group 1), 73 cases had concomitant invasive ESCC component (44.2%, Group 2), and 22 had concomitant invasive poor-differentiated component (13.3%, Group 3). Lymph node metastasis rates of Group 3, Group 2 and Group 1 were ranked from high to low (P = 0.044). There were higher patient age (P = 0.047), smaller tumor size (P = 0.009), more nerve invasion (P 0.001), and lower pTNM stage (P 0.001) in EBSCC (Cohort 1), compared with ESCC (Cohort 2). In Cohort 1 and Cohort 2, pTNM stage was an independent prognostic factor for both DFS and OS. No significant survival difference was found between EBSCC (Cohort 1) and ESCC (Cohort 2) in pIA-B stage, pIIA-B stage, pIIIA-B stage and pIVA-B stage (P 0.05).Our analysis of the largest EBSCC series from a single institution to date with conventional ESCC demonstrated that EBSCC carried a similar prognosis with ESCC in pIA-B stage, pIIA-B stage, pIIIA-B stage and pIVA-B stage. And pure EBSCC, didn't have poorer survival than mixed EBSCC with concomitant ESCC or other components. Our findings may be valuable in the better understanding of EBSCC's biological behaviors, and the related molecular mechanism is needed to be explored in the future.

IoT-based smart agriculture plays a significant role in building a high-yield, sustainable, and intelligent modern agriculture. However, limited battery capacity and low-power processors of sensors cannot accommodate the exponential expansion of data from smart agriculture sensing terminals. To overcome the challenges, we introduced solar harvesting and multiaccess edge computing (MEC) to investigate sustainable monitoring of smart agriculture in solar-powered MEC-enabled WSNs. Considering the cyclical and day-night fluctuations of solar energy, we formulate a joint optimization problem for resource scheduling and computation offloading strategy to maximize the minimum weighted computation capacity across the time slots under solar energy constraints. To solve the mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP), we propose a multiply-iterated decoupling optimization algorithm by jointly optimizing a computation offloading strategy, energy provision of the solar-powered hybrid access point (HAP), and local CPU frequency as well as time scheduling. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can efficiently use solar energy to balance network calculations, improve network energy efficiency, and realize unmanned and sustainable agricultural WSN.

Sclerosing angiomatoid nodular transformation (SANT) is an uncommon non-tumorous disease of the spleen. The low morbidity and non-specific clinical symptoms of SANT might cause a misdiagnosis. The present study reported a case of a 31-year-old female with a SANT of the spleen. Findings on clinical manifestation and examinations, especially on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), were carefully analyzed, and relevant literatures have also been reviewed.

A great number of high-quality fractured-vuggy reservoirs (FVRs) are buried in the ultradeep carbonate strata in the Tarim Basin, Western China. Drilling confirms that some FVRs with strong beaded reflections are partially or completely filled with solids, resulting in oil and gas exploration failures. In this paper, we propose a well data (the drilling information and the well-logging data) constrained seismic waveform component decomposition and reconstruction method for ultradeep FVR characteristic identification (WSFI). WSFI contains the well data (the drilling information and the well-logging data) constrained seismic waveform component linear discriminant analysis and reconstruction and seismic attribute (i.e., root-mean-square amplitude)-based FVR characteristic identification. A forward-modeling example indicates that WSFI can effectively identify the FVR characteristics. Field data example in the ZG block in the Tarim Basin demonstrates that WSFI can be widely used for FVR characteristic identification.

Gasdermins (GSDMs) are pore-forming proteins that play critical roles in host defence through pyroptosis1,2. Among GSDMs, GSDMB is unique owing to its distinct lipid-binding profile and a lack of consensus on its pyroptotic potential3–7. Recently, GSDMB was shown to exhibit direct bactericidal activity through its pore-forming activity4. Shigella, an intracellular, human-adapted enteropathogen, evades this GSDMB-mediated host defence by secreting IpaH7.8, a virulence effector that triggers ubiquitination-dependent proteasomal degradation of GSDMB4. Here, we report the cryogenic electron microscopy structures of human GSDMB in complex with Shigella IpaH7.8 and the GSDMB pore. The structure of the GSDMB–IpaH7.8 complex identifies a motif of three negatively charged residues in GSDMB as the structural determinant recognized by IpaH7.8. Human, but not mouse, GSDMD contains this conserved motif, explaining the species specificity of IpaH7.8. The GSDMB pore structure shows the alternative splicing-regulated interdomain linker in GSDMB as a regulator of GSDMB pore formation. GSDMB isoforms with a canonical interdomain linker exhibit normal pyroptotic activity whereas other isoforms exhibit attenuated or no pyroptotic activity. Overall, this work sheds light on the molecular mechanisms of Shigella IpaH7.8 recognition and targeting of GSDMs and shows a structural determinant in GSDMB critical for its pyroptotic activity.

With the development of the Internet, the number of Internet users in China is also increasing. People are paying more and more attention to the Internet has led to a massive change in the consumption pattern of customers in recent years. It is often said that "food is the key to success." However, in this era of the Internet, many food companies are still using traditional offline marketing, which makes many quality food companies gradually fade out of people's view in order to help some traditional food companies out of the dilemma. This paper stood in the perspective of marketing strategy, using the case study method on the Mengniu Group, a classic food enterprise case from the marketing concept and management strategy analysis. It is concluded that the traditional marketing concepts and management strategies of old food enterprises are outdated and lack precise brand positioning, perfect service management awareness, and a lack of global view and market insight during marketing management. In response to the above problems, the old food companies should insist on product innovation, update their marketing concepts and management strategies, and use online marketing tools reasonably.

The theoretical advantage of cervical disc arthroplasty includes preserved motion at the cervical level, which may reduce degeneration of the adjacent segments. The long-term follow-up results are still controversial.The present study aimed to retrospectively study the long-term efficacy and complications of cervical disc arthroplasty using a single commercially-available device in a single center.This was a propensity-score matched cohort study.This study enrolled 148 single-level cervical degenerative disease patients from January 2009 to March 2012. After 1:1 propensity score matching, 39 patients remained in the ACDF or ACDR groups.The outcome measures were neurological functions (Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Japan Orthopedic Association (JOA) scores), radiographic evaluations (cervical curvature, operative segment range of motion, degenerative condition of adjacent segments, heterotopic ossification (HO) of the surgical segment), and complications.NDI and JOA scores were used to evaluate patient neurological functions. Cervical curvature (C2-C7 Cobb angle) and operative segment range of motion (ROM) were compared between the two groups. Grading criteria for osteophyte formation were used to evaluate the degenerative condition of adjacent segments. HO after ACDR was graded according to the McAfee grading method.The average follow-up time was 119.3 ±17.2 months. Satisfactory improvements in neurological function were obtained for both the ACDR and ACDF groups. There were no significant differences in VAS or NDI scores between the two groups. In the ACDR group, the ROM of the operative segment increased from 6.7 ±4.3° before the operation to 8.9 ±3.5° on the second day after the operation (P0.001). The ROM of the operative segment was 8.1 ±4.0° at the 1-year follow-up, 7.2 ±3.6° at the 2-year follow-up, 5.7 ±4.5° at the 5-year follow-up and 4.3 ±3.9° at the last follow-up. ASD was more likely to develop in the caudal adjacent segments and progressed with the follow-up time. At the last follow-up, HO was present in 27 patients (69.23%), while high-grade HO (McAfee scores III and IV) was detected in 6 patients (15.38%).Through nearly 10 years of follow-up, ACDR was as effective as ACDF for treating single-level degenerative cervical disc disease. However, HO and the role of ACDR in the protection of ASD remains to be further observed and followed up.

In the study of salient object detection, multiview features play an important role in identifying various underlying salient objects. As to current common patch-based methods, all different features are handled directly by stacking them into a high-dimensional vector to represent related image patches. These approaches ignore the correlations inhering in the original spatial structure, which may lead to the loss of certain underlying characterization such as view interaction. In this article, different from currently available approaches, a tensorial feature representation framework is developed for the salient object detection in order to better explore the complementary information of multiview features. Under the tensor framework, a tensor low-rank constraint is applied to the background to capture its intrinsic structure, a tensor group sparsity regularization is posed on the salient part, and a tensorial sliced Laplacian regularization is then introduced to enlarge the gap between the subspaces of the background and salient object. Moreover, a nonconvex tensor Log-determinant function, instead of the tensor nuclear norm, is adopted to approximate the tensor rank for effectively suppressing the confusing information resulted from underlying complex backgrounds. Further, we have deduced the closed-form solution of this nonconvex minimization problem and established a feasible algorithm whose convergence is mathematically proven. Experiments on five well-known public datasets are provided and the simulations demonstrate that our method outperforms the latest unsupervised handcrafted features-based methods in the literature. Furthermore, our model is flexible with various deep features and is competitive with the state-of-the-art approaches.

The initial micro-galvanic corrosion behavior of Mg‒30wt%Ca alloy only containing Mg2Ca and α-Mg was studied by immersion testing in a 0.9% NaCl solution at 37oC. The quasi-in situ SEM and TEM results show that Mg2Ca corroded easier than α-Mg, indicating that Mg2Ca acted as an anode. The work function (Φ) for Mg2Ca calculated by first-principles is significantly lower compared to that for α-Mg. The Volta potential measured by a scanning Kelvin probe force microscope reveals that the Mg2Ca had a relatively low Volta potential (ψ) value. The lower Φ and ψ values for Mg2Ca indicate a lower electrochemical nobility, which is consistent with the experimental phenomenon.

This paper describes our course design approach that successfully transformed an undergraduate Robotics Technology course from in-person teaching to online guided by the TASKS model. Our course redesign process includes identifying conflicts, generating solutions, self-evaluation, and analyses of design solutions. We carefully balanced between Workload and students’ Affect, by designing comparable workloads as before, as well as maintaining students’ motivation similarly at the in-person level. Transforming this course consisting of lecture sessions and lab sessions with hardware and software elements yielded a set of course activities and teaching practices applicable to online teaching of other courses. When physical robots become unavailable, simulation projects were designed as alternatives and simulated versions of those physical projects used in face-to-face classroom. These simulation projects are in the areas of autonomous mobile robots, robotic manipulator, and advanced robotic control on MATLAB-ROS, respectively. Comparisons with past in-person results confirm that effective learning has been achieved remotely, having maintained student’s performance and motivation.

Rigid polyurethane foam (RPUF) has been fabricated and modified by hydrolyzed keratin to improve its flame retardancy and smoke suppression. Then, the limiting oxygen index (LOI), cone calorimeter (CONE), thermogravimetric analyzer and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to characterize the modified RPUFs. It was found that the LOI of the modified RPUFs increased with the presence of hydrolyzed keratin. In addition, the peak heat release rate (PHRR) and total heat release (THR) of the modified RPUF tended to decrease. The HRR of RPUF-HK5 reduced 28.8 kW/m2 compared with RPUF-0, and the THR of RPUF-HK5 was 0.74 MJ/m2 lower than that of RPUF-0. RPUF-HK5 had the most obvious smoke suppression effect. Compared with RPUF-0, the smoke density (Ds) and light transmittance (T) of RPUF-HK5 decreased by 8.88 and increased by 11.26%, respectively. The current research results showed that hydrolyzed keratin can improve the flame-retardant and smoke-suppression performances of RPUFs and that 5 wt% hydrolyzed keratin was the most suitable ratio for the modified RPUF.

Dietary supplementation with fermentation products of Astragalus can enhance the immune function of aquaculture animals. We explored the synergistic effects of Lactobacillus plantarum and Bacillus coagulans on the solid-state fermentation of Astragalus to investigate whether feeding fermentation products to crucian carp can improve disease resistance. The optimal ratio of Astragalus + (L. plantarum + B. coagulans) (ALB), temperature, and number was 3 : 3, 37°C, and 1.0 × 108 CFU/g, respectively. After 48 h mixed fermentation, the number of probiotics increased to 2.2 × 109 CFU/g, pH decreased to 3.2, and high molecular weight proteins disintegrated into small molecular weight or soluble proteins. In addition, several holes appeared on the Astragalus surface. Compared with unfermented Astragalus, the content of Astragalus polysaccharide and calycosin increased by 3.82- and 1.31-fold, respectively, on fermentation and that of total Astragalus saponins decreased by 0.77-fold. Furthermore, on Cyprinid herpesvirus 2 (CyHV-2) and Aeromonas veronii (A. veronii) challenges, the cumulative survival rates of crucian carp fed common feed and ALB were 80.00% and 65.00%, respectively. Overall, feeding mixed fermentation products to crucian carp positively impacted their health and disease resistance. We believe that our results provide theoretical guidance for developing effective plant-based agents to prevent diseases in crucian carp.

The computer revolution coming by way of data provides an innovative approach for the design of phononic crystals (PnCs) and elastic metamaterials (EMs). By establishing an analytical surrogate model for PnCs/EMs, deep learning based on artificial neural networks possesses the superiorities of rapidity and accuracy in design, making up for the shortcomings of traditional design methods. Here, the recent progresses on deep learning for forward prediction, parameter design, and topology design of PnCs and EMs are reviewed. The challenges and perspectives in this emerging field are also commented.

Aims Whether changes in endothelial tight junctions (TJs) lead to the formation of thoracic aortic aneurysm and dissection (TAAD) and serve as an early indicator and therapeutic target remains elusive. Methods and results Single-cell RNA sequencing analysis showed aberrant endothelial TJ expressions in the thoracic aortas of patients with TAAD. In a β-aminopropionitrile (BAPN)-induced TAAD mouse model, endothelial TJ function was disrupted in the thoracic aortas at an early stage (5 and 10 days) as observed by a vascular permeability assay, while the intercellular distribution of crucial TJ components was significantly decreased by en face staining. For the non-invasive detection of endothelial TJ function, two dextrans of molecular weights 4 and 70 kDa were conjugated with the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agent Gd-DOTA to synthesize FITC-dextran-DOTA-Gd and rhodamine B-dextran-DOTA-Gd. MRI images showed that both probes accumulated in the thoracic aortas of the BAPN-fed mice. Particularly, the mice with increased accumulated signals from 5 to 10 days developed TAAD at 14 days, whereas the mice with similar signals between the two time points did not. Furthermore, the protease-activated receptor 2 inhibitor AT-1001, which seals TJs, alleviated the BAPN-induced impairment of endothelial TJ function and expression and subsequently reduced TAAD incidence. Notably, endothelial-targeted ZO-1 conditional knockout increased TAAD incidence. Mechanistically, vascular inflammation and edema were observed in the thoracic aortas of the BAPN-fed mice, whereas these phenomena were attenuated by AT-1001. Conclusion The disruption of endothelial TJ function is an early event prior to TAAD formation, herein serving as a potential indicator and a promising target for TAAD.

The probe T-HS was developed as a fluorescent H2S probe using 1,8-naphthylamine as fluorescent platform and azide group as the reaction site, which can be effectively used for fluorescence imaging of endogenous and exogenous H2S in zebrafish and cells.