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The deep sea has abundant resources and is regarded as the "sixth continent" that humans can use. Although research on the deep sea has made some progress, its exploration is not deep enough. The acquisition and analysis of deep-sea images can provide important technical means for deep-sea exploration and the acquisition of information. However, there is currently no complete underwater image dataset. For this reason, this paper is the first deep-sea visual dataset of the South China Sea, contains over 100 TB videos and 1 million high quality images. This paper also applies the dataset to underwater image enhancement and image superresolution, and the experiment proves the effectiveness of the dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased oil-spill possibilities in sea-ice areas pose a threat to the marine environment and the ice-area coverage. Contrary to being widely used in monitoring oil spills in open waters, quantitative analyses of oil-spill hyperspectral information in ice-covered sea areas are inadequate. Due to multiple propagating processes, small oil droplets tend to form and mix into ice, resulting in low background oil concentration. For a complex nonlinear mixture, accurately estimating the material abundances remains a challenging yet fundamental task, particularly with extensive detailed and low-energy information. Herein, an abundance estimation method with normalizations in a combined polynomial and sine model is proposed to resolve the over-fitting problems. An energy information–based wavelet package scheme effectively highlights the latent information of the concerned materials. The oil-contaminated sea-ice images were generated with spectral reflectance collected outdoors on sea ice in Bohai Bay, China, in the form of pure as well as mixed spectral signatures. Experimental analyses suggest that the proposed method exhibits superior unmixing performance, particularly in delivering more accurate abundance estimations of different oil concentration levels as low as 10 − 4 than classic unmixing methods, even in low signal-to-noise data, and can be used to respond to oil spills at high latitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China in recent years has been actively promoting the policy of establishing national parks to preserve nature systems. Visitor center (VC) is one of the most important infrastructures for protection, education, and recreation purposes in national parks. However, the current design of VCs in China is mostly based on the subjective considerations of designers and lacks in-depth discussion on the requirements of visitors. This study employed the Kano Two-Dimensional Quality method to investigate the design requirements of visitors and experts and then applied the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) method to transform the requirements into design strategies. Based on these design strategies, the design of VC in a national park in southeast China was taken as an example, and two design teams were used to verify the architectural scheme design and obtain feedback from visitors through a questionnaire survey. The research results show that the design strategies proposed by this study can better meet the expectations and satisfaction of the public. In the future, it is suggested that more parties, such as national park managers and community residents, should be involved in the study to obtain better planning and design strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A good understanding of the processes of land surface temperature (LST) change is important for assessing regional climate change. In the present study, we obtained the MODIS MOD11A2 LST products over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2001 to 2020. In order to comprehensively assess the spatial and temporal variability of LST in the YRD region over the past two decades, the Theil–Sen Median trend analysis and Mann–Kendall test, BFAST01 trend decomposition, and landscape pattern analysis were used in this study. We show that the rate of linear change in LST in the YRD ranges from −0.019 °C/month to 0.046 °C/month. The BFAST01 trend decomposition identifies more details of LST change and monotonic increases, reversal increase, and interruption increase are the main warming trends. The distribution of the different trend types shows strong aggregation with high spatial heterogeneity. The LST breakpoints are mainly located in the northern and southern YRD, which frequently occurred during 2010–2013. Of the various land types, breakpoints occur most frequently in cropland and high NDVI (0.5–0.7) areas, and the intensity of most of them is within 2 °C. In addition, much stronger warming occurs in urban areas than in other land types. Our study provides a better understanding of the dynamics of LST in the YRD region over the past 20 years and highlights that breakpoints cannot be circumvented in regional temperature assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating the characteristics of urban expansion is helpful in managing the relationship between urbanization and the ecological and environmental issues related to sustainable development. The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program/Operational Line-scan System (DMSP/OLS) collects visible and near-infrared light fromthe Earth's surface at nightwithoutmoonlight. It generates effective time series data for mapping the dynamics of urban expansion. As a major urban agglomeration in the world, the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomeration (YRDUA) is an important intersection zone of both the "Belt and Road Initiative" and the "Yangtze River Economic Belt" in China. Therefore, this paper analyses urban expansion characteristics of the YRDUA for 1993-2012 from urban extents extracted from the DMSP/OLS for 1993, 1997, 2002, 2007, and 2012. First, calibration procedures are applied to DMSP/OLS data, including intercalibration, intra-annual composition, and inter-annual series correction procedures. Spatial extents are then extracted from the corrected DMSP/OLS data, and a threshold is determined via the spatial comparison method. Finally, three models are used to explore urban expansion characteristics of the YRDUA from expansion rates, expansion spatial patterns, and expansion evaluations. The results show that the urban expansion of the YRDUA occurred at an increasing rate from 1993-2007 and then declined after 2007 with the onset of the global financial crisis. The Suxichang and Ningbo metropolitan circles were seriously affected by the financial crisis, while the Hefei metropolitan circle was not. The urban expansion of the YRDUA moved from the northeast to the southwest over the 20-year period. Urban expansion involved internal infilling over the first 15 years and then evolved into external sprawl and suburbanization after 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective There has been conflicting evidence regarding the role of single lipid species in the pathogenesis of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). We aimed to explore the associations between dyslipidemia phenotypes (combinations of lipid parameters) and the risk of NAFLD. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using a cohort of 9560 apparently healthy Chinese adults who underwent comprehensive health checkups including abdominal ultrasonography. Results Of 3709 participants with NAFLD, 41.8% were classified as normolipemia (NL), 3.8% as combined hyperlipidemia, 3.2% as hypercholesterolemia, 17.7% as dyslipidemia of metabolic syndrome (MetS), 10.2% as isolated low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and 23.3% as isolated hypertriglyceridemia. The multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (ORs) (with 95% confidence intervals) for NAFLD in those with combined hyperlipidemia, those with hypercholesterolemia, those with MetS dyslipidemia, those with low HDL-C, and those with hypertriglyceridemia compared with those with NL were 4.79 (3.19–7.20), 1.26 (0.94–1.69), 3.31 (2.74–3.99), 1.13 (0.95–1.34), and 2.63 (2.26–3.08), respectively. The associations between combined hyperlipidemia, MetS dyslipidemia, or hypertriglyceridemia and risk of NAFLD were consistently seen in various evaluated subgroups. The interactions between lipid phenotypes and sex, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), or uric acid (UA) were not significant for NAFLD (all P > 0.05). Conclusions There were diverse dyslipidemia phenotypes in patients with NAFLD. Combined hyperlipidemia, MetS dyslipidemia, and hypertriglyceridemia were strongly and independently associated with increased risk of NAFLD. Gender, BMI, BP, FPG, and UA status did not modify the associations between dyslipidemia phenotypes and NAFLD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pangenomic study might improve the completeness of human reference genome (GRCh38) and promote precision medicine. Here, we use an automated pipeline of human pangenomic analysis to build gastric cancer pan-genome for 185 paired deep sequencing data (370 samples), and characterize the gene presence-absence variations (PAVs) at whole genome level. Genes ACOT1, GSTM1, SIGLEC14 and UGT2B17 are identified as highly absent genes in gastric cancer population. A set of genes from unaligned sequences with GRCh38 are predicted. We successfully locate one of predicted genes GC0643 on chromosome 9q34.2. Overexpression of GC0643 significantly inhibits cell growth, cell migration and invasion, cell cycle progression, and induces cell apoptosis in cancer cells. The tumor suppressor functions can be reversed by shGC0643 knockdown. The GC0643 is approved by NCBI database (GenBank: MW194843.1). Collectively, the robust pan-genome strategy provides a deeper understanding of the gene PAVs in the human cancer genome., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma (PACC) is a rare malignancy that accounts for less than 1% of primary pancreatic neoplasms. Currently, the lack of large-scale clinical studies limits our understanding of PACC. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of PACC., Methods: In a retrospective analysis, 52 patients with PACC and 355 patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) who underwent surgical interventions were evaluated. Clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes were compared between the two groups., Results: The mean age was lower for patients with PACC than for those with PDAC (mean: 50.8 ± 10.9 versus 59.4 ± 10.9 years; p < 0.001). Except for alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), tumour markers were also lower in the PACC group than the PDAC group. In regard to tumour characteristics, maximum diameters of the primary tumour [median (range): 5.0 cm (1.0-18.2 cm) versus 3.5 cm (0.6-15.0 cm); p < 0.001] and hepatic metastatic lesions [6.7 cm (1.5-12.6 cm) versus 1.2 cm (0.3-3.3 cm); p < 0.001] were larger in patients with PACC than patients with PDAC, but vascular invasion [23.1% (12/52) versus 35.5% (126/355); p = 0.044] and perineural invasion [7.7% (4/52) versus 56.1% (199/355); p < 0.001] were more common in patents with PDAC than in patients with PACC. For treatment, radical resection was performed in 57.7% of patients with PACC, which increased the 5-year survival rate to 31.8%. In regard to prognosis, the 5-year survival rate was 21.4% for PACC and 9.7% for PDAC (p < 0.0001)., Conclusions: PACC is more indolent than PDAC, which makes early diagnosis more difficult. Although the stage may be advanced at diagnosis, the overall survival (OS) of PACC is much better than that of PDAC, and the prognosis greatly improves after radical resection., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Establishing fever clinic was an important achievement of the fight against severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, and played an important role in the subsequent outbreaks of H1N1, H7N9 and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). Fever clinics have significant emergency characteristics, but there are no rescue conditions in the fever clinics. Consequently, the problem of establishment and management of fever clinics is still outstanding. Based on the development of fever clinics, this paper analyzes the operational dilemma of fever clinics, explores the measures of establishment and management of fever clinics, and constructs the operational mechanism of fever clinics in order to provide the basis for the emergency management system of public health emergencies, which is suitable for Chinese health system.

Objective: To analyze the using of pre-hospital emergency resources and treatment characteristics of acute alcoholism patients in Guangzhou., Methods: The pre-hospital emergency data of the emergency department of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University from January 1st in 2009 to December 31st in 2018 were obtained from the database of the Guangzhou Emergency Medical Command Center. The related data of patients with acute alcoholism were collected, including gender, age, poisoning severity, treatment results, caller type, number of empty vehicles (empty vehicle was defined as the empty vehicle return caused by the ambulance who did not receive or refused to come to the hospital after the ambulance leaved), departure time (from the ambulance to the completion time), on-site time (from the ambulance to the patient boarding time) and the distribution of pre-hospital emergency time in 24 hours on weekdays and weekends. The relationship between acute alcoholism patients and the peak of in-hospital emergency treatment was analyzed., Results: A total of 2 408 acute alcoholism patients were recorded, among whom 2 109 patients (87.58%) with acute alcoholism,126 (5.23%) with drug poisoning, 67 (2.78%) with chemical poisoning, 3 (0.13%) with pesticide poisoning, and 103 (4.28%) with other poisoning. Acute alcoholism patients were mainly male, with a total of 1 862 cases (88.29%), and the ratio between males and females was 7.54:1. In 2 109 patients with acute alcoholism, 93.41% were in the age range of 18-59 years old. The number of mild patients was 1 717 (81.41%), 1 178 (55.86%) needed further treatment, and no patient died. For the occupation of pre-hospital emergency resources, 43.24% (912/2 109) of acute alcoholism called 120 through 110 with empty vehicles of 36.79% (776/2 109), which were significantly higher than the acute cerebrovascular disease [3.83% (362/9 461), 5.80% (549/9 461), both P < 0.01], acute trauma [24.29% (1 708/7 033), 7.96% (560/7 033), both P < 0.01], acute circulation system disease [2.44% (90/3 694), 2.87% (106/3 694), both P < 0.01], and acute respiratory system disease [0.86% (31/3 606), 1.58% (57/3 606), both P < 0.01]. Furthermore, empty vehicles were more likely to happen through 110 with empty vehicles rate of 51.75% (472/912), which was significantly higher than that through the witness [40.82% (60/147), P < 0.01] and relatives and friends [23.24% (244/1 050), P < 0.01]. The driving time and on-site time of acute alcoholism were significantly shorter than those of acute cerebrovascular disease, acute circulation system disease, and acute respiratory system disease [driving time (minutes): 26 (20, 34) vs. 34 (26, 45), 38 (29, 49), 38 (29, 50); on-site time (minutes): 6 (4, 10) vs. 10 (7, 14), 10 (7, 15), 10 (8, 15), all P < 0.01], but there was no statistical difference as compared with acute trauma [driving time (minutes): 26 (20, 34) vs. 29 (20, 42), on-site time (minutes): 6 (4, 10) vs. 7 (4, 11), both P > 0.05]. The regularity of variation in number of critically acute alcoholism patients was distinctive, which peaked in the period of 21:00-00:00 and bottomed out in the period of 09:00-13:00, which overlapped with the peak flow in the hospital emergency department (17:00-22:00)., Conclusions: Acute alcoholism patients occupy excessive pre-hospital emergency resources, and overlap with the hospital emergency treatment peak. It is necessary to strengthen the public propaganda and education on the rational usage of 120 emergency resources and reduce waste.

Objective: To clarify the roles of organ failure and infection in the outcome of necrotizing pancreatitis., Background: Results of previous cohort studies that focused on the roles of infection and organ failure in acute pancreatitis are controversial., Methods: In this study, we collected the medical records of 447 patients with necrotizing pancreatitis from January 2009 to June 2012. Data associated with organ failure and infection were analyzed., Results: The overall mortality rate was 13% (58/447). Intervention was performed in 223 of 447 patients. Among these 223 patients, 134 were confirmed to be with infected necrosis by a positive culture. The mortality rate was 15% (13/89) in the sterile necrosis group and 18% (24/134) in the infected necrosis group (P = 0.52). A multivariate analysis of death predictors indicated that bacteremia (odds ratio [OR] = 2.76, 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.23-5.46, P < 0.001), age (OR = 1.07, 95% CI, 1.03-1.11, P < 0.001), American Society of Anesthesiologists class (OR = 3.56, 95% CI, 1.65-7.18, P = 0.001), persistent organ failure in the first week (OR = 16.72, 95% CI, 7.04-32.56, P < 0.001), and pancreatic necrosis (OR = 1.73, 95% CI, 1.14-2.98, P = 0.008) were significant factors., Conclusions: Among patients with necrotizing pancreatitis, the effects of organ failure on mortality are more critical than those of infection. Bacteremia, age, American Society of Anesthesiologists class, persistent organ failure in the first week, and pancreatic necrosis were identified as the predictors of mortality.

To investigate the platelet activity in Chinese obese adolescents with and without insulin resistance. A cross-sectional study was performed in 159 obese Chinese adolescents to investigate their platelet activity using anthropometrics and biochemical parameters, oral glucose tolerance test and platelet testing. An index of insulin sensitivity, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and plasma fibrinogen, prothrombin fragment 1.2 (PT 1.2), fibrinopeptide A (FPA) and the levels of aggregation to collagen 1 μg/ml, adenosine diphosphate (ADP) 10 μmol/L and arachidonic acid (AA) 0.5 mmol/L were measured. Obese adolescents with insulin resistance had significantly higher HOMA-IR, glucose response curve (AUC), insulin AUC, PT 1.2, FPA and fibrinogen and aggregation (to collagen 1 μg/ml, ADP 10 μmol/L and AA 0.5 mmol/L) comparison with obese adolescents without insulin resistance (P < 0.05). Moreover, a positive correlation was found between both aggregation (to collagen, ADP and AA) and HOMA-IR (ρ = 0.716; P < 0.01, ρ = 0.682; P < 0.01 and ρ = 0.699; P < 0.01, respectively), glucose AUC (ρ = 0.479; P < 0.01, ρ = 0.416; P < 0.01 and ρ = 0.458; P < 0.01, respectively) and insulin AUC (ρ = 0.585; P < 0.01, ρ = 0.511; P < 0.01 and ρ = 0.576; P < 0.01, respectively) in obese adolescents with insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a major determinant of platelet activation in Chinese obese adolescents.