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Abstract. Background:. An artificial intelligence system of Faster Region-based Convolutional Neural Network (Faster R-CNN) is newly developed for the diagnosis of metastatic lymph node (LN) in rectal cancer patients. The primary objective of this study was to comprehensively verify its accuracy in clinical use. Methods:. Four hundred fourteen patients with rectal cancer discharged between January 2013 and March 2015 were collected from 6 clinical centers, and the magnetic resonance imaging data for pelvic metastatic LNs of each patient was identified by Faster R-CNN. Faster R-CNN based diagnoses were compared with radiologist based diagnoses and pathologist based diagnoses for methodological verification, using correlation analyses and consistency check. For clinical verification, the patients were retrospectively followed up by telephone for 36 months, with post-operative recurrence of rectal cancer as a clinical outcome; recurrence-free survivals of the patients were compared among different diagnostic groups, by methods of Kaplan-Meier and Cox hazards regression model. Results:. Significant correlations were observed between any 2 factors among the numbers of metastatic LNs separately diagnosed by radiologists, Faster R-CNN and pathologists, as evidenced by rradiologist-Faster R-CNN of 0.912, rPathologist-radiologist of 0.134, and rPathologist-Faster R-CNN of 0.448 respectively. The value of kappa coefficient in N staging between Faster R-CNN and pathologists was 0.573, and this value between radiologists and pathologists was 0.473. The 3 groups of Faster R-CNN, radiologists and pathologists showed no significant differences in the recurrence-free survival time for stage N0 and N1 patients, but significant differences were found for stage N2 patients. Conclusion:. Faster R-CNN surpasses radiologists in the evaluation of pelvic metastatic LNs of rectal cancer, but is not on par with pathologists. Trial Registration:. www.chictr.org.cn (No. ChiCTR-DDD-17013842)

Rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) retrofitting can greatly reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, thus contributing to carbon neutrality. Effective assessment of carbon emission reduction has become an urgent challenge for the government and for business enterprises. In this study, we propose a method to assess accurately the potential reduction of long-term carbon emission by installing solar PV on rooftops. This is achieved using the joint action of GF-2 satellite images, Point of Interest (POI) data, and meteorological data. Firstly, we introduce a building extraction method that extends the DeepLabv3+ by fusing the contextual information of building rooftops in GF-2 images through multi-sensory fields. Secondly, a ridgeline detection algorithm for rooftop classification is proposed, based on the Hough transform and Canny edge detection. POI semantic information is used to calculate the usable area under different subsidy policies. Finally, a multilayer perceptron (MLP) is constructed for long-term PV electricity generation series with regional meteorological data, and carbon emission reduction is estimated for three scenarios: the best, the general, and the worst. Experiments were conducted with GF-2 satellite images collected in Daxing District, Beijing, China in 2021. Final results showed that: (1) The building rooftop recognition method achieved overall accuracy of 95.56%; (2) The best, the general and the worst amount of annual carbon emission reductions in the study area were 7,705,100 tons, 6,031,400 tons, and 632,300 tons, respectively; (3) Multi-source data, such as POIs and climate factors play an indispensable role for long-term estimation of carbon emission reduction. The method and conclusions provide a feasible approach for quantitative assessment of carbon reduction and policy evaluation.

AIM:To study the therapeutic effect of visual occlusion combined with levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride tables on children with amblyopia. METHODS: Totally 90 cases(140 eyes)of children diagnosed with amblyopia in our hospital were selected from January 2016 to January 2017. They were randomly divided into the monotherapy group and the combined treatment group, and 35 healthy children(70 eyes)were selected as the normal group for comparison. Patients in the monotherapy group were treated with visual cover, while patients in the combined treatment group were treated with oral administration of levodopa and benserazide tablets on the basis of visual cover. Tears were extracted from both groups of children before and after treatment, and the protein levels of CREB and PKA in tears of 140 eyes and 70 eyes of children in the normal group were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The index levels of the two groups and the normal group were compared, as well as the therapeutic efficiency of different age groups and the total therapeutic efficiency of different methods. RESULTS: After treatment, the levels of IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-9 in the combined treatment group were significantly lower than those in the single treatment group after treatment(PPPPCONCLUSION: Combined with the traditional masking method, levodopa and benserazide hydrochloride tables can improve the treatment of children's amblyopia. The earlier the treatment time, the better and the higher efficiency is.

Abstract Background Foodborne acute gastroenteritis is a significant public health concern. Food handling plays a key role in the risk of foodborne acute gastroenteritis. However, research focused on the correlation between foodborne acute gastroenteritis and food handling in the family environment is limited. The purpose of the current study was to determinate the association between food handling behaviors in the family environment and foodborne acute gastroenteritis. Methods A cross-sectional investigation was conducted from September 1, 2015 to August 30, 2016 in Anhui Province, China. A multistage stratified cluster sampling method was designed to select subjects. Data on foodborne acute gastroenteritis and food handling were collected via questionnaire survey. Results Of the 1516 subjects included in the study, 165 (10.9%) reported having experienced symptoms of foodborne acute gastroenteritis in the past 4 weeks. The following behaviors were more prevalent in those that experienced acute gastroenteritis: (1) infrequently thoroughly heating milk (75.6%); (2) infrequently thoroughly heating cooked food purchased from outside (71.3%); (3) infrequently thoroughly heating leftovers stored in the refrigerator (32.5%), and (4) infrequently storing leftovers in the refrigerator (41.6%). A multivariate logistic regression analysis found that foodborne acute gastroenteritis was associated with the following behaviors: (1) often eating raw seafood (P

Abstract Background Zuojinwan (ZJW), a classic herbal formula, has been extensively used to treat gastric symptoms in clinical practice in China for centuries. However, the pharmacological mechanisms of ZJW still remain vague to date. Methods In the present work, a network pharmacology-based strategy was proposed to elucidate its underlying multi-component, multi-target, and multi-pathway mode of action against gastritis. First we collected putative targets of ZJW based on TCMSP and STITCH databases, and a network containing the interactions between the putative targets of ZJW and known therapeutic targets of gastritis was built. Then four topological parameters, “degree”, “betweenness”, “closeness”, and “coreness” were calculated to identify the major targets in the network. Furthermore, the major hubs were imported to the Metacore database to perform a pathway enrichment analysis. Results A total of 118 nodes including 59 putative targets of ZJW were picked out as major hubs in terms of their topological importance. The results of pathway enrichment analysis indicated that putative targets of ZJW mostly participated in various pathways associated with anti-inflammation response, growth and development promotion and G-protein-coupled receptor signaling. More importantly, five putative targets of ZJW (EGFR, IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α and MCP-1) and two known therapeutic targets of gastritis (CCKBR and IL-12β) and a link target NF-κB were recognized as active factors involved in the main biological functions of treatment, implying the underlying mechanisms of ZJW acting on gastritis. Conclusion ZJW could alleviate gastritis through the molecular mechanisms predicted by network pharmacology, and this research demonstrates that the network pharmacology approach can be an effective tool to reveal the mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) from a holistic perspective.

A novel laccase from a newly isolated white-rot fungus Trametes sp. MA-X01 was characterized. The sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) showed that the molecular weight of the laccase produced by Trametes sp. MA-X01 in liquid medium was approximately 62 kDa. The optimal temperature was 60 °C. The enzyme was quite stable at high temperature and maintained about 85% of its highest activity after incubation at 60 °C for 2 h. The laccase could work efficiently over a wide pH range (3.0–5.0) with no significant difference in enzyme activity. Among the metals tested, Mg2+, Mn2+, Zn2+ and Cu2+ could promote the laccase activity, whereas the laccase activity was strongly inhibited by β-mercaptoethanol, l-cysteine and dithiothreitol. Furthermore, the laccase from Trametes sp. MA-X01 exhibited strong ability to decolorize different structural dyes, including azo, heterocyclic and triphenylmethane dyes, in the absence of a redox mediator.

Abstract Background Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) procedure has played a vital role in management of portal hypertension. Thus, we aimed to investigate the natural history, long-term clinical outcome, predictors of survival in viral hepatitis related cirrhotic patients post-TIPS. Method A total of 704 patients with complete followed-up data were enrolled, and clinical characteristics of patients were collected and analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate survival, and comparisons were made by log rank test. A multivariate analysis of factors influencing survival was carried out using the Cox proportional hazards regression model. Results TIPS implatantion significantly decreased portal vein pressure with 9.77 cmH2O reduction, without influencing long-term liver functions. The total incidence rate of major complication post-TIPS, including HE and re-bleeding/bleeding, was 37.9% and 15.5%, respectively. Patients in Child-Pugh C stage revealed higher overt hepatic encephalopathy (HE) occurrence (65.6%), while patients receiving covered, 6 mm in diameter stents indicated notably lower incidence of HE in comparison with other groups (6.4%). The median survival was > 60 months, 27.0 months, and 11.5 months in cirrhotic patients with variceal bleeding, refractory ascites, and both complications, respectively. The cumulative 5-year survival was significantly higher in patients with variceal bleeding (75.6%) in comparison with either that in patients with refractory ascites (12.5%) or that in patients with both complications (1.96%) (P 0.05). Conclusion TIPS was an effective and safe therapeutic method for decompression of portal hypertension and for treatment of its complications. Careful selection of patients with minimal liver dysfunction for TIPS implantation was essential for better long-term outcomes.

Mal de débarquement syndrome (MdDS) is a motion-induced disorder of oscillating vertigo that persists after the motion has ceased. The neuroimaging characteristics of the MdDS brain state have been investigated with studies on brain metabolism, structure, functional connectivity, and measurements of synchronicity. Baseline metabolism and resting-state functional connectivity studies indicate that a limbic focus in the left entorhinal cortex and amygdala may be important in the pathology of MdDS, as these structures are hypermetabolic in MdDS and exhibit increased functional connectivity to posterior sensory processing areas and reduced connectivity to the frontal and temporal cortices. Both structures are tunable with periodic stimulation, with neurons in the entorhinal cortex required for spatial navigation, acting as a critical efferent pathway to the hippocampus, and sending and receiving projections from much of the neocortex. Voxel-based morphometry measurements have revealed volume differences between MdDS and healthy controls in hubs of multiple resting-state networks including the default mode, salience, and executive control networks. In particular, volume in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortices decreases and volume in the bilateral inferior frontal gyri/anterior insulas increases with longer duration of illness. Paired with noninvasive neuromodulation interventions, functional neuroimaging with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and simultaneous fMRI-EEG have shown changes in resting-state functional connectivity that correlate with symptom modulation, particularly in the posterior default mode network. Reduced parieto-occipital connectivity with the entorhinal cortex and reduced long-range fronto-parieto-occipital connectivity correlate with symptom improvement. Though there is a general theme of desynchronization correlating with reduced MdDS symptoms, the prediction of optimal stimulation parameters for noninvasive brain stimulation in individuals with MdDS remains a challenge due to the large parameter space. However, the pairing of functional neuroimaging and noninvasive brain stimulation can serve as a probe into the biological underpinnings of MdDS and iteratively lead to optimal parameter space identification.

This meta-analysis investigated the comparative efficacy and safety of PARP inhibitor monotherapy as maintenance treatment in platinum sensitive recurrent ovarian cancer (ROC). Electronic databases were systematically searched for relevant RCTs. The primary endpoint was PFS. The results were stratified based on three categories: BRCA mutated patients, HRD patients, and overall population. The secondary outcome were discontinuations due to adverse events and grade 3 or 4 adverse events in maintenance phase. Five eligible RCTs were included in the network meta-analysis. For patients with BRCA mutated ovarian cancer, olaparib-throughout (HR = 0.21 with 95% CrI: 0.081–0.55), rucaparib (HR = 0.23 with 95% CrI: 0.16–0.34), olaparib (HR = 0.27 with 95% CrI: 0.20–0.35), and niraparib (HR = 0.26 with 95% CrI: 0.17–0.41) were all highly effective in comparison with placebo at improving PFS. For HRD patients, both rucaparib (HR = 0.32 with 95% CrI: 0.24–0.42) and niraparib (HR = 0.38 with 95% CrI: 0.24–0.60) were all highly effective in comparison with placebo at improving PFS. For the overall population, olaparib-throughout (HR = 0.51 with 95% CrI: 0.34–0.76), rucaparib (HR = 0.37 with 95% CrI: 0.30–0.45), olaparib (HR = 0.35 with 95% CrI: 0.25–0.49), and niraparib (HR = 0.38 with 95% CrI: 0.30–0.48) were all highly effective in comparison with placebo at improving PFS. Regarding grade 3 or 4 adverse events, the incidence of grade 3 or 4 toxicity reactions to rucaparib and niraparib were significantly higher than in the olaparib group. In terms of discontinuations due to adverse events, the treatment discontinuations were not significantly different between the three drugs. In summary, all the included maintenance treatment regimens are effective regardless of BRCA mutational status, and no statistically significant differences between rucaparib, niraparib and Olaparib in terms of PFS. In terms of safety profile, the three drugs present manageable adverse events. Clinicians should consider potential adverse events related to each of these interventions in clinical practice, and the adverse events are generally manageable.

Paucity of the glucose transporter-1 (Glut1) protein resulting from haploinsufficiency of the SLC2A1 gene arrests cerebral angiogenesis and disrupts brain function to cause Glut1 deficiency syndrome (Glut1 DS). Restoring Glut1 to Glut1 DS model mice prevents disease, but the precise cellular sites of action of the transporter, its temporal requirements, and the mechanisms linking scarcity of the protein to brain cell dysfunction remain poorly understood. Here, we show that Glut1 functions in a cell-autonomous manner in the cerebral microvasculature to affect endothelial tip cells and, thus, brain angiogenesis. Moreover, brain endothelial cell–specific Glut1 depletion not only triggers a severe neuroinflammatory response in the Glut1 DS brain, but also reduces levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and causes overt disease. Reduced BDNF correlated with fewer neurons in the Glut1 DS brain. Controlled depletion of the protein demonstrated that brain pathology and disease severity was greatest when Glut1 scarcity was induced neonatally, during brain angiogenesis. Reducing Glut1 at later stages had mild or little effect. Our results suggest that targeting brain endothelial cells during early development is important to ensure proper brain angiogenesis, prevent neuroinflammation, maintain BDNF levels, and preserve neuron numbers. This requirement will be essential for any disease-modifying therapeutic strategy for Glut1 DS.

A topological index is a numeric quantity assigned to a graph that characterizes the structure of a graph. Topological indices and physico-chemical properties such as atom-bond connectivity ABC, Randić, and geometric-arithmetic index GA are of great importance in the QSAR/QSPR analysis and are used to estimate the networks. In this area of research, graph theory has been found of considerable use. In this paper, the distinct degrees and degree sums of enhanced Mesh network, triangular Mesh network, star of silicate network, and rhenium trioxide lattice are listed. The edge partitions of these families of networks are tabled which depend on the sum of degrees of end vertices and the sum of the degree-based edges. Utilizing these edge partitions, the closed formulae for some degree-based topological indices of the networks are deduced.

Intestinal epithelial barrier protects intestine from infection and injury, while chronic inflammation is a trigger for tumorigenesis. As a member of tight junctions (TJs) family, Claudin-7 (Cldn-7) is dedicated to maintaining cell polarity and TJs barrier integrity, and closely related to the development of inflammation and tumors. However, potential roles of Cldn-7 in intestinal inflammation and colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC) have not been well characterized in vivo. Here, we analyzed the expression profile of Cldn-7 in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and CAC. Colitis and colitis-cancer transformation models were established based on inducible intestinal conditional Cldn-7 gene knockout mice (Cldn7fl/fl;villin-CreERT2), by intraperitoneal injection of azomethane (AOM) and dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) feeding. Cldn-7 knockout promoted susceptibility to colitis and CAC, aggravated clinical symptoms, severely damaged intestinal epithelium, increased mucosal inflammation accompanied dysregulated cell proliferation-apoptosis. Epithelial barrier integrity was destroyed, and intercellular permeability was increased. After AOM/DSS induction, tumor burden and volume were increased, characterized by enhanced proliferation and activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Mechanistically, Cldn-7 deficiency promoted colitis and subsequently malignant transformation by destroying TJs integrity and increasing inflammatory cascade. Overall, based on Cldn-7 knockout mouse model, we have first demonstrated the key roles of Cldn-7 in maintaining intestinal homeostasis and preventing IBD and consequent CAC. Abbreviations: AJs: adherens junctions; AOM: azomethane; Cldn-7: Claudin-7; CRC: colorectal cancer; CAC: colitis-associated colorectal cancer; CD: Crohn’s disease; DSS: dextran sodium sulfate; DAI: disease activity index; EMT: epithelial-mesenchymal transition; FITC: fluorescence isothiocyanate; HB: hemoglobin; IBD: inflammatory bowel disease; IECs: intestinal epithelial cells; ISCs: intestinal stem cells; PLT: platelet; RBC: red blood cell; ROS: reactive oxygen species; TAM: tamoxifen; TJs: tight junctions; TCF/LEF: T-cell factor/lymphoid enhancer factor; UC: ulcerative colitis; WBC: white blood cell.