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Abstract Background There is a paucity of data regarding sex-oriented analyses of connection between muscle quantity and quality and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), taking into account the pathophysiological differences of sarcopenia/myosteatosis in males versus females. We sought to investigate the associations between skeletal muscle index (SMI)-defined sarcopenia and intramuscular adipose tissue content (IMAC)-defined myosteatosis and EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D)-defined HRQoL in patients with decompensated cirrhosis concerning sex disparities. Methods Totally, 382 patients were enrolled. The relationship between SMI/IMAC and HRQoL was evaluated with restricted cubic spline and Pearson correlation analyses. Furthermore, association between SMI or sarcopenia and EQ-5D utility index was determined by multiple linear regression, adjusted for age, BMI and concurrent disease severity. Results The study population comprised evenly distributed male and female patients (190: 192), mean age 61.9 years. The prevalence of sarcopenia (40.5 versus 9.9%, P

Abstract Background/objectives Malnutrition coexisting with abdominal adipose tissue accumulation bring a double burden on prognosis. More recently, the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM) has reached a novel consensus concerning the diagnostic criteria, that is, a two-step modality combining nutritional risk screening and subsequent phenotypic/etiologic parameters for comprehensive evaluation in hopes of harmonizing the malnutrition diagnosis. We aimed to elucidate their synergistic impact among inpatients with decompensated cirrhosis concerning long-term mortality. Subjects/methods Malnutrition, visceral obesity, and visceral adiposity were defined by the Global Leadership Initiative on Malnutrition (GLIM), visceral fat area (VFA), and visceral to subcutaneous adipose tissue area ratio (VSR) on computed tomography, respectively. Accordingly, the patients were categorized into different groups given their nutritional status and visceral obesity/adiposity. Multivariate Cox regression was performed to identify independent risk factors associated with 1-year all-cause mortality. Kaplan–Meier curves with log-rank tests were compared among distinct groups. Results Totally, 295 patients were recruited. GLIM, VFA, and VSR identified 131 (44.4%), 158 (53.6%), and 59 (20%) patients with malnutrition, visceral obesity and visceral adiposity, respectively. Malnutrition coexisted with visceral obesity in 55 (MO group) relative to visceral adiposity in 40 patients (MA group). Multivariate Cox analysis showed that MA (hazard ratio: 2.48; 95% confidence interval: 1.06, 5.79; P = 0.036) was independently associated with dire outcome rather than MO. Moreover, patients with cirrhosis in the MA group had the worst survival status when compared with other groups (log-rank test: P

Monitoring complex and dynamic land systems such as tropical agroforests using remote sensing presents a significant challenge in ecological research. Traditional mapping methods are hindered not only by spectral similarity between agroforests and forests, but also by the spatial heterogeneity of forest-agroforest frontiers and the high data demand at large scales is an additional challenge. In this study, we aim to develop a modeling framework to distinguish between forests, secondary forests, agroforests (e.g. shade-grown perennials), and non-tree agricultural classes (e.g. active cropland, grassland, young fallow) in the Peruvian Amazon. To achieve this, we combine deep learning and remote sensing data, including 3-m PlanetScope satellite imagery, a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and temporal data from the Landtrendr change detection algorithm. We conducted a sequence of modeling experiments involving different complexity of the data inputs and output classes, with overall accuracies ranging from 28.6 % to 82.9 %. Integrating a DEM as an additional helped the generalization of models across different geographical sites but did not improve the overall accuracy, whereas adding temporal information did not improve generalization or accuracy. Challenges arise in accurately identifying successional land cover types, particularly young fallow, which exhibits spectral similarity to other classes. Reducing the target classes from seven to four was found to considerably improve the accuracy of the predictions. Our findings contribute to distinguishing agroforests from forests at a large scale, providing insights into previously undetected tree-covered land uses and thus informing on sustainable ecosystem management. Yet, our results underscore the limitations of remote sensing in heterogeneous forest-agriculture landscapes and emphasize the need for further research to address persistent challenges and improve classification accuracy for monitoring global environmental change.

Lead is an indispensable non-ferrous metal for industrial development. As primary galena(PbS) resources are being exhausted, the utilization of lead oxide ore resources have become increasingly important. Compared with the conventional lead oxide surface sulfidation flotation method by NaHS dosing in the pulp, the roasting sulfidation pre-treatment method has the characteristics of high efficiency and suitable for various types of ores. In this paper, we firstly demonstrate that pyrite(FeS2) can provide a sulfurous atmosphere to convert cerussite(PbCO3) into galena(PbS) through thermodynamic calculations. Then, the reaction conditions were optimized through the roasting sulfidation conditions such as the contact mode, time and temperature of the reaction, and the sulfidation mechanism of cerussite at high temperature roasting was studied by using XRF, XRD, SEM and XPS. It was clarified that the sulfidation of cerussite was progressed by reacting with sulfur-based atmosphere from the surface layer to form PbS, and then gradually penetrating into the inner layer until PbS was completely generated, and the recovery rate was increased from 14.95 % to >80 % after optimization.

The fruit industry is a significant economic sector in China, with modern orchards gradually transitioning to trellis orchards. For mechanized orchard operations, automatic vehicle navigation is essential. However, in trellis orchards, the shading from trees results in low average light intensity and large variations in lighting, posing challenges for path navigation. To address this, a path navigation algorithm for trellis orchards is proposed based on the UNet-CBAM model. The network structures of UNet, FCN, and SegNet are compared to identify and select the optimal structure for further improvement. Among the three attention mechanisms of channel attention, spatial attention, and combined attention, the most effective mechanism is identified. The optimal attention mechanism is incorporated into the optimized network to enhance the model’s ability to detect path edges and improve detection performance. To validate the effectiveness and generalizability of the model, a total of 400 images were collected under varying lighting intensities. The experimental results show that this method achieves an accuracy of 97.63%, a recall of 93.94%, and an Intersection over Union (IoU) of 92.19%. These results significantly enhance path recognition accuracy in trellis orchards, particularly under low light under conditions. Compared to the FCN and SegNet algorithms, this method provides higher detection accuracy and offers a new theoretical foundation and research approach for path recognition in low-light environments.

The potential of salicylic acid (SA) in delaying postharvest fruit senescence has been extensively documented; nevertheless, its effect on antioxidant activity and quality of ‘France’ prune fruit is largely unknown. The study investigated the effects of SA (0.5 mM) on postharvest quality deterioration of ‘France’ prune fruit. Results indicated that SA impeded the increase in respiration rate and weight loss, and mitigated the decrease of soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA) content, firmness, and hue angle. SA sustained the ascorbate-glutathione cycle by inducing the production of ascorbic acid (AsA) and glutathione (GSH) and attenuates flavonoids, total phenols, and anthocyanins degradation by inhibiting polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity and PdPPO. Moreover, SA significantly improved superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POD), and glutathione reductase (GR) activities and gene expression levels, sustained higher 2,2′-Azinobis-(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonate) (ABTS) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging capacity, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), and hydroxyl radical (·OH) inhibition capacity, and impeded the production of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and superoxide anion (O2•−). Overall, SA improved the antioxidant capacity by inducing the synthesis of defense response-related substances and promoting antioxidant enzyme activities to sustain the storage quality of ‘France’ prune fruit.

Abstract Aim Sarcopenia, multidimensional frailty, and malnutrition represent common debilitating conditions in the context of cirrhosis, linked to a variety of dismal outcomes. We aimed to clarify their overlap and cumulative impact on long‐term mortality in hospitalized patients with cirrhosis. Methods Consecutive patients with cirrhosis were prospectively recruited from January 2018 to December 2020. The diagnosis of sarcopenia, multidimensional frailty, and malnutrition was standardized according to the consensus definition and our well‐documented criteria. The prevalence of the respective debilitating condition and the concurrence of this comorbidity were calculated. Results In total, 253 patients with cirrhosis aged 64 years with a female predominance (52.4%) were recruited. Sarcopenia was present in 20.9% (53/253), multidimensional frailty in 12.6% (32/253), and malnutrition in 44.7% (113/253) of the entire cohort. Approximately half of the patients had at least one debilitating condition (127/253). Sarcopenia and malnutrition co‐existed in 33 nonfrail patients (13.0%) and multidimensional frailty and malnutrition in eight nonsarcopenic patients (3.2%). Fifteen (5.9%) subjects had all three debilitating conditions, namely malnutrition, sarcopenia, and frailty (MSF) group. The proportions of males, infections, and ascites were significantly higher in the MSF group. Patients in the MSF group had the highest levels of neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio and creatinine. The 2‐year mortality rates in patients with three debilitating conditions, two conditions, one condition, and no conditions were 60.0%, 23.8%, 21.4%, and 13.5%, respectively. Multivariate Cox regression indicated the long‐term mortality risk was approximately four‐fold higher among patients in the MSF group compared to those with no conditions. Conclusions A fraction of patients with cirrhosis exhibited comorbidities of sarcopenia, multidimensional frailty, and malnutrition, linked to a higher risk of long‐term mortality.

PurposeTo assess and compare the effectiveness of ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy (CNB) in comparison to repeat fine-needle aspiration(rFNA) for thyroid nodules that yield inconclusive results following the initial fine-needle aspiration (FNA).MethodsA cohort of 471 patients who received an inconclusive cytological diagnosis following the initial FNA were included in this study. These patients subsequently underwent either CNB (n=242) or rFNA (n=229). The inconclusive FNA results encompassed categories I, III, and IV of The Bethesda System for Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology(TBSRTC), as well as the ultrasound images indicating malignancy despite FNA results falling under TBSRTC category II. This study assessed the sampling satisfaction rate, diagnostic efficacy, and complications associated with CNB compared to rFNA. Additionally, the impact of repeat puncture time and nodule size on diagnostic efficacy was analyzed.ResultsFollowing repeat punctures, the satisfaction rate of the CNB sampling was found to be significantly higher than that of rFNA (83.9% vs 66.8%). The diagnostic rate in the CNB group was significantly greater compared to that of the rFNA group (70.7% vs 35.8%). In patients with nodule maximum diameters ranging from 5 mm to 20 mm, the diagnostic accuracy was significantly higher in the CNB group compared to that in the rFNA group. In patients with intervals less than 90 days, between 90 days and one year, the diagnostic rate in the CNB group was found to be higher compared to that in the rFNA group. In CNB, not immediately adjacent to the capsule was a risk factor for nodular puncture bleeding (37.0% vs 22.7%.)ConclusionCNB demonstrated higher rates of satisfaction and diagnosis compared to the rFNA. The diagnostic effectiveness of CNB was not influenced by the time interval or the size of the thyroid nodule. Therefore, in cases where the initial FNA diagnosis of thyroid nodules is inconclusive, CNB should be considered as a viable option for re-puncture.

Winter jujube is extremely susceptible to softening and reddening after harvest, resulting in serious quality deterioration. The influences of abscisic acid (ABA) on the storage quality, cell wall metabolism, phenylpropane metabolism, and differentially expressed genes of winter jujube were investigated. The results showed that low concentration of ABA (0.2 mmol L−1) treatment maintained the firmness and greenness of winter jujube, while inhibiting respiration rate and ethylene production after harvest. Compared with control group, ABA treatment inhibited the activities of pectin methylesterase, polygalacturonase, β-1,3-glucanase, α-l-arabinofurosidase, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, but improved the activities of cinnamate-4-hydroxylase, 4-coumaric acid CoA ligase, and chalcone synthase. Transcriptome analysis revealed a total of 13,068 differentially expressed genes among control (0 d and 30 d) and ABA (30 d) groups, which were enriched in the phenylpropanoid metabolism, secondary metabolic biosynthesis, and plant hormone signal transduction pathways. In addition, ABA regulated 33, 29, 35, and 30 genes involved in cell wall metabolism, phenylpropane metabolism, plant hormone signal transduction, and related transcription factors respectively, thereby inhibiting softening and reddening, and delaying ripening and senescence to ultimately maintain the storage quality in winter jujube. These results supply a theoretical basis for investigating postharvest biology and developing storage and preservation techniques of winter jujube.

Semiconductors with bandgaps and edges corresponding to the solar energy spectrum are found to be suitable for the water splitting applications using photoelectrochemical reactions. However, many present‐day materials used in these applications do not have high stability and/or high effectiveness over the complete sunlight spectral range. The recently proposed eutectic compounds, which combine two or more semiconducting materials, can overcome many present difficulties and extend the light absorbance spectrum improving the effectiveness of the water splitting cells. Herein, structural and electronic properties studies of the SrTiO3–TiO2 eutectic material, which is a representative example of this family, are presented. It is found that structural properties of this material, particularly the phase separation and formation of the sharp interface between two phases, can be significantly improved up on the thermal annealing, which is very important for their application in the water splitting reactors. The findings present the deep understanding of the interface structure and electronic properties of the SrTiO3–TiO2 eutectic, which can help to improve the functionality of these class of materials in different applications.

The purpose of this research is to reveal the internal relationship among community green space, space perception, and activity behavior response to supplement the lack of research results on the binary relationship between green space and behavior. Nine residential community green spaces and 398 residents were selected as the research objects. Thematic clustering and factor identification were used to determine the spatial dimensions of community green space that residents were concerned about. The analysis of the green exposure index, spatial perception evaluation, and activity behavior survey were combined to determine the influence of the green exposure index on spatial perception and activity behavior and its internal correlation path. According to research data, the community green view index (GVI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) negatively affected the perception factor, while the perception factor positively affected the activity frequency. The SEM model shows that the green exposure index stimulated activity behavior through the intermediate effect of the internal perception path of perceived landscape quality, perceived workability, and perceived accessibility. Spatial perception as the basis of the instantaneous emotional reaction process may affect people's choices for activities but be unable to extend the duration of the activities. The internal association among community green space, spatial perception, and physical activity behavior develops on the basis of spatial patterns at certain scales. This study provides a theoretical basis for understanding the spatial experience and residents' behavioral needs, evaluating the quality of urban green space scientifically, and promoting the optimization of community green space structure.

Agricultural chemicals are commonly used to control pests and weeds, but cause pesticide waste problems. Oil-based emulsions are often used as pesticide formulations to improve pesticide utilization. In this study, the spray visualization experiment of the water and oil-based emulsion butachlor is carried out using an ST flat fan nozzle at 0.1–0.5 MPa pressure. The dimensionless method is used to analyze the difference in liquid sheet fragmentation morphology and disintegration process and the influence of different fragmentation methods on droplet size. It is found that the hydrophobic components in pesticide have a significant effect on the morphology and process of atomization fragmentation. When spray liquid is water, the liquid sheet breaks up into liquid ligaments due to the Rayleigh instability, then the ligaments break up into droplets. The side view of a liquid sheet is a large-amplitude wave disturbance. When the spray liquid is the emulsion butachlor, holes are generated on the liquid sheet, then the holes break up into droplets. The fragmentation method of emulsion spray is the perforation mechanism. Compared with water spray, the presence of the pesticide butachlor increases the droplet size and spray angle and improves the uniformity of droplet size distribution but reduces the breakup length. The spray angle shows a power law dependence of the Weber number with a power of 0.17 for all conditions tested here. At 0.3 MPa, DV50 increases 25%, and span decreases from 1.187 to 1.172. This study could provide reference for the addition of agricultural additives, the improvement of spray operation efficiency, and the establishment of spray fragmentation mechanism.

Background: Sleep disturbance and trace elements imbalance are common features in patients with decompensated cirrhosis, partially sharing similar mechanistic contributors and linking to adverse outcomes. However, there is a paucity of data concerning their relationship. Objectives: To investigate the association between serum trace elements levels and sleep quality in the context of cirrhosis. Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: We consecutively enrolled 160 patients with decompensated cirrhosis. The sleep disturbance was determined by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI > 5). Serum trace elements [magnesium, calcium, iron, copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead, and manganese] was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Association of examined trace elements levels and sleep disturbance was analyzed by multiple linear (global PSQI scores) and multivariate logistic (dichotomized PSQI categories) regression models, respectively. Results: In total, 91 patients (56.88%) represented PSQI-defined sleep disturbance, characterized by female preponderance, lower body mass index levels, and higher serum Cu levels (all p 1.62 to exhibit better discrimination relative to respective Cu. Both multiple linear (β = 0.355, p

Abstract Skeletal muscle and fat tissue show distinct pathophysiological roles and pivotal functions. The culmination of muscle wasting and fat accumulation represents an opposite terminal of each state. Specifically, this situation has been designated as sarcopenic obesity. However, sarcopenic obesity still lacks a unanimous definition, diagnostic criteria, and generalized modalities for assessment in the context of versatile liver diseases. Moreover, the underpinning mechanisms by which a combination of abnormal skeletal muscle and fat tissue leads to the progression of liver disease and impairs health‐related consequences are still elusive. Additionally, the interplay between skeletal muscle and fat, and the driving factors that shift different body compositions are not well understood. Therefore, in this review, we discuss skeletal muscle and fat components, with the purpose of conceptualization, as well as interpret their roles in liver diseases. We focus on the definitions, diagnostic criteria, and currently available measurements for sarcopenic obesity in the literature. We comprehensively discuss recent data and evidence regarding the potential role of sarcopenic obesity in the development and progression of numerous liver diseases and associated conditions, including nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, chronic viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver transplantation. Furthermore, explicit information related to the pathogenesis of sarcopenic obesity from basic research is also provided in this narrative review. Finally, we discuss, from the clinical perspective of view, how to manage sarcopenic obesity using nutritional, physical, and pharmacological methods.

COVID-19 analysis from medical imaging is an important task that has been intensively studied in the last years due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, medical imaging has often been used as a complementary or main tool to recognize the infected persons. On the other hand, medical imaging has the ability to provide more details about COVID-19 infection, including its severity and spread, which makes it possible to evaluate the infection and follow-up the patient’s state. CT scans are the most informative tool for COVID-19 infection, where the evaluation of COVID-19 infection is usually performed through infection segmentation. However, segmentation is a tedious task that requires much effort and time from expert radiologists. To deal with this limitation, an efficient framework for estimating COVID-19 infection as a regression task is proposed. The goal of the Per-COVID-19 challenge is to test the efficiency of modern deep learning methods on COVID-19 infection percentage estimation (CIPE) from CT scans. Participants had to develop an efficient deep learning approach that can learn from noisy data. In addition, participants had to cope with many challenges, including those related to COVID-19 infection complexity and crossdataset scenarios. This paper provides an overview of the COVID-19 infection percentage estimation challenge (Per-COVID-19) held at MIA-COVID-2022. Details of the competition data, challenges, and evaluation metrics are presented. The best performing approaches and their results are described and discussed.

It is essential to determine contributors around impairment in health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with cirrhosis aiming at improving health care and therapeutic strategy. Studies simultaneously incorporating disease severity based on biochemical parameters and other physical/psychological effects (i.e., sleep disturbance and frailty) are heterogeneous and the subject of the present study. We analyzed and compared HRQoL, using the EuroQol Group 5 Dimension (EQ‐5D) questionnaire and the utility index retrieved, in patients with cirrhosis and across groups stratified by sleep disturbance or frailty phenotype. Sleep disturbance and frailty were determined by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Frailty Index, respectively. Multiple linear regression was implemented to clarify contributors of poor HRQoL. In this cohort of 227 patients with mean age of 61.7 years and 47.2% male, more than half of the study population represented impairment in HRQoL in at least one domain, according to EQ‐5D. Furthermore, sleep disturbance and frailty have proved to be independently associated with poor HRQoL in two separate regression models, whereas conventional scoring systems such as Child‐Pugh classification and Model for End‐Stage Liver Disease are not closely relevant. Intriguingly, not all health domains within EQ‐5D correlated well with PSQI and Frailty Index, with the exception of usual activities. Pain and anxiety/depression were the most frequently affected HRQoL domains even in patients without sleep disturbance or frailty. Conclusion: Impaired HRQoL is prevalent in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Sleep disturbance and frailty are independently associated with poor HRQoL. It is imperative to timely intervene with these symptoms and deliver tailored health care.

IntroductionLung adenocarcinoma (LUAD), as the most frequent pathological subtype of non−small cell lung cancer, is often characterized by poor prognosis and low 5-year survival rate. Exploriton of new biomarkers and accurate molecular mechanisms for effectively predicting the prognosis of LUAD patients is still necessary. Presently, BTG2 and SerpinB5, which play important roles in tumors, are studied as a gene pair for the first time with the aim of exploring whether they can be used as potential prognostic markers.MethodsUsing the bioinformatics method to explore whether BTG2 and SerpinB5 can become independent prognostic factors, and explore their clinical application value and whether they can be used as immunotherapeutic markers. In addition, we also verify the conclusions obtained from external datasets, molecular docking, and SqRT-PCR.ResultsThe results show that compared with normal lung tissue, BTG2 expression level was down-regulated and SerpinB5 was up-regulated in LUAD. Additionally, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis demonstrate that the prognosis of low expression level of BTG2 was poor, and that of high expression level of SerpinB5 was poor, suggesting that both of them can be used as independent prognostic factors. Moreover, the prognosis models of the two genes were constructed respectively in this study, and their prediction effect was verified by external data. Besides, ESTIMATE algorithm reveals the relationship between this gene pair and the immune microenvironment. Furthermore, patients with a high expression level of BTG2 and a low expression level of SerpinB5 have higher immunophenoscore for CTLA-4 and PD-1 inhibitors than patients with a low expression level of BTG2 and a high expression level of SerpinB5, indicating that such patients have a more obvious effect of immunotherapy.DiscussionCollectively, all the results demonstrate that BTG2 and SerpinB5 might serve as potential prognostic biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets for LUAD.

Abstract Background Dynamic changes of histone posttranslational modifications are important contexts of epigenetic reprograming after fertilization in pre-implantation embryos. Recently, lactylation has been reported as a novel epigenetic modification that regulates various cellular processes, but its role during early embryogenesis has not been elucidated. Results We examined nuclear accumulation of H3K23la, H3K18la and pan histone lactylation in mouse oocytes and pre-implantation embryos by immunofluorescence with specific antibodies. All of the three modifications were abundant in GV stage oocytes, and both H3K23la and pan histone lactylation could be detected on the condensed chromosomes of the MII oocytes, while H3K18la were not detected. After fertilization, the nuclear staining of H3K23la, H3K18la and pan histone lactylation was faint in zygotes but homogeneously stained both of the parental pronuclei. The signal remained weak in the early cleavage stage embryos and increased remarkably in the blastocyst stage embryos. Comparison of the embryos cultured in four different conditions with varying concentrations of oxygen found that H3K23la, H3K18la and pan histone lactylation showed similar and comparable staining pattern in embryos cultured in atmospheric oxygen concentration (20% O2), gradient oxygen concentration (5% O2 to 2% O2) and embryos obtained from in vivo, but the modifications were greatly reduced in embryos cultured in hypoxic condition (2% O2). In contrast, nuclear accumulation of H3K18ac or H3K23ac was not significantly affected under hypoxic condition. Moreover, the developmental rate of in vitro cultured embryo was significantly reduced by low oxygen concentration and small molecule inhibition of LDHA activity led to decreased lactate production, as well as reduced histone lactylation and compromised developmental rate. Conclusions We provided for the first time the dynamic landscape of H3K23la, H3K18la and pan histone lactylation in oocytes and pre-implantation embryos in mice. Our data suggested that histone lactylation is subjected to oxygen concentration in the culture environment and hypoxic in vitro culture reduces histone lactylation, which in turn compromises developmental potential of pre-implantation embryos in mice.

Apoptosis, as a very important biological process, is a response to developmental cues or cellular stress. Impaired apoptosis plays a central role in the development of cancer and also reduces the efficacy of traditional cytotoxic therapies. Members of the B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) protein family have pro- or anti-apoptotic activities and have been studied intensively over the past decade for their importance in regulating apoptosis, tumorigenesis, and cellular responses to anticancer therapy. Since the inflammatory response induced by apoptosis-induced cell death is very small, at present, the development of anticancer drugs targeting apoptosis has attracted more and more attention. Consequently, the focus of this review is to summarize the current research on the role of BCL-2 family proteins in regulating apoptosis and the development of drugs targeting BCL-2 anti-apoptotic proteins. Additionally, the mechanism of BCL-2 family proteins in regulating apoptosis was also explored. All the findings indicate the potential of BCL-2 family proteins in the therapy of cancer.

BackgroundMyosteatosis is linked to dismal outcomes in the context of cirrhosis. However, the association of myosteatosis with various body composition abnormalities remains enigmatic. We aimed to clarify the determinants of myosteatosis and its relationship with other body composition profiles and length of hospitalization (LOH).MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the data of 473 consecutive patients with cirrhosis hospitalized for decompensation. Computed tomography-based segmentation of the cross-sectional area at the third lumbar vertebra was used to evaluate body composition abnormalities. The categories of myosteatosis were built according to our previously outcome-based cutoffs for each gender.ResultsTotally, 83 patients (17.55%) were stratified as myosteatosis, of whom 85.54% had concomitant high visceral adiposity indicative of increased visceral adipose tissue index (VATI). The prevalence of sarcopenia showed no significant difference between the groups with and without myosteatosis. Multivariate analysis showed that advanced age [odds ratio (OR) = 1.097, p < 0.001], higher visceral to subcutaneous ratio of adipose tissue area (VSR; OR = 1.574, p = 0.032), and higher VATI (OR = 1.026, p < 0.001) are independently associated with myosteatosis. Correlation analyses revealed a positive relationship between intramuscular adipose tissue content (IMAC) and VATI (ρ = 0.48, p < 0.001), subcutaneous adipose tissue index (SATI) (ρ = 0.36, p < 0.001), and age (ρ = 0.36, p < 0.001). None of the skeletal muscle or adipose tissue indicators were significantly related to longer LOH.ConclusionHigher VSR, higher VATI, and advanced age are associated with myosteatosis among patients with cirrhosis at the decompensation phase. It is tempting to target divergent adipose tissue depots aimed at timely intervention/prevention of myosteatosis.

Winter jujube fruit is susceptible to aging, peel reddening, dehydration, shrinkage, and tissue softening during shelf life after it is removed from the cold storage conditions. In this study, the effects of 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) and salicylic acid (SA) on the quality of winter jujube fruit during shelf life were investigated by measuring physiological indexes and the activities of antioxidant enzymes and enzymes related to reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism of winter jujube fruit. The results showed that 1-MCP treatment and SA treatment suppressed weight loss, respiratory rate, malondialdehyde (MDA) content, H2O2 content, and O2-· production rate, but improved firmness, color difference (ΔE), soluble solid content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), glutathione reductase (GR), phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activities, ascorbic acid content, glutathione content, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content in comparison with the control. Particularly, the combined treatment of 1-MCP and SA (1-MCP+SA treatment) showed the maximum efficacy compared to the 1-MCP treatment and SA treatment alone. 1-MCP+SA treatment exhibited the best preservation effect, followed by SA treatment and 1-MCP treatment. Thus, the combined treatment of 1-MCP and SA is an effective approach to maintain the postharvest quality of winter jujube fruit and extend the shelf life.

Background: Both sarcopenia and frailty are prevalent in patients with decompensated cirrhosis and associated with negative outcomes. However, few studies investigated the impact of their coexistence on mortality. We aimed to evaluate the role of sarcopenia and frailty on survival in a cohort of hospitalized cirrhotics. Methods: This was an observational cohort study including 221 patients hospitalized for decompensated events. The cutoff for low skeletal muscle index (SMI) at the third lumbar vertebra level on computed tomography built by our previous work (male: SMI 0.38 were considered frail. The sample was divided into four groups: sarcopenia and frailty (SF); sarcopenia and non-frailty (SN); non-sarcopenia and frailty (NF); and non-sarcopenia and non-frailty (NN). Follow-up for survival lasted 2 years. Results: Sarcopenia and frailty were present in 21.7% and 14.5% of the patients, respectively. The frequency of frailty in the group of sarcopenic patients was significantly higher than in the patients without sarcopenia (27.1% versus 11%, p = 0.009). In the survival analysis, the SF group showed a higher hazard ratio (2.604 in model 1; 4.294 in model 2) for mortality when compared with the NN group. In addition, the concurrence of those two conditions does give rise to incremental risk for mortality when compared with the group with each disturbance separately, namely, the SN/NF group. Conclusion: In conclusion, cirrhotic patients with sarcopenia and frailty combined showed higher mortality risk.

BackgroundThe fusion of PET metabolic images and CT anatomical images can simultaneously display the metabolic activity and anatomical position, which plays an indispensable role in the staging diagnosis and accurate positioning of lung cancer.MethodsIn order to improve the information of PET-CT fusion image, this article proposes a PET-CT fusion method via Siamese Pyramid Fusion Network (SPFN). In this method, feature pyramid transformation is introduced to the siamese convolution neural network to extract multi-scale information of the image. In the design of the objective function, this article considers the nature of image fusion problem, utilizes the image structure similarity as the objective function and introduces L1 regularization to improve the quality of the image.ResultsThe effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by more than 700 pairs of PET-CT images and elaborate experimental design. The visual fidelity after fusion reaches 0.350, the information entropy reaches 0.076.ConclusionThe quantitative and qualitative results proved that the proposed PET-CT fusion method has some advantages. In addition, the results show that PET-CT fusion image can improve the ability of staging diagnosis compared with single modal image.

Mounting evidence has suggested the clinical significance of body composition abnormalities in the context of cirrhosis. Herein, we aimed to investigate the association between visceral adiposity and malnutrition risk in 176 hospitalized patients with cirrhosis. The adiposity parameters were obtained by computed tomography (CT) as follows: total adipose tissue index (TATI), visceral adipose tissue index (VATI), subcutaneous adipose tissue index (SATI), and visceral to subcutaneous adipose tissue area ratio (VSR). Malnutrition risk was screened using Royal Free Hospital-Nutritional Prioritizing Tool (RFH-NPT). Visceral adiposity was determined given a higher VSR based on our previously established cutoffs. Multivariate analysis implicated that male gender (OR = 2.884, 95% CI: 1.360–6.115, p = 0.006), BMI (OR = 0.879, 95% CI: 0.812–0.951, P = 0.001), albumin (OR = 0.934, 95% CI: 0.882–0.989, P = 0.019), and visceral adiposity (OR = 3.413, 95% CI: 1.344–8.670, P = 0.010) were independent risk factors of malnutrition risk. No significant difference was observed regarding TATI, SATI, and VATI among patients with low or moderate and high risk of malnutrition. In contrast, the proportion of male patients embracing visceral adiposity was higher in high malnutrition risk group compared with that in low or moderate group (47.27 vs. 17.86%, p = 0.009). Moreover, this disparity was of borderline statistical significance in women (19.05 vs. 5.88%, p = 0.061). Assessing adipose tissue distribution might potentiate the estimation of malnutrition risk in cirrhotics. It is pivotal to recognize visceral adiposity and develop targeted therapeutic strategies.

As a simple single-phase transmission strategy, grant-free access is believed to be an effective way to guarantee the stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements for ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLCs). However, unless a theory-based fine evaluation on dynamic delay, we cannot hope to overcome the natural defects of random access and so effectively utilize the time-frequency resources. In this paper, we propose a novel multi-channel ALOHA-type (M-ALOHA) grant-free access algorithm for heterogeneous machine type communication (MTC) networks with URLLC-type terminals and delay-tolerant massive MTC (mMTC)-type terminals co-existence. Firstly, we construct a statistical service model characterizing the transmission rate of each terminal with joint consideration of the features of M-ALOHA access scheme, short packet transmissions and frequency-selective fading channel. Then, taking the great advantages of service-martingales theory in random queuing analysis, we present an ingenious delay analysis and obtain the martingales-based formulation of delay-bound violation probability, where the sporadic feature of MTC traffic arrival is carefully addressed. Finally, the M-ALOHA algorithm is formulated as a system throughput maximization problem subject to martingales-based statistical delay-QoS and the total bandwidth of system. The problem is solved by the proposed bi-objective multi-variable-grey wolf optimizer (BOMV-GWO) algorithm. As a result, we obtain the access probability for each terminal and the optimal parameters for the system design, including the number of sub-channels, the bandwidth for each sub-channel and the packets transmission rate. Simulation results demonstrate that the performance of our M-ALOHA algorithm is favorable.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a heterogeneous endocrine and metabolic disorder in women, which is characterized by androgen excess, ovulation dysfunction, and polycystic ovary. Although the etiology of PCOS is largely unknown, many studies suggest that aberrant DNA methylation is an important contributing factor for its pathological changes. In this study, we investigated DNA methylation characteristics and their impact on gene expression in granulosa cells obtained from PCOS patients. Transcriptome analysis found that differentially expressed genes were mainly enriched in pathways of insulin resistance, fat cell differentiation, and steroid metabolism in PCOS. Overall DNA methylation level in granulosa cells was reduced in PCOS, and the first introns were found to be the major genomic regions that were hypomethylated in PCOS. Integrated analysis of transcriptome, DNA methylation, and miRNAs in ovarian granulosa cells revealed a DNA methylation and miRNA coregulated network and identified key candidate genes for pathogenesis of PCOS, including BMP4, ETS1, and IRS1. Our study shed more light on epigenetic mechanism of PCOS and provided valuable reference for its diagnosis and treatment.

In the process of applying plant protection sprays, the atomisation process of complex pesticide components such as emulsion pesticides is different from that of water. Indeed, emulsion is often used as an additive to spray to reduce drift. Therefore, this study investigated the different morphological characteristics that occur between emulsions and water during atomisation at different pressures through visualisation experiments and interpreting the formation of structural differences between the two fragmentation mechanisms. The effect of liquid sheet structure on droplet size distribution was analysed in three-dimensional space, not only from one spatial perspective, but how it alters the morphological structures of liquid sheet leading to different potential droplet drift characteristics. It was found that the smaller the liquid sheet disturbance, the more concentrated the droplet size distribution, the more intense the liquid sheet disturbance, the more dispersed the droplet size distribution. The addition of 0.02% emulsion significantly reduced the proportion of V100 (the ratio of volume with drops smaller than 100 μm to the total volume of all droplets) from 21.33% to 10.24%, and the higher the emulsion concentration, the smaller the V100. The ability of the emulsion to increase V400 decreased with increasing pressure.

To investigate the physiological and molecular properties relating to cell wall carbohydrate metabolism in fruit, the ultrastructure and polysaccharides compositions of the cell wall, as well as the fruit quality and activities of enzymes relating to fruit softening, were studied for three Hami melon varieties (‘Xizhoumi 17’, ‘Jinhuami 25’, and ‘Chougua’) representing three different storability levels. The results showed that ‘Chougua’ maintained a higher firmness on day 18, with the lowest decay incidence (0%). ‘Chougua’ showed a better storage quality and intact cell wall structure. The molecular weight and monosaccharide composition of cell wall polysaccharides for Hami melons underwent great changes during storage, and the degradation of pectin polysaccharides was obvious, involving the depolymerization of macromolecular polymers accompanied by the production of new macromolecular polymers and composition changes in pectin monosaccharides (glucose, galactose, and arabinose) during the softening process of the Hami melons. Polygalacturonase, pectin methylesterase, xyloglucan endo-transglycosylase/hydrolase, α-arabinofuranosidase, β-galactosidase, and cellulase were associated with fruit softening at different stages of storage. There were similar softening mechanisms in the three Hami melons. This study will provide reference for further study on the fruit softening mechanisms of Hami melons.

The collapse of buildings caused by earthquakes can lead to a large loss of life and property. Rapid assessment of building damage with remote sensing image data can support emergency rescues. However, current studies indicate that only a limited sample set can usually be obtained from remote sensing images immediately following an earthquake. Consequently, the difficulty in preparing sufficient training samples constrains the generalization of the model in the identification of earthquake-damaged buildings. To produce a deep learning network model with strong generalization, this study adjusted four Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models for extracting damaged building information and compared their performance. A sample dataset of damaged buildings was constructed by using multiple disaster images retrieved from the xBD dataset. Using satellite and aerial remote sensing data obtained after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, we examined the geographic and data transferability of the deep network model pre-trained on the xBD dataset. The result shows that the network model pre-trained with samples generated from multiple disaster remote sensing images can extract accurately collapsed building information from satellite remote sensing data. Among the adjusted CNN models tested in the study, the adjusted DenseNet121 was the most robust. Transfer learning solved the problem of poor adaptability of the network model to remote sensing images acquired by different platforms and could identify disaster-damaged buildings properly. These results provide a solution to the rapid extraction of earthquake-damaged building information based on a deep learning network model.