Search

Karrikins (KARs) are bioactive butenolide molecules that were initially discovered as germination stimulants in the smoke generated from burned plant materials. The past decades have witnessed the unraveling of KARs as a group of potential plant hormones that impact various aspects of plant physiology, from regulation of light responses and controlling root morphology, to modulation of secondary metabolism. KARs share a similar structure with strigolactones (SLs), and they activate similar signaling pathways where the interaction of α/β hydrolases with the F-box protein MORE AXILLARY GROWTH 2 (MAX2) is involved. Upon binding with KARs, the α/β hydrolase KAI2 (KARRIKIN INSENSITIVE 2) interacts with MAX2, which in turn activates the downstream signals by promoting the degradation of SMAX1/SMXL2 (SUPPRESSOR OF MAX2 1/SMX1-LIKE). Recent accumulating evidence has proved that KARs act as a protective agent regulating plant adaptation to abiotic stresses, particularly drought, salinity, and extreme temperature; however, these functions have not been widely perceived. This review revisits the knowledge of the characteristics and signals transduction of KARs in plants, with a focus on the interplay of KARs and redox signals in modulating plant tolerance to abiotic stresses. This collection of information is valuable for better understanding plant-environment interactions and will help create stress-tolerant crops and achieve the goal of agricultural and ecological sustainability.

In the field of Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS), vehicle recognition is a hot research topic. Although different types of vehicles can already be recognized, further identification and statistics of new energy and fuel vehicles in unknown and complex environments remain a challenging task. In this paper, we propose a New Energy Vehicle Recognition and Traffic Flow Statistics (NEVTS) approach. Specifically, we first utilized the You Only Look Once v5 (YOLOv5) algorithm to detect vehicles in the target area, in which we applied Task-Specific Context Decoupling (TSCODE) to decouple the prediction and classification tasks of YOLOv5. This approach significantly enhanced the performance of vehicle detection. Then, track them upon detection. Finally, we use the YOLOv5 algorithm to locate and classify the color of license plates. Green license plates indicate new energy vehicles, while non-green license plates indicate fuel vehicles, which can accurately and efficiently calculate the number of new energy vehicles. The effectiveness of the proposed NEVTS in recognizing new energy vehicles and traffic flow statistics is demonstrated by experimental results. Not only can NEVTS be applied to the recognition of new energy vehicles and traffic flow statistics, but it can also be further employed for traffic timing pattern extraction and traffic situation monitoring and management.

Across five studies, we present the preliminary technical validation of an infant-wearable platform, LittleBeats™, that integrates electrocardiogram (ECG), inertial measurement unit (IMU), and audio sensors. Each sensor modality is validated against data from gold-standard equipment using established algorithms and laboratory tasks. Interbeat interval (IBI) data obtained from the LittleBeats™ ECG sensor indicate acceptable mean absolute percent error rates for both adults (Study 1, N = 16) and infants (Study 2, N = 5) across low- and high-challenge sessions and expected patterns of change in respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA). For automated activity recognition (upright vs. walk vs. glide vs. squat) using accelerometer data from the LittleBeats™ IMU (Study 3, N = 12 adults), performance was good to excellent, with smartphone (industry standard) data outperforming LittleBeats™ by less than 4 percentage points. Speech emotion recognition (Study 4, N = 8 adults) applied to LittleBeats™ versus smartphone audio data indicated a comparable performance, with no significant difference in error rates. On an automatic speech recognition task (Study 5, N = 12 adults), the best performing algorithm yielded relatively low word error rates, although LittleBeats™ (4.16%) versus smartphone (2.73%) error rates were somewhat higher. Together, these validation studies indicate that LittleBeats™ sensors yield a data quality that is largely comparable to those obtained from gold-standard devices and established protocols used in prior research.

BackgroundAlthough the role of steroid hormones in lipid levels has been partly discussed in the context of separate sexes, the causal relationship between steroid hormones and lipid metabolism according to sex has not been elucidated because of the limitations of observational studies. We assessed the relationship between steroid hormones and lipid metabolism in separate sexes using a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) study.MethodsInstrumental variables for dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), progesterone, estradiol, and androstenedione were selected. MR analysis was performed using inverse-variance weighted, MR-Egger, weighted median, and MR pleiotropy residual sum and outlier tests. Cochran’s Q test, the MR-Egger intercept test, and leave-one-out analysis were used for sensitivity analyses.ResultsThe results showed that the three steroid hormones affected lipid metabolism and exhibited sex differences. In males, DHEAS was negatively correlated with total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and apolipoprotein B (P = 0.007; P = 0.006; P = 0.041, respectively), and progesterone was negatively correlated with TC and LDL-C (P = 0.019; P = 0.038, respectively). In females, DHEAS was negatively correlated with TC (P = 0.026) and androstenedione was negatively correlated with triglycerides and apolipoprotein A (P = 0.022; P = 0.009, respectively). No statistically significant association was observed between the estradiol levels and lipid metabolism in male or female participants.ConclusionsOur findings identified sex-specific causal networks between steroid hormones and lipid metabolism. Steroid hormones, including DHEAS, progesterone, and androstenedione, exhibited beneficial effects on lipid metabolism in both sexes; however, the specific lipid profiles affected by steroid hormones differed between the sexes.

BackgroundEsophageal anastomotic leakage (EAL) is a severe complication usually occurring after esophagectomy. Although there are various therapeutic methods for EAL treatment, they have not achieved satisfactory results. A previous study showed that the combination of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and fibrin scaffold (FS) can treat EAL. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the injection of MSCs and FS through a new engraftment gastroscope for EAL treatment.MethodsTwelve adult pigs were randomly divided into the MSCs group (n = 6) and control group (n = 6). A stomach tube was then inserted through the leakage to construct the EAL model, which was removed after one week. The combination of MSCs and FS was autografted at the EAL site for pigs in the MSCs group using the tailor-made gastroscope while only FS was autografted for the pigs in the control group. Local status of EAL was evaluated using gastroscopy. Histological analyses and western blot (WB) were used to assess the gross specimens of esophagi around EALs.ResultsGastroscopy showed a higher closure rate and a lower infection rate in the MSCs group than in the control group. However, the mortality was not significantly different between the two groups. HE staining showed a severe inflammatory response with dispersive infiltration of inflammatory cells and unhealed leakage in the control group. However, the infiltration of inflammatory cells was not altered in the MSCs group, and the leakage was completely healed. WB analyses showed that Myogenin and α-SMA expressions were significantly higher in the MSCs group than in the control group.ConclusionA porcine model of EAL was successfully developed by accessing the transplantation site through the esophagus. Further data revealed that the implantation of MSCs in FS via the novel engraftment gastroscope can promote the repair and occlusion of EAL. Therefore, the proposed method is a promising strategy for EAL treatment.

Background: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related mortality. Lysophosphatidylglycerol acyltransferase (LPGAT1) regulates the biosynthesis of triacylglycerol, which is essential for maintaining phospholipid homeostasis and modulating the structural integrity of mitochondrial membranes. LPGAT1 has been demonstrated to be differentially expressed in normal lung tissue and LUAD tissues, and can serve as a metabolically relevant gene with potential prognostic value. However, the potential role of LPGAT1 in LUAD is still unknown. This study sought to determine the role of LPGAT1 in LUAD progression. Methods: LPGAT1 expression was examined in LUAD cells and tumor tissues from LUAD patients. The effect of LPGAT1 was then assessed in both cell and animal models after LPGAT1 was knocked down by RNA interference. Results: LPGAT1 was upregulated in LUAD tissues. Overexpression of LPGAT1 was associated with an unfavorable prognosis in LUAD patients, as revealed by univariate and multivariate Cox analyses. Knockdown of LPGAT1 abrogated tumor growth and proliferation in both cell and animal models. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that LPGAT1 promotes proliferation and inhibits apoptosis in LUAD. Hence, LPGAT1 may provide new treatment strategies for LUAD.

Abstract Background Traditional bortezomib, thalidomide, and dexamethasone (VTd) regimens for patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) include doses of thalidomide up to 200 mg/day (VTd‐label). Clinical practice has evolved to use a lower dose (100 mg/day) to reduce toxicity (VTd‐mod), which was evaluated in the phase III CASSIOPEIA study, without or with daratumumab (D‐VTd; an anti‐CD38 monoclonal antibody). We used propensity score matching to compare efficacy and safety for VTd‐mod and D‐VTd with VTd‐label. Methods Patient‐level data for VTd‐mod and D‐VTd from CASSIOPEIA (NCT02541383) and data for VTd‐label from the PETHEMA/GEM study (NCT00461747) were analyzed. Propensity scores were estimated using logistic regression, and nearest‐neighbor matching procedure was used. Outcomes included overall survival (OS), progression‐free survival (PFS), time to progression (TTP), postinduction and posttransplant responses, as well as rate of treatment discontinuation and grade 3/4 peripheral neuropathy. Results VTd‐mod was noninferior to VTd‐label for OS, PFS, TTP, postinduction very good partial response or better (≥VGPR) and overall response rate (ORR). VTd‐mod was significantly better for posttransplant ≥VGPR and ORR versus VTd‐label. VTd‐mod safety was not superior to VTd‐label despite the lower thalidomide dose. D‐VTd was significantly better than VTd‐label for OS, PFS, TTP, postinduction and posttransplant ≥VGPR and ORR, and was noninferior to VTd‐label for safety outcomes. Conclusions In transplant‐eligible patients with NDMM, D‐VTd had superior efficacy compared with VTd‐label. Despite a lower dose of thalidomide, VTd‐mod was noninferior to VTd‐label for safety and was significantly better for posttransplant ≥VGPR/ORR. These data further support the first‐line use of daratumumab plus VTd.

The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated innovations in data collection protocols, including use of virtual or remote visits. Although developmental scientists used virtual visits prior to COVID-19, validation of virtual assessments of infant socioemotional and language development are lacking. We aimed to fill this gap by validating a virtual visit protocol that assesses mother and infant behavior during the Still Face Paradigm (SFP) and infant receptive and expressive communication using the Bayley-III Screening Test. Validation was accomplished through comparisons of data (i.e., proportions of missing data for a given task; observed infant and maternal behaviors) collected during in-person laboratory visits and virtual visits conducted via Zoom. Of the 119 mother-infant dyads who participated, 73 participated in lab visits only, 13 participated in virtual visits only, and 33 dyads participated in a combination of lab and virtual visits across four time points (3, 6, 9, and 12 months). Maternal perspectives of, and preferences for, virtual visits were also assessed. Proportions of missing data were higher during virtual visits, particularly for assessments of infant receptive communication. Nonetheless, comparisons of virtual and laboratory visits within a given time point (3, 6, or 9 months) indicated that mothers and infants showed similar proportions of facial expressions, vocalizations and directions of gaze during the SFP and infants showed similar and expected patterns of behavioral change across SFP episodes. Infants also demonstrated comparable expressive and receptive communicative abilities across virtual and laboratory assessments. Maternal reports of ease and preference for virtual visits varied by infant age, with mothers of 12-month-old infants reporting, on average, less ease of virtual visits and a preference for in-person visits. Results are discussed in terms of feasibility and validity of virtual visits for assessing infant socioemotional and language development, and broader advantages and disadvantages of virtual visits are also considered.

We address the selective pickup and delivery problem with time-window constraints, which is a problem of finding vehicle routes that pick up commodities at stores and deliver them to customers so as to minimize the total distance of the routes under capacity and time-window constraints. In this paper, to design a local search method for this problem, we consider the following: Given the order of customers in a route, we determine the pickup stores and optimal times of visiting at customers so that the total distance is minimized. This is called the optimal pickup point problem and is a subproblem of the selective pickup and delivery problem with time-window constraints. We show that the optimal pickup point problem is NP-hard in general, and then we propose dynamic programmingmethods, which can obtain upper and lower bounds in linear time, and optimal solution in pseudo-polynomial time.

In this paper, we analyze the complexity of the gear placement problem (GPP). In the GPP, we are given a rectangular plane, called a gearbox, on which a torque generator source and a set of gears, called target gears, are placed. The task is to find a placement of a set of gears called sub-gears, to connect every target gear to the torque generator source so that every target gear rotates in a given direction. The objective is to minimize the number of sub-gears to be used. We prove that the GPP is NP-hard by giving a reduction from the Hamiltonian path problem on 3-regular planar graphs, which is known to be NP-complete, to the GPP. We also present an upper bound for the number of sub-gears to be placed.

Abstract Background The prevalence of obesity increased dramatically in many European countries in the past decades. Whether the increase occurred to the same extent in all socioeconomic groups is less known. We systematically assessed and compared the trends in educational inequalities in obesity in 15 different European countries between 1990 and 2010. Methods Nationally representative survey data from 15 European countries were harmonized and used in a meta-regression of trends in prevalence and educational inequalities in obesity between 1990 and 2010. Educational inequalities were estimated by means of absolute rate differences and relative rate ratios in men and women aged 30–64 years. Results A statistically significant increase in the prevalence of obesity was found for all countries, except for Ireland (among men) and for France, Hungary, Italy and Poland (among women). Meta-regressions showed a statistically significant overall increase in absolute inequalities of 0.11% points [95% CI 0.03, 0.20] per year among men and 0.12% points [95% CI 0.04, 0.20] per year among women. Relative inequalities did not significantly change over time in most countries. A significant reduction of relative inequalities was found among Austrian and Italian women. Conclusion The increase in the overall prevalence aligned with a widening of absolute but not of relative inequalities in obesity in many European countries over the past two decades. Our findings urge for a further understanding of the drivers of the increase in obesity in lower education groups particularly, and an equity perspective in population-based obesity prevention strategies.

Abstract Background The scientific evidence-base for policies to tackle health inequalities is limited. Natural policy experiments (NPE) have drawn increasing attention as a means to evaluating the effects of policies on health. Several analytical methods can be used to evaluate the outcomes of NPEs in terms of average population health, but it is unclear whether they can also be used to assess the outcomes of NPEs in terms of health inequalities. The aim of this study therefore was to assess whether, and to demonstrate how, a number of commonly used analytical methods for the evaluation of NPEs can be applied to quantify the effect of policies on health inequalities. Methods We identified seven quantitative analytical methods for the evaluation of NPEs: regression adjustment, propensity score matching, difference-in-differences analysis, fixed effects analysis, instrumental variable analysis, regression discontinuity and interrupted time-series. We assessed whether these methods can be used to quantify the effect of policies on the magnitude of health inequalities either by conducting a stratified analysis or by including an interaction term, and illustrated both approaches in a fictitious numerical example. Results All seven methods can be used to quantify the equity impact of policies on absolute and relative inequalities in health by conducting an analysis stratified by socioeconomic position, and all but one (propensity score matching) can be used to quantify equity impacts by inclusion of an interaction term between socioeconomic position and policy exposure. Conclusion Methods commonly used in economics and econometrics for the evaluation of NPEs can also be applied to assess the equity impact of policies, and our illustrations provide guidance on how to do this appropriately. The low external validity of results from instrumental variable analysis and regression discontinuity makes these methods less desirable for assessing policy effects on population-level health inequalities. Increased use of the methods in social epidemiology will help to build an evidence base to support policy making in the area of health inequalities.

Abstract Background Between 1997 and 2010, the English government pursued an ambitious programme to reduce health inequalities, the explicit and sustained commitment of which was historically and internationally unique. Previous evaluations have produced mixed results. None of these evaluations have, however, compared the trends in health inequalities within England with those in other European countries. We carried out an innovative analysis to assess whether changes in trends in health inequalities observed in England after the implementation of its programme, have been more favourable than those in other countries without such a programme. Methods Data were obtained from nationally representative surveys carried out in England, Finland, the Netherlands and Italy for years around 1990, 2000 and 2010. A modified difference-in-difference approach was used to assess whether trends in health inequalities in 2000–2010 were more favourable as compared to the period 1990–2000 in England, and the changes in trends in inequalities after 2000 in England were then compared to those in the three comparison countries. Health outcomes were self-assessed health, long-standing health problems, smoking status and obesity. Education was used as indicator of socioeconomic position. Results After the implementation of the English strategy, more favourable trends in some health indicators were observed among low-educated people, but trends in health inequalities in 2000–2010 in England were not more favourable than those observed in the period 1990–2000. For most health indicators, changes in trends of health inequalities after 2000 in England were also not significantly different from those seen in the other countries. Conclusions In this rigorous analysis comparing trends in health inequalities in England both over time and between countries, we could not detect a favourable effect of the English strategy. Our analysis illustrates the usefulness of a modified difference-in-difference approach for assessing the impact of policies on population-level health inequalities.

Background. Tbx18 is a vital transcription factor involved in embryonic sinoatrial node (SAN) formation process but is gradually vanished after birth. Myocardial injection of lentiviral Tbx18 converts cardiomyocytes into pacemaker-like cells morphologically and functionally. In this in vitro and in vivo study, genetical modification of porcine bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) by recapturing the Tbx18 expression creates a biological pacemaker which was examined. Methods. The isolated porcine BMSCs were transfected with lentiviral Tbx18, and the induced pacemaker-like cells were analyzed using real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blotting to investigate the efficiency of transformation. Then, the induced pacemaker-like cells were implanted into the right ventricle of the SAN dysfunction porcine model after the differentiation process. Biological pacemaker activity and ectopic pacing region were tested by an electrocardiograph (ECG) monitor. Results. The isolated porcine BMSCs expressed specific surface markers of stem cells; meanwhile, the expression of myocardial markers was upregulated significantly after lentiviral Tbx18 transfection. The porcine SAN dysfunction model was constructed by electrocoagulation using a surgical electrotome. The results showed that the mean heart beat (HR) of BMSCs-Tbx18 was significantly higher than that of BMSCs-GFP. An ectopic pacing region was affirmed into the right ventricle by ECG after implantation of BMSCs-Tbx18. Conclusion. It was verified that Lenti-Tbx18 is capable of transducing porcine BMSCs into pacemaker-like cells. Genetically modified porcine BMSCs by lentiviral Tbx18 could create a biological pacemaker. However, further researches in large-scale animals are required to rule out unexpected complications prior to application in clinical practice.

This study investigated the role of parental emotion regulation (ER) on children’s core symptoms in families of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in middle childhood; the study also explored whether children’s physiological ER functioning served as a risk or protective factor with respect to parental relationships. Thirty-one Chinese children with ASD (age 6–11) and their primary caregivers participated in this study. Parental ER and child ASD symptoms were collected via questionnaires from parents. Child cardiac vagal activity (derived from heart rate variability) was measured at rest and during a parent-child interaction task. Using moderation analyses, the results showed that parental ER was not directly associated with children’s core ASD symptoms; rather, it interacted significantly with children’s resting cardiac vagal activity, but not task-related changes of cardiac vagal activity, to exert an impact on children’s core ASD symptoms. Specifically, our findings suggested that parents’ difficulties with their own ER significantly impacted their children’s core ASD symptoms only for the children who showed blunted resting cardiac vagal activity. Implications for the future measurement of ER in the family context and future directions for intervention are discussed.

The rectilinear block packing problem is a problem of packing a set of rectilinear blocks into a larger rectangular container with fixed width and unrestricted height. A rectilinear block is a polygonal block whose interior angles are either 90◦ or 270◦. The objective is to pack all the blocks into the container so as to minimize the height of the container. This problem is among classical combinatorial optimization problems and is known to be NP-hard. In this paper, we propose two exact algorithms for the rectilinear block packing problem: one is based on two IP problems and the other is based on a new solution representation. The basic idea of our algorithms is that we iteratively compute lower and upper bounds on the optimal value until the lower bound on the value of an optimal solution for the current search space becomes larger than or equal to the best upper bound found during the search by then, or the search space becomes empty, which means that an optimal solution of this problem has been found. The computational results show that both algorithms obtain five exact and one heuristic solutions for six instances. The algorithm based on a new solution representation improves the running time of the algorithm based on two IP problems.

The management of the automobile industry has changed recently because of the influence of the financial crisis and the industrial boom in developing countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China (BRICs). In this paper, we consider a global automobile-production optimization problem (GAPOP), which we model as a mixed integer programming (MIP) problem. The GAPOP determines global production bases and transportation plans to minimize the total cost of production, transportation, and facilities. It is a unified model that contains the facility location, production planning and transportation problems. We analyze the model for instances generated from real-world data with up to 20 production bases and 133 importing countries for the 18 years from 1997 to 2014. The computational results show that near-optimal solutions to our model are close to the present real-world situation. We also analyze our model with various parameter settings and observe from the results that, at each production base, changes in the number of production lines are affected mainly by labor and material costs. In addition, the proportion of each automobile type when allocating production is influenced by the material costs of all automobile types and the demands of nearby importing countries. Our model is expected to be of use to the automobile industry for making forecasts.

In this paper, we propose a heuristic algorithm for a container loading problem for logistic platforms, which is the problem for the Challenge Renault/ESICUP 2015. The three-dimensional container loading problem involves packing a set of cuboid items into bins so as to minimize the total volume used. In this paper, we propose an effective approach to solve this problem based on a greedy strategy. We first generate high-quality stacks that consist of some items and then pack these stacks on the floor of bins, considering the resulting problem as a two-dimensional bin packing problem. The proposed algorithm is tested on a series of instances provided for the challenge. The computational results show that the proposed algorithm performs well on these instances.

In this paper, we consider the crew pairing problem in airline scheduling that calls for assigning crew members in order to cover all flights with the minimum total person-days under the constraints that the schedule of each crew member does not violate given constraints on the total working time, flying time, and the number of landings. In practical applications, it is difficult to create an efficient schedule satisfying all the constraints. We formulate the problem as a set covering problem and apply an LP-based column generation approach to generate a candidate set of schedules. We propose a branch-and-bound method based upon a resource constrained dynamic programming for the column generation procedure. Computational results are given for a number of large-scale instances with up to 10,000 flights.