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IntroductionThe efficient utilization of straw resources as animal feed has gained considerable attention. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether Lentinus sajor-caju treatment alters the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of highland barley straw and enhances its functional value as a ruminant feed.MethodsThe chemical composition, antioxidant capacity, and metabolomic profile of highland barley straw were determined after 21 days of solid-state fermentation with L. sajor-caju at 25°C. The differential metabolites between fermented and unfermented highland barley straw were identified by LC–MS and the relationship between the identified metabolites and antioxidant capacity was elucidated.ResultsThe results showed that, compared with untreated highland barley straw, the crude protein and ether extract contents were higher (51.55 and 76.43%, respectively) in highland barley straw after 21 days of incubation with L. sajor-caju, whereas the hemicellulose, cellulose, and acid detergent lignin contents were lower (2.48, 25.08, and 45%, respectively). The total antioxidant capacity was significantly higher in L. sajor-caju-treated than in untreated highland barley straw. In total, 600 differential metabolites (301 upregulated and 299 downregulated) were identified between L. sajor-caju-fermented and unfermented highland barley straw. Correlation analysis results showed that Fe2+ scavenging and total phenolic content were strongly correlated with total antioxidant capacity. Meanwhile, the differential flavonoid metabolites between fermented and unfermented highland barley straw were primarily associated with antioxidant activity, with kaempferol 3-xylosylglucoside, isoginkgetin, and rhoifolin being the most representative.ConclusionThus, this study demonstrates that L. sajor-caju could enhance the functional value of highland barley straw, showing the potential of L. sajor-caju for improving the utilization of agricultural straws in ruminants.

Abstract The rapid diagnosis of respiratory virus infection through breath and blow remains challenging. Here we develop a wireless, battery-free, multifunctional pathogenic infection diagnosis system (PIDS) for diagnosing SARS-CoV-2 infection and symptom severity by blow and breath within 110 s and 350 s, respectively. The accuracies reach to 100% and 92% for evaluating the infection and symptom severity of 42 participants, respectively. PIDS realizes simultaneous gaseous sample collection, biomarker identification, abnormal physical signs recording and machine learning analysis. We transform PIDS into other miniaturized wearable or portable electronic platforms that may widen the diagnostic modes at home, outdoors and public places. Collectively, we demonstrate a general-purpose technology for rapidly diagnosing respiratory pathogenic infection by breath and blow, alleviating the technical bottleneck of saliva and nasopharyngeal secretions. PIDS may serve as a complementary diagnostic tool for other point-of-care techniques and guide the symptomatic treatment of viral infections.

Glutamine synthetase (GS) is a key enzyme involved in nitrogen metabolism. GS can be divided into cytosolic and plastidic subtypes and has been reported to respond to various biotic and abiotic stresses. However, little research has been reported on the function of GS in mulberry. In this study, the full length of MaGS2 was cloned, resulting in 1302 bp encoding 433 amino acid residues. MaGS2 carried the typical GS2 motifs and clustered with plastidic-subtype GSs in the phylogenetic analysis. MaGS2 localized in chloroplasts, demonstrating that MaGS2 is a plastidic GS. The expression profile showed that MaGS2 is highly expressed in sclerotiniose pathogen-infected fruit and sclerotiniose-resistant fruit, demonstrating that MaGS2 is associated with the response to sclerotiniose in mulberry. Furthermore, the overexpression of MaGS2 in tobacco decreased the resistance against Ciboria shiraiana, and the knockdown of MaGS2 in mulberry by VIGS increased the resistance against C. shiraiana, demonstrating the role of MaGS2 as a negative regulator of mulberry resistance to C. shiraiana infection.

Aims: The pharmacokinetic (PK) profiles of voriconazole in intensive care unit (ICU) patients differ from that in other patients. We aimed to develop a population pharmacokinetic (PopPK) model to evaluate the effects of using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) and those of various biological covariates on the voriconazole PK profile. Methods: Modeling analyses of the PK parameters were conducted using the nonlinear mixed-effects modeling method (NONMEM) with a two-compartment model. Monte Carlo simulations (MCSs) were performed to observe the probability of target attainment (PTA) when receiving CRRT or not under different dosage regimens, different stratifications of quick C-reactive protein (qCRP), and different minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranges. Results: A total of 408 critically ill patients with 746 voriconazole concentration–time data points were included in this study. A two-compartment population PK model with qCRP, CRRT, creatinine clearance rate (CLCR), platelets (PLT), and prothrombin time (PT) as fixed effects was developed using the NONMEM. Conclusions: We found that qCRP, CRRT, CLCR, PLT, and PT affected the voriconazole clearance. The most commonly used clinical regimen of 200 mg q12h was sufficient for the most common sensitive pathogens (MIC ≤ 0.25 mg/L), regardless of whether CRRT was performed and the level of qCRP. When the MIC was 0.5 mg/L, 200 mg q12h was insufficient only when the qCRP was

Abstract Background Antenatal depression (AD) is a major depressive disorder during pregnancy, which may lead to devastating sequelae for the expectant mothers and infants. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence, to analyze trajectory model based on EPDS score, and to explore the influence factors of AD among pregnant women in Chengdu, China. Methods Participants from four maternity hospitals in Chengdu, China were recruited when they had their first pregnancy medical check-up during March 2019 to May 2020. All participants were required to fill in Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale Chinese version (EPDS) once during three trimesters and provided information about their health status, social-demographic etc. The trajectory model, chi-square test and multivariate binary logistic regression were used to analyze all collected data. Results A total of 4560 pregnant women were recruited, while 1051 women completed the study. The prevalence of depression symptoms during the first, second and third trimesters were 32.92% (346/1051), 19.79% (208/1051) and 20.46% (215/1051) respectively. According to the results of the latent growth mixture modeling, the trajectory model of three categories based on EPDS score were identified in this study: low-risk group (38.2%, 401/1051), medium-risk group (54.8%, 576/1051) and high-risk group (7%, 74/1051). Good marital relationship (P = 0.007, OR = 0.33, 95% CI 0.147 ~ 0.74), good relationship with parents-in-law (P = 0.011, OR = 0.561, 95% CI 0.36 ~ 0.874), planned pregnancy (P = 0.018, OR = 0.681, 95% CI 0.496 ~ 0.936) were the protective factors while lower education level (P = 0.036, OR = 1.355, 95% CI 1.02 ~ 1.799), fear about dystocia (P = 0.0, OR = 1.729, 95% CI 1.31 ~ 2.283), recent major negative life events (P = 0.033, OR = 2.147, 95% CI 1.065 ~ 4.329) were the risk factors of medium-risk group. Good marital relationship (P = 0.005, OR = 0.2, 95% CI 0.065 ~ 0.615), good relationship with parents-in-law (P = 0.003, OR = 0.319, 95% CI 0.15 ~ 0.679) were also protective factors of high-risk group, but the risk factors for high-risk group were medical history (P = 0.046, OR = 1.836, 95% CI 1.011 ~ 3.334), pregnancy complications (P = 0.022, OR = 2.015, 95% CI 1.109 ~ 3.662), worry about dystocia (P = 0.003, OR = 2.365, 95% CI 1.347 ~ 4.153), recent major negative life events (P = 0.011, OR = 3.661, 95% CI 1.341 ~ 9.993). No protective or risk factors were identified for low-risk group. Conclusion Even the incidence and levels of depression in the first trimester of pregnancy were the highest, the probability of pregnancy women get depression during gestation period were higher than other population. Therefore, it’s important to monitor the psychological status of pregnant women during the whole pregnancy, especially in the first trimester. The study suggested a good partner relationship and good relations with parents-in-law both protected pregnant women from depression and promoted the well-being of mothers and children.

Abstract The rising incidence of health‐endangering obesity constantly calls for more effective treatments. Gastric intramural injection of botulinum neurotoxin A (BTX‐A) as a new modality carries great promise yet inconsistent therapeutic efficacy. A layer‐specific delivery strategy enabled by dissolving microneedles is hence pioneered to investigate the working site of BTX‐A and the resulting therapeutic effects. The drug‐loaded tips of the layer‐specific gastric paralysis microneedles (LGP‐MN) rapidly release and achieve uniform distribution of BTX‐A within the designated gastric wall layers. In an obesity rat model, the LGP‐MNs not only prove safer than conventional injection, but also demonstrate consistently better therapeutic effects with muscular layer delivery, including 16.23% weight loss (3.06‐fold enhancement from conventional injection), 55.20% slower gastric emptying rate, improved liver steatosis, lowered blood lipids, and healthier gut microbiota. Further hormonal study reveals that the elevated production of stomach‐derived glucagon‐like peptide‐1 due to the muscularis‐targeting LGP‐MN treatment is an important contributor to its unique glucose tolerance‐improving effect. This study provides clear indication of the gastric muscularis as the most favorable working site of BTX‐A for weight loss and metabolic improvement purposes, and meanwhile suggests that the LGP‐MNs could serve as a novel clinical approach to treat obesity and metabolic syndromes.

There are various types of obstacles in an emergency, and the traffic environment is complicated. It is critical to detect obstacles accurately and quickly in order to improve traffic safety. The obstacle detection algorithm based on deep learning cannot detect all types of obstacles because it requires pre-training. The VIDAR (Vision-IMU-based Detection and Range method) can detect any three-dimensional obstacles, but at a slow rate. In this paper, an improved VIDAR and machine learning-based obstacle detection method (hereinafter referred to as the IVM) is proposed. In the proposed method, morphological closing operation and normalized cross-correlation are used to improve VIDAR. Then, the improved VIDAR is used to quickly match and remove the detected unknown types of obstacles in the image, and the machine learning algorithm is used to detect specific types of obstacles to increase the speed of detection with the average detection time of 0.316s. Finally, the VIDAR is used to detect regions belonging to unknown types of obstacles in the remaining regions, improving detection performance with the accuracy of 92.7%. The flow of the proposed method is illustrated by the indoor simulation test. Moreover, the results of outdoor real-world vehicle tests demonstrate that the method proposed in this paper can quickly detect obstacles in real-world environments and improve detection accuracy.

Lignin degradation is important for enhancing the digestibility and improving the nutritive quality of ruminant feeds. White rot fungi are well known for their bioconversion of lignocellulosic biomass. The objective of this paper was to evaluate whether Lentinus sajor-caju, Pleurotus ostreatus, Phyllotopsis rhodophylla, Pleurotus djamor, Pleurotus eryngii, and Pleurotus citrinopileatus treatments altered the chemical compositions of highland barley straw constituents and enhanced their nutritional value as a ruminant feed. All white rot fungi significantly increased the relative crude protein (CP), ethyl ether extract (EE), starch, soluble protein (SP), and non-protein nitrogen (NPN) contents but decreased the ash, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), acid detergent lignin (ADL), and acid detergent insoluble protein (ADFIP) contents. In addition, L. sajor-caju treatment increased (p < 0.001) the levels of PA, PB2, PB3, CA, CB1, CB2, and CNSC, but reduced (p < 0.001) the PC and CC in the solid-state fermentation of highland barley straw. Maximum ligninlysis (50.19%) was optimally produced in the presence of 1.53% glucose and 2.29% urea at 22.72 ℃. The in vitro dry matter digestibility and total volatile fatty acid concentrations of fermented highland barley straw, as well as the fermentability, were optimized and improved with L. sajor-caju, which degraded the lignocellulose and improved the nutritional value of highland barley straw as a ruminant feed.

This article aims to explore an effective method for reducing vehicle collisions at unsignalized intersections. First, a monocular-binocular vision switching system is built to enable machine vision-based detection of obstacle vehicles in the left and right front directions. Then, the motion state and trajectory of each obstacle vehicle are predicted, and the intersection points of the trajectories of the obstacle vehicle and the ego vehicle are calculated. On this basis, a cross-conflict judgment model based on trajectories and collision times and a safety assessment model based on safety distance are established. Finally, the conflict judgment and safety assessment for the obstacle vehicles are simulated. The results of the simulation demonstrate that the monocular-binocular vision switching system proposed in this article can achieve a detection accuracy of 95%, a ranging accuracy of 96%, and a cross-conflict detection accuracy of 97%, while ensuring a maximum detection area, which can meet the requirements of traffic safety assurance at unsignalized intersections.

Abstract Four Pleurotus spp. fungi (P. diamor, P. eryngii, P. sajor-caju, P. citrinopileatus) were compared for their potential to improve nutritional value of corn stover as ruminant feed. Corn stover was inoculated with the fungi under solid-state conditions and their results showed that P. sajor-caju and P. eryngii were better than the other two species of Pleurotus with respect to decreasing the acid detergent lignin (ADL) (8.99 vs 9.88 vs 10.16 vs 10.46). In contrast, P. eryngii had lower ability to degrade cellulose (13.38%). Corn stover treated with P. citrinopileatus had the highest crude protein (CP) content (7.65%), whereas treatment with P. sajor-caju resulted in the highest increase in essential amino acids (55.11%). Although fungal pre-treatment of lignocellulosic biomass does not always result in high-quality feed, overall, P. eryngii and P. sajor-caju improved the nutritive value of corn stover as a ruminant feed.

This case report describes a 58-year-old, never-smoking housewife with chief complaints of progressively worsening cough, dyspnea, and intermittent fever, who was initially misdiagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). However, her pulse oximetry oxygen saturation continued to decline, and eventually, she underwent an endotracheal intubation. Fortunately, transbronchial cryobiopsy (TBCB) assisted by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was performed in the most critical situation, and it revealed an organizing pneumonia (OP) pattern. OP describes a histological pattern of acute or subacute pulmonary damage, which may be idiopathic or associated with a known or unknown underlying disease. A definitive diagnosis of OP usually obtained from pathology, and surgical lung biopsy with large lung tissue is recommended. However, since the surgical lung biopsy was not convenient for this patient after mechanical ventilation, bedside TBCB supported by ECMO was selected. To our knowledge, we are the first to report the pathological diagnosis of ECMO assisted TBCB in acute respiratory failure. When oxygenation cannot be maintained after endotracheal intubation and surgical lung biopsy is not feasible, ECMO-supported TBCB may be a good choice to obtain lung tissue for histopathological diagnosis in patients with acute lung injury of unknown etiology.

Multi-scale “rigid-soft” material coating has been an effective strategy for enhancing the interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of carbon fibers (CFs), which is one of the key themes in composite research. In this study, a soft material, chitosan (CS), and a rigid material, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), were sequentially grafted onto the CFs surface by a two-step amination reaction. The construction of the “rigid-soft” structure significantly increased the roughness and activity of the CFs surface, which improved the mechanical interlocking and chemical bonding between the CFs and resin. The interfacial shear strength (IFSS) of the CS- and CNT-modified CFs composites increased by 186.9% to 123.65 MPa compared to the desized fibers. In addition, the tensile strength of the modified CFs was also enhanced by 26.79% after coating with CS and CNTs. This strategy of establishing a “rigid-soft” gradient modulus interfacial layer with simple and non-destructive operation provides a valuable reference for obtaining high-performance CFs composites.

Autonomous vehicles are the most advanced intelligent vehicles and will play an important role in reducing traffic accidents, saving energy and reducing emission. Motion control for trajectory tracking is one of the core issues in the field of autonomous vehicle research. According to the characteristics of strong nonlinearity, uncertainty and chang-ing longitudinal velocity for autonomous vehicles at high speed steering condition, the robust trajectory tracking control is studied. Firstly, the vehicle system models are established and the novel target longitudinal velocity planning is carried out. This velocity planning method can not only ensure that the autonomous vehicle operates in a strong nonlinear coupling state in bend, but also easy to be constructed. Then, taking the lateral location deviation minimiz-ing to zero as the lateral control objective, a robust active disturbance rejection control path tracking controller is designed along with an extended state observer which can deal with the varying velocity and uncertain lateral dis-turbance effectively. Additionally, the feedforward-feedback control method is adopted to control the total tire torque, which is distributed according to the steering characteristics of the vehicle for additional yaw moment to enhance vehicle handing stability. Finally, the robustness of the proposed controller is evaluated under velocity-varying condi-tion and sudden lateral disturbance. The single-lane change maneuver and double-lane change maneuver under vary longitudinal velocity and different road adhesions are both simulated. The simulation results based on Matlab/Simulink show that the proposed controller can accurately observe the external disturbances and have good performance in trajectory tracking and handing stability. The maximum lateral error reduces by 0.18 meters compared with a vehicle that controlled by a feedback-feedforward path tracking controller in the single-lane change maneuver. The lateral deviation is still very small even in the double lane change case of abrupt curvature. It should be noted that our proposed control algorithm is simple and robust, thus provide great potential for engineering application.

AimSyndecan-1 (SDC-1) has been shown to have a high predictive value for sepsis development, though uncertainty around these results exists. The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the prognostic ability of SDC-1 in predicting sepsis-related complications and mortality.MethodsWe searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar databases from January 01, 1990, to March 17, 2021, to identify eligible studies. The search terms used were “SDC-1,” “sepsis,” “severe sepsis,” and “septic shock,” and a meta-analysis was performed using the RevMan 5.4 software.ResultsEleven studies with a total of 2,318 enrolled patients were included. SDC-1 concentrations were significantly higher in the composite poor outcome group [standardized mean difference (SMD) = 0.55; 95% CI: 0.38–0.72; P < 0.001] as well as in deceased patients (SMD = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.40–0.67; P < 0.001), patients with septic shock (SMD = 0.81; 95% CI: 0.36–1.25; P < 0.001), and patients with acute kidney injury (SMD = 0.48; 95% CI: 0.33–0.62; P < 0.001). Statistical significance was also found in the subgroup analysis when stratified by different sepsis diagnostic criteria.ConclusionBaseline SDC-1 levels may be a useful predictor of sepsis-related complications and mortality.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42021246344, PROSPERO, identifier: CRD42021246344.

Abstract Background There are many progesterone (P) elevation-related indicators for predicting pregnancy outcomes, including the serum P, P-to-oestradiol ratio (P/E2), P-to-follicle index (PFI), and P-to-mature oocyte index (PMOI); however, due to inconsistencies in study populations and controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) protocols among studies, these indicators are controversial. Moreover, no researchers have included these four commonly used indicators in one study to compare their predictive efficacies. The objective of this study was to compare the predictive value of P-related indicators for pregnancy outcomes of women undergoing the short-acting GnRH agonist long protocol. Methods A total of 612 infertile women undergoing IVF/ICSI were recruited for this study. Serum samples were obtained on the morning of HCG injection for serum P and E2 measurements. Transvaginal ultrasound was performed to determine the follicle count (≥ 14 mm in diameter). The number of mature oocytes was observed in the embryo laboratory after oocyte retrieval. Results In cases of P

Environmental perception forms the basis of intelligent driving systems and is a prerequisite for path planning and vehicle control. Among them, dynamic multi-obstacle tracking is the key to environmental perception. In order to solve the problem of a large amount of correlation calculations and false correlations in the process of dynamic multi-obstacle tracking, and to obtain more accurate surrounding environment information, this paper first designs an obstacle data correlation algorithm based on improving the joint probabilistic data-association algorithm. Then, in order to solve the problem of obstacle movement mobility and the poor filtering effect of a single model, the interacting multiple model is designed to complete the filtering of multiple behavior patterns of obstacles. An obstacle state estimation algorithm based on the unscented Kalman filter is designed to solve the nonlinear problem of obstacle motion. Finally, an experimental prototype is built and tested. The results show that the data association algorithm designed in this paper can complete the data association of obstacles at different times, and there is no problem of obstacle loss and association error. The average running time of each frame is 51.63 ms. The result comparison between the proposed method and the traditional method shows that the proposed method is more effective.

Environmental perception systems can provide information on the environment around a vehicle, which is key to active vehicle safety systems. However, these systems underperform in cases of sloped roads. Real-time obstacle detection using monocular vision is a challenging problem in this situation. In this study, an obstacle detection and distance measurement method for sloped roads based on Vision-IMU based detection and range method (VIDAR) is proposed. First, the road images are collected and processed. Then, the road distance and slope information provided by a digital map is input into the VIDAR to detect and eliminate false obstacles (i.e., those for which no height can be calculated). The movement state of the obstacle is determined by tracking its lowest point. Finally, experimental analysis is carried out through simulation and real-vehicle experiments. The results show that the proposed method has higher detection accuracy than YOLO v5s in a sloped road environment and is not susceptible to interference from false obstacles. The most prominent contribution of this research work is to describe a sloped road obstacle detection method, which is capable of detecting all types of obstacles without prior knowledge to meet the needs of real-time and accurate detection of slope road obstacles.

An obstacle detection method based on VM (VIDAR and machine learning joint detection model) is proposed to improve the monocular vision system's identification accuracy. When VIDAR (Vision-IMU-based detection and range method) detects unknown obstacles in a reflective environment, the reflections of the obstacles are identified as obstacles, reducing the accuracy of obstacle identification. We proposed an obstacle detection method called improved VM to avoid this situation. The experimental results demonstrated that the improved VM could identify and eliminate unknown obstacles. Compared with more advanced detection methods, the improved VM obstacle detection method is more accurate. It can detect unknown obstacles in reflection, reflective road environments.

Abstract Background Antenatal depression (AD) is considered as one of the major health burdens and has adverse effects on the outcome of expectant mothers and newborns. The present study aims to investigate the prevalence of antenatal depression (AD), and to explore the potential risk factors of AD among pregnant women in Chengdu, including personal background, related social factors, family factors and cognitive factors. Methods The prospective nested case-control study included pregnant women who were in their second pregnancy and attended prenatal care at three tertiary hospitals and one regional hospital in Chengdu, China, between March 2015 and May 2016. Self-designed questionnaires were given to participants in their second and third trimesters to collect information on clinical and demographic characteristics, and a modified edition of Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) were used to measure AD. The logistic regression was applicated in analyses. Results A total of 996 pregnant women were included in analysis. Ninety-three women suffered from AD symptoms only in their second trimester, 96 only in their third trimester, and 107 displayed persistent depression in both trimesters. In the univariate analyses, age and marital relationships were linked with AD occurrence in both second and third trimester. In addition, increasing age, full-time job, higher education level, and no gender preference of spouse were associated with reduced persistent depression. Multivariate analysis showed that gender preference and marital relationship were the potential risk factors of persistent depression. Conclusions Age, marital relationship relationships, with parents-in-law, the negative recognition of this pregnancy and husband’s gender preference were found as risk factors of AD occurrence in some specific trimester. Gender preference of husbands and marital relationships were independently associated with persistent depression. These findings suggest that stronger family support can help improve mental health of pregnant women.

A time-lapse system (TLS) with a well-of-the-well (WOW) dish, which allows individual identification and the possibility of autocrine and paracrine signaling between group-cultured embryos, has been widely used in clinic. However, there is a need to re-think the inclusion principles of human embryos in WOW-based TLS, especially for grade IV (G4) embryos, which are considered to potentially have detrimental effects on surrounding embryos. Here, we carried out a single-center, large-cohort, retrospective study, comprising 303 patients undergoing IVF (148 cases) and ICSI (155 cases), with a total of 3282 embryos, to compare embryonic development until the blastocyst stage in the group culture system with or without G4 embryos. Further, LC-MS/MS was used to analyze the G1-G4 embryo secretome to understand the influence of G4 embryos on the group culture microenvironment. We proved that polypronuclear (PPN) embryos positively contribute to the development of the neighboring embryos through secretion of ILIAP, ITI-H4, and keratin. Existence of more than one G4 embryo had a negative effect on the other embryos (p < 0.05). Moreover, G4 embryos were found to secrete KLKB1 and VTDB, which might harm the neighboring embryos. Thus, our study clarified that when embryos are subjected to group culture in WOW-based TLS, the PPN-derived embryos need not be removed, and it is important to ensure that no more than one G4 embryo is present to avoid negative effects on the neighboring embryos.

Background: We performed a meta-analysis to systematically review the risk factors of mortality from non-HIV-related Pneumocystis pneumonia (PcP) and provide the theoretical basis for managing non-HIV-related PcP.Methods: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library and CNKI databases were searched. A meta-analysis of the risk factors of mortality from non-HIV-related PcP was conducted.Results: A total of 19 studies and 1,310 subjects were retrieved and included in the meta-analysis, including 485 and 825 patients in the non-survivor and survivor groups, respectively. In the primary analysis, age, concomitant with other pulmonary diseases at diagnosis of PcP, solid tumors, cytomegalovirus(CMV) co-infection, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), lymphocyte count, invasive ventilation during hospitalization, and pneumothorax were associated with mortality from non-HIV-related PcP, whereas sex, albumin, PcP prophylaxis, use of corticosteroids after admission, and time from onset of symptoms to treatment were not associated with mortality from non-HIV-related PcP.Conclusions: The mortality rate of non-HIV-infected patients with PcP was still high. Age, concomitant with other pulmonary diseases at diagnosis of PcP, solid tumors, CMV co-infection, LDH, lymphocyte count, invasive ventilation during hospitalization, and pneumothorax were risk factors of mortality from non-HIV-related PcP. Improved knowledge of prognostic factors is crucial to guide early treatment.

It has been shown that aberrant activation of the Hedgehog (Hh) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signaling pathways plays an important role in the pancreatic carcinogenesis, and KRAS mutation is a hallmark of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Until now, the role of KRAS mutation in the context of crosstalk between Hh and NF-κB signaling pathways in PDAC has not been investigated. This study was to determine whether the crosstalk between the Hh and NF-κB pathways is dependent on KRAS mutation in PDAC. The correlation between Gli1, Shh, NF-κB p65 expression and KRAS mutation in PDAC tissues was firstly examined by immunohistochemistry. Next, Western blotting, qPCR, and immunofluorescence were conducted to examine the biological effects of interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) as NF-κB signaling agonists, Shh as an Hh ligand alone or in combination with KRAS small interfering RNA (si-KRAS) in KRAS-mutant PDAC cells (MT-KRAS; SW1990 and Panc-1), wild-type KRAS PDAC cells (WT-KRAS; BxPC-3) and mutant KRAS knock-in BxPC-3 cells in vitro as well as tumor growth in vivo. KRAS mutation-dependent crosstalk between Hh and NF-κB in PDAC cells was further assessed by Ras activity and luciferase reporter assays. The aberrant Hh and NF-κB pathway activation was found in PDAC tissues with KRAS mutation. The same findings were confirmed in MT-KRAS PDAC cells and MT-KRAS knock-in BxPC-3 cells, whereas this activation was not observed in WT-KRAS PDAC cells. However, the activation was significantly down-regulated by KRAS silencing in MT-KRAS PDAC cells. Furthermore, MT-KRAS cancer cell proliferation and survival in vitro and tumor growth after inoculation with MT-KRAS cells in vivo were promoted by NF-κB and Hh signaling activation. The pivotal factor for co-activation of NF-κB and Hh signaling is MT-KRAS protein upregulation, showing that positive crosstalk between Hh and NF-κB pathways is dependent upon KRAS mutation in PDAC.

Vehicle handing stability under the combined acceleration steering and braking steering conditions has a great impact on the vehicle safety. Therefore, the coupled steering and driving/braking stability control is essential. Thus, a novel controller based on differential flatness and vehicle stability region is proposed. First, the reference vehicle state variables are calculated and the vehicle stability region is established based on vehicle dynamics and bifurcation analysis. Then, the flatness-based controller is designed which can ensure the vehicle handing stability by controlling the vehicle states approaching their references. Based on the driver preview model, the vehicle can keep good path tracking effect by tracking the lateral deviation. The simulation results of the double lane change tests show that the proposed control method can ensure both the vehicle handing stability and the path tracking effect. Compared to vehicle equipped with the integration of active front steering and direct yaw moment control, vehicle controlled by flatness-based controller performs better in both handing stability and path tracking.

Mulberry (Morus spp., Moraceae) is an important economic crop plant and is rich in flavonoids and anthocyanidins in ripe fruits. Anthocyanins are glycosides of anthocyanidins. Flavanone 3-hydroxylase (F3H) catalyzes the conversion of naringenin into dihydroflavonols and is responsible for the biosynthesis of flavonols and anthocyanidins. In this study, MazsF3H was cloned and characterized from Morus atropurpurea var. Zhongshen 1. Conserved motif analysis based on alignment and phylogenetic analysis indicated that MazsF3H belonged to 2-oxoglutarate-dependent dioxygenase and MazsF3H clustered with F3Hs from other plants. MazsF3H was located in both nucleus and cytosol. MazsF3H was expressed in stems, leaves, stigmas and ovaries, except buds. F3H expression levels showed a positive and close relationship with anthocyanin content during the anthocyanin-rich fruit ripening process, while it showed a negative correlation with anthocyanin content in LvShenZi, whose fruits are white and would not experience anthocyanin accumulation during fruit ripening. Significantly different F3H expression levels were also found in different mulberry varieties that have quite different anthocyanin contents in ripe fruits. Overexpression MazsF3H in tobacco showed unexpected results, including decreased anthocyanin content. Down-regulation of F3H expression levels resulted in co-expression of the genes involved in anthocyanin biosynthesis and a significant decrease in anthocyanin content, but the change in total flavonoid content was subtle. Our results indicated that F3H may play quite different roles in different varieties that have quite different fruit colors. In addition, possible complex regulation of flavonoid biosynthesis should be further explored in some of the featured plant species.

The existing automatic parking algorithms often neglect the unknown obstacles in the parking environment, which causes a hidden danger to the safety of the automatic parking system. Therefore, this paper proposes parking space detection and path planning based on the VIDAR method (vision-IMU-based detection and range method) to solve the problem. In the parking space detection stage, the generalized obstacles are detected based on VIDAR to determine the obstacle areas, and then parking lines are detected by the Hough transform to determine the empty parking space. Compared with the parking detection method based on YOLO v5, the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method has higher accuracy in complex parking environments with unknown obstacles. In the path planning stage, the path optimization algorithm of the A∗ algorithm combined with the Bezier curve is used to generate smooth curves, and the environmental information is updated in real time based on VIDAR. The simulation results show that the method can make the vehicle efficiently avoid the obstacles and generate a smooth path in a dynamic parking environment, which can well meet the safety and stationarity of the parking requirements.

Buses represent the main mode for intercity passenger transportation in China. In recent years, a multichannel ticketing strategy has been widely employed in the bus passenger transportation industry. However, the mechanisms and key drivers of the channels through which bus passengers purchase tickets are underexplored. Thus, the aim of this study is to empirically apply an integrated choice and latent variable (ICLV) approach to analyze ticketing channel choice behavior and the heterogeneous preferences of bus passengers. The variables incorporated in the model include the socioeconomic characteristics of passengers, trip attributes, and latent attitudes with 12 ordinal indicators. Based on the data of 1800 participants collected from the city of Beijing, China, this study develops a ticketing channel choice ICLV model merging a discrete choice model with a structural equation model. The key factors that affect the channel preference are further discussed through a comparison with a conventional multinomial logit (MNL) model. The results reveal that the three attitudinal variables have a significant influence on ticketing channel choice. Furthermore, this study indicates that perceptual differences exist due to various socioeconomic and trip characteristics. Personal privacy is a major obstacle that prevents passengers from choosing online channels, especially for older passengers and those with lower education.

Environment perception is the basis of intelligent driving and the premise of realizing path planning and vehicle controlling. Among them, obstacle detection is the key for environmental perception. In order to cope with the issue of point cloud movement distortion in traditional obstacle detection algorithms, experimental lidar and IMU are first introduced in this paper. On this basis, the lidar coordinate system, the vehicle coordinate system and the relationship of coordinate conversion between them is established, and the point cloud data in the lidar coordinate system is converted into the vehicle coordinate system. In addition, the principle of point cloud motion distortion and its influence on obstacle detection is analyzed. Furthermore, a point cloud motion distortion correction method combining high-frequency IMU is designed to compensate the inter-frame motion of lidar and correct the point cloud motion distortion. Finally, a real vehicle test and verification is carried out. The test results show that, first, the proposed point cloud motion distortion correction method is effective, which can make the collected point cloud data reflect the real environment information as accurately as possible, and the point cloud motion distortion rate drops from the maximum value of 20.38% to 5%. The distortion rate is controlled within 5%. Second, the method can also meet the real-time requirements of intelligent vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]