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Background: Phthalates are ubiquitously used in a variety of products and have an adverse effect on folliculogenesis. However, previous epidemiological studies on the associations between phthalate exposure and antral follicle count (AFC) produced conflicting results. The present study aimed to evaluate the associations between urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations and AFC among women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF). Methods: We collected 525 urine samples and measured 8 phthalate metabolites from IVF patients. Poisson regression models were conducted to evaluate the associations between phthalate metabolite concentrations and AFC. In addition, participants were stratified into a younger group (< 35 years) and an older group (= 35 years) to explore the potential effect modification by age. We also performed sensitivity analyses by restricting our analyses to only infertile women diagnosed with tubal factor infertility to test the robustness of the results. Results: Significant positive associations were observed among urinary MBP, MEOHP and SPAEs concentrations and AFC after adjusting for age, BMI, year of study and infertility diagnosis. Compared with women in the first tertile, women in the third tertile of MBP and MEOHP had 7.02% (95% CI: 1.18%, 12.9%) and 8.84% (95% CI: 2.83%, 14.9%) higher AFC, respectively, and women in the second and third tertiles of SPAEs had 6.19% (95% CI: 0.37%, 12.0%) and 9.09% (95% CI: 3.22%, 15.0%) higher AFC, respectively. In addition, MBP, MEOHP and SPAEs also had significant positive associations with AFC in trend tests for dose-response. In the age-stratified analysis, we found a stronger relationship between phthalate metabolite concentrations and AFC among older women and an inverse association among younger women. We observed similar results in the sensitivity analyses. Conclusion: We found positive associations between phthalate exposure and AFC, which support the idea that phthalate exposure may accelerate primordial follicle recruitment and lead to higher AFC in women undergoing IVF. More studies are needed to better understand their relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the challenges of high complexity, poor real-time performance, and low detection rates for small target vehicles in existing vehicle object detection algorithms, this paper proposes a real-time lightweight architecture based on You Only Look Once (YOLO) v5m. Firstly, a lightweight upsampling operator called Content-Aware Reassembly of Features (CARAFE) is introduced in the feature fusion layer of the network to maximize the extraction of deep-level features for small target vehicles, reducing the missed detection rate and false detection rate. Secondly, a new prediction layer for tiny targets is added, and the feature fusion network is redesigned to enhance the detection capability for small targets. Finally, this paper applies L1 regularization to train the improved network, followed by pruning and fine-tuning operations to remove redundant channels, reducing computational and parameter complexity and enhancing the detection efficiency of the network. Training is conducted on the VisDrone2019-DET dataset. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithmreduces parameters and computation by 63.8% and 65.8%, respectively. The average detection accuracy improves by 5.15%, and the detection speed reaches 47 images per second, satisfying real-time requirements. Compared with existing approaches, including YOLOv5m and classical vehicle detection algorithms, our method achieves higher accuracy and faster speed for real-time detection of small target vehicles in edge computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focal adhesions anchor cells to extracellular matrix (ECM) and direct assembly of a pre-stressed actin cytoskeleton. They act as a cellular sensor and regulator, linking ECM to the nucleus. Here, we identify proteolytic turnover of the anti-adhesive proteoglycan versican as a requirement for maintenance of smooth muscle cell (SMC) focal adhesions. Using conditional deletion in mice, we show that ADAMTS9, a secreted metalloprotease, is required for myometrial activation during late gestation and for parturition. Through knockdown of ADAMTS9 in uterine SMC, and manipulation of pericellular versican via knockdown or proteolysis, we demonstrate that regulated pericellular matrix dynamics is essential for focal adhesion maintenance. By influencing focal adhesion formation, pericellular versican acts upstream of cytoskeletal assembly and SMC differentiation. Thus, pericellular versican proteolysis by ADAMTS9 balances pro- and anti-adhesive forces to maintain an SMC phenotype, providing a concrete example of the dynamic reciprocity of cells and their ECM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]