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Abstract Previous studies disclosed that a high thyroid stimulating hormone level is an independent risk factor for diabetes peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in subclinical hypothyroidism (SCH) patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, whether thyroid metabolism has an effect on DPN in euthyroid T2DM patients remains unknown. The aim of this study was to identify the association between thyroid function and DPN in euthyroid T2DM patients. A set of 580 euthyroid T2DM patients was enrolled in the current study and stratified into DPN and Non-DPN groups. Mann–Whitney U test was performed to analyze the continuous variables of biochemical and thyroid metabolism indicators, and the Chi-square test was used to compare the categorical variables. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to analyze the relationship between clinical indicators and free thyroxine (FT4). By using the logistic regression analysis, the prevalence of DPN in different thyroid function indicators were evaluated. T2DM patients with DPN had obviously lower levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alpha-hydroxybutyric dehydrogenase (α-HBDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), calcium (Ca), creatinine (Cr), uric acid (UA), retinol binding protein (RBP), total protein (TP), albumin (ALB), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and FT4 than the T2DM patients without DPN (P

Background: MRI segmentation offers crucial insights for automatic analysis. Although deep learning-based segmentation methods have attained cutting-edge performance, their efficacy heavily relies on vast sets of meticulously annotated data. Methods: In this study, we propose a novel semi-supervised MRI segmentation model that is able to explore unlabeled data in multiple aspects based on various semi-supervised learning technologies. Results: We compared the performance of our proposed method with other deep learning-based methods on 2 public datasets, and the results demonstrated that we have achieved Dice scores of 90.3% and 89.4% on the LA and ACDC datasets, respectively. Conclusions: We explored the synergy of various semi-supervised learning technologies for MRI segmentation, and our investigation will inspire research that focuses on designing MRI segmentation models.

Nitrogen (N) application rates and planting density are key factors affecting grain yield and quality. In this experiment, four varieties, Huijing 753 (HJ 753), Huijing 855 (HJ 855), Huijing 866 (HJ 866), and Dangjing 8 (DJ 8), were used to investigate their effects on the yield and quality of japonica rice in Anhui, which has a lower soil N supply capacity. The current study set four levels of N application N1, N2, N3, and N4 (120, 180, 240, and 300) kg ha−1 and three planting densities D1, D2, and D3 (high-density: 45 × 104; medium-density: 37.5 × 104; low-density: 32.2 × 104) hills ha−1 for a total of 12 treatments. The effects of N application and planting density on rice yield, composition, processing quality, appearance quality, and cooking quality were analyzed. The results showed that with the increase in N application rates and planting density, the effective panicle number per plant and grain number per panicle of each rice variety increased, while HJ 753, HJ 855, and HJ 866 reached the highest yield under the N3D1 treatment and then gradually declined, and DJ 8 had the highest yield in the N4D1 treatment. In addition, the processing quality of various varieties can be improved by increasing the N application rate and planting density, but the appearance quality will deteriorate, the amylose content will also decrease, and gel consistency will also be lower. Therefore, under medium-planting density conditions, N at a rate of 240 kg ha−1 was the best for HJ 753, HJ 855, and HJ 866, and using 300 kg ha−1 for DJ 8 resulted in high grain yields and superior rice grain quality. In the next step, physiological, biochemical, and genotypic analyses of these three japonica rice varieties were carried out to provide a scientific basis and technical support for accelerating the breeding of high-yield japonica rice varieties.

The long overhanging distance of hard roofs and long-collapse steps induces a large area of suspension on the working face in underground coal mines, resulting in excessive pressure and deformation on the surrounding rocks of the adjacent roadway in the work face, which seriously threatens the safety of coal mining operations. In this study, in order to study the hydraulic fracturing effects on hard roofs, numerical simulation and in situ tests were conducted. The analysis and comparison of fracturing effects under different hydraulic fracturing parameters were carried out, and the reasonable hydraulic fracturing parameters of the hydraulic weakening of hard roofs were designed accordingly. Based on designed hydraulic fracturing, industrial tests were conducted in the field while stress and deformation were recorded. The results show that hydraulic fracturing could effectively reduce the pressure of the hard roof. Hydraulic fracturing effectively destroyed the cantilever beam structure above the coal pillar, reduced the stress concentration, and moderated mineral pressure at the working face. The proposed methods and obtained results provide theoretical and technical support for the treatment of underground mines with hard roofs.

Directional hydraulic fracturing (DHF) is popular with hydraulic fracturing operations in coal mining to create cave-hard roofs, in which radial initial notches are created around open borehole walls before injecting high-pressurized fluid. Despite extensive field application of DHF, the three-dimensional irregular hydraulic fracture (HF) geometry in DHF remains unclear, and the HF re-orientation mechanism requires comprehensive understanding. Here, we experimentally examined factors affecting HF re-orientation in DHF in transparent gelatin samples with a self-developed experimental device. We found that it is the ratio between the differential stress and gelatin elastic moduls that determines HF re-orientation rather than the absolute magnitudes of these two factors. Both shear failure and tensile failure occur during HF re-orientation. The HF tends to propagate asymmetrically, and the step-like HF geometry is likely to form in gelatin samples with low elastic moduli and under high differential stresses. HF re-orientation is not necessarily a near-borehole effect, and HFs can propagate along the notch direction for longer distances in stiffer gelatin samples under relatively low or moderate differential stresses. Finally, recommendations are provided for the effective utilization of DHF at coal mine sites.

PurposeThis study aimed to investigate the changes in extracellular space (ECS) in cryptococcal brain granuloma and its pathological mechanism.Materials and methodsThe animal model of cryptococcal brain granuloma was established by injecting 1 × 106 CFU/ml of Cryptococcus neoformans type A suspension into the caudate nucleus of Sprague–Dawley rats with stereotactic technology. The infection in the brain was observed by conventional MRI scanning on days 14, 21, and 28 of modeling. The tracer-based MRI with a gadolinium-diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA) as a magnetic tracer was performed on the rats with cryptococcal granuloma and the rats in the control group. The parameters of ECS in each area of cryptococcal brain granuloma were measured. The parameters of ECS in the two groups were compared by independent sample t-test, and the changes in ECS and its mechanism were analyzed.ResultsUp to 28 days of modeling, the success rate of establishing the brain cryptococcal granuloma model with 1 × 106 CFU/ml Cryptococcus neoformans suspension was 60%. In the internal area of cryptococcal granuloma, the effective diffusion coefficient D* was significantly higher than that of the control group (t = 2.76, P < 0.05), and the same trend showed in the volume ratio α (t = 3.71, P < 0.05), the clearance rate constant k (t = 3.137, P < 0.05), and the tracer half-life T1/2 (t = 3.837, P < 0.05). The tortuosity λ decreased compared with the control group (t = −2.70, P < 0.05). At the edge of the cryptococcal granuloma, the D* and α decreased, while the λ increased compared with the control group (D*:t = −6.05, P < 0.05; α: t = −4.988, P < 0.05; λ: t = 6.222, P < 0.05).ConclusionThe internal area of the lesion demonstrated a quicker, broader, and more extended distribution of the tracer, while the edge of the lesion exhibited a slower and narrower distribution. MRI tracer method can monitor morphological and functional changes of ECS in pathological conditions and provide a theoretical basis for the treatment via ECS.

Foxtail millet is commonly used as a food and forage grass. ERECTA (ER) is a receptor-like kinase that can improve plant biomass and stress resistance. The sorghum SbER10_X1 gene was used as a probe to identify ER family genes on the Setaria italica genomes (SiERs), and determine the characteristics of the SiERs family. Herein, the structural features, expression patterns, and thermotolerance of SiERs function were identified by bioinformatics analysis, real-time PCR and transgenesis estimation. Results showed that SiERs had four members: two members were located on chromosome 1 with a total of six copies (SiER1_X1, SiER1_X2, SiER1_X3, SiER1_X4, SiER1_X5, and SiER1_X6), and two were on chromosome 4, namely, SiER4 (SiER4_X1 and SiER4_X2) and SiERL1. Among them, SiER1_X4 and SiER4_X1 were expressed highest in above-ground organs of foxtail millet, and actively responded to treatments with abscisic acid, brassinolide, gibberellin, and indole acetic acid. After overexpression of SiER1_X4 and SiER4_X1 in Arabidopsis, the plant height and biomass of the transgenic Arabidopsis significantly increased. Following high-temperature treatment, transgenic seedlings survived better compared to wild type. Transgenic lines showed higher SOD and POD activities, and expression level of AtHSF1 and AtBl1 genes significantly increased. These results indicated that SiER1_X4 and SiER4_X1 played important regulatory roles in plant growth and thermotolerance. The two genes provide potential targets for conventional breeding or biotechnological intervention to improve the biomass of forage grass and thermotolerance of field crops.

Dandan Yao et al. demonstrated that accumulation of formaldehyde in the cerebellum and skeletal muscle contributed toward motor deficits in a mouse model of hindlimb unloading. Their results collectively suggest that scavenging formaldehyde may be a useful treatment to limit motor dysfunction following limb offloading conditions.

The study of flow behaviour of water-sand mixtures in fractured rocks is of great necessity to understand the producing mechanism and prevention of water inrush and sand gushing accidents. A self-developed seepage test system is used in this paper to conduct laboratory experiments in order to study the influence of the particle size distribution, the void ratio, and the initial mass of Aeolian sand on the flow behavior. It is concluded that the water flow velocity is insensitive to the initial mass of the Aeolian sand but increases with the power exponent in the Talbot formula and the specimen height. The outflow of the Aeolian sand increases with the power exponent in the Talbot formula, the specimen height, and the initial mass of the Aeolian sand. Besides, the outflow of the Aeolian sand changes exponentially with the water flow velocity. Finally, it is found that the fractured specimen has a maximum sand filtration capacity beyond which the outflow of the Aeolian sand significantly increases with the initial mass of the Aeolian sand.

Coal pillars are usually loaded under combined compression-shear stresses at underground coal mines. Their long-term stability is critical to the utilization of underground structures, such as underground reservoirs at coal mines. In this study, a modified rock property testing system was used to explore the mechanical properties of coal specimens under quasi-static combined compression-shear loading conditions. The acoustic emission technique was applied to investigating the microcrack fracturing of coal specimens at various inclination angles. The experimental results show that specimen inclination has remarkable effects on the microcrack initiation, microcrack damage and ultimate failure of the coal specimen. The failure mode of the coal specimen tends to transit from axial splitting to shear failure with increasing specimen inclination, and its peak strength is closely associated with the microcrack damage threshold. In practice, it is recommended to consider coal strength under combined compression-shear loading when using empirical pillar strength formulae so that the effect of pillar inclination can be included.

AbstractLegume plants form symbiotic relationships with rhizobia to convert N2rj1rj1Nod

The effective recognition of microseismic signal is related to the accuracy of mine-dynamic-disaster precursor-information processing, which is a difficult method of microseismic-data processing. A mine-microseismic-signal-identification method based on LMD energy entropy and the probabilistic neural network (PNN) is proposed. First, the Local-Mean-Decomposition (LMD) method is used to decompose the mine microseismic signal. Considering the problem of vector redundancy, combined with the correlation-coefficient method, the energy entropy of the effective product-function component (PF) is extracted as the feature vector of mine-microseismic-signal classification. Furthermore, the probabilistic neural network (PNN) is used for learning and training, and the blasting-vibration signal and the coal–rock-mass-rupture signal are effectively identified. The test results show that the recognition accuracy of the PNN is up to 90%, the calculation time and classification effect of the PNN are better, and the recognition accuracy is increased by 15% and 7.5%, respectively, compared with the traditional PBNN and GRNN. This method can accurately and effectively identify the microseismic signals of mines and has good generalization performance.

Jasmonates (JAs) are key phytohormones involved in regulation of plant growth and development, stress responses, and secondary metabolism. It has been reported that treatments with JAs could increase the contents of Amaryllidaceae alkaloids in Amaryllidaceae plants. Jasmonate ZIM (zinc-finger inflorescence meristem) domain (JAZ) proteins are key components in JA signal processes. However, JAZ proteins have not been characterized in genus Lycoris. In this study, we identified and cloned seven differentially expressed JAZ genes (namely LaJAZ1-LaJAZ7) from Lycoris aurea. Bioinformatic analyses revealed that these seven LaJAZ proteins contain the ZIM domain and JA-associated (Jas, also named CCT_2) motif. Quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis revealed that these LaJAZ genes display different expression patterns in L. aurea tissues, and most of them are inducible when treated with methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatment. Subcellular localization assay demonstrated that LaJAZ proteins are localized in the cell nucleus or cytoplasm. In addition, LaJAZ proteins could interact with each other to form homodimer and/or heterodimer. The findings in this study may facilitate further functional research of the LaJAZ genes, especially the potential regulatory mechanism of plant secondary metabolites including Amaryllidaceae alkaloids in L. aurea.

Purpose: To build a mathematical model based magnetic resonance (MR) method to simulate drug anisotropic distribution in vivo in the interstitial space (ISS) of the brain.Materials and Methods: An injection of signal intensity-related gadolinium-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA), which is an exogenous drug, was administered, and its diffusion was traced in the ISS of the brain using MRI. Dynamic MRI scans were performed to monitor and record the changes in signal intensity in each pixel of the region of interest. The transport parameters were calculated using the modified equation to simulate three-dimensional anisotropic diffusion, which was resolved using a Laplace transform and a linear regressive model.Results: After Gd-DTPA was introduced into the caudate nucleus, its distribution was demonstrated in real time. As the Gd-DTPA gradually cleared, the associated hyperintensity attenuated over time. The average diffusion coefficient (D) and the clearance rate constant (k) were (1.305 ± 0.364) × 10−4 mm2/s and (1.40 ± 0.206) × 10−5 s−1, respectively.Discussion: The combination of trace-based MRI and modified diffusion mathematical models can visualize and measure the three-dimensional anisotropic distribution of drugs in the ISS of the brain.

Annual wild soybean (G. soja) is the ancestor of the cultivated soybean (G. max). To reveal the genetic changes from soja to max, an improved wild soybean chromosome segment substitution line (CSSL) population, SojaCSSLP5, composed of 177 CSSLs with 182 SSR markers (SSR-map), was developed based on SojaCSSLP1 generated from NN1138-2(max)×N24852(soja). The SojaCSSLP5 was genotyped further through whole-genome resequencing, resulting in a physical map with 1366 SNPLDBs (SNP linkage-disequilibrium blocks), which are composed of more markers/segments, shorter marker length and more recombination breakpoints than the SSR-map and caused 721 new wild substituted segments. Using the SNPLDB-map, two loci co-segregating with seed-coat color (SCC) and six loci for days to flowering (DTF) with 88.02% phenotypic contribution were identified. Integrated with parental RNA-seq and DNA-resequencing, two SCC and six DTF candidate genes, including three previously cloned (G, E2 and GmPRR3B) and five newly detected ones, were predicted and verified at nucleotide mutant level, and then demonstrated with the consistency between gene-alleles and their phenotypes in SojaCSSLP5. In total, six of the eight genes were identified with the parental allele-pairs coincided to those in 303 germplasm accessions, then were further demonstrated by the consistency between gene-alleles and germplasm phenotypes. Accordingly, the CSSL population integrated with parental DNA and RNA sequencing data was demonstrated to be an efficient platform in identifying candidate wild vs. cultivated gene-alleles.

Plant height (PH) and the number of nodes on the main stem (NN) serve as major plant architecture traits affecting soybean seed yield. Although many quantitative trait loci for the two traits have been reported, their genetic controls at different developmental stages in soybeans remain unclear. Here, 368 soybean breeding lines were genotyped using 62,423 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers and phenotyped for the two traits at three different developmental stages over two locations in order to identify their quantitative trait nucleotides (QTNs) using compressed mixed linear model (CMLM) and multi-locus random-SNP-effect mixed linear model (mrMLM) approaches. As a result, 11 and 13 QTNs were found by CMLM to be associated with PH and NN, respectively. Among these QTNs, 8, 3, and 4 for PH and 6, 6, and 8 for NN were found at the three stages, and 3 and 6 were repeatedly detected for PH and NN. In addition, 34 and 30 QTNs were found by mrMLM to be associated with PH and NN, respectively. Among these QTNs, 11, 13, and 16 for PH and 11, 15, and 8 for NN were found at the three stages. A majority of these QTNs overlapped with the previously reported loci. Moreover, one QTN within the known E2 locus for flowering time was detected for the two traits at all three stages, and another that overlapped with the Dt1 locus for stem growth habit was also identified for the two traits at the mature stage. This may explain the highly significant correlation between the two traits. Our findings provide evidence for mixed major plus polygenes inheritance for dynamic traits and an extended understanding of their genetic architecture for molecular dissection and breeding utilization in soybeans.

The gob-side entry layout is popular at two-entry longwall mine sites in China for the benefit of improving the coal recovery rate. Currently, two methods have been widely used to develop gob-side entries, including gob-side entry retaining and gob-side entry driving. Gob-side entry retaining maximizes the recovery rate by pillarless mining but increases the difficulty in gob-side entry support. Also, this method has limited applications in hard roof conditions. The gob-side entry driving mine site uses the rib pillar to separate the gob entry and the gob area of the previous panel, which leads to additional coal losses. The waste is more intolerable in large-cutting-height panels and longwall top coal caving panels as the Chinese government limits the minimum recovery rate of longwall panels using these mining methods. In this paper, a new gob-side entry layout method, termed gob-side pre-backfill driving, is established to overcome the shortcomings of the existing methods. The new method eliminates rib pillar losses and enhances gob-side entry stability. The feasibility of gob-side pre-backfill driving is studied by numerical modelling and a field trial at Changcun Mine in China. The results indicate that gob-side pre-backfill driving is an alternative for gob-side entry development. This method is practical and also has the potential to bring significant economic benefits to the mining industry.

Hydraulic fracturing has been applied in the cave mining industry with the purpose of re-creating an orebody rock mass condition that is suitable for caving. Prescribed hydraulic fracturing was proposed in a previous study as a supplement to the conventional hydraulic fracturing strategy. In this paper; dimensional analysis is used to project laboratory scale numerical modelling results to field scales in order to study the applicability of creating prescribed hydraulic fractures (PHFs) under field conditions. The results indicate that field scale PHFs are feasible if the stress shadows of the pre-located fractures are properly utilized. Water can be used to create the pre-located fractures that induce the local stress change in a low differential stress state; and the use of more proppants and a shorter pre-located fracture spacing lead to PHFs propagating more quickly towards the pre-located fractures. For field condition having high differential stresses, more viscous fluid must be used to create the pre-located fractures in order to enhance the stress shadows. In this case, a shorter pre-located fracture spacing does not necessarily result in the re-orientation of PHFs towards the pre-located fractures and may even lead to unsatisfactory pre-conditioning. A sufficiently high pre-located fracture net pressure to the differential stress ratio (close to 0.5) is the prerequisite for creating PHFs.

Unhindered transportation of substances in the brain extracellular space (ECS) is essential for maintaining brain function. Regulation of transportation is a novel strategy for treating ECS blockage-related brain diseases, but few techniques have been developed to date. In this study, we established a novel approach for accelerating the drainage of brain interstitial fluid (ISF) in the ECS using minimally invasive surgery, in which a branch of the external carotid artery is separated and implanted epidurally (i.e., epidural arterial implantation [EAI]) to promote a pulsation effect on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the frontoparietal region. Tracer-based magnetic resonance imaging was used to evaluate the changes in ISF drainage in rats 7 and 15 days post-EAI. The drainage of the traced ISF from the caudate nucleus to ipsilateral cortex was significantly accelerated by EAI. Significant increases in the volume fraction of the ECS and molecular diffusion rate were demonstrated using the DECS-mapping technique, which may account for the mechanisms underlying the changes in brain ISF. This study provides a novel perspective for encephalopathy treatment via the brain ECS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]