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The scarcity and low spatial resolution of hyperspectral images (HSIs) have become a major problem limiting the application of the images. In recent years, spectral reconstruction (SR) has been applied to convert multispectral images (MSIs) with abundant quantities and high spatial resolution into HSIs. With the launch of several new multispectral (MS) satellites with a short repeat period, the simultaneous acquisition of images from multiple MS sensors in the same area is gradually becoming feasible. Unfortunately, existing SR methods only consider the reconstruction of the MSIs of a single sensor without considering using MSIs from different MS sensors to obtain a better construction effect through their complementary bands. However, multi-sensor SR is characterized by two problems: inconsistency in the amplitude information of real multisensor imaging and difficulty in the extraction of the complex correlations of bands from different sensors. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a multi-sensor SR framework based on a two-step approach in which the problems of amplitude inconsistency and band information extraction are solved using an ideal projection network and an ideal multi-sensor SR network, respectively. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by experiments on three datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CCR (catalyst continuous regeneration) catalytic reforming is one of the main processes in refineries in which high-octane gasoline and aromatics such as benzene, toluene, and xylene are produced. To meet the need of refineries to improve the efficiency of the reforming processes, a new kinetic model of the CCR catalytic reforming process based on the data of commercial catalytic reforming units for aromatics was built, which contains 36 lumps and 73 reactions in the network, and considers the effect of coke deposition on catalyst activity. The model parameters were validated by comparing the model simulated results and the measured values of the commercial reforming unit, and its results had a good agreement. The composition, temperature and pressure along the catalyst bed within the reactors as well as the effect of operational variables on the product distribution of CCR reforming were predicted with the developed model, providing guidance for the operation optimization of commercial CCR reforming units. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Necroptosis is a form of regulated cell death that has been implicated in multiple diseases. TNF-induced necroptosis is regulated by necrosomes, complexes consisting of RIPK1, RIPK3 and MLKL. In this study, by screening of a small-compound library, we identified dozens of compounds that inhibited TNF-induced necroptosis. According to the mechanisms by which they inhibited necroptosis, these compounds were classified into different groups. We then identified Ibrutinib as an inhibitor of RIPK3 and found that Quizartinib protected against the TNF-induced systemic inflammatory response syndrome in mice by inhibiting the activation of RIPK1. Altogether, our work revealed dozens of necroptosis inhibitors, suggesting new potential approaches for treating necroptosis-related diseases. Screening a library of compounds identifies several inhibitors of TNF-induced necroptosis, including Ibrutinib as an inhibitor of RIPK3 and Quizartinib as an indirect RIPK1 kinase activity inhibitor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a delay-locked loop (DLL) with multiple radiation-hardened techniques. A radiation-hardened charge pump (RH-CP) and a radiation-hardened voltage-controlled delay line (RH-VCDL) are proposed to mitigate effects on DLLs caused by single-event transient (SET). A lock detection module (LDM) is designed in the RH-CP to separate CP and VCDL when the DLL is locked. Thanks to LDM, the voltage transients caused by ion strikes on CP can be prevented from effecting the control voltage of VCDL and causing inverted lock error. A SET correction module (SCM) combined with sliced delay cells is used in the RH-VCDL to select the uncorrupted output and avoid missing pulses errors occurring at the output of DLL. The proposed DLL is designed in 22-nm CMOS process with an operation frequency of 5 GHz. Simulations at linear energy transfer (LET) between 40 and 100 MeV-cm2/mg show that RH-CP eliminates inverted lock error and RH-VCDL mitigates missing pulses generated by the DLL after ion strikes effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a programmable low-power analog front-end (AFE) integrated circuit (IC) for biomedical signal monitoring systems is presented. The whole system includes four parts, instrumentation amplifiers (IA), programmable gain amplifiers (PGA), programmable bandwidth filters (PBF) and successive approximation register analog-to-digital convertors (SAR ADC). The proposed IA employs a pseudo-differential structure to enhance the input impedance of the system. A novel hybrid bandwidth extension technology is introduced in the proposed PGA to correct the low-frequency distortion and improve the low-frequency bandwidth. In the design of PBF, the current steering technology is applied to achieve an area-efficient and energy-efficient architecture. Furthermore, a novel efficient switching scheme and a self-calibration dynamic element matching method are presented in the design of SAR ADC to reduce the power consumption and eliminate the effect of capacitor mismatch. In 0.18 μm CMOS technology, this AFE IC consumes 46.8 μW and occupies 0.36 mm2. It achieves a variable gain from 40.4 to 55.1 dB under different modes designed for different biomedical signals. The spurious-free dynamic range and signal-to-noise plus distortion ratio of the proposed SAR ADC are 71.3 and 53.3 dB, respectively, along with a figure of merit of 0.18 pJ/conv. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although 5-methylcytosine (m5C) has been identified as a novel and abundant mRNA modification and associated with energy metabolism, its regulation function in adipose tissue and skeletal muscle is still limited. This study aimed at investigating the effect of mRNA m5C on adipogenesis and myogenesis using Jinhua pigs (J), Yorkshire pigs (Y) and their hybrids Yorkshire–Jinhua pigs (YJ). We found that Y grow faster than J and YJ, while fatness-related characteristics observed in Y were lower than those of J and YJ. Besides, total mRNA m5C levels and expression rates of NSUN2 were higher both in backfat layer (BL) and longissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) of Y compared to J and YJ, suggesting that higher mRNA m5C levels positively correlate with lower fat and higher muscle mass. RNA bisulfite sequencing profiling of m5C revealed tissue-specific and dynamic features in pigs. Functionally, hyper-methylated m5C-containing genes were enriched in pathways linked to impaired adipogenesis and enhanced myogenesis. In in vitro, m5C inhibited lipid accumulation and promoted myogenic differentiation. Furthermore, YBX2 and SMO were identified as m5C targets. Mechanistically, YBX2 and SMO mRNAs with m5C modification were recognized and exported into the cytoplasm from the nucleus by ALYREF, thus leading to increased YBX2 and SMO protein expression and thereby inhibiting adipogenesis and promoting myogenesis, respectively. Our work uncovered the critical role of mRNA m5C in regulating adipogenesis and myogenesis via ALYREF-m5C-YBX2 and ALYREF-m5C-SMO manners, providing a potential therapeutic target in the prevention and treatment of obesity, skeletal muscle dysfunction and metabolic disorder diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-term impact of COVID-19 among those with mild infections is not well characterized. Among 81 adults who completed online assessments at 3- and 12-months following infection, quality of life scores did not significantly improve over time. Among 62 subjects who also completed telephone interviews, respiratory symptoms or exercise limitation were reported by 42% at a median follow-up of 387 days (IQR 251–402 days). Those with persistent respiratory symptoms scored lower on the EQ-5D visual analog score compared to those without. Persistent respiratory symptoms were associated with a lower likelihood of full-time employment at 1 year (aOR 0.09, 95%CI 0.01–0.91; P = 0.041). In an adjusted linear regression, persistent respiratory symptoms (P = 0.037) and female sex (P = 0.016) were both independent risks for increased visits to a primary care provider. This cohort study demonstrates that respiratory symptoms are frequent at 1 year following COVID-19 and more importantly, are associated with negative impacts on employment, quality of life, and health care utilization. Further research is needed to determine the pathophysiology and risk factors for persistent symptoms as well as optimal management strategies to improve the level of functioning and quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a low-power asynchronous 8-bit 500MS/s 2b/cycle successive-approximation-register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) in 40 nm CMOS process. The proposed ADC shows high energy efficiency and good performance against process–voltage–temperature (PVT) variations by a background offset mismatch calibration technique, a supply voltage calibration technique and an efficient 2b/cycle switching scheme. The background offset mismatch calibration eliminates the effect of offset mismatches of the comparator array without any extra phase. The supply voltage calibration is presented to monitor the conversion speed of the ADC and adjust the speed of comparators to ensure the ADC can work properly at different process corners. The improved switching scheme helps cut down the switch times and simplifies the switch logic, which saves 87.8% switching energy compared with conventional VCM-based scheme. The proposed SAR ADC simulated a signal-to-noise plus distortion ratio (SNDR) of 45.8 dB and a spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 55.5 dB for a near-Nyquist input while consuming a total power of 2.59 mW, culminating in a Walden figure of merit (FoM) of 32 fJ/conversion-step. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genistein is an abundant phytoestrogen in soybean. This study aimed to determine the effects of genistein on cholesterol distribution and metabolism in female yellow catfish. Three hundred fish (49.2 ± 1.4 g) were randomly divided into five treatments and received intraperitoneal injections as follows: (1) blank, no injection; (2) control, vehicle only; (3) E2, 17β-estradiol at 10 μg·g−1 body weight; (4) low genistein doses, genistein at 10 μg·g−1 body weight; (5) high genistein doses, genistein at 100 μg·g−1 body weight. Both high and low genistein doses significantly reduced (p < 0.05) serum TC and LDL-C 24 h after injection. Moreover, the high genistein doses significantly reduced (p < 0.05) serum HDL-C. Both high and low doses of genistein significantly increased (p < 0.05) hepatic TC. Only high genistein doses significantly increased (p < 0.05) ovary TC. In the liver, both high and low genistein doses significantly increased (p < 0.05) protein and mRNA expression of ldlr. Meanwhile, high genistein doses significantly decreased (p < 0.05) mRNA expression of hmgcr. In ovary tissue, high genistein doses significantly decreased (p < 0.05) mRNA expression of cyp11a1. These results suggested that genistein affected the cholesterol distribution in female yellow catfish. Both high and low doses of genistein reduced cholesterol content in blood and increased its content in the liver by increasing the uptake of blood cholesterol. Meanwhile, high genistein doses may inhibit hepatic cholesterol synthesis. Additionally, high genistein doses could increase cholesterol transfer from serum into the ovary and disturb cholesterol conversion to pregnenolone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An ultra-low power consumption two-stage mixed switching scheme for successive approximation register (SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is presented. Using two simple switches, the novel switching scheme divides the capacitor arrays into two sub-arrays: stage-one and stage-two arrays. The two sub-arrays convert high and low bits cycles, respectively. Once the high bits conversion cycles are completed, the corresponding sub-arrays are split off from the capacitor arrays. This decreases the number of capacitors used in the rest conversion procedure. Thus, the proposed method improves the energy efficiency of SAR ADC. Thanks to C–2C dummy capacitors and two-stage capacitor arrays, the novel architecture achieves 86% reduction in capacitor area than conventional SAR ADC. Furthermore, based on the charge sharing technique and monotonic switching method, the proposed switching scheme does not consume reset energy and achieves 99.8% less switching energy than the conventional switching method. In addition, the proposed scheme is less sensitive to capacitor mismatch because of its great performance in linearity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successive approximation register (SAR) analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) is a good choice for low-power applications owing to its high energy-efficiency. However, in the biomedical applications which require ultra-low power consumption, the existing switching schemes are still not suitable. A highly energy-efficient, area-efficient switching scheme for SAR ADC is proposed with a novel hybrid switching technique. The novel hybrid switching technique makes use of the floating capacitor, split capacitor and C-2C dummy capacitor techniques. As a result, the proposed switching scheme can achieve high energy saving and area saving. Simulation results show that this proposed scheme lifts the efficiency of switching energy by 99.3% and reduces the number of capacitors by 87% compared with the conventional switching scheme. Besides, this scheme has no reset energy consumption. In addition, the proposed scheme has better performance in linearity of SAR ADC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg–0.43Nd–xY–0.08Zn–0.11Zr (x = 0, 0.03, 0.06, and 0.12 at.%) alloys were investigated. The results indicated that Mg24Y5 phase was formed in the as-cast Y-containing alloys, the grains were refined and the amount of needle-like Mg12Nd phase in the α-Mg grain interior was increased with increasing Y addition. After solution treatment, the Mg24Y5 phase and needle-like Mg12Nd phase nearly completely dissolved into the α-Mg matrix and long-rod-like Zn2Zr3 phase occurred. The amount of Zn2Zr3 phase was increased with increasing Y content after age treatment. Mg–0.43Nd–0.12Y–0.08Zn–0.11Zr alloy exhibited the best combination of strength and elongation in all conditions, especially in the temperature range of 200–300 °C, and an Arrhenius model was established to study the plastic flow behavior. The improvement in mechanical properties was attributed to the grain refining, solution strengthening and enhanced precipitation hardening of Zn2Zr3 phase and β-type phase. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]