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Background The high degree of heterogeneity brought great challenges to the diagnosis and treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Although several different AML prognostic scoring models have been proposed to assess the prognosis of patients, the accuracy still needs to be improved. As important components of the tumor microenvironment, immune cells played important roles in the physiological functions of tumors and had certain research value. Therefore, whether the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) can be used to assess the prognosis of AML aroused our great interest. Methods The patients’ gene expression profile from 7 GEO databases was normalized after removing the batch effect. TIME cell components were explored through Xcell tools and then hierarchically clustered to establish TIME classification. Subsequently, a prognostic model was established by Lasso-Cox. Multiple GEO databases and the Cancer Genome Atlas dataset were employed to validate the prognostic performance of the model. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) and the concordance index (C-index) were utilized to assess the prognostic efficacy. Results After analyzing the composition of TIME cells in AML, we found infiltration of ten types of cells with prognostic significance. Then using hierarchical clustering methods, we established a TIME classification system, which clustered all patients into three groups with distinct prognostic characteristics. Using the differential genes between the first and third groups in the TIME classification, we constructed a 121-gene prognostic model. The model successfully divided 1229 patients into the low and high groups which had obvious differences in prognosis. The high group with shorter overall survival had more patients older than 60 years and more poor-risk patients (both P Conclusion A prognostic model for AML based on the TIME classification was constructed in our study, which may provide a new strategy for precision treatment in AML.

The associations between high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and blood pressure (BP) or hypertension are inconsistent in previous studies. This study aimed to assess these associations in a large cohort of Chinese adults and across different age groups. This cross-sectional association study included 22,081 Chinese adults. Associations of HDL-C with BP and hypertension were analyzed using linear or logistic regression, with or without adjustment for confounding factors. HDL-C was inversely associated with BP and hypertension. These associations were still apparent after adjustment for age, sex, fasting plasma glucose, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Sub-analyses revealed: (1) in the whole cohort and females alone, HDL-C was inversely associated with BP and hypertension in young and middle-aged but not older participants; (2) in males alone, HDL-C was not associated with systolic BP or hypertension. However, HDL-C was either inversely, or not, or positively associated with BP in young, middle-aged, and older males, respectively. After further adjustment for body mass index (BMI), the negative associations of HDL-C with BP and hypertension in the whole cohort became positive ones, and the positive associations only presented in males. These findings suggest that further adjustment for BMI changes inverse associations of HDL-cholesterol with BP and hypertension to positive associations in a cohort of Chinese adults.

The coupling of sanitation system and agriculture production is essential to mitigate the environmental burden and offset unsustainable fertilizer utilization by employing resource-oriented sanitation. Yet, the economic feasibility and energy recovery potential from domestic waste have rarely been investigated. To assess four scenarios (whether with kitchen waste separation; whether with energy recovery) in the resource-oriented sanitation system, an integrated assessment framework based on energy analysis and techno-economic analysis is employed to investigate the comprehensive sanitation system including both wastewater treatment and solid waste disposal. The results show that energy recovery from human excreta and kitchen waste can offset the energy consumption of the sanitation system and the energy surplus can even be 1067.70 kJ·PE−1·day−1. The optimum covering range of the regional recovery center was quantified from the balance between scale effect and spatial distribution, and the serving inhabitants need to be more than 2800.

Wnt-Fzd signalling pathway plays a critical role in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) progression and oncogenicity. There is no study to investigate the prognostic value of Wnt and Fzd gene families in AML. Our study screened 84 AML patients receiving chemotherapy only and 71 also undergoing allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. We found that some Wnt and Fzd genes had significant positive correlations. The expression levels of Fzd gene family were independent of survival in AML patients. In the chemotherapy group, AML patients with high Wnt2B or Wnt11 expression had significantly shorter event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS); high Wnt10A expressers had significantly longer OS than the low expressers (all P < .05), whereas, in the allo-HSCT group, the expression levels of Wnt gene family were independent of survival. We further found that high expression of Wnt10A and Wnt11 had independent prognostic value, and the patients with high Wnt10A and low Wnt11 expression had the longest EFS and OS in the chemotherapy group. Pathway enrichment analysis showed that genes related to Wnt10A, Wnt11 and Wnt 2B were mainly enriched in 'cell morphogenesis involved in differentiation', 'haematopoietic cell lineage', 'platelet activation, signalling and aggregation' and 'mitochondrial RNA metabolic process' signalling pathways. Our results indicate that high Wnt2B and Wnt11 expression predict poor prognosis, and high Wnt10A expression predicts favourable prognosis in AML, but their prognostic effects could be neutralized by allo-HSCT. Combined Wnt10A and Wnt11 may be a novel prognostic marker in AML.

The upper aerodigestive tract (UAT) is the first line of defense against environmental stresses such as antigens, microbes, inhalants, foods, etc., and mucins, intracellular junctions, epithelial cells, and immune cells are the major constituents of this defensive mucosal barrier. Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is recognized as an independent risk factor for UAT mucosal disorders, and in this review, we describe the components and functions of the mucosal barrier and the results of LPR-induced mucosal inflammation in the UAT. We discuss the interactions between the refluxate and the mucosal components and the mechanisms through which these damaging events disrupt and alter the mucosal barriers. In addition, we discuss the dynamic alterations in the mucosal barrier that might be potential therapeutic targets for LPR-induced disorders.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a hematologic tumor with monoclonal proliferation of malignant plasma cells in the bone marrow. Fascin (FSCN) is an actin-binding protein that plays a crucial role in cell migration and invasion, contributing to tumor metastasis. There are three members (FSCN1-3) in FSCN family. However, the prognostic role of FSCN family in MM remains unclear. In this study, we used four independent Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets to explore the relationships between FSCN1-3 expression profiles and patient survival in MM. We found that FSCN1 was dramatically down-regulated in MM compared to normal donors (p < 0.001) and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) (p = 0.032). Patients with high expression of FSCN1 and FSCN2 had significantly longer OS (p = 0.023 and 0.028, respectively). Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that FSCN1 (p = 0.003, 0.002) and FSCN2 (p = 0.018, 0.013) were independent favorable prognostic factors for OS in MM. Moreover, the combination of high expression of FSCN1 and FSCN2 could effectively predict both longer EFS (p = 0.046) and OS (p = 0.015). Our study suggested that FSCN1 and FSCN2 can be used as favorable biomarkers for predicting clinical outcomes in MM.

The leaf is the organ that is crucial for photosynthesis and the production of nutrients in plants, as such, the number of leaves is one of the key indicators with which to describe the development and growth of a canopy. The irregular shape and distribution of the blades, as well as the effect of natural light, make the segmentation and detection process of the blades difficult. The inaccurate acquisition of plant phenotypic parameters may affect the subsequent judgment of crop growth status and crop yield. To address the challenge in counting dense and overlapped plant leaves under natural environments, we proposed an improved deep-learning-based object detection algorithm by merging a space-to-depth module, a Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM) and Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) into the network, and applying the smoothL1 function to improve the loss function of object prediction. We evaluated our method on images of five different plant species collected under indoor and outdoor environments. The experimental results demonstrated that our algorithm which counts dense leaves improved average detection accuracy of 85% to 96%. Our algorithm also showed better performance in both detection accuracy and time consumption compared to other state-of-the-art object detection algorithms.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant disease of myeloid hematopoietic stem or progenitor cells characterized by abnormal proliferation of primary and immature myeloid cells in bone marrow and peripheral blood. Gene mutation and expression profiles can be used as prognosis predictors for different prognostic subgroups. Secretory carrier-associated membrane proteins (SCAMPs) are a multigenic family with five members and act as cell surface vectors in the post-Golgi recycling pathways in mammals. Nevertheless, the prognostic and clinical influence of SCAMP family has hardly ever been illustrated in AML. In our study, expression patterns of SCAMP family (SCAMP1-5) were analyzed in 155 AML patients which were extracted from the Cancer Genome Atlas database. In chemotherapy, only subgroup, higher SCAMP1 level was significantly associated with longer EFS and OS (all P = 0.002), and SCAMP1 was confirmed to be an independent favorable factor in un-transplanted patients by Multivariate analysis (all P

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell malignancy. The minichromosome maintenance (MCM) family involve in DNA replication and is vital in limiting replication in cell cycle. The prognostic role of MCMs in MM is still unclear. We took four independent GEO datasets to analyze the relationship between the expression of MCMs and myeloma progression and survival. The expression of MCMs showed an upward trend with myeloma progression in 205 patients. High MCM2/3/4/6/8 expression was associated with both poor EFS and OS (all p

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitor, DNA damage inducible transcript 4 (DDIT4), has inducible expression in response to various cellular stresses. In multiple malignancies, studies have shown that DDIT4 participates in tumorigenesis and impacts patient survival. We aimed to study the prognostic value of DDIT4 in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), which is currently unclear. Firstly, The Cancer Genome Atlas was screened for AML patients with complete clinical characteristics and DDIT4 expression data. A total of 155 patients were included and stratified according to the treatment modality and the median DDIT4 expression levels. High DDIT4 expressers had shorter overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) than the low expressers among the chemotherapy-only group (all P

Background: Multiple myeloma (MM) is the second most common hematologic malignancy worldwide and does not have sufficient prognostic indicators. FCER1G (Fc fragment Of IgE receptor Ig) is located on chromosome 1q23.3 and is involved in the innate immunity. Early studies have shown that FCER1G participates in many immune-related pathways encompassing multiple cell types. Meanwhile, it is associated with many malignancies. However, the relationship between MM and FCER1G has not been studied.Methods: In this study, we integrated nine independent gene expression omnibus (GEO) datasets and analyzed the associations of FCER1G expression and myeloma progression, ISS stage, 1q21 amplification and survival in 2296 myeloma patients and 48 healthy donors.Results: The expression of FCER1G showed a decreasing trend with the advance of myeloma. As ISS stage and 1q21 amplification level increased, the expression of FCER1G decreased (P = 0.0012 and 0.0036, respectively). MM patients with high FCER1G expression consistently had longer EFS and OS across three large sample datasets (EFS: P = 0.0057, 0.0049, OS: P = 0.0014, 0.00065, 0.0019 and 0.0029, respectively). Meanwhile, univariate and multivariate analysis indicated that high FCER1G expression was an independent favorable prognostic factor for EFS and OS in MM patients (EFS: P = 0.006, 0.027, OS: P =0.002,0.025, respectively).Conclusions: The expression level of FCER1G negatively correlated with myeloma progression, and high FCER1G expression may be applied as a favorable biomarker in MM patients.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a clonal and heterogeneous disease characterized by proliferation of immature myeloid cells, with impaired differentiation and maturation. Spinster homolog (SPNS) is a widely distributed transmembrane transporter, which assists sphingolipids in playing their roles through the cell membrane. However, the expression and clinical implication of the SPNS family has not been investigated in AML. From the Cancer Genome Atlas database, a total of 155 AML patients with complete clinical characteristics and SPNS1-3 expression data were contained in our study. In patients who received chemotherapy only, high expressions of SPNS2 and SPNS3 had adverse effects on event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) (all P＜0.05). However, in the allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) group, we only found a significant difference in OS between the high and low SPNS3 expression groups (P=0.001), while other SPNS members showed no effect on survival. Multivariate analysis indicated that high SPNS2 expression was an independent risk factor for both EFS and OS in chemotherapy patients. The results confirmed that high expression of SPNS2 and SPNS3 were poor prognostic factors, and the effect of SPNS2 can be neutralized by allo-HSCT.

Epithelial growth factor-like 7 (EGFL7) is a secretory protein with a well-characterized role in angiogenesis and the oncogenesis of certain solid tumors. Overexpression of EGFL7 is associated with adverse prognosis in patients with cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML). However, whether this association persists after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) remains unclear. To further clarify the prognostic role of EGFL7, seventy-one AML patients with EGFL7 expression data who underwent allo-HSCT from The Cancer Genome Atlas database were included and divided into either EGFL7(high) or EGFL7(low) group based on the median EGFL7 expression level. Two groups had similar clinical and molecular characteristics except that the EGFL7(high) group had less frequent NPM1 mutations (P= .001). Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed that high EGFL7 expressers had shorter OS than the low expressers (P= .040). Univariate analysis showed that high EGFL7 expression, MLL-PTD, RUNX1 and TP53 mutations were associated with short OS (all P

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Vocal fold (VF) fibroblasts are the central target for developing new strategies for the treatment of VF scarring and fibrosis. Asiatic acid (AA) is a triterpenoid derivate with antifibrotic properties. However, the effect of AA in VF scarring is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential application of AA as a therapeutic treatment in VF scarring. STUDY DESIGN Xxxxx. METHODS The functional expression of SMAD7 was knocked down with recombinant adenoviruses and adeno-associated viruses carrying shRNAs in the in vitro and in vivo models, which were constructed to investigate AA's antifibrotic function. The expression of collagens and SMADs in cultured human and rabbit cell lines and animal models was evaluated with quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry labeling, respectively. Cell migration capacity and contraction in VF fibroblast cell lines were also evaluated. RESULTS AA downregulated the downstream fibrotic activation in a dose-dependent manner. Meanwhile, AA attenuated VF scarring/fibrosis by reducing collagen deposition. Furthermore, the antifibrotic effects of AA were associated with the upregulation of SMAD7. In contrast, knockdown of SMAD7 inhibited the effect of AA on transforming growth factor-beta-1 (TGF-β1) stimulation, which suggests a central role for SMAD7 in AA-induced antifibrotic activities during VF fibrosis. CONCLUSION We concluded that AA, which is a novel therapeutic candidate for preventing VF scarring/fibrosis, might exert its antifibrotic effect via the TGF-β1/SMAD signaling pathway. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE N/A Laryngoscope, 2021.

BACKGROUND: CPNEs are significant biomarkers which can affect the progression and prognosis of various tumor diseases. However, the prognosis role of CPNEs in multiple myeloma (MM) is still unclear. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prognosis role of CPNEs in MM. METHODS: Seven hundred and thirty-five samples from two independent data sets were involved to analyze the clinical and molecular characteristics, and prognosis role of the expression of CPNE1-9 in MM. RESULTS: MM patients with higher expressions of CPNE5 and CPNE9 had longer event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with CPNE5low and CPNE9low expression groups (EFS: P= 0.0054, 0.0065; OS: P= 0.015, 0.016, respectively). Multivariate regression analysis showed that CPNE5 was an independent favorable predictor for EFS and OS (EFS: P= 0.005; OS: P= 0.006), and CPNE9 was an independent positive indicator for EFS (P= 0.002). Moreover, the survival probability and the cumulative event of EFS and OS in CPNE5highCPNE9high group were significantly longer than other groups. CONCLUSIONS: High expressions of CPNE5 and CPNE9 might be used as positive indicators for MM, and their combination was a better predictor for the survival of MM patients.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly heterogeneous disease that requires fine-grained risk stratification for the best prognosis of patients. As a class of small non-coding RNAs with important biological functions, microRNAs play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of AML. To assess the prognostic impact of miR-20b on AML in the presence of other clinical and molecular factors, we screened 90 AML patients receiving chemotherapy only and 74 also undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. In the chemotherapy-only group, high miR-20b expression subgroup had shorter event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS, both P < 0.001); whereas, there were no significant differences in EFS and OS between high and low expression subgroups in the allo-HSCT group. Then we divided all patients into high and low expression groups based on median miR-20b expression level. In the high expression group, patients treated with allo-HSCT had longer EFS and OS than those with chemotherapy alone (both P < 0.01); however, there were no significant differences in EFS and OS between different treatment subgroups in the low expression group. Further analysis showed that miR-20b was negatively correlated with genes in “ribosome,” “myeloid leukocyte mediated immunity,” and “DNA replication” signaling pathways. ORAI2, the gene with the strongest correlation with miR-20b, also had significant prognostic value in patients undergoing chemotherapy but not in the allo-HSCT group. In conclusion, our findings suggest that high miR-20b expression is a poor prognostic indicator for AML, but allo-HSCT may override its prognostic impact.

In recent years, with the rapid development of university education, more and more attention has been paid to the campus network system engineering design, which is an important part of the campus engineering construction data in the era. The establishment of a safe, convenient, environmental protection, open smart campus, to achieve university teaching, information management and life, is inseparable from the campus network infrastructure support. Big data, cloud computing and Internet of things are emerging computer technology, and the growth of data brings new challenges to management. Aiming at these problems, this paper first expounds the concept of big data, then analyzes the development status of big data, gives the application of big data in teaching management, and finally puts forward the key technology of constructing big data teaching resource sharing system. The distributed computing technology is used to realize the four basic educational administration functions in the educational administration management system, including student status management, teaching plan management, achievement management and online course selection. At the same time, in order to highlight the characteristics of online education, the functions of intelligent education cloud classroom, off campus online teaching platform docking and big data sharing knowledge base function are designed. Through the information, intelligence and standardization of the educational administration system, the Internet plus education service and resource sharing have been realized, and the purpose of breakthrough and innovation in educational administration has been achieved. Through the comparison of academic grades, it is concluded that there are 1000 students in total, 999 in practice and 1 absent. The passing rate of this grade is 98%.

Hyperuricemia has been associated with hypertension, however, whether this association exists across all decades of adult life is unknown. This study aimed to assess the association between hyperuricemia and hypertension in relation to age. This retrospective cross-sectional study included a total of 22,556 adult Chinese people who attended Health Physical Examination in a Chinese hospital. Participants were aged between 18 and 95 years (mean [standard deviation], 45.4 [14.0]). Serum uric acid levels and blood pressure were measured. Associations between serum uric acid and blood pressure, and between hyperuricemia and hypertension diagnosis were analyzed using linear or logistic regression, adjusting for confounding risk factors including age, sex, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fasting blood glucose. Sub-analysis was stratified by age and sex. Before adjustment, high serum uric acid was associated with higher systolic blood pressure (β = 0.214, P < 0.001) and higher diastolic blood pressure (β = 0.271, P < 0.001). Hyperuricemia was associated with hypertension diagnosis (OR, 1.763; 95% CI, 1.635-1.901; P < 0.001) in an unadjusted analysis. These findings remained significant after adjusting for confounding factors. Sub-analysis suggested that the association between uric acid and blood pressure was weaker in older age groups and the association between hyperuricemia and hypertension was limited to people under 60 years. Hyperuricemia was independently associated with hypertension diagnosis in men but not in women, and the independent association between hyperuricemia and hypertension only presented in men under 60 years. This study suggests that hyperuricemia is independently associated with hypertension in Chinese men under 60 years.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignancy caused by the uncontrolled and dysregulated clonal expansion of abnormal myeloid primordial cells. In general, the prognosis of AML remains poor despite new discoveries in its pathogenesis and treatment. It is crucial to find early and sensitive biomarkers and continue to explore active targeted treatments. Interferon-induced transmembrane protein (IFITM) family is an important part of the interferon signaling pathway and participate in the regulation of immune cell signaling, adhesion, cancer, and liver cell migration. However, the clinical and prognostic value of the IFITM family in AML has rarely been studied. We screened The Cancer Genome Atlas database and found 155 AML patients with IFITM family (IFITM1-5) expression data. In patients who only received chemotherapy, those with high IFITM3 expression had significantly shorter event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) than patients with low expression (all P

Genetic abnormalities are more frequently viewed as prognostic markers in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in recent years. Fucosylation, catalyzed by fucosyltransferases (FUTs), is a post-translational modification that widely exists in cancer cells. However, the expression and clinical implication of the FUT family (FUT1-11) in AML has not been investigated. From the Cancer Genome Atlas database, a total of 155 AML patients with complete clinical characteristics and FUT1-11 expression data were included in our study. In patients who received chemotherapy alone showed that high expression levels of FUT3, FUT6, and FUT7 had adverse effects on event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) (all P

Extensive attention has been focused on the development of rare-earth-free phosphors, due to their low cost, good absorption and emission properties. However, the yellow light emitted phosphors with good quantum yield and thermal stability are still urgent. Herein, we successfully prepare the single-phase Zn3V2O8 yellow phosphor through a solid state reaction method. The as-prepared phosphors present a broad absorption band in UV/NUV region, and exhibit an intense broadband emission spectrum under the NUV light excitation at 365 nm. The Zn3V2O8 phosphors also show excellent luminescence performance including strong emission intensity, long PL lifetime, high quantum yield, and good thermal stability. Moreover, this sample obtains a CIE coordinate of (0.364, 0.486) in the yellow light region. Therefore, the Zn3V2O8 phosphors can be considered as a novel yellow light source for w-LED devices.

Interleukin-8 (IL-8) possesses tumorigenic and proangiogenic properties, and is overexpressed in many human cancer types. However, only few studies have demonstrated the mechanisms of action of IL‑8 regarding the ability to promote proliferation and to inhibit apoptosis in prostate cancer. Here, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of IL‑8 on the prostate cancer cell line and determine possible mechanisms underlying its effect. In this study, IL‑8 was shown to be significantly upregulated in prostate cancer compared with paired normal control tissues. The data showed that IL‑8 exhibits direct oncogenicity, which significantly induced cell proliferation, invasion and attenuated apoptosis in prostate cancer cells via signal transducer and activator of transcription 3/protein kinase B/nuclear factor‑κB signaling pathways. In conclusion, modulation of IL‑8 expression or its associated signaling pathway may provide a novel working mechanism of IL‑8 in prostate cancer, and a promising strategy for controlling the progression and metastasis of prostate cancer.

One of the key features of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a group of very aggressive myeloid malignancies, is their strikingly heterogenous outcomes. Accurate biomarkers are needed to improve prognostic assessment. Glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase 1 (GOT1) is essential for cell proliferation and apoptosis by regulating cell's metabolic dependency on glucose. It is unclear whether the expression level of GOT1 has clinical implications in AML. Therefore, we analyzed the data of 155 AML patients with GOT1 expression information from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database. Among them, 84 patients were treated with chemotherapy alone, while 71 received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). In both treatment groups, high GOT1 expression was associated with shorter event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) (all P = 60 years, white blood cell count >= 15 x 10(9)/L, bone marrow blasts >= 70%, and DNMT3A, RUNX1 or TP53 mutations (all P

Real-time detection of fruits in orchard environments is one of crucial techniques for many precision agriculture applications, including yield estimation and automatic harvesting. Due to the complex conditions, such as different growth periods and occlusion among leaves and fruits, detecting fruits in natural environments is a considerable challenge. A rapid citrus recognition method by improving the state-of-the-art You Only Look Once version 4 (YOLOv4) detector is proposed in this paper. Kinect V2 camera was used to collect RGB images of citrus trees. The Canopy algorithm and the K-Means++ algorithm were then used to automatically select the number and size of the prior frames from these RGB images. An improved YOLOv4 network structure was proposed to better detect smaller citrus under complex backgrounds. Finally, the trained network model was used for sparse training, pruning unimportant channels or network layers in the network, and fine-tuning the parameters of the pruned model to restore some of the recognition accuracy. The experimental results show that the improved YOLOv4 detector works well for detecting different growth periods of citrus in a natural environment, with an average increase in accuracy of 3.15% (from 92.89% to 96.04%). This result is superior to the original YOLOv4, YOLOv3, and Faster R-CNN. The average detection time of this model is 0.06 s per frame at 1920 × 1080 resolution. The proposed method is suitable for the rapid detection of the type and location of citrus in natural environments and can be applied to the application of citrus picking and yield evaluation in actual orchards.

Background: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a highly heterogenous hematological malignancy and its prognostication depends on the genetic mutation and expression profile of each patient. Pantothenate kinase ( PANK ) is a regulatory enzyme that controls coenzyme A (CoA) biosynthesis. It has four isoforms encoded by PANK1-4 , respectively. Whether the expression of the PANK family has prognostic significance in AML remains unclear. Methods: We screened The Cancer Genome Atlas database for AML patients with complete PANK1-4 expression data. Eighty-four AML patients met the criteria and were included in this study. Clinical characteristics at diagnosis, including peripheral blood (PB) white blood cell counts (WBC), blast percentages in PB and bone marrow (BM), French-American-British (FAB) subtypes and the frequencies of common genetic mutations were described. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the log-rank test. Multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were constructed for event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS), using a limited backward elimination procedure. Results: Patients with high PANK2 expression had significantly longer event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) than patients with low PANK2 expression (P=0.007, P=0.016, respectively), whereas patients with high PANK4 expression had shorter EFS and OS than patients with low PANK4 expression (P=0.022, P=0.015, respectively). Multivariate analysis confirmed that high PANK4 expression was an independent risk factor for EFS and OS (both P Conclusions: Our study suggested that high PANK2 expression might have favorable effects on AML, while high PANK4 expression was indicative of poor prognosis.

Relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia (R/R AML) has complicated pathogenesis. Its treatment is complicated, and the prognosis is poor. So far, there is no consensus on what is the optimal treatment strategy. With the deepening of research, new chemotherapy regimens, new small molecule inhibitors, and immunotherapy have been increasingly applied to clinical trials, providing more possibilities for the treatment of R/R AML. The most effective treatment for patients who achieve complete remission after recurrence is still sequential conditioning therapy followed by allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Finding the best combination of treatments is still an important goal for the future.

Coal gangue (CG), a complex solid waste from coal industry, is still underutilized, thus leading to disposal problems. However, high contents of silica and alumina in this material make it a potential zeolite precursor. In this paper, pure, single-phase and highly crystalline Na-A zeolite (NAZ) with high Ca 2+ -exchange capacity (CEC) was successfully synthesized with coal gangue as raw materials via the in-situ crystallization technique. Firstly, in order to provide part or all of active SiO 2 and Al 2 O 3 species, CG was decarbonized at 800 °C to form an X-ray amorphous material. Secondly, hydrothermal treatment was performed in aqueous alkali to form the NAZ crystal. Moreover, we explored several factors in the formation of NAZ:NaOH concentration, crystallization temperature, and crystallization time. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), N 2 -adsorption–desorption measurements, and CEC testing. Compared to the commercial-grade NAZ, the NAZ prepared from CG could be an alternative material for the phosphorus-containing additives in the detergent industry.

To evaluate meibomian gland (MG) alterations in patients with primary chronic dacryocystitis (PCD) by in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM), and to correlate the finding with clinical presentation.Twenty-eight eyes with the diagnosis of PCD and their contralateral unaffected eyes were studied and compared with 27 normal controls. All subjects completed an Ocular Surface Disease Index questionnaire (OSDI) and underwent slit-lamp biomicroscopy examination, tear break-up time (BUT) measurements, fluorescein staining, Schirmer test I, and an IVCM examination of the MG. IVCM parameters, including the MG acinar unit density (MGAUD), periglandular inflammatory cell density (ICD), MG acinar unit longest diameter (MGALD), and MG acinar unit shortest diameter (MGASD) and their correlation with clinical data were analyzed.The mean MG expressibility scores, BUT values, and staining scores were significantly worse in eyes with PCD compared with the contralateral clinically unaffected eyes and controls (p 0.05). A significant decrease in MGAUD was observed in PCD eyes compared with the controls and the contralateral clinically unaffected eyes. Conversely, the mean ICD and MGASD values were significantly higher in the PCD eyes. There were no significant differences in mean MGALD value between the PCD eyes and the contralateral clinically unaffected eyes. In addition, there were significant changes in the IVCM parameters in the contralateral unaffected eyes compared with the controls, including MGAUD, ICD, MGALD, and MGASD. All IVCM parameters showed a strong, significant correlation with MG dropout grades, MG expressibility, fluorescein staining scores, and OSDI values (all p 0.05).Patients with unilateral PCD demonstrated significant changes in MG as compared with the contralateral clinically unaffected eyes and controls. The MG function should be closely observed in these patients.

To investigate the applicability of a newly developed corneal topographer in assessing tear film stability.This is a prospective, case-control study. Forty-four Chinese dry eye patients and 41 normal subjects were recruited. Noninvasive tear film break-up time (NI-BUT) was measured using a new method based on a corneal topographer equipped with modified scan software. The reliability of the measurements was determined. Then, the correlations between the NI-BUT and the traditional fluorescein tear film break-up time, Schirmer I test values, and inferior tear meniscus height measurements were determined. The receiver operating characteristic curve technique was used to evaluate the NI-BUT examination in the diagnosis of dry eye.In total, a significant difference between the NI-BUT and the fluorescein tear film break-up time was found (3.2 ± 2.3 seconds vs. 5.2 ± 3.4 seconds; P0.001). The coefficient of variation and intraclass correlation coefficient values of NI-BUT were 12.8% and 0.93, respectively, for NI-BUT for intraobserver repeatability and 15.4% and 0.88, respectively for interobserver repeatability. The NI-BUT showed a good correlation with other dry eye examinations (all P0.05). In addition, the NI-BUT was significantly shorter in dry eye patients (2.0 ± 0.2 seconds) than in normal subjects (4.3 ± 0.3 seconds; P0.001). When the cutoff value was set at2.65 seconds, the sensitivity and specificity of the test were 84.1% and 75.6%, respectively.Measurements of NI-BUT obtained with the newly developed corneal topographer may provide a simple, noninvasive screening test for dry eyes with acceptable sensitivity, specificity, and repeatability.

// Dan Wu 1,* , Tingting Qian 2,* , Takeshi Nakao 3 , Jianjiang Xu 1 , Zuguo Liu 4,5 , Xinghuai Sun 1,6 , Yiwei Chu 2 and Jiaxu Hong 1,3,4 1 Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science and Eye Research Institute, Eye, and ENT Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China 2 Department of Immunology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China 3 Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 4 Eye Institute of Xiamen University Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Xiamen, Fujian, China 5 Eye Center and Department of Ophthalmology, The Second Xiangya Hospital and Eye Hospital, Central South University, Hunan, China 6 Key Laboratory of Myopia, National Health and Family Planning Commission, Shanghai, China * These authors have contributed equally to this paper Correspondence to: Jiaxu Hong, email: // Yiwei Chu, email: // Keywords : pyogenic granulomas; clinical characteristic; histology; Pathology Section Received : September 18, 2016 Accepted : December 07, 2016 Published : December 19, 2016 Abstract Background: Conjunctival pyogenic granulomas are commonly seen after ocular surgeries or at an ocular wound site. The aim of this study is to describe a novel histological classification for medically uncontrolled conjunctival pyogenic granulomas (MUCPG), and to explore whether the diversity in clinical features correlates to different histological subtypes of MUCPG. Methods: This is an observational cross-section case series. We reviewed 46 consecutive patients with conjunctival pyogenic granulomas who did not respond to topical corticosteroids and underwent surgical excision from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2015. Clinical features and histological findings were presented and analyzed. Results: Ocular surgery, accidental injury, and chalazion were the main predisposing causes of MUCPG. The lesions tended to occur unilaterally on the bulbar conjunctiva. Forty patients (87%) presented an enrichment of inflammatory cells and proliferated capillaries in their pathological sections (inflammatory pattern). Six patients (13%) showed relatively few inflammatory cells and capillaries within fibrous stroma (fibrous pattern). Patients with the inflammatory pattern were older ( p = 0.025) and tended to be located in bulbar conjunctiva ( p = 0.002). The predisposing causes were also different between two histological subtypes ( p = 0.007). Conclusions: We found the correlation between clinical presentation and histological subtypes in patients with MUCPG, indicating this disease may need a new classification scheme.

To compare the surgical duration and clinical outcomes of nasolacrimal recanalization versus external dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR) in the treatment of failed nasolacrimal duct intubation. This is a retrospective, comparative, and interventional study. We evaluated the outcomes of 66 consecutive patients undergoing either nasolacrimal recanalization (n = 32) or DCR (n = 34) in a tertiary lacrimal disease referral center. Length of surgical duration, clinical outcomes, and rate of recurrence at 18 months postoperatively were compared. The mean surgical duration was 18.5 minutes (range, 15–25 minutes) for nasolacrimal recanalization and 48.2 minutes (range, 45–61 minutes) for DCR, respectively (P

We present methods for three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of a crop canopy from multi-scale measured data and a method for verifying the accuracy of these reconstructed canopies. The validation method aims to give a quantitative evaluation to these reconstruction methods and reconstructed canopies, because different reconstruction methods use different data and also involve different time and labor costs for measuring data from real crops. Our reconstruction methods include reconstruction from digitized feature points of the crops, reconstruction by combining digitized feature points and scanned leaf mesh, and reconstruction from statistical models of morphological structure about the crops. Projected area (from different viewpoints) of the reconstructed crops 3D canopy was used as the key factor for verifying the accuracy of the reconstructed models. We concluded that reconstruction from digitizing characteristic points and scanned leaf mesh will obtain favorable result with low time and labor costs for measuring data.

Background Major-histocompatibility-complex class I-related chain A (MICA) antigens are the ligands of NKG2D, which is an activating or coactivating receptor expressed on human NK cells and CD8+T cells. We sought to determine whether MICA expression in human corneal epithelium (HCE) could affect the cytotoxicity mediated by NK cells or CD8+T cells. Methods Cell cultures of HCE were harvested from human donor eyes. Flow cytometric analysis and ELISA was performed to determine the levels of MICA expression on HCE. Then, HCE was transfected with a lentivirus vector expressing MICA and GFP. Flow cytometric analysis, RT-PCR, western blot and ELISA were performed to check the levels of MICA expression. For cytotoxicity testing, allogeneic NK cells and CD8+T cells were isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy volunteers by magnetic cell sorting. The cytolytic activity of NK cells and CD8+T cells was assessed against MICA-transfected HCE (NK cells: E:T ratio = 3:1; CD8+T cells: E:T ratio = 10:1) using the nonradioactive cytotoxicity detection kit lactate deshydrogenase. Results Surface expression of MICA on corneal epithelium was identified at a low level. A cell line of stable human MICA-transfected corneal epithelium was successfully established. Heightened expression of MICA on HCE was found to promote the cytotoxicity mediated by NK cells or CD8+T cells, which could be blocked by an anti-MICA antibody. Conclusion MICA molecules may contribute to cytotoxic responses mediated by activated immune effector cells in corneal epithelium immunity.