Search

Baseline wander (BW) and electrocardiogram (ECG) noise reduction play an important role in ECG data analysis and disease diagnosis. This article introduces a sparse optimization method, which takes into account the group sparse characteristics of the signal, and combines low-pass filter to denoise the ECG signal and estimate the baseline. Derived from the classic total variation (TV) denoising method, a denoising method considering the structural characteristics of ECG signals is proposed. This method uses a band matrix to represent the sparse optimization problem, and adopts majorization-minimization (MM) algorithm to optimize the solution of the convergence problem. Through data comparison and detailed analysis, we first compares the method with two TV denoising methods. Then, the proposed method is validated in the MIT-BIH arrhythmia database of ECG signals, and compared with nonlocal means (NLM) and complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) methods. The simulation experiment results show that the proposed algorithm has lower root mean square error (RMSE) and higher signal-to-noise ratio improvement ( $\mathrm {SNR\_{}imp}$ ).

BackgroundA number of publications have examined the relation between blood group and female infertility including ovarian reserve, recurrent miscarriage, and live birth. However, there is a lack of literature investigating joint mother/father ABO blood type in a large cohort. This study aimed to investigate the association between couple combinations for ABO blood groups and assisted reproductive technology (ART) outcomes in patients undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF)/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).MethodsThis retrospective cohort study included 30,717 couples who underwent IVF cycles between 2010 and 2019. The clinical outcomes of IVF treatment were the primary outcome. History of spontaneous miscarriage, embryo quality, and birth sex, weights, defects rate were also studied.ResultsThere was no difference in the baseline demographics between the blood type groups. There was a statistically significant positive association between the combination of female blood type AB and male blood type AB with biochemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy, and live birth rate (OR 1.36; 95% CI, 1.05–1.78; P = 0.02 and OR 1.31; 95% CI, 1.0–1.68; P = 0.031 and OR 1.28; 95% CI, 1.01–1.63; P = 0.041 respectively). No statistically significant difference was observed between joint mother/father ABO blood types and high-quality embryo rate, early abortion rate, birth sex, birth weights, and birth defect rate.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the success rate of IVF/ICSI cycles in parent mating AB blood type is higher than that in other blood type combination groups.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of BMI in male and/or female partners on embryo development and clinical pregnancy outcome during ART.MethodsData of 11,130 cycles between January 2018 and December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. They were divided into Group A, B, C, and D based on couples’ BMI values, also were divided into Group I, II, III and IV in IVF cycles and Group i, ii, iii, and iv in ICSI cycles. After grouping, inter-group indicators comparisons and logistic regression analysis were performed.ResultsIn IVF cycles, CPR in Group I and Group III were higher than Group IV. In Group III, it was higher than Group II. The AR in Group IV was higher, but the LBR was lower than Group I, Group II, and Group III. Logistic regression analysis results suggested that AR in Group IV was higher than that in Group I in IVF cycles, whereas LBR was lower.In ICSI cycles, high-quality embryo rate in Group i and Group ii were both higher than that in Group iii and Group iv. The CPR in Group i was higher than Group ii and Group iv, and in Group iii was higher than Group ii and Group iv. The AR in Group i was lower than Group iii and Group iv, and AR in Group ii was lower than Group iv. LBR, in Group I it was higher than Group ii, Group iii, and Group iv. Logistic regression analysis results suggested CPR in Group ii was significantly lower than that in Group i. AR in Group iii was considerably higher than that in Group i. LBR in Group ii and Group iv were significantly lower than that in Group i.ConclusionFemale higher BMI was not conducive to the formation of high-quality embryos in ICSI cycle. Female and/or male BMI affected AR and LBR more than CPR not only in IVF cycles, but also in ICSI cycles.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the protective effect of kaempferol (KAE), the main active monomer from Penthorum chinense Pursh, on hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury (HI/RI) and its specific mechanism. HI/RI is a common complication closely related to the prognosis of liver surgery, and effective prevention and treatment methods are still unavailable. Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is caused by tissue damage during ischemia and sustained oxidative stress and inflammation during reperfusion. Penthorum chinense Pursh is a traditional Chinese medicine widely used to treat liver disease since ancient times. Kaempferol (KAE), a highly purified flavonoid active monomer isolated and extracted from Penthorum chinense Pursh, was investigated for its protective effect on HI/RI. Our study indicates that KAE pretreatment alleviated I/R-induced transaminase elevation and pathological changes. Further analysis revealed that KAE pretreatment attenuates I/R-induced oxidative stress (as measured by the content of MDA, SOD and GSH) in vivo and reduces hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) -induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in vitro. Meanwhile, KAE inhibits activation of NF-κB/p65 and reduces the release of pro-inflammatory factors (TNF-α and IL-6) to protect the liver from I/R-induced inflammation. Nuclear erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a crucial cytoprotection regulator because it induces anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cytoprotective genes. Therefore, we analyzed the protein levels of Nrf2 and its downstream heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in the liver of mice and hepatocytes of humankind, respectively, and discovered that KAE pretreatment activates the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway. In summary, this study confirmed the hepatoprotective effect of KAE on HI/RI, which inhibits oxidative stress and inflammation by activating the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway.

The unheated gathering and transportation technology of oil pipeline is an effective method of energy saving and consumption reduction in the later stage of oilfield development. However, improper setting of operation parameters can result in deterioration of fluid flow in the pipe and wall sticking, which seriously threatens the safety of oil production. In this work, the influence mechanism of the composition of crude oil and the complicated flow conditions on oil-solid sticking behavior was elaborated emphatically, the relationship between the wax crystal, asphaltene and acidic compound and the wall sticking behavior of crude oil was analyzed, and the two evaluation indexes(wall sticking temperature and wall sticking rate) and the research method of boundary condition in unheated gathering and transportation technology were sorted out. Based on the macroscopic research, the existing microscopic research methods of oil-solid interface interaction were summarized, and the wall sticking mechanism was described in terms of mechanical behavior. Finally, the suggestions for further deep research on wall sticking behavior were addressed.

Introduction: Kidney biopsy, providing the insightful information for most kidney diseases, is an invasive diagnostic tool with certain risks ranging from the least severe macroscopic hematuria to the most severe life-threatening bleeding necessitating renal artery embolization. We aimed to compare the postbiopsy bleeding complications between 2 common methods and to further explore the risk factors of bleeding complications in patients using the negative pressure suction puncture (NPS) method. Methods: We retrospectively collected the data from percutaneous native kidney biopsies in 2016. The clinical, laboratory tests, pathological findings, and the occurrence of bleeding complications following kidney biopsy were analyzed. The kidney biopsy was performed in our center by experienced nephrologists with 2 different methods, namely, NPS method and real-time ultrasound-guided needle (RTU) method. We compared rates of complications between 2 methods and evaluated univariate and multivariate association of risk factors with bleeding complications in the NPS group. Results: 626 kidney biopsies were performed between January 2016 and December 2016. There were 83.2% (521/626) participants in the NPS group and 16.8% (105/626) in the RTU group. There were more participants in the RTU group needing >1 needle pass during biopsy than those in the NPS group (61.0 vs. 14.7%, p < 0.001). Acute kidney disease (AKD) occurred before the procedure of kidney biopsy accounted for 13.8% (72/521) in the NPS group and 1.9% (2/105) in the RTU group. The renal pathological findings revealed higher number of glomeruli in the NPS group than in the RTU group (26.8 ± 13.0 vs. 17.2 ± 8.6, p < 0.001). The incidence of bleeding complications in the NPS group was lower than that in the RTU group (9.2 vs. 21.9%, p < 0.01). Logistic multivariate regression showed that AKD was independently associated with bleeding complications after kidney biopsy in the NPS group. Conclusion: Regarding the bleeding risk, there was noninferiority of NPS over RTU. AKD contributes to higher risks of bleeding complications after kidney biopsy.

Abstract Multifunctional lanthanide-based upconversion nanoparticles (UCNPs), which feature efficiently convert low-energy photons into high-energy photons, have attracted considerable attention in the domain of materials science and biomedical applications. Due to their unique photophysical properties, including light-emitting stability, excellent upconversion luminescence efficiency, low autofluorescence, and high detection sensitivity, and high penetration depth in samples, UCNPs have been widely applied in biomedical applications, such as biosensing, imaging and theranostics. In this review, we briefly introduced the major components of UCNPs and the luminescence mechanism. Then, we compared several common design synthesis strategies and presented their advantages and disadvantages. Several examples of the functionalization of UCNPs were given. Next, we detailed their biological applications in bioimaging and disease treatment, particularly drug delivery and photodynamic therapy, including antibacterial photodynamic therapy. Finally, the future practical applications in materials science and biomedical fields, as well as the remaining challenges to UCNPs application, were described. This review provides useful practical information and insights for the research on and application of UCNPs in the field of cancer.

Abstract Background To assess whether preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy with next generation sequencing (NGS) outweighs single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array in improving clinical outcomes. Methods A retrospective analysis of the clinical outcomes of patients who underwent PGT-A treatment in a single center from January 2013 to December 2017.A total of 1418 couples who underwent PGT-A treatment were enrolled, of which 805 couples used NGS for PGT-A, while the remaining 613 couples used SNP array for PGT-A. Clinical pregnancy rate, miscarriage rate and healthy baby rate were compared between the MALBAC-NGS-PGT-A and MDA-SNP-PGT-A groups. Results After testing karyotypes of 5771 biopsied blastocysts, 32.2% (1861/5771) were identified as chromosomally normal, while 67.8% were chromosomally abnormal. In terms of clinical outcomes, women in the MALBAC-NGS-PGT-A group had a significantly higher clinical pregnancy rate (50.5% vs 41.7%, p = 0.002) and healthy baby rate (39.6% vs 31.4%, p = 0.003), and a lower miscarriage rate (15.5% vs 22.8%, p = 0.036). Conclusion This is the largest study reporting the extensive application of NGS-based PGT-A, whilst comparing the clinical outcomes of MALBAC-NGS-PGT-A and MDA-SNP-PGT-A. The results provide greater evidence supporting the wider use of NGS in PGT-A, not only for its lower cost but also for its improved clinical outcomes compared to SNP-based PGT-A.

Abstract Background The blastocyst morphology provided valuable roles for predicting pregnancy and live birth, but was still not fully understood for evaluating miscarriage. The aim of this study was to explore the association between blastocyst morphologic evaluation and first trimester miscarriage combined with karyotype of miscarried conceptus. Methods This retrospective cohort study included a total of 2873 clinical pregnancy cycles with single blastocyst transfer performed from January 2013 to April 2019. Chromosome karyotype of miscarried conceptus was analyzed via single nucleotide polymorphism array analysis. Miscarriage and karyotype of miscarried conceptus associated with blastocyst morphology were analyzed by chi-square and logistic regression analysis. Results A total of 354 (12.3%) cycles resulted in first trimester miscarriage. Miscarriage rates increased with trophectoderm (TE) grade from A to C (P = 0.012), while three morphologic parameters (blastocoele expansion degree, inner cell mass (ICM) and TE) showed no statistical significance with miscarriage after multivariable analysis. The rate of aneuploidy was 47.7% (83 of 174) in total miscarried conceptuses. For euploid miscarriages, the grade B of ICM occupied a higher proportion compared with aneuploidy, with OR of 2.474, (95% CI, 1.311–4.699), P = 0.005. Conclusions Chromosomal aberration of embryo is an important genetic factor for first trimester miscarriage, and the quality of ICM is a potential indicator for euploid miscarriage. Blastocysts with grade A of ICM should be given priority during single blastocyst transfer to reduce potential miscarriage.

Rationale & Objectives: Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using creatinine and cystatin C (eGFRcr-cys) may be less accurate compared to measured GFR (mGFR) in China than in North America, Europe, and Australia due to variation across regions in their non-GFR determinants. The non-GFR determinants of β2-microglobulin (B2M) and β-trace protein (BTP) differ from those of creatinine and cystatin C. Thus, the average eGFR using all 4 markers (eGFRavg) could be more accurate than eGFRcr-cys in China. Study Design: Diagnostic test study. Setting & Participants: 1,066 participants in Shanghai and Beijing with creatinine and cystatin C and 666 participants with all 4 filtration markers. Tests Compared: Index tests were previously developed equations for eGFR using creatinine, cystatin C, B2M, and BTP and combinations. The reference test was mGFR using plasma clearance of iohexol. We compared the performance of eGFRavg to eGFRcr-cys using the proportion of participants with errors in eGFR >30% of mGFR (1 − P30) and root mean square error (RMSE) of the regression of eGFR on mGFR on the logarithmic scale. We also compared classification and reclassification of mGFR categories using eGFRavg compared to eGFRcr-cys. Outcomes: Accuracy was significantly better for eGFRavg (1 − P30 of 10.4% and RMSE of 0.214) compared to eGFRcr-cys (1 − P30 of 13.8% and RMSE of 0.232; P = 0.004 and P = 0.006, respectively). However, improvements in accuracy did not generally translate into significant improvement in classification or reclassification of mGFR categories. Limitations: Study population may not be generalizable to clinical settings other than large urban medical centers in China. Conclusions: A panel of endogenous filtration markers including B2M and BTP in addition to creatinine and cystatin C may improve GFR estimation in China. Further study is necessary to determine whether GFR estimation using B2M and BTP can be improved and whether these improvements lead to useful clinical applications. Index Words: Estimated GFR, China, creatinine, cystatin C, beta-2 microglobulin, beta-trace protein

Abstract Background In recent years, some studies have shown that there is a positive association between the number of oocytes retrieved and the cumulative live birth rate (CLBR) after fresh and frozen cycles of one oocyte retrieval. However, almost no studies have examined the association between the number of oocytes retrieved and the CLBR when using the “freeze-all” strategy. We performed this study to investigate the effects of an extreme oocyte yield during the first “freeze-all” cycle on the cumulative live birth rate among patients younger than 35 years old. Methods This was a retrospective cohort study performed in a university-affiliated reproductive medicine centre. Data obtained from 3276 women aged younger than 35 years who underwent their first “freeze-all” cycle (IVF/ICSI) were collected between January 2009 and December 2016. In all, 5025 frozen cycles took place during the follow-up period from January 2009 to December 2018. Patients were divided into five groups according to oocytes retrieved (group 1: 4–10 oocytes; group 2: 11–20 oocytes; group 3: 21–30 oocytes; group 4: 31–40 oocytes; group 5: > 40 oocytes). The primary outcome was the cumulative live birth rate. Results Unadjusted results showed that the cumulative live birth rate significantly increased as the number of oocytes retrieved increased and reached up to 93.82% in cases with yields of 21–30 oocytes (P 0.05). After adjusting for confounders, our results showed that the number of oocytes retrieved is an independent positive predictor of cumulative live birth rate when using a “freeze-all” strategy. (P

Based on automated guided vehicle (AGV), the intelligent parking system provides a novel solution to the difficulty of parking in large cities. The automation of parking/pick-up in the system hinges on the path planning efficiency of the AGV. Considering the numerous disconnected paths in intelligent parking systems, this paper introduces the fallback strategy to improve ant colony optimization (ACO) for path planning in AGV-based intelligent parking system. Meanwhile, the valuation function was adopted to optimize the calculation process of the heuristic information, and the reward/penalty mechanism was employed to the pheromone update strategy. In this way, the improved ACO could plan the optimal path for the AGV from the starting point to the destination, without sacrificing the search efficiency. Next, the optimal combination of ACO parameters was identified through repeated simulations. Finally, a typical parking lot was abstracted into a topological map, and used to compare the path planning results between the improved ACO and the classic ACO. The comparison confirms the effectiveness of the improved ACO in path planning for AGV-based intelligent parking system.

Land cover classification has achieved significant advances by employing deep convolutional network (ConvNet) based methods. Following the paradigm of learning deep models, land cover classification is modeled as semantic segmentation of very high resolution remote sensing images. In order to obtain accurate segmentation results, high-level categorical semantics and low-level spatial details should be effectively fused. To this end, we propose a novel bidirectional gird fusion network to aggregate the multilevel features across the ConvNet. Specifically, the proposed model is characterized by a bidirectional fusion architecture, which enriches diversity of feature interaction by encouraging bidirectional information flow. In this way, our model gains mutual benefits between top-down and bottom-up information flows. Moreover, a grid fusion architecture is then followed for further feature refinement in a dense and hierarchical fusion manner. Finally, effective feature upsampling is also critical for the multiple fusion operations. Consequently, a content-aware feature upsampling kernel is incorporated for further improvement. Our whole model consistently achieves significant improvement over state-of-the-art methods on two major datasets, ISPRS and GID.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of mechanical thrombectomy using the AngioJet™ System for the treatment of lower extremity acute arterial embolism and thrombosis. METHODS: A total of twenty patients who had acute arterial embolism and thrombosis of the lower extremity were recruited. All patients were treated using the AngioJet mechanical thrombectomy system. Clinical data of the patients were retrospectively collected. The clinical efficacy of thrombectomy was analyzed. RESULTS: Eighteen (90%) of the twenty patients successfully completed the mechanical thrombectomy using the AngioJet system. The mean time for hospital stay and operation was 4.2 ± 1.4 days and 1.31 ± 0.41 h, respectively. The average doses of urokinase and heparin during operation were 358,000 ± 123,000 U and 45.10 ± 8.30 mg, respectively. Two patients received a complementary treatment of incision for removing the thrombus. Two patients received catheter-directed thrombolysis (CDT) after the mechanical thrombectomy. Five patients received bare-metal stent implantation after balloon expansion. According to the Cooley standard, ten patients were in excellent conditions, six in good conditions, two in fair conditions, and two in poor conditions. No severe bleeding or renal function impairment was observed. CONCLUSION: The AngioJet mechanical thrombectomy system is safe and effective. Combined with the use of CDT and stent implantation, the AngioJet system could lead to quick recoveries of the perfusion of the lower extremity and improve the limb salvage rates, exhibiting excellent clinical values.

Objective: To investigate the effects of endometrial stimulation timings and techniques on pregnancy outcomes in patients without prior embryo transfer (ET). Methods: We included a total of 10 studies related to the impact of endometrial stimulation on the pregnancy outcome of infertile patients with the first ET from 2010 to 2019. These studies were found by searching databases including China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), Chinese Biological Med (CBM), Chinese Medical Current Content (CMCC), China National Knowledge Internet (CNKI), WanFang Med Online, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, Medline, ScienceDirect, and EMBASE. A total of 1,983 cycles were included, of which 725 were cycles with endometrial stimulation. Clinical outcomes included clinical pregnancy, implantation, abortion, multiple pregnancy, and live birth rate. Results: The implantation rate (IR) was higher in the fresh cycle endometrial stimulation group than in the control group (relative risk [RR] = 1.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.03–1.42; P = 0.02), but there were no significant between-group differences in the live birth rate (LBR) and abortion rate (AR). Subgroup analysis showed that whether follicular or luteal endometrial stimulation was performed before the ET cycle had no effect on the clinical pregnancy outcome, and endometrial stimulation on the day of oocyte retrieval reduced the clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) (RR = 0.37, 95% CI = 0.19–0.75; P = 0.005). Whether the technique involved the use of a curette or catheter, there was no significant between-group difference in CPR. Conclusions: Fresh cycle endometrial stimulation can improve the embryo IR in patients without prior ET, but it cannot increase CPR, LBR, or AR. Subgroup analysis showed that different endometrial stimulation timings and techniques did not significantly improve CPR and that endometrial stimulation on the day of oocyte retrieval reduced CPR.

Postnatal muscle growth is accompanied by increases in fast fiber type compositions and hypertrophy, raising the possibility that a slow to fast transition may be partially requisite for increases in muscle mass. To test this hypothesis, we ablated the Myh4 gene, and thus myosin heavy chain IIB protein and corresponding fibers in mice, and examined its consequences on postnatal muscle growth. Wild-type and Myh4–/– mice had the same number of muscle fibers at 2 weeks postnatal. However, the gastrocnemius muscle lost up to 50% of its fibers between 2 and 4 weeks of age, though stabilizing thereafter. To compensate for the lack of functional IIB fibers, type I, IIA, and IIX(D) fibers increased in prevalence and size. To address whether slowing the slow-to-fast fiber transition process would rescue fiber loss in Myh4–/– mice, we stimulated the oxidative program in muscle of Myh4–/– mice either by overexpression of PGC-1α, a well-established model for fast-to-slow fiber transition, or by feeding mice AICAR, a potent AMP kinase agonist. Forcing an oxidative metabolism in muscle only partially protected the gastrocnemius muscle from loss of fibers in Myh4–/– mice. To explore whether traditional means of stimulating muscle hypertrophy could overcome the muscling deficits in postnatal Myh4–/– mice, myostatin null mice were bred with Myh4–/– mice, or Myh4–/– mice were fed the growth promotant clenbuterol. Interestingly, both genetic and pharmacological stimulations had little impact on mice lacking a functional Myh4 gene suggesting that the existing muscle fibers have maximized its capacity to enlarge to compensate for the lack of its neighboring IIB fibers. Curiously, however, cell signaling events responsible for IIB fiber formation remained intact in the tissue. These findings further show disrupting the slow-to-fast transition of muscle fibers compromises muscle growth postnatally and suggest that type IIB myosin heavy chain expression and its corresponding fiber type may be necessary for fiber maintenance, transition and hypertrophy in mice. The fact that forcing muscle metabolism toward a more oxidative phenotype can partially compensates for the lack of an intact Myh4 gene provides new avenues for attenuating the loss of fast-twitch fibers in aged or diseased muscles.

Oocyte retrieval is a routine procedure during the application of assisted reproduction technology. However, technical difficulties experienced during oocyte retrieval and the subsequent unsatisfactory number of oocytes obtained are rarely reported. The current study included 10,624 oocyte retrieval cycles from April 2015 to June 2018, and patients were followed up until February 2019. Patients were divided into two groups depending on whether the oocyte number obtained reached the >14-mm follicle number on the day of hCG administration. In the oocyte retrieval not satisfactory (ORNS) group, there were 1,294 cycles, and in the oocyte retrieval satisfactory (ORS) group, there were 9,330 cycles. ORNS patients were older, had a longer duration of infertility, had higher follicle-stimulating hormone, and were more likely to have endometriosis. The ORS group had a higher rate of the use of a follicular phase long-acting gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist long ovarian stimulation protocol and a lower rate of the use of a luteal phase short-acting GnRH agonist long protocol. The ORNS group had fewer total number of days of FSH stimulation. On human chorionic gonadotropin day, the ORNS group had higher luteinizing hormone (LH), lower estradiol, and lower progesterone levels. After oocyte retrieval, the oocyte quality and fresh cycle transplantation rate were higher in the ORNS group. An unsatisfactory oocyte retrieval number did not influence the clinical pregnancy rate, miscarriage rate, or live birth rate during the fresh cycles. The cumulative pregnancy rate and the live birth rate were lower in the ORNS group. In conclusion, with a similar number of matured follicles, ORNS was more likely to occur in ovarian dysfunction patients. The follicular phase long-acting GnRH agonist long protocol had lower oocyte retrieval difficulty during IVF/ICSI. ORNS does not affect embryo quality or the fresh cycle pregnancy rate, but it significantly reduces the cumulative pregnancy rate and the live birth rate.

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease and continues to rise in the worldwide. Limonin is a triterpenoid compound widely found in the fruits of citrus plants with a wide range of pharmacological effects, including anti-cancer, anti-inflammation, anti-viral, anti-oxidation and liver protection properties. However, the potential molecular mechanism of limonin on NAFLD in zebrafish remains unknown. In this study, zebrafish larvae were exposed to thioacetamide to establish an NAFLD model and the larvae were treated with limonin for 72 h simultaneously. The human liver cell line was stimulated with lipid mixture and meanwhile incubated with limonin for 24 h. The results showed that Limonin significantly reduced the accumulation of lipid droplets in the liver and down-regulated the levels of lipogenic transcription factors FASN and SREBP1 in NAFLD. Limonin suppressed macrophages infiltration and the down-regulated the relative expression levels of the pro-inflammatory factors IL-6, IL-1β and TNF-α secreted by macrophages. Besides, limonin could reversed the reduction of glutathione and the accumulation of reactive oxygen species through up-regulating NRF2/HO-1 signaling pathway in the liver. In conclusion, this study revealed that limonin has a protective effect on NAFLD due to its resistance to lipid deposition as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions.

Background: Oocyte maturation arrest is a disease that produces immature oocytes and cannot be mature after culturing in vitro, which leads to female primary infertility. We aimed to summarize nine representative patients in our center to retrospectively analyze the genetic variants and clinical characteristics of oocyte maturation arrest.Methods: This study examined and analyzed nine families with oocyte maturation arrest. Whole-exome sequencing (WES) of the probands was performed to detect the pathogenic variants. Sanger sequencing verified the WES findings in patients and available parents. ExAC database was used to search the variant frequency. The variants were assessed by pathogenicity and conservational property prediction analysis and according to the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG). Phenotypes of oocytes were evaluated by a light microscopy, and the phenotype-genotype correlation was also evaluated.Results: Nine pathogenic variants in five genes were detected in nine patients, of which three were novel variants, including PATL2 [c.1374A > G (p. Ile458Met)] and [1289-1291del TCC (p. Leu430del)] and ZP2 [c.1543C > T (p. Pro515Ser)]. Nine variants were predicted to be pathogenic, resulting in different types of oocyte maturation arrest and clinical phenotypes.Conclusion: Three novel pathogenic variants were identified, enabling the expansion of the gene variant spectrum. The related pathogenic mutations of the PATL2, TUBB8, and ZP1∼3 genes were highly suggestive of being causative of oocyte maturation arrest.

BackgroundPrevious studies have described the effects of different drugs in preventing ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS). However, the efficacies of those drugs in preventing OHSS remain inconclusive.MethodsWe searched the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) databases. A network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) was performed up to August 2021. We investigated the following drugs in our study: aspirin, albumin, metformin, calcium, cabergoline, quinagolide, letrozole, hydroxyethyl starch (HES), and glucocorticoids. The primary outcome was the incidence rate of moderate-to-severe OHSS, with the results presented as risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).ResultsThe incidence of moderate-to-severe OHSS was significantly reduced by calcium administration (risk ratios [RR] 0.14, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.04, 0.46) (grade: high), HES (RR 0.25, 95% CI 0.07, 0.73) (grade: high), and cabergoline (RR 0.43, 95% CI 0.24, 0.71) (grade: moderate). The surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) indicated that calcium (SUCRA, 92.4%) was the most effective intervention for preventing moderate-to-severe OHSS. These drugs were safe and did not affect clinical pregnancy, miscarriage, or live birth rates.ConclusionCalcium, HES, and cabergoline could effectively and safely prevent moderate-to-severe OHSS, with calcium as the most effective intervention.

PurposeTo evaluate the value of radiomics analysis in contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM) for the identification of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).MethodCESM images of 367 pathologically confirmed breast cancer patients (training set: 218, testing set: 149) were retrospectively analyzed. Cranial caudal (CC), mediolateral oblique (MLO), and combined models were built on the basis of the features extracted from subtracted images on CC, MLO, and the combination of CC and MLO, respectively, in the tumour region. The performance of the models was evaluated through receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the Hosmer-Lemeshow test, and decision curve analysis (DCA). The areas under ROC curves (AUCs) were compared through the DeLong test.ResultsThe combined CC and MLO model had the best AUC and sensitivity of 0.90 (95% confidence interval: 0.85–0.96) and 0.97, respectively. The Hosmer–Lemeshow test yielded a non-significant statistic with p-value of 0.59. The clinical usefulness of the combined CC and MLO model was confirmed if the threshold was between 0.02 and 0.81 in the DCA.ConclusionsMachine learning models based on subtracted images in CESM images were valuable for distinguishing TNBC and NTNBC. The model with the combined CC and MLO features had the best performance compared with models that used CC or MLO features alone.

Summary: Merkel cell carcinoma is an aggressive skin malignancy, mostly caused by Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV). MCPyV T-antigens can induce mature microRNA expressions through the DnaJ domain, but its underlying mechanism is still unknown. Here, we report that the T-antigens induce protein expression and mRNA stability of DICER1, a key factor in microRNA biogenesis, through heat shock cognate 70 (HSC70). HSC70 directly interacts with the AU-rich elements (ARE) of DICER1 mRNA in both coding and 3′ untranslated region in the presence of MCPyV T-antigen. The T-antigen/HSC70 interaction could induce luciferase activity of synthetic ARE-containing reporter, as well as the stability of ARE-containing mRNAs, suggesting a broader role of MCPyV T-antigens in regulating multiple mRNAs via HSC70. These findings highlight a new role for the interaction of HSC70 and MCPyV T-antigens in mRNA regulation and an undescribed regulatory mechanism of DICER1 mRNA stability and translation through its direct interaction with HSC70.

The pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been basically under control in China since March 2020, but the import of domestic SARS-CoV-2 has begun to increase. This study reported the first case of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection imported from Spain into Sichuan Province, China, on March 11, 2020. The infected male had a body temperature of 37.5°C, normal blood oxygen saturation levels, and a computed tomography (CT) examination showed that his lungs had no shadows. However, a throat swab from the subject tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 using qPCR assay. In this study, we conducted transcriptome sequencing on respiratory throat swabs from the subject and found that the dominant SARS-CoV-2 sequence (Gene Bank ID: MW301121) was a spike protein D614G mutant strain, which is currently popular throughout world. We downloaded and analyzed SARS-CoV-2 sequences collected from cases in China and Spain for comparison and tracing purposes. After March 11, 2020, the Chinese domestic clade was naturally divided into the imported SARS-CoV-2 D614G mutant strain and evolutionarily-related similar sequences and that of sequences collected in the original Wuhan area. The sequence reported in this study was located on a small branch, far from the evolution of Wuhan sequences. As expected, the identified sequence was closely related to the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 D614G mutant strain circulating in Spain.

ObjectivesTo evaluate the combined impact of male and female BMI on cumulative pregnancy outcomes after the first ovarian stimulation.DesignRetrospective cohort study.SettingUniversity-affiliated reproductive medicine center.PatientsA total of 15,972 couples undergoing their first ovarian stimulations from June 2009 to June 2016 were included. During the follow-up period between June 2009 and June 2018, 14,182 couples underwent a complete ART cycle involving fresh embryo transfer and subsequent frozen embryo transfers (FETs) after their first ovarian stimulations. Patients with a BMI

In order to study the elastic–plastic stress field distribution of a double-row-pipe frozen wall, the temperature field of the double-row-pipe frozen wall is equivalent to a trapezoidal distribution, and the frozen wall is regarded as an elastic–plastic thick-walled cylinder with functionally gradient material (FGM) characteristics in the radial direction. Considering that the elastic modulus and cohesion of the frozen wall material change linearly with the radius, the elastic–plastic analysis of the frozen wall is carried out based on unified strength theory. The analytical solutions of the elastic–plastic stress field distribution, the elastic ultimate bearing capacity, the plastic ultimate bearing capacity, and the relative radius of the plastic zone of the frozen wall are derived. The analytical solution is calculated based on the engineering case and compared with the numerical solution obtained based on COMSOL. At the same time, the influence of strength theory parameters on the mechanical properties of heterogeneous and homogeneous frozen walls is analyzed. The results show that the analytical solution and the numerical solution are in good agreement, and their accuracy is mutually verified. The external load on the frozen wall of the selected layer is greater than its elastic ultimate bearing capacity and less than its plastic ultimate bearing capacity, which indicates that the frozen wall is in a safe state of stress. The radial stress increases with the increase in the strength theoretical parameter b and the relative radius r, the tangential stress increases with the increase in the strength theoretical parameter b, and first increases and then decreases with the increase in the relative radius r. The larger the strength theoretical parameter b, the smaller the relative radius of the plastic zone of the frozen wall. The strength theoretical parameter b increases from 0 to 1, the elastic ultimate bearing capacity and plastic ultimate bearing capacity of the heterogeneous frozen wall increase by 33.3% and 40.8%, respectively, and the elastic ultimate bearing capacity and plastic ultimate bearing capacity of the homogeneous frozen wall increase by 33.3% and 41.0%, respectively. Therefore, considering the influence of intermediate principal stress, the potential of materials can be fully exerted and the ultimate bearing capacity of frozen walls can be improved. This study can provide theoretical reference for the design and construction of frozen wall.

Ship detection in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images has witnessed rapid development in recent years, especially after the adoption of convolutional neural network (CNN)-based methods. Recently, a transformer using self-attention and a feed forward neural network with a encoder-decoder structure has received much attention from researchers, due to its intrinsic characteristics of global-relation modeling between pixels and an enlarged global receptive field. However, when adapting transformers to SAR ship detection, one challenging issue cannot be ignored. Background clutter, such as a coast, an island, or a sea wave, made previous object detectors easily miss ships with a blurred contour. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a local-sparse-information-aggregation transformer with explicit contour guidance for ship detection in SAR images. Based on the Swin Transformer architecture, in order to effectively aggregate sparse meaningful cues of small-scale ships, a deformable attention mechanism is incorporated to change the original self-attention mechanism. Moreover, a novel contour-guided shape-enhancement module is proposed to explicitly enforce the contour constraints on the one-dimensional transformer architecture. Experimental results show that our proposed method achieves superior performance on the challenging HRSID and SSDD datasets.

Inverse design effectively promotes the miniaturization of integrated photonic devices through the modulation of subwavelength structures. Utilizing a theoretical prior based inverse design, we propose an ultra-compact integrated polarizing beam splitter consisting of a standard silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrate and a tunable air–silicon column two-dimensional code metasurface, with a footprint of 5 × 2.7 μm2. The effective refractive index of the waveguide is modulated by adjusting the two-dimensional code morphology in the additional layer to achieve efficient polarization beam splitting. The simulation results demonstrate high performance, with a low insertion loss (10.76 dB) in a bandwidth of 80 nm covering the C-band. The device can withstand manufacturing errors up to ±20 nm and is robust to process defects, such as the outer proximity effect, and thus is suitable for ultra-compact on-chip optical interconnects.

Taking the Qingdong Mine as the research object, combined with field measurement data, numerical simulation and theoretical analysis are used to examine the temperature field and stability of the frozen wall in the mine, respectively. The results show that during the active freezing period, under the same freezing time, the average temperature of the effective frozen wall of the fine sand layer is 0.2–1.0 and 0.5–2.5 °C lower than that of the sandy clay layer and clay layer, respectively. The effective frozen wall thickness of the fine sand layer is 0.04–0.17 and 0.17–0.33 m larger than that of the sandy clay layer and clay layer, respectively. The soil cooling between the two circles of freezing holes is the fastest. Due to the deflection of the freezing holes, the interface temperature field is asymmetrical. For deep clay with a depth of 200–250 m, it is most economical and reasonable for the brine temperature in the active freezing period to be −25 and −30 °C. At the designed brine temperature for cooling, during the excavation of the control layer of the topsoil layer (−216 m sandy clay), the side-wall temperature, average temperature, and thickness of the frozen wall meet the design requirements. The ultimate bearing capacity of the frozen wall is 3.20 MPa. When the well is empty for 30 h after excavation, the maximum radial displacement is 26.85 mm, so the frozen wall strength and stability are in a safe state. Overall, the findings of this study can serve as a useful reference for similar freezing projects.

Assimilation of satellite-derived humidity with a homogenous static background error covariance (B) matrix computed over the entire computational domain (Full-B) tends to overpredict sea fog coverage. A feature-dependent B (Fog-B) is proposed to address this issue. In Fog-B, the static error statistics for clear air and foggy areas are calculated separately using a feature-dependent binning method. The resultant error statistics are used simultaneously at appropriate locations guided by the satellite-derived sea fog. Diagnostics show that Full-B generally has broader horizontal and vertical length scales and larger error variances than Fog-B below ~300 m except for the vertical length scale near the surface. Experiments on three sea fog cases over the Yellow Sea are conducted to understand and examine the impact of Fog-B on sea fog analyses and forecasts. Results show that using Full-B produces greater and broader water vapor mixing ratio increments and thus predicts larger sea fog coverage than using Fog-B. Further evaluations suggest that using Fog-B has greater forecast skills in sea fog coverage and more accurate moisture conditions than using Full-B.

Humans and ecosystems are severely damaged by the existence of As(III/V) in the aquatic environment. Herein, an advanced Fe3O4@SFBC (Fe3O4-sunflower straw biochar) adsorbent was fabricated by co-precipitation method with sunflower straw biochar (SFBC) prepared at different calcination temperatures and different SFBC/Fe mass ratios as templates. The optimal pH for As(III/V) removal was investigated, and Fe3O4@SFBC shows removal efficiency of 86.43% and 95.94% for As(III) and As(V), respectively, at pH 6 and 4. The adsorption effect of calcining and casting the biochar-bound Fe3O4 obtained at different temperatures and different SFBC/Fe mass ratios were analyzed by batch experiments. The results show that when the SFBC biochar is calcined at 450 °C with an SFBC/Fe mass ratio of 1:5, the adsorption of As(III) and As(V) reaches the maximum, which are 121.347 and 188.753 mg/g, respectively. Fe3O4@SFBC morphology, structure, surface functional groups, magnetic moment, and internal morphology were observed by XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, and VSM under optimal working conditions. The material shows a small particle size in the range of 12–14 nm with better magnetic properties (54.52 emu/g), which is suitable for arsenic removal. The adsorption mechanism of As(III/V) by Fe3O4@SFBC indicates the presence of chemisorption, electrostatic, and complexation. Finally, the material was used for five consecutive cycles of adsorption–desorption experiments, and no significant decrease in removal efficiency was observed. Therefore, the new adsorbent Fe3O4@SFBC can be efficiently used for arsenic removal in the aqueous system.

Besides its roles in locomotion and thermogenesis, skeletal muscle plays a significant role in global glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity through complex nutrient sensing networks. Our previous work showed that the muscle-specific ablation of O-GlcNAc transferase (OGT) led to a lean phenotype through enhanced interleukin-15 (IL-15) expression. We also showed OGT epigenetically modified and repressed the Il15 promoter. However, whether there is a causal relationship between OGT ablation-induced IL-15 secretion and the lean phenotype remains unknown. To address this question, we generated muscle specific OGT and interleukin-15 receptor alpha subunit (IL-15rα) double knockout mice (mDKO). Deletion of IL-15rα in skeletal muscle impaired IL-15 secretion. When fed with a high-fat diet, mDKO mice were no longer protected against HFD-induced obesity compared to wild-type mice. After 22 weeks of HFD feeding, mDKO mice had an intermediate body weight and glucose sensitivity compared to wild-type and OGT knockout mice. Taken together, these data suggest that OGT action is partially mediated by muscle IL-15 production and provides some clarity into how disrupting the O-GlcNAc nutrient signaling pathway leads to a lean phenotype. Further, our work suggests that interfering with the OGT-IL15 nutrient sensing axis may provide a new avenue for combating obesity and metabolic disorders.

ObjectiveTo determine the effect of gender of reciprocal chromosomal translocation on blastocyst formation and pregnancy outcome in preimplantation genetic testing, including different parental ages.MethodsThis was a retrospective cohort study that enrolled 1034 couples undergoing preimplantation genetic testing-structural rearrangement on account of a carrier of reciprocal chromosomal translocation from the Reproductive Medicine Center of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2015 to December 2019. Group A represented 528 couples in which the man was the carrier of reciprocal translocation and group B represented 506 couples in which the woman was the carrier of reciprocal translocation. All patients were divided into two groups according to their age: female age

We report a metasurface device based on nano metal-dielectric-metal plasmon cavity arrays. Investigation of the proposed device indicates the sharp absorption peak of double Fano resonance and multiple periods of time-domain oscillations caused by the three-dimensional double resonance. By adjusting the structure parameters, different absorption patterns can be regulated independently with high degree of freedom. The metasurface exhibits sensitive behavior to the environmental refractive index and possesses the sensitivity of 667 nm RIU−1 as a refractive index sensor in the mid-near infrared band, which can be further considered for glucose or temperature sensing.

Shrinkage cavity has significant influence on macrosegregation in steel ingots. An arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) model based on volume averaging method is developed to predict the coupled formation progress of macrosegregation and shrinkage cavity during solidification of steel ingots. The combined effect of thermal-solutal convection and solidification shrinkage on macrosegregation is considered in the model. A specially designed mesh update algorithm is proposed to consider the formation of shrinkage cavity. The streamline-upwind/Petrov–Galerkin (SUPG) stabilized finite element algorithm is adopted to solve the conservation equations. Two solution methods for the energy conservation equation are proposed, i.e. the temperature-based solver and enthalpy-based solver. A Pb-48wt.%Sn solidification benchmark is used for validation. Then, the ALE model is applied to a Fe-3.6wt.%C industrial steel ingot. The formation progress of macrosegregation coupled with shrinkage cavity is predicted. By comparison with the predictions of the finite element model and finite volume model, the effect of shrinkage cavity formation on macrosegregation is investigated. Results show that the formation of shrinkage cavity can significantly change the segregation region and segregation degree at the hot top. It is demonstrated that the ALE model can predict the coupled formation of macrosegregation and shrinkage cavity in steel ingots.

Purpose: To determine the efficacy of modified titanium tension band plus patellar tendon tunnel steel 8 “reduction band” versus titanium cable tension band fixation for the treatment of patellar lower pole fracture. Materials and Methods: 58 patients with lower patella fracture were enrolled in this study, including 30 patients treated with modified titanium cable tension band plus patellar tibial tunnel wire “8” tension band internal fixation (modified group), and 28 patients with titanium cable tension band fixation. All patients were followed up for 9∼15 months with an average of 11.6 months. Results: Knee flexion was significantly improved in the modified group than in the titanium cable tension band group (111.33 ± 13 degrees versus 98.21 ± 21.70 degrees, P = 0.004). The fracture healing time showed no significant difference. At the end of the follow-up, the improvement excellent rate was 93.33% in the modified group, and 82.14% in the titanium cable tension band group. Titanium cable tension band internal fixation loosening was found in 2 cases, including 1 case of treatment by two surgeries without loose internal fixation. Conclusions: The modified titanium cable tension band with “8” tension band fixation showed better efficacy for lower patella fractures than titanium cable tension band fixation.

Abstract Background Mediastinal lipoma/liposarcoma is a rare tumor of the mediastinum. Case presentation This article reported one case of giant anterior superior mediastinum well-differentiated liposarcoma involving the left thoracic cavity with symptom of dysphagia. The mediastinum liposarcoma was completely resected through a left thoracotomy. Histologic examination and molecular pathological test clarified the diagnosis as well-differentiated mediastinal liposarcoma. There has been no evidence of recurrence during the 8 months follow-up. Conclusion Molecular pathological examination of the MDM2, CDK4 and p16 gene in tumors provides the diagnostic gold standard in distinguishing well-differentiated liposarcoma from lipoma. Complete surgical resection is the first-line treatment choice for mediastinal lipoma/ liposarcoma.

Abstract Background Recently, no relevant research has focused on the relationship between the clinical efficacy of da Vinci robotic distal pancreatectomy (RDP) and the number of mechanical arms and assistants used for RDP. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety, efficacy, and advantages of RDP with the “3 + 2” mode. Methods Clinical data from 53 patients (observation group) who received RDP using the “3 + 2” mode in our department, from March 2016 to September 2018, were reviewed. An additional 53 patients who received RDP using the classical mode were chosen at random for the control group. Short‐term outcomes for the two groups were compared. Results There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups for estimated blood loss, postoperative day of flatus passage, postoperative hospital stay, and postoperative complication (P > 0.05). Compared with the control group, the observation group had a significantly shorter operative time (166.9 ± 13.3 vs 192.6 ± 11.1 minutes, P

Abstract Background Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) is a common and severe complication for patients undergoing IVF/ICSI-ET. Melatonin widely participates in the regulation of female reproductive endocrine activity. However, whether melatonin participates in the progression of OHSS is largely unknown. This study aims to identify the predictive value of follicular fluid (FF) melatonin for OHSS establishment and the underlying mechanism. Methods All participants of this case-control study were enrolled at the Reproductive Medicine Center located in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in China from January to October in 2017. Quantitative real-time PCR and western blot were used to examine the mRNA and protein levels. Primary granulosa cells were extracted and cultured for in vitro studies. Melatonin concentration was measured by ELISA. Logistic analysis and receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the predicting value of melatonin on OHSS occurrence. Main outcome measures The expression level of melatonin receptor 2 (MT2), P450 aromatase cytochrome (aromatase), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA in human primary granulosa cells. The concentration of melatonin in FF. The predicting value of melatonin on OHSS and the cut-off value of the prediction. Results FF melatonin concentrations were significantly higher in patients with OHSS compared to non-OHSS group (35.94 ± 10.18 ng/mL vs 23.93 ± 10.94 ng/mL, p

With the integration of wind energy, the widely used doubly fed induction generator wind turbines (DFIG-WT) could induce Power System forced oscillations (FOs), which threaten the safety of power grid. In this paper, an accurate FOs location method is proposed to pinpoint sources of FOs to the specific components inside a DFIG-WT and a participation assessment method is proposed to evaluate the role of DFIG-WTs in the FOs event. Firstly, the energy structure of the DFIG-WT is constructed and the correspondence between the physical components and energy structure of the DFIG-WT is established. Thus, the sources of FOs can be located by the energy flow among the converter, wind turbine and induction generator. Furthermore, the port-controlled Hamiltonian (PCH) method is used to analyze the influence of external disturbances to the potential energy of DFIG-WT, based on which the participation factor of the DFIG-WT in FOs event can be defined. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed method is able to locate the oscillation sources accurately and reveal the participation of the DFIG-WT in FOs events effectively.

Deep learning (DL) has recently been a core ingredient in modern computer vision tasks, triggering a wave of revolutions in various fields. The hyperspectral image (HSI) classification task is no exception. A wide range of DL-based methods have shone brilliantly in HSI classification. However, understanding how to better exploit spectral and spatial information regarding HSI is still an open area of enquiry. In this article, we propose a hybrid convolution and hybrid resolution network with double attention for HSI classification. First, densely connected 3D convolutional layers are employed to extract preliminary spatial–spectral features. Second, these coarse features are fed to the hybrid resolution module, which mines the features at multiple scales to obtain high-level semantic information and low-level local information. Finally, we introduce a novel attention mechanism for further feature adjustment and refinement. Extensive experiments are conducted to evaluate our model in a holistic manner. Compared to several popular methods, our approach yields promising results for four datasets.

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) play an important role in hyperspectral image (HSI) classification due to their powerful feature extraction ability. Multiscale information is an important means of enhancing the feature representation ability. However, current HSI classification models based on deep learning only use fixed patches as the network input, which may not well reflect the complexity and richness of HSIs. While the existing methods achieve good classification performance for large-scale scenes, the classification of boundary locations and small-scale scenes is still challenging. In addition, dimensional dislocation often exists in the feature fusion process, and the up/downsampling operation for feature alignment may introduce extra noise or result in feature loss. Aiming at the above issues, this paper deeply explores multiscale features, proposes an adaptive attention constraint fusion module for different scale features, and designs a semantic feature enhancement module for high-dimensional features. First, HSI data of two different spatial scales are fed into the model. For the two inputs, we upsample them using bilinear interpolation to obtain their subpixel data. The proposed multiscale feature extraction module is intended to extract the features of the above four parts of the data. For the extracted features, the multiscale attention fusion module is used for feature fusion, and then, the fused features are fed into the high-level feature semantic enhancement module. Finally, based on the fully connected layer and softmax layer, the prediction results of the proposed model are obtained. Experimental results on four public HSI databases verify that the proposed method outperforms several state-of-the-art methods.

Abstract Background Endometriosis is the major cause of progressive pelvic pain and subfertility. Up to 50% of reproductive-age women suffer from pelvic pain. Endometriosis is a classic indication for IVF. Compared with women whose inability to procreate is caused by simple tubal infertility, women with endometriosis often have lower pregnancy rates following in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI). The administration of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists prior to IVF/ICSI can improve the successful pregnancy rate. Whether a briefer treatment interval would be efficacious has not been studied. Methods/design Eligible and consenting women will be randomly assigned to one of two treatments (one cycle of a GnRH agonist or two cycles of a GnRH agonist) prior to IVF/ICSI using a table of random numbers. The primary outcome of this trial is clinical pregnancy rate. Other outcomes include gonadotrophin (Gn) duration, the total dose of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) used, number of oocytes retrieved, number of embryos available for transfer, implantation rate, the abortion rate, live birth rate, and incidence of moderate-to-severe ovarian hyperstimulation. The sample size of this trial is estimated to be 421 participants for each of the two arms. Appropriate interim analyses will be conducted by a data monitoring and ethics committee (DMEC), and the final test will be an intention-to-treat analysis. Trial registration This trial has been assigned the following registry number: NCT03006406.

Objective: To study the association between ambient air pollutant exposure during the follicular phase and in vitro fertilization (IVF) outcomes. Design: A single-center retrospective analysis. Setting: Henan Province, China. Patients: Patients (n = 6659) living in Zhengzhou, Henan Province in central China who underwent their first IVF cycle at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University between 2013 and 2019 were included for analysis. Intervention: None. Main outcome measure: The relationships between PM2.5, PM10, and AQI (Air Quality Index) with IVF outcomes during the follicular phase (period I, 85 days before oocyte retrieval; period II, gonadotrophin start to oocyte retrieval). Results: Compared with the bottom tertile, exposure to the top PM2.5 and PM10 tertiles during period I was associated with decreased clinical pregnancy (PM2.5: adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.838%, and 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.723 and 0.971; PM10: adjusted OR, 0.818%, and 95% CI, 0.705 and 0.950), and decreased live birth rate (PM2.5: adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.852%, and 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.736 and 0.987; PM10: adjusted OR, 0.850%, and 95% CI, 0.733 and 0.986), and exposure to the top PM2.5 tertile during period II adversely affected clinical pregnancy and the live birth rate (adjusted OR, 0.824%, and 95% CI, 0.711 and 0.955; adjusted OR, 0.817%, and 95% CI, 0.706 and 0.945). Compared with the bottom PM10 tertile, exposure to the middle PM10 tertile in period II showed decreased clinical pregnancies and live births (adjusted OR, 0.844; 95% CI, 0.729 and 0.978, adjusted OR, 0.846; 95% CI, 0.731 and 0.979). The PM10 level during period II of the follicular phase tend to adversely affect live birth rate, but the tendency did not reach significance (P = 0.051). Conclusion: Exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 before oocyte retrieval has an adverse effect on IVF outcomes. Capsule: Exposure to PM2.5 and PM10 before oocyte retrieval has an adverse effect on IVF outcomes.

Cancer-associated fibroblast (CAF)-derived exosomes play a major role in gastric carcinoma (GC) tumorigenesis. However, the mechanism behind the activity of circular RNAs in CAF-derived exosomes in GC remains unclear. In the present study, we identified differentially expressed circ_0088300 in GC tissues and plasma exosomes. We found that CAFs delivered functional circ_0088300 to GC tumor cells via exosomes and promoted the proliferation, migration and invasion abilities of GC cells. Furthermore, we demonstrated that circ_0088300 packaging into exosomes was driven by KHDRBS3. In addition, we verified that circ_0088300 served as a sponge that directly targeted miR-1305 and promoted GC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Finally, the JAK/STAT signaling pathway was found to be involved in the circ_0088300/miR-1305 axis, which accelerates GC tumorigenesis. In conclusion, our results indicated a previously unknown regulatory pathway in which exosomal circ_0088300 derived from CAFs acts as a sponge of miR-1305 and promotes GC cell proliferation, migration and invasion; these data identify a potential biomarker and novel therapeutic target for GC in the future.

Epidermal inclusion cysts (EICs) of the breast develop in the deep breast parenchyma, and they are very rare. Only about 10 cases have been reported in the English-language literature to date. In this report, we present a rare case of a giant EIC with infection arising within the deep breast parenchyma. Unlike a typical EIC of the breast, the EIC in the present case was a cystic and solid lesion containing a large amount of liquid within the cyst and popcorn-like calcification in the wall. In this report, we describe the contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM), ultrasonography, and computed tomography findings and provide a reference for the diagnosis of EICs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the CESM findings of an EIC. Our case illustrates that CESM has excellent performance similar to that of magnetic resonance imaging and is much more effective than conventional digital mammography. Additionally, our case indicates that precise correlation of CESM with ultrasonography findings contributes to the diagnosis of EICs. This rare case with multiple imaging findings will increase the awareness of EICs in the breast parenchyma.

ObjectiveTo investigate the effect of seasons on the incidence of high risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) after in oocyte retrieval in patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and to establish a nomogram to predict the risk of OHSS.DesignSingle-center, retrospective study.SettingUniversity-affiliated reproductive medicine center.Patient(s)A total of 2,030 infertility patients with PCOS underwent the follicular phase long-acting long protocol IVF/ICSI in the reproductive medicine center from January 2017 to December 2019.Intervention(s)None.Main outcome measure(s)Logistic regression analysis was used to analyze the factors associated with a high risk of OHSS. We established a nomogram to predict the risk of OHSS in infertility patients with PCOS after oocyte retrieval.Result(s)The incidence of patients at high risk of OHSS was significantly different from season-to-season and was especially higher in the summer and winter. Multivariate logistic analysis showed that gonadotropin dosage, number of retrieved oocytes, estradiol level, average bilateral ovarian diameter on the day human chorionic gonadotropin was administered, type of infertility, and average temperature were independent risk factors for OHSS after oocyte retrieval in PCOS patients. Based on the above independent risk factors, we constructed a prediction model for OHSS risk. To evaluate the efficiency of the prediction model, we calculated the C-index (0.849), area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.849), and internal validation C-index (0.846). Decision curve analysis suggested that the prediction model exhibited significant net benefits.Conclusion(s)The incidence of PCOS patients at high risk for OHSS after oocyte retrieval fluctuated with seasonal temperature changes, and was significantly higher in extreme climates. The prediction model had favorable predictive performance and clinical application value.

East Asia is a crucial region in the global methane (CH4) budget, with significant contributions from the livestock sector. However, the long-term trend and spatial pattern of CH4 emissions from livestock in this region have not been fully assessed. Here, we estimate CH4 emissions from 10 categories of livestock in East Asia during 1961−2019 following the Tier 2 approaches suggested by IPCC (2019). Our results show that livestock-sourced CH4 emission in 2019 was 13.22 [11.42−15.01] (mean [minimum−maximum of 95% confidence interval] Tg CH4 yr-1, accounting for an increase of 231% since 1961. From 1961 to 2019, the emissions increased first and then stabilized after 2000. The contribution of slaughtered livestock to total emissions increased from 3% in 1961 to 24% in 2019 as a result of a significant increase in the slaughtered population. Spatially, the emission hotspots were mostly distributed in eastern China, South Korea, and parts of Japan, but they tend to shift northward after 2000. This latest long-term inventory can help to understand CH4 budget and to assess CH4 mitigation potential at national and regional levels.

Spontaneous internal hemorrhage from a hepatic hemangioma is rare. This case describes a 59-year-old woman who was hospitalized with recurrent cough and fever for 6 months. The doctor thought that she had pneumonia, but other infectious diseases could not be ruled out. Therefore, related tests were performed and strong antibiotics were used, but the symptom of fever was persistent and recurred. Enhanced computed tomography (CT) findings showed a right hepatic giant hemangioma with hemorrhage, while tuberculosis, liver abscess, and immune disease were excluded by the physician. Because the patient’s fever was associated with a large hepatic hemangioma, the patient was transferred to surgery. During treatment, the amount of bleeding increased, so she underwent a right hepatic hemangioma resection in the emergency department. Her postoperative fever symptoms subsequently resolved. Pathological examination confirmed hemorrhagic necrosis with infection in hepatic hemangioma. Follow-up showed that the patient was afebrile.

The visualization of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images involves the mapping of high dynamic range (HDR) amplitude values to gray levels for lower dynamic range (LDR) display devices. This dynamic range compression process determines the visibility of details in the displayed result. It therefore plays a critical role in remote sensing applications. There are some problems with existing methods, such as poor adaptability, detail loss, imbalance between contrast improvement and noise suppression. To effectively obtain the images suitable for human observation and subsequent interpretation, we introduce a novel self-adaptive SAR image dynamic range compression method based on deep learning. Its designed objective is to present the maximal amount of information content in the displayed image and eliminate the contradiction between contrast and noise. Considering that, we propose a decomposition-fusion framework. The input SAR image is rescaled to a certain size and then put into a bilateral feature enhancement module to remap high and low frequency features to realize noise suppression and contrast enhancement. Based on the bilateral features, a feature fusion module is employed for feature integration and optimization to achieve a more precise reconstruction result. Visual and quantitative experiments on synthesized and real-world SAR images show that the proposed method notably realizes visualization which exceeds several statistical methods. It has good adaptability and can improve SAR images’ contrast for interpretation.