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AbstractBackground Prostate cancer (PCa) is poor response to the immunotherapy for its high heterogeneity of immune microenvironment. In this study, we aim to introduce a new immune subtype for PCa involving M2 tumour associated macrophages (M2-TAMs).Methods Three hundred and sixty-two PCa patients and matched normal prostate tissues were selected from the Cancer Genome Atlas and Gene Expression Omnibus databases. Patients’ immune infiltration characters were then analyzed based on the gene expressions. The immune subtypes were identified by the method of unsupervised hierarchical clustering. Finally, the relationship between the M2-TAMs infiltration and anti-programmed death-ligand-1 (PD-L1) therapy was investigated in the IMvigor210 cohort.Results PCa expressed lower immune-related genes levels compared with the adjacent normal tissues. Based on the proved immunosuppressive mechanisms in PCa, tumour patients were classified into three independent subclasses with high infiltrated cytolytic activity (CYT), M2-TAMs and regulatory T cell (Tregs), respectively. Among these subtypes, M2-TAMs infiltration subtype showed the worst clinicopathological features and prognosis compared with the other two subtypes. The results of the IMvigor210 cohort demonstrated poor response of anti-PD-L1 therapy for patients with high M2-TAMs infiltration.Conclusion Prostate tumours involved in significant immunosuppression, and high infiltration of M2-TAMs can be applied to predict the effect of anti-PD-L1 therapy.Key MessagesPCa patients can be classified into three immunotypes of high infiltrated CYT, M2-TAMS, and Tregs according to the immunosuppressive mechanisms.High M2-TAMs infiltration subtype reflected the worst clinical characters, immune infiltration, and lowest expression of immune checkpoint inhibitors among the three subclasses in PCa.High M2-TAMs infiltration predicts the low response rate of anti-PD-L1 therapy.

Perturbation of the microbiome has numerous associations with the phenotypes and progression in chronic airways disease. However, the differences in the nasal microbiome in asthma and allergic rhinitis (AR) have not been defined. We examined whether the nasal microbiome would vary among different comorbidities in asthma and AR and that those differences may be associated with the severity of asthma. Nasal lavage fluid was collected from 110 participants, including 20 healthy controls, 30 subjects with AR, 30 subjects with asthma and 30 subjects with combined asthma + AR. The Asthma Control Questionnaire (ACQ-7) was used to evaluate asthma control status. Using 16S rRNA bacterial gene sequencing, we analyzed nasal microbiome in patients with asthma, AR, combined asthma + AR, and healthy controls. Bacterial diversity was analyzed in corresponding with α diversity indices (Chao and Shannon index). Compared with healthy controls, the Chao index tended to be lower in subjects with AR (P = 0.001), asthma (P = 0.001), and combined asthma + AR (P = 0.001) when compared with healthy controls. Furthermore, the Shannon index was significantly lower in subjects with asthma (P = 0.013) and comorbid asthma with AR (P = 0.004) than the control subjects. Disparity in the structure and composition of nasal bacteria were also observed among the four groups. Furthermore, patients with combined asthma + AR and isolated asthma were divided into two groups according to the level of disease control: partially or well-controlled and uncontrolled asthma. The mean relative abundance observed in the groups mentioned the genera of Pseudoflavonifractor were dominated in patients with well and partially controlled disease, in both isolated asthma and combined asthma + AR. In subjects with uncontrolled asthma and combined asthma + AR, a lower evenness and richness (Shannon index, P = 0.040) was observed in nasal microbiome composition. Importantly, lower evenness and richness in the nasal microbiome may be associated with poor disease control in combined asthma + AR. This study showed the upper airway microbiome is associated with airway inflammation disorders and the level of asthma control.

ObjectivePolymorphous low-grade neuroepithelial tumor of the young (PLNTY) is a novel distinct epileptogenic neoplasm, and its clinical, imaging, histopathological, and molecular features were already known in the existing literature. We aimed to analyze the surgical management of PLNTY combined with these known characteristics.MethodsEight patients underwent surgical treatment in our center between December 2017 and December 2020, and the postoperative pathology was diagnosed as PLNTY. Their clinical data, imaging, pathological, molecular characteristics, and seizure outcome were retrospectively analyzed. Follow-up evaluations and a literature review were performed.ResultsThe 8 patients included 1 woman and 7 men, aged between 5 and 51 years old (mean = 31.6, median = 29). The preoperative symptoms of all 8 cases were seizures. Four tumors were situated in the temporal lobes, and one of the four extratemporal tumors was in the occipital lobe and three were in the frontal lobe. Enlarged and gross total resections were performed in 2 cases and the other 6 cases, respectively. All cases exhibited intense labeling of CD34, and absence of 1p/19q codeletion and IDH1 or IDH2 mutation. B-Raf proto-oncogene (BRAF) V600E mutation was presented in 4 (66.7%) of 6 detected cases. The postoperative seizure outcome of Engel class I was achieved in 6 cases (75%).ConclusionPLNTY represents distinctive histologic, immunophenotypic and biomolecular features, and has high epileptogenicity. Early surgical intervention and enlarged resection of PLNTY associated with epilepsy will help to improve the postoperative seizure-free rate.

OBJECTIVE: Gliomas are accompanied with high mortality owning to their invasive peculiarity and vulnerability to drug resistance. miR-21 is a vital oncogenic miRNA that regulates drug resistance of tumor cells. This study aims to elucidate the function of miR-21 in human glioma cells resistant to carmustine (BCNU) and to demonstrate the underlying molecular mechanism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: BCNU-sensitive cells (SWOZ2 cells) were transfected with miR-21 agomir and negative control, and BCNUresistance cells (SWOZ2-BCNU cells) were transfected with miR-21 antagomir and negative control. The Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to detect and compare the levels of miR-21expression between SWOZ2-BCNU and SWOZ2 cells. The drug sensitivity of these cells to BCNU was determined by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay. The protein expression of Spry2 was detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: The expression level of miR-21 was remarkably higher in SWOZ2-BCNU cells than that in SWOZ2 cells. The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of BCNU was obviously higher for SWOZ2-BCNU cells than that for SWOZ2 cells. Besides, we found that aberrant expression of miR-21 in SWOZ2-BCNU cells is responsible for glioma BCNU-resistance. Consistently, Spry2 protein levels were significantly reduced in SWOZ2-BCNU as well as in miR-21 agomir-transfected cells, inversely correlated to miR-21 expression. The results of si-Spry2 co-transfection suggested that the effect of miR-21 on glioma BCNU-resistance is mediated through Spry2. CONCLUSIONS: miR-21 enhances the resistance of human glioma cells to BCNU by decreasing the expression of Spry2 protein. Thus, Spry2 may be a novel therapeutic target for treating glioma BCNU-resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the mechanism of arsenic trioxide (As2O3)-induced apoptosis of glioma cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: U87 cells were treated by different concentrations of As2O3 (8 μmol/L, 6 μmol/L, 4 μmol/L, 2 μmol/L, 1 μmol/L and 0.5 μmol/L) for 24 h, 48 h and 72 h, respectively. Cell viability was detected by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, and the appropriate dosage and time were screened. Transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL) was used to stain cells, followed by an investigation on the apoptosis of cells. In the study of molecular mechanism, the expression of p53 in the cells was determined by immunofluorescence, and then apoptosis-related factors, Fas, FasL and Bax, were tested using Real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Finally, the effect of As2O3 on apoptosis-related proteins, caspase-3 and caspase-9, was investigated by Western blotting. RESULTS: As2O3 could significantly inhibit proliferation of U87 cells, and the result of TUNEL staining displayed As2O3 had the function of inducing apoptosis. Immunofluorescence results demonstrated that p53 was highly expressed in glioma cells, which was reduced after drug administration. The results of detection of apoptosis factors using RT-PCR revealed that mRNA expressions of Fas, FasL and Bax in the glioma cells were distinctly higher than those in the As2O3 group. The result of Western blotting indicated that caspase-3 and caspase-9 proteins were highly expressed in glioma cells. Analysis of variance showed that the difference between the control group and the As2O3 group was statistically significant (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: As2O3 can inhibit proliferation of glioma cells and induce its apoptosis, which may be correlated with down-regulation of expressions of apoptosis-related factors, Fas, FasL and Bax, and apoptosis-related proteins, p53, caspase-3 and caspase-9. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: MiRNAs are small, noncoding RNA molecules that serve as important regulators of cancer-related processes. Abnormal expression of miR-577 has been found in several tumors. However, the expression pattern and biological function of miR-577 in progression of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) remain unknown. This study is aimed to determine its expression pattern and explore the function underlying the mechanism of miR-577 in PTC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Using quantitative RT-PCR, we detected miR-577 expression in PTC cell lines and primary tumor tissues. MTT assay and colony formation were performed to measure the viabilities of tumor cells. Transwell invasion and migration assays were used to test the invasion and migration of PTC cells transfected with miR-577 mimic. TargetScan, mi-Randa and PicTar were used to analyze whether sphingosine kinase 2 (SphK2) was a potential target gene. Next, the direct target gene of miR-577 was also identified by luciferase reporter assays and Western blot analysis. RESULTS: The results showed that miR-577 was significantly downregulated in PTC tissues and cell lines. The up-regulation of miR-577 inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of PTC cells in vitro. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis indicated that SphK2 was a putative target of miR-577. A luciferase reporter assay further confirmed that SphK2 was a direct target of miR-577. The results of Western blot indicated that the expression level of miR-577 was negatively correlated with the expression level of SphK2 in PTC tissues. In addition, knockdown of SphK2 significantly suppressed PTC cells proliferation, migration and invasion. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that miR-577 is a potential tumor suppressor in PTC by targeting SphK2, and may be a potential therapeutic target in PTC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The triangle barnacle Balanus trigonus Darwin, 1854, a cosmopolitan inhabitant of tropical and warm temperate seas, is a member of robust system for the study of evolutionary processes in the intertidal zone. The first mitochondrial genome of B. trigonus is presented. The complete mitochondrial genome of B. trigonus is a circular molecule of 15,560 bp, which encodes 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 rRNA genes, and 22 tRNA genes. In comparison within Sessilia, the arrangement of the mitochondrial genome of B. trigonus is more similar to Megabalanus spp. than the congener Balanus balanus, which share a same inversion of a large gene block (P-nd4L-nd4-H-nd5-F). Phylogenetic analysis based on mitochondrial PCGs reveals that B. trigonus clusters with Acasta Sulcata (BP = 100), then grouped with Megabalanus volcano and Megabalanus ajax with high support (BP = 90). In further, more data and research are needed to reveal the phylogeny within Cirripedia.

Objective To investigate the effect of brahma-related gene 1 (Brg1) knockout on the number and function of type Ⅱ alveolar epithelial cells (AECⅡs) in C57BL/6 mice and explore the possible mechanisms. Methods Eight female wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 mice (6 to 8 weeks old) and 8 C57BL/6 mice with Brg1 gene knockout in type Ⅱ alveolar epithelial cells (Brg1fl/fl mice) were examined with immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence assay for the number of surfactant-associated protein C (SFTPC)-positive cells in the pulmonary alveoli. The percentage of prosurfactant protein C (pro SP-C) positive cells in the lung tissues of the mice was analyzed with flow cytometry. Western blotting was used to detect the expression levels of pro SP-C, SFTPC, SFTPA and SFTPD in the lung tissues. The expression levels of cyclin D1 and the key proteins EGFR, p-EGFR, PI3K, p-PI3K, AKT, p-AKT, and NF-κB p65 in the proliferation-related signaling pathway were also detected with Western blotting. Results The results of immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence assay revealed a significantly greater number of SFTPC-positive cells in Brg1fl/fl mice than in the WT mice (P < 0.05). Flow cytometry showed that the percentage of pro SP-C positive cells increased significantly in the lung tissues of Brg1fl/fl mice (P < 0.05). The expression levels of the functional proteins in AECⅡs, including proSP-C, SFTPC, SFTPA and SFTPD, were all significantly increased in Brg1fl/fl mice (P < 0.05); Brg1 knockout significantly promoted the expression of NF-κB p65 and CyclinD1 (P < 0.05) and increased the ratios of p-EGFR/EGFR, p-PI3K/PI3K and p-AKT/AKT in the lung tissue of the mice (P < 0.05). Conclusion Specific knockout of Brg1 in AECⅡs of C57BL/6 mice increases the number and enhances the functionality of AECⅡs possibly due to the activation of EGFR/PI3K/AKT/NF-κB signaling pathways and an increased protein expression of CyclinD1.

Objective To investigate the level of oxidative stress in asthmatic mice and the mechanism of dexamethasone forrelieving oxidative stress. Methods Thirty female C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into control group, asthma group and dexamethasone group. Following challenges with house dust mites in the latter 2 groups and prior dexamethasone treatment in dexamethasone group, the mice were examined for expression levels of lipid peroxide metabolites malondialdehyde (MDA) and oxidized glutathione (GSSG). Quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect the expression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NF-E2) and heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) in the lung tissues. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of Nrf2 protein, and Western blotting was performed to detect the changes of Nrf2-Keap1 signaling pathway in the lungs of the mice. Results MDA and GSSG levels were significantly higher in the asthmatic mice than in control group (P < 0.01), and were significantly lowered by dexamethasone treatment in the asthmatic mice (P < 0.05). Compared with the control group, the asthmatic mice showed significantly higher pulmonary expression levels of Nrf2 and HO-1 mRNA (P < 0.05), which were obviously lowered by dexamethasone treatment (P < 0.05). Immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence assay revealed a significantly higher expression of Nrf2 protein in the lung tissue of asthmatic mice (P < 0.01), which was significantly lowered by dexamethasone treatment (P < 0.01). The asthmatic mice had a significantly lower expression of Keap1 protein in the lungs (P < 0.05), which was obviously increased by dexamethasone treatment (P < 0.05). Conclusion Asthmatic mice have an increased level of oxidative stress. Dexamethasone inhibits the level of pulmonary oxidative stress in asthmatic mice possibly by inhibiting the expression of the downstream antioxidant elements via regulating the Keap1-Nrf2 pathway.

Objective The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of wilting and additives on the fermentation quality, structural and non-structural carbohydrate composition of mulberry silages. Methods The selected lactic acid bacteria strains Lactobacillus plantarum ‘LC279063’ (L1), commercial inoculant Gaofuji (GF), and Trichoderma viride cellulase (CE) were used as additives for silage preparation. Silage treatments were designed as control (CK), L1, GF, or CE under three wilting rates, that is wilting for 0, 2, or 4 hours (h). After ensiling for 30 days, the silages were analyzed for the chemical and fermentation characteristics. Results The results showed that wilting had superior effects on increasing the non-structural carbohydrate concentration and degrading the structural carbohydrate. After ensiling for 30 days, L1 generally had a higher fermentation quality than other treatments, indicated by the lower pH value, acetic acid, propionic acid and ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) content, and the higher lactic acid, water soluble carbohydrate, glucose, galactose, sucrose, and cellobiose concentration (p

Rolling bearings are one of the essential components in rotating machinery. Efficient bearing fault diagnosis is necessary to ensure the regular operation of the mechanical system. Traditional fault diagnosis methods usually rely on a complex artificial feature extraction process, which requires a lot of human expertise. Emerging deep learning methods can reduce the dependence of the feature extraction process on manual intervention effectively. However, its training requires a large number of fault signals, which is difficult to obtain in actual engineering. In this paper, a rolling bearing fault diagnosis method based on Convolutional Neural Network and Support Vector Machine is proposed to solve the above problems. Firstly, the Continuous Wavelet Transform is used to convert one-dimensional original vibration signals into two-dimensional time-frequency images. Secondly, the obtained time-frequency images are input for training the constructed model. Finally, the diagnosis of the fault location and severity is completed. The method is verified on the CWRU data set and the MFPT data set. The results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves higher diagnostic accuracy and stability than other advanced techniques.

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most common aggressive malignancies worldwide, particularly in northern China. The absence of specific early symptoms and biomarkers leads to late-stage diagnosis, while early diagnosis and risk stratification are crucial for improving overall prognosis. We performed UPLC-MS/MS on 450 ESCC patients and 588 controls consisting of a discovery group and two validation groups to identify biomarkers for early detection and prognosis. Bioinformatics and clinical statistical methods were used for profiling metabolites and evaluating potential biomarkers. A total of 105 differential metabolites were identified as reliable biomarker candidates for ESCC with the same tendency in three cohorts, mainly including amino acids and fatty acyls. A predictive model of 15 metabolites [all-trans-13,14-dihydroretinol, (±)-myristylcarnitine, (2S,3S)-3-methylphenylalanine, 3-(pyrazol-1-yl)-L-alanine, carnitine C10:1, carnitine C10:1 isomer1, carnitine C14-OH, carnitine C16:2-OH, carnitine C9:1, formononetin, hyodeoxycholic acid, indole-3-carboxylic acid, PysoPE 20:3, PysoPE 20:3(2n isomer1), and resolvin E1] was developed by logistic regression after LASSO and random forest analysis. This model held high predictive accuracies on distinguishing ESCC from controls in the discovery and validation groups (accuracies > 89%). In addition, the levels of four downregulated metabolites [hyodeoxycholic acid, (2S,3S)-3-methylphenylalanine, carnitine C9:1, and indole-3-carboxylic acid] were significantly higher in early cancer than advanced cancer. Furthermore, three independent prognostic markers were identified by multivariate Cox regression analyses with and without clinical indicators: a high level of MG(20:4)isomer and low levels of 9,12-octadecadienoic acid and L-isoleucine correlated with an unfavorable prognosis; the risk score based on these three metabolites was able to stratify patients into low or high risk. Moreover, pathway analysis indicated that retinol metabolism and linoleic acid metabolism were prominent perturbed pathways in ESCC. In conclusion, metabolic profiling revealed that perturbed amino acids and lipid metabolism were crucial metabolic signatures of ESCC. Both panels of diagnostic and prognostic markers showed excellent predictive performances. Targeting retinol and linoleic acid metabolism pathways may be new promising mechanism-based therapeutic approaches. Thus, this study would provide novel insights for the early detection and risk stratification for the clinical management of ESCC and potentially improve the outcomes of ESCC.

This paper discusses the reform of engineering training mode to improve teaching quality and effectiveness. The current problems, such as the disconnection between theory and practice and insufficient student ability training, are analyzed. The proposed reform measures include enhancing practical teaching, innovating course settings, establishing engineering laboratories and practice bases, and strengthening student ability training. This paper emphasizes the importance of the reform of engineering training mode as a trend and future direction of higher education. Only through continuous reform and innovation can we better adapt to social changes and make greater contributions to cultivating high-quality engineering talents. Schools, teachers, and students should work together to optimize course settings, focus on practical teaching, and improve the practical effectiveness of courses. In conclusion, this paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the reform of engineering training mode, highlighting the importance of practical teaching and student ability training. Practical and effective reform measures and methods are proposed, providing useful insights for the cultivation of high-quality engineering talents.

The aim of this research is to utilize a hybrid system of liposomal doxorubicin (DOX-Lip) loaded thermogel (DOX-Lip-Gel) to realize the steady sustained delivery of doxorubicin (DOX), a small hydrophilic drug, for the treatment of breast cancer locally. Herein, liposomal doxorubicin was prepared via the traditional film dispersion method with the particle size of 75 nm and drug entrapment efficiency of 86%. And, the triblock copolymer of poly (D, L-lactide-co-glycolide)-b-poly (ethylene glycol)-b-poly (D, L-lactide -co-glycolide) (PLGA-PEG-PLGA) was synthesized via ring-opening polymerization to prepare the thermosensitive hydrogel through dissolving the polymers in DOX-Lip solution. The liposome loaded hydrogel was in a sol state at room temperature and converted into the gel state at body temperature and would degrade gradually during the time in vivo. The drug release of DOX out of DOX-Lip-Gel could be in a steady sustained manner up to 11 days without significant burst release as compared to that of DOX-loaded hydrogel (DOX-Gel). An orthotopic breast cancer model was adopted to evaluate the in vivo antitumor efficacy. And, the results revealed DOX-Lip-Gel had better antitumor efficiency as well as lower side effects.

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are usually enriched in neural tissues, yet about 80% circRNAs have lower expression in gliomas relative to normal brains, highlighting the importance of circRNAs as tumor suppressors. However, the clinical impact as well as the pathways regulated by the tumor-suppressive circRNAs remain largely unknown in glioblastoma (GBM). Through bioinformatic analysis followed by experimental validation, we found that hsa_circ_0114014 (circLRRC7) was dramatically down-regulated in GBM when compared with normal brain tissues (p < 0.0001). GBM patients with a lower circLRRC7 expression had poorer progression-free survival (PFS, p < 0.05) and overall survival (OS, p < 0.05). Analyses of the predicted target miRNAs of circLRRC7 in CSCD and CRI databases, in combination with the miRNA expression data in GBMs and normal brains from GSE database, revealed miR-1281 as a potential downstream target of circLRRC7. Subsequently, the target genes of hsa-mir-1281 were predicted by TargetScan, miRDB and miRNATAR databases. Intersection analysis and correlation test indicated that PDXP was a potential target of miR-1281. In summary, circLRRC7 may be a tumor suppressor that associated with miR-1281 and PDXP expression in GBM, which may provide novel therapeutic targets for GBM treatment.

Fe69.2Co7.7Cu0.6Nb2.5Si11B9soft magnetic alloy ribbons of different widths, 4.4 and 8.0 mm respectively, were used for the research work. The influences of structural modifications induced by heat treatment on magnetoimpedance effect and permeability have been studied. In as quenched state and annealed at temperatures < 773 K, 4.4 mm wide ribbons showed larger MI values than the 8.0 mm wide ribbons. After being annealed at temperatures >823 K, the MI values of the 8.0 mm wide ribbons were slightly higher than those of 4.4 mm wide ribbons due to the improved soft magnetic properties. With controlled heat treatment at 853 K, a maximum MI ratio of 82% was detected for the 8.0 mm wide ribbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of the particle size distribution on the strength of the coated Al2O3 parts was studied, through the size and distribution of the sintered neck. The powder was heated in situ by a UV laser, and the relationship between the sintered neck waist diameter and the particle diameter was obtained under an image measuring apparatus. A particle packing model was established, and the distribution of the sintered neck was corresponding to the particle coordination point, then the projected area ratio of the sintered neck that was broken in a certain section was calculated. As for the coated Al2O3 powder with the resin content of 2%(mass fraction), the results indicate that the sintered neck waist diameter increases from 40μm to 100μm as the particle diameter increases from 75μm to 375μm. The packing simulation results show that the projected area ratio decreases from 0.2557 to 0.0823, as the particle diameter increases from 75-107μm to 300-375μm, which is consistent with the experimentally measured tensile strength of the coated Al2O3 powder. The 70/100, 100/140 mesh powder are mixed to simulate based on the mass ratios of 0:10, 1:9, 2:8, 3:7, 4:6, 5:5, 6:4, 7:3, 8:2, 9:1, 10:0. The projected area ratio decreases from 0.1772 to 0.1264 and the porosity increases from 0.4511 to 0.4633. Considering the tensile strength and gas permeability, the optimization result is that the ratio is 7:3, the projected area ratio is 0.1481 and the porosity is 0.4596.

Low-light image enhancement is an important challenge in computer vision. Most of the low-light images taken in low-light conditions usually look noisy and dark, which makes it more difficult for subsequent computer vision tasks. In this paper, inspired by multi-scale retinex, we present a low-light image enhancement pipeline network based on an end-to-end fully convolutional networks and discrete wavelet transformation (DWT). First, we show that multiscale retinex (MSR) can be considered as a convolutional neural network with Gaussian convolution kernel, and blending the result of DWT can improve the image produced by MSR. Second, we propose our pipeline neural network, consisting of denoising net and low-light image enhancement net, which learns a function from a pair of dark and bright images. Finally, we evaluate our method both in the synthetic dataset and public dataset. The experiments reveal that in comparison with other state-of-the-art methods, our methods achieve a better performance in the perspective of qualitative and quantitative analyses.

The interactions of lignin with polysaccharides in plant secondary cell walls are not well understood. Here the authors employ solid-state NMR measurements to analyse intact stems of maize, Arabidopsis, switchgrass and rice and observe that lignin self-aggregates and forms highly hydrophobic microdomains that make extensive surface contacts to xylan.

Abstract Background Among various pests, the brown planthopper (BPH) that damages rice is the major destructive pests. Understanding resistance mechanisms is a critical step toward effective control of BPH. This study investigates the proteomics of BPH interactions with three rice cultivars: the first resistant (PR) to BPH, the second susceptible (PS), and the third hybrid (HR) between the two, in order to understand mechanisms of BPH resistance in rice. Results Over 4900 proteins were identified from these three rice cultivars using iTRAQ proteomics study. A total of 414, 425 and 470 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were detected from PR, PS and HR, respectively, after BPH infestation. Identified DEPs are mainly enriched in categories related with biosynthesis of secondary metabolites, carbon metabolism, and glyoxylate and dicarboxylate metabolism. A two-component response regulator protein (ORR22) may participate in the early signal transduction after BPH infestation. In the case of the resistant rice cultivar (PR), 6 DEPs, i.e. two lipoxygenases (LOXs), a lipase, two dirigent proteins (DIRs) and an Ent-cassa-12,15-diene synthase (OsDTC1) are related to inheritable BPH resistance. A heat shock protein (HSP20) may take part in the physiological response to BPH infestation, making it a potential target for marker-assisted selection (MAS) of rice. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) revealed eight genes encoding various metabolic proteins involved in BPH resistance. During grain development the expressions of these genes varied at the transcriptional and translational levels. Conclusions This study provides comprehensive details of key proteins under compatible and incompatible interactions during BPH infestation, which will be useful for further investigation of the molecular basis of rice resistance to BPH and for breeding BPH-resistant rice cultivars.

BackgroundVery small angle neutron scattering (VSANS) instrument is a powerful tool for structure calibration.PurposeThis study aims to ensure the repeat positioning accuracy is better than ±2 μm for the moving parts of VSANS instrument at China spallation neutron source (CSNS).MethodsA prototype motion control system based on experimental physics and industrial control system (EPICS) software architecture was designed. The stepper motor was used to drive the movement of the displacement platform, the absolute optical encoder was applied to feedback of the real-time position of the displacement platform, and the Beckhoff embedded controller was employed to implement the full closed loop control of the position of the displacement platform.Results & ConclusionsThe test results show that the repeat positioning accuracy of this prototype motion control system is better than ±2 μm with high stability and high reliability, satisfying the needs of the VSANS instrument at CSNS.

Bacterial blight (BB) caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is among the oldest known bacterial diseases found for rice in Asia. It is the most serious bacterial disease in many rice growing regions of the world. A total of 47 resistance (R) genes (Xa1 to Xa47) have been identified. Nonetheless, these R genes could possibly be defeated to lose their qualitative nature and express intermediate phenotypes. The identification of sources of novel genetic loci regulating host plant resistance is crucial to develop an efficient control strategy. Wild ancestors of cultivated rice are a natural genetic resource contain a large number of excellent genes. Medicinal wild rice (Oryza officinalis) belongs to the CC genome and is a well-known wild rice in south China. In this study, O. officinalis was crossed with cultivated rice HY-8 and their hybrids were screened for BB resistance genes deployed through natural selection in wild rice germplasm. The molecular markers linked to R genes for BB were used to screen the genomic regions in wild parents and their recombinants. The gene coding and promoter regions of major R genes were inconsistently found in O. officinalis and its progenies. Oryza officinalis showed resistance to all thirty inoculated Xoo strains with non-availability of various known R genes. The results indicated the presence of novel genomic regions for BB resistance in O. officinalis. The present study not only provides a reference to investigate medicinal rice for R gene(s) identification against BB but also identified it as a new breeding material for BB resistance.